#honestly more so than our protagonist tbh

[delawaredetroit]

The five year old has a better idea of the prerequisites of being a hero than most of the characters in this manga

[rui-drawsbox]

remembering the most memorable mc's (with canon appearences) from the otomes i played

all of them are phone games btw. and looong rambling about the games after the cut!

Mystic messenger has been in my radar since i was in elementary school but i played it for the first time after the spanish traslation came out (2017 i think?) Seven shaped my type in such a specific way that im not really sure why loved him so much (it was the whole "he loves you in every route" stuff). I like a lot the default mc, most of the fandom did and that was enough to won me over

Rosa is top tier protagonist tbh, Tears of Themis has really good story and characters (as far i played, not a lot but i enjoyed it) The reason i'm not that much of a fan is bc the game is expensive asf and not very free to play friendly. You're either lucky or have a big wallet with the gacha

i miss my wife man(Marius)

Ephemeral has to be one of the best free to play otomes i've played tbh (if my memories aren't tricking me, it's been years) Good artwork, good storyline, good characters and as far i remember you can unlock one chapter of the character route per day (mabye two days, idk) and the mc's background has an important role in every route (she's a zombie! she's pretty now but eventually will fall apart, aaaaand her story gets expanded in one of the routes!) ((shes also adorable)) There's also a sequel, if you wanted more of the boys! never finished it but i'd recommend it

Honorable mentions! Huellitas Mágicas is a great game! has a really good cast with well fleshed arcs for all the characters, even the scondary ones! The game shines more for the development of *all* the characters rather than just the protagonist/ml. The main theme is overcoming insecurities! Each love interest has a different way of helping our (very insecure) protagonist and helping different characters with their own struggles :DD

10/10 i recommend this game if you want something cute and can be finished in a few hours, if i remember right. It also has a sequel! with like- 12 new love interests, also never finished it bc i didnt found a guide that worked for me but ñek

A3! is my canon event as a gacha player. Discovered the english/global server, tried it and got bored, left it for a few months, tried it again and fell in love, noticed the game was going to shut down bc low sales -HAHA :(-. This is not a otome btw, this is here bc Izumi has to be one of my favorite protagonists in gacha games ever

last but not least! Obey me! Shall we date? oh dear, what have they done to you :(. The original had intense powercreep to force you to pull cards -multiple times bc that makes them stronger- and even now, the company showed a lot of favoritism to some characters, leaving others to dust bc they don't make the same money. Not to say, they released a new game with the same cast and new main story (ignoring all what happend before). And let me say: THEY LITERALLY WANTED TO KILL THE ORIGINAL GAME.

Nightbringer might be a decent game but i don't trust the devs anymore, i still remember what happend with Asmo's birthday right after the release, and honestly i don't want to sit there watching how they disrespect my favorite characters again and again and again. Loved the characters hated the devs. 5/10 you can play it if you want but i don't recommend spending money on it, it's not worth it, just search #obey me here in tumblr and enjoy the amazing fanworks that i can assure you have a lot more love than the game itself

i miss my wife man (mammon and levi)

[adachimoe]

The effort this dumbass put into this

Honestly, yeah. What is the player by this point in time, if not a huge dumbass?

Adachi's letter only continues if you've gotten him to rank 9 by this point. This involves getting him to rank 6 by his hard cut off date and then going to see him alone on December 7th and seeing his arcana transform.

Earlier in his Social Link, Adachi talks about his school life. As he says, you can only get back what you put in - if you put in effort to studying, then you get grades. And in his experience, this is exactly what he did. But as he remarks, this only worked at school and it doesn't translate to the real world.

In the 3rd Persona 4 audio drama cd, which was released before Golden even!, Adachi's dialogue talks about effort. His commentary is, more or less, that things are not worth it unless there's some kind of reward: He mocks the protagonist for running at full speed during the relay that has no reward, but thinks it's okay for Dojima and Nanako to try and win the 3-legged-race because they can win a free night at the Amagi's.

In some ways, I think you can relate this to the Social Link system as a whole: We tell our Social Links things they like to hear during mostly one sided conversations where they talk, we occasionally respond, and we get rank ups for our troubles. But obviously, this only works in the game. (Tbh tho, in real life, you can leave people on read for 5 years before resuming their Social Links.) Things require more effort - caring, giving a shit, more than a one sided conversation.

Adachi's Social Link starts off the same - we invite him over for dinner, we tell him responses he likes to hear, and we get rank ups as our rewards. On rank 7 and 8, there are no points to be earned. We simply assume that, based on Adachi's dialogue, he must give a shit about us, and his Social Link advances on its own.

When his Social Link transforms, he asks us what the hell kind of brain damage we have to assume our bond with him was really that tight. "You get back what you put in" - we put the time to go see him here, against our friends' wishes even, and we don't get a rank up here. But the nature of our relationship changes with him and his arcana changes into Lust or Hunger.

By the end of the game, when Adachi calls us a dumbass, it's cause we honestly are 100% a bunch of dumbasses. In order to get this guy to talk to us in any way whatsoever, we have to go through his stupid Social Link requirements where he has limited availability and it swaps between day / night, where you sometimes don't even know what to do because Atlus was too fucking stupid to program in a tell to go do his hangout during the night (or maybe that was intentional idk), and also do this all by a certain deadline while juggling all of the other bullshit going on in the game and the scheduling. And on top of it all, you are then given the option to go against your friends wishes and continue reaching out to him even after finding out he kicked off all of the events of the game that nearly got Nanako killed and endangered the rest of your party members, plus he tried to bait you into killing Namatame.

It goes without saying that the effort that you have put into this relationship is significantly higher than whatever Adachi has put in. And as he says himself, you get back what you put in. Despite what the player has put in, we've gotten a lot of nothing back. He, uh, came over and bummed free dinners and tried to get Nanako in on his low effort game by telling her to cheat on a book report. That's like, gotta be a negative gain lmao.

To have gone out of your way to try and get this guy's Social Link rank ups and talk to him even after the reveal and after you've already gotten so little out of this... Yeah okay honestly what are we if not a bunch of dumbasses by this point. Like I'm 352 posts into this blog and Adachi isn't even going to throw me into a TV god what's the point even.

But at the same time, Adachi appreciates how big of a dumbass we are when it comes to him. He doesn't call us a dumbass because he hates us, he calls us a dumbass because of how much effort we've put into this relationship. A level of effort that he himself scoffed at, but now causes him to reflect back on the time he spent with us and sees it more fondly. He couldn't see what he had until he didn't have it anymore.

Adachi will send you the letter urging you to reach out the truth and finish the case so long as you're doing the true ending. It's a scene from the PS2 game and it doesn't matter if you've done his Social Link or not. In Persona Club P4, Atlus remarks on how the caution tape in his dungeon hints that deep down inside, he *is* still a detective. Him sending the letter is proof of that - he wants you to solve the mystery. But if you complete his Social Link, the letter continues with this new segment, and I think this changes the nature of his letter: Having put the effort in to him with not much to show for it, we, at long last, get something from him.

And of course, as P4AU implies, he has become something of a "dumbass" himself in regards to expending unnecessary effort on things no one asks you to do.

Btw, the way Madono calls you an idiot in the Japanese audio is pretty great. The way he draws out vowels as Adachi in general I think really helps sell the playfulness.

[raayllum]

I know you were ready to lay CHET to rest after this season but… Callum still has the cube, we still don’t know *exactly* what it does but Aaravos will presumedly need it, and all that foreshadowing about Callum choosing Rayla over the greater good? I still believe

i'll have a more coherent post about this when i'm not running on under 7 hours of sleep for 24+ hours (close to 30+ now honestly) but no i feel so Fucking Crazy right now precisely because i went into s6, our penultimate season, expecting to finally get to lay CHET and its variants (5x08 my beloved) to rest after 4+ years, every season for 3 seasons in a row i've been ready to lay it down, and yet it's still on the Goddamn Table arguably more than ever before

Obviously certain things have changed — Callum's thematic associations with freedom would switch probably to having a role to play in 'unlocking' Aaravos' full power and/or giving him access to the other Startouch elves somehow — but both of those things are stuff I've considered being related to the cube before (as well as dark magic) so not much is actually changing there fundamentally.

What continues to change is the sheer assortment of evidence that Callum is going to play into Aaravos' hands for her (the initial basis of CHET), and Rayla is likewise going to refuse to sacrifice him (thereby shortly followed by mutual salvation theory), and 6x03 is a Giant Sign blinking Pay Attention in bright neon.

Rayla: Listen to me. If you ever have to choose between me and the greater good, do the right thing. Make the sacrifice.

Nevermind that 'right thing' is subjective and that sacrificing loved ones is routinely seen as Bad ("We must be willing to sacrifice, even the things we love" / "My daughter [...] and I tried to kill you") and that Aaravos (one of Rayla's primary foils) likewise demanded for Viren to 'make a sacrifice' regarding Sir Sparklepuff in 5x09. It'd be one thing, mind you, for Rayla to just bring up this Hypothetical and it could conceivably be dropped, but then Callum makes the basis of CHET's adjacent Mutual Salvation Theory explicit in tethering Rayla's request to his own:

Rayla: What? Callum: If Aaravos ever controls me again, if he ever uses me, promise me you'll kill me. Rayla: Yes. I promise.

(There's a few different things we can read both into Callum's renewed approach and Rayla's changed response, but meta for another day).

What this conversation does, though, is link these things in the audience's mind. If half is called upon their deal in a scenario, it's only logical that the other will be too. And, of course, Aaravos has to inevitably possess Callum, and Callum (as a main protagonist and usher of a new age of magic) cannot die, so Rayla has to break her promise (a la TTM) to keep him alive, freeing up room in the narrative to Callum likewise break his (more thinly made tbh) promise as well. The easiest order of events, therefore, is for Callum to break his promise first in order to save/protect her, be possessed, and then Rayla breaks her promise in saving him. Mutual salvation and all that

The fact we have other characters and plot threads routinely referring back to and building up Rayllum's thematic basis for each plot turn in S7 is just the cherry on top.

(We also see Rayla talk not just one but two 'monsters' down corrupted by desperation and grief, so while it may retread more territory if she does the same to Callum, there's certainly more than a precedent. For Callum, 2/3 dark magic times were for Rayla, and you don't introduce Big Extra Scary 'permanently ruined by dark magic' Stakes if you're not gonna use them as a way to escalate things, either, even if of course given that it's S7, there will be ways out and a happy ending).

Insert Callum putting the star rune sign directly down against her palm.

I think it's likely the cube is still involved somehow (all the ominous foreshadowing including and most prevalently featured in the pawn intro doesn't suddenly go away, and was only added to in S6) and really, this is about the only parallel I personally need anymore to keep chugging along theory wise:

Like it's Over and at this point we just gotta wait for S7, tbh, especially when a big juicy angsty mutual Rayllum plotline is more than in order after their relatively fluffy (loved) plotline in S6

[beanghostprincess]

Thoughs on Transfem Luffy? Personally I actually love this concept, some of my main hcs are:

- She comes out after Garp leaves her with Dadan so when he first sees her bounty posters he thinks he is going crazy at first

- Design is literally the same but with pigtails and the classic op girl eyes

- She casually nentions being trans after a visit from Chopper and everybody is cool with that. (Exept sanji)

- Amazpn Lily is a nightmare at first but after explaining herself Boa makes misgendering her a crime

- Impel Down is a lot more interesting

- Akainu is the only transphobic person in op and he gets his ass beaten

- Sabo cries (of joy) at Dressrosa for her

- Wano is more interesting too

Very very positive thoughts about transfem Luffy. She's my beloved. My little ball of chaos. The same exact as our canon Luffy but with different pronouns and somehow I imagine her to be even more unhinged because you wouldn't expect a cutie pie like her to be so damn chaotic.

Honestly, the whole thing is just something so cute to me. Makino? Dadan? Ace? Sabo? Shanks? They'd all support her like crazy. Ace and Sabo would beat the shit out of anyone saying anything bad about her while Makino teaches her (and her brothers) how to do her hair so it doesn't bother her while playing/running/training. This makes even more sense now because both Shanks and Dragon give major girl dad energy, so of course they'd love her (thinking about Dragon seeing the first Wanted poster and being thrilled about it and mourning a bit not being able to see her). Uta!!! Uta would tell her to be more feminine and delicate but she'd end up being charmed by her freedom, so she'd also beat the shit out of anyone who doesn't consider her sister a girl. Luffy is very nonchalant and careless about these things but is very stubborn so she gets frustrated when someone doesn't respect her identity. She's all like "I am a girl but I still wanna do stuff boys do, y'know? It just feels right to do whatever I want but, uh, as a girl. It makes sense".

Not to mention that she'd come out in the worst moment possible, in the most sudden way, and everyone in the crew would accept her but they'd be so astonished because Luffy is just so damn stupid and blunt sometimes. Also, I think it'd be good for Sanji to learn about trans girls... It'd help Sanji... In so many ways... The closet is glass for Sanji too but this isn't about her...

Amazon Lily is even better because Boa and Luffy would've been even greater friends (even though I love the whole "Luffy being the only guy she feels safe with" I also think that Boa acknowledging trans girls in an island specifically for women would be awesome).

Akainu can go rot in hell. If someone's transphobic in this show, it is him only.

Sabo!!!!!!! Sabo!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sabo would be the best brother ever to his sister. I just know that he'd be even more protective than he is now even knowing she can protect herself. Like that's his baby sister!!! And he'd be so happy to see her again and realizing she has the family and support she has always wanted!! The fact that she lives free and by her own ideals is enough for Sabo to be the happiest.

Wano is more interesting because she'd actually relate to Yamato's experience!!!!!!!! Trans besties!!!!!!!!! And Kiku!!!!!! Wano truly is the trans arc...

Overall, I believe she'd be the exact same as she is now but would easily get bothered by people telling her she's not a girl or saying that she isn't girly enough. She'd be ruthless and yet the cutest thing ever. Btw, she'd still go shirtless/topless even if she gets boobs because she does not care about it lmao--

I've been saying we need more Luffy female protagonists, tbh. It'd be soooo good for the story and would add more to the topics of freedom and liberation.

[foyle-writes-things]

Writeblr Interview Tag

Dearest @sableglass, again, many thanks. I appreciate you. Hope you are having a stupendous day. I hope you kick this weeks butt. The week is your bitch now.

Short stories, novels, or poems?

All. I write (very bad) poetry, and read (very good) poetry.

What genre do you prefer reading?

I lean towards fantasy tbh. I don't read much anymore- full time job means i choose- read or write. I usually choose to write.

Are you a planner or a write as I go kind of person?

Pft. What's a plan?

I really like stories that grow organically and move reactionary (kinda like playing a live D&D game with yourself).

So if i have a plan it's usually only some rough ideas of what happens next.

What music do you listen to while writing?

None. I write in silence.

No I'm not joking.

Yes, i'm aware its weird.

Favorite books/movies?

I don't have one really? But I guess right now I'm re-obsessed with Avatar the Last Air Bender. I am more obsessed with High Rollers D&D streams presently.

Go watch, it's better than anything on the Tellie.

If someone were to make a cartoon out of you what would your standard outfit be?

I'm seasonal:

late spring to end of summer:

tanktop, shorts, socks with sandals

late summer through the cold bits:

beanie, hoodie, yoga pants

Create a character description of yourself: 

Eww no.

Do you like incorporating actual people you know into your writing?

No? There may be pieces of people I know but i cannot say that any character reflects any one person.

Are you kill happy with your characters?

:)

Coffee or Tea while writing?

Both at the same time, also probably water and a club soda. I have 2-4 drinks with me at any given time.

Slow or fast writer?

Depends honestly. Some books go sonic fast, and some go much slower.

Where/who/what do you draw inspiration from?

The cosmic ether.

If you were in a fantasy world, what would you be?

Party healer that gets forced into supporting the protagonist and main party.

I'm combining these three because same answer who dis:

Most fav book cliche

Least favorite cliche

Favorite scene to write

The answer is that there is no answer. Most of this depends on how well the words go for me in terms of writing or reading. I'm quite happy with most cliches or scenes as long as it feels in keeping with the character.

Reason for writing?

The universe beats me on the head if i stop for too long. It's not a choice, it's a compulsion.

I be taggin (hopefully this isn't redundant, trying to revitalize the tag game economy and spread the <3 ):

@ettawritesnstudies

@simonnebethel

@dyrewrites

@leahnardo-da-veggie

@bluberimufim

@gothamxwattpad

[earlgreytea68]

A Note on Olivia's Speech -- Kinda

OMG this is so much babbling but I wrote it all down in case it might be interesting to anyone else who feels vast amounts of guilt over writing about guys all the time??????

When I was a younger writer, I used to write a lot of het. That's what I wrote all through my teenage years and into my early twenties, just tons of traditional male/female romance novels, which honestly was mostly what I read through those years, too (aside from the classics that I was forced to read for my degree in English, which was exactly why I majored in English lol). Even when I started writing fanfiction, which wasn't until my mid-twenties, I wrote het.

But then at one point I started writing m/m love stories, and I never stopped. And I worry a lot about that, like, is this betraying internalized misogyny on my part? Why am I writing about men (and often white men), who get so many of the stories anyway? I should write more about my actual gender identity, which is cisgender woman. But every time I did, it felt so weird and stilted to me. And my motto is that unless I'm writing for money I write makes me happy, so I kept writing m/m fic.

Once, years ago, I went to a presentation at an academic conference where they discussed the phenomenon of cisgender women writing m/m fic. I know this often gets characterized as just some kind of sexual kink, and I just don't think that's what's going on with me, and that presentation noted that cisgender men are the default, so to speak, in our society. And so characters with a cisgender male gender identity are allowed to be blank slates that can be absolutely anything you want. Whereas as soon as you make a character a cisgender female, suddenly there are all these societal pressures on that character. And that did resonate with me, that try as I might I couldn't just change the pronouns of the cisgender men I was writing and ta-da! They were cisgender women! Because there's just so much other baggage that comes with being a cisgender woman that they were freed from if they were cisgender men -- even if I resented that that was the case!

But I've been doing a lot of reading this past year, and not of romance novels, of quote-unquote "serious" novels (an adjective I strenuously do not agree with, as a writer of romance lol). I read Elif Batuman's books (both hilarious but both kind of fell apart about halfway through), I read Checkout 19 (which I pretty much hated), I read Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (weird book), I read The Farewell Tour (which surprised me and I liked much more than I'd thought I would). Every one of these books had a cisgender female protagonist (or co-protagonist), and every one of these books had a major plot point where that protagonist has a terrible, unhealthy relationship with an obnoxious cisgender guy. Every. Single. Book. And sometimes it was more than one unhealthy relationship, and sometimes it was more than one female character within the book. Like, you're going along reading about these delightful and interesting adventures these fabulous women are having, then -- bam! they run up against some guy not nearly as interesting as they are and not deserving of their time and then they waste a bunch of their life (and the book) all hung up on him. And I was just like: It's the year 2023, and this is STILL what the female narrative looks like? This???? We can't tell other stories about women that don't revolve around what men do to them???

It's not that these books aren't critiquing that part of society (which I understand is still omnipresent all around us). All of the books are very conscious that the relationships are unhealthy and diminishing the woman (except maaaaybe the relationship in T&T&T, but that book also is really mean to its arguably asexual MC and basically implies that he'll never be of importance in his BFF's life because he doesn't want to have sex with her, so the book had other issues, tbh). Not a single one of those books actually, you know, has any apparent repercussions for the guy in question, who just seems to go on and live their life pretty carefree and the woman whose life they stomped all over is barely a second thought, to us the outside observer. And I'm sure that's also very true to how society works. But, all the same, it was striking to me that, even if critical, THIS WAS STILL EVERY WOMAN'S NARRATIVE. EVERY WOMAN'S NARRATIVE WAS ABOUT SELLING HERSELF SHORT FOR SOME GUY. Can we not imagine better for ourselves????

And so, Idk, I do try to put people of other genders in my m/m fics but when it comes to a character like Olivia, and thinking of what her happy ending looked like, I just could not make myself put her with a guy. And you might say: she could have gone with a woman! And yes! She could have! But I think I am craving female narratives that aren't about romantic and sexual love. Because every narrative I read about a woman is alllll about romantic and sexual love. The woman belittles herself to squeeze herself into the box of romantic and sexual love, cutting off all of the interesting parts of herself because she's been told THAT is the end-all-be-all. But I am a believer in all kinds of love, and how all of those kinds of love can give you a good and well-rounded life, and it's silly to pretend that there's only one type of love and that we should pursue it at all costs to our selves.

And then I think, well, gee, that's hypocritical of me, given that ALL I DO IS WRITE STORIES ABOUT ROMANTIC AND SEXUAL LOVE. But then it occurred to me that in writing them about two cisgender men, it does feel more like a narrative that needs to be told. Men get so many stories...but they don't often get THESE stories. They don't often get the love story. They don't often pursue their romantic love as if it will fulfill their destiny...because society tells men that their destiny has other shapes and sizes beyond who they sleep with. Maybe, I think, the world needs more narratives about guys who just love, unabashedly and deeply and fulfillingly, and THAT'S the narrative. That's the whole story. Just that. The way it so often is for women.

When I think about Olivia, and even as I sit and struggle my way with Megan in the Regency AU sequel, it's like...I want more for them than that. Like, for so long I grew up with exactly the expectation that Olivia talks about, that I needed to find a husband and that was the most important thing about me. And I watch the younger women I know still get that message. I've got a great career, went to good schools, do interesting stuff, and still a shocking number of people want to know why I'm single. What about everything else I can be????? I have great friends and a great family and I honestly like my life. Who can ask for more than that? Like, isn't the most amazing thing that could happen to Megan, especially in the Regency era, is just that she lives the life she wants??? And maybe that means she gets married and maybe it doesn't but it's cool either way and she has the freedom to choose it!

I don't mean to imply that I don't have internalized misogyny, because who knows lol. I also don't mean to imply that women shouldn't get married!!!! I have many cisgender female friends in very happy and healthy heterosexual relationships!!! It's awesome for them and it works for them and it's cool and I love them and the lives they have built for themselves. Lives come in all shapes and sizes, and that's great. But I finished yet another book with yet another female protagonist in yet another unhealthy relationship for the fifth time this year or whatever and I was just like, No wonder I gave Olivia that speech. No wonder I'm looking for another narrative.

[yakuzacanons]

Karaoke And Music Headcanons - Yakuza 1-4 Protagonists Edition

Karaoke is one of my favorite parts of Yakuza and they are genuinely bangers tbh, plus the VAs do a great job so here are some of my thoughts on how our protags are when they go out to karaoke and what they like to listen to.

Kazuma Kiryu

Mostly listens to classic rock. Has a small vinyl collection at Morning Glory tucked away into a corner of his room. However, he rarely listens to music loudly as he does not want to disturb the kids.

Will not dance to music but will bob his head to the beat. Sadly his dancing days are behind him, along with the bubble era. He didn’t mind cutting loose on the dance floor when he was in his early 20′s though.

On the other hand, he loves karaoke. He will usually go by himself and just belt out his favorite songs. It’s honestly a form of stress relief for him. Sometimes he’ll take the kids with him and they all have a blast.

Since he does enjoy singing, he is extremely proud of Haruka for pursuing an idol career. He will never brag about Haruka to others to avoid ruining her chances at success but secretly he is THE proudest dad. Will memorize all the words to anything she sings.

Majima Goro

Mostly listens to pop music. Prefers 80′s and 90′s pop but anything on the radio suits his taste. If it’s catchy, he likes it.

Is very bad at memorizing lyrics so he hums all the time instead. He often gets caught at work humming some jingle to himself. Only knows all the words to his company construction song.

Despite this, he loves writing his own silly songs in his head. Usually they’re rather silly. He loves to annoy Saejima with whatever random tune he’s come up with.

At karaoke, he is good at singing if it’s a song he is somewhat familiar with. If he has never heard it before, he will just improv his way through most of it, cackling to himself. He prefers dancing to singing karaoke.

Saejima Taiga

Like Kiryu, he’s more of a rock guy. Also fond of blues. More of an old school music fan. He’s not up to date on new singers or bands.

He’s very self conscious so he will not play music on speakers or sing out loud. He prefers to wear headphones while listening to music. You might catch him humming VERY quietly to himself, which sounds like a low rumbling almost.

Rarely seen at karaoke but Majima drags him there anyways. Even if neither of them know the words or are good at singing, Majima wants to make up for lost time with his sworn brother.

Very shy when he sings but once he gets going, he has a smooth bassy voice. Prefers to do backup. Great at keeping a beat with a tambourine.

Akiyama Shun

Up to date on all the music trends. Part of the territory with running a hostess club, honestly. He picks up a lot of new music from the girls there.

As an extension of his work, sometimes he takes his hostesses to karaoke as part of their training for after hours dates. They’re all a little intimidated when he does this as he tends to sing better than all of them.

Loves going to karaoke, especially with Hana as she is the only one who can keep up with his energy. They sing a lot of duets.

He’s big on love songs. Akiyama is a romantic and daydreamer at heart so his music taste reflects that. Loves a sappy ballad. Also really into jazz music but he doesn’t talk about it much and prefers to listen to it in the comfort of his home when he’s trying to unwind.

Tanimura Masayoshi

Being able to speak so many languages has given way to Tanimura exploring a lot of world music. He’s really into k-pop lately but will not admit it, even if you ask him. The other cops tease him for it but he and Mei Hua bond over it. He is also fond of rap music.

He’s very shy about singing and will try to avoid karaoke as much as possible. However, if he does get roped into it, he’s a pretty decent singer, albeit he does tend to sing rather softly.

Surprisingly fond of dancing and is kind of good at it. He tries to learn choreography from k-pop or j-pop routines in his spare time as he finds it both entertaining and good exercise. Helps him stay light on his feet.

Usually listens to music with a pair of earbuds and a music app on his phone. Since he’s always on the go, he doesn’t really have any form of music system at his apartment.

Bonus Round! Haruka Sawamura

Despite being an idol, she’s pretty neutral on most pop music. She is partial to girl groups and other girl idols as she looks up to them but she mostly ever listens to them as a means to better understand the industry rather than out of enjoyment.

Actually a metal fan but keeps it under wraps. Listens to music using earbuds and will quietly mouth the lyrics to herself under her breath.

At karaoke though, Haruka will always belt it out. She’s a lot like Kiryu in that way. They have the best jam sessions at karaoke.

She is not shy about singing at all, given her career. However, she is not the showboating type and will never brag or boast about her abilities. She’s very humble and to this day compliments on her singing make her blush.

[irregularjohnnywiggins]

talk about iron will's importance. now

Iron Will's importance to the series is kinda threefold, tbh.

On one level, it's clearly a reference to the Dragonslayer of Berserk fame, and therefore one of Taro's clear inspirations for especially the first Drakengard, where it appears as Hymir's Finger*.

Consequently, it's also tied in to Caim as the 'discount Guts' of the Drakenier universe***, which is extremely important to the events of Nier. See, I may be wrong about this, but aside from the Nameless Blade you get at the start, Iron Will is I think the only weapon the game... gives you? Like, there's weapons you get in the course of the story, but Iron Will is the only weapon the game itself hands you in a cutscene, and as such is kinda... by necessity relevant? Like, active thought had to go into handing you that sword at that point in the story, and considering that this is very early into Act II of the game, where our protagonist takes a darker turn along with the rest of the story... well, I may be too far up Mr. Yoko's thematical backside (please see next paragraph for evidence of that), but... I don't think it's an accident that you get given a weapon so closely associated with Caim at this point in the story, especially when the conversation immediately following Iron Will's completion ends with Nier resolving to help Gideon's mad quest for revenge purely because he gets to kill a single Shade at the end of it.

On a level deeper than even that load of nonsense, the evolution of the Iron Will as a weapon kinda mirrors the evolution of the series itself? As presented in Drakengard 1, the weapon story is about the weight of death, with the unsettling implication at the end that perhaps the sword has found a wielder who is unconcerned with death, a perfect microcosm of Taro's then-philosophy of 'you have to be pretty fucked up to kill people'. This evolves down to Nier, where the sword begins by boasting of the people it kills, but in the final part of the story admits that it dreams of things beyond its status as a weapon of slaughter. Then Drakengard 3 portrays it as a thing that despises its own existence as a weapon, consumed by bloodshed and longing for something it cannot have - kinda like Zero, eh? And finally**** Nier Automata, where the Iron Will is rusted, useless and abandoned, but dug up regardless to engage in unceasing pointless war, over and over again. That's the inherent advantage of the Iron Will, I think - it allows Taro to present the theme of the games in microcosm, because the weapon itself does not need more explanation than 'Dragonslayer at Home'.

Soo... yeah. I think the Iron Will is really important to the themes of Drakenier, and I'm really exited to kill all of humanity wielding it this time around the Replicant train.

*whose name, incidentally, plays into the 'reverse religious morality' thing that Drakengard 1 has going on thematically - in much the same way that the final two routes are the literal Red Dragon of the Book of Revelations fighting the literal angels of heaven alongside a man named after a literal demon, you do it wielding a sword named after what might be interpreted as either the creator god or the father of evil from Norse Mythology.**

**Which, in a weird way, also plays back into the Berserk influence - Guts in that series is fighting against something called The God-Hand, after all, but we're not here to get into Berserk right now.

***I don't know for sure if it's the sword Caim uses in Drakengard 2 - looking at the video of his arrival now I can't tell if it's Broken Iron or his own personal sword - but honestly it feels like it should be Broken Iron, so I'm counting it.

****I know what the DOD2 and Reincarnation stories say, but Drakengard 2's is about as bland as everything else about that game, and Reincarnation has the inherent problem of being a LiiiiVe SeeeRvICE, so you can't easily sum up the themes of every single story in it.

[nihilnothings]

The Contradictions of Denji Hayakawa and why it’s humanly real

Introduction

“Why does Denji not learn his lesson, is he stupid?”

You’re not entirely wrong but you’re not entirely right.

One of the common gripes of some fans is that Denji appears to not have changed because he keeps falling for women with red flags in exchange for sexual favours, but honestly if anyone paid attention and not get let their emotions do the thinking, he actually has changed for the better in one aspect but he’s struggling for another:

Denji has succeeded in familial love but it doesn’t necessarily mean that it translates to his romantic life.

You can be a decent/good friend or good brother but that doesn’t mean you’ll not fumble with women or romance

What Denji Has Succeeded and How He Did It

One good thing that Makima (unintentionally) did was putting him with Power and Aki. They had a rough start but eventually as all people know he eventually saw them as surrogate family members and Power became one of if not the first close female character he viewed in a platonic sense than in a romantic/sexual sense as at least from his end.

Though they were gone from his life, the lessons he learned never left. Old Denji would only think about his own survival and the carnal pleasures of sex as well as basic necessities, New Denji however stepped up and took on the big gamble of raising the ticking time bomb that is the Control Devil, Nayuta. It can be implied that due to him being shown good examples, Denji was able to succeed in raising Nayuta.

This can strongly conclude that Denji learns by being shown and eventually doing it himself.

For all his setbacks he was a good brother because he had one himself

Interlude: A Common Trope Being Slightly Subverted

We and most of their mothers here know how Part 1 ended, Denji’s broken spirit is mended, he learns more about love and relationships, defeated Makima, and now focuses on living another day as CSM raising her so hooray no more issues right?

It even ended in a seemingly victorious note

I feel like when a long-running series has a continuation and replaces them with a new protagonist, people expect the old protagonist to act as some sort of “mentor” who has everything figured out and helps out the new protagonist in the ropes.

The thing is just because you have one thing figured out doesn’t necessarily mean it translates to everything, real life isn’t like that.

For all of its fantastic elements, Fujimoto characters tend to be praised for being “human” or “real”, it doesn’t exactly mean that it 100% translates to our reality but the way they behave at least resembles somewhat to us humans in real life. Like humans we are, we don’t move linearly forwards or backwards, we move in a haphazard direction that eventually, hopefully, takes us forward, only to repeat that cycle again for a different experience until we reach our inevitable death.

This is what’s currently happening to Denji, he hasn’t had all the things figured out (considering his background, pretty impressive tbh) and he hasn’t reached his goals of finding a good romantic partner. If he had succeeded, then we would be shown a “perfect” Denji that’ll eventually woo Asa without having his own issues or a character who acts as Denji’s girlfriend as a sign that he as a character is fully actualized.

Which is why we see him relapsing against his better judgement.

What Denji is Struggling Right Now and Why Old Habits Die Hard

One of the other things that Makima taught him right is that the activity of sex will be good when it’s done with someone significant and this usually means a romantic partner.

Therefore, when Denji wants sex he also wants a romantic partner along with it.

Now the problem lies in the fact that most of Denji’s romantic experiences weren’t really good at all, most of the women in his life tried to kill and use him, even Asa did once, but thankfully he was shown that she might not be all that bad after all and might lead onto something good for once even if the paths have now caused them to diverge putting that development to a halt. As it is strongly suggested that Denji learns by example, the fact that terrible examples were mostly shown is what’s probably causing him to blunder his romantic life which inadvertently blocks him from having good sex.Not only that but he was essentially mind-broken by Makima to the point of him losing any desire at all, considering how IRL abuse leaves scars, it cannot be denied that toxic patterns still exist within Denji in relation to romance and sex.

He used Chainsaw Man, an important part of him and the part that many people love (especially the ladies), as a means to hook women into a romantic relationship with him, though with Yoshida’s attempts and no sign of a girlfriend, it seems that tactic might not be as effective after all (ironically it did lead him to score Asa unknowingly).

Then, for the sake of Nayuta, he gave away that identity, and thus no longer had a tool to woo women because with all the things that happened in Part 1 and in Part 2, no women seemed to be interested in Denji Hayakawa, thus leaving him listless and desperate. With that he removed the intimate part of sex and hyper-focused on the carnal part out of boredom and desperation with Sus Girl.

However, him struggling doesn’t necessarily mean zero progress, Old Denji wouldn’t have thought of anything and just went with the flow but the fact that he did thought of it shows that he shouldn’t be doing it (he even has a look of shame of doing making the scene of 137 both hilarious and depressing, in the words of abridged Popo, deprerious).

Relapse is a bitch

If Fujimoto didn’t show the hypothetical scenario then we would’ve thought that it was just a cheap gag but the fact that he showed it means that Denji and he knows that this is what the character should be doing but instead he did the opposite making the scene both a gag and a message that change isn’t easy.

Relapsing is a real thing, ask any druggie, addict, junkie, smoker, etc. they all know that it’s wrong but they do it anyway because it’s been their “normal” for so damn long. Heck, let’s not even get to addiction, how many times do you know that procrastination is bad yet still keep doing it anyways? Some might already succeed but a large part of people still keep doing it because it’s been their “normal” even if being productive is better than doing useless shit like making an analysis of Denji’s contradictory behaviours instead of revising your thesis.

Conclusion

Denji’s constant back and forth on the surface looks inconsistent on the outside, but considering all that happened is it a surprise that he’s failing at romance and attempts despite his best in dealing with it? What he needs is someone to show him the right way of handling it, that person doesn’t have to be perfect, but at least teach him that relationships should not be completely transactory and is the work of two people, only then can he probably reduce his mistakes and develop healthier approaches.

Relapsing is a human experience and considering that CSM characters are said to be close to real life, maybe we should view his experience as someone who is struggling to be better but has no capable person to show him.

[decepti-thots]

do you wanna talk about your opinions re: Drift in fanfiction, maybe?

I think fanfic Drift is something of a game of fandom telephone tbh. There's a core that has been steadily whittled away by fanon repeating itself enough it seems shallow. The thing is that a lot of IDW1 canon has been subject to this directly, because it wasn't of much interest to folks writing fic while the MTMTE stuff was ongoing, tbh. When Dratchet became a focus in the LL run, stuff got reevaluated about Drift in shipping terms, rather than as character analysis, I think. And it became more abstract through that, and it encouraged Fanon Drift TM.

A lot of fanfic-Drift does not incorporate pre-MTMTE canon for him. This is understandable, because in its own right, that stuff is not very good tbh. But much of what we see now in fandom is... a clear reaction to fanon that sprung up independently, and so is trying to pose a counterpoint to things that only exist in fanon, and the whole thing becomes a mess of self-referential shit if you take it only on its own terms. Drift often only exists as a discussion of those issues in fandom, and where the writer falls on them right now, or when the fic was being written. (Much early Dratchet fic treats Drift as something of an afterthought and Ratchet as the obviously identifiable protagonist, lbr.) Fanfic-Drift is more a litmus test for fanon than a character in his own right, even when he's being written more strongly in canon, I think. He's a cipher. What fandom decided to make that cipher mean is interesting.

I have a whole post I could make about how people's ostensibly anti-regressive takes on 'was Drift a [metaphorical] sex worker, and if so what are our ideas about that' are still fundamentally bound up in anti-SWer ideas and fandom conversations more than canon, because it's all just a reaction to fanon fundamentally based in terrible ideas about what sex work is. (By which I mean I have one post idea I have repeatedly junked bc uh. Don't want to listen to people get shitty about sex work.) But at base level, a lot of fandom's idea of Drift is basically rooted in this idea of the 'theoretically sympathetic addict who has extenuating circumstances we need to articulate for him to be sympathetic, but who is still Abject bc of all that' which I think go so against what we see of him in pre-MTMTE media. Here are some things I think fanfic is bad at engaging with: Drift is an addict, and not the kind of addict a lot of fanfic wants to talk about. Drift is isolated in a way that is not easily explained by people being unfair to him. Drift has strong political opinions that inform both him joining and defecting from the Decepticons. If Drift was a sex worker, metaphorical or otherwise, that is clearly the least important thing in any shame he has.

But more important than those nuances, I think, is that Drift just isn't... allowed to be based on his canon stuff period? It feels honestly slightly irrelevant in the face of just. How much fanon Drift stops being based on extrapolating from his canon actions and starts being a character who exists purely to serve other characters. I think a really interesting take on him needs to do something with that sense he is someone who has deliberately buried what he wants to get what he wants. If you don't go a little meta with it, you get nowhere; and if you do you get something far more interesting than the 'ummmm sad SWer ig, ratchet kindly saves him' idea. See also: his most interesting canon relationship, and I say this as a dratchet shipper, is STILL Drift and Rodimus, because it dictates way more of WHAT THEY DO that Dratchet doesn't manage. Dratchet is great but canonically mostly exists as a culmination to a plot we are filling in behind the scenes; Rodimus and Drift exists as an ongoing discussion outside that. tbh.

tl;dr: sex worker drift would be great if anyone writing fic understood it has Zero to do with canon and approached it as such. it's not canon and people only think it's canon bc of bad opinions about what sex work is. either way i love drift. none of this is coherent sorry. we have discussed some of this before, and i have sharpened my opinions ig?

[idkaguyorsomething]

Two personal preferences for the Jojolands: it does not end on a downer note and that the author does not play Jodio's mental illness for horror.

definitely gonna agree with you on the second one, though slight disagreement on the first one. part nine could very well be the last jojo’s we’re ever gonna get, so it makes a lot of sense that people are gonna want it to end on a happy note. and traditionally, every part has ended with the characters at least reaching some level of satisfaction and personal fulfillment, but there has ALWAYS been casualties along the way, ranging from that one side character to the entire core cast minus a literal child. the happiest ending we got was in part four, which definitely had a more relaxed slice-of-life vibe to it than part nine, which already parallels part five, a story where literally half the cast gets killed off as they brutally slaughter all their enemies. having everyone in the main cast survive to the end seems unlikely, and tbh, i do enjoy the fact that in a lot of jojo stories, anyone can die. even if i love these characters with all my heart, it is an effective narrative choice to kill them off in order to raise the stakes. nearly every death in this series feels like an emotional gut punch without sidelining the actual agency of the character being killed (rip george jr, the least important joestar). depending on what kind of story araki wants to tell, a bittersweet ending could be more effective than an unconditionally happy one. but hey, if it’s his final outing in the world he created, ¡he might actually feel like being merciful to his characters for once! and if it’s not, well, i’ll look forward to all the fix fics everyone writes where everyone lives.

as for jodio’s mental illness, this one has me a bit worried. araki has made a lot of dubious writing decisions in the past on sensitive topics like this (overuse of sa, “curing” johnny’s disability, side characters that come off as dated ethnic caricatures) but he has made a consistent effort to include a lot of demographics that don’t show up in a lot of manga, and his writing of characters from said demographics has considerably improved over time. tracking the women in his stories, from erina to lisa lisa to trish to jolyne to yasuho, and how they’re treated tells a fascinating story in and of itself. johnny has a lot of emotional depth and character beyond his disability. this series honestly has more black characters than any other manga/anime i can think of (though i haven’t watched afro samurai yet). there are absolutely problematic elements here to critique and pick apart, but i kinda prefer this flawed approach to representation than the nonexistent state of it in other similar stories. but getting back on track, araki has written a lot of shit in the past, so he could definitely fumble the ball again here. however, i personally think there’s currently more setup in the story for jodio to become more of an antihero in line with giorno or johnny. he’s on good terms with at least two of his family members, an achievement hitherto unheard of in this series, and he’s depicted as more of a goofy teen who makes bad decisions somewhat in line with the criteria for antisocial personality disorder than an irredeemable monster. it’s far too early in the story to tell where this is headed, though, so overall we just have to cross our fingers and hope that araki goes for a more sensitive, nuanced portrayal of a protagonist with aspd instead of going all “lol he’s joDIO what did you expect”

[boundlss]

on: the striker problem.

i don't have a bio for this guy yet and even if i did my bios are hilariously barren so i figured i'd make a post detailing my canon divergences and. um. WHY i'm canon divergent in that way. everyone take my hand ...

hey albatross what's wrong with striker?

great question albatross. helluva boss sort of has a villain problem in general where they want their villains to be threats but don't necessarily want to let them change the status quo too much or become too developed as characters. for most of the villains this is fine since they were introduced as comedic (the CHERUBs, DHORKS, tbh even crimson to some extent altho he really shouldn't have been) however. how ever.

striker falls into the category of helluva villain where he's introduced as someone who is a legitimate serious character with like well rounded motivations and goals, and above all that he's a villain that our protagonists don't BEAT in his introduction. which is more than can be said for literally every other recurring antagonist IMP deal with.

the problem comes after this. western energy is um... okay? ish. i liked most things about him in this episode but it's not better than harvest moon festival, and it's really inconsistent to his character in his first appearance at times. "oops" on the other hand is a nightmare episode that striker is literally barely relevant to and everything he was set up to be is completely trampled all over because fuck me for being invested in the things he was setting up i guess.

so what does this actually mean in terms of what's wrong with striker? great question albatross. what's wrong with striker is he's simultaneously supposed to be a pretty big threat but he's ALSO just being shoved into comedic plots and getting his ass beat all the time which is super tonally dissonant and i don't fuck with it.

that's so cool albatross thanks for that four paragraphs of yapping nobody read. what are the canon divergencies?

yet another slam fuckin dunk in the questions department albatross. i think i'm going to put this one in list format because i like myself and value my own sanity. this is chronological.

striker does not get hired by stella to kill stolas the SECOND TIME the first time he still does this is about in WESTERN ENERGY. this has more to do with my stella's canon divergencies but striker does this of his own accord because he assumes stella and andrealphus will turn a blind eye, which they consider doing before ultimately deciding, unfortunately, that they need stolas to remain alive and threaten striker to force him to back down. otherwise western energy is more or less the same.

he does not appear literally at all in "oops". crimson can have some goons surprise blitzø and fizz i don't care but this is a hard line for me in my portrayal of striker. he didn't show up there.

that's honestly genuinely it for plot divergencies. also some other minor things that are tweaked in terms of personality details and little non-chronological things:

striker is not as egotistical as presented. he was playing up his own confidence to piss moxxie off because he didn't like moxxie, but he's not the type to get a giant statue of himself. he's confident but not THAT confident.

also this is less divergence and more just me expanding on his motivations but in general striker wants to kill a goetia to rile up hell's imps and generally "lesser" species about the mistreatment they all face pretty often.

this is also more just me expanding on things but he grew up a ranch hand so he's very much a horse guy he's just more subtle about it than some people.

anyway those are my notes on striker and the striker problem yeehaw and goodnight. < not actually going to sleep

[microwaving-tesilid-argente]

Honestly i have so much sympathy for Ailette and the way she mischaracterises Tesilid.

like i myself also fixate on certain parts of the story and extrapolate maybe a bit too much - although in my defence i've only read like half the story.

-but the same can kind of be said of Ailette? This Tesilid is having a new, currently-being-written chapter of his life. In fact she kind of has things even worse, because her characterisation of Tesilid is based off OG!Tesilid, but current Tesilid had his life and outlook irreversibly changed when they met aged 10. But they never really interacted enough afterwards for Ailette to realise just how much of an impact she made on him. She hasn't really had a strong reason to rethink her characterisation of him. Not to mention that she first read the book with her middle school reading comprehension, which. Probably coloured her interpretation for the worse, at least a little.

I really wish Ailette would go into more detail about her own experience as a reader, to really see better how she's viewing this world and its people.

Which paragraphs are the ones that she thinks defines Tesilid's character? (Mine is "I'm praying that they'll all fail the test and go home".)

Which are the ones that made her cry? (Mine's "Right... you're on the side of this world.")

Which are her favourite silly Tesilid moments that make her so fond of teasing Tesilid? (iliac bones)

Which are the ones that reverberate in her head and which won't leave her alone? (Mine is "Please... show me some of that petty mercy too.")

I feel like the fun part of these kinds of isekai story is that. Whatever reaction you had towards Tesilid, be it "wow what a cute kid" or "i'm going to cry, i need to wrap him in a blanket where the world can't hurt him anymore" or "actually he should just destroy the world tbh i would support him", she's been there first and has been doing for at least 10 years, she's the OG. And she's super intense about it too. Like she can say "I need to save him because the story dictates it" all she wants, but the way she reacts so intensely and immediately to Tesilid in danger really speaks volumes of how much emotional investment she has in this guy. Like idk if she really rotates him in her head as much as I do - that might be a me problem - but if you rotate a character in your head enough times while fixating on certain moments and not others, you probably would end up with a biased interpretation of the character. Especially if you don't have someone else to bounce ideas off. And this gets worse if you're actually living in the character's world, because characters in stories serve certain narrative functions, so all their actions which get included in the narration are inherently biased towards portraying them in a certain way that serves said narrative function. But humans are a lot messier and more dynamic.

i just. shakes her up and down. love the concept of an isekai protagonist and the OG protagonist that they love so much.

anyway this whole post is a testament to how much Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint changed the way I interpret fiction and especially isekai stories. Not me anthromorphozing Ailette as if she's really a person and fellow fan who exists and isn't a character lmaoo, i'm definitely not having a "we're all fragments of kim dokja" moment, no sir. i definitely didn't subconsciously draw connections between ORV's isekai'd MC and myself and S-Class Heroine's isekai'd MC and our commonalities as readers who rotate the same story in their heads very many times, and suddenly make a realisation that's actually more relevant to ORV than the actual story that prompted all this. one whole year after i last read ORV, because ORV's story is So Much and so monumental that i'm still haunted by it and figuring it out and it lowkey never left my mind, even after a whole year. (please read orv.) like there are a lot of otome isekai stories about isekai'd MCs realising that the people in their lives don't line up with the OG characters, but none of these stories ever made me viscerally realise what it was probably like for kim dokja, because none of them had isekai'd MCs be that unironically obsessed with their OG protags, and more importantly none of them made me constantly rotate the OG protagonist in my head the way S-Class Heroine does. Han Sooyoung was right, you get as much out of a story as you put in to reading it and re-reading it and re-interpreting it. By putting so much time into S-Class Heroine I accidentally made some relevations about the other story that I was always trying to figure out at the back of my mind. Holy shit.

[idsfantasy]

Honestly, I don't like the theory that Gregory is patient 46，I think it's not only destroying Gregory's character development, but also wasting patient 46's character potential，Patient 46 could be a cooler, more menacing villain, but right now he or she just another glitchtrap victim，I mean, what does this story tell us? Our protagonist, a young boy who is actually a killer, was controlled by a virus, but somehow escaped control and lost all his memory。

Tbh at this point it's not so much a theory as it is Tales from the Pizzaplex has a character named Greg described as looking like Gregory and associated with the letters GGY on the arcade cabinets who is also Patient 46, though possibly in a slightly different way than the games (I doubt Vanessa was going to a school counselor's office and it's implied 46 and Vanessa were going to the same location).

But yeah, the story tells us that Gregory used to be controlled by Glitchtrap, which can sorta give reason for why Vanny and Glitchtrap are so bent on capturing him. I think it helps pull the story together in an interesting way, but I understand it's not everyone's preference lol

[colorlesschristmastree]

I hope I’m not being annoying but I just really need to rant about my hope that SJM puts feyre in a more prominent role in the next ACOTAR book. I thought her page time was a bit disappointing but not terrible in ACOSF (I mean, ideally I want her on every page. But seeing as that book was all Nesta Nesta Nesta and hardly any Cassian even…and with how bad a book it was, I’m fine with her staying away from whatever that was). But I was heartbroken over the fact she wasn’t in HOFAS at all!? After SJM teased her being there!? I mean, I get it wasn’t a big crossover and Nesta and Azriel were the highlights. But I can’t help but feel embarrassingly bitter that Nesta was highlighted so much in ACOWAR to the point it took away a bit from Feyre’s finale; Nesta was also the topic of conversation in ACOFAS and was at least a quarter of what Feyre-and other characters-were thinking about the whole book. Then the whole of ACOSF she had a terrible arc and her head is a nasty place to be, she was horrible to feyre the whole book and had that cheap ass lame ass “savior” moment at the end… I thought we could finally be free of her and see Elain shine, and get more Feyre. But then SJM put Nesta at the center of the crossover too?? And ended it by seemingly giving Nesta even more plot for her to do next ACOTAR book??? Ugh! I’m just so mad and I feel embarrassed complaining about my favs getting less page time and someone I hate getting too much spotlight but I’m just so mad. I really sincerely hope that while they were doing the crossover in HOFAS, Feyre, Elain, and maybe even Mor were doing other things that we will see in ACOTAR. And I hope feyre gets the respect she deserves. :/

You're not being annoying at all anon! Sorry for responding to this so late. I completely understand your frustrations. It was definitely annoying when I read bits of hofas and saw that despite SJM teasing a lot more acotar character content and acting like there would be more than there is there really wasn't much at all and everything we got was boring as shit. I feel like the way she presented this book and what we got were two very different things.

I definitely agree that the amount Nesta's character is being shoved down peoples throats is getting obnoxious at this point. She got her spin off book and her little story and I really don't think she needs more. Tbh though I wouldn't be too stressed about it since SJM in recent books can't follow through on a plot to save her own life. So many things brought up in CC1 and CC2 that either went absolutely nowhere or just were lightly touched on but didn't have the important it seemed like they would. So I honestly doubt the end of hofas is going to become as massive as we think it is, more likely than not the resolution to that is going to come from a pages long info dumping session where we find out the why but it doesn't actually get it's own plot and story... I mean that's basically how 90% of the mysteries established in the prior two CC books and a bit in ACOSF were handled in HOFAS. I honestly predict the same for the next acotar book lmao.

I also super desperately miss Feyre.. she's the main character and the heart of the acotar series and honestly such a comfort! I wouldn't worry too much though babe, I mean the crossover was basically worthless and just info dumping, I'm glad Feyre wasn't involved in that mess. I still think Elain's book is going to be next and I'm excited for that, Nesta will have a role and that's whatever ig but I'm not going to let a boring character whose book was bad ruin my enjoyment of Elain's book.

The main acotar series where Feyre was still our narrator and protagonist will always be the best in my eyes and these are just spin off books that let us see her sisters stories and they aren't gonna dampen my love for the main series. I'm actually doing a reread of the main series right now with the discord server and we're just raving about how much we adore Feyre and her pov. I love how plot filled these books are, every scene and page actually feels important and contributes to the overarching plot of the book and there are no massive scenes of unnecessary info dumping like certain.. other books.

Love u nonnie and every SJM book that strays from Feyre's holy light is progressively worse written which just says something about our girls story.