#because we adore the story and characters and seeing them fleshed out on screen is wonderful

[pippin-katz]

just letting you know this ask will contain sensitive issues regarding Jewish identity and negative criticism that I’ve seen about rwrb. So I understand if you don’t want to answer at all - but I just wanted to see what your thoughts were about this (as I haven’t read the book but absolutely adore the movie) - if you want to make a separate post or something.

I saw a post on my “for you” feed (can’t find it anymore) that apparently Matthew’s decision to conflate and change Nora and June’s characters is antisemitic and bi-erasure? I only skimmed through it because it was very accusatory and the comments were also very negative.

I can understand being upset about losing some characters and the criticism about Nora’s bi-identity. I can’t really speak about the antisemitism as I’m not fully aware of that aspect from the book. But I was thinking - if they did make Nora bi and she still ended up being with Percy/Pez, would those critics be happy? Or would they still be mad because June wasn’t there for the polyamorous relationship that was hinted in the books?

They’re mad about Richards, Rafael Luna, Liam, divorce-free Claremont-Diaz household, no Queen Mary, no Princess Catherine, no this, no that. And they said it’s not a true rom-com because it doesn’t flesh out the romance between Alex and Henry? I just don’t understand what it takes for them to be satisfied. Casey said themself that if everything was done 100% from the books, fans still wouldn’t be happy with it. I mostly ignore the loud ones who hate the movie with all their being but when it comes up it’s so jarring. I don’t want the hype of this movie to lose out to the noise of the haters and bashers. This movie, and Alex and Henry’s love story has become so important to many people and we want more!

Funny you should bring that up to me of all people, seeing as I happen to be Jewish!

I think I may have seen posts like that in the past and immediately blocked the poster because I knew that if I wrote a response to them it would spiral out of control, and there were too many people in the replies to try and explain this to.

Post Writing Note: Buckle up for this one cause I definitely went on a tangent about Jewish culture, but I felt like it would help people understand, or at least be interesting.

The short version of this is that they are self centered idiots who have their heads up their ass.

Casey is 100% correct that even if they were completely true to the book, they wouldn’t be satisfied. They will always find something to complain about.

They also simply don’t want to like it, or understand it. All of those major changes were made for a reason, and make complete sense/were the right call for what Matthew was trying to accomplish with the film. But they don’t want to hear or accept that.

As for Nora and June, once again, they are being idiots.

Matthew has explained several times that the decision to cut June was a logical director’s decision.

With the limited time the film has, side characters simply can’t have as much detail or development as they have in the book. In the case of June and Nora, he explained that he essentially would’ve been giving half of a character to the two actresses. They would’ve been fighting for screen time, and would’ve felt unsatisfied with the roles. Therefore, he essentially combined the two into one full character to give to a single actress. It makes complete sense, and was the right choice.

Did that remove the polycule dynamic? Yes, but that was a side effect of the decision, not part of the reason. Matthew does not seem like the kind of person to remove something like that for no reason, or purely because it might "make the straights uncomfortable". It was just the way things happened.

Now, let me address Nora.

The thing that drives me a bit crazy about this is their determination to call her intentional erasure.

Just because those traits weren’t brought up in the film does not make them untrue. There is no reason to assume that she isn’t bisexual or Jewish just because they didn’t bring it up. They did not say anything that counters those details, therefore I don’t see them as being changed.

They are also exaggerating a lot.

Now, I’m saying all this as a Jewish person who would love to see more representation of Judaism casually included in characters.

Nora’s Jewish identity is completely irrelevant to the plot and is only mentioned in the book. When Alex wants to call someone on Christmas after his parents fight, he briefly says that she’s busy celebrating Chanukah. That is the only moment in the entire book that Nora being Jewish is brought up, as far as I can remember from the last time I went through to look for it, when I first saw a post about this. I checked again while writing this. Other book readers can correct me if I’m wrong about that, but I know for a fact that it is not something that’s regularly mentioned or relevant to the plot.

Again, I say this as a Jewish person with love, it was not important. I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep saying it until I fucking die: the book had no time limit.

The novel is not a massive one, but it is absolutely stuffed cover-to-cover with content. It’s a book told through Alex’s point of view, giving direct access into his thoughts and feelings through text.

When Alex offhandedly mentions in his head facts like that, the translation to the screen would be constructing a situation where bringing that up out loud is relevant. The other option is to put clues in the environment to indicate it.

The thing about those options though is that Nora does not have any scenes during the holiday portion of the movie. In fact, there is not even a mention of Christmas at all; the only reason we know is because of the decorations around the White House, but no one mentions it. There is only one scene that even takes place around Christmas in the film: Alex’s conversation with Zahra. From there, it’s straight to New Year’s.

Some may be thinking, “But those are so close together, it would still be relevant!” and I hate to tell you that you’re wrong, but there’s an 85% chance you’re wrong.

Chanukah shifts dates from year to year because it’s determined by the Jewish calendar, and that doesn’t match the normal calendar. As someone grew up celebrating it, and still does celebrate it, I can tell you from personal knowledge that most of the time, it happens before Christmas. Yes, sometimes it overlaps with it, or happens afterwards, but I can safely tell you that most of the time, it happens before; for example, this year Chanukah starts Dec. 8th and ends at sunset Dec. 15th. It starts and ends a whole week before Christmas.

Now, I have to also say, and I say this with as much love and respect as I can for all the normal Christians/Catholics out there, we don’t really… shove our holiday in everyone’s faces?

I know that sounds rude, and it might be, but I mean that everyone knows when Christmas is. Everything closes down for Christmas. Whether you celebrate it or not, you’re most likely going to be off-work or off-school for it. No one looks around and goes, “what day is Christmas again?” And most people know the basic gist of why it’s celebrated.

I’m pretty sure that at minimum 65% of the people who read this had no idea when Chanukah was, and have zero clue why it’s celebrated.

That’s not really their fault, it’s just a simple truth about Western society (especially American) that people don’t get educated on Judaism, even indirectly the way they do for Christmas. The same can be said for all of the religious minorities. I’m by no means innocent of being uninformed on the basics of other minority religions. I’m just bringing it up because it’s somewhat relevant.

When it’s Christmas, you know it’s Christmas. Everyone is talking about it and there’s decorations everywhere. And while there’s sometimes a few decorations for Chanukah and maybe Kwanzaa, it’s not common; especially given the unfortunate reality that said decorations are a beacon for hate crimes.

Circling back to Nora, the easiest way to provide indications that she is Jewish is through decorations in her office/apparel choices. I just explained why she would be unlikely to have decorations in her office for Chanukah, but what about non-holiday specific decor?

Well, in my experience as a reformed Jewish person, there's not a lot of decor that's not very obvious or specifically religious in its representation. I say "specifically religious" because Judaism is a culture as well as a religion. I'm a Jewish person, but I don't regularly attend Temple or practice daily prayer. My experience with Judaism stems more from how we celebrate the major holidays, the kinds of food we eat, clothing we wear, and stuff like that, not passages of the Torah.

We also just don't really have as much physical decoration options as Christians/Catholics, at least for Jews who are not devoutly religious.

Judaism is practices aniconism.

Don't be alarmed, most people don't know what that word means; I only know because I learned about it briefly in an art history course a few years ago. Aniconism is the absence of artistic representations of certain figures in religions. Judaism is generally "anti-iconic", meaning it's strongly discouraged to create imagery, specifically human imagery, of God or other saint-like figures from the Torah. It's not completely unheard of, but think about how frequently you see imagery of Jesus in Christianity/Catholicism, or all the famous imagery of God, and depictions of scenes of the Bible and the saints, etc. etc. etc. Jews just don't do that, at least not nearly to the extent or as commonly as Christians/Catholics.

Jews instead have focused artistry into the form of ceremonial objects, i.e. the menorah, Kiddush goblets, etc.

In fact, my Jewish heritage comes from my father's side, so my grandfather on that side has always been a practicing Jew, and my grandmother converted back when they married. They're not super religious, but more so than my parents and how I was raised.

Thinking back to their home, I'm realizing that all of their Jewish "decor" was fine dishware sort of like this they kept in a China cabinet, like this:

Nora's not going to keep fine China in her office.

The only piece of "decor" that I have in my parents' home is not even really decor. This is a super common thing to find in Jewish households. It's call a mezuzah:

It's a little container that keeps a scroll with two prayers from the Torah written in Hebrew by a calligraphist. They are a symbol of connection and protection amongst the Jewish community. They are an ancient tradition. Nora would definitely have one.

However, these go on the doorframes of the entrance to a home. They're not hung up anywhere to look nice. She wouldn't have one on her office doorway, which is glass anyway.

So I've eliminated physical decorations, so how about jewelry?

This is where I'm sure a bunch of those people will shake their fists at me. The easiest and simplest way to imply a Jewish character (especially a female one) is the same as a Christian/Catholic character: a necklace.

Obviously, it is common practice for crosses to be worn on necklaces. Wearing the Star of David on a necklace is also common, but not nearly as common as the cross. I've noticed over the course of my life an increase in seeing them, but they're still uncommon.

And incredibly recently, I actively chose to stop wearing mine because we are at a point of actual danger in the US right now, specifically Florida, where I happen to be so lucky to live.

Regardless, it's debatable on how likely it would be for Nora to be wearing one. I feel like it's pretty split on how much of the Jewish population does and doesn't. So let's take a look at her style then:

The only outfit I couldn't find a clear still image of was the one in the jeep, but there are GIFs of that:

Note: I swear, if this fandom doesn't start posting more content of the side characters, I'm going to throw something; y'all are making it very hard to write my essays!! 😂

Out of her seven outfits, she is only wearing a neck accessory in ONE. More notably, she's not wearing a necklace in either of her formal outfits: the wedding and the party dresses. If she were going to wear a necklace, a fancier outfit usually makes it more likely. She seems to like wearing earrings more. Earrings with the Star of David exist, but I've personally never seen someone wearing them.

So based on everything I've been talking about, and Nora's personality, and her characterization in the book, and everything else, it's probably unlikely that she would wear a religious necklace, if not because she's not heavily religious, then because she just doesn't wear necklaces.

Could you ignore all that and complain that they could've given her a necklace or something anyway? Yeah, you could, but you are just being annoying and overreacting. She's still a Jewish character. People who haven't read the book may not know that, but tons of people who have read the book didn't even remember that. It's not an intentional decision made to erase her Jewish heritage. It is purely a side effect of having very limited time to cover way too much content.

The same can be said for her being bisexual. There's no reason to assume she's not. Hell, we've been joking about the face she makes when she meets Bea since we saw it:

This look alone is enough to make non-book readers go, "oh ship! ship! ship!". She's not straight just because they don't address her sexuality. Again, it was not an intentional decision made to erase her bisexuality.

Look, I'm not saying you have to like it, but for the love of god, stop acting like Matthew is the devil incarnate who made every change and cut out of spite, and to hurt you specifically.

As for the comment about not fleshing out Alex and Henry's relationship? I... I have no fucking words. That's a lie, I have so many fucking words, but I've been writing this for too long, so I'll speed run this:

First of all, if you don't think the romance between Alex and Henry is "fleshed out" in the film, I cannot say anything else than you are a fucking idiot. I don't like rom-coms, but this one is so fucking genuine, emotional, and sweet that even my cold dark soul feels warmth while watching it.

Second of all, how the fuck are you going to make the claim that they didn't flesh out Alex and Henry's romance, while simultaneously bitching about 3+ hours of book content that didn't make it? Do you not have any logical reasoning skills or common sense, at all??

I WILL SAY IT AGAIN: THE BOOK HAD NO TIME LIMIT. THE MOVIE DID.

Alright, that's enough of all that; I have an essay that I wrote the day after the movie originally dropped that went more in detail about that last one, so I'm not going to get super into that here. That's the short version of that, and if you want to hear the long version, go read this.

I hope that cleared some stuff up for you Anon! Sorry for the rambling lmfao

[astridthevalkyrie]

U want lds thoughts? I gotchu 🫡

I really like all 3 boys, but I'm leaning Zayne bc he's just so husband coded. He's the only one I could see a long-term relationship w. I love Xavier and Rafayel, but I just can't picture them as husbands or dads (at least w my MC/myself). I also desperately need them to interact in game and in the main story, there's just sm potential for chaos and funnies.

I honestly dk what will happen next. Obviously, MC is gonna want to investigate Onichynus and her heart, but idk how that story will unfold or how they'll tie in the stories w each li and their separate myths/reincarnation bit. (Also, the fact that the myths happen in the future doesn't make sense to me yet, so I hope they plan to really flesh that out and not give us questionable writing like most mobile otomes do). Idk how I feel abt Sylus (and possibly Caleb) becoming lis, ig I'll have to see what they're like and if they appeal to me at all, bc so far we haven't had enough Caleb content for me to actually get attached (I was also convinced he was MCs brother so idt I'll ever be able to see him romantically 😭).

I hope we'll get to see more of the side characters and what MCs life is like outside of just the three guys, but I honestly doubt it lmao (more for me to hc abt ig lol).

I have more but this is already rambly and idk how to be coherent rn. This game is giving me brainworms and I'm def thinking abt it too hard. Oh, well. I don't consume media, media consumes me.

i'm telling you it's xavier boyfriend zayne husband and rafayel sneaky link. that's exactly the look and vibe they give off.

i think as of right now zayne is the most popular, at least on ao3 him/mc is the most popular ship. which is just to be expected when you have a levi ackerman coded character LOL. like you said, he's a husband. he just is. he's a doctor and he's successful and he cares for the mc so deeply it just makes sense. i started the game for him because. i mean he looks like THAT. he acts like THAT. he has ice powers and you get to melt the ice in his heart and make him love you i adore that shit see my pinned post for the kind of romance i write you could make a zayne x reader set in the aot universe and it would be my fic. and dooooooon't get me started on dawnbreaker zayne. DON'T GET ME STARTED i gasped during the anecdote when the truth about the kid comes out. he dreams about his past life what the fuck bro what the fuck.

surprisingly, though, while i do love him, he's probably the one i've had the least amount of thoughts about (that's still clearly a lot of thoughts so that's not saying much). i think it's partly because my gacha favors xavier and rafayel a lot more and right now i pretty much am just heavily thinking about whichever guy i consumed the content for last.

xavier and rafayel have me obsessed. i thought xavier would be completely meh because zen from mysme was meh for me. but um. he was not meh. my levi hawks pattern has told me that i love a man who was forced into fighting because of the stupid goodness in his heart and manipulative outside forces. and even though that's not exactly what's going on with xav, he does have that vibe. his is the only myth i've watched in full and i'm just. they should have been able to go to uluru together. the scene where they're both lying on the ground i have watched it so many times. i love love love the royalty x captain of the guards trope so much. the fact that they both serve in both roles is insane. i've read the anecdote about her first life on philos too there's a fucking part in there that talks about how he shares his EARBUDS with you?????? end me.

and rafayel is beautiful. like he's actually beautiful. his english voice actor makes him sound so fucking bisexual + the bi wife energy whenever you're with him is just. UGH. the game is hilarious whenever he's on screen and obviously with the way the main story has ended for now he's the most intriguing. and while you can feel the pining energy from all three of them, his is just. lowkey the most pathetic. and i eat it up. bro started TEACHING AT HER COLLEGE just for the chance to see her. i like that he's not possessive per se but he is very whiny and attention seeking the sassy man syndrome is real. i need to unlock his myth but i'm not patient so i may very likely just watch it on youtube. i need to see hunter rafayel. i need to see him right now.

the main story is genuinely fascinating. i was a little bit bored up until the explosion happened and it really kicked in. bc suddenly it's not just 3 guys and you doing your best, but you actively investigating and them helping you. like i said i don't have raf's myth and i haven't finished zayne's yet (need more fucking upgrades to his card) so i don't have the full story but at least what i'm getting right now is okay. they're all from the past or future. they all remember?? xavier and rafayel definitely do. zayne knows something about grandma who seems kinda shady to me. i've seen the caleb=sylus or at least caleb lives theories. i saw someone say the man at the end isn't sylus though? and his english va is the same as caleb's but in other languages it's someone else. idk.

idk about the others but xavier's myth being in the future makes sense. i'm pretty sure the timeline goes: in our current timeline, earth is about to go bye-bye and become inhabitable bc of wanderers -> survivors go to philos -> xavier and a new mc are both born -> she dies bc of something in her heart and is reborn bc she's the only one who's truly immortal (everyone else on philos lives forever naturally but can still be killed i think??) -> new lightseeker mc and xavier are meant to become guard and prince respectively but philos is dying -> to save mc from being sacrificed again and again xavier decides to go back in time to find another way where he after at least like 200 years meets current timeline mc

i know what you mean about not being able to see caleb as a love interest. the first time i saw him i genuinely thought they had no need to make my brother this hot what the fuck. and then i realized he was just her childhood friend and i went

and then he blew up 😭

i neeeeeed to see the love interests interact. i mean mc barely thinks about the others whenever she's with one but i really hope in the next arc we actually see them meeting each other. beefing or working together or whatever, i need to know (i may also have already started a fic about what's gonna happen next bc i'm mentally ill). xavier has a tracker on her so he should be able to find her and zayne kinda disappeared off the face of the earth but i want them all back. i want interaction. i want it so bad.

[aihoshiino]

who are your favorite OnK characters (apart from Ai)?

i love that you clarified 'apart from Ai' because my blorbo brainrot derangement so thoroughly speaks for itself <3

From the main cast, I'd say my faves are Kana, Aqua and Ruby in that order. Up to Tokyo Blade I'd say I like all of them about equally, but from TB onwards, it's more like Kana --> Aqua ----> Ruby. Not that I dislike Ruby or anything…? There's just some weird bumps in how she's characterized post Tokyo Blade and I especially just really don't like Black Hoshigan Ruby as presented in the manga so she's kind of a miss for me in that regard lol. I looooove her in the first 30-40 chapters of the manga though and especially the anime… Yurie Igoma's portrayal of her is so cute and sweet and earnest. It's fucking insane to me that Ruby is her first main role in a show?? I rly can't wait to see where her career goes from here because I really think she's gonna blow up.

ANYWAY… From the side cast… Melt my beloved <3 His arc in Tokyo Blade is so fucking good and tbh his interlude chapter was easily my favourite of his. Sooooo excited to see his glowup moments in season 2. I'm also really fond of Miyako for similar reasons! The anime especially does a ton to make her and Ai's relationship a lot warmer and closer and that combined with her relationship with the twins has me so fond of her. I like Ichigo a lot as well, though that's kind of mostly just in the context of his and Ai's relationship and the Strawberry Productions family dynamic in general and I'm not necessarily crazy invested in him as a character on his own.

I also ADORE Kyun and Nino. Viewpoint B is my favourite OnK sidestory and Kyun and her relationship with Ai are a big part of that. I'm also SOOOOOOO excited to see more of Nino in the main story… I was always so fascinated by the 45510 narrator and the mess of emotions that story lays out re: her relationship with Ai so it's been such a surprise and a delight to see her getting additional development and seeing her relationship with Ai being fleshed out even more. Huge w for gay people and evil women enjoyers everywhere.

This also might sound bonkers but uh, Ayumi Hoshino is also one of my favourite side characters?? Yeah, Ai's shitty mom! I am just so endlessly fascinated by her and am really sincerely in awe of how incredibly well realized and well characterized she is across the literal four pages of on-screen panel time she gets in the entire manga. Her abuse is so, so foundational to literally everything about Ai and her presence was this horrible black smear across Ai's past that we could never get a proper look at, so the absolute gutpunch that was the anticlimax of seeing her in person for the first time and realizing how sad and pathetic and normal she was……………. bro…………………. I may have a lot of issues with how Akasaka writes certain things in OnK but he writes toxic moms in such a raw and real way, I can't get enough of it

[wcrriorhearts]

Welcome to part one of my positivity shoutouts. I will be doing these in alphabetical order and hope my scattered brain won’t forget anyone. Given I can only put people on here I follow and therefore know, feel free to send in positivity for people in the House of the Dragon fandom who I have missed & not mentioned, so I can include them in a later post! 

@alicentry - we have not interacted yet, but i think your writing is marvelous. you have an impeccable grasp on alicent and write her beautifully. you also seem like a super sweet person ooc and i hope you’ll be on my dash for a long time to come

@bronzebtch - i guess you’re okay? just kidding, you are an incredible human being and an even more impressive writer!! you have taken a character that had approximately 3 seconds of badass screen time and turned her into such a well rounded, beautiful, relatable, fleshed out person that i feel like we saw much more of her than we actually did. all the connections you have forged with characters in the fandom are utterly beautiful and i cannot imagine my dash without you on it anymore. even though you’re team green…

@bcbliophile - tiny my darling, you are a staple in this fandom and a joy to have on the dash. you have so much love and enthusiasm for the characters you write and it is absolutely infectious. you are nothing but a bright, friendly and talented light on the dash and i adore all of the things we write. your choice of muses is wonderful and you write all of them so well <3 stay as amazing & talented as you are!

@blxckprincxss - you’re doing a great job! You have a lovely selection of canon muses and ocs and all of them are very well fleshed out and beautifully written.We have not interacted yet, but I hope we will change that in the future. I love having you on my dash!

@brideofcdragons - you are an absolute legend in this fandom, given that your blog has basically existed since 2013 and it is lovely to see that HotD has made it easier for the old GoT people to interact again. It’s like a whole revival! Your portrayal of Dany is wonderful and it is obvious that in the many years of writing her, you have fleshed her out perfectly. I hope we’ll have you around for a long time to come!

@bruiisedpetals - another incredibly talented multimuse <3 i vividly remember a time when multis got a bad rap,but it’s because of talented and wonderful people like you, that we’re now all thriving on our multis and face no weird prejudices anymore. All of the muses you write are absolutely stunning and the connections you have formed with other characters beautiful to see. Your writing is so perfect and I love having you on my dash!

@breakbcnes - the real mvp of the hotd storyline, the dad of dads, harwin our mans <3 once again you have adopted an absolutely underrated dilf and made him a staple in this fandom and i feel so blessed to be writing with you. he is just absolutely top notch and there is nothing else to say about him. he's the most loyal and genuinely nice man in the entire story and you write him perfectly

@becomelions - your second blog my darling, but you have a couple of underrated hotd charas on here as well that i adore and so once again, thank you for picking up underloved sweethearts and brightening our dashes with them. you rock!

@caraxes--rider - my darling, you are one of the kindest, most drama free people on this platform and i cannot imagine my dash without you on it <3 you have a wonderful grasp on daemon and don’t water down his darker parts, which is awesome. i love everything that we have created for our muses and hope we will never run out of great ideas to write. 

@clutchofmuses - another wonderful and talented mutli! your passion and love for the muses you write is visible in everything you write and you seem to have endless creativity when it comes to writing well plotted storylines with your partners. keep up the good work <3

@clawsbcared - what a great blog you have! it is entirely filled with OCs that absolutely don’t seem like OCs, because they are so well fleshed out and lively that they seem like actual book/show characters. you insert them so easily into different verses and scenarios and breathe life into a house that would otherwise have gone unnoticed during the dance. it’s a joy to have you on the dash!

@collectionofvoices - the multis definitely dominate this fandom and i have absolutely nothing to complain about, because you are another wonderful writer with an impeccable collection of muses that are all written incredibly well and true to their book/show counterparts. you’re also very passionate about your babies and it shows in your interactions and headcanons. stay awesome!

[lunas-otome-blog]

Luna's Review: Jack Jeanne

Official Summary:

Kisa is about to give up her dream of becoming an actor when she is given the opportunity to enroll at the prestigious all boys Univeil Drama School that she has always admired and dreamed of attending. She is granted admission with two rigid conditions: be chosen as the lead in the final performance and hide her identity as a girl!

Competition at the school is fierce and the rivalry is real! Will Kisa be able to forge powerful bonds with her all-male classmates while competing against them?

Will she be cast as the lead in the final performance at the end of the year all while keeping her secret?

.

Luna's Thoughts (Spoiler Free)

I don't particularly like rhythm games or stat building games — I'm more of a straightforward visual novel kinda girl. But I chose to play Jack Jeanne because I read a glowing recommendation on another game blog.

I admit, I struggled with this game at the beginning. The impetus for the protagonist joining an all-boys school was, in my opinion, too fast, poorly explained and lazily written, and I feared the whole game would feel that way.

But I was pleasantly surprised as the plot unfolded. Subtly charming, Jack Jeanne is a rare otoge that doesn't feel the need for epic events or contrived details. The straightforward plot follows the protagonist through a full school year during which she become confident in her skills as an actor, charms her fellow classmates and works toward her ultimate goal of catching up to her brother.

Once I got used to a few things, I found myself enjoying this game immensely. The character development is slow, natural and gorgeous. Every main character gets at least one satisfying arc, including the protagonist. The cast is complex and enjoyable — even the side characters are pretty well fleshed out. And I cannot believe how many side characters get full sprites, cgs and sometimes even character arcs themselves. Fitting to a game about theater, Jack Jeanne features a true ensemble cast.

This is a pretty unusual otoge, as the majority of the plot is common route, with some special scenes mixed in depending on who your affection is highest with. You don't get into a "route" until pretty close to the end of the game. When you do, though, the final performance is highly customized based on your love interest character.

The first time I heard the songs in this game, I didn't think much of them. During my second playthrough, I caught myself humming a few. After the third time, I downloaded the whole playlist onto my phone lol. Some of them are absolute BANGERS. I didn't particularly enjoy the rhythm games, but I acknowledge that's just a personal preference. The game does not penalize you for playing on super easy mode — thank god — so that's what I did most of the time. Even hard mode is pretty easy for the most part.

The game arcs are broken up into sections depending on what play/musical is being performed. Jack Jeanne does a great job of showing you rehearsal scenes without completely giving away everything about the story, so you still get to enjoy the play yourself during the performance. And every sprite gets a new, gorgeous costume for EVERY play. It made me genuinely excited to get to that portion of the game each time.

I do want to talk about the art in this game. The cgs are lovely, but tend to feel ethereal as they are painterly and many lack backgrounds, creating the illusion that the characters are floating in space. I liked them but they are a different art style than the sprites, which felt inconsistent. Add to that a rather adorable cel-shade chibi style, which is used for the stat-building scenes, and you have three completely different art styles used for this game. I'd have preferred some consistency.

I also wish Kisa had a sprite on screen, because we don't get to see what she looks like except in cgs. It's a bummer because she's so cute~

Other than that, all my other complaints have to do with the format of the game. Due to the nature of it being a stat builder, the pacing of the relationship pursuit feels off. You get these really lovely occasional heartwarming scenes with the character you're pursuing when they're triggered, but then they're not acknowledged in the next scene. It interrupts the flow of the plot. But if you're used to stat builders, this will probably not be a problem for you.

Gripes aside, Jack Jeanne is a thoughtful, delicate and delightful look into a group of students doing their best to advance their skills and follow their dreams. I highly recommend checking it out.

Here are a few spoiler-free tips of things I wish I knew before I started the game that will help you through it if you decide to play:

As this game is SUPER LONG and mostly common route, you'll be doing a lot of skipping after your first playthrough. Unfortunately, as there are lots of scenes that are gently customized based on your love interest, you can't just leave it skipping for long intervals. I recommend finding something else to do while you're skipping and just keep an eye on the game so you can breeze through the common portion.

You don't have to start at the beginning every time. For the first two performances, try to maintain equal affection and stat levels for each romanceable character before summer break, and then save. You can use this as a flexible save file and pursue your character of choice from here.

When you're ready to aim for a route, only take lessons in that character's stat until you get to level 30. It will take almost the entire rest of the game. Only see that character during days off until you max out affection. If your character isn't available during days off, go to Mona Star School and raise their stat. You need to get to level 30 to unlock a special post-game scene for each character.

"Weekend with Ion" is just a way to get extra rhythm game practice and you don't have to do it.

If you're playing the game right (IE not failing the stats or rhythm games), there aren't any "bad" choices; just choices that give you affection points for certain characters. When you get onto a specific route, choices are just flavor. Feel free to pick different things each time and see what happens.

Please find below my thoughts on the protagonist and each romanceable character in the order I pursued them. Don't read sections marked with spoilers if you want to avoid them!

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(Spoilers) Kisa Tachibana (protagonist)

Kisa Tachibana is one of the best otoge protagonists I've ever played. I have a lot to say on her, so I'll get the bad out of the way first.

I was a little disappointed with Kisa's writing at the beginning. We know she looks up to her brother Tsuki and wants to be an actor like him, but she's given up on even going to high school because she needs to support her family. But the opportunity for her to attend Univeil comes up so quickly that her struggle and longing are not really fleshed out.

We also don't get an explanation on why her brother was allowed to go to a (seemingly expensive) drama school, nor why he isn't using his success to send money back to the family. In fact, the game just casually mentions Tsuki has vanished without a trace, and nobody seems that concerned about it. Kisa is sad but doesn't seem to question where he is or what he's doing, and nobody asks her about it, even after figuring out she's related to him. And no, this is never addressed, even at the end of the game.

Anyway, onto the good.

Kisa is an amazing otoge protagonist. She goes through not just one, but many character arcs, learning from and responding to her classmates (and even other classes) and becoming not just a better actor but also a better friend and teammate. Unlike a lot of otome game protags, Kisa doesn't get a lot of down time to reconcile her thoughts. Instead, you're left to largely understand her thinking and feelings through dialogue, making her feel less like the game's protagonist and more like a regular character. I didn't like this at first but I came to appreciate it as the game went on.

Every character teaches Kisa something about herself and something about acting. She learns how to feel comfortable in the spotlight, but she also learns it's just as important to prop up other actors. And she gets to go through different arcs depending on her romance choice.

She also has to learn how to perform as a Jack (male character) and struggles with this in a way that felt natural. She even ends up overcorrecting and finds it hard to go back to playing a woman.

My absolute favorite arc of hers is when she decides she has to embrace her femininity in order to make a show a success. This, to me, is the culmination of the whole game, as Kisa decides to risk being discovered in order to help her classmates shine. Of course, if you play all the routes, you realize she actually isn't doing a great job of hiding her gender at all lol. But fortunately she's endeared herself to her classmates so much that they don't mind.

Overall, 10/10 otoge protagonist.

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(Spoilers) Kai Mutsumi

I chose to play Kai's route first, because tbh I thought his sprite was ugly and I wanted to get it out of the way lol. I did warm up to it eventually. And I regret playing his route first because Kai is an utter cutie patootie and I fell hard for him.

He tells you really early on that he only sees himself as a way to highlight the Al Jeanne (female lead). So his character arc is about him acknowledging that he also wants the spotlight, and Kisa helps him by highlighting him.

Though Kai is usually quiet, contemplative and reserved, once he and Kisa have acknowledged their feelings for one another, he starts getting jealous, both of Fumi (as a rival) and of Tsuki-nii (as Kisa's inspiration.) It's heartbreaking but really satisfying to learn that Kai feels emotions just as intensely as everyone else but didn't know where to direct them. I love him so much!

Kai also gives you one of the only laugh-out-loud moments of the game during the common route. I won't spoil it but it involves a certain weasel in the forest.

Kai's is one of the more intense routes, so I would perhaps save it for a bit later if you're wanting to get the lighter stuff out of the way first.

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(Spoilers) Suzu Orimaki

Suzu is the genki character of the game, and the senpais make fun of his dancing at the beginning, so I thought the running gag would be that he sucks. But I was pleasantly surprised. Suzu is shown to be committed, a good actor and surprisingly quick with memorizing his lines, though he does make some stupid mistakes throughout. I adored him as the Sleepless King.

Suzu's route is the one I would call the most generic as far as otoges go. A lot of his route is him struggling with his feelings for Kisa. He starts to like her before he's sure she's a girl, and once he knows for sure, he has a really hard time hiding his feelings. To his credit, he also discovers Kisa is a girl on his own, showing he's smarter than we're led to believe.

If you wanted something more nuanced, maybe Suzu's not the character for you, but I really enjoyed it. The more a character struggles with their feelings, the better, imho lol. The cutest scene is after Kisa gives him sweets for valentines day, and he just can't handle how happy is is. You can't help but love Suzu!

You do actually get a lot of character growth as far as acting goes in Suzu's route — just not with Suzu himself. It's Kamiya — one of the side characters, who fanboys over the amazing Tanakamigi, one of Kisa's rivals in a different class — who gets to experience his own arc this time. While it doesn't feel totally resolved in the end, it was nice to see the game highlight some other characters as a result of the decisions Kisa has made.

I also really loved Mare-chan's little arc, as he learns to appreciate standing on stage with his brother. Actually, all the first years are highlighted in this route, which was fun.

Unlike Kai's route, Suzu doesn't confess to Kisa until the very end of his route — but it's very sweet when he does. Overall, Suzu's route felt like a very normal otoge route, but not in a bad way. He's very kind and protective of Kisa. It's hard not to like him.

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(Spoilers) Soshiro Yonaga

Sou shows obvious signs of being into Kisa, even during the common route, so I figured I'd get a nice little bit of angst in his route. I normally play the childhood friend route closer to the end, but while I really enjoyed Sou's role and growth in the common route, he was such a little jealous bitch in Suzu's route (lol) that I decided to play him next. He pissed me off so much haha. I thought it would be over when he punches Suzu after Suzu discovers Kisa is a girl — something like a send-off to his rival, knowing he can't compete. But he proceeds to be whiny and annoying throughout all the rest of Suzu's route, and this made me want to get his route out of the way.

Sou on his own route is a lot better. He actually impressed me with how straightforward he is. He's the first character (that I played) who confirms he is properly dating Kisa on his route, and his confession was really brave, direct and passionate. It's sad to think that he loves Kisa in every route but won't tell her. He even followed Tsuki to Univeil just to see her again T_T

I was very excited to see we'd be getting some Momonashi context in this route, because he's easily the most mysterious character in the game. You never really understand his motivations, and he always hides his thoughts with a smile. It excited me that he was chosen to be Amber's Al Jeanne this time around, and he is every bit as dark and horrifying as I wanted.

This is also the first route (I played) in which Kisa does not get the lead role by default. I nearly had a heart attack and thought I failed the route because it was so different from Kai's and Suzu's routes. Rest assured, this is what's supposed to happen and it all works out ok. Mitsuki's subtle understanding of the things going on around him is also critical in this route.

But back to Sou. He actually goes through a few different arcs in his own route. While I thought it ultimately ended up ok, I would have liked to see the version of Sou infected with Momonshi's darkness for a little longer. He's only there for a little bit before Suzu's anger snaps him out of it. The back-and-forth of Sou's route felt a little disjointed, and in some places too similar to his plot during the common route.

But ultimately I was very proud of him when he pumps up the crowd during the final performance. Sou comes a long way and his route ends with the promise that there's more to come. Good for you, Sou-chan!

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(Spoilers) Mitsuki Shirota

Mitsuki is the standoffish character, so he's the only romanceable character who is outwardly rude to you at the beginning of the game. I sometimes have trouble with this sort of character, so I was a little worried about him. But I didn't need to be — ultimately, he became one of my favorites.

Mitsuki is the most observant character in the game. He notices subtle changes and tells Neji to back off when he's putting too much pressure on people. And he's the first to tell Kisa he'll accept her no matter what. Mitsuki is so important to making this game work.

He knows he's good at singing, but when he's put in a starring role, he crumbles under the pressure. Obviously Kisa helps him stand up again, but it was really gratifying to know his aggression comes from a place of fear.

While learning to enjoy the spotlight is part of his common route arc, doing a Mitsuki playthrough really adds to this, as you learn how much Kisa's secrecy is weighing on him. He knows something's up right away, and as he comes to trust and admire Kisa, he begins feeling sad that she doesn't trust him enough to unload on him. There's a particularly poignant scene where he undresses in front of her — something we know he's afraid to do for anyone else. Mitsuki's cutscenes really emphasize his words to Kisa on stage as Rukiora and Chikachina, roles that parallel their own experiences.

I will say that, like Mitsuki himself, his route is very subtle as he quietly influences those around him. You don't get a lot of Amber students in this one, as his focus is more on the second years of Rhodonite and Onyx. He quietly fires them up, and it's so sweet to see how the second years, previously in the shadow of Tsuki Tachibana, become determined to do their best because of Mitsuki.

My only gripe for this route was that we didn't get any more Mitsuki background. His mother appears in a really intense cutscene toward the beginning of the game, so you know he's got family stuff going on, but we never really get any more elaboration on that.

Anyway, I love this boyee so much and I just want to give him a hug.

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(Spoilers) Sarafumi Takashina

Honestly, I shipped Fumi with Kai more than with Kisa. They had such a nice and supportive relationship.

Fumi is calm, confident and pretty. He tells Kisa he likes her early in the game. He's a mysterious character under a lot of pressure, but you wouldn't know it unless you participate in his cutscenes. If you pay attention, you'll notice he gives nearly everyone nicknames.

Fumi's main game arc involves him growing complacent with the theater because nobody can match him. It's up to Kisa (with help from Sou) to fire him up again.

I tend to have trouble with flirty characters, but Fumi is so confident and kind that I liked him quite a bit. Because he's so aware of his own skills, I was wondering what his next arc would be in his route. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it's Kisa who gets to experience the most growth in Fumi's route as she struggles with the pressure of working alongside Quartz's star.

While perhaps not as dramatic as some of the other routes, Fumi and Kisa work together to understand each other, both on stage and off, and do their best to become suitable partners for one another. Fumi is also grooming Kisa to be the next star of Quartz, so there's a bittersweet dynamic of passing the baton here, too.

There weren't any dramatic twists and turns, but Fumi's route felt natural and gentle. It was a good conclusion for these two. He's also the only character other than Sou who confirms he's dating Kisa by the end of the route, which I appreciated.

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(Spoilers) Neji Kokuto

Neji is the least serious character in the game acting-wise. He's silly and jokes around, and never gives himself a huge role in any of his own plays. But he's ultimately the one pulling the strings, and he seems to have an extremely good grasp on every character's strengths and weaknesses. He's also the only character who doesn't get his own arc in the common route.

However, I was disappointed with some of his cutscenes during the common route. While I appreciate that he deals with the deep trauma of losing his father with humor and spontaneity, I thought it was an oversimplification for him to say he's afraid of women. The resulting scenes don't feel serious enough and it didn't feel natural that Kisa would fall for him.

If he were simply afraid of falling in love, which is what ultimately led his father (allegedly) to losing his creative flow, I could understand that a bit more. But to have him attend an all-boy's school just because he feels like all women are a risk seemed like a strange move for a game that has been really inclusive about gender so far. It felt very off-putting for Neji, who often puts himself into a female role, to fear women.

But once he realizes Kisa is a girl — once he realizes he knew it all along and was trying to block it from his mind — the tone becomes very dark and sad. My heart was pounding as I felt the weeks go by with no script for the final performance. It was thrilling simply because I didn't know what to expect. It's so different from the other routes.

But I wish Neji was able to express his emotions a bit more. In the end, even as he was contemplating throwing himself into the sea, he wasn't able to be completely serious. I would have appreciated a scene where his walls fully break down, in which he's able to fully embrace Kisa as a woman and appreciate the weight of his own feelings.

I also never felt like Crowley, the character Neji plays in the final performance, was suited to be a main character. He never opens up or shows any weakness. He's just a silly guy and didn't feel like the lead at any point.

I did like how Neji ultimately decides to move forward, even being unable to write. But of course, at the end, Neji is suddenly able to write again. I knew it was coming, but it was a rather convenient ending.

Ultimately, I felt Neji's route was the least successful. I wish he got more growth in his own route. I did love him proposing to Kisa at the end though. It felt very in keeping with his character.

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(Spoilers) Kisa Route

This is the route you get if you choose not to spend Christmas Eve with anyone, and it's the closest this game gets to a true ending.

Boy, does it deliver. It ties in all the themes from the game into a really strong ending, where every character feels valuable and Kisa gets to lead Quartz to a strong finish. We also finally get an explanation for the title of the game, as Kisa takes on a special role — neither male nor female, just the protagonist who everyone falls in love with.

A fantastic final route for a fantastic game!

[yukinojou]

The Sandman on Netflix - first impressions

Okay, not so much first impressions as "I mainlined the lot in 26 hours and it only took so long because I was stuck at work for the first 7 watching on my breaks and then had to actually break for sleep". Spoiler-free above the cut, spoilery below it, criticisms at the end.

Caveat: I've been a Sandman fan for 22 years. I first read the books in a big bookshop, doing the surreptitious reading at the bookshelf for two weeks in snatches, because I was in London with very little money and graphic novels were very expensive. It took me five years to buy the lot, and it was only then that I found out how the story ended because I didn't manage to get that far in those two weeks. The Sandman was absolutely foundational for my philosophy, aesthetic, and dear gods Desire was a revelation - "You mean you can be both???" I never liked Preludes & Nocturnes' horror bend, so it's my least-reread volume, but Doll's House is my second favourite after Season of Mists. I've read all the Gaiman-penned addenda and most of the first run of The Dreaming. BIG Sandman fan.

And the show blew me out of the water:

Perfect cast is perfect. I had a lot of reservations because of the announced ones, only Kirby Howell-Baptiste, Mason Alexander Park and Gwendoline Christie immediately seemed right for their parts. But somehow they've dug up Exactly The Right People and let them play it with a richness of nuance that is so rarely allowed in American drama.

The pacing. The show breathes! There are quiet moments, there are very few action sequences, and the big plot moments are people talking. Let the words tell the story, let the actors act, let the scenery breathe and shine.

The filmography is quietly lovely. It starts "typical BBC Period Drama" but veers so soon into the just-off, just-bizarre. All the taxidermy at Fawney Rigg, the richness of every set (messy rooms!), the texture of everything. And even when it's not recreating the panels one by one (which, closest adaptation of a comic I've ever seen), it's shot in such a graphical way, drawing the eyes to the action with the composition, especially in the first episode. Much appreciation for clear vivid lighting in such a dark show too, I didn't have a single moment when I didn't know what was going on. And the colours in the second half are so bright, a very glam lighting that disappears for mists and shadows as the spell breaks.

I saw someone on Tumblr mention this is a bit like Sandman fanfic, that sensibility of fleshing out motivations and behind the scenes actions. And it is, and it works, plus it tightens plotlines in a way that hopefully makes sense to people watching for the first time. Which I'm very much not, as someone who can quote whole pages.

The rewrites are - the first word that comes to mind is Kind. Neil's a more mature writer now, not a shock jock in his twenties, there's no template of gritty 80s comics he has to adhere to in order to get the show to our screens. In the comic, the kindness only really arrived with Death in issue 6. Here, the tweaks let it be present from the beginning. And all the nuance and richness - you can see where he took characters that were flat stereotypes and then jiggled them until layers spread out. More about that below, in the spoilers...

Spoilery plot bits:

I actually love Ethel the most of the changes? She's such a pistol and a conwoman and legend in her own right, using Roderick and probably so many others to learn and forge a life on her own terms. I love the fact she let John use the ruby as a child, that we saw her arrival at Fawney Rigg and all the research she must have done to recognise Alex offhand, and that she showed up the Corinthian in five minutes flat, only letting him get close because she knew that's how she makes people go splat. I already liked her in the book, especially the way she calmly let her co-conspirator go splat there, but letting her shine was very much the right choice. I adore complicated women, and the way her sacrifice was echoed in Unity at the end, though honestly I would have had John grab the amulet from her rather than refuse.

The Corinthian's plotline - more about HIM later because oh my favourite eye munching nightmare was perfect, but that's the fanfic bit. He doesn't exactly change anything in Preludes & Nocturnes, but it makes perfect sense that he'd be doing it, because he's a smart cookie who doesn't want to go home and play nice. And in the Doll's House he actually pulls the plot together a lot. All a logical extrapolation, and building on both his popularity in the Kindly Ones and The Dreaming, and the fact they managed to cast Exactly The Right Guy.

The rewrites in 24/7 - damn, I'm going to have to rewatch this one, aren't I? Ugh. But I've seen Lourdes' character called a tiger woman and she's very much not, she's just trying to forge her happy ending and her equal partner, trying not to poke at the insecurities he has while still supporting him and not diminishing herself. And Bette, so desperate, so fragile there with all the things she won't let herself feel in order to be safe in her small town as a vulnerable single mother, and that's death as a writer, that's why she can't write her book. The scene where she burns her manuscript just made my heart hurt. The whole sequence is so much quieter and less graphic and yet more heartwrenching. You're so ready for Dee to go down with a bang.

(Rosemary! I had an inkling she'd survive when she was Black - because optics of her getting shot in that situation - and when the dog appeared because Neil knows if he killed a dog just after Gregory's sacrifice we'd riot, but oh the layers in the way she did survive, giving up on everything, just pleading for the dog, the way it showed how much a hurt simple kid Dee is too... Rosemary is so much love.)

Doll's House revisions give people more agency, and Gault is adorable as a sort of light mirror of the Corinthian, but I was a little sad about losing Lyta's confinement in the Dreaming, a pregnancy that lasted years. Some of that languidness was there in the series, but the hair brushing and lack of agency in the comics made the explosion of anger after Hector disappeared into a more wrenching shock.

I read about the Cereal Convention years before I attended my first WorldCon, and mwahahaha. Still a loving sendup of literary cons, with their panels and awkwardness and small talk and the flash of recognising a fellow obsessive. Gilbert ducking in and out of panels was brilliant.

Lucifer doing the Oldest Game was absolutely logical (honestly, Choronzon almost besting Dream always felt like a stretch), but oh the ending. As above, Season of Mists is my absolute favourite Sandman volume, and Gwendoline's Lucifer stepping down and shutting out all that racket of demons who dared command them will be the very best. How soon can we have season two?

Casting, broken out separately because the squee is strong:

Tom! Okay, I liked the Sandman Audible thing, and James McAvoy is a favourite actor, but it let me down with the kind of Morpheus voice so much I was resigned to not having the voice-in-my-brain in the series as well. But it is, and it's the grave white-on-black baritone in my dreams. He also acts so subtly with the eyes and makes the best faces, so much I'm willing to forgive the fact he often forgets to close his mouth completely. (He does have lovely lips, doesn't he?) The moments where the stubble comes through were jarring at first, but also very true to the comics. And oh, his 17th century wig was the best, shadows of Michael Wincott in The Crow. Plus the way he shows Morpheus thawing and cogitating desperately each time a woman yells at him (which is roughly twice per episode) is so clear and almost adorable. Oh, the ending is going to hurt so much.

Boyd! I was honestly worried about him because I hadn't seen him in anything before and in his usual offstage look he's - a bit awkward, like completely not what I imagined the Corinthian as, and also not the right voice (again, offstage). But oh, I should have trusted him. Because this is perfect, this is MY Corinthian, the eye-munching gay nightmare I've loved for two decades. True to himself, so much joy of life (ice cream scene!), crafty and in love with adulation, so flawed and bright in ways that completely don't address the serial killer part. I love that even more than Morpheus, he has chemistry with everyone. Like, people see him and want to make out immediately, and you buy it because he's charm on a stick. And he does it all in sunglasses, dammit. And he's so funny! I can't wait until The Kindly Ones, because Boyd and Patton Oswald are going to be a HOOT.

Vivienne! I literally had a phone named Lucien, that's how much I love the character, and she's perfect and open-hearted and frustrated. I really hope they'll bring up her raven past at some point, because that's the core of her devotion and the clear-headed way she sees Morpheus.

Kirby! Oh, she's just THERE, she's Death, that's her and her kindess and cheer and frustration with her boneheaded brother. That bit with her taking off her shoes was just *chef's kiss*. She's there and she's Death and she looks perfect in a 14th century headdress while daring her brother to strike a friendship that'll last centuries.

Come to that, Ferdinand Kingsley was adorable and also very confusing because at some angles he looks very much like my cousin. But his chemistry with Dream was perfect and I can't wait to see him again.

Gwendoline, of course, was dreamy and poisonous and oh, that smile at the very end killed me dead. I didn't know she had so much malice she could drag up to the screen like that, and even that slightly dodgy Rose of Versailles wig couldn't get in the way. Her clothes, on the other hand, mmm.

Mason! I was sold on them as Desire as soon as I looked up them doing Frank'n'Furter and Cabaret MC, but oh, you can see they love Desire the way I do, the way Desire as Dream's sister-brother was a revelation and a breaking of gender chains, and Mason's having so much fun with it. Plus they totally sold me in both sibling scenes, the very tactile and adoring way they were with Despair, the way they kept pushing Dream's buttons to the very end.

(I adore Despair's upgrade to comfy clothes and crocs. Despair's such an everyday thing, so insidious and hiding in plain sight, it fits so well.)

*flails* Everyone else was great too, with honourable mention to Emma Duncan, who gave away so much with her eyes, and Ernest Kingsley (Kai'ckul) who managed to copy Tom's performance to the letter while doing very heavy eye-emoting in just moments.

Criticisms:

I wish Cain and Abel had more time, because I love them. They bring out the Dreaming's creepiness nicely, but it wasn't even mentioned that Secrets are always true and Mysteries are stories. (And yes I mourn Gregory, but it was a well-written sacrifice and Goldie tied the knot nicely.)

I really don't think the budget was as high as rumoured, because the CGI is - sparse? I mean, it's beautiful, but at some points it's C-drama streaming budget, not millions per episode. Really visible outside Hector and Lyta's house, where all people are Very Pastede In, and outside the physical sets like the throne room and the library, the Dreaming suffers from lack of texture at times. The Threshold too, the outside was well done but the inside is just red. I'd love more organic textures there.

Relatedly, the dreams of the house dreamers in Doll's House aren't weird enough, especially when they start to merge by just dropping people into the same meadow. The vortex effect was pretty cool, but before that, no blurring, no overlapping, and the dreams themselves - I loved Zelda breaking Chantal's recurrence, but the dreams weren't different enough. They could have done so much with different lighting, CGI and whatnot, the way they did Dee's attack on the throne room, but I suspect budget was running out and they were relying on the actors to sell it (which they did, but I love that sequence so much in the comic).

And okay, some of my favourite quotes didn't make it in. "Beware the march of ideas!" "I give you a name and the name is lost!" And of course I imagined the summoning incantation differently, more frantic, more building up, but then they surprised themselves that it worked...

And that's everything out of my brain in the first hours. Maybe now I can actually sleep? And someone stop me from writing fanfic with Ethel and the Corinthian because whoa, that chemistry sizzled.

[silver-wield]

Hi there! Asking you this question because nothing escapes your notice when it comes to narrative parallels. Did you notice how in FFXVI authors purposefully wrote Dion x Joshua as a parallel to Clive x Jill? Same backgrounds as childhood sweethearts (something memorable happened between Dion and Joshua for them to have such affection, trust and admiration for each other), same common trauma, thinking the other was dead for decades, same guilt and wish of redemption at the cost of their lives, Anabella destroying both their homes. When it comes to specific scenes, there is the recurring romance trope of watching the night sky while thinking about each other with longing (typical SE romantic scene), the hugs in the same scene in Stonhyr, a strong symbolism with Metia and the Moon that is a recurring presence in their scenes together or when apart but thinking about each other in the same moment. Even in the scene where Phoenix and Bahamut are fighting, Metia and the Moon are visible on the background. Also red (Metia) and white (Moon) are part of their matching color schemes: Clive/Joshua = black/red and Jill/Dion = white/dark blue. It's not a coincidence that authors wrote Dion x Terence as a parallel to Joshua x Jote, a pairing with clear power imbalance and founded on worshipping/adoration/absolute loyalty (on Jote's part just like Terence) that never really sailed. Both Dion/Joshua freed Terence/Jote from their duties with a last mission. Their farewell scene was kinda rushed and anticlimatic. And it's not a case that authors wrote Dion x Joshua as a parallel of the main endgame ship. It's pretty clear that euphoric as they are for lgbtq+ representation, Dion x Terence fans can't see beyond their nose and didn't notice or are in denial about the actual purpose of this ship. Authors basically used Dion x Terence as testing material for the audience. To receive feedback on the introduction of a gay ship without going full force and presenting said ship as a main one. Afraid of the backlash of the homophobic audience, they chose an invisible ship because Dion x Joshua was going to take too much focus to be ignored. Now that we know that Dion's character was positively welcomed in the fandom, nothing prevents them from developing Dion x Joshua in an hypothetical DLC/expansion/sequel. The foundations are already there, these two characters clearly have history together, their feelings for each other suggest there is a story that still needs to be unfolded. Terence already served his purpose and as a matter of facts, was easily cast aside as if he never existed. He's basically irrelevant to Dion's storyline, while without Joshua he wouldn't even be alive, he'd have never met Clive and become an ally. On a side note, Terence never interacts with other characters, most time he just stands there as part of the background. He doesn't have dedicated side missions and we don't even see him in the epilogue. Authors clearly didn't plan for him to be important, they had him and Dion breaking up and that's the last we see of him. Definitely not the treatment they'd give a character they plan to bring over to an hypothetical dlc/sequel. Thanks for reading!

Look, I'm sorry you don't like canon, but Dion and Terrence are literally childhood friends to lovers, who literally kiss in the game. They're in love and for a set of characters without a lot of screen time to build up their story, it was very well fleshed out and includes bg info in the lore that further explains their relationship. They didn't break up, and I think you should see those scenes again and think about everything Dion went through and his mindset at that point in time. He fully believes he should sacrifice himself to make up for his mistakes, even though the people wouldn't want that. He doesn't want Terrence to witness any of that and asks him to keep the promise to the little medicine girl and help the people rebuild. He entrusted Terrence with all the responsibility he feels is on his shoulders. Only someone with absolute love and trust in that person would do that.

And even Dion's va shared a hero's return HC for Dion and it didn't feature Joshua at all. It was really sweet, in character and wholesome. Dion would return to Terrence and the little medicine girl and help rebuild.

Joshua has a great depth of feeling for Jote and isn't interested in Dion as anything but a friend.

If you wanna go write a fanfic to satisfy your pairing pref that's something you can do, but it's not canon and you shouldn't expect it to happen because the setting has not implied it at all, no matter how much you wish it had. Please don't end up like the nutbar canon deniers going off about how what you think is superior just because you don't like canon. We get enough of that crazy shit with cleriths.

[dvarapala]

🍀✨

#positivitytime // @goldshadows

everything about @hellsurvivr's story feels like it's come straight out of a books or a tv show which i just love. (speaking of which, where are my seven movies and three tie in novels? each and every single one of us deserve to see payne on the big screen in all her glory!) my love for payne aside, i also like it when she shows up in other universes? like, tvd? payne is canon. i'm just having the best time reading your threads, whether they're focused on payne or one of the npc's in her life.

and speaking of oc's i love: there will always be a special place in my heart for @worldvisitor because reese means a lot to me. there's charm, there's wit, there's humor, and you can tell that kira loves her so. i cannot wait for the day i will hold all of the worlds books in my hands.

there's also @ignisregina, who has been a staple on the majority of my dashes since day one. i adore marianne and her fiery nature and i am so glad that i found this blog again when i did. i hope we can interact soon.

as well as @hungryyheart, with one of the most interesting, awesome takes on vampires - or vampii's, in this case - i've seen. viv manages to take characters that remind you of a wet cat and turn them into fully fleshed out, three dimensional people with heart and soul.

@mutatedangels and i have only just started to interact but i saw gen and i knew i had to follow. i absolutely adore oc's. that goes doubly for alien oc's and gen is a super, duper creative oc that just exudes good vibes.

and i can't end this ask without mentioning @maimeelai whose oc's feel canon to me and whose original work i will always champion (#morganville fan for life!) and @heksery - one of my dearest friends on and off this blue site - who puts so much heart into every muse and every interaction. mary, jules, pat and egmund are all very different but she manages to write every single one of them with finesse.

[bookcub]

Lizzie Bennet Diaries and Fire Island Character Comparisons (1/3)

my mind cant stop comparing fire island and the lizzie bennet diaries so here are some character comparisons starting with the bennet family (minus lizzie and noah, who will get a later post):

disclaimer, i love both these adaptations so i say all of this with love. i couldn't stop thinking about these two stories so i had to write something down.

while i absolutely approve of the merging of jane and charlotte into howie (very logical considering the time restraints), i did miss charlotte and jane from lbd. i like our mc having a wider variety of opinions they need to listen to and consider. however, the friendship chemistry between noah and howie was off the charts. i love how we see noah prioritize howie, while still ignoring his actual needs because it is very loving, but clearly a place noah needs to grow and learn from, setting up a nice arc for both noah learning to listen and howie learning his self worth. lizzie has a similar arc with charlotte in lbd but her relationship with jane is a little more stagnent from what i recall. all three of these relationships are at the core of the stories, an aspect other p and p adaptations often spend less time on. and while we have more time with jane and charlotte than howie, somehow howie feels just as fleshed out as them, a testament to the amazing writing and acting.

lydia and luke. .. heres the thing. luke is at such a disadvantage because lydia has sooooo much more development (she literally had her own set of video diaries!!). and her relationship with lizzie feels much stronger than lukes with noah does (again, movies have so much less time!). i connected to lydias emotions way more than i did with lukes. her motivations always made sense to me and we literally see her heart break on screen. i also found the end of her arc more complete than lukes, seeing far more growth on her end vs luke who doesn't really have the screen time to show how he has grown over the course of the movie. i did like how luke was clearly jealous of noah and led to some of his cattier moments, as well as all his moments within the found family (esp with keegan, they were adorable dramatic nerds). both of them ending up on unconsenting sex tapes felt like a fantastic and terrifying update to the elopement. i really enjoyed watching both those storylines play out in a rewarding manner, even if in fire island there was slightly less resolution on luke's emotional growth, the end confrontation with dex was cathartic to watch.

kitty and keegan. .. . look im a cat person but keegan was an absolute riot and much needed comedic relief. and his makeup???? a work of art, honestly. he made me laugh a lot and his casual intimacy and how he was always searching for fun and physical comfort, which really fleshed out a character who is literally reduced to a cat on other adaptations (i mean, i am all for lbd kitty bennet, i just can't pass up keegan making me laugh constantly)

again, with mary and max, i never liked in lbd how lizzie straight up forgot about mary although i didn't find her particular memorable. max made me laugh, but i really would have liked a little arc for him, i found him quite endearing. both characters were underused in the story (yeah yeah they ensemble shows) and more of each of them in their respective stories would have only improved. i wanted more of max, exploring the fatphobia and racism towards Black men on fire island some more, but again, only so much time in a movie.

erin was a shockingly well balanced combination of mr and mrs bennet. despite their contrasting personalities in p and p as well as lbd, one would imagine that the mixing of two characters would be cheesy, over the top, and simply a joke. however, erins theratrics instead felt like a protective cover, a coping mechanism she used as a front to prevent her from getting hurt. when she lets herself be vulnerable with noah. . .it feels authentic and earned to her character, instead of a heel face turn. while i love the costumes and imitations of lizzies parents, their lacking presence cant compare to margaret chos compelling and hilarious performance.

every place where i prefer lbd over fire island almost always has to do with time, since lbd had so much more than fire island. both were true to the heart of the story (the relationships) and put their own spin on an old and familiar tale.

stay tuned for parts 2 and 3!!!

[ofpolitics]

hey, hello, i’m popping onto here from @yunharlaquin because i just got my library card and the first thing i did was check out an audiobook of que.en’s shadow!  which i just finished.  some very light light spoilers are below but nothing major major to the plot.  also if some personal blog sees this, you’re welcome to like or reply but please, for the love of all that is holy, DO NOT REB.LOG THIS.

it’s fine. not horrible, but certainly not anywhere near great.  good things were: i appreciate that the author, may she never see this post, fleshes out locations and even some traditions, puts some thought into clothing and behavior. i liked the plot, i liked the subplots.  i usually liked the dialogue, and the characterization of pad.mé and her handmaidens felt more or less true to what we see of them in not book media (especially since the handmaidens haven’t been fleshed out at all since legends was ‘decanonized’).  unlike what i had heard from others, pad.mé is not portrayed as completely incompetent in the early days of the senate and most of it makes sense.  i did very much like pa.dmé and the handmaidens’ friendships, especially how s.abé’s choice to hunt down why pad.mé died is set up through their devotion to each other. sac.hé and ya.né are also ADORaBLE together. and the alde.raan visit was truly lovely.

what i didn’t like, and very much didn’t like at that: some of the phrases and slang thrown into inner and outer dialogue felt very here and now, not like anything really i’d expect out of s.tar wars, let alone nab.oo. pad.mé, and by extension, her handmaidens come off as very much the author’s BEST! GIRLS! EVER! at the expense of other characters.  the amount of it nearly borders on ridiculous at times, especially when certain things make no sense that in the greater context no one would have thought of or done before.  p.admé’s characterization does have flaws, not in the she can do wrong way, but in the that doesn’t make sense way, and i really do not like it.  with the sorta exception of organa, the way padm.é’s relationships with other major off na.boo players in her life, including pal.patine, often doesn’t make sense or feel like it glides into on screen canon either, and how that sometimes ties into the best girl issue i mentioned before, was highly irritating.  it bordered on pad.mé has to be the purest intentioned, to the point that no other character in politics could have even close, even orga.na and mot.hma.  oh, and yeah, i really actually hate that with the multiple legends aspects that seemed to be drawn over, that dar.ren was just completely erased from so.la’s life.  i understand the need for better rep, but it still could have been done in sol.a’s story and not erased that completely, especially because their relationship was such as important example of equality and culture on nab.oo.

so, overall, again, did not hate, but didn’t like either.  honestly, if i didn’t come in with such rock bottom expectations, i think i would have been extremely disappointed and hated a lot more.  basically none of it is useful to me, especially when it comes to p.admé’s relationships with others except for the handmaidens and bre.ha.  i might use some event points to fill out my concept of her timeline, reference the big political events which happen in threads, but that’s about it.  consider this source very much unlikely to be ‘canon’ in my interpretation of pa.dmé on this blog.  in fact, assume it just isn’t unless you see something otherwise.

[dammons-forgefire]

https://www.tumblr.com/arctophyllax/735707485263085568/actually-theres-a-way-to-ask-larian-to-give-us

Omg i found this!! Request send already! Spread it my love our men needs a hug at least!

Hello anon, thank you for sharing!

I'll definitely ask them to give us more interactions with our favorite tieflings, but I will be completely honest; I think there are limits to what we can realistically ask for here. Do some expectation management, if you will.

So far we don't even have hugs for our direct companions and lovers in the game, so if hugs for NPCs are to come, it might take a while. Perhaps even a long while. I still think they would definitely implement them should they see the demand. Larian is overall great when listening to fans and players.

But there are also a lot of things I doubt we can expect them to implement.

The way a lot of the NPCs are written feels like their story should take place off-screen as well, and making more of it happen on-screen would probably take a very long time of writing and recording more dialogue, among other things.

I doubt they will add any new permanent companions, as that would mean an insane level of additional effort for them. And while Zevlor, for example, is extremely strong and I would have loved for him to help us more under Moonrise, I think overall, the area was supposed to be difficult but manageable, which it already is, even in Tactician difficulty, especially if you have Aylin to aid you in the fight. Adding him to fight with us there would probably not be too difficult, but it feels as though they would have to buff Ketheric in order for things to still be balanced.

Now this might just be me, but as much as I adore Zevlor (among a lot of other NPCs), and even though I would have loved to hug him or even flirt with him during the party in Act I, accepting something like that or even having him sleep with Tav there doesn't seem to be in character to me. He seems more like the type to be caught off guard and flattered, but not like someone who would ever act on it, even if he did have a little crush on Tav. I could be wrong, though.

There is also a big difference between changes like that during early access and now that the game is released. It is no longer in active development, even though they are still working on a lot of things. But the game is released. It's out. I don't see them putting in thousands of work-hours into completely new character quests that they didn't at least already explore during earlier stages of development.

I know they had something else planned for Zevlor in Act II, but from what I heard, that was about him intentionally betraying the refugees, which I'm very glad they didn't implement.

Now, as much as I understand some people wanting to ask for romances of their favorite NPCs (I've seen Zevlor, Dammon, Rolan, Raphael, Omeluum, Abdirak, Kar'niss, Gortash, Orin, Nere, Barcus, Rugan, and a whole bunch more that people want to romance), writing a whole new romance that doesn't just feel like an afterthought, but fleshed out takes a lot of time. And you can already tell that, because even most of the main companions don't feel like they ever finished those. Which also means that the companions need to be the top priority here.

Wyll was rewritten a few months before the game was released, and even now, months AFTER release he is still hours behind in content compared to other companions. It just takes a very long time to write, produce, record, polish, animate, then fully implement things. Even with mocap, there are still animators who have to properly animate everything. Mocap doesn't do the full job here, so even smaller animations take time.

Something as fleshed out with as many scenes and dialogue options as Astarion's romance took them 4 full years of constant development, recording and many iterations to get things right. And even there they still have to keep working, fix things, rewrite smaller things, add more dialogue, etc.

Larian worked on the game for years to get it to this point, so another romance, a fully developed quest line, could easily take a year during active development. Outside of development, it could take much longer, so to me it doesn't sound feasible to create something like that for a character that isn't part of the main group.

They already have their hands full with hundreds of things they still fix and develop, the entire upper city was cut fairly shortly before release, so it will probably be put back in. And I wouldn't be surprised if that meant some changes as to what we can see and who we can meet in Act III, but even then, I doubt they will make smaller NPCs romanceable.

Hugs? I would like that. A few more one-night stands with some extra dialogue? Sure. But I don't think we will get any more companions, or full romances. (Which is, by the way, the reason I think Frazer has been told not to hype up a potential romance with Dammon, not to inspire hope where there is none. He is a big part of the story for Karlach, that was already written in Early Access and developed quite a bit before being ultimately dropped for now. But creating a full romance with him is not in scope of what they can realistically put out with the level of quality they aspire to have.)

[animechick2015]

Anime I Watched in 2022 Part 1:

1. Belle 3/5

*spoilers ahead*

Ughhh I really wanted to like this one. The songs and ost’s were amazing and the visuals were beautiful. I think the creators focused so much on the music that they lost sight of the plot. I had so many questions at the end of the movie: why did she go to rescue the kids on her own; couldn’t her father or some other adult go with her? Why did they build up a romance between her and Beast for nothing to come of it? Why after the entire movie of her friend not being interested in her, he suddenly showed romantic interest? I really wanted to love this movie like everyone else did but I can’t.

2. Promare 5/5

EPIC. The only word I can use to describe this movie. From the soundtrack, to the visuals, storyline and likable characters,this one will hook you from the opening scene. This one will have you feeling like you’re on an acid trip but it’s a good one, trust me. This is one anime movie I can see myself rewatching many times and never get tired.

3. Banished from the Hero Party 4/5

Such a cute romance. Very likable characters. The plot was interesting and the romance was so adorable; my only criticism is that it felt a bit rushed at the end but overall it was a great series. Doubt we’ll be getting a second season though 🥺

4. The Boy and the Beast 4/5

This movie got a lot of negative reviews and I can’t understand why. It was so interesting and going in blind I didn’t expect certain events to take place. I really enjoyed this one. The artwork, the soundtrack and even the characters were all amazingly done. If you haven’t watched this one give it a chance. Ignore all the bad reviews and go into this with an open mind.

5. Demon Slayer Season 2 10,000/5

Where do I begin with this masterpiece. Uzi Tengen has my heart, ; honestly he’s my second favorite Hashira (Giyu being the first ofc). Can we nominate Inosuke as the MVP of this season? This was a relatively short Arc but my god the studio did such an amazing job that every Sunday I was glued to my screen. Once again the Op and Ed were greatly done. The animation was top tier. The voice acting was superb. This is one of those series that I’ll actually sit down and rewatch with no problems

6. Moriarty the Patriot 4/5

This one has been sitting in my watch list for a while. I don’t know why I never gave it a chance before but I’m glad I did. This was such a nice twist on the Sherlock Holmes world. It was so good that in the beginning I didn’t even realize that the characters were based on the Sherlock novels (yes I missed the first couple minutes of the first episode but don’t worry because I binged it after I was done); this series got me supporting criminals without even realizing it. The writing in this was so good. And the chemistry between Moriarty and Sherlock 😚. My only criticism is that after reading the manga A LOT was left out that really fleshed out the stories and characters. Seriously hoping for another season but from that ending I really doubt we’ll get one.

7. Eight Six 86 5,000,000/5

I really want to kick myself in the behind for this one. I started this late last year and dropped it after the first episode. I really wasn’t feeling it. Maybe because mecha isn’t my favorite genre of anime but I wasn’t hooked so I put it aside and convinced myself that I would continue once the second season had been concluded; I didn’t. But a tiny voice at the back of my mind persuaded me to watch it and boy am I glad I did. The soundtrack was godly. Jesus Christ I don’t think I’d love a soundtrack more than AoT and Gintama but this won me over. The characters were all likable; expect the republicans of San magnolia, they can all rot in hell. It depicts a more realistic take on racism and war that your heart breaks for the soldiers especially knowing that most of them are children. Shin and Lena, two characters that never met face to face had so much chemistry that they could give a lot of Shojo animes a run for their money. I loved this series so much that I went on to read the novels. I might do a more in depth review on those later but seriously everyone needs to give this anime a chance.

8. Ranking of Kings 10,000/5

This is another series I almost ignored but thank goodness good sense prevailed and I gave it a chance. I was one of those who judged it because the artwork looked like classic cartoon drawings but my first indicator of this being a spectacular series was that it was being produced by Wit Studio. The character development in this one was amazing. What I loved about this series is that we couldn’t judge a character from first meeting them. Everyone had their reasons and stories for being the way they were. Boji is not your typical anime protagonist, with many disabilities that made the people of the kingdom judge him harshly, he definitely deserves best boy award and the world. Watching him at the beginning of the series had me crying in the middle of the night. Seriously he deserves everything. And queen Hilling is the MVP of the series; she took the clichéd step mother role and turned it on its back. If you haven’t given this one a try please do, you won’t regret it.

9. Attack on Titan: The Final Season Part 2 5/5

There are no words to describe how much I enjoyed this season. Seriously, Mappa outdid themselves. I know a lot of people are upset that we have to wait for Part 3 but I actually prefer that they take their time to animate the ending because there’s still so much to cover. Also can we talk about how amazing the OST’s were this season. Like goddamn!

10. Parasyte: The Maxim 4/5

I really enjoyed this one. I did. Honestly. If you ask me why I feel so cheated with the ending I can’t tell you. I guess I expected a more of an all out war between Migi and the other parasytes but nope. Trust me I get it, the ending was the most reasonable but I still felt like something was missing. Maybe I need to rewatch. But story wise, it was great; the main character was very likable. Seeing him turn from a regular teenager to cold, emotionless and back to his self was enjoyable. Tbh I didn’t really like the female lead but I guess she grew on me in the last episode. Also, the opening and ost’s were giving me an eargasm.

[gillianthecat]

Wishlist:

Leo aka Jung Taek Woon (Kim Jeong Hyeon) and Ha Jong Woo (Han Tae Yeong) in a series together. I love their onscreen chemistry. Their characters make no sense together (this is a time where I’m not voting for the polyamory option, it doesn’t fit the story being told at all) but I want to see more of that spark. A BL would be great—stoic x sunshine, enemies to lovers, with the same basic character types they are here—but anything really as long as they share a lot of screen time.

I would love to see Happy Ending Romance redone with a bigger budget, longer runtime, consultants from the literary publishing world, and a more fully fleshed out script. I don’t know if a movie would work better than a drama series, but it needs to be either longer or tighter, or both. Possibly with a different actor for Cha Jeong Wu; I can’t tell if it’s the actor or the script making it feel like there’s a void in the center of the show instead of this brilliant writer everything is supposed to revolve around. All the other actors should stay.

I would add in at least a little more info on the scandal and exposé from three years ago that got Cha Jeong Wu exiled from the literary world, and make Tae Yeong less ridiculously incompetent at running a publishing business. Not that these are the main points of the story, but with them so vague all of the interesting, complicated relationships also feel vaguely floating in nowhereland instead of as rich and grounded as they could and should be.

I want to see more of Jeong Wu as a writer. See him writing, hear about his work, see him telling stories or playing with words, or something. "Writer" is his main personality in the story so far, and since his writer-ness is so abstract, it makes it feel like he doesn’t have a personality at all. And the actor is not charismatic enough to make up for this. Nor, honestly, do I think he should be, I do think it’s important that this guy’s appeal come from his writer-ness and not from charisma.

More fleshing out of Jeong Hyeon and Jeong Wu’s relationship. We need to feel more the love and protection and dependency that was there. And Jeong Hyeon’s controlling possessiveness alongside Jeong Wu using him to hide from the world and himself. The actors are actually both doing great at conveying that with the little bits the script gives them, but the emotional weight of Jeong Wu choosing to leave is getting diluted without a clearer picture of what he’s leaving. I do think we needed to see that kiss at the beginning; it would give an important physicality to their feelings for each other, in whatever complicated forms they take. It’s not just purient interest (not that there’s anything wrong with that); seeing how Jeong Hyeon kissed Jeong Wu, how Jeong Wu responded to it, would tells us a lot about their relationship. I realize Korean BL’s reluctance to show kisses in general, and even more so for kisses not between the endgame pair, is at work here. But this is my wishlist so I’m wishing that reluctance gone.

I keep both women; I love them. But I would like a slightly clear picture on who the one who defaced the picture is, and why she keeps showing up. I’d also take more screen time for them both.

Despite my love for Tae Yeong’s adorably giddy crush, the main romance is still the weakest part for me. I appreciate it in theory—Tae Yeong’s hero worship and Jeong Wu falling for someone who truly believes in him—but in practice I’m just not feeling it. I don’t know what exactly needs to change, but my wish is for that to be fixed.

I really do appreciate this show’s ambition, and all the complex things it’s trying to do. Which is why I’m frustrated that it isn’t quite succeeding (for me at least). I’ve also appreciated reading everyone’s thoughts on it, because there’s a lot to chew on and y’all have great insights.

[camazofenwa]

I have finished The Owl House. I burden you with my thoughts.

Pretty much binged all of Owl House last week. I knew it was probably something good when it kept breaking into my orbit when it was airing, and I was super not disappointed. Fuck an actual review though, Ima talk about the characters. Also spoilers rampant.

Adorable weird child. Optimistic without being insufferable, eccentric without being annoying. One of the most likable MCs I've seen in a minute. Loved seeing her whole journey, felt believable the whole time and I was rarely, if ever, questioning why she was doing something. The absolute worst thing I could say about her is that her palisman reveal was... I mean, I'm willing to admit that if they ever mentioned a snake shifter before that moment, I forgot. But even still, the whole "be anything you want to be" idea was kind of already communicated with the fact that it was an egg. It doesn't really really matter all that much, the thing's only around for like 10 minutes maybe, it just stuck out.

Outside of that, love Luz. Stuff with her mom, her being critically gay with Amity, fun character. One of the best things about her is that she doesn't have to be a part of every single plot for the show to carry on. The cast and setting is strong enough to survive without Luz's involvement, and it gets stronger as the show goes. Great character.

Never have I seen squalor and hobo-esque behavior look so appealing. I don't think it's making waves to say she's the best character in the show. If "fuck it, we ball" was a person, they'd be shaped like Eda. I think it's sometimes hard for writers to make a character who's pretty much got it all while still being sympathetic, but they hit it out of the park with Eda. Strong, funny, likable, all wrapped up in a blanket of painful regret and an uncontrollable condition. That's why I wanna be when I leave my 20s and finally grow up.

I'll leave certain parts of her deal for another character later, but Eda just consistently gets the best stuff in the show. Her background, her VA, her character design ESPECIALLY Harpy Eda, aces. The only thing she's really outdone in is her romance subplot, and that's just because I actually got to see Luz and Amity's evolve. Love me some Eda.

There are two characters in this show that I predicted I would not care about in the slightest and would groan whenever they were on screen, only to grow to love them and enjoy their presence. This is the first.

King's deal about being small and cute while wanting to be big and bad inevitably gets old, but luckily the show knows that and pivots enough away from that at a certain point to keep in line with his own development. He has an ego and can be a dick, but it never feels like he's an irredeemable dick. I can tell he loves his family, and not knowing what or who he is becomes a very sympathetic plotline for him. Bro just wants a padre. Plus, he does have some other good comedic bits. There's hardly anything too bad to say about King, even if the big ego schtick isn't for you.

Him, Luz, and Eda all having their own unique but connected stories throughout the show helped me endear them to me a lot. Incredibly fleshed out characters that have arcs that go beyond just having emotional trauma or something like that. Great trio of main characters. Well. "Trio."

This is the second.

Fuckin' hated Hooty at first. Even if he was meant to be annoying, that didn't stop me from not wanting him on screen. I think him being this eldritch abomination canonically, combined with him being like an actually competent character helped to move him away from unlovable to me. Love me a dumb idiot who's good at their job, and damn if Hooty isn't a great owl house.

I think another thing that helped him out was his friendship with Lilith. They play off of each other fantastically, and you get to see a lot more of Hooty when he's paired with someone who appreciates him than you do just when he's a nuisance. Love a Hooty.

It's the biggest bitch in the uuuuniveeerrrrse!

Okay not really. Lilith in S1 was definitely on the top of the shit list for the whole "curse mah sister" deal, and I was of the opinion she couldn't fall far enough. But the show treats what she did with an appropriate amount of weight and she puts in the work to make up for what she did, even at several costs to herself. Whether or not that makes up for 30 years of suffering she caused Eda is... ya know, up for debate. She tries, though.

Once S2 kicks in and we get lame dork Lilith, I was all in. She's such a fuckin' nerd, it's almost impossible not to love her. Her dynamic with Eda is also a treat, one of the best duos in the show. Her being Hooty's best friend also does a hell of a lot to kick her into the good graces.

The worst thing that happens to Lulu is the fact that fucking what, four or five episodes into S2 they put her on a bus?! Like, okay, go spend time with your mom I guess, but we barely get any Lilith! Why are we forcing THIS one out of the house, she's wonderful! It kind of stays that way for the rest of the series, too. She doesn't get a lot of play near the end, and is definitely a character that says lines in S3.

Ah well. Still a treat.

[akiiyamashun]

I know you mentioned you enjoyed Akiyama and it pushed you to pick him up as a muse.

What was the exact reason on why you picked him up? Was / is there something that the fandom portrays him as and you don't? What is one dynamic you love to explore more about that isn't talked about enough yet you want to? Annnnnd what's your thoughts on how Akiyama would be & react towards about the homeless in Yokohama?

I know he will definitely be open towards them and understand their situation, but how would he go about in interacting with them?

unscripted asks . always accepting

Beck, I just wanted to say THANK YOU for sending this ask because I realized that I might not have... Fully explained the reasons why I picked up Akiyama as a muse (at least not after officially opening up the blog!). And not only that but all these other juicy things, too! Ugh, thank you so much for this!

But first things first: I picked up the Yakuza games again after I started chatting/plotting with @sixthxchairman over at my other blog, and Y3 was... A not so fun experience, to put it mildly. It is my least favorite entry and I struggled to move forward because of 2 main things: graphics/technology whiplash (I went from Y0 and Kiwami 1 and Kiwami 2 to... A PS3 remaster haha; it was a jarring experience) and the story. Gosh, the plot and pacing of Y3 is just strange, with a lot of dad Kiryu content that I did not particularly care for, Daigo being mostly off-screen and just confusing/cliché conspiracies including lost twins and everything.

I did not know a thing about Y4 when I started - I just wanted more Daigo content, really - and then Akiyama Shun happened and oh. my. god. I was smitten with him right at the beginning - confused because I had no idea we were getting non-Kiryu protagonists at the time, but I thought his initial scenes with Hana amusing; I absolutely LOVED his fighting style (I’ve always done very well with him, as opposed to Saejima, for instance) and by the time Kido did the introduction with that voice-over about who he was and everything, I was sold.

Akiyama is just a very likeable, charming and refreshing character for me - Kiryu is not a favorite of mine and I largely played the games for the other characters/overall lore (and Majima, my original love from Y0 haha). But then suddenly there was this guy, with mysterious motivations and great lines, awesome voice and fun moves. I was entranced - he felt more relatable and an everyday sort of guy than Kiryu and his mythical fighting skills and legendary reputation etc. Also a protagonist I did not feel like groaning at and questioning his motivations every 5 minutes.

As I got further with the game and then somewhere along Y5, I was so deep into Akiyama hell that I knew I needed to write him; I started creating backstories, motivations, relatives and a lot of things to explain why Akiyama is who he was and my portrayal was born. I like to think I’m rather singular in the aspect that I don’t personally think he’s stupid/lazy or a shallow comic relief - sure, he acts like that sometimes, but my interpretation of Akiyama feels like it’s different from most of the fandom in the sense that I see him as someone with above-average intelligence, with strong anti-system bias and who genuinely wants to make life for others better. There are a lot of particular political and societal views that I incorporate in how I write him. 

On your second point: I would absolutely love to have the chance to write homeless!Akiyama or even his past, arrogant self prior to his fall from grace. I think these two are sides to his personality I haven’t yet touched in detail and which would be fun to flesh out more - despite the fact that he is not yet the Akiyama Shun we all love and adore. Particularly his homeless era - the original one post-Touto scandal, and not during Y6 - is a period that fascinates me because it was hard, dark and a lesser man would have been destroyed by it; somehow, he managed to not only survive, but to be reborn as someone he’s happy with and confident with his role in the world. There is a reason I keep associating himself to the phoenix so much (in addition to the little in-game hints, too).

And finally your third question re. Yokohama - I sincerely think Akiyama has an edge there because he’s not formally anything (he’s a civilian running a legitimate business), but Y6 suggests that he’s considered an ally/connection to Daigo and maybe he could be targeted by the Omi as well if he stayed in Kamurocho as a Tojo loyalist (despite not being yakuza!). Although I don’t think they would personally go after him - because, again, he’s a civilian and the entire idea of taking control over Tokyo was doing it in a way that was different from the open all-out yakuza wars - I still think it might have driven him to someplace near for a breather and discover/interact with the people there.

I sincerely think his modus operandi would be similar to what we see in the other games because he would offer food/minimal material comforts and try to understand what is going on in the city first - but the moment someone tried to take advantage of them (such as charging protection money), he would fight back and likely get pulled into the Ijin Three mess because that’s what he does - he keeps being dragged into underworld business because he won’t stay quiet or put, haha. 

But chances are (unless he crossed paths with Kasuga and friends) that he wouldn’t go deep into their business or the power structure in Ijincho - he would attempt to negotiate some deal for these people, and probably work with Hello Work/local organizations to try and find employment or better long-term solutions. I don’t doubt he would grant loans himself, or just try to find a way to put their skills to good use and overall make a difference.

[satohqbanana]

Almost at the end of GON; here are my thoughts so far.

I think the party interactions were better than last time; felt a lot more natural. They could be established a little better, but hey, I love how Lydia's presence spices things up. Lydia is my bias. Don't me.

And if I had an egg every time a dark-skinned character got hypnotized by the Big Bad prior to us meeting the main character who is a teen just doing her business, semi-forced their way into joining the party, and felt remorse over doing the things the Big Bad made them do in their hypnotic state, I'd have two eggs, which isn't a lot, but I'm kind of looking into the screen disappointedly because yet another brown-skinned character gets hypno'd and hypno is one of the tropes I absolutely hate. Also, Stella's attitude towards the end, while reasonable, kinda made me roll my eyes.

Plot-wise it was neat to see all these various places hold the keys. I laughed a bit at how the witches feared kids and I absolutely enjoyed seeing a more fleshed out dragon city from AV2. I also adored that mother-in-law sidequest; that is quite a side story I hadn't seen placed in a game like this before. I wish we had more sections where Mel had to swim; that spriteset is so cute.

Battlewise, I was satisfied taking my all-melee team from LOT all the way to the end until the Orc Kingdom gave me magical frogs and then. Lydia. I didn't get to use the Book of Storms but I was perfectly happy with what spells the other books gave me. Alas, our old friends backtracking and dungeons return, and the maps are way huger. I was in pure agony making my way from the desert city to the dragon city (sorry I forgot their names), and yes that volcano tileset made it even more difficult for me to navigate. To help me proceed through the game's battle encounters, I usually have a YouTibe video playing in my ears.

Also. Alas. Where are the vampires. They only came at the end. Sobs.

From how I see it right now, I would be satisfied seeing the end to the story right here. I've no clue why I'm supposed to care about the next installments. I probably did approach the series with bigger expectations, but right now I'm pretty okay with it being a part of the series. It did try to be something else, but it is still very much confined to its limits.

But I haven't finished everything yet. So. We'll see.