#and for this essay in the tags LOLLL

[hak]

I think I’m still stuck on the doors aono kun opens simply because it still is one of a kind in the dimension it explores shoujo-typical tropes and horror in an equally weighted way. I always bring back ghost hunt since I can’t really equate much else to this genre-wise but there’s a bit of the sacrifice of the “young girl lead” driven storyline for something much more inclined to seinen or shounen readers like I feel happened with ghost hunt even if it wasn’t too intentional.. (mai liking kazuya in the anime was such an ordeal for me because the reciprocal emotional exchange is vital imo in what pushes a “shoujo” drama storyline forward, and that wasn’t present much in the way I wanted / aka the ghost stories were cool, the interpersonal relationships even outside romance were bland + if there’s one thing that drives shoujo to me it’s that)

I’m just hung up because not once was yuri’s feelings made to look juvenile or a side plot to the horror at hand but a vehicle to carry the plot. It’s intrinsic to it. I suppose hikaru ga shinda natsu is also something I relate to aono kun a lot though I do think it’s hinging more or less on the horror of the situation bc otherwise even this comparison can differ slightly (ie “this horrible thing has happened TO yoshiki and hikaru” versus “this horrible thing has happened with/within yuri and aono”).

All I’m trying to say at the end of this is that it isn’t necessarily that the blend of these genres come out at different points - not one scene is necessarily “shoujo” or “horror” - but something about being able to go through the journey with them and still FEEL like you’re reading kimi ni todoke or kare kano because of the same familiar reoccurring themes found in these classics in what is essentially just a horror retelling of them… that’s what makes it so so special

[flamemons]

oh no!?

[groundbreakingdot872]

JOAN!!!! 💕 I was coming by your blog to see how u were - glad to see you!! I thought I wasn’t seeing you bc I’ve been busy irl, but no we were just In-Active In-Sync (that feels like the name for a parody 90s boy band) ANYWAY HI MISSED U 🥰

HIII RENNN 💕💕💕

we were literally parodying In-Active In-Sync for a minute there… although I hear you play a great guitar riff so I’m not very worried ;)

I MISSED YOU TOO 💗😭

I feel like I’ve been missing for a century and a half but honestly that’s kinda on brand for this fandom so let’s take that as a win haha

[beastofwant]

hate so very much that my favorite saint has been girlbossified to hell and back :(

[beebundt]

“Nine People you want to know better” tag game

omg i can't remember the last time ive played one of these tag games thank you @demekii for the tag!! i hope you enjoy boy and the heron, it was fun watch for sure 🫶 🫶 also ive been watching analog horror video essays lately as well so i totally feel your struggle LOLLL😭

Last Song: my song on loop for the week has been Killing Eve by Benét. i rlly like this artist

Favorite Color: give it up for my primary color gang ⁉ specifically these. i will use these colors at every opportunity it's so yummy to me. plus a green bc im learning my affection for green this past year

Last Movie/TV Show: i rewatched arcane.... i can't wait until season 2, i really love the art direction of that show. also rewatched howl's moving castle, most beautiful film of all time my beloved.

Sweet/Spicy/Savory: sweet, savory, then spicy. im not a big fan of super spicy but a little is fine! and i always love having a little sweet drink or smth

Relationship status: do you think miss karlach/laezel baldur gate 3 will crush me like a soda can if i ask nicely enough

Last thing I googled: Orin The Red wiki page.......... ive been playing my durge playthru on bg3 lately and getting rlly fixated on the sibling relationship between durge & orin and just reading too many wikis than necessary .....

Current Obsession: my favorite thing is just watching 1-4 hour long essays on things ive never heard abt or dont haven't thought abt super in depth before. ever since i watched this one random video essay on Brave (the disney movie) that perfectly summed up what was bothering me in that movie that id never put into words like 3-4 years ago, ive been chasing that high ever since. did you know learning is so fun (*if the video essay is actually well researched and good). outside of that i love watching charborg twitch vods while im drawing or playing smth

Last Book: i have trouble focusing on reading books sometimes bc ive had bad experiences with them in the past....... 🧍‍♂️ i ache to be a book girlie. but i have to push myself to read more in order to find good books. however smth i WANT to read is the locked tomb series

Looking forwards to: playing a oneshot this coming february with my dnd group where ill be playing a mean pretty twink. guys i have to come up with an insult list of things he might say ahead of time, imagine that being ur homework. also i joined a lgbt club ? that i didn't know my college had so very intrigued with whatever may happen with that in the future. what does an lgbt club even do. crime ? gay ?

dw abt doing this if you don't want to 🫶 tagging kind moots/ppl i would love 2 get to know more. blinks cutely @myagletismissing @notskeleton @66dataa @rascheln @vasirah @kornyo @dreadfutures @shouty-y @rennybu @rnangopantsu

[hotmessmaxpress]

I love all your AUs!! They're honestly little boosts of happiness throughout my day. That being said, I saw your tag on the a/b/o au (essays on marc and bezzs dynamic) and would love to hear your thoughts on them . Pls

Thank you!! I had a response to this all typed out and then the app deleted it. So now I'm on my laptop with literally 9 minutes before I have to leave for work (booo capitalism).

So!

I think that both Marc and Bezz are not raised as "good"/traditional omegas. They were both just too involved in racing to worry about that sort of thing, and racing has historically been alpha-dominated (think of like, a girl growing up with a single dad and she has to google how to shave her legs bc he's got not idea).

As Marc grew up and got famous, he was able to work being an omega into his Brand a bit and lean into it, and get more comfortable with that part of his identity. With that, though, came a lot of stigma and controversy.

So when Bezz is coming up through the levels of racing and Vale takes him under his wing, he shelters Bezz from that. So Bezz never outright denies being an omega, but he never really advertises it either. Vale doesn't want him to be in the position he saw Marc in at Bezz's age. So I think one of the many reasons that Bezz ends up loving Marc is that he allows him a window into what it's like to really be comfortable with that part of his identity. Bezz will never be pussy popping on the podium waxing his whole body etc but at least he feels comfortable now

I also think that their relationship (despite being a MarcMarc truther, their relationship isn't romantic in this au) is super codependent and weird. They literally love each other so much and it never goes away. Marc and Vale have a baby and Bezz is literally right there, supporting Marc in a way that is so unique to the two of them. Vale wouldn't want to, but he knows that even if he did there's no getting rid of Bezz. He and Marc are just too codependent lolll

It doesn't help that in this au I see Bezz ending up with Luca. So Vale gets to spend the rest of his life watching his mate and his brother's mate be absolutely attached at the hip obnoxious obsessed with each other. Imagine the number of tandem deep-sighs between the Rossi-Marini bros.

[arandomnerd810]

no what do you mean i’m so responsible with money when it comes to special interest content

100 percent i’m just supporting the creators that’s it ( can’t take any risks with the order number lolll)

i’m not irresponsible you are

completely unrelated i may or may not need the money from being a engineer if i find the motivation to go through getting a degree to become one

it’s a habit / tradition of mine to buy or make a plushie of special interest characters so moment to appreciate the others not depicted in the photo that don’t have as much merch sold

currently waiting on the N acrylic stand and hopping for Caine plushie if he is my special intrest now

sorry i keep on making my posts be a mini essay with tons of unneeded added on info im just passionate lmfaoo i’ve been trying to move more of the extra thoughts to the tags but alas there is limited space

[spiritmunie]

tagged by @ladylightning <333 thanks for the tag!!

last song I listened to: Looking Too Closely by Fink

favorite color: hazy green or brown

currently watching: I finished the last season of the Crown, and I'm thinking about watching PEN15

last movie: Fences

currently reading: I just finished reading John's journal lolll

sweet/spicy/savory: spicy and savory yumm

current obsessions: uhh I've been reading a lot of endverse fic lately... also I've been watching these kpop scandal video essays even though I only listen to a few kpop songs haha...

currently working on: surviving all my classes with an A...

no pressure tags: @payphoneangel @e-mio @stellernorth @thisisapaige

[nozomijoestar]

Hey. Lili as well

The Lili De Rochefort Case File

The Asuka Essay

My first impression of them

A bitch. Buffoon. Loved the self-assured and calculating vibe; Karin Kanzuki in Tekken but make her overtly fruity and even more commanding. Even if she dangles whether or not she's gonna help someone, she ultimately still helps. GirlBoss attitude you either love or hate. Like Asuka I saw her for the first time in the SFxT trailer and I was so confused as to why she left Asuka behind after she did get serious helping her; I thought she'd be a backstabbing villain. By extension if Lili was a villain maybe Asuka was also since they were a team, or maybe Lili was blackmailing her or something. I wanted to play her for the drama jskdfjak Looking back now that trailer is still gay from her perspective; I love the little smile she throws Asuka's way when they pair up to go 2 v 2.

When I think I truly started to like them (or dislike them, if you've sent me a character I don't like)

Like Asuka the SFxT gameplay sealed the deal for me. I had to play them both or pair one with Ibuki whenever I wasn't pairing her with Sakura, cuz I hated that Rolento was Ibuki's official tag partner so I never used him. I saw Lili's super finisher and her Pandora form in YT videos and it made her look even cooler. (For fun here is Asuka's and Ibuki's - Asuka reacts to Lili dying then her receiving uncontrollable power that hijacks your mind like OOOH I Get to go All Out Now! whereas poor Ibuki is like It's no use, I can't control it!) To my surprise Lili wasn't a villain at all in the story mode she was just cunty and silly. She wants the Pandora Box just because its status might benefit her Dad despite having no idea what it does, and her devotion to achieving her goal was magnetic.

I also loved how she was ready to fight Asuka for the Pandora Box but the minute they lose it because of her own nonsense she just cries so pathetically jsfksdjf But unbeknownst to her Pandora would have made them kill each other like the other teams. I went back to Tekken 6 to learn more about her there too, and that's when I saw the extent of her connection to Asuka.

To this day I can't play her well in Tekken itself at all, but I used to have so much fun playing her rushdown style in SFxT. A lot of her new Tekken 8 moves look like they gave her back some SFxT stuff so that she plays faster now; I'm hoping she'll be easier for me to use.

A song that reminds me of them

Amel Bent - Pardonnez-Moi

Clara Luciani - La Grenade

How many people I ship them with

Her lame boyfriend, her equally rock headed "Mon Coeur"

My favorite ship of them

AsuLili Nation Rise!!!

THEY CANONICALLY MET ONLY THREE TIMES LOLLL

I have to start by outlining how I see Lili's arc as a coming out narrative. She has a childhood where she fits into what's expected of her and within her family. Then during the start of adolescence, she has an experience (getting kidnapped for ransom in this case) that awakens a feeling she's never known before but it's thrilling, it feels part of her and it changes her outlook, her desires. This puts her at odds with her family and those old expectations, because this new desire clashes against their principles. She has to hide what she is in order to keep fitting in, because she still loves her family and wants to keep her position. She thinks she can have both if she keeps them separate and secret from each other.

Then she meets someone who can be open about sharing the same desire she does. And this person isn't just open about it, they embrace it and thrive in a way she feels she can't. There is jealousy and shock but also joy and exhilaration. There's finally someone who gets her, who's made of the same core she is in the drive they share. The pull is so strong eventually she leaves what's old and having to hide behind her to be around what allows her to embrace her true nature.

That is Lili's relationship with awakening to violence and martial arts, her relationship to Asuka, and the hiding it all from her father because of his disapproval. It shares the same beats LGBT stories face. She's gone from "in the closet" tip toeing around her father so she can fight, to "on the fence" meeting and having her perceptions shattered by Asuka, to "out" by leaving Dad's influence to fully embrace fighting and Asuka. It's not just about the homoerotic tension from fighting each other, it's also gay by how it aligns the situation into likely an unintentional allegory for LGBT experiences mixed with coming of age. So I don't think it's reading too much into it to say Lili is homosexual if you just go by what is in the Tekken games; to say nothing of how much gay material they put her in for crossovers or spin offs. Whether it was done on purpose or not, her narrative itself is gay.

And going by that it doesn't take much then to view her as being infatuated with Asuka. Not only as a fighter but physical attraction and from clashing against her personality. Asuka is special to her for being the one who finally broke her "perfect" world. By that metric alone Lili is not letting anyone harm or get in Asuka's way because in her eyes that is now someone important- like her Father or Sebastian.

I say this because like I mentioned in the Asuka essay, it feels as if her theatrics moving into Asuka's house and fixing her dojo is in fact a cover. We have prior history showing Lili despises Mishimas. It makes sense from many angles to stay close to someone your enemies can use as to block them off. It would mean they can't make a move on that person without you knowing immediately. It would mean if something does happen you can respond on the spot and at least put up a fight.

Not a single Mishima finger will touch Asuka Kazama nor will anything inconvenience her without Lili having the chance to intervene. She could care deeply for Asuka and her infatuation, or she could be simply saying 'My enemies won't take what she brings away from me'. More than likely it's both. In the worst case scenario which doesn't look like its gonna be canon to be honest, it could even mean 'I will humiliate her before the Mishimas can'. But again I don't think that makes sense and there's no solid indication for it. If she truly viewed Asuka as a "thing" she would discard her the same way she does her father's material gifts.

If she didn't like her on some level she would either ignore her or seek to eliminate her, given what she's done in T5 & T6 as well as her vengeful sadist streak against those she hates in 6. People who think Lili is hating Asuka did not pay attention to how she views Jin, or how she treated Lars. That is her hate at most and her venom at least. Asuka would already be dead or Lili would die trying if it was hate. She wouldn't make such an effort to act generous or playful/teasing at ALL; and as implied in her T8 machine translated bio, (from which I can confirm it does still say she bought the dojo with pocket money in JP) do so without telling her father yet again. Asuka is deathly important to her for one reason or another regardless of how you view her methods. Her "affections" as Sebastian points out are very clear.

Their three meetings so far were like trial runs. Lili gets a feel for Asuka and keeps being drawn to her over and over. She's attached and she attaches easily because she has no non familial company she doesn't pay to be around her. She may not even have entirely admitted it to herself yet (because of the problems recognizing her feelings much less exposing them), which may be controversial to say. But she's pulled by the drive to bond with her. It is still at the border between infatuation and falling in love, in my opinion. Lili views Asuka through the sense of what purpose they have in common, what ways Asuka will thrill her, through excitement and fascination. She hasn't seemed to realize she doesn't properly communicate with or understand Asuka as a full person.

So she chases that high of their similarities and first impressions and invests her strong emotions down that perception for now. I think though, given how loyal she is to loved ones, once she listens to and understands Asuka she will connect fiercely. The passion of the infatuation stage boils over to intense love and devotion. Lili is like a kicked puppy looking for meaning she's never had. To be seen in a way she's never been. I'm not surprised she doesn't know how to handle this situation in a normal way.

At least I hope repair and honesty is the angle the writers take. Otherwise this is all for nothing and wouldn't just waste the character, it'd drag Asuka's arc down further. There'd truly be no justification for Lili's character and why they bothered tying her to Asuka in the first place. There'd also be no way for Lili to redeem herself and the stress she's caused.

Though if I'm being fair to her, she has been remarkably mild actually. As far as canon goes all she's done is show up for one unofficial rematch, which is annoying but understandable. She goes home. Then when the Mishima's terror on the world grows too strong, when her own family is weakened by them, she goads Asuka to meet her through the only outlet they've had so she can announce the world is going to shit, Asuka could be forced into it, and she is here to give aid and stick around just in case. That's it.

The motives don't justify her manipulating Asuka (very poorly anyway) into the 7th Tournament; the methods and desires do have clear boundaries though. She's not trying to live up her ass 24/7 or constantly seeking to humiliate her every waking second. Fans are the ones who made that shit up and don't bother thinking about evidence. It's like talking to a wall and the wall can't fucking read anything other than a toddler shapes book. I can't tell how much is ignorance, stupidity, or actively projecting maliciousness (and their homophobia), but people twist their relationship to reactionary extremes that make little to no fucking sense. Or they interpret it entirely through exaggerated memes and surface impressions. Or some are just pedophiles fixed on porn of them. It's extremely frustrating.

EDIT 11/15/2023: I have been further vindicated on this!!!! Harada revealed Lili's mother is an awful person who treated her like shit and influenced Lili's personality. She modeled love and affection as something to be dangled and twisted.

Of course Lili treats Asuka the way she does and struggles giving her straight answers. Nobody ever did that for her. No one ever showed her love as something more than not being listened to and not doing much listening. She would ask for anything and get vague responses that barely matched what she expressed. Her voice was ignored and turned on her. This still doesn't excuse her!!! But now we can better understand everything she's done. It gives new subtext. This was a big reveal that explains so much and can help predicting what'll happen next.

Anyway AsuLili Gay Tom and Jerry, recognition of the self through the other, the homoeroticism, the repression, the stubborn draw toward one another. They have all that. They're so funny when you put them in a situation but under everything they'd complete each other. I said what I needed to say on that in Asuka's analysis. I hope Lili drops her entire guard around Asuka and leans on her, asks to be leaned on in return. Vive le sex gay etc etc.

The only thing that can match a gorilla is another, equally crazy gorilla. Their enemy is the same. And they'll regret ever fucking with them.

ALSO! DO NOT FORGET THAT LILI'S HIDDEN AFFECTION MECHANIC IN TT2 MEANS SHE'S INSTANTLY PISSED WHENEVER ASUKA TAKES DAMAGE!!!

I love you Netsu System <3

EDIT: I have to add that just as I said the same thing in my Asuka essay, nobody told Lili to do what she does. Nobody ever asks her to attempt looking out for them, her dad never says he wants her to fight to protect, avenge, or honor him. She does the exact same thing Asuka does; gives in to her emotions and uses them as an excuse to do what she wants. They are the same character lmao

My least favorite ship of them

I have seen people take her with Ganryu seriously...people would rather be homophobic and pedophilic just to put a girl with a man for any reason

A quote of them that you remember

"You surely don't believe you can beat me?"

(Tekken 8 has the BEST line read for that yet by far)

Your favorite outfit of them

Walk walk fashion baby

Your least favorite outfit of them

What the actual fuck was this; gross on every level, even Asuka doesn't want to look

Describe the character in one sentence

The Squall.

What’s the first thing you think about when thinking about the character?

My old friend, that bitch. 💖

Sexuality hc!

D SLUR D SLUR D SLUR D- (Lesbian, have you seen this bitch) QUEEN F*GGOT

If it's not that for whatever reason then it's Oui, avec des hommes...des femmes...avec d' autres...

Your favorite friendship they have

Lili technically has no friends per se. Sebastian works for her so there's always that hierarchy between them. Asuka is the closest thing she has to a friend if only because they keep each other's company among other things, but they don't talk about or do activities the way normal friends do. I do love the way Sebastian supports her no matter how ridiculous she gets, even against her Dad. She's like his child too in a way, that might be part of why he dotes on her aside from fulfilling the loyal butler trope. Lili not having friends despite being a trust fund baby though? What a loser! jdfikajdasj Pathetic little Minou; I'm sure this is contributing wonders to her psyche. The closest other person I can think of is when they paired her with Leo for the non canon online comic. Every time I've seen art with them together its always funny, so there's that lol.

Best storyline they had

It hasn't happened yet in my opinion, Tekken 8 feels like she's finally gonna get a proper plot and I'm hoping they give her something to shine in. I say that because like Asuka she doesn't really have a storyline, she's a character who makes one off appearances to serve as a convenience (giving Lars his SUV in 6) or is the one off rich girl trope. This is of course whenever she's not involved with Asuka- I find it so funny they've canonically only met three times??? Three times! Once when Asuka first beat her, again at Asuka's school to fight her then run home, and again at the 7th Iron Fist tourney. Outside of that she's twice tried to stop Mishimas from stressing her dad out but when it doesn't work she immediately gives up. That's pretty much it. She has a handful of events that happen to her worse than Asuka's track record for the same thing.

Worst storyline they had

Nothing applies because I feel like everything she's gotten has either built implications about her relationship to her father or her relationship to Asuka, or both. Or it builds on her disdain for Jin and Mishimas. The only possible exception is that comic where she moved in with Asuka, but that's moreso her poor characterization rather than the gag plotline itself. Speaking though of bad canon characterization, whatever hardcore sadist shit they were going for in T6 makes me uncomfortable whenever I see things from Scenario Campaign. It's very one note, too edgy, and she's 16 in that game so trying to make her sound like a violent killer crossed with a dominatrix who is practically **cumming** mid threatening dialogue is especially gross. It was her first game after T5 so they probably were testing what direction to take her character. I'm glad they moved away from that angle to be honest, but we can keep her hate for Jin, it's understandable and adds to her. A lot of that T6 dialogue makes her seem shallow and its hard to sift for what's insightful.

A childhood headcanon

Did not eat worms or take risks and tussle outside all day long. Wished she could though beneath conforming to normalcy, and that subconscious desire for something daring became her drive for battle when it awakened.

What do you think their first word was?

Money, unironically, because she'd heard her dad use that word enough times coming home from meetings. Everyone looked at her and went Oh look she's truly his little heiress already thinking of business! sjfkjfksjf

How do you think they were as a kid? (Like, were they shy, noisy, wild, etc)

Spoiled little shit getting lots of material things, having her way as long as she could still look perfect for her family, and being doted on in the sense of a show dog. Also already proud of what her family is supposed to represent with their status even if she's too young to understand it, because adults keep telling her how successful the De Rocheforts are. More than likely acted out often for attention whenever trying to be perfect didn't get her affection she wanted.

I imagine her parents were busy with the business, especially her Dad since she's constantly trying to do things that he'll praise and notice her for. Rather than spend much quality time he tries buying her off with expensive things she doesn't care about. He probably does love her for her to have that attachment at all (or she thinks being given the slightest of his attention is enough to make him great in her eyes because that attention is so rare), but because he's busy and strict about what values she should have, he's distant and can't connect to who she is as a person due to his own morals.

As a kid she wouldn't understand all this, so it created this crisis of trying to please others while being herself, thinking she has to do something great or extraordinary to have value. It's not enough for her to exist and be loved, love has to be earned by increasingly drastic acts. If she proves herself over and over then finally she'll be worth accepting and staying around for.

The isolation, expectations, and perfectionism that fuck her up later would start early. Sebastian would've been the only adult she could count on for unconditional familial-like love; but because she internalized not expressing care directly she doesn't always know how to express that back to him the way he does for her.

The most random ship you've seen people have with them

JIN? HELLO? JIN? THE GROWN MAN SHE HATES FOR A VARIETY OF REASONS? THAT JIN? JIN?

A weird headcanon

Collecting dolls and plushies itself is not weird, but she arranges her collection in dioramas and protection circles around her room and bed. Every day and night. Walking into her room is like having an army stare you down; she's overly attached to them in this sense because she has no human friends. When she initially moved in with Asuka in my fic, Asuka had her sleep in a futon on the floor; the plushies guard that thing 24/7. She's still quite childish and lonely like that.

When do you think they were at their happiest?

Every time she sees Asuka; every time she thinks about Asuka the longer they know each other. Briefly whenever she succeeds in getting her father's positive attention. Every time Sebastian has looked out for her before she realized she needed the support. She appreciates him enough to have taught him some of her fighting style for Tag 2 if I remember right. I'm sure even if she doesn't always say it, she's happy when she feels he understands her. 

When do you think they were at their lowest?

Also Tekken 6 like Asuka, but I want to extend this to include the short time gap before T7. She has already failed at winning any glory for her father in a pathetically short lived attempt during T5. Asuka is fixed in her mind not just for revenge but because failing to advance thanks to her, meant failing the father she loves when she wanted to do good by him. Then suddenly the Mishima Zaibatsu takes everything from them. Effectively holds them hostage to use their oil for their global wars over utter bullshit they can't resolve between themselves. Lili is rendered powerless once again at helping her father, even his health fails. Consumed with rage she runs off to stop at nothing to kill Jin if he will not relinquish what he's stolen. Again she fails.

There's no hope left and no way out, except for one last bet. If she can't yet save her father she can still do something for Asuka Kazama. Thus starts Tekken 7 with a Lili who's probably holding back all that rage and fear to look cool in front of the one person she thinks she has left to impress.

If T6 Lili sounds familiar to Asuka's arc, I really think they did that on purpose. Make them lose everything over and over; render them powerless despite their might. Drain all happiness save for the will to meet tomorrow.

Future headcanon

Does not succeed the Rochefort empire but passes that role on to someone else so she can stay with/around Asuka and help her. She still technically has access to the family money but she uses it to fund whatever Asuka needs, for philanthropy, and invests that further into supporting martial arts which is her true calling. Succeeding her father's position is never something she actually seems to care about as opposed to maintaining his health and honor. If she fights for the company it's only because she cares about him not the business itself. And because their morals and philosophies are at odds, Lili would probably think it better for her father's legacy if someone else who could do the job right took on his burdens. As opposed to her, who loves him but doesn't see eye to eye with him including professionally. Despite their differences she'd want him to be comfortable in retirement.

I think eventually she expands her fighting style moving from jetting to street fights and tourneys into formal training. She hops around from school to school devoting years to different styles- Feng Wei but without the need to conquer other dojos and become the most powerful ever. Sebastian of course is there serving and helping until whenever he would pass on, because he cares for her personally. If she and Asuka aren't married or a couple then they still remain in touch, still rivals but out of mutual affection and testing each other's skill this time. She loves pop music too so maybe using her nepo baby status to snag a recording gig and see if that fits her lol.

What do you think is a secret they have that they never told anyone?

Like Asuka, any time she doubts or is afraid because she's just as proud and will rebuke anyone coming close to guessing her true feelings. Also secrets like how much she loves those close to her, the full details of her feelings on them.

When do you think they acted the most ooc

That entire online comic where they originally had her move in with Asuka. Horrid. Completely tipped her character over to the creepy irredeemable controlling stalker who sexually harasses Asuka and gropes her because Haha She's Gay And Lesbians Prey On Women! They don't know what No means! Everything about her was stripped back for the sake of a homophobic stereotype as a punchline. And the assault "gags" weren't even attempting to be darkly funny gags they were just creepy; then on top of all that they still found a way to sexualize Lili with things like explicit crotch shots and shit. When I see people like it just because Lili does overtly gay things I throw up in my mouth a little, how do you not think when looking at it eugh. Lili is not in the right for pestering Asuka but she still has her limits and straightforward reasons for it, rather than being a complete caricature.

When do you think they were being "themselves" the most?

The short conversation about her "affections", Asuka's T7 ending, complimenting Sebastian, all of her T8 trailer interactions counting her intro (it was cute seeing her try to dismiss caring for Salt when she faces her opponent, as well as her little smile and the subtle shift in her eyes when taunting Asuka- it feels affectionate rather than intimidating), threatening to kill Lars if he doesn't kill Jin, being sad she couldn't fight Asuka in T6, and demanding Jin restore De Rochefort Enterprises. All of these involve her guard being lowered and her emotions coming out away from her Cool Sassy Bitch demeanor. The front has been fun but I want to see more of this heart on her sleeve Lili in the future, at least around those she cares about.

The look I give girls when I "hate" them and don't want to tongue them silly and am NOT in love with everything about them and I would HATE if I showed them La Petit Mort because I don't want her carnally and I'm NOT thinking about taking her last name in sickness and health:

Side note do you think one of Lili's moments in T8 is gonna be asking Lars why the fuck Jin isn't dead yet, when she EXPLICITLY asked that twunk be obliterated. I want to see it.

If they could meet a character from another show/movie/etc, who

would be the most fun for them to meet?

Ok I feel bad but I can't think of anyone I may edit this answer

The most unnecessary thing they ever did?

BLOWING UP A LIMO TO REJOICE IN THE GLORY OF COMBAT

How do you think they would be as a parent? (and if they are a parent, how do you think they would be if they weren't?)

That child is getting spoiled their entire life; even long after they're an adult what Lili sees first is her cute little baby. She buys them things but emotionally she's also got a pretty overbearing streak with wanting them safe and happy. She doesn't read it as this or see the problem it can be though until it makes her kid lash out and feel suffocated. I feel like even with Asuka if you were to point out to Lili her overbearing side when it comes to caring for others, she takes it as a personal attack/failure because to her it's like, "Well would you rather I not care about you? I care so it justifies most of my behavior." She doesn't quite understand yet that's not how that works. People need independence and are allowed their own responses to your actions. That you can hurt people by not allowing them control over themselves.

It's difficult for her to remember moderation. It would be easy to see where this comes from because on one hand she grew up at odds with her father so she doesn't want to repeat that. On the other hand she also grew up wanting his affection and approval for many things, so she thinks she'll receive that same loyalty by being so dedicated on her end. She's doting in a very lofty sense and her child's honest perspective would need to bring her back down to earth when she gets to be too much. They'd be closer once she accepts not smothering them.

But also I think Lili would be perfectly fine raising a cat or two with Asuka, rather than them having a baby necessarily so it can go either way lol Realistically they probably do just stick to pampered pets, like Salt. Lili's attitude then would be something like "Why do we need children when we have sweet angels right here!" *hugging the life out of all their pets*

She tries to convince Asuka they can take care of a bear once; Asuka nearly has a heart attack. They do not get a bear.

The funniest scene they had?

All of it. She's a professional clown. BUT my favorite is her T5 ending. "I have protected Daddy's earnings by destroying his competition!" *triggers an economic collapse bankrupting her family*

[becomingpart2]

i accidentally stumbled across zalrb's blog when i went through the boys tag and she's STILL writing essays about tvd??? in the year of our lord 2022?? i'm sorry but that's mentally ill behavior 🤣

Lolll I mean I guess people are still asking her about it but damn doesn't it get tiring lol what else is there to say about that show? I think everything there was to be said has already been said. If de fans want to be wrong then let them be wrong lol. There are just so many more interesting and actually layered tv shows to waste time talking about but 🤷🏾‍♀️

[westwiiind]

This has been in my brain for like two years but idk why i’ve seen so many people complain about toothless’ prosthetic tail in thw. Like do you people really not comprehend that hiccup giving toothless the ability to fly again is not just the biggest sacrifice he could ever make but also the greatest gift he could ever give him. Rip to ppl who are too emotionally immature to recognize how important that is but I’m different

[roseurer]

I sent a text to one of my friends like basically a week ago and I have a feeling I'm not gonna get anything back for a while....

[seoafin]

Hello!!

I'm back again with another ask, I'm just very excited to see a blog that interprets Gojou in the same manner as me (lol I think I follow like 4 blogs for Gojou content) and writes him in a manner that I really vibe with and such! Also! I know my asks are long so please don't feel the need to answer right away, take your time!!

Yes, yes! I do think that Gojou is introspective, but he's just so round about and awkward when it comes to expressing his emotions, pls he's so sad and pathetic (affectionate) (altho! I think this aspect of him makes him very human in a story that emphasizes his power and god-likeness so much, y'know?)

And omg yes! HS Gojou would have been the biggest tsundere!! I completely agree with you there!! Pls he would be all loud and jokey and just an overall menace to you, but inside, his heart is beating like crazy, and his brain cells are fighting for their lives, it takes his all his will power to not combust LOLLL pls he's so ridiculous, I love him 🥺

Gojou being extra touchy and clingy my beloved 💗 I just know that Gojou is soooo touch starved, and that when reader breaks down his walls, and is physically affectionate with him, he like descends into the clouds, he would become so addicted to their touch, and being without it would be torture for him (lol I think I could write like a whole essay on Gojou being touched stared 😭) and he would be so whiny and pouty when you don't give him attention, a whole man child honestly LMFAO

LOL your tag about shoujo always having a special place in your heart is ASHGAFIOBHADF, cuz SAME, I've read so many shoujo manga, and watched so many kdramas and 90s bollywood movies that have just filled my brain with romantic fantasies LMAOASLAFB And I think it is very apparent because the very first fic that I wrote for Gojou a few months ago was soo shoujo-esque in its just overall vibes, and even the one I'm working on right now has like shojou-esque vibes and scenes, and even when I draw Gojou, I draw him in a shoujo-esque manner (I had a moot tag a sketch of him as shoujo gojo LOL) anyways all of this is to say is that I totally support your shoujo agenda, and that Gojou should be written as the lovesick and insane and obsessive and pathetic male lead of a shoujo manga 💗

Ahhh I'm glad you liked my dad Gojou drawing!! He is very dear to me, and while I think that Dad Gojou would not be a perfect father, he would do his best, and make sure that his children feel very loved and adored ASKJAS idk if Gege will give Gojou a happy ending, but in my little ame-universe, I will give him a happy and loving family and a thousand happy endings and more 🥺💗(LOL I have fully accepted and embraced the fact that I am SOFT for Gojou ALIFOBJADG)

Also your tag about 'gojo's breeding kink > gojo' like no you're right, I get it and totally agree with you there AVHDOIBHDBALBFDBHDB

Also thank you for explaining the pun! I found it really interesting, and now I'm just sitting here and wondering if Gojou is just walking around making puns all the time, and if that is another reason added to Megumi's growing list of why he finds Gojou annoying LOL (altho on a serious note, I wish the official english translations included this note because I think something as small as this adds to Gojou's overall character especially since Gege I think does a really good job of showing his characters in a few lines, but alas, 😭)

Ahhh this ask also got out of control LOL but thank you for listening to me rant about Gojou! I'm having a lot of fun talking about him with you!! 🥺💗

the two of us talking about gojo is literally that clown to clown communication meme i have somewhere in my phone gallery

i think especially when it comes to love hs gojo was like. i will just Not Think About It. and then proceeds to do the worst thing ever to sabotage his chances of ever getting together (rip!mc is oblivious but gojo is also 100% at fault) like it's honestly CLOWN behavior how much he pretends he's not affected by anything but he IS and he makes a fool out of himself everytime!!!!

i feel like clingy touch starved gojo is the one thing the fandom CAN come to a consensus on and it's hilarious bc i bet he is so unbearable about it and makes it everyone's business how much he misses his s/o to the point where they're like just go.

also sooo true about shoujo manga. i think we SHOULD romanticize this man to make him bearable. make him smitten. make him pathetic. make him your poor little meow meow. as a treat. "Gojou should be written as the lovesick and insane and obsessive and pathetic male lead of a shoujo manga" so true bestie so true. i knew we were kindred spirits when you said that in your first ask amen.

and yes!!!!! your drawing definitely had shoujo vibes it was adorable!!!!!! gojo would NOT be a perfect dad i agree but he would try his best so he gets points for that ig.....

[hanijunk]

Alright boys, girls, and nonbinary folks of the world. It’s 5:36am (1/30 when I first started) as I decide to give up on my attempt to continue to focus on learning statistics, avoid studying for my two upcoming midterms, and put off my two actual essays for two different classes.

Instead we’re going into a dive about ✨ KazuFuuma ✨ . Is this me telling you you gotta ship it? No of course not, you’re entitled to your own ships! You don’t really gotta care about it as a ship. But I do want people to recognize it’s THERE canonically, and how disregarding it is extremely unfair to Kazuki as a character particularly. Also, I’m working on the assumption anyone clicking this at least knows the bare bones about what KazuFuuma (ex. You know they are a ship of Kazuki/Fuuma from Dolce, you know they are childhood friends, you know who Dolce is, you know about Honeyworks, etc.) I’ll be making references to specific things, but I won’t always go into heavy detail. Might just hope you know it or take my word for what it is, and go into analyzing it. Some I’ll put direct references to find, but some I’ll trust you can find it yourself. If you somehow read this MAMMOTH and want reference to a specific thing mentioned, hmu I can help you find it!!

Also I hate tumblr formatting sm if you legit wanna read this 7 page essay but hate tumblr format lmk I'll add it as a google doc link instead too. anYWHO

Before actually getting into the meat of things lemme preface some stuff.

Again it’s like almost 6am so this will be disorganized and very train of thought (and likely long due to the fact when I fly by the seat of my pants I’m known to get unnecessarily extensive). It’s definitely gonna be in large part why it’s important to recognize as a romantic relationship foundation and what about it shapes Kazuki’s character in particular. Maybe a bit of how it’s been built up and its general focus and implications. Dunno yet. We’ll see LMAOO

I say f*ck. Not a lot, just a handful of times. This ain’t something scholarly this is for my own enjoyment so if you don’t like that might not wanna read. And it’s not like spitefully I just curse a lot if you haven’t...read my tags before lol

Again this is through the lens of a Kazuki stan. Of COURSE I’m going to have some level of bias, but if anything that bias may help more than hurt because that means I become FIXATED and think a lot about Kazuki. Which plays into establishing just how important it is that Kazufuuma’s relationship is recognized, especially in a romantic light at this point. Lmfao. 

I’ll have a few more prefaces about the actual content below but to keep this from getting too long if you wanna read come below the cut owo

I have extremely limited knowledge of Japanese just taking a few classes in highschool (so like 3 yrs ago) and live in America. This means a lot of my knowledge is gathered through the english translations of the super duper incredible and lovely people in the Honeyworks fandom who provide translations (delaix and takanenene esp have provided so much for me being able to understand Dolce) and my own limited Japanese paired with Google Translate for things that remain untranslated.

This only will be drawing on information I have come in contact with and have access to and making assumptions based on that, most (if not all) of which is in the public domain. So things like the Dolce Manga Volumes released via Animate, exclusive 4komas, and Light Novels are out of my area for the most part (apart from again snippets of translations thanks to this fandom’s godlike and generous translators).

I will not be drawing on anything from the first Dolce album with the exception of Nade Nade. From a meta standpoint, I consider those songs as songs made as performance media as opposed to character explorations. Nade Nade is the exception because (1) it was released a whole year before the album and (2) you can tell it’s explicitly an exploration of Fuuma and Kazuki’s interpersonal relationship even if it’s in a slightly more performance based context than the songs that came out with the Dolce LNs. Easiest parallel I can make to show this is if you held Non-Fantasy, Yume Fanfare, and Samishigariya up against each other, you could tell the difference in intended audience and intended purpose the same way the Dolce 1st album, Nade Nade, and the songs of the LNs do respectively. Even if there is some basis to ground Kazufuuma, for the purposes of this essay I’ll be acting under the assumption the 1st album falls under the Non-Fantasy equivalent category.

THAT WAS A LOT OF PREFACING CONSIDERING LIKE 2 PPL WILL PROBABLY READ IT I just have a tendency to anytime I do anything analytical lay down ground acknowledgements for myself to work on just...cuz it makes me feel less guilty for any accidental misinformation even if I’m writing towards my future self to read lolll IM SORRY WITHOUT FURTHER TO DO HERE’S THE BRAIN DUMP

First let’s go ahead and establish why it needs to be recognized as an important relationship. Again, I’m a Kazuki stan. He’s my favorite character not only of Dolce but also of the entire Honeyworks series, and as much as I love him for reasons outside the ship, whether you like it or not Kazufuuma is an essential aspect of his character and narrative. Of course there’s the fact that him and Fuuma are childhood friends, so that’s going to in part define their characters and interactions with each other and those around them. They’re both going to be relevant to one another and important to one another’s stories to an even greater extent than the rest of the members of Dolce. But on Kazuki’s side at least, it’s an EXTREME amount. A running plotpoint in Dolce Diary is the sheer amount of dedication Kazuki has to Fuuma and how much his thoughts and decisions are influenced by Fuuma, whether it be how he feels happiest spending time with Fuuma, how he decided to get his piercing to represent he wanted to protect Fuuma, how he doesn’t want to dislike food so he can eat what Fuuma dislikes, etc. Not to mention running jokes about his borderline overprotectiveness and downright possessiveness of Fuuma, how proud he is when Fuuma gets praised, or that one 4koma that literally explicitly states he can read Fuuma’s mind when he thinks motherfucking ‘dirty thoughts’ about his childhood friend (Fuuma). I still don’t know what the fuck to make of that last bit. Genuinely. Or the fact it’s a fucking running joke. As in it’s not a one off. It’s been brought up multiple times. Kazuki what the fuck. 

That’s not to say that he doesn’t have character outside of Fuuma or he doesn’t interact with people other than Fuuma. He’s great friends with Sara, Girisha, and Kippei and is shown time and time again to have fun interactions with all of them, generally acting as the best support friend for every member of the group, not Fuuma alone. For instance how he helps Kippei with his self confidence issues or stays over at Sara’s to protect him from a cockroach (which he fails at lol). Nor is that to say all his interactions involving Fuuma focus solely on his devotion to Fuuma, especially in instances where the manga focuses on Dolce as a group dynamic (though even in that setting there are times where jokes about his devotion are thrown in). He’s kind, he’s stupid, he’s friendly, he’s an amazing character in his own right, and I love him for all those reasons. But that doesn’t change the fact a major part of his character and his character interactions are rooted in Fuuma, and arguably some of his most interesting, eccentric, and notable behaviors and traits revolve around Fuuma (again the mind reading for example).

Hell let’s take it one step further. If you look at the character bios of the Dolce members, you get everyone’s motives for being an idol and interests. Of them, Kazuki is the only one to have another character mentioned directly, not to mention that supporting Fuuma is explicitly stated to be his primary motive as to why he became an idol. Not even Fuuma’s sister is mentioned, though two arguments can be made for this. The first would be that Fuuma’s backstory about wanting to fulfill his dream for himself and his sister was decided later to explain Fuuma’s choice to crossdress though it can be argued it was intentionally done to leave it as a reveal at a later date, to which I would argue I don’t think this backstory was a choice in post. While Fuuma’s dedicated Dolce Diary extra exploring that backstory was released a little less than a year after Dolce was revealed, the preview to set up Fuuma’s backstory was actually the first thing released after the character bios on the Dolce Official Twitter page if you exclude a drawing of Dolce from Yamako. The second argument could be that information about his sister was intentionally withheld to set up the reveal when Fuuma’s extra released to explore it. However, going by that logic (which I do agree with), that would also mean that Fuuma’s inclusion and importance in Kazuki’s character bio also set up his dedicated extra, which I don’t think would be incorrect to assume considering what his actual extra turned out being.

Which brings me to the thing that makes it inexplicable to write off the romantic implications behind Kazufuuma: Kazuki’s dedicated Dolce Diary extra, Suki. I shipped Kazufuuma before even knowing of Suki, sure. But the fact that Suki even exists is a shock to me and drove into me the fact that Kazufuuma wasn’t just my own projection. Again, it’s not a surprise that Fuuma shapes Kazuki’s life. They’re childhood friends, of course they’re going to be important to each other. But this extra explicitly brought Kazuki’s feelings towards Fuuma under a direct spotlight. At first I was thinking oh, this extra was just to acknowledge the fact that Kazuki and Fuuma’s relationship can have romantic implications, but the end of it the conclusion that we got was that it didn’t matter what type of “like” he felt for Fuuma. Originally, I thought it wasn’t anything more than saying there are all types of like, and it doesn’t always need to be explicitly defined, but I appreciated the fact they were aware that they were writing Kazuki in a way that conveyed romantic implications. 

Then I thought about it because, again, I love Kazuki of course I’m going to think about his character extra, and realized...that’s not how these character extras have worked. There are only three character extras out as far as I know and have read: Fuuma, Kippei, and Kazuki. If we look at Fuuma and Kippei’s, each extra had a conclusion, sure, but they didn’t have a resolution. Rather, they were simply setting up explicitly what each character’s primary character arc and conflict were. Fuuma’s extra brought attention to the fact that he’s particularly a crossdressing idol by exploring the motives behind it. His choice to be a crossdressing idol is constantly under fire both by himself and the world around him. He’s not immune to those who consider his crossdressing strange, and a part of his story is both finding people who accept his decision to crossdress and to succeed for himself as a crossdressing idol. It’s an essential part of how we understand and define him as a character and it’s a central part of how he interacts with the world around him. For Kippei, it lays the severity of his insecurity under the spotlight and his journey and motives for improving himself. Again, this isn’t something isolated and resolved in the extra; his extreme insecurity and negativity is constantly affecting how he interacts with practically everyone from his fellow Dolce members to his fans despite the fact in all honesty? He’s fucking insanely talented in his own right, his own brother mentioning how smart he is and how he has amazing reflexes. For Kippei, his negativity is an essential part of how we understand and define him and central to how he interacts with the world as much as Fuuma’s decision to crossdress is to him.

Which brings us back to Kazuki, of course. In his dedicated extra, in the chapter that’s supposed to explore and establish and bring attention to an essential part of his character, the aspect of himself under investigation is how he feels about Fuuma. It’s not just how he behaves around Fuuma, it’s explicitly an exploration of his feelings, on top of the fact it’s explicitly an exploration about whether or not he likes Fuuma r o m a n t i c a l l y. Literally the conflict is spurred on by someone outright asking “Do you like him?” and having to clarify “I mean romantically.” What they decided to focus on for Kazuki’s character and emphasize and establish is that Kazuki’s like towards Fuuma toes the line between friendship and romance. His ambiguous feelings towards Fuuma (if we leave them inconclusive as Suki did) are just like Fuuma’s crossdressing and Kippei’s insecurity in the sense the weight of whatever those feelings may be are seen in how he interacts with the world around him and influences his behaviors. It would be another story if they introduced the potential and shut it down all within the extra, because then his central conflict would to me be less directly open to romantic potential and more simply about how his arc was meant to explore the dynamic of the behavior of an extremely dedicated best friend. The fact that he may be romantically attracted to Fuuma or may be only platonically dedicated to Fuuma is instead something that looms over Kazuki in the same way Fuuma’s decision to crossdress constantly looms over him. It’s what Dolce wanted to point to and say this is Kazuki’s central character conflict and central arc: exploring what type of feelings he has towards Fuuma. 

Sure, it can be argued that there’s only three Dolce Diary character extras, there’s not enough to be sure about that being the purpose of the extras unless we get the other two’s extras. First, at this point I honestly don’t know if or when they’re going to release an extra revolving around Sara and Girisha just because not only has it been over a year and a half since the latest Dolce Diary Character Extra (Kazuki’s) was released despite the gap between the first and latest Dolce Diary Character Extra (Fuuma’s and Kazuki’s) were within a year of release but also because the Dolce 4komas and comics they’ve been posting to Twitter have decreased (last one being over half a year ago) potentially due to them deciding to focus on releasing Dolce manga content through the purchasable volumes instead. (This is not particularly related to the Kazufuuma argument, just wanted to put out there my two cents on what Sara and Girisha’s extra/focal arc would be. Based on a large part of the Dolce Diary in conjuncture with Can’t an Idol Fall in Love, I’d argue Sara’s would be his journey to regain his passion for performing, and if it’s not that I’d say it’d be coming out of his self-imposed isolation and opening up to people again. As for Girisha, I have less of a concrete idea but I’m assuming it’d be something pertaining to how people often misconceive him whether it be in tandem with his determination, his optimism and sociability, or his stupidity/ability to ignore those misconceptions and work past them. But Girisha is treated like the comedic relief 90% of the time so I’m not entirely sure, but his primary conflict is definitely rooted in misconceptions of him being his roadblock imo. #MoreGirishaContentPlz) That being said, I personally feel like the three are already enough evidence, especially considering it would be honestly even more cruel for Kazuki’s character-centric extra to be focusing on something that wasn’t essential to his character and character arc, anyway. And though it’s not explicitly stated that these chapters are extras exploring a central character, you can kind of tell based on how they are (to my knowledge) the only Dolce Diary updates with cover/title cards each which include their focal character front and center. So working off that fact, the Kazuki-centric chapter established that a pillar to his narrative was his feelings towards Fuuma and that those feelings are still open to romantic potential. 

But if you follow me, this is why up until Can’t an Idol Fall in Love With Another Idol’s release, I was terrified of them writing that off. I would have been ok if it was just an arc that was given attention then continued to actively work in the background, as all the character arcs have been over all of Dolce’s content. The fact that they might be giving Fuuma a love interest and giving Fuuma a love arc while Kazuki’s feelings were still up in the air and were still the primary highlighted narrative for him would have been fucking scuffed. To me, it would be like… why would they make him so Fuuma-centric to the point that even his dedicated chapter was not just focused on Fuuma but focused on the ambiguity and potential of him having romantic feelings for Fuuma, yet reduce him to being Fuuma's designated right-hand man. Don’t get me wrong, friendships are just as important as romantic relationships. But again, rather than conclude Kazuki’s answer in Suki to be that his feelings were of friendship, they left it open ended and allow audience members to be actively aware that Kazuki’s feelings towards Fuuma still had potential to be romantically coded. It would just be so weird to quickly close off that narrative by giving Fuuma a love interest as opposed to letting Kazuki conclude it himself. It would be fucking beyond frustrating for me, at least Eventually, I kept trying to drive my hopes that they would explore Kazuki’s narrative at all down to the ground because it was a Fuuma-centric novel; maybe if anything they’d explore those feelings in his own novel after the fact. But then they kept having little drops here and there of Kazuki being even the slightest bit relevant and I’d go back to questioning “Are??? They??? Is this on purpose??? Do they know what they’re doing or are they just doing this because Kazuki’s just so important to Fuuma as his best friend that he’s there as his right-hand I genuinely can’t tell???” And um. Welp.

Safe to say Can’t An Idol Fall in Love sold me on the fact that they know what they’re doing LOL. And to anyone who thinks that Kazuki’s feelings can still be read as ambiguous in CAIFILWAI as opposed to explicitly romantic - whether it be due to a fear they may pull the “I like him as a friend” card or due to the disbelief that they have an explicit mlm main character in the Honeyworks series - I’d like to cover any bases that may make you think this way. If you think it’s just Kazuki acting like a protective friend, why do you think he calls Yui a rival? If you’ve only seen the MV and think it’s ambiguous or can be taken as the "likfe" for friend, then does that mean you think Yui’s feelings toward Fuuma are also ambiguous or as a friend? With the way Yui responds, she is trying to rival Kazuki’s feelings towards Fuuma. She and Kazuki recognize whatever feeling it is that they hold towards Fuuma, both of their feelings are the same type. I don’t think most people would argue that Yui’s confession about Fuuma was one of pure respect and friendship. Plus, if anything I’d argue of the three characters in the MV, Fuuma is the one whose feelings are left the most ambiguous despite him being the central character. It’s heavily implied that he may be forming feelings for Yui, but nowhere is it established either in the song or in the MV, especially if you compare it to Kazuki and Yui’s declarations or if you compare it to Sara’s feelings for Uru in Can’t An Idol Fall in Love. Fuuma’s romantic narrative here is trying to figure out how he feels for Yui, while for Kazuki and Yui they’ve established a rivalry because they both have mutually established they like Fuuma romantically.

If the MV isn’t enough for you and Suki isn’t enough for you for...some reason…??? You can check out the snippets of the light novel which the wonderful takanenene translated: one which revisits the conflict set up in Suki and one that covers the confession scene in the MV in more detail. If the fact that the conflict set up in Suki (aka the lurking feeling of not knowing if all he felt for Fuuma was only platonic or more than platonic) was specifically reestablished in the LN for anyone who didn’t keep up with Dolce Diary didn’t tip you off that it was something important, his behavior in the confession scene as depicted by the LN definitely should have. He’s possessive about his spot by Fuuma’s side. He doesn’t want that spot to be taken by anyone else. Even if he knows that they can help Fuuma, he wants it to be him. And this line: “Kazuki then trails off his words, quietly saying ‘That’s why…’ and then gave Yui a slightly painful smile, his cheeks turning red,” before he declares Yui a rival and states he likes Fuuma. If you can tell me you read that line and are still on the fence about Kazuki’s “like” towards Fuuma being romantic, please message me and I will see how I can get through to you. Like it wasn’t even just a romantically coded confession. It’s just a romantic confession. That “like” is romantic. And I’m so proud that he’s not only come to understand for himself how he feels, but that he’s confident enough to ask the person he sees as a romantic rival to speak in private and not only clarify her feelings for Fuuma but before she can even do that firmly establishes that he loves Fuuma with conviction. Kazuki my boy I’m so proud of you. *sniffs*

And that’s it for establishing Kazufuuma as at least canonically one-sidedly canon and why there’s not only no reason to deny it but also why denying it is a fucking disrespectful move towards Kazuki. He’s a character, sure, but that doesn’t change the fact you shouldn’t write off his struggle to come to be convicted enough to say it out loud. This has been something weighing on him at least a year, if not more (all I know is it started when both he and Fuuma were in some year in middle school). And as a character in a piece of media, I’ve been saying this the entire time, but brushing it off as non-romantic is literally chucking a fucking pillar of his character’s story into the gutter. And to those who may be saying Kazuki’s confession came out of nowhere and is pandering reread this entire fucking essay again I dare you to do it and tell me to my face it’s pandering. Again. Writing off the buildup as pandering is disrespectful to him, disrespectful to his character and narrative, and disrespectful to the wonderful people who have been creating Dolce so diligently and have crafted this narrative for us. Saying his “supposed feelings” and “ambiguous confession” is pandering is like saying Fuuma’s crossdressing is pandering which. If you say either of those I will find you and I will shank you in the fucking gut. Even if you’re not fully into Dolce, recognize these characters are actually very well developed and executed amazingly, as per every Honeyworks character that has come to exist. I don’t blame you if you weren’t aware of the weight of Kazufuuma, but now that you read this I hope you are. That’s mainly what I needed to get out there, but as follows will be me more exploring how Kazufuuma has been built up and generally waving my hand off at where it may be going. If you want you can dip, thanks for reading up to here because I know I repeated a lot because it’s just. So important to drill into your head and has been something I’ve been hung up about constantly. LOL

As for where exactly they’re taking it from this point on, I honestly don’t know. In all honesty, I didn’t even expect them to take it the direction they did. But honestly, I think the direction they went with it is really interesting and better than I could have imagined, in my opinion at least. Honeyworks never ceases to amaze me with their storytelling and narrative choices, and I don’t think there’s any that stand out to me as being severely questionable that they haven’t reapproached at some point down the line. And, again, I think they’re treating this with a lot of care and deserved respect. So I’m just gonna be gushing about how smart they set it up and how smart they’ve been executing it and maybe my own hopes on the direction it could go.

Whether they make Kazufuuma reciprocated I have no real clue or bearings, but to me my gut reaction is they will. Of course, I’m biased, but again if you trace things all the way back to 2018 and step through Dolce’s content and growth from there, I’d say even if they didn’t know if they could execute it like this and see it to fruition, I’d argue that Kazufuuma has been at least heavily implied since the beginning as a relationship they wanted to explore from both sides of the relationship. Obviously I brought up Kazuki’s character bio already, but if you look at the *goes to count* 5th Dolce Diary update already has a joke jabbing at the fact that Kazuki is technically Fuuma’s type (and the way Kippei and Kazuki excitedly react is so cute). The fifth update. And as stated before there are tons of Kazufuuma moments in Dolce Diary, whether it’s played for comedic effect or played straight (and this is post Suki but oh my god I’ve said it before I’ll say it again get yourself someone who looks at you the way Kazuki looks at Fuuma oh my jesus). But song-wise, I mentioned the one Dolce album song I would bring up is Nade Nade and this is where it comes! 

Not only is Nade Nade specifically focused on Kazuki and Fuuma’s relationship as opposed to the whole of Dolce despite being the first song, it included the setup/preview of the Fuuma-centric extra prior to the full release of the Fuuma-centric extra itself and was released early as fuck. Literally between the 6th and 7th update to Dolce Diary. Sure, it could be to isolate them as a duo for marketing purposes (they’re very often the two promoted idols together if the whole of the group aren’t included), but the way it’s established as a perspective song as opposed to a general idol duet is what fascinates me. Anyone who didn’t know about Dolce prior and only followed Honeyworks for music would be first introduced to these characters through this song alone, and maybe this is where my Kazufuuma bias comes from but I was one of those people LOL. I thought it was just a cute one-off relationship that they had set up for the purpose of a song and that it was an implied friends-to-lovers story that would never get a conclusion. Also I mistakenly thought Fuuma was a girl oop-. In the full context of Dolce, this song in part helped establish Fuuma and Kazuki more solidly as a unique duo out of all of Dolce, but it also specifically explored through Fuuma’s eyes just how much Fuuma recognizes and appreciates the unwavering support Kazuki gives him to follow his dreams as he wishes. For Fuuma, he loves Kazuki too, though whether it holds any romantic potential in the same way Kazuki loves him has never been explored to nearly the same extent. But Fuuma appreciates how Kazuki’s remained by his side and does everything he can to support him, so Nade Nade explores how his way of expressing his love and thankfulness to Kazuki is by never saying that he needs Kazuki by his side. He’s glad Kazuki’s always been there for him, and his reciprocation takes on the form of being ready to unwaveringly support Kazuki and not ask for more than he already has, even if it meant Kazuki would be leaving his side, despite the fact that he really does wish they could remain together forever just as Kazuki does. The one point he lets himself say something vaguely close to always wanting to stay together, he gets a surprised expression out of Kazuki and says an ambiguous “suki dayo.” Of course, this it much less romantically coded than what we get from Kazuki in Suki and CAIFILWAI, but there is an interesting emphasis put on it nonetheless. Keep in mind, this is all established through the song, which released long before not only Fuuma’s character-centric extra released but also Kazuki’s character-centric extra released, so there is at least a substantial setup for Fuuma’s feelings towards Kazuki’s being strong as well and possibly grow to be reciprocated one day.

I think for me the most fascinating part about Nade Nade is how they tied it back around to Can’t An Idol Fall In Love with Another Idol. Again, without remembering Nade Nade, I still thought CAIFILWAI was brilliantly explored and executed, even if some people would have preferred no love triangle. But honestly, revisiting Nade Nade makes me trust even more the direction they’re taking with this. Whether or not they make Kazufuuma canon mutually (which. Even if they for some inexplicable reason didn’t I’m going down with this ship.), I’m sure they’re putting a lot of thought into the story, because the last bit of Nade Nade directly parallels the misunderstanding that arose from Fuuma mishearing the Kazuki and Yui. Fuuma is resolved to support Kazuki in any area he’s given the chance, and that explicitly includes if Kazuki had some girl he liked, which is what he assumes is going on. The fact that they tied this back around in the form of a misunderstanding was really really smart and Honeyworks is always so good at parallels and references back to their older songs, but for some reason I didn’t expect this. I don’t know how to say why, but the fact that the song that started it all, kicked off both Dolce and Kazufuuma, was directly referenced both visually in the MV with a cameo at the start and narratively despite the central dynamic being predominantly explored in this story in particular was that of Fuuma and another potential love interest and involves said potential love interest for some reason makes me think that (sorry Yui) this is all planned out for Kazufuuma in the grand scheme of things. That being said, I don’t know if me thinking it was planned all along is just me with shipper goggles, but the idea it’s come full circle nearly 3 years later is not shipper goggles and a very very well done parallel in my opinion, whether this trajectory was their plan for Kazufuuma from the beginning or not. Just wanted to gush about that some more. 

There’s more I could go into especially if I went into specific details about interactions or specific implications established in Honeyworks' Dolce content about different characters that would be fascinating to explore in relation to and under the lens of Kazufuuma, but I think this is uh...plenty long enough. Plus, I doubt you'll stop seeing Kazufuuma posts from me so those ideas will probably just be miniposts or somethin.

Back to the overarching point of this segment, idk what they’ll do with this story in the end, but do I think Kazufuuma will canon? I’m used to looking at ships that aren’t explicitly apparent with a sliver of skepticism, but all things considered (as I stated before) yeah. I don’t see reason why they wouldn’t now that they’ve explicitly identified there is a romantic dimension to it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Like to me, the setup isn’t something that would be written off as unrequited? And this doesn’t have to play into why I don’t think it will canon, my personal opinion on the Fuuyui relationship (again albeit through the lens of a hard Kazufuuma shipper lmao) has it’s own merits and is really cute, I find it cute in the way I found Koyuhina cute. I personally never really shipped Koyuhina, and especially since they slipped Kotarou into Ima Suki Ni Naru I was more curious about who this kid was and how he played into things I didn’t really see Koyuhina as something that would come to fruition. Similarly, there’s more importance in the overall sense on Kazuki than there is Yui (considering he’s one of the 5 original and focal members of this generation of idols, this would be natural), as well as the fact there’s just way more foundation and exploration in Fuuma and Kazuki’s relationship than there is Fuuma and Yui. As for how much of a balance there is inside the LN itself, the fact that they seem to have spent a substantial amount relaying the foundation of Fuuma and Kazuki’s relationship and re-exploring it (at least in Kazuki’s perspective) at all on top of how much content there is covering their relationship prior to the LN ever since Dolce’s origin just feels like that relationship holds more weight. Pretty much Kazufuuma feels more established as a priority in general. The way I personally hope Fuuyui plays out is whether they wind up holding mutual feelings or not or whether Fuuma doesn’t feel that way towards Yui is they get a relationship akin to Kotarou and Arisa. Albeit, Kotarou and Arisa never viewed each other in a romantic light, but they had mutual respect and solidarity. That’s the type of friendship I hope comes out of Fuyui. And considering there hasn’t been a break-up in any Honeyworks’ canon relationships (nor do I expect there to be… they’re all perfect for each other LMAO) it would actually be interesting if Fuuyui get together but don’t endgame and Kazufuuma is established as the inseparable endgame after some realization or another, though I don’t expect them to go that route nor do I know if that’d be the best way to go about it anyway. Also final point, Honeyworks seems to have a thing for childhood friends trope anyway soooooo owo All in all, don’t know where they’re taking it, just excited to see where it goes. 

TL;DR of this *counts* 7 page essay, stan Kazufuuma. Not gonna proof this. Maybe I’ll edit and repost but yall are getting a confusing clusterfuck of ramblings over 2-3 hr periods of me writing across 3 different days at around 5am each day. Uh. If you got this far like and subscribe and-- jk plz reply to this mammoth anywhere you see fit or tell me if you have stuffs to add or counter or whatnot I like hearing people talk about Kazufuuma ;w; I am Kazuki and Kazufuuma brainrot can you tell after reading this? No? Lemme just remind you I’m K--

[stackthedeck]

your tik tok breaking down spiderman tag stats on ao3 made me so sad lolll ive been writing a post-NWH fic on ao3, its my first fic and its well received by those who have found it but its not getting a lot of visibility and i think its bc there's no ironman tags! some1 Actually commented asking if i could rewrite the whole mcu with time travel so there could be irondad?? this is not a pro-iron man household but am i going to tag ironman now? probably lmao i hope the search engines bless me

Oh no bestie put the link in the reblogs because I want to read it!! Wait what someone asked you to rewrite the whole mcu so for irondad, there's like a huge project and so rude to ask for! Honestly, I like Tony Stark (as a character, not as a person) but irondad ruins both his and Peter's character because there's something so icky about a billionare funding a child soldier! I have a whole essay on her about spider-man and the messaging of class, it's a whole thing for me. A good thing to remember is that a03 is an archive, not a social media site so tag correctly on ao3 but tag whatever when promoting fics

[decalcomain]

this or that!

indoor plants or gardens // cloud-watching or star-gazing // water or fire // paperback or hardcover // running or hiking // sleeping with socks or without socks // fruit or vegetables (both bc I’m healTH tyvm) // hanging plants or succulents // dark wood or light wood // handwritten or typed // instagram or pinterest // braids or pigtails // dc or marvel // books or movies // oceans or meadows // forests or fields // sweet or salty // ice cream or chocolate // hoodies or sweaters // long hair or short hair // piercings or tattoos (I think both are siCk) // summer or winter (fall all the way folks) // boots or sneakers (depends! I love both) // cars or motorcycles // curls or straight hair // castles or cottages // sunny days or storms // reptiles or birds // disney or nickelodeon // strawberries or watermelon // essays or posters // phones or laptops // glass or stone // dark or light // photos or paintings (I refuse to pick—both I love both) // circuses or theatres // reading or writing (once again I refuse lolll I pick both) // dogs or cats // poetry or novels (b o t h) // monsters or ghosts // thrift shops or libraries // fiction or non-fiction (😅...both)

tagged by the wonderful @lovely-lovely-jiminie, thankies madi, this was fun!! 😊💜

tagging: @cotccotc @ynki @syubb @lovelyincorrectbts (pls don’t feel obligated to do this!!)