#but my copy of season one is abysmal

[lemotmo]

I messaged and asked if I could share these before sending this to you just to be sure! But I thought I would share her first Tommy post. She's had a couple of messages about how she was clearly never really pro Tommy. She was, but it was always with a for now kind of narrative. But I thought some people would like to see it. It's favorable to Tommy so no one freak out because it's OLD. We are all aware of her feelings on the matter now. It's her first Tommy post following 7x4 but it's pretty clear what she's actually excited about though. I'm also attaching the post she made following the season finale because it's a mood and sums up most everyone's opinions of that episode nicely. Hopefully the way I had to copy them doesn't format weird. Enjoy!

That episode was heaven. An absolutely beautiful, perfectly Buck episode. I'm going to fawn for a few minutes and then I'm going to overthink some things,lol. First things first Tommy is just fun. What a great first relationship for Buck. No pressure, just lighthearted goodness. He deserves to have the best time and Tommy seems like a great way for him to explore this new reality. He can stay for a while. I won't lie, his face doesn't do much for me personally, but overall I get the appeal and I hope Buck has a blast. Seriously though they did such a good job bringing him into the mix. I'm genuinely stunned. He works and it didn't require a whole lot of effort to make him work. I am thoroughly impressed. And on a completely shallow note that was a spectacular first kiss. Well done all the way around. I'm so overwhelmed and impressed by the entire episode. Bravo to all! Our little Buckley is canonically bi!

Now to the overthinking part, and I'm sorry in advance. The episode text was entirely reliant on Eddie. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong but I don't recall the show ever establishing that Eddie was into Muay Thai prior to last night. Which means they invented an Eddie hobby specifically to give Tommy the same hobby. That's insane behavior. I mean that was absolutely unnecessary and not only did they intentionally add it they made sure to make the audience aware of it. They had Buck repeatedly point out his similarities to Eddie. I was watching live with a couple of friends and we all kind of had a wtf moment. Because are they actually going to do it??? Are they actually maybe baby stepping towards legitimately going there?? I'm going to have to rewatch but man it kind of genuinely feels like it might actually happen. And I'm speechless about it. It's pretty much what everyone is waiting for at this point. I just never thought they'd actually do it. But I don't know guys last night definitely felt like it was something.

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Before I rage vomit my opinion of last night's episode I want to make a plea. A plea to Tim, ABC, Ryan Murphy, or anyone with power who will listen. Stop allowing Kristen Reidel to write anything for this show. She shouldn't be allowed near the writers room let alone be allowed to write what are supposed to be significant episodes. She has now written the last two season finales and they have both been atrocious. Worse than bad. Worse than boring. Completely and utterly atrocious. I am truly stunned by how bad this episode was. I mean it was clear the entire back half of the season was a last minute rewrite because they got renewed so fast, and as a result, Tim clearly decided to slow the originally planned stories down. The latter half of this season was abysmal. And because of that they needed a decent finale to salvage any part of it. And the second Kristen's name came up on the opening credits it was over. I dead ass started laughing the last 15 minutes because I could not comprehend how terrible it all was. It was maybe the worst episode in the history of the series. I'm serious. I can't think of a worse overall episode. It was embarrassing. You're the number one show on that network and you rolled that piece of garbage out as your season finale. Really?

I'm not even going to waste breath talking about the ridiculous Bobby/Athena/Cartel nonsense because it was too stupid for words. The only thing I will say is Kristen clearly likes Athena, it's obvious, so why does she always write her as some crazy RoboCop ripoff with a vigilante kink? It's mind boggling. The worst part though was the Eddie/Christopher/Buck arc. That actually broke my heart. In the hands of a more talented writer Oliver and Ryan, and precious Gavin could have salvaged that storyline. They did all the heavy lifting anyway, but the writing failed them miserably (big shock). Ryan did everything he could with that pile of garbage. Tim, you all killed her off. Let it go. I don't want to see her again. For the love of god free Eddie from the Shannon cycle. And then on top of everything else you did to Eddie this season you sent his son away. Look if they're actually going the Buddie route, which I am now convinced they are, Christopher needs to be away for a bit. I get that. But him asking to go stay with his grandparents was not the way to do it. Especially given how well your audience knows Eddie's very complicated relationship with his parents. It was gross. There were other ways to remove Chris from the equation for a bit. That brings me, finally, to that disgusting, completely out of place dinner scene between Buck and Tommy. What in the actual hell was that scene? It was so wildly out of place within the context of the episode it felt like watching whiplash. They clearly had a scene count in Lou's contract and needed one more scene, fine. They're also clearly establishing this relationship as purely surface level so they weren't going to give him a scene at the hospital or anything else that would demonstrate a level of tenderness. That all makes sense. But the audience had just spent 45 minutes watching the man that we all know Buck sees as his dad basically dying. He died. Buck being Buck wanted to talk about it. Tried to have a very serious conversation and Tommy turned that attempt into a daddy sex kink joke. Are you kidding me?!? I get it. For Tommy this is about Buck being hot and them having a good time, and nothing more so he doesn't want to bring anything serious into the mix. Fine. But there were so many less skin crawling ways to drive that point home. It was disgusting. And I continue to be stunned by the amount of Tommy apologists who keep pretending it's not obvious what the show is doing here. He isn't coming across as charming. He's not being written as charming. Look at the GA reactions. You're not meant to be viewing this as a love story. I know you all can see that. Rant done. I need a drink.

Thank you Nonny. I'm glad you asked her if it was okay to post it. You don't often see that kind of courtesy in fandom anymore.

The contrast between the first post and the last post is sending me. :) Once again the OP managed to explain everything in such a rational way. The way she breaks down these episodes and characters without letting herself get carried away by loud fandom voices and general bi Buck happiness, is truly admirable.

If I have to nitpick, I have to admit that I don't agree with that first kiss being a 'spectacular kiss'. I admit I never liked it. I think I must have watched it twice now and then never again. Something has always bothered me about that scene. I can't pinpoint it, but it has always felt a little wooden somehow.

But you know that I am kind of biased. ;) What can I say? I'm a one guy kind of girl and that guy in question is Eddie. :D

Don't turn away yet, because there is another OP post coming after this one. :)

Remember, no hate in comments or reblogs. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of the anonymous OP’s posts, you can find all of their posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[maxdurden]

get to know me

i was tagged by the amazing @johaerys-writes, thank you so much!!! 

Share your wallpaper: my phone background is really dope artwork of arthur morgan from red dead redemption 2. the art is sooo pretty and i’m sooo lazy so i haven’t changed it even though i haven’t played the game in months lmao. my desktop wallpaper is just,,, a black screen. which is really messed up, but it glitched out and deleted my old wallpaper (which i don’t even remember rip) and,,, ya know, the aforementioned laziness

The last song you listened to: Morbid Stuff by PUP

Currently Reading:  i just finished the v1 titans run of comics (1999-2003)!!!! i literally can’t recommend it more, it was so fun ough. but i’m currently in that phase after reading something really good where you can’t read anything else because of the misery of finishing a good read. it’s rough. honorable mentions go to the copy of the great gatsby that my coworker has been trying to make me read,,, (i’ve gotten through an entire one (1) page of it, sorry steve), and buy back the secrets, which is an incredible fanfic that everyone who likes timkon should go read immediately or i’ll kneecap your closest friends and relatives <3 (also also also in the family of things by @deadchannelradio which is so incredibly amazing and even tho i finished it a while ago i think it should still count for this because everyone should also read it immediately, the kneecapping threat still withstanding ofc)

Last Movie: Batman: Year One (with @darkravenstag, can you sense a pattern in the media i’ve been consuming jesus christ)

Craving: tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo, tattoo!!! (i’m broke)

What are you wearing right now: white soft sweatpants, my fluffy housecoat, and a shirt that says “i ❤️my gay cat” which was a birthday gift from @darkravenstag

How tall are you: last time i checked i was 5’4 but god knows if that’s changed by now (i doubt it), apparently that’s 162 ish centimeters 

Piercings: i have piercings in my ear that i got when i was like,,, four years old that are somehow still around god bless them. and i have a septum piercing. i really desperately want an industrial next

Tattoos: only one!!!!!!!!! it’s a neat little ouroboros but by god do i need more desperately

Glasses? Contacts?: nope, got that 20/20 vision, babey

Last drink: water (i honestly rarely drink anything but water)

Last show: i guess probably technically the mandalorian? it’s in the middle of its new season and @darkravenstag and i are watching it when it releases weekly :3

Last thing you ate: ice cream sandwiches,,, 

Favourite colour: i’m really bad at making decisions like this lmao. i don’t know myself well enough to know my own favorite color, if i’m tbhing. but a lot of different shades of blue are nice, and i like burnt orange and mustard yellow type vibes. green is also nice! so who knows

Current obsession: god i wish it weren’t obvious. to all the folks who started following me because of my greek myths stuff (and that includes you jo lmao) uhhhh sorry. greek myths were THE hyperfixation for like,,,, three or four years but dc comics is back in a big way. i simply cannot stop thinking about these little superhero guys,,,,

Unrelated Obsession: right now??? i’m not kidding when i say that dc comics has left me with literally no other computing space in my brain. like i’m at the stage of brain rot where having a conversation about something that isn’t dc related is a little bit hard,,,, it’s abysmal out here guys. but i’ll give a shout out to greek myths,,, when will my interest in the iliad and odyssey return from the war??? my brain basically works in two modes, which are dc comics nerd and pretentious classics obsessive, so eventually the classics hyperfixation will return but i couldn’t tell you when that’ll be 

Any pets: i have two cats!! their names are achilles and briseis and they are the worst little creechers but also god’s greatest gift to humanity (achilles is currently curled up in my lap purring his stupid little head off). they turn six this april!!! 

Do you have a crush on anyone: lol uhhh sure

Favourite fictional character: this is an incredibly mean question actually. you want me to pick a favorite son??? i am holding my hands over jason todd’s ears while whispering dick grayson,,, but also if we’re allowed to include ocs then rn everyone can get fucked because my baby wes is having a renaissance (in my head)

The last place you traveled: lmao the last place i traveled was back to my hometown (a small town in northern indiana) for the county fair this summer. the ice cream at the local ice cream stand is still the best in the country and i’ll die on that hill but yeah i’d kill to travel a bit more soon but probably won’t really travel until my sister’s wedding happens in georgia in october

tagging @darkravenstag @thrustin-timberlake @deadchannelradio @sarcasticbeanie and any other beloved mutuals (or followers!!) who wanna do this! it's fun, have fun!

[thunderberryart]

Here's a question for you, Starry! I've recently gotten access to a 3ds copy of Rune Factory 4, and I've been wanting to start it! Do you have any advice for a novice to these sorts of games? I've played a few Harvest Moons (Younger Me made it through DS Cute and a chunk of Magical Melody, at least!) and some Stardew Valley, if that helps!

Oh, this is actually a little tricky just because all my experience is with the rerelease on the Switch and there are actually some pretty major differences between it and the 3DS version. I'll do my best, though!

Early Game Basics

Unlike Stardew Valley, you can plant a given crop during any season. The season will, however, affect the growth rate (ex: pineapples grow fastest during summer, and most crops will grow slowest during the winter.)

The game doesn't tell you this, but if you hold down B when you have seeds equipped, you can plant up to four spaces as long as the soil you're hovering over is tilled.

During the farming tutorial, your RP will not go down, so take the opportunity to till as much of the soil as possible once you've cleared what you can of the field.

While farming is your primary source of income, be sure to save some of your crops you're growing for cooking. Dishes sell for far more than raw veggies, and every dish comes with stat bonuses for combat. (Plus most villagers have at least one dish that is their absolute favorite gift.)

Practice fishing as much as possible. A higher fishing stat is vital for catching rare fish, which you want for income, and it also increases your intelligence stat, which affects the strength of magic spells.

Experiment with weapons! Some people like short swords, some people like dual blades, and others like hammers. Find the one that works best for you!

If you get a drop from a monster, toss it in the shipping bin. Raven has a rotating stock based on what monster drops you've shipped, including most boss drops, so if you don't feel like challenging Terraclone again, throw that Earth Dragon Ash in the bin the minute you get it.

Regarding the 3DS original vs. Special

Outside the additional save slots and Newlywed Mode, not much was actually added to RF4 when it was rereleased a few years ago. However, there were two noteworthy QoL changes that might make it worth investing in. The first is that a number of bugs and glitches were addressed and fixed in the Special rerelease, some of which I have been told by Rune Factory veterans were actually capable of breaking the game. The other has to do with the RNG for town events and confessions.

The RNG for town events and confessions in the 3DS version is abysmal. Which town event activates at a given time is completely random, which wouldn't be a problem if they weren't a requirement for getting married. Additionally, the final act of the story is accessed by completing a town event, Memories, and it can take literal years in-game for it to activate if your luck is that bad. As for confessions, while I'm not 100% sure on this, I've read that the RNG for them is terrible as well. 7 hearts is the lowest LP you can confess at and have a chance of it being successful, but it's still completely random and the chances don't change much even as you raise your chosen beloved's LP higher.

In RF4S, while most town events still activate randomly, important events such as Memories and the marriage events have had their RNG fixed so that they'll activate much sooner (as long as the prerequisites are met, anyway.) In terms of confessions, while there is still a random factor as to whether a marriage candidate will accept or not, the chances do improve the higher your relationship is; 25% for 7 hearts, 50% for 8, 75% for 9, and 100% for 10.

That's about all I can offer! I hope this helps you on your Selphia journey!

[baladric]

i go through a lot of brainworms, most of them quite quickly (goblin emperor excepted, that one’s eternal entirely bc it is so fucking good and there’s such a broader world to flesh out freely, which is my FAVE), but i suspect the reason the stranger things garbage has me in such a chokehold is how abysmal the duffers’ worldbuilding is. because apparently i love nothing more than a poorly-assembled puzzle to fix! (read more’d because this is annoying and long)

like, the first season establishes such a fascinating alternate world with all of these Questions to answer—how is the demogorgon transporting people/itself? what’s with the egg casing hopper finds in the upside down? why does the demogorgon simply take will, not once, but twice, when we know it kills at least two of the five other people it takes—and what is up with the use of the hawkins public library as a hub of sorts in which to stash will after he’s seemingly installed in the hive mind? great questions! great, concrete questions that would be so easy to answer with season 2 and beyond!

and yet! not only are they distinctly not answered (sorry, but ThE mInD fLaYeR is not an answer to the question of Who Is Running The Upside Down’s Show, nor is vecna’s extremely belated intro in any way a satisfactory answer to that question), they’re very often completely overwritten or ditched by the wayside. everyone just stops giving a shit that the upside down’s atmosphere is toxic, nor does anyone ever see any health problems from exposure (hopper and joyce take their hoods off when they find will and definitely need a couple hours to haul him back out of there afterwards! and even if the goggles+bandanas combo did fuck-all for the kids/steve in the tunnels in s2, which i highly doubt, dustin still fully inhales a bunch of spores! plus nancy, robin, steve and eddie are down there for most of a day and come out a-okay, aside from bat injuries!) it’s explicitly stated later that the upside down creatures can only operate with extant gates opened from topside hawkins, so the demogorgon’s power to open smaller, more direct gates is nerfed out of existence! demogorgons apparently grow from little parasitic larvae, so the egg casings in the upside down are also voided as a worldbuilding aspect, unless the implication is that there are other very large creatures wandering around, which i highly doubt is anything the duffers have considered and/or care about! and then there’s everything with eleven, which is just... so fucking handwaved!

like what do you mean dosing a bunch of people in the 60s up with LSD and tossing them in iso tanks produced psychic kids? and how the fuck does some telekinesis and some gentle telepathy yield eleven’s connection to the in-between? and clearly she’s innately connected to the upside down itself, otherwise what random kind of bullshit is it that the hole she opened and shoved creel through just happened to dump him in this blighted fucking hellscape? did she make the upside down?? and are we just gonna eternally ignore that she has an aneurysm every time she uses her powers??? like!!!

it’s just so infuriating, the degree to which the duffers are just fucking around in here, hamfisting these big lame dramatic plots when there are so many sick-ass ways they could have structured a really great, cohesive, multi-season arc for the grand fucking history of the upside down and its ability to creep into the minds of humans (how else do you explain vecna getting to chrissy without any open gates?). and not just “the secret was socipoathic ecofascism the whole time, and some russians too”—like you could give us the why on this world’s impressionability (will’s entry just... spawning a copy of hawkins in a limited radius around himself) in juxtaposition with its already extant life forms (creel sees demogorgons and the particles that form the mind flayer on his initial entry, seven years pre-canon). because something has clearly happened to the upside down! one feels so loudly that it wasn’t always like this, because if it were, where the fuck did the fauna come from, and why are they so limited in scope? why is the only flora unrelated to will’s copy of hawkins, like. sentient fucking vines? what’s with the floating fucking rock-islands??

it could be! so good! it could be fucking edible! and yet, the duffers just wanna talk about mike wheeler and child experimentation. fuckin rip, i will probably not recover until i write some troublingly elaborate bullshit about upside down druid!eddie and how he revives the upside down to its former glory before going home to kiss steve harrington’s extremely dumb face.

[rain-fluff]

Journal Twelve: Changing Seasons and Changing Vibes

I don’t want this blog to be left forgotten so I’m going to try my best to update and journal every now and again. June has come and I was invited to be apart of a surprise birthday gathering on the 15th. I honestly didn’t expect it to turn out so pleasant. I kind of forgot what it was like to just surround yourself with loved ones like that; the way that everyone was all smiles and reminiscing about past memories our just discussing about how people fared with work or classes. I wasn’t relatively close with the circle so the invite itself was a surprise to me. I was pretty anxious and had my walls up but a good chunk of them we’re really friendly, making sure that I didn’t feel too left out in conversations and trying to get to know me. Albeit the questions did sound like interview questions but it overall felt pleasant.

In a way, I also felt envious. It really made me miss my friends. Obviously as life goes on, our priorities of adulthood get in the way of maintaining contact. But I still miss the comfort that past circles have given me. It’s not really as comfortable as the current ones I’m getting into contact these days. Like I try to convince myself that these people are in fact good people but there’s just something in my lizard brain that subconsciously tells me that I should keep my armor up, I guess. People telling you that they’re hopeful that you could stick around more; a sweet sentiment but I know I have unresolved abandonment issues that’s making me waver with my choices. Man I sound edgy but that’s just how I feel. What’s the point on journaling if I don’t sound the slightest bit cringey, to be honest.

I am also four weeks into my internship as I’m writing this. In all honesty, I thought it would be super scary and strict but most have been pretty welcoming. Maybe a teeny bit too welcoming (I’m too paranoid bare with me it’s my blog). Also duh I forgot to bring up my birthday. I’m officially 25 and I’m still dead inside lol. I wonder if I officially entered that stage of adulthood where I just don’t care about my birthday like I used to. Or maybe I’m subconsciously deflecting because I do in fact care about my birthday a lot. I think I’ve been using the word subconsciously too many times for this journal entry. Anyways, I finally got my hands on Princess Peach Showtime and there’s something about the game that heals my inner child. I highly recommend it if you’re someone who grew up playing girly dress up games for the PS2. I’m only two stages in but I appreciate how “girly” it feels? Like I’m so used to “non-girly” games and I haven’t really played one in so long. I think the last time I played a game like that was Winx Club on a PS2 emulator a few years back. I also would really love to get Fashion Dreamer too but have said that it’s not really worth buying it at full-price. I’m hoping to snag a really cheap secondhand copy one of these days.

I’ve also started listening to Chappell Roan. I’ve never been so infatuated with a woman’s rawness and I adore how she expresses herself both musically and visually. Pink Pony Club struck a really personal chord with me, the urge to expand on your escapism where you can just be free from societal expectations. I think I’ve been putting it on repeat a bit too much lately. A friend recommended to me Naked in Manhattan and I’m equally as obsessed. There’s something about the way she styles herself that inspires me to play around with makeup again. I haven’t really experimented with makeup looks in a while but I should really get into it again when I feel a bit better. Speaking of musicians, Atarashi Gakko is also performed at Zepp last weekend. I’d love to go but alas what remained in my bank account was abysmal. I need to start putting more money into my savings. Toodles.

Extra update: I forgot to mention that the team I'm in surprised me with some food and teeny eepy figure of Anya. She's so cute I'm gonna cherish her forever!! It was only my third week in and they surprised me with such a thoughtful gift. I might miss this place when I have to leave even though I'm not super close with anyone in particular. Okay, toodles for real now.

-rain

[chockmatsu]

chockie’s exhaustive guide to the merch-buying mercari jp rabbit hole

(this is a much more extended + standalone post version of a reblog i wrote a couple months ago! includes a step by step guide for dummies with explanation of paying, shipping, glossary of search terms in japanese etc)

as someone who has just god awful terminal karamatsu merch hoarding disease i am often asked how the hell i have just so much merch and that i surely must be very rich to afford it. nah i just budget really carefully and hunt for great value bulk deals on the GODSEND that is.... secondhand japanese sites like mercari jp (this post will focus on that), yahoo auctions, etc. 

i am down abysmal for mercari jp. it’s a few more hoops to jump through compared to buying from international english merch platforms like goodrespublic, but you save SO MUCH MONEY in comparison. THE PRICES ARE NUTS.

for context, this is the last haul of stuff i received in one order just a couple months ago. total value was 17,370 yen ($142 USD) not including shipping which was ouchy… but still worth it af.

i bought mostly bulk sets that were basically all sub 1000 yen (~$8.20 USD) each. the single most expensive thing was that kabedon towel which is kinda hard to come by at 3400~ yen. here is a terrifying collage of all the merch i’ve hoarded so far since nov 2020 to aug 2021 and no exaggeration like 90% of it is from mercari jp. 

what is mercari jp? 

mercari is a secondhand sales platform, and mercari jp (not to be confused with mercari.com, which is for international sellers) is pretty much one of the biggest ones used in japan! the great thing is that japanese secondhand sales are (generally) a walk in the park, at least compared to buying secondhand locally where i am. they take good ass care of their stuff and most of it isn’t even truly “used” as we understand it bc a lot of the time they straight up left the stuff in its original packaging, maybe just a little dusty. and mercari sellers will include adorable handwritten notes thanking you. you might even get a drawing if you’re lucky! it’s amazing

the thing is that sites like goodrepublic and surugaya that are selling secondhand merch are literally just listing listings from sites like mercari or yahoo auctions jp but at a crazy markup. don’t even get me started on the scalping on ebay. it’s kinda reminiscent of what sites like devilinspired do with lolita fashion, like a 200%-400% markup. you’ll need a shopping/proxy service to buy from mercari jp if you’re not based in japan, but do not be scared because the savings are SO MUCH BETTER. here is a comparison of a listing for the exact same product on mercari jp that i bought vs listed on goodsrepublic. 700 yen is $5.74 USD. marked up to $25.29. that’s deadass a 5x markup. and the goodsrepublic listing doesn’t even have a real photo of the thing so you can’t check the quality yourself lmao or the reputation of the individual seller. nvm them charging absurd prices like $10-20 for a single keychain. you guys deserve better than this. THERE ARE BETTER OPTIONS OUT THERE GUYS AND THEY’RE ALL ON MERCARI

some notes on shopping services:

DO NOT use the shopping service built in to mercari jp (buyee). they charge absurd extra fees for doing stuff that is typically expected of SSes like checking you even received your items period or packing them into 1 package to ship to you. even though they give you mega discounts on your first order, it STILL ends up being way more expensive than using a different SS. do not recommend.

my go-to japanese SS is jpshopping.jp. you can use them to buy from mercari as well as literally any other japanese site that sells stuff (e.g. i bought my kara season 3 varsity jacket new from rakuten through there). their site is a little jank, but all you really need is just order > online shop and then fill the form accordingly. you basically just copy paste the link to the thing(s) you want, type the price in, then pay for it, they buy all the stuff for you, get it shipped to their warehouse, and then ship all of it in 1 phat packidjge to send to you internationally. they only accept payment via paypal! other proxies may provide other options; this is what i use the most tho and will be the basis of the tutorials in this guide

(at least with jpshopping) you’re responsible for declaring duties and taxes on your stuff yourself. for legal reasons, this is definitely not a suggestion to commit tax evasion, because that is illegal! just because you have the ability to declare the value of the items in your order yourself as low as you like which in turn will determine how much you pay in custom fees and import taxes, and all mercari items are used/secondhand which means that there’s no way for customs officers to really determine their true value since it’s all weeb stuff that looks like junk toys to them anyway, DOESN’T MEAN YOU SHOULD COMMIT TAX EVASION! you’re welcome to dm if you need more information on how you should Definitely Not Do This

if you’re using an SS like jpshopping, you can literally ignore the “sorry! this item is only available in japan” thing bc the SS is based in japan. that’s a buyee problem. that’s not your problem anymore. you are free. just order it through the order form like you would anything else. the world is your oyster

jpshopping (and most proxy services) will require payment in whatever currency works for them, which is often JPY (or if it’s based in china for example, CNY or HKD or whatever). so keep the currency conversion in mind as well as the currency conversion fee that paypal charges you.

some proxy services like jpshopping will actually have a built in mercari browser as an option on their own site. it’s up to you if you want to use this. personally, i prefer browsing on the mercari site itself and just copying/pasting the links into the order form

understanding the layout of mercari and jpshopping:

here’s a quick guide to the layout of mercari jp and how to browse it. it’s that simple! and yeah, THOSE ARE THE REAL PRICES. remember to convert from JPY to whatever currency is relevant to you. here’s a quick guide on the order form at jpshopping

a step by step detailed breakdown of how to place an order:

search for whatever you want on mercari.com/jp/ in japanese and find the listings you want to buy. make sure to google translate the page to check the listing title and description. i have made a glossary list of common search terms down below!  

copy and paste the link to that listing into the URL box of the jpshopping order form at jpshopping.jp/chkoutoss. if you have more than 1 item you wanna order in one go (recommend this- i call it mercari HAULS bc economically makes most sense to ship stuff in bulk rather than just a single small item. the first kg of your haul hurts to ship the most), you can click the dropdown next to number of items. jpshopping lets you order 10 things at a time. if you want more than 10 listings, you’ll have to do a new order form and when everything’s arrived, choose to merge these orders into one package later. if you wanna do something like split or take a specific thing from a big bundle, write that out in the enquiry/item comments section

write the exact price of the item as listed on mercari in yen in the item value box. this is the price the system will charge you when you place your order, so if you mess this up, they’ll have to refund the difference (or you pay the difference, depending on how u mess up). not a big deal, but kinda annoying to deal with

(can leave all this as default usually) - select shipping method: i recommend the default option, “select after jss receives item”, especially if you’re ordering a buncha stuff in a haul. - also recommend default packing option for the same reason. - if it’s something you think might be bought up REALLY quick (like those cute new retro pop things, listings get bought up within hours) or hotly bidded on as an auction, choose the “buy it now” option for jpshopping to buy it instantly with the system. otherwise, generally recommend “buy during business hours” so that an actual human working at jpshopping will manually buy it themselves. especially needed if you want to split up a bundle or something. 

it will show you a page confirming all your items, prices, and options, and importantly, the total item costs at the bottom plus the commission fee they charge. you can see a detailed breakdown on JSS’s site here but basically, if the total cost of all items is less than 3000 yen, there’s a flat 300 yen commission fee. more than 3k yen, and the charge becomes based on percentage (10%, down to 5% if you get 10k, 20k yen worth of stuff). make sure everything looks good to you

click the paypal checkout button, pay via paypal. afaik, jpshopping only lets you pay via paypal (so paypal balance, credit/debit linked via pp, or direct bank transfer via pp). other proxy shopping services may have other options available, but otherwise, this is what you got

the waiting game: ~1-2 weeks or less usually. less if you have fewer items, longer if you have a lot of items - you will first receive an email with an order confirmation and another confirming your first payment. - when they officially purchase whatever listings you requested (~1 business day or less), you will receive an update email telling you what they purchased. sometimes due to individual mercari seller issues (or if you wanna split bundles, etc) they may have to speak with them which can delay this email. ordering outside of business hours with the “buy during business hours” will also delay it. so, keep in mind it’s a possibility another person might buy the listing before JSS gets to it. (that’s what the buy it now automatically option is for) - you will receive an update email when the mercari seller ships out the item to JSS domestically within japan (1-7 business days). - you will receive an update email when JSS receives the item. these usually get staggered out over time since that’s how mail works and diff sellers send at diff times/speeds. they will hold the items for you for free for a while but will charge a storage fee if you leave them too long. see their site for more info - when all the items in your order have arrived or otherwise been accounted for (e.g. if it gets bought up/deleted before JSS gets to it, they cancel it from the order and refund you accordingly), you will receive a “select shipping/packing option” email. this means that JSS is ready to put everything into 1 big box and send it to you internationally

you can now log in to jpshopping and click “select and pack” either on the homepage or in your order history tab. this will take you to a page where you can check boxes for which orders you wanna merge into 1 box that gets shipped to you. if you only have 1 order of stuff, then just check that. i love JSS cuz unlike buyee etc they don’t charge you for doing this pretty basic thing (or confirming that they even received everything lol)

declare your items for customs/border control. there will be an area on the page where you’ll have to write an itemized list of what exactly each item is, quantities, and how much it’s worth. the description of what the items are should be very specific (e.g. “used anime PVC statue”, “secondhand cotton polyester tshirt”. “used aluminum anime pin badge”) and list the fact that it’s used, the material, and a clear description of what it is. a criminal might commit tax evasion by entering item costs as lower than they actually paid for it because it’s so hard to accurately judge the value of a secondhand toy, resulting in a reduced amount to pay for duties/import tax, possibly even so that the total value of all the items in a haul is below their country’s item import tax threshold ($100 in the US, CAD$60 in canada, google your own country’s) to be considered a “gift” and thus bypassing the need to pay duties/import tax entirely. so, make sure not to do this! everything on mercari counts as used/secondhand, however if you buy something new from a different site in your order then you actually should list the actual cost just in case. 

choose your shipping option and click “calculate” for shipping cost. as of 2022, the options available to you are dependent on your country and what restrictions japan postal service has shipping to it. for example, if you’re based in canada like me, fuck you absolutely no options available to you except fedex which is absurdly expensive and also awful :’) but other countries may have different options! you can read more about the specific options available to you either on the page you’re on or here. JSS will also be able to tell you how much shipping will cost you depending on the option you pick, which is 99% of the time calculated based on weight usually with a flat base cost for the first kg or less (for fedex, it’s volumetric weight). that’s what makes it wiser to do hauls rather than buy single items. personally, pre-covid i recommended EMS as the best value for the price shipping (fast, 2 weeks ish or less, tracked, safe) but EMS prices have skyrocketed since covid :( so use your best judgment

pay for shipping via paypal! you will now receive a confirmation email of your payment going through, and then when they ship your pakijj to you, an email notifying you your box has shipped out with tracking number if applicable. 

the waiting game 2: electric boogaloo, and paying duties/import taxes if applicable. if the total cost of your haul is above the import tax gift limit, you may have to pay import taxes depending on your shipping method. private couriers like fedex or DHL will pretty much ding you and make you pay, guaranteed (as well as awful extra fees for even using them on top of everything else), and you’ll receive an email and a snail mail letter with an invoice of how much you owe your gubmint in taxes. they’ll have a way for you to pay online by card usually. 

receive pakijj and simp! you did it!

some helpful search terms in japanese for you to copy/paste!

set/bundle: まとめ売り or セット 

official: 公式

osomatsu san おそ松さん | osomatsu おそ松 | karamatsu カラ松 | choromatsu チョロ松 | ichimatsu  一松 | jyushimatsu 十四松 | todomatsu トド松 | dog: 犬

figure: フィギュア (nendoroid)（ねんどろいど） 

plushie/stuffed toy: ぬいぐるみ  

badge: 缶バッジ 

acrylic keychain: アクリルキーホルダー  (acrylic keychain (short form))（アクキー） 

rubber keychain ラバーストラップ 

acrylic stand: アクリルスタンド  (stand (short form)（アクスタ） 

plastic file/folder: クリアファイル  (file)（ファイル） 

hoodie: パーカー 

shirt: シャツ 

manga: 漫画 

cushion: クッション 

mug: マグカップ 

plastic cup: コップ 

sticker: ステッカー or シール 

dakimakura/body pillow cover: 抱き枕 カバー 

wallscroll: タペストリー 

towel: タオル 

pouch/purse: ポーチ

coaster: コースター 

bag: バッグ or カバン  tote bag: トートバッグ 

backpack: リュック 

(phone) case: ケース 

i hope this helps! i’ve dragged so many people into the mercari rabbit hole. may this bring even more into the fold. jpshopping and most other SSes will have easy ways to communicate with them directly like email or chat clients, so don’t be afraid to contact them with questions about items before you buy or about your order after it’s been placed. and if you have questions or need help with this stuff my DMs and asks are open anytime!! 

SEPT. 3 2022 EDIT: some additional FAQ/issues

it’s actually been bugging me for a while that i forgot to include these in this tutorial, so i’m doing a quick edit to it now! 

i placed my order, but haven’t received any emails yet? you should get an automatic confirmation of payment email literally immediately after you place your order, so if you haven’t gotten that, please check your spam inbox and whitelist/allow emails from jpshopping, because the email updates are important and will tell you when they’ve received your stuff/when it’s ready to go out! you get emails in this order: 1. automatic email right after you’ve paid and placed your order 2. email after the people at jpshopping have bought your item. this is usually manual and won’t be immediate bc they’ll buy it during their work hours, unless you chose the “buy it now”/automatically option in which case it comes immediately. 3. email after jpshopping receives the order at their warehouse in japan 4. email after everything in your order (assuming you got multiple things at one go like i suggested) has arrived and you can now choose to combine packages/orders into one big thing to ship to you and pay for shipping. 5. automatic email confirming you’ve paid for shipping 6. email after jpshopping has shipped out your big package to you!

but do they ship to my location? the good thing about using proxy/shopping services like jpshopping is that their whole thing is shipping stuff from japan worldwide. so yeah, whether you’re in europe or south america or southeast asia, they’ll ship to you. the question is what shipping options are available to your country from japan. in the absolute worst case scenario, all standard national post services are NOT delivering from japan to you, because fuck you lmao (full disclosure, as someone usually based in canada, this is the boat i’m in :’) i don’t know why we are still stuck like this when our neighbors down south got it back last year but oh well). in this case, ABSOLUTE worst case scenario, you will still have private couriers such as fedex and/or DHL (depending on the SS. jpshopping only offers fedex i think). the cost will hurt because this is both the fastest but also the VASTLY more costly option.... but at least it delivers no matter where you are in the world?  if you are lucky, then you may have some other options to try! yamato, EMS, surface, etc. they’ll all be cheaper than fedex and have their pros/cons like being slower, or no tracking number, or there’s a weight/size limit. it’s up to you. EMS tends to be the best value for your buck, if that’s available to you. otherwise jpshopping will give you a breakdown on the details. 

[finishinglinepress]

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Hailey Spencer is, in the words of her wife Elizabeth, an absolute cloud of a girl. She is obsessed with fairy tales and has an equally passionate rivalry with ants. She lives and writes in Seattle. For more on Hailey and her work, visit haileyspencerwrites.com

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But to my surprise, I found

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[brockachu]

Hello! if I wanted to watch old pk subban/habs highlights in order to Feel Things, are there any particular games you/hockeyblr would recommend?

hi! :) so, the truth is my memory for highlights & games is pretty abysmal unless i've made a fancam for the player/team, since poring through footage cements it in my brain. and since pk hasn't been on the habs for 6 years now, my brain doesn't have the immediacy to pull from.

i'm gonna do some loose 'research' here and pull from that, but no assurance on my results here. i'm gonna use the process i use to pull clips & highlights for fancams, since that's the process that pulls good video :) and i hope in the future, knowing this process can help you find highlights with ease too! if you're looking for game links though, i don't tend to go back to watch whole games & i don't have a consistent source of old games b/c the nhl is notoriously bad at archiving or even keeping a consistent record of the broadcasters of its games, so very few people have whole games that weren't literally recorded to some form of 'hard copy'. (this is a near-constant topic of discussion for nhl fans & streamers etc etc. there was an article that released within the last couple years where the nhl essentially admitted they couldn't 'justify' financial need for archiving old games, so they can't confirm how many of their games are actually backed up anywhere if at all & they also don't have access to many of the back-ups if they even exist)

first, i pull the player's wiki page. here's pk's. then, we go down to his career statistics & check which years he was on the habs, since that's the timeframe we want to find clips for. from this, we learn pk was on the habs from 2009-10 to 2015-16. next, scroll down to awards & honours. check the list for which of those awards & honours apply to the years he was on the habs. that'll narrow down his 'good years' on the habs. from this list, we know: he was invited to the nhl all-star game in 2016 (in the second half of the season, so 2015-16) while still on the habs (also other years, but not with the habs). he also won the norris while on the habs in 2013 (awarded at the end of the season, so 2012-13). he was also named to the 2013 & 2015 first nhl all-star teams (awarded at the end of seasons, so that'd be 2012-13 & 2014-15). so that gives us the idea that the seasons we can expect some good highlights to check are 2012-13, '14-15, & '15-16. if you don't mind sifting through a lot, you can end your information search here and just search youtube for 'pk subban + [the nhl season years]' to pull highlight compilations. if you want to go into further detail -- 1) the previous info search already told us one fun event that would be good to search: 2016 nhl all-star game [search youtube for 'pk subban 2016 all star game' for those highlights]. 2) scroll back up pk's wiki to the 'career' section under the 'montreal canadiens' subheading -- from there, search for noted games in the identified 'good years'. or even, just skim through the montreal canadiens section, and you'll find notable games & goals cited (this is common for most all-star level players in the nhl, so you can apply the same logic across other players). for example, while we narrowed down the 'good years' before, skimming pk's habs section shows us that his first hat-trick was on 20 march 2011 against the minnesota wild, which is outside of the 'good years' but very clearly must've been a good game for pk. so i would suggest also searching that game on youtube.

and that is basically my process for pulling highlights or determining specific 'good games' for a player. of course, this is just the 'actually hockey' parts. pk is partially so beloved also b/c he's known for his personality & philanthropy. i'd suggest searching the montreal canadiens youtube channel for 'subban' which will also give you fun personality videos as well as pulling some of his hockey highlights from that time.

hope that helps! :)

[fiction-in-my-blood]

Obey Me! Brothers W/ Mentally Slow MC HC

~Longer than necessary A/N ahead so, if you don’t care, you don’t need to read it, just sharing stuff about myself to random strangers on the internet lol.~

So... I’m slow. Like, my brain just does not computer things quick enough a majority of the time? I’m not a great conversationalist because of it, I have a pretty bad stammer, I mix up names even though they don’t sound at all the same, and I get too excited when I do know something that when I try to say it its just a jumble of words that don’t make sense and I tell my friends to just forget about it because I know I won’t be able to say the right words lol. Luckily I have great friends and they give me the time to rethink my sentence so I can say what I want to say. Oh, and I daydream to the point I never dream in my sleep haha. So, this is basically an HC for me lol. That being said, I’m pulling from mostly my own experiences here, so I’m sorry if they sound a lil depressy haha. 

And I would like to say, if anyone can relate, there’s literally nothing wrong with you!!! (Cannot stress this enough). We just have our fun lil quirks.

~Also, I’m so sorry for missing out on Belphie. I love him somuch but I could not think of a scenario for him. If I do in the future I’ll edit or reupload idk.~

~Oh, and @theshove , I finally posted again ;), although I’m sure it’s not gonna be as spicy as you’d like.~

Warnings: Descriptive explanation of a panic attack in Mammon’s HC, reference to bullying in Satan’s

~~~~~~

Lucifer:

At first, he was secretly pretty frustrated.

He thought it was a confidence issue, he heard that was a common thing in human youth, to not believe in yourself and have anxiety about the way you looked, spoke, sounded. 

You would often be having conversations with his brothers, debating a subject that Lucifer took no interest in, and you would be about to put in your input when a stream of nonsense passed your lips.

“Y’know what, nevermind.” Was a frequent phrase that left your lips when you did slip up, sighing to yourself as you thought about how ridiculous you just sounded. 

Lucifer would ensure none of the brothers, or Solomon, ever teased you about your mistakes.

Although, it was mortifying everytime you accidentally called him Levi, and vice versa. 

It was hard enough when you were still getting to know the brothers, but even on a date with the eldest, Levi just seemed like an easier word to say in the moment. It led to a few upsetting misunderstandings and some pretty severe punches to Lucifer’s pride.

Once you two got closer, you explained you mixed up your words because you used to be practically mute.

You weren’t a particularly extroverted child, nor were you interested in much, so you hardly spoke at all. You never got the practice you needed to familiarise yourself with words. It was Devildom that really brought them out of you.

After you did share that with him, he thrived off hearing your voice, even when it took a solid ten seconds to contemplate what you needed to say, even stretching your mouth muscles before you started just in case you stumbled again.

Of course, you made your mistakes now and again, got stuck on a word, laughing at how ridiculous you sounded saying ‘in’ several times in a row when you were trying to argue over tonight’s dinner, but Lucifer never cracked a joke like you did about yourself. 

He smiled, happy that you didn’t let this impact your personality and recovered quickly and, gradually, at snail's pace it felt like at the time, you could hold a conversation, a bright smile on your face when you were able to pull it off.

“Lucifer, I didn’t stutter this time!”

“Well done, MC, shall I give you a reward?”

Mammon:

“Useless human, can’t even talk, huh?” 

Trying to act like the big tough guy he played himself out to be didn’t fare well when you first arrived in Devildom, his brothers practically beat him up every other day for it.

The first time you laid your eyes upon a demon and they explained you would be a transfer student, it took you a few minutes of silence to understand what was actually going on.

It wasn’t because this wasn’t an extraordinary situation, you were an avid reader of fantasy novels and had waited for the day to be transported away from your boring, mundane life, but you just couldn’t compute verbal speech.

In potion class, you had to ask the teacher to write down the ingredients and the quantities because you couldn’t picture the words themselves, so you couldn’t understand what the potion was actually meant to do.

“What’re you writing it all down for?”

“It’s easier for me to listen when I can read what they’re saying. I guess it’s because my hearing’s crap?” 

But your hearing wasn’t all that bad, it was just easier to explain it that way than explaining how transcriptions help you listen.

Sometimes, in the hallways of RAD, the bustling students and whispering gossiping of you, a human, making a pact with Mammon? Apparently it was hilarious to everyone else.

But it wasn’t what the demons were saying, it was how loud they were saying it. 

It was just too many noises at once, you couldn’t decipher the surround-sound mumbling and it stressed you out, made you uncomfortable, and gave you that all too familiar feeling of a panic attack due to the sensory overload. 

Mammon realised your discomfort as tears grew in your eyes and your breathing quickened and, for a moment, he was moving to beat up every single devil that ever even mentioned the word ‘human’.

“Ma-Mammon!” Your frail voice and a tug on his sleeve pulled him back to Devildom and he turned back around to you, watching as you clenched your eyes shut, trying to ignore the buzzing that continued to rattle your brain. 

“Can you take me some place quiet?”

From then on, you would often spend your lunch breaks in a quiet classroom away from the majority of students. It was a good place for you to wind down, especially, when you two were close enough, Mammon would hug you closely, helping the panic in your heart when you did have a panic attack due to all the noises.

You didn’t have them as much now, the noise cancelling headphones he had bought you brought solace as you walked from classroom to classroom.

In class, he would try his best to act as scribe when you were running behind, but he did a terrible job. His handwriting was abysmal, only now did he appreciate how quickly you had to write to keep up with the lessons. 

You appreciate the sentiment all the same, placing a quick kiss on his cheek- you were dating at this point- and explained that he didn’t have to do that for you, you could just get a copy of the teacher’s notes after class.

Now he could never feel more guilty about picking on you when you first got to Devildom.

“Hey, Mamo?”

“Yeah, MC?”

“Thanks for not getting angry at me.”

Leviathan:

You were pretty silent, never really talking unless you were spoken to directly.

Yet, you still had that dumb, normie trap of cute smile on your face when you listened to everyone ranting and raving. 

When you did speak, it was quiet, almost a whisper.

Thank Diavolo for the demon’s enhanced hearing because, if they didn’t, they would be constantly asking you to speak up.

It wasn’t because you didn’t like your voice or you thought you were too loud otherwise, it was just because you couldn’t really be bothered to be louder.

You were content with just listening, watching everyone have a vivid conversation about the latest trouble Mammon had gotten into or Satan raving about the last Detective show you needed to watch. 

You never had any questions to ask in class, and the ones you did have would usually be asked by another student before you got the chance to even raise your hand. You weren’t a genius, just a good listener.

Levi understood, somewhat. Why would you want to talk to his normie brothers? They had nothing interesting to say.

Most of the time he suspected you just weren’t listening to them. 

But, it’s when you were alone together in his room as he told you about the latest anime he was enjoying, he got annoyed.

“Are you even listening to me? I don’t even know why I try. You don’t deserve Henry!”

“I was listening. You were explaining how you think the next season of TSL is going to go. I’ll admit, the Lord of Shadow saving that servant from the Lord of Corruption seems a little far fetched, but it’d be interesting to watch.” 

That had possibly been the longest group of sentences he had ever heard you string together at once. And they were so soft, no hint of trepidation from his accusation.

Eyes wide in embarrassment for misreading the situation, and getting so aggressive about it, Leviathan looked away.

“I’m sorry, I know I seem really dismissive all the time. I just enjoy listening to you talk about your passions.”

The bright smile on your face calmed him down, as it usually did, and, every so often, you would make your comments about the shows you know only because of him. He was very good at explaining plot lines. Even when you had never seen the show, you felt like you had.

You would mainly just talk to Levi from then on, getting to the point where you could express your own hobbies without him judging you as a normie and more as a friend.

Well, not a friend, more than that, much more, but a friend would have to do for now.

The first time you strike up a conversation with him, calling his name from down the hallway of the house you’re staying in as he walks with Asmodeus, Mammon and Beelzebub is possibly the greatest day of Levi’s life.

“Lefty.” You accidentally pronounce his name wrong, like you sometimes do with “Bell” and “Ashmo”.

You didn’t have any problems with saying their names normally, but when you were tired, all hopes of communicating like a normal human being went out the window.

Your words were a low mumble, but they were something Levi had learnt to understand fluently from your late night gaming sessions that would usually end in ruin when your tired brain drastically slowed your reflexes.

“I heard it was your 200,000th bicentennial birthday coming up, so I asked one of my friends to commission this for you.”

Only Diavolo knows how you managed to pronounce centennial at this time of night, but you did it, handing him a paper-wrapped, flat square, a light blush dusting both your cheeks. 

Asmo made a flirty, teasing comment about how close you two seemed and how, now, Levi was the lucky one.

Mammon got jealous, demanding that he wanted a birthday present, even though his milestone couple centuries had literally been a couple centuries ago.

Beel’s stomach grumbled, but he was a little curious about what you could have possibly gifted Levi, and how many words you just said as loud as they would usually be, which was wildly out of character for you.

“It’s the Lord of Shadow and the servant.” Levi gasped upon seeing the magnificent drawing your friend had made for you, which you insisted on paying for, and never had Levi been so jealous to have a friend like that. A friend with such talent. 

“You were right, he did save her.” You smiled, eyes twinkling at the positive reaction Levithan had made. 

You had seen the similarities in the characters with you and the demon. The servant was said to have had their voice stolen as a child, long before they and the Lord of Shadow had met. And it was obvious to you the similarities the anime brothers had with the demon brothers, but you wouldn’t dare tell Levi that. You were worried he’d get shy and call you a normie again.

So that statement you made was a form of confession to Levi. Something you hoped he would understand.

“You watched the season without me?! How did you even get the DVD? It’s not even out yet!”

Yeah, no such luck there.

“Levi, you know what isn’t fair?”

“What could possibly be unfair for you in this situation?”

“That you aren’t as good a listener as I am.”

Satan:

You were an avid texter, just like Satan. 

Your fingers moved so quickly against the screen of your D.D.D or the keyboard of a computer, it was amazing someone could see them. 

And you were smart. On electronics, you could keep up conversations on the latest book you were reading and discuss the detective shows you and he liked to watch together.

It was only when you spoke in person did your conversations so down.

“Oh for fuck’s sake!” You cried out after a particularly long and troublesome stutter, mainly annoyed because it was an easy word but all the b’s tied your tongue like a tongue twister. Ironically, you felt like you were blubbering like an idiot.

Your stammer used to be worse, far worse. So bad you couldn’t even tell your parents anything without getting angry at yourself, but you got the speech therapy and learnt to just take it slow when you got eager. 

Everytime you see Satan, you want to be able to match his intellect and speed. You felt almost competitive. 

But it would hardly ever work out in your favour, your ‘S’s coming out like you were trying to start an old engine and ‘B’s and ‘D’s being switched in for each other like you were a toddler.

You spoke before you thought of what you were going to say, hoping the words would just float out of my mouth like everyone else’s did.

But no. Not for you. 

You had to carefully plan each sentence, thinking about every conversation you had so you could make a pre-made answer just so you wouldn’t look like a fool taking so long to speak.

You were ashamed most of the time, bullied for your impediment as a child and even in your teen years by people you told yourself were your friends but really weren’t when they called you teasing nicknames instead of your given one after you had asked them several times to use it. 

They were the main reason you still didn’t have the confidence to speak well now.

“Hey, take it easy. We’re not in a rush.” 

Satan would always be nice, politely giving you the time you needed to take a breather, calm down, and start over again, still blushing from your last stuttering episode.

“Why don’t you call me an idiot?”

A lot of questions similar to these, the only difference- the name you would be called, passed your lips sometimes, when there was a lull in your time together. 

You were used to people making fun, telling you to just shut up already so they didn’t have to hear your stupidity anymore.

“You’re not stupid. I care about what you have to say.”

Satan was always so serious everytime he answered a variation of your question, showing you he really cared. 

You blushed, your mind blank and it would take a couple minutes after that initial compliment for you to reboot.

It was true, though. 

Satan enjoyed watching your lips move and the sound of your voice as you two discussed who the killer in his detective show could be.

You both always came to the same conclusion before the episode ended.

Because most of your conversations happened through text, he found he missed your tone and expressive face when you got really into a subject.

He didn’t care if you stuttered, it was far better than just watching words flash across a screen, as most of your conversations went, on his D.D.D

Although, he did care that you got so angry with yourself. 

Being the Avatar of Wrath, he understood how easy it was to give into frustration and just want to hit something every time you made a mistake, he had done that many times in his younger years, and it wasn’t healthy.

It wasn’t healthy to be ashamed of a mere stumble or get mad at yourself for it, you never learnt that way.

One night, laying in his bed, platonically, you shared your reasoning behind getting so mad everytime you stuttered. 

You had seen Satan’s demon-form once before, but never had you seen it arise so quickly and so fiercely. 

You had been down all day and he had brought you to his room so you could feel comfortable enough to talk to him, but this fearful man, no, creature before you only put you more on edge.

But he continued to hold you.

He continued to wrap his arms around you from behind, spooning your body, trying his best not to fly out of hell right now and hunt down those who had picked on and teased you for all those years for something you couldn’t even help.

To think the reason you hated something he found so endearing was because some mere humans had made you think your excitement to communicate with people was something wrong?

“I don’t think this exchange program is going to work out.”

“Wh...Why?” You tried your hardest now to sound strong, sighing to yourself when you repeated the letters.

“Because I won’t be able to hold back if I have free access to the human world. What kind of assholes do that?”

“Teenage assholes.”

Asmodeus:

What a cute little airhead.

From the moment he first met you, Asmo loved the clueless looks on your face as you sifted through the information you were being given, seconds behind the punch everyone else could get to. 

You were slow, but you were meticulous, combing through every piece of information you could to give the correct response.

You were actually pretty smart because of that fact, studying so hard on everything you did so you weren’t embarrassed by being wrong.

And you weren’t too big with the whole ‘social cues’ thing either, mistaking Satan’s sarcasm for truth and Leviathan’s anger for genuine, relationship-ruining upset, desperately trying to fix the situation so that no one would get hurt.

You were selfless in the strangest of ways, too, opting to go without something you actually, really needed before asking someone for help. 

Once, you had tried ordering shower gel off of Akuzon, but, instead, ordered Shaitan Gell, a special ingredient often used by witches to summon demons. 

You had wondered why it was so expensive, but thought that maybe the Devildom economy wasn’t doing so well right now.

(It wasn’t your money you were using, so what the hell?)

It was even more confusing when it smelled a little off, but demons had strange tastes. Beelzebub literally ate brains and bat wings on the daily.

When Diavolo showed up in your shower the first time you used the oddly thick, black liquid, you just cocked your head, too weird to be embarrassed. Thinking this was a regular occurance in Devildom, you gave the prince a hearty hello and asked him, if he needed anything, could he please wait outside so you could get dressed first.

The news spread like wildfire, especially when Diavolo randomly vanished from a meeting with Lucifer. 

When everyone did find out, as Lucifer was reprimanding you for using such a relic in that way, they teased you endlessly, some offering you their own makes of the potion so you might accidentally summon them in the same way.

Every flirty or sexual remark Asmo made went right over your head, thinking that with every personal question he asked was just asked to make conversation and not genuine interest on his part.

“Do you have a partner?”

“Well, no, I don’t really compete in dance competitions or anything.”

“What positions do you usually go for?”

“I don’t play many sports, but if I had to pick, I’d say a pitcher in baseball. I have a pretty mean throw!”

It actually became a little bewildering how oblivious you were to all of his advances, thinking every time he draped himself over you he was cold and you offered him your jumper.

He took them everytime, so you were starting to run low. He tended to hoard them in his room, savouring the sweet scent of the body wash he had bought for you after the Shaitan incident.

“Asmo, can I get my hoodie back?”

You called through his closed door at some point after returning from school in the dead of winter, shivering in the sweat pants and long sleeved top you already had on.

You were generous, you didn’t think you personally were, but all the brothers knew you would give anyone anything if they asked for it. 

That’s why it wasn’t that ridiculous when Asmo had all of your jackets. Hoodies from years ago, sweaters you bought just to treat yourself because they were so soft, and even this jumper you got from your ex-boyfriend in high school, something you meant to give back but never managed to. You forgot every time you went to meet him with that exact intent the reason for seeing him.

It didn’t remind you of him, he barely wore it before you practically stole it, but it did make Asmo’s heart skip a beat at the ‘sweater-paws’ you got from the much-too-long sleeves. 

Following a clattering from what sounded like trash cans, followed by a comical shriek of a cat, the door flew open to a slightly disheveled Asmodeus, fabric clutched in his hand as he stood topless before you.

“Oh, sorry, Asmo. I didn’t mean to disturb you. I’m just so cold.”

You laughed to show you weren’t upset with him as you rubbed your arms, bouncing on the balls of your feets to get your blood moving enough to create some heat. 

How could all these devils, avatars of the seven deadly sins, not have heating?

“Let me warm you up, MC!”

Without even stopping to hear your answer, but he knew you’d say yes, no matter what, Asmo pulled you in by the wrist, immediately wrapping his bare arms around you the moment the door was closed.

He was warm and you were comfortable with him, he showed you curiosity and care, so you eased into that embrace, thinking it a friendly gesture as a thank you for using your clothes all the time.

When you felt a slight nibble on your ear, you started to freak out a little.

You stuttered out an inquiry as to what he was doing, shyly pushing away as he drew back with his flirtatious smirk.

“I’ve made it so obvious for so long, MC. I really like you.”

Asmo cooed back, prodding your puffed out cheek with the tip of his tongue as you tilted your head to the side the same way you did every time someone told you something new. 

Knowing you would be taking a moment to compute the information, Asmo used this chance to bury his face in the crook of your neck.

“I really like you too, Asmo.” 

The realisation came pretty suddenly. 

You had never put much thought into it.

Sure, he was the Avatar of Lust, he could just be saying this so he could express his temporary desires, but that was how you felt. You weren’t one for holding back, you were always scared of forgetting the topics of your thoughts if you didn’t say them aloud, so you just went for it.

Beelzebub:

Does this person even have bones?!

Like, seriously, your tripping over your feet like they’re not even attached to your body.

Rolling your ankle, walking off in directions that definitely don’t lead to where you intend on going, skipping right passed the class you’re meant to be attending.

The amount of times you’ve gotten lost in both the House of Lamentation and RAD is honestly worrying. 

Your sense of direction? What even is a map because it seems like you’ve never even heard of the concept of signs or specific routes you need to take to get to your bedroom.

To help with your impossibly slow way of getting a lay of the land in your new dorm, you would often take midnight strolls.

Often getting lost, which is how you found Belphegor up in the attic, even when you had stayed on the same floor.

That’s how you and Beel got so close. 

Because of the delectable scents coming from the kitchen, you would often find him having his late night snacks. 

He would invite you to stay, at first only because Lucifer had instructed him to walk you back to your room every time he found you aimlessly wandering the house late at night. 

“Is your ankle okay?” He would ask through a mouthful of food, but somehow you were still able to understand him.

Blushing, you looked down as your injury that was caused earlier in the day. You had stepped weird on the side of your foot- something that would usually happen and something you would usually be able to walk away from- but this time it was on the tall spiral stairs of the school you were still getting to know, sending you tumbling down flights and flights of steps. 

It was a wonder you were human, because even Solomon was shocked you survived that. 

“Y-Yeah, just a little red,” was an understatement.

You’re ankle killed. It was only a little swollen thanks to the spell your sorcerer friend used on you, but that didn’t help the sprain of your tendons. It was slightly bruised, covered by your loosest, most comfortable socks.

“Are you embarrassed?” Beel pointed out your bashful blush and you looked back up. He had seen your obvious hobble as you made your way to his side, but didn’t want to mention it in case you were feeling fragile about the subject.

“It just gives me flashbacks, is all.”

Oh? 

Memories from MC’s past?

Yes, Beel would very much like to hear about that. 

Not to tease or bribe you with, he was genuinely curious about your little human life. Not that you could tell, but he had never been so curious about another being like that. 

“Oh, god, well, I guess I trust you.” You joked, blushing harder as you laughed about the memory that plagues your thoughts. 

One time, in high school, you were walking out of the cantine when you tripped over literally nothing, throwing your bottle of water across the school yard like you needed to save it from your fall. It landed in the middle of a group of older students. 

The amount of laughs you got from that. The teacher that came up to you to ask if you were okay. The cut that occured on your knee. 

(Yes, this is a personal story. Yes, I have ptsd every time I pick up a plastic bottle of water)

Oh, it was like you were reliving the horror right there and then.

“It was mortifying! My friends still bring it up. To. this. day.” You sulk, resting your forehead on the table to hide the deep red on your face. 

“Did it hurt?” The blunt question came as a shock, that’s for sure, and you no longer felt unbearably hot when you looked up to see him. There was little look of amusement except for a kind-hearted smile. 

“W-Well, not as much as this other time...” 

You found yourself telling him all of your most embarrassing tales, seeking for that one story that would make him laugh the way everyone else would laugh at you. 

He didn’t. At all. It was actually a little worrying that he found none of your stories funny. 

Truthfully, he did find the want to chuckle at a few of them, but he didn’t want to betray your trust by laughing at such ‘precious’ memories for you. 

[musical-veebs]

You know, I was going to just make a silly little post about how this is the only remotely spooky thing I've done or watched today (it's Halloween when I'm writing this), but that was when I'd only listened to the song and hadn't seen the video yet.

The good news is that it's still one of my favorite songs from Freezepop's most recent album, and some of the remixes and stuff on the single that just came out this weekend are ok I guess. And if you only go by the song itself, not the video, it's very superficially seasonally appropriate because of the ghost thing, but the lyrics read as being about depression instead. I was searching for the lyrics online so I could be lazy and copy and paste them instead of writing them out, and the internet informed me there was a video too.

And it's a super low budget and low effort video that I think they threw together entirely this weekend, and that's fine with me too. They're a modestly successful little local band that's been doing their thing successfully enough to keep going for a couple decades but never really made it big or anything, and I like their quirky DIY stuff. And it was fun realizing they went up to Salem to shoot it and recognizing lots of stuff even though I haven't been up there in a couple years.

And that's when it struck me how weird it was to watch the video. This is a nearby place I'm personally familiar with, and this stuff is happening Right Now basically...and like 20% of people in the video have masks. And like it's all outdoors and that's kind of fine, but a lot of it is still dense crowds right in the center of town. And I can't even tell how much is a reasonable amount to be bothered by that anymore.

Yeah, we have some of the highest vaccination rates in the country and arguably the best healthcare system, but we're still having something like 1300-1400 new cases a day. Should I be mad? Am I overreacting? Does it even really affect me much if I've left the house maybe five times in 2021 so far? My health is absolutely abysmal these days and I probably qualify for a vaccine booster as a result, so should I actually be angrier instead?

I don't even know anymore. I don't know how to tell. That's all stuff that's part of Outside, and I don't just mean outdoors, outside my house. Outside my bedroom. Outside my bed. 95% of my life takes place within maybe 20 square feet, and most of the rest is within 25 feet of that. I have no perspective on anything anymore.

Anyway, the song is good.

Then I think of you And the black and white returns to color Then I think of you And the daylight doesn't seem so blinding now Then I think of you And that skipping 45's a symphony Then I think of you And the ghost rejoins the living for today

Maybe I'll rejoin the human race Maybe I don't need to haunt this place

[unpopularly-opinionated]

I’m not going to say it’s saved the game by any means, but so far the Season of the Splicer is not bad, I guess. I’m interested more in the story than I was last season, though sadly I have a feeling the story won’t be quite as involved this time around as last season’s was. I also can’t help but notice that the roadmap for this season is...a little empty when compared to last season. I’m guessing they thought adding Vault of Glass back into the game was ‘enough’ but I’d argue otherwise, mainly because I know I’m going to be lucky if I’m even able to play it once, let alone at all, so it’s likely useless to me anyways.

The new exotic sidearm is a little finicky, at least to me. I’ve not tried it in PVP but honestly, I’m terrified to. If it works in PVP exactly like it does in PVE, then you kill one person so it’s charged and then you can instantly freeze someone with your next shot which obviously is going to stir a LOT of shit considering people already consider Stasis to have ruined PVP in general. I’ve not used it too much though because it felt to me like it had an abysmally slow rate of fire, which I guess is it compensate for it’s insta-freeze ability but honestly, I don’t think it’s worth taking up my primary slot. Maybe it’d work better as my secondary, but evidently it doesn’t fit there.

The new game mode, Overdrive is kinda fun but also annoying as fuck. It’s overall concept I enjoy, a lot actually. It’s honestly a much better version of Gambit if you ask me. The part I take issue with though is just how fucking difficult it spikes to. It’s broken up into three parts, Gambit-style combat, a short platforming section, and then a boss phase. The first combat phase I think is just challenging enough, lots of enemies that aren’t all easily one-shot, but also don’t one-shot you. The boss phase though is absurd, if you ask me. I understand you get 5 other people with you unlike most other game modes which only allow 2 other people, but in the three games I’ve played so far, the whole team spends like half of the boss phase dead. The thing is, it feels intentional too because they give you the short 3-4 second respawn timer instead of the typical boss phase timer which is like 25 seconds, so it feels like they knew you’d be dead a lot, so I just don’t understand why they didn’t walk back the difficulty slightly in exchange for a longer respawn timer.

Beyond that though, most of my time was actually spent playing catch up. I missed like half of last season because I just got too bored, which I’ll undoubtedly get again during this season. I just finished the seasonal campaign for last season. I’m trying to actually focus on the weekly seasonal challenges this time though because I realized late last season that they actually give a healthy amount of XP so I’m hoping to maybe get further in my pass this time since the last few have been a huge waste. It’s sad when I think back to the only season pass I actually completed which was Season of Arrivals, and how that was mainly due to passive XP earning as I did all of the campaigns, quests, exotic quests, and requisite farming that the game used to have before they decided to shoot themselves in the kneecaps. Since then, I’m lucky to finish half of the season pass before I just lose all interest in the game.

I also found it kind of funny that they really just took last season’s model and copied and pasted it over to this season’s model. Same concept of a lure/hammer that you need to charge, a vendor to upgrade it, and a new game mode to play through to get chests. And I mean, I’m not complaining I guess, it works and is somewhat entertaining, at least for a little while. Just thought it was funny that they don’t even really try to hide it.

Oh, and the new transmog thing, I still think it’s scummy the way they’ve set it up, of course, but it doesn’t impact me too much. I’ve already unlocked the one armor set I will ever use and the shader to go with it. Once I did that I basically just started unlocking the rest in the order I see it on my list. One small nitpick I have though is the cap on the number of synthweave you can hold per-class, mainly because I almost never touch my other profiles and I actually don’t even have a Titan profile yet but now I feel compelled to make one just so I don’t incidentally wasted Titan Synthweave, especially since I’m already at 11 and the cap is 15. Also, unrelated but speaking of unnecessary item caps, I wish they’d remove the cap for upgrade modules. I really can’t use them fast enough and I still have like 20 of them sitting on last season’s pass and there’s more on the way this season. Just let me hold like 99 or fuck it even higher, please Bungie.

[courage-a-word-of-justice]

Maou-jou 9 - 12 (FINAL) | Idolish7 s2 10 - 15 (FINAL) | SLS 2

I’ve been holding off new seasonals because of other things, but after I post this I’ll have enough time to get around to them. That’s why I can’t guarantee winter 2021 seasonal tags on this post...maybe the next one will have them...

Maou-jou 9

…it seems shopping channels even are the same in the demon world.

Now even the demons have quests! (The frame is different to the princess’s, though.)

Oh! The quest failed.

Neo Alraune: in flower language, “the 2nd coming of happiness”. The worry from a little while ago was, “I’m worried about my brother.” The worry from recently: “I didn’t think about being happy that the princess didn’t kill my brother.”

The penguin demons are pretty cute!

Don’t you know how parents forbid children from sleeping until they finish all their homework? Must be something like that.

Yoku ganbarimashita! – Syalis worked hard!

LOL, mental age: 3. Poseidon likes cute things…I can’t read a lot of this…the hardsubs cover the JPN text.

They…both succeeded! (…LOL?)

Maou-jou 10

Owarinocity = Endopolis. It’s a good equivalent, if I do say so myself.

…oh yeah. What happened to Alraune? Update: There she is!

Also, that blonde guy in the infomercials doesn’t look too bad…*makes chef’s kiss gesture with one hand* Nice.

I wonder, was Twilight once human…?

LOL, there’s a goat symbol on the cleric’s pyjamas. Also “first time”, LOL.

I think they were playing shiritori at one point.

Hanamaru saikou yoku dekimashita!

Maou-jou 11

…How does one “sleep cheerfully”, anyway?

I think I saw Twilight drop something…some kind of paper…

Aw, Twilight blushing is kinda cute!

LOL, 70s shoujo style. Also, “It cannot be!”

Whoa, she cancelled it?!

I read up on this series on TV Tropes…and apparently the Demon King captured the Princess in her sleep.

Kagemusha? Like a ninja or something?

Apparently the Demon Cleric is much older than he looks.

Ooh! Hypnos is back!

A-whatsit really is abysmal levels of stupid!!! (LOL)

Maou-jou 12 (FINAL)

Who’s that one tiny guy occupying one of the Ten Kings’ seats?

*watching after Christmas, about a week after the anime finished* This is not seasonally appropriate!

…*thinks for a second, then spits* That’s the 2nd Nemu in the fall 2020 season!!!

Ooh, the head paladin doesn’t look that bad, either.

“…is it good to be…”

“…has seized the princess!”

“…that demon king is rather cute.” – See? Someone agrees with me.

Anyways, that was a fun series. See you soon!

Idolish7 s2 10

…Back at it after so long…(I can’t help it though – Crunchyroll, per month, is about double the local Funimation sublicensor’s fees, and for much less content that’s worth my money to boot!)

I’ve always thought Momo was like Sasara (HypMic), so seeing him anguished hurts me in the kokoro too…

I know Banri was involved with Re:vale somehow…this must be it.

…Male idols are also popular among men? Is this why there are 8 (!!!) idol anime in winter 2021 alone…? (Also, that’s why HypMic became popular? Multidemographic appeal crossed over with obvious merchandising opportunities?)

It’s kind of scary how Momo stepped the formality towards Yuki like that (to -san).

I guess in his heart Momo still reveres Yuki, some way or another.

The rakugo curtain really sold the moment that they (current Re:vale) were acting like an old married couple.

Yay! Silver Sky is such a cool song! Of course I recognised the intro when it came on.

…I see. The elder Kujo is entrusting his dream to Tenn, so that’s why he banned Aya from seeing Tamaki. However, it’s hard to know what to feel when Aya speaks in the vaguest terms possible.

I think that was a special ending for only this episode. I don’t know what its name is, but I guess I might recognise it on Spotify one day.

Idolish7 s2 11

LOL, Nagi’s reaction.

Considering the ‘rona is getting worse outside our very windows as we speak (type?), I think it’s correct to be concerned about your future right now.

Looking at these narrow streets reminds me of going to eat hotpot at the end of my Japan trip…only Japanese streets look like that, I think. Hong Kong’s streets are more crowded than that and America likes their suburbia.

Of course, when you say hajimemashite (nice to meet you), someone’s gotta say it back, hence the reply.

Considering there are people all over the world watching the Idolish7 anime, I would say you are telling the world about I7, Riku.

Oh! Restart Pointer! There was an MV for that one…I think it was around the time Idolish7’s MVs started getting better.

So this is the context around the new outfits! Cool!

There have been way too many puns about “idol” being…y’know, “ai (love) doll” and stuff like that…

I have one Twitter person who I follow (DejiNyucu, part of the creative team for Autumn’s Journey) because I don’t get much I7 content and they keep mentioning this “Haruki” person…and suddenly a “Haruki the Betrayer” showed up in the graffiti…they might be the same person, I think. Not Deji, but Haruki. Update: Sakura Haruki, perhaps…?

Sougo’s such a bad liar…

Sometimes, the best way to deal with things is to be direct…(I’m not very good at that, I naturally talk in a very roundabout sort of way.)

Sougo with long hair like Yuki would be really pretty… (<- has an obvious thing for guys with long hair)

Idolish7 s2 12

Nagi’s stupid accent is generally what he’s best remembered for (for me), so seeing him speak normally, and do a press conference on top of that, is…impressive.

A kabedon on top of all this! Whoa!

Shibuya 109 parody…? (I’ve seen that once or twice – parodying that means people know their stuff about Shibuya.)

I think the “it’s overflowing!” is referring to the hype in the “room”.

…this dejected Momo is worrying…(well, he is worrying and I am worrying about him.)

Oh, I see. The person responsible typed the letter so that they couldn’t be traced back. Kind of like those old movies where the culprit would cut letters out of newspapers to make threat mail, but…with even less traces than that, because cutting letters out leaves evidence.

…wow, it took a while for this ep. to have an intro…

…LOL, I just spotted Kenjiro Tsuda cited as the “fake Zero”, meaning the real one might never show up this season.

There’s something really stupid and infectious about these managers’ enthusiasm for drinking energy drinks. It puts a goofy smile on my face.

Is Musubi Tsumugi’s mother…? Update: Yes, she is.

…Wait, so the Chiba Shizuo guy is actually important?!

Idolish7 s2 13

Whenever someone says “by the way”, it means they’re changing the subject. I hate to state to obvious, but Sougo is clearly deflecting the topic of conversation from being about him.

I wonder if this guy (Haw9) is the actual Zero graffiti vandal…?

Hmph, I didn’t realise Tenn doesn’t refer to Kujo-san as his father, but…like that (“Kujo-san”) instead.

Oh hey! These are shots from Vibrato!

Most dramas can be solved with the power of Good Communication. That includes this one.

I feel like “he has a dark side” describes both Tenn and Kujo-san.

“Everyone, remember to wash your hands and gargle thoroughly.” – This is always a good thing to remember in the time of ‘rona. Reminds me of Jakurai’s line in ARB (<- this game started just after the ‘rona came down).

What did Sougo go to uni for (what specialisation)?

Idolish7 s2 14

I just realised Banri calls Momo -kun. Hmm…

Denki = electricity, LOL.

I feel like Tenn is basically Ramuda, give or take actual pink hair…guys in musical groups with pre-existing angst that they become the “centre” of. The fact Fling Posse have Saito Soma and so do Trigger strengthens the connection.

I would watch the heck out of a musical like that! Make it come true, Idolish7! (Also, today is I7 day! I’m not much of an I7 fan outside the anime, but…that’s cool!)

That shot of them jumping! I remember seeing it on the official site before!

Idolish7 s2 15 (FINAL)

There you go! I was wondering where Banri’s injury was – that was the only bit that didn’t add up for him to be Yuki’s old partner.

Hmm…Momo is 4 years younger than Yuki but 2 years younger than Banri…

This episode has a real concert vibe to it, to the point where I got startled by how loud the yell was at one point. (Even if it is mostly stills.)

LOL, lookit Okazaki!

Apparently, if you’re a hako oshi, you like all the members of a group. Someone with a green light and a pink light likes both members of Re:vale.

LOL, Usagi for Asahi beer.

…I forgot Nagi is 19.

…Ooh, I think that’s the kid from ZOOL. No wonder they needed a season 3!

That’s all. See you next time!

SLS 2

“fine and upstanding person” – That’s…hard to believe, Hayato.

I wonder how many bois Toboso designed for SLS…?

…The episode title is actually “Blank”. Not “Break”.

One of the guys’ shirts says moteki on it. That’s a period in one’s life where one enjoys more romantic attention than usual, literally “popularity season”.

The subs missed an I, so initially I knew Kiriyama’s name as “Kiryama”.

There are meant to be 2 wings, right…?

“He who controls information controls everything, right?” – For once, I’m surprised Hayato is right (and not just in that smug way of his).

“…I’m being treated like a manager.” – But Hayato is a manager! (In a sense.)

The plait guy jumps to nicknames really fast…also, why do I get the feeling Maeshima will lose the key?

I hate to say this Maeshima, but I side with your childhood friend (Kiriyama) here. As much as the anime wants me to back you, I’m watching for everyone else at this point.

That blocky building looks pretty cool. I think Zel (Archi-Anime) would like it.

Sasugai’s setup looks pretty cool, including his chair.

…hmm, Maeshima’s like me in a sense. I learn best by copying others, but memory is my best asset. If I don’t regularly train the fundamentals, I suck at everything. That said, I don’t have an eidetic memory. Also, I didn’t quite figure out Ken = Ken(sei Maeshima) until I watched long enough to connect the dots.

LOL, Derry’s. (<- reminded of a word for “butt” <- derriere)

Well, the guy’s (Souta…?) shirt does say moteki…

Kiriyama kinda looks like Jyuto (HypMic), come to think of it…Right down to his angry streak (although Jyuto has a reputation to keep as a “cool dude”, while Kiriyama is more of a Manza (Boueibu HK) and he’s more angry than he looks).

…This ED is nothing special.

…Hmm? Is that a small Terauchi and Maeshima…?

I think I’m sold for now, but I’m rooting for the other team, not Maeshima’s…not yet, anyways.

[agentnico]

The Happytime Murders (2018) Review

I wonder what Paul Thomas Anderson thinks of his wife (Maya Rudolph) starring in all these crappy comedies? The man directs arguably some of the best features put to screen, with the likes of Magnolia, Phantom Thread and There Will Be Blood, however his wife appears in films like, well, The Happytime Murders, The Nut Job, the abysmal CHiPs and many other turd bags, and it makes you wonder what Paul Thomas Anderson thinks of this. I bet he loves it!

Plot: When the puppet cast of an '90s children's TV show begin to get murdered one by one, a disgraced LAPD detective-turned-private eye puppet takes on the case, which means teaming up with his ex-partner, with whom he did not leave on the best of terms.

So Sesame Street tried to sue this film for copying them to much, however I honestly don’t see why Sesame would want to have any kind of connection to this film, as this film’s main gag and pitch is that puppets swear, do drugs, have sex, and basically do anything that shouldn’t be seen by a child’s eye. You heard me, parents, this ain’t another Muppets movie. Don’t take your kids to see this one! But anyway, The Happytime Murders is the perfect way to end a summer filled with bad films. I’m sorry, unlike what many think, I think this summer has been rubbish. Yes, there were a few little gems here and there, like Mission: Impossible - Fallout, Deadpool 2 and BlackKklansman, and also Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again was way better than it had any right to be, however as a whole this summer was atrocious. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, The Meg, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Ocean’s 8, Mile 22, Tag, well, the list goes on, all these movies were super mediocre to terrible, and so far this year as a whole has been like that, which is why I am optimistically looking forward to awards season as our saving grace. But with The Happytime Murders, yes, it also is not a good film. It’s actually very bad, however at least it is enjoyable. And that’s more than can be said for many other dull films of this summer.

Filled with all the tired old cliches of a detective movie, many 5-10 minute periods where nothing interesting happens, a script so lazy that it only relies on using as many curse words as possible (a gag that works at first but does get tiresome by the end) and a wasted human cast with the likes of Joel McHale and Elizabeth Banks, whom I wish got more to do, though Maya Rudolph, so mis-used at the beginning of the film, gets more to do at the end with hilarious fashion, and then there is Melissa McCarthy, whom I never liked, and this film has not changed that.

Yes, this movie is bad, but not going to lie, me and my friends had a hell of a time watching it, since after a certain line is said and we all gathered what kind of film we were watching, which just allowed ourselves to be swayed into this world of foul humour, and yes, the movie is completely stupid and ridiculous, but that’s what made it enjoyable. But what else do you expect from a film that has one octopus-like puppet milking a cow muppet? So yeah, as something stupid to watch with your friends and pals, this might actually not be such a bad choice, however as a film its very badly made. Though you do have to admire the puppetry work that has gone into the film, especially when during the credits you get to see some behind the scenes work. It is impressive, no doubt, but that doesn’t make for a good film. Enjoyable nonetheless though.

Overall score: 3/10

TOP MOVIE QUOTE: “I have a severe condition of Imma.” “What’s Imma?” “Imma see it, Imma f*** it!”

[sattlersquarry]

“Three-Card Monte”--French Drop (Part 1)

Okay so not as much Jonathan in this chapter as I originally planned. But not to worry! This story isn’t just going to revolve around Cameron. Jonathan will play an important role too.

Also, in Chris Fedak’s breakdown of season 2, he says Cameron would only be in jail for 36 hours. (Link to the article here.) For the purposes of my story, Cameron has been in jail for a month. As a writer, I have a responsibility to make creative choices.

aka this is fanfic and I DO WHAT I WANT!!!

Chapter 2: French Drop (Part 1)

There are two sides to every story.

Every magician knows how to make a coin disappear. It’s a simple trick: the magician holds the coin up for the audience to see, then waves their hand in front of it. Like magic, it’s disappeared.

Only, it hasn’t really disappeared. The magician palms the coin, keeping it close to them the whole time. The audience only thinks it’s really gone.

Two sides. Yours and mine.

***

It was 87 degrees in Aruba.

Jonathan Black was having a very interesting nightmare--he was being chased by a giant, anthropomorphic ace of spades card--when he got smacked in the face by a flying newspaper.

He woke with a start, and heard a shrill voice yelling at him. He was still a little (read: a lot) hungover and everything was kind of a blur.

“I ask you to do one thing--one thing!--and you can’t even do that right!” the voice continued. He groaned and sat up, looking at the headline of the newspaper.

It was a copy of the National Enquirer. There was a photo of him partying on the cover.

The voice belonged to none other than the Mystery Woman. Her two-colored eyes bore into Jonathan as she lectured him about responsibility and staying out of the public eye.

“What will happen if Kay sees this?” MW continued. “She’ll get suspicious of her precious Cameron and go to talk to you in jail--only it won’t be you! It will be him! And our whole plan will be ruined.”

Jonathan had never seen MW this rattled before.

“Listen,” Jonathan said, his voice raspy, “relax--”

“Don’t tell me to relax!” MW snapped. “I gave you a month off so you could unwind after a year in prison, and all you did was drink, party, and hookup with models.”

“That’s not all I did,” Jonathan protested. “I also learned how to surf--”

“I’ve seen you surf, and it’s abysmal,” MW scoffed. “Get up; get dressed. Vacation’s over. We’ve got a plane to catch.”

She slammed the door of Jonathan’s hotel room. A painting of a seashell fell off the wall and broke in its frame.

“Great,” Jonathan muttered. “Just great.”

***

The ride to the prison was long.

Kay drummed her fingers on the steering wheel, trying to focus on the teeny-bopper pop song on the radio instead of her frazzled nerves.

If Emerson was right, Cameron had been in jail for a month. How did Kay not realize it was Jonathan, not Cameron, who spurned her that day in the Archive?

It’s because I was too embarrassed, she thought. All I could think about was my pride. God, how could I be so stupid?

She turned up the radio before she could beat herself up any more.

In what felt like the blink of an eye, she was walking into the prison with Emerson’s folder of photos tucked under her arm.

A guard led her into the questioning room. She flipped through the photos and paused when she saw Jonathan’s mugshot.

There was a dark, desperate look in his blue eyes. The same look she saw that night in the Archive.

“Kay?”

She looked up. There he was.

Any second thoughts about coming to the prison vanished when Kay looked into his eyes. Those were Cameron’s eyes.

“Holy crap,” was all Kay could think to say.

Cameron sat across from her and leaned in.

“I’m not Jonathan,” he said urgently. “I know that’s the exact kind of thing Jonathan would say, but it’s me, Cameron.”

“I know.”

Cameron continued as if he hadn’t heard her.

“I tried to call you, but it turns out the conveniences of modern cell phone technology are a curse and not a blessing--wait, you know?”

“Yes, Cameron,” Kay said. “How-how did this happen?”

Cameron grimaced.

“Let’s just say, Jonathan isn’t going to win any ‘Brother of the Year’ awards anytime soon.”

“I’m so sorry, Cameron,” Kay said. “I should’ve known the ‘Cameron’ in Aruba wasn’t you.”

“How would you have known?” Cameron said.

Kay’s mind flashed back to the Archive.

No more promises.

“Wait,” Cameron said before Kay could respond. “How did you know to come? Was it Emerson and Charlie? Oh my God, was it Deryk? Do I have to do commercials now?”

Kay furrowed her brow.

“Who the hell is Deryk?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Cameron said. “So, it was Emerson?”

“Yes,” Kay said. “She gave a presentation to Deakins, Mike, and me. I was the only one who bought it.”

Cameron chuckled.

“I mean,” he said, “it did sound pretty ridiculous. I wouldn’t have believed it if I wasn’t living it.”

“I almost didn’t believe it myself,” Kay said, “but she was explaining the differences between twins. The things she was saying about behavior and nature versus nurture...I don’t know, it just made sense.”

“I’m just glad I don’t have to spend another second here,” Cameron said. “You’re here to take me home, right?”

“First,” Kay said, “I need to test your fingerprints. And the DNA results won’t come back for a few weeks--”

Cameron groaned and put his head in his hands.

“But,” Kay said, “I can try to expedite the process. Maybe bring in a judge and put you on the stand, try to convince a jury that it’s really you--”

“Yeah, because the judicial system has done wonders for the Black brothers before,” Cameron quipped.

Kay sighed.

“I wish I could get you out right now,” Kay said. “Hold tight, Cameron. I’m going to get you home.”

***

Thanks for reading pals!

[essaysteps991]

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[recentanimenews]

You Are Never Too Old To Be An Anime Fan

  I recently turned 31, and often times, in anime fan years, that makes me feel around 1,000 years old. I see new shows cropping up every season and watch a parade of new anime memes flash across my timeline and I become the guy that picked the wrong chalice at the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. I'm a whithering husk, shrieking out into a cold night with copies of Yu Yu Hakusho and Digimon: The Movie clutched to my skeletal chest. "I'M STILL RELEVANT!" I choke out, as my voice is lost to the abysmal depths of time. "I'M AN ANIME FAN, TOO." And then I am silent, because I am old and because I am dead.

  Obviously, I am not dead and this article is not being written by my vengeful spirit. I don't get a headache every time someone asks me if I've watched Tower of God or My Next Life as a Villainess (Both are pretty good, by the way!), nor do I see the grim reaper looming every time someone asks me if I'm attending a convention in the next year. But I feel like, on social media, a week can't go by without someone making an embarrassing hot take that, actually, you shouldn't be into anime when you're over a certain age. In fact, you shouldn't be having fun at all. You're a grandpa fan now, and your only outlet for enjoyment should be when you're able to start a lawnmower on the first pull of the cord.

    Most of these takes are done simply for clout because the internet loves to reward bad judgment calls and clueless obstinance with ceaseless attention. However, they always end up making at least a few people feel terrible. No matter how emotionally distant you are from whoever it is making a wildly untrue statement, it still kinda sucks. If a stranger yells "WEIRD BUTT!" out the window of their car at me while I walk down the sidewalk, it's not gonna matter THAT much. But I'm still gonna think about it and be a little bummed out, if only for a brief second. Do I have a weird butt? OK, I know it looks odd, but is it looking weirder than normal today?

  So I can't block all of these people, nor can I spend all my time on Twitter leaping in front of bad opinions like Ash Ketchum taking on a horde of Spearow. Instead, all I can say is this: You're never too old to get into anime, nor are you ever too old to be an existing anime fan. You're never too old to watch a new show or attend a convention or enter into a conversation about the genre. You're just not. There is no data that says, "Hey, when you hit 25, you gotta throw out your Naruto hoodies." 

  If anything, watching anime and participating in certain aspects of fandoms feels more rewarding to me than it did a decade ago. Over time I've learned different directors and animators that I like, and I've learned to identify their various strengths and styles. I didn't know anything about that back when I was, like, 15 (Though if you are 15 and know about them now, rad. Keep it up.) Back then, all of it might as well have been made by John P. Anime or something. But I've gotten to watch these creators grow up and change and evolve.

    I've also learned to appreciate series in different ways. Back in middle school, whenever I'd catch glimpses of Dragon Ball Z at a friend's house, I'd mainly enjoy it for the rad punching and the shouting. And don't get me wrong, I still enjoy it for the rad punching and the shouting. But I'm also interested in analyzing Akira Toriyama's borderline perfect manga art and sequencing. I've loved the longterm story that the franchise has told about ego and masculinity and fatherhood. Vegeta, who started as an angry, short, malevolent Goku has become an honorable (and still fairly angry) man that grapples with his pride and actively seeks to be a positive presence in the lives of his friends, family, and peers. 

    I've been able to watch my favorite series, One Piece, go from being an adventure that's managed to last a long time to a legend in its industry, standing alone not just as an exemplary case of world-building and action storytelling, but as the last relic of the Weekly Shonen Jump era from which it was born. It's become the anime equivalent of Lord of the Rings, an epic narrative that will influence countless series after it. 

  Anime conventions, which initially started basically as a bacchanal that just happened to sell Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood figurines, have now become places to gather and see friends that I haven't hung out with in years, all while celebrating the series that we love so much. My relationships with these people — people that are scattered across the United States — have grown and strengthened over the years, and now anime conventions have sort of become family reunions. 

  Anime does not need gatekeepers telling people that they're too old to enjoy it, and people don't need that either. It and the community built around it should welcome you no matter your age. It's better that way. 

  How old were you when you first got into anime? What series or aspects of the fandom have you enjoyed more as you've gotten older? Let me know in the comments!

  --------------

  Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com