#hm… listen. giyuu isn’t my favorite but i do really like him a lot he just isn’t. my favorite. but i am so. very. obsessed. with suguru

[sashisuse]

if i had a nickel for every time takahiro sakurai voiced a guy with long black hair that he usually kept back and was commonly referred to as an ‘emo boy’ by the fandom AND was commonly shipped with a guy with short white hair whose name started with ‘sa’ and was voiced by kaiji tang in the english dub, i would have two nickels. which isn’t a lot but i’ll take the nickels.

[purenguyening]

another fandom ask! B K L

Going to put a cut because it's surprisingly long...

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or sexual–that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

Hattori Heiji/Hakuba Saguru

Not that I didn't consider it persay, more closer to I didn't have thing to say or add that hasn't already been said. So instead, have a fanart that I think about sometimes. They're both quite silly but there's a lot there to building their dynamic, especially based on the fact they have similar backgrounds....

(This is actually true with a lot of ships, I'd rather listen to other people talk about ships than give my own reason why I think they're interesting)

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

Hashibira Inosuke's arc. It's really satisfying watching him grow from fighting just to prove himself to learning how to fight to protect others.

Watching Inosuke fight King of Demons Tanjirou is really heart-breaking...him talking about how they ate together with Giyuu and Gyomei.

Though every time I bring it up I can't help but snort a bit at the colored version:

Absolutely bonkers to me for some reason "buddies" is in quotes there.

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.)

I've been thinking about it more, but I do love the video game's portrayal of Norman from Pokemon, especially in Emerald where you have access to more dialogue where he admits he feels conflicted about you growing up (this dialogue is seen after you get your second badge):

"Hm… Little by little, but also very surely, you're getting tougher, <player>. The stronger you get, the farther and higher you soar from Mother and me… This feeling is hard to explain."

He has a pretty lassiez-faire approach given that he calls you once he hears from Mr. Stone that he asks you to run an errand for him.

But I think there's more to it once you look at his Emerald Team: Vigoroth/Slaking and Linoone/Spinda are both meant to convey different sorts of extremes and he specifically gives out the Balance badge. Vigaroth/Slaking being a metaphor for his energy and the contrast of Linoone versus Spinda (where the former runs ONLY in a straight line and the latter ONLY runs in circles) feels like a metaphor for how he wants to approach you (directly versus roundabout). The fact he gives you the balance badge makes it feels like you were able to do what he couldn't.

Norman really got special treatment with his team and how it's designed to convey a lot of his character in a way I think a lot of the other leaders didn't, but I think that's expected since this is your father.

But I think the general gist is that Norman was basically a father who really was stumbling through fatherhood and really trying to figure out how to approach raising you.

I'm still of firm belief he initially agreed to teach Wally how to catch Pokemon because: one, Wally's situation was very similar to the playing character, so he really wanted to try to help him out; and two, it felt like he really wanted to get some experience in teaching someone how to catch Pokemon before he tried to teach his kid how to do it.

The line after you arrive makes it seem like he was trying to figure out what to do in real time once he realizes you have your own Pokemon and have caught at least one or two on en route: Oh, I see. You're with your Pokémon. Hmm… Then I guess you're going to become a Trainer like me, <player>. That's great news! I'll be looking forward to it!

There's also dialogue with your mother (Your father keeps himself locked away in the Petalburg Gym. He comes home every so often. But he goes back to the Gym when he's eaten everything he can.) and father (You'd better go visit your Mother every so often. I'm going to remain here and redouble my training.) that make it sound like he tries to get his kid to come home and eat dinner with them but just miss them and also he's not being very direct about it.

I feel like one of these days I'll try to write an essay about it, but it goes to say, I do think Norman is a pretty interesting character and he's not my favorite, but there's a lot I can say about him. He really is trying his best to be a good father, hang in there, Norman!