#i actually have a fair share of negative opinions on a shit ton of fictional characters

[isuzukuretsuki]

tagged by @manulanii​ (thank you!!)

Three Fandoms:

Mystic Messenger

Psychedelica of the Black Butterfly

Danganronpa V3

The First Character You Loved:

Saeran Choi................ the moment I saw him in that opening movie I pointed to him going like “Him. I love him. Can I date him?” I was devastated when I found out I couldn’t at the time

Karasuba! Awesome character design and his personality is def my type.

Amami. It’s illegal to be that hot I’m sorry.

The Character You Never Expected To Love So Much:

Jaehee. She went from my least favourite RFA member at the beginning to my favourite RFA member. My girl came so far. Also she has by far the best valentines DLC, fight me.

Monshiro. He was also meh at first too because he’s more of a spoiler character so you barely get any information on him at first. But watching his story unravel in the game and all the plot twists about him being revealed completely floored me. Everything about him touches my heart an his smile is like the sun I would die for him.

KAITO. He’s one of those characters that you can’t help but love and be charmed by because they just have such a good personality. I’d love to meet and be friends with someone like Kaito irl tbh. I can def see why Maki fell for him lmao.

The Character You Relate To The Most:

Jaehee. Her route just kills me because of how relatable it is.

Karasuba. His childhood episodes really hit home for me.

tbh all of drv3′s characters are really Out There so I’m not sure if I’d really relate to anyone. I guess in terms of personality, Himiko’s prob the most similar to me.

The Character You’d Slap:

Rika. Not only would I slap her, I’d pummel her in the mint eye court yard then drop kick her to the sun that she oh-so-loves.

KAGIHA. I DON’T LIKE THIS GUY. I could write a 5 page back and front essay as to why I don’t like him. Even Mr. Actual AssholeTM whom I won’t name is more tolerable than this guy. Def landed a spot in my list of Worst Otome Boys okay from what I know, Kagiha’s pretty well liked so I’m sorry if I made any of his fangirls cry

Kirumi. Girl has her head waayyyyy too far up her ass.

Three Favorite Characters (in order of preference):

Saeran > everyone else > Jaehee > Seven

Hikage > Monshiro > Karasuba

Ouma > Amami > Harumaki

A Character You Liked At First, But Don’t Anymore:

Yoosung. It’s not like I despise him but he’s... also on my list of Worst Otome Boys ever LMFAO but he’s lower on the list so!! I could go on a tangent and make all the Yoosung fangirls cry but I’ll keep my trap shut. ALSO throw back to the time I liked Rika and referred to her as “my type of lady” prior playing Seven’s route R O F L. It feels like such a distant past.

Nobody tbh? I guess Kagiha but mean I never liked Kagiha. I was more so indifferent to him before it became full blown dislike lol. 

Kirumi. She was actually my favourite drv3 girl until the second trial and my opinion of her just dropped to beyond redemption afterwards. 

A Character You Didn’t Like At First But Do Now:

Jumin. I mean I did like him at first but my opinion of him dropped considerably after playing Jaehee’s route and it was so bad to the point I didn’t even want to play his route. Even now I’ll still fight anyone who defends Jumin’s behavior in Jaehee’s route but Jumin’s a good man and I love him lol.

Beniyuri. She felt like a really meh heroine at first but I couldn’t help but be charmed by her as the game progressed. Also her voice.

Miu. She’s one of those characters whos really easy to dislike but once you put the game down and look at the game as a whole, you can’t help but appreciate her character.

Three OTPs:

In the Mint Eye package, lily of the valley is the flower that represents MC, and lily of the valley is Saeran’s favourite flower. I’m not saying that MC x Saeran is canon, but it’s totally canon.

Hikage x Beniyuri. REMEMBERING THE SHIT THAT GOES DOWN IN HIKAGE’S ROUTE STILL MAKES ME CRY THOSE TWO DESERVED BETTER. Literally after Hikage’s route ended I just sat there on my bed crying as the credits rolled.                                                                      Also cheating cuz I’m stating another one I also like Monshiro x Beniyuri. Their relationship is really sweet and I think Beniyuri was really at her strongest in his route. It was nice to know just how far the two would go for each other.

Oumeno. I blame twitter fanartists.

[juuls]

This was a comment left on chapter 11 of my fem!Tony Stuckony time travel/soulmate fic, Hanging From a Cross of Iron, and I just wanted to put a couple things out there.

First of all, I’m not mad. We’ll make that clear. I’ve received variations of this comment before and it’s rather on the mark. But sometimes both sides can be correct in how they interpret a piece of fiction, and I wanted to show that.

So… yeah. This is something I get every so often on this fic, especially around this chapter (10-12ish) and I just… really wanted to post my reply to it, if for nothing other than explaining the way my brain works and WHY I hate Captain America: Civil War so much for ruining so many good things in fandom.

I’m not putting this out there for sympathy or agreement or to start a fight or stupid shit. It’s more like a… “I’m tired of explaining myself, let me post something I feel is a semi-eloquent response to someone who was at least mostly respectful and got some things right, who I know does represent a fair portion of people who may be interested in reading this fic,” which I could then just point/link to the next time I wake up to things making me sad in my inbox on top of me being sad and feeling guilty at not having written for a while.

Stupid covid. Stupid life being dumb and depressing and draining energy and happiness from many. Just you wait. I’ll be back soon with Codega and this fic, Cross.

But here. This is my reply to the above comment:

So I don’t normally reply to critique such as this because this IS fanfiction, but you are at least part right: it IS supposed to be unfair.

This is me working out my issues with Civil War, because boy that sure as fuck pissed me off. I love Stuckony, but after CACW it was really hard to reconcile that love anymore. So this was my way to do that, and I 100% wanted to bring in the unfairness, the distrust, the favouritism, the… meanness that I saw and felt after that.

It’s also a way for me to work through my issues at the injustices I suffered at the hands of my ex-husband—I started writing this shortly after packing my bags and leaving.

I wanted a slow, somewhat realistic, non-fairytale path to even partial redemption, shared pain and circumstances and experiences, and to show that things CAN work out as long as certain lines are not crossed. I skirt the line sometimes, definitely on purpose, but that’s for ME.

I wanted to turn the tables: Steve (and Bucky) were out of their time and comfort zone in the future—Toni, in turn, needed to be out of her time and comfort zone in the past.

Plus, can you imagine a soulmate world where you’ve had a partner and you think “this is it”? Then bam! Suddenly someone’s suddenly thrust into your life.

And I wanted to play on every single issue Toni would have experienced with her family, friends, “friends”, enemies, Obie, her company, the world, etc., post-IM2.

None of them have had an easy go of it and war is goddamn hell. They ALL have PTSD. (But also, lol, the Howlies start laying into Stucky about what you’re getting mad about here too, so I’m way ahead of you!)

From the beginning, this was as much a psychological setting as a romantic one: way more so in the beginning. But it slowly crawls its way out of the murk. I wanted a soulmate story where it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. I wanted a story where they had to fight for it… or where they had a choice, shitty as it may be (they’ll NEVER choose not to have Toni, that was never going to happen). I wanted something… realistic, even amidst super soldiers, super tech, an almost unbelievable war, and soulmates existing.

I wanted it to be a fight. I wanted rejection… then them, ALL of them, to choose each other despite that, despite their past, and despite fate.

That is my goal with this fic. And since I take my own sweet time, that’s really not readily apparent so soon in this fic, even at chapter 11.

The love will be there. The unconditional love, the equal triadic love. Not just Stucky plus Toni. Because believe me, Stucky is probably one of my least favourite ships that include some of my favourite characters. Sounds ridiculous since I write them here, but as a historian I wanted to take that, take some realism, with a dash of ridiculous and hurt and pain and anger, and see what I could do with that.

The entire reason this story exists is because of a scene idea I had that doesn’t come about until the future in the 20s chapters. Leaning on each other and trusting each other because one of them was lost. Well, technically, that happens twice.

But the point is: this is a long as fuck story towards a love they have to (and WANT to, eventually) fight tor.

This fic is for me. It’s for people like me. It’s for people who don’t want an easy love story. It’s absolutely okay that you don’t like it! There are SO many fics that I dislike for a variety of reasons, and I simply close it, mark it as Did Not Finish, and don’t return. I recognize not every fic is for me.

This one’s for me. I may have sort of stalled out where I’m at in the 20s chapters, but it’s left at a pretty good place, and I’m looking forward to this dumb pandemic so I can get back to forging this love between these three idiots, as well as pick up an old Star Wars story I left 4+ years ago due to the abuse at the hands of my ex. But I’m ready to return to it now. Well, after the world calms down a little.

It’s okay if you’re done with this story—that is 100% your choice and I will never begrudge you that. I’m glad you gave it a try though! If you’re interested, you could skip ahead and see how the dynamics have changed, or I could give you clips and examples too.

My one wish (though I understand it completely) is that you had not done this on Anon. For a few reasons:

1, I would never hold this opinion against you, especially because you got tons of it right! Go you!

2, I’d love to understand you better and discuss this with you. No recriminations whatsoever.

3, But I do wonder who of those who have read my other writings left me this message. It makes me a little sad, and I will wonder which of the people I talk to have this negative opinion of me now, but that’s also my own past issues rearing their ugly heads. You have every right to remain on Anon, though it’s not so nice when you wake from a nice dream and discover anon ‘dislike’ in your inbox on a work you slaved away on, and that the dislike is specifically about the things you wrote about deliberately, hah. Sorta funny, actually, so I’ll let that one go. xD

Thank you, though, even if I disliked reading this words: it helps me to look at my own work critically and to better understand how to frame and write things going forward.

Not every fic is for everyone, and that’s okay. I’ve encountered mine, you’ve encountered yours, but I think we’ve both learned from this interaction.

Whoever you may be, even if you divulge your handle to me, my respect for you wouldn’t diminish. It’s good to have healthy discussions and to look critically upon your own work—even if I am a sensitive bean and it hurts a little, I’m fine. :P

I think the lesson to be learned here is: fuck everything after CACW!!!! Grrrrr xD

Take care,

Juuls

P.S. I may post parts of this on my Tumblr because I do occasionally encounter similar complaints about this story, and I think maybe this is the most coherent and respectful enough comment-reply response I’ve had on this topic. Thank you.

P.P.S. Happy to talk privately too!

P.P.P.S. And the offer still stands for some lovely clips from future chapters, especially if you’re not considering continuing reading this story anymore; it’ll at least show what I’m talking about and what I’ve been working tirelessly towards. It’s hard—fucking hard—work to get past CACW and still like these characters together (my fic Paper Boats is probably one of my bigger testaments to that, oof) and I admit it’s still really really hard and I struggle with it. Covid isn’t the only reason I’ve sort of stalled out on that. But that’s more because I’m like “now what?” than not seeing any love between these three.

It’s a long journey. I knew it was going to be. But I like a challenge. :)

Take care, be well, stay safe, to you and all of yours.

And may you find many fics you love!

[bookaddict24-7]

MUSIC MONDAYS...Negative review?!

A series where I read a book, review it, and create a short playlist to give a sense of what the book is about.

TRIGGER WARNING FOR THIS BOOK: The mention of Sexual Abuse, Physical Abuse, Self-harm, Eating Disorders.

If you don’t have a strong stomach, read this book with caution.

This review contains spoilers.

SPOILERS AHEAD.

I’m not kidding, spoilers.

(Had to remove the keep reading option because it doesn’t show up on my blog 😤)

Hey, look! It’s me! Writing a review. Wow, miracles, huh? 

This is both intimidating and exciting (excuse me while I brush off the cobwebs). 

Rin, the protagonist, is a war orphan who’s been promised to a much older man of power in her small village, prompting her to find a way out. Through self-torture and dedication, she achieves one of the highest honours a young student can receive: she is accepted into the best school in the country. But her troubles are only just beginning. While facing wealthy bullies and biases based on where she’s come from, Rin has to work just a bit harder than everyone else to be noticed. When war breaks out, Rin is forced to discover that she isn’t who she thought she was and her quest for power over the enemy might just lead her down roads she never thought were possible. 

The Poppy War was, in my opinion, one of the most hyped up books of 2018. I was hearing only good things and every time a booktuber mentioned it, it was with a large dose of compliments. While I did, for the most part, enjoy this book, I don’t think it’s particular worth the amount of hype it received. The problem with hype is that it raises the bar for expectations and I am not a fan of raised expectations. 

If I absolutely had to hype up a part of this novel, it would be the first part...and half of Part Two. Rin, while not perfect, was someone who strived for success. She saw a goal and reached for it. Though her methods were highly questionable and problematic (...and seemingly forgotten as the rest of the novel continued after Part Three?), her work ethic was commendable. Though Trigger Warning for eating disorders and self-harm. 

Part One was her setting herself goals and crushing them. Part One was exciting and I found myself constantly rooting for her. Part One was a thrill because it had so many aspects of what I love about fantasy novels: excitement, kickass characters proving their enemies wrong, and a growth of character that gave the protagonist a reason for me to root for her. 

Then came the second half of Part Two. 

Okay, Rin changed. Or, better yet, I became aware of the person Rin was. I feel, even now, like I was catfished by part one. I saw the clues that Rin wasn’t who I thought she was, but I paid no attention. I had painted Rin in one way in my mind so really, it’s my fault. 

And here’s the thing: this doesn’t make this a bad book. No, this is a really well-written book with a shit ton of setup for the rest of the series (which I will mention in a few paragraphs). I was just...disappointed that Rin wasn’t who I thought she was. Rin has a lot of growing to do and it wasn’t fair for me to expect her to grow to the point of changing her personality in only the first book. But this Rin I didn’t realize existed has made me question whether I want to read the rest of the series or not. 

Anti-heroes exist and when done, they’re fantastic. Not every character is supposed to crap out rainbows. But the issue I had with Rin and the way Kuang presented her, which is the major reason why this book doesn’t get a higher star rating from me, is that she just becomes this awful person with such little prodding. 

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT, MY FRIENDS:

There is physical abuse in here and it is basically shrugged off by Rin. Shrugged off. Sure, she says F*ck You, but all is forgotten by the next couple of chapters.

The mention of periods is awesome but Rin makes a choice so quickly that it made me question who this character really was. Everyone has a right to their body, but to make such an incredible choice with barely a thought feels like it’s also an attack on those other female characters who chose not to do the same thing? 

The decisions made by Rin have little to no thought behind them and contradict everything that the author had written and introduced beforehand--as if the prior two to three hundred pages of relationship growth meant nothing.

Also, friends who died are hardly mourned or mentioned after the fact. It’s just so heartless to see her be like this towards people we grew attached to (and who we assume she’s grown attached to as well)

Okay, I’m probably going too deep with this right now.

MAJOR SPOILER ALERT ENDS, FRIENDS. 

One other negative thing I want to discuss is Part Three. To be honest, from the very beginning, The Poppy War was clearly a Fantasy novel with violence and abuse. I didn’t have a problem with that because in Rin’s world, that was just the way of life. But then Part Three happened. 

Part Three. 

There was gratuitous violence, abuse, and it just read like a completely different book. Look, I’m cool with books that have that sort of thing because war is disgusting and breeds monsters, but when a book suddenly mentions the killing of babies and how they were killed, or the overly descriptive way that women are abused, my stomach is officially done. I will forever refer to Part Three in capital letters when referring to this book. It was disgusting, a poor way of going about the cruelty portrayed in that situation, and honestly, it’s a missed opportunity to show us rather than telling us what the characters saw in such a detailed and detached manner. 

To a certain degree, it almost felt like the author was going down a list of the awfully creative ways she could kill off people. 

That whole Part made my interest in this book plummet. Not only did Rin become intolerable in this Part of the novel, but it felt like the writing style completely changed. In an attempt to be different, this book basically burned the connection I had previously formed with the story.

Okay, that massive topic of Rin put aside and the horribleness of Part Three behind me, there were things I quite enjoyed about The Poppy War. The plot is actually pretty interesting and well done. The ruling system, though at times confusing, is complex enough to create intrigue. Which leader is against which leader? Who’s kid is that? Which house does what? 

The Gods and what they offer is another cool part of this story. I loved reading the mythology and seeing how Kuang drew from Asian history and culture to give her story more life. 

Despite Rin and Part Three, the writing is masterful and I can see why there’s so much positive buzz over this book. The world and story is written in such a way that you know the small details in book one will affect the rest of the series. There were a few moments where I geeked out to my friends (who were doing a book club read with me) with my theories and what every little hint meant for Rin’s story. 

You might be asking yourself, why did she not rate it lower? You might not be asking yourself that, but I want to explain anyway:

The first two and a half parts of the novel. Also, the foreshadowing was really well done...even if it didn’t really lead anywhere in this book, I have a feeling these hints will pop up in the future.

If the book had ended before Part Three, this would have been a 4-star read, easily. But my disappointment in where the story went just completely shattered this for me. It makes me sad that I can’t dance in the happiness that other readers seem to share for this book. I wish I could just enjoy Rin for who she is and not have formed some warped idea of who I thought she was so early on. 

I wish I wasn’t in the unpopular opinions club of thinking this book was just okay, bordering on disturbing near the end. 

To be honest, when I sat down to write this review, I didn’t expect to have so many negative things to say. I thought, maybe I’ll say a couple of negative things and continue to the playlist. But wow, no. I apparently had a lot on my mind. 

The Poppy War isn’t an awful book. There are good reasons for why people love it. It just wasn’t a book for me and I’m okay with that. 

My Rating: ⭐️⭐️.5/5

Age Recommendation: 17+

Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction 

Add it to your Goodreads here.

See the playlist on Spotify here.

The Playlist:

Though I wasn’t a fan of the book, I still created a book playlist because I was initially going to write a more positive review. BUT it’s also fun to create playlists for books, whether I enjoyed the book or not. 

A Lannister Always Pays His Debts by Ramin Djawadi

Heart of Courage by Thomas Bergersen

Immigration Song by Led Zeppelin

Light of the Seven by Ramin Djawadi

Requiem Mass in D Minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

I Give You Power--Instrumental by Arcade Fire

Omens in the Clouds by Brad Derrick

Have you read this book yet? Would you recommend it?

Happy reading!

[shipping-n-handling]

do you honestly still ship bellarke after that finale? im furious at jroth and the writers for baiting us this season imma bout to leave this fucking show. fuck this

Hey anon. Normally I don’t answer asks like this, but I’m seeing a lot of frustration on here and thought I would put out my two cents.

This show is dark. This show is angsty. And this show makes us ache deep in our chests for the characters we’ve seen go from plucky delinquents to the bloody warriors and anti-heroes they are now. I say anti-hero because almost every single character has done some really fucked up shit on this show. Massacres, betrayal, assassinations, freaking CANNIBALISM. The list goes on and on. In short, this show is not for the faint of heart. That being said, I understand how some people cling to the various ships and friendships in the show, as they can seem like rafts of light in the massive angst-storm that is the plot. However, I always try to urge people not to hold on to the show simply for the ships. It’s okay to really be invested in a relationship or a character on the show, and there have been some shows that I watch that for some arcs, it is the  thing I cling to. But no matter what, there needs to be something else about the show that you love, or that you at the very least find interesting. If not, especially if the ship or character that you love has been having a hard time or is going through an angsty arc, you can end up resenting the show for not giving you the content that you’re hoping for. Again, its okay to hope for development in ships and characters! Ship away! Just please compliment that with other things so that you’re not holding onto the show with a thread and dragging down the rest of us, who actually enjoy it, with negativity and hate towards the cast/writers. 

On that note, I will freely admit to being a little frustrated about how flip-floppy Jason has been with the bellarke fans. But I have to remember that he is trying to promote the show and that this is all for money, people. It’s not an attack on fans personally. Television is a business and needs to be marketed as such to bring people in, and thus generate revenue. If a particular ship is popular and that is how they get viewers, that’s the people they’re going to try and draw in. Does it feel like betrayal when they make you think one thing is going to happen and then they pull a 180? Of course! But that is the reality of television. If everything was exactly how the fandom thought it was going to be, where is the fun in that? Some of the best fanfics and fan art I’ve ever seen has been the result of a frustrated fan who wanted to express their love for a character/ship and let others share in that joy when the show itself wasn’t giving them that at the time. Disappointments are a part of life. 

I know many people wanted bellarke to finally become canon this season. I did to! But this is a slow-burn (150+ years now!), and anyone who had been watching this show since the beginning or close to it knows exactly how long it has been watching those two idiots go from enemies to friends to partners to something a little more. And in reality, we got a lot of stuff this season; Clarke calling Bellamy on the radio, him finding out Clarke is still alive, basically everything with Madi and her trying to get them together or at least talk, their reunion scene, Clarke’s reaction to Bellamy and Echo being together, the whole arc with her betraying him and then severely regretting it, finding out Bellamy was still alive, and trying to make up for it by finally helping her friends, and then of course all the goodies we got in the finale. There’s probably tons of stuff I’m missing, but the point is we may not have gotten a kiss, declarations of love, marriage, babies, or any of that. But we did get little things here and there that are really telling of where these characters are coming from and how they will move forward in the future. We know that they are getting another season and I saw on here yesterday that they are even pretty sure they’re getting a season after that! So there is still plenty of time for Clarke and Bellamy to work out exactly how their relationship is going to evolve and change. Because despite all the crap I’ve been through personally with this angst-filled show, I still have hope. And that, I think, is one of the fundamental tenets of the 100; to be faced with utter hopelessness but keep pushing forward because you have hope of a better tomorrow. It may take forever to get there, but when it happens dear god will it be satisfying. And if the show ends and we never get canon bellarke, I will say right now that I will be upset. But I still will have gotten to watch a very good, gritty, dark, and emotional show that has honestly helped me form a few opinions of mine about human nature and for real some things about humans making AIs (that ALIE arc fucked me up emotionally *sobs forever). I love Octavia, Kane, Abby (maybe a little less this year but I still love her), RAVEN, Shaw now, Murphy’s sarcastic snarky ass, Emori, Diyoza (yeah, ikr??), and I will forever miss Jasper, Lexa, Jaha, LINCOLN, now Monty and Harper, and tons of other characters that still live on in fan fiction. 

Basically, I know that this season was rough and I send virtual hugs to everyone who is emotionally aching from the finale and all that has happened to our beloved characters. But if you are waiting for ships to suddenly become all happy and sappy, you have been watching the wrong show. This is dark, gritty, and not too keen on giving happy endings. And you know what? That’s fine. Life isn’t fair and is hardly kind. If you want to watch something that lets you escape from your current reality and feel nice and fluffy and happy, please for the love of god watch another show. But if you want to stick with it and get invested in the characters and the mythology, with the adventure and betrayal, the blood and the sacrifices, if you want to root for ships that may not be textbook boy(or girl) meets girl (or boy) and lives happily ever after but are raw and compelling and angsty, please do. I’m a slut for angst, so I love all the will-they-won’t-they stuff. However, I love at the end of all that angst for there to be a happy ending of sorts. And that is where the hope part comes in. I’m sticking with the show and will see it to its end. If you want to join me, I have a nice comfy chair right beside me and we can sit here and cry together. :’)

All that being said, I fully respect your choice to leave if that is what will make you happy. I will never stand here on my soap box and say that people are quitters for not sticking with the show through all the angst. Some people just aren’t looking for that kind of emotional pain and I get that. I want people to be happy and to enjoy their content. For me, I love a bunch of shows that vary in emotional levels. I love Supergirl and the Flash which are happy and light shows most of the time, but I also love Game of Thrones, which is notoriously dark and bloody and almost never has a happy or predictable ending. To each their own; pop into the ship tags every now and then to see how your favorite pairing is doing. But please don’t harass those people who still love the show and are currently watching it with messages like the ones in my inbox now, about how I’m a shitty and stupid person for supposedly being manipulated by the writers and buying into their bullshit. And please don’t harass the cast, crew, or the writers no matter how much you think it may be their fault. They are just doing their jobs and have enough problems without haters and harassers heckling them every step of the way. Be kind, be courteous, and, please be smart. This got really long, but I just felt that I had to say something. Sorry for the book anon, but you caught me in a mood! ;) I hope you make a decision about the show that makes you happy. All I ask is that you don’t achieve it at the cost of someone else’s.