#instead making everything about performative demands for performative actions

[local-magpie]

kind of tired of seeing protests "in solidarity with palestinians" that then demand useless terms from organizations that have no political clout. what are you in solidarity with. what are you accomplishing here. are you actually interested in aiding palestinians or are you just chasing clout and patting yourself on the back?

[felmonth]

(Edited and slightly better developed! Will be updated until further notice)

Hey, neighbors! I am alive! XD

AAAAH! I finally managed to finish Tom's sheet, but for Au "Actors," the author of this AU is @frillsand. I've been wanting to create drawings related to this AU for a while now, and there are still comics that I want to share.

Wally won my heart -cries- 😭💘, of course, haha. I'll be sharing with you all the comics that come to mind regarding this AU.

WARNING: Before proceeding, this may contain sensitive content, you have been warned. I hope you enjoy the extended blog and the extra mini-comic to lighten the mood.

Well without anything else to say about it...let's start with Tom Unlucky, the stylist!!

Tom Actor's Story:

In a town called "Titirilquén," Thompson (Tom) Lucky grew up alongside his mother and brother Jack Lucky. They depended on each other for everything. They didn't own a television, but they would find TVs on in stores where mostly there were news and interviews with celebrities. Both of them dreamed of becoming actors inspired by the experiences shared by those celebrities on television. Their school further fueled their interests, as it offered a theater subject and a variety of art-related courses.

At school, Jack exhibited a captivating personality in his school theater performances, earning admiration from everyone. However, Jack felt uncomfortable because nobody paid attention to his brother, who was also improving with each performance and costume. Therefore, Jack decided to involve his brother in everything to make him stand out just like himself...

Over time, the school grants Jack a special scholarship that involves working in one of the largest studios in Titirilquen despite being very young. This news greatly delights Jack, so he mentions it to his brother about this opportunity to become what they wanted to be at that time. Unfortunately, those who gave Jack the opportunity were very disappointed when he brought Tom to work with him, so they reluctantly accepted Tom only because Jack requested it.

When Jack was not around Tom, they assigned him different tasks than what an actor should do, completely deviating from the agenda that Tom had planned for the week. This led him to become overloaded with tasks, but he didn't complain because he thought it had to happen when living the life of an actor.

Jack and Tom were the first young actors in the Titirilquén studio. They initially performed in a few presentations for a museum, and then the director decided to create a program with them. Both did their best until they became somewhat more known thanks to the news in their town, and Tom was no longer as ignored as when he first joined. They reached a broader audience, leading them to want to learn more about the people in their town. So, they started learning sign language and refining their voices for musical sections to begin a small program aimed at families.

Both were directed by the same assistant, "Ron," but due to unforeseen circumstances, he had to retire because he had to move to another country for another job opportunity where he could earn more money to support his family. They had a new assistant, a woman named "Cherry," and from this moment, problems arose. The new assistant was serious and easily stressed when the director had to tell her what to do. As a result, she left the job of directing to the two young actors.

This assistant was starting to have too many problems with the brothers, she envied that both brothers mentioned the previous assistant's actions. However, they did not say this with bad intentions but rather so that he could do his job well, since the director was demanding regarding what should be on the schedule of both brothers. Over time, the work environment between them improved, but something was missing in the assistant's life, the brothers did not say many things to her or chat with her, but instead spoke only among themselves.

One day, Cherry overheard a conversation between the two brothers about the previous assistant. Cherry misinterpreted this as a threat to her job and felt worthless to both brothers. He decided to come up with a plan with his fellow students. The plan was to put one of the brothers in a problematic situation so that she could do something to help them and get recognition for it because according to her, the brothers did not value her.

The chosen target was Tom, as Cherry considered him weak and incapable. After finishing his singing section of the show, Tom left the studio to take a break and have a drink.

He noticed that his co-workers near a restaurant were calling him to chat, Tom without noticing any suspicion in them, approached them with great joy, because he admired what his co-workers were doing in the studio.

And being recognized and starting a conversation by them was a great joy for Tom, since he always lived underestimated as just a simple doll who cannot stand out among humans.

Unfortunately, there were ulterior motives. While they were talking to Tom normally, they took him behind the studio, which looked like an alley, and there a cruel scare developed. These coworkers mentioned negative things when they entered the alley and Tom felt uncomfortable by his coworkers' sudden mood swings. He tried to back away, but was easily caught. While saying negative things, they gradually destroyed parts of his body, including arms, legs, wrists, and fingers. They showed no concern for the little puppet's screams and fear because, to them, he was just a doll that couldn't feel pain, or so they claimed, they made fun of him for being too dramatic when he screamed.

When this situation came to an end, the group of companions left, leaving him alone, Tom remained on the ground, crying without understanding how the situation took such a sudden turn. Just a few moments ago everything was fine and now he was helpless on the ground, motionless. He could only see the cotton sticking out of his body and his limbs outside his body, he could only move his head at the moment, he felt completely useless. He prayed that his brother would find him and help him, but then Cherry appeared, pretending to be worried about Tom. She helped him in this terrible situation and took him to the emergency tailoring service.

Now, with Tom recovered, he was mentally depressed and shattered. He looked at his stitched-up body and felt very insecure about venturing into the streets inhabited by humans. He didn't want to go through a similar situation again, so his only support rested on Cherry.

Tom was immensely grateful to her for helping him in this terrible and stressful situation. After a few long minutes of silence, he told his assistant that he didn't want to continue his acting career. This surprised Cherry, but she said nothing and just listened, offering ideas. She felt quite good about helping Tom in these moments of stress. She informed the director about this decision, and of course, he was very concerned and saddened, especially when Tom requested not to inform his brother.

When Tom was discharged on the same day as the accident, he didn't want to go home because a thought crossed his mind: he had always depended on his brother and was only causing him problems. So, with a heavy heart, he decided to distance himself from his brother. The assistant supported all of Tom's ideas, including the idea of complete separation. She was happy that Tom depended on her, so she found him a job outside the country without consulting him.

From Jack's perspective, after the accident, he found it strange that his brother didn't appear on the show. He asked the director why there were sudden changes in the program and why his brother wasn't there. The director decided to be tough with him, saying they hired him and not his brother. He gave Jack new rules for the new direction of the show. Jack was devastated by this news. He considered quitting his job but thought better of it; he wanted to see his brother at home.

When he arrived home, there were no traces of his brother or his belongings. He tried calling him, but there was no phone coverage. In his desperation, he contacted the authorities to inquire about his brother, but they only started working after at least two days of being missing.

This situation was stressful for Jack and his mother. They were very worried and considered various possibilities of what might have happened. Tom decided not to tell them anything when offered a call by the authorities and declared that he wouldn't return home. His family was concerned because they heard a weak voice through the phone, but it was all they could do as the studio was too secretive with the information.

Both brothers remained separated for a long time. For Jack, nothing was the same without Tom, and the show looked depressing. Despite this, he maintained a forced smile for his audience. Children asked a lot about his brother, leading him into deep depression.

Tom, moved to another country, working in a new studio as a stylist. He adopted a fearful, anxious, and panicked attitude, afraid of everyone. To distract himself, he overloaded himself with work, trying to maintain composure by breathing deeply. He couldn't stop thinking about his family, and he knew what he was doing wasn't healthy, but he wanted to stay away for a while.

Well, that's roughly the story. It's long, but I feel that now it's better understood than before. Thanks for staying to read and loving Tom Actor! -cries-

Curious facts about Titirilquén today:

Lately, I've been hooked on a series called "31 minutos," so I included some things from that series. I highly recommend it, it's in Spanish, but there are English subtitles available. Titirilquén is from that show.

Titirilquén doesn't have hospitals because literally no one gets sick there. However, there are places like Mrs. Juanita's service, who takes care of the damaged puppets in this town.

Titirilquén was a town of only puppets but tired of being anonymous and as an unknown town, they decided to include people in their town, building a civilization, the negative of the town only benefits the humans that its own puppet inhabitants.

Facts about Tom:

(Jack's data was deleted to create his respective sheet)

He is 27 years old now.

He speak spanish but he learned English thanks to Cherry.

He is very naive, and that works against him, as he decides to trust everyone.

He has a puppet friend in this studio and his name is Lulu but he affectionately calls him "Wolfy"

When he first arrived at the studio, the studio people confused him with Wally, so since that day, some just call him "Pink Wally." (This is due to his height, skin tone and hair shape, so Tom changed his look to messier hair to not look like Wally)

Tom is a very good worker, but he always hides after finishing his work and doesn't get distracted by anything while working. If a human talks to him, he ignores them, but if it's a puppet, he takes time to chat.

Despite hiding, he is found by children, most of whom are human.

He misses being an actor but is very afraid.

Alongside his brother, they worked on a children's educational program called "Sing until Counting to 3." They taught children songs that included sign language. However, when they leave, the program is completely forgotten by the director.

Tom and Jack are not the same height, Jack has to bend down to hug and talk to him.

Tom usually wears makeup, always in pink or fuchsia, which is his favorite color.

Tom often sees little due to his poor eyesight, so he sometimes needs glasses to see clearly, but he usually doesn't use them because he finds them unnecessary.

Tom has fallen in love with Cherry due to her concern for him (friend, realize...).

As you can see, Tom is afraid of humans, and you rarely find him crying in studio places where people don't live, or even paranoid. If you find him in this situation, make him feel comfortable because he is completely unstable at that moment.

People consider him strange and curious because he often hides and is fearful, and they don't understand why he behaves like that. (It doesn't mean he avoids bad situations with the studio's humans; some of them respect the puppets, while others decide to hate them.)

Tom in this Au has a human brother, in the style of muppet protagonists. His name is Jack Lucky and they are both very close and have achieved many things together by working as a team. Jack is very attentive to his puppet brother, caring for him and trying to understand him as best he can.

Will Tom manage to become an actor again? Will his life improve? Will his brother Jack locate him after a long time? Will Tom continue to call himself unfortunate? Find out in the next episode... *Felmonth bids farewell to the viewers watching the video.*

NOW, COMIC! YAY!!

Title: "First unlucky day"

Reference movie: "White Chicks"

I don't know what Janet's design is like, I didn't find any reference, so I made it with what I found.

And well that was all, I hope you liked everything, I did the best I could and as always if there are questions ask without problems.

Bye byeeee!

Extra: It is assumed that in this unplanned part, Wally told Tom "Consider yourself unlucky for working with me from now on." (No canon for me xD but extra)

Bye uwu)/💐

[c-cobweb]

ultraviolence

| “‘cause im your jazz singer, and you're my cult leader. i love you forever, i love you forever” | — lana del rey.

warnings: +18 mdni!, smut, oral (m receiving), dom! kai, submision, brainwashing, daddy k!nk? (only once).

a/n: english is not my first lenguage! and requests are open ♡.

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Kai was smoking, sitting in the armchair in the basement of his house with his legs open and you kneeling in the middle of them.

How did you get to this situation? You didn’t know it well.

It all started when Kai first entered the bar where you sang jazz on Thursday nights, after your performance that day he approached you praising your angelic voice and offering you a drink. The following Thursdays were the same, with Kai camelling you with his sweet words and his beautiful smile.

But that wasn’t the Kai that was now in front of you.

You didn’t know how but the blue haired boy had dragged you into his twisted sect, brainwashing you and making you his sexual slave. And that’s why you were like this now, wanting to please him.

He unbuttoned his pants and left the rest of the work to you, so you took his cock out of his pants and stroked it from top to bottom, wrapping your hand in it while you looked into his eyes biting your lower lip.

He let out a growl and threw his head back due to pleasure, releasing the smoke he had been containing in his lungs. When you saw his reaction you took your tongue out of your mouth and began to give kitten licks to the head of his penis, knowing that that drove him crazy.

“Stop teasing” Kai demanded with a hoarse and dominant voice, to which you obeyed without thinking and began to put his cock in your oral cavity everything your throat allowed you.

You were going little by little, putting his member in your mouth until Kai got fed up and with the hand that did not hold the cigarette he grabbed you by the head and pushed until the head of his penis hit your uvula, to which you gagged due to the brutality of his actions.

He began to fuck your mouth with brutality, grabbing your head with both hands while his cigarette hung between his lips. When you saw that Kai was so focussed, you took the opportunity to lower your hand down your torso until you reached the waist of your panties, and put your hand inside and begin to delicately caress your cult.

Kai soon realised what you were doing, so he quickly grabbed your hair and stretched it tightly to separate you from his cock. “What do you think you’re doing?” He asked with a frown. “Did I give you permission to touch you?”

You swallowed with difficulty, the last thing you wanted was to make him angry. “No, I’m sorry” You answered nervously while looking at him with begging eyes so that he didn’t do anything to you. “No what?” He spoke again, looking back at you with intensity. “No, sir” You answered with a choppy voice.

He nodded and let go of your hair, putting his fingers between your strands and licking his lips. “Okay, now be a good girl and make me cum” He said and you immediately put his member back in your mouth, this time with both hands on his thighs.

Kai fucked your mouth again with all the strength he had. You closed your eyes tightly by repressing gagging. He growled and let out guttural moans from time to time, the cigarette on his lips that was now completely consumed fell on the sofa, but the last thing he cared about was that.

It wasn’t long before you felt his cock twitch in your mouth, a clear sign that he was going to come soon. To help him, you raised one of your hands to caress the rest of his cock that did not fit in your mouth and you began to move your head from top to bottom, following the movements of his hips.

“Fuck, yeah. I’m gonna cum, baby” He warned you, but instead of walking away you just tried harder to put more of his member in your mouth and turn your tongue around his shaft, definitely throwing him to the edge.

“Oh my god, yeah” He groaned as you felt thick strips of sperm coming down your throat. “Good girl, good fucking girl” Kai praised you with agitated breathing as he lowered his arms to both sides of his body.

When you felt his cock soften, you took it out of your mouth and cleaned the corner of your lips with the sleeve of your sweater. You climbed until you were sitting on Kai’s lap and curled up against his chest, he instinctively wrapped his arms around your waist to keep you close to him. “Did I do well?” You asked while hiding your face in his neck.

“Of course, you always do it well for me,” he replied with a soft laugh. “Now get up, daddy has to continue with his work” He said patting your ass so you can move. You sat on the couch with your knees glued to your chest while you watched Kai dress in his usual clothes to commit murders.

It was usual to leave you trembling and then go to kill people.

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[mdhwrites]

TOH Fans Don't Know What Redemption Is

TL:DR: TOH as a show uses the tropes and veneer of redemption a lot but fails to actually engage with the fact that redemption is not about no longer being a dick. Your kind of a dick friend does not need to be redeemed for calling you names, they just need to stop calling you names. No, redemption is about making up for past sins... Which TOH never does.

You do not go to confessional to tell someone you did something bad and then ask them to forget about it. You go there to be told what you must do to be redeemed in the eyes of the Lord or to be assured that there was no sin in the first place. If there was, you are asked to perform a service, even if just a set of prayers, to make up for your slip in faith and show your devotion to the path of good. You sacrifice your time and seek to do better. That is inherently a part of redemption. I frame this religiously but hey, if you get rowdy in your buddy's house when they asked you not to and you break something of theirs, you don't just apologize. You usually actually try to make it up to them if you can because otherwise all you've done is give them words when it's actions that spoke for your disregard to them. You might even ask what you can do to make it up to them.

For an absolutely classic and genuinely amazing example of this: Megamind. In the middle of his arc, Roxanne makes it clear that what Megamind has done has hurt her. Hurt what she cares about. That it has made her world worse. What does Megamind do? He returns the art, he cleans up the city... In his own way and in general UNDOES HIS CRIMES. In that one moment, he stops being selfish and actively attempts to make up for it for someone else by righting his wrongs. The worst you can say is that he's doing it because he likes someone and wants their affection but like... Yeah, that's the motivation to change and Megamind even admits himself that he's finding doing good to be enjoyable now. It's a powerful moment because it so clearly contrasts who he was in a way that would be impossible if he were not seeking redemption and being redeemed.

The ONE TIME TOH actually manages this is Lilith. She recognizes that cursing her sister was wrong. She recognizes that her attempts to be the most powerful person on the Isles was wrong. As such, her betrayal of Belos is NOT her redemption. If she chose to betray Belos because she personal gain in it or saw that it was a dead end in life, it would not be redeeming (this will come up later). Instead, she is truly redeemed because she gives up potentially everything but especially her ability to be above others and her sister by taking the curse unto herself. By sharing that burden she was responsible for first and acknowledging that what she did, specifically, was wrong.

People don't champion Lilith though as some great redemption, do they? Not when it comes to TOH. She's overshadowed by the ones given more of a to do like Hunter, Amity and The Collector. Especially those first two though. So, how do they manage?

Amity has crimes. She bullied Willow when she did not have to as Odalia's demand was ONLY to stop being friends with her. She bullied Willow regardless. She attempted to murder Luz. She tried to remove Luz's ability to use magic and was overall just a general bitch who was more than happy to keep taunting Luz for entertainment. She is genuinely a fucking AWFUL human being at the beginning of the series. Does she even bother recognizing this?

No. Not with more than words. That's all Willow gets. In fact, Amity is so disinterested in making up for being a bitch to Willow that she ignores EVERYTHING about her for almost an entire season after they 'make up' which they only make up with words. Amity just says the right thing and seems to think that's all it takes. She still uses Willow for her own selfish needs in Falls and Follies and she doesn't respect Willow during Labyrinth Runners. She does literally nothing to actually redeem herself for this.

How about refuting Boscha or her mom? Those are pretty big deals and against her old self, right? Well, yes and no but we need to interrogate the why for that. To the audience, it is meant to signify Amity giving up her past influences to be a better person. As I stated at the top, it is a common trope in redemption arcs which TOH does engage with. However... She's doing them for Luz and not because of the past. She tells Boscha to go fuck herself not because Amity was a grade A bitch with Boscha but because Boscha is now bullying someone she cares about so she can dropped just as fast and brutally as she did Willow in the past for the sake of pleasing someone else. NOTHING about her behavior is different except now she's doing it for someone as good. That's not redemption. We don't praise the Punisher here just because he murders bad men. Odalia is similar. It's not to make up for Odalia's influence or the things she did because of Odalia, it is to selfishly proclaim her own personhood... And more importantly, save her girlfriend. It's not even to make up for the expulsion, it's JUST to keep Luz alive. Yes, she gets them unexpelled but only once she first acts for the sake of Luz not dying. She has NO INTEREST in getting involved until then and at that point, it's not her crime, it's Odalia's. That's what makes her motivation being Luz not work because the motivation might be Luz, but the result isn't her facing her past, it's just facing a cartoonish villain.

And if your argument is "Well, all she did was because of Odalia," I would respond with, "Okay, that not a redemption then, that's just a regular character arc." If your character does not actually try to IN UNIVERSE redeem themselves, how can you call it a redemption arc? Sasha is ready to DIE for all of Wartwood to make up for the fact that they're gonna get wiped off the face of the map because of her. She acknowledges that she was wrong and always wrong and goes out to do something about that. She gives up command to Anne in order to try avoid her old mistakes because she is so actively trying to do better than she used to. Redemption is never easy and requires shit like this. The best way to do it fast is, well... Death.

This is why the heroic sacrifice trope is so beloved for redeemed villains. They go from spending an entire life causing misery and being selfish to making the ultimate sacrifice against that which they stood for. In one moment, they seek that redemption... But expect no reward which only further bolsters how this is redemption. Redemption is selfless. You never HAVE to redeem yourself. You never expect a prize or even a better life from redeeming yourself besides being able to sleep better at night. It's a powerful trope...

And Hunter's version of it is literally the worst example I can think of for the trope. Yes, we technically get him rescuing the Emerald Entrails before this as a moment of redemption but what about just redeeming his time under Belos and as the Golden Guard? Well... Essentially no one even gets more than a token apology for that. He just sob stories his way into people's hearts instead of actually do anything to earn their affection outside of Willow KIND OF. But hey, that should be fine since he does sacrifice his own life, right?

Well, again, context. What does he sacrifice for? Because it's not anyone other than him. Just listen to literally the words he's saying. He talks about how much better his life is now. How much he likes the perks of being a good guy like friends. He barely remembers to include that stopping Belos needs to be a part of this without him just looking like a mooch of a friend because he never mentions how it feels good to help people, how he hates what he did with the Emperor or even that he believes more in self expression now. It's ENTIRELY selfish. He doesn't even expect to die, he's just telling Belos to go fuck himself and ends up dying in the process, which is actually pretty normal for a selfish henchman betrayal it's just that the show doesn't realize that's what he's doing.

This is indicative of the show's approach to redemption as a whole and we even get a thesis statement on that. The Collector. If you just say you're sorry and are on the correct side, you're redeemed! Making up for all the damage you did when you absolutely can fix it in like a week? Actually putting yourself up for punishment by those who's autonomy you took away and then tortured? Fucking ANYTHING besides unpuppeting people that he did for months to terrorize the entire Isles? No. He said he's sorry and he's just a goofy little guy so he's redeemed! Right?... Right?

And then the Collector takes this very basic idea of redemption, of just needing to show a bit of kindness and people will magically change, and applies it to Belos. For only the second time, in the whole series, does it not work. The problem with saying that means the show understands this topic and has nuance is... The other example is Kikimora. Neither of these characters are people. They caricatures of villains. They're so pure evil that the idea of redeeming them is, well... A joke. Literally, in the show, the attempt to redeem Belos is a joke. Why would you think the baby eating psycopath was just going to need a hug? That is the level of cartoon villain we are dealing. That's not nuance, it's bullshit, which is why it has never functioned as a critique of SU like it clearly is, especially not when the person who does it JUST NEEDED A FEW KIND WORDS. Like the Collector literally IS just the arc they describe and then try to mock and never even blinks at this fact.

But we call these redemption arcs because they were tokenly villains before hand. I would at this point argue that we need to stop doing that. If we think TOH even purports the concept of redemption, that implies you can learn how to write redemption through TOH. You can't. Bluntly, you cannot because it barely ever tries and when it fails, it fails miserably.

The Diamonds at least promised, and kept their word, to undo their damages. I don't think you get to mock that with your redemptions when you can't even manage that much 75% of the time. See you next tale.

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I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[goldennightengale]

Hello there! Here's my request for the day, could I have the Dorm Leaders hearing their female musician s/o sing a love song dedicated to them at VDC? As an added bonus, everyone (including their families) saw her performance and really liked it.

AAA I loved writing this so much!! I always have songs I assign to the boys going through my head all the time so this was so much fun writing! I hope you enjoy it~ -GN

Warnings: N/A

Fem! MC

A Song for Your Love

Riddle Rosehearts (Sombody to Hold My Heart - Lindsey Sterling)

When I tell you this man was flustered when you pointed him out in the crowd. Not only was your song full of love and energy, but all of your attention was on him, laser-focused on his face in the roaring crowd as you danced and sang across the stage like a professional. He’s the type to try and show his affection through actions instead of words, so expect a lot of flowers, gifts, and lots of hand-holding!

What made it even worse was he knew this was being broadcasted. Though he felt horrified by the thought of his mother watching you perform, specifically with him in mind, he was quickly reassured that she was more than amused by your eccentric proclaims of affection. She appreciates a confident woman speaking her mind, especially towards her son.

Leona Kingscholar (Lazy Love - Chloe X Halle)

Smug Bastard x100 He’s making that concert seat look like a throne with how confident he looks, knowing full well that you are talking about him. Nobody else in the thousands seated near him. (Don’t mention how he might have a slight ego about being the second prince, he can’t give you the throne you deserve but he can give himself to you instead. Knowing you return the gesture makes him unreasonably happy)

Forgot it was being broadcasted until he got a facetime call from his brother congratulating him on having a mate of his very own, especially one so talented! Cheka starts begging him to bring you back to the palace and Leona hangs up before he can get the waterworks going. 

Azul Ashengrotto (Cariño - The Marías)

Stuck between stunned, smug, and highly embarrassed. He has this goofy smile as he watches you strut across the stage, occasionally ducking his face into his hands when you purr the lyrics into the mic and wink at him in the crowd.

His mama went NUTS when she caught her guppy getting serenaded on live broadcast and demanded that he bring you home. She wants to meet the gal who made her baby smile like that!

Kalim Al-Asim (What is Love? - Jonelle Monáe)

Your hype man. He’s jumping, dancing, screaming your name, and “I love you”s as you perform. Jamil tries to get him to calm down but how could he when you look like the brightest star in the desert sky? His Jewel has talent!

His father was laughing so loudly when he called, delighted with his son’s choice in love. Immediately offered to build you a personal stadium in return for you (marrying his son) performing for the entire Al-Asim family.

Vil Shoenheit (Only Girl (In the World) - Rihanna)

Smug x100 pt. 2, He is preening under the spotlight of your affections and, while he may be judging your routine (lovingly ofc), he genuinely likes how you make it clear to others that he chose you above everyone else. Though he does question if you have a death sentence announcing your relationship so boisterously.

His father loved your performance! Bold and confident, you really must have what it takes to make his son fall so hard for you. While he may not be at the front of the musical entertainment business, he’d be willing to get you some connections if you ever decide to pursue music in the field.

Idia Shroud (Icarus - Grant Knoche)

Hates the attention but melts under your loving stare, completely enraptured by your declaration of love and the thought that you did all this for him. Is 100% recording everything so he can rewatch it over and over again late at night and squeal like a fangirl in the privacy of his room.

His parents teased him relentlessly for finally getting a girlfriend, calling you his Pomegranate, and begging him to bring you home so they can meet you properly. Your references to a well-known myth are not lost on them, and the dedication to get close knowing the potential to get hurt is more than enough to get their trust. His hair is pink by the end of the call but you can tell he’s really happy they like you.

Malleus Draconia (Sunset - Caroline Polachek)

Smug x100 pt. 3, because not only did you invite him to this whole ordeal, but you were performing for him and admitting how much you felt about him in front of such a large crowd. Is not aware of your performance being broadcasted, but knowing that everyone will know who you chose as a mate is more than enough to get him all smug again.

Oh, his grandmother is more than pleased that her grandson found someone so wonderful to rule beside him.  The trust you put in him, the clear admittance that you see him as a safe place, it's all proof to the reigning Queen. She’s heard a lot about you from Lilia so it only makes sense for you to visit Briar Valley to make your engagement official, no?

I know this was very short but I hope I fulfilled your wish! -GN

[respectthepetty]

I was going to respond to @waitmyturtles' ask about if a person should finish Step by Step, but instead of taking that post hostage, let me be honest on my own post:

Step by Step has problems.

Step by Step isn't perfect.

Step by Step has pacing issues.

Step by Step's timeline is all over the place.

Step by Step's second couple was not fleshed out.

and yet . . .

Step by Step has consistently stated that being gay is its biggest problem.

AND I LOVE THAT!

A BL about how being gay is a problem in an industry profiting off of gay stories is what I'm showing up for each week. Mostly when it directly stated that in the series, only to have to be edited due to fan outrage.

Put being an actual gay man in the BL industry is a problem.

Jeng being an actual gay man in a company that made a BL to promote a product is a problem.

Pat being an actual gay man, who successfully marketed a product using the BL concept he was adamantly against yet pulled off with a limited budget and time, rising to a leadership position is a problem.

All was fine and dandy when we were watching a BL about two men falling in love and providing each other balance, but the problems started to spring up when the story became about gay men trying to balance their work with their lives.

The pacing fell apart as their work started to take over their lives and everything work related sped up as their personal stories stopped.

The timeline became muffled as life and emotions started to cut into their work. PAT FORGOT HIS OWN BIRTHDAY because time escaped him as we dug further into the corporate world.

The second couple fell apart before they even started as the show began to tell us that life-work integration was never going to work

when

you

are

gay

especially in spaces that want to profit off of the queer community without openly accepting its members in those spaces.

A gay man can't integrate his life into a job that doesn't want to accept that actual gay men exist.

It's performative action at its finest, and it demands that queer people become compliant in their own oppression.

Jeng never caused a problem at work, yet those men sat there and told him their biggest problem with him was that he was gay. Then they made Jeng apologize for it.

Put never caused a problem at work, yet his manager told him that revealing he was in a gay relationship was going to be an issue. Then he pushed Put back in the closet.

Two years ago, both of them sacrificed their relationship and their lives for work, and as result, their entire lives became their work.

They lost track of time. They missed important moments happening in their family and friend's lives. Entire events passed without them being present. They had to compromise themselves to succeed.

And we witnessed that happening to Pat until he realized he didn't want to be manipulated into doubting his skills, his work, or himself.

I'm sticking around to see what justice this show brings to its characters who gave up everything just to be left with nothing.

But I stuck around because this show told us from the very first line in the very first scene what it was about.

This wasn't a story about falling in love while balancing each other out. This was a story about trying to find a balance between a job that doesn't want to accept your life exists and a life that can't exist because of your job.

One gives you security.

And the other makes you feel safe.

Pat made his choice.

Now it's time for Jeng to make his.

[atamascolily]

Thunderbolt Fantasy: In Which I Yap About Swords

(What can I say? Guilty as charged.)

Thunderbolt Fantasy is about a lot of things, actually, but it's first and foremost a story about swords. So many swords. Magic swords, ordinary swords, demonic swords, holy swords, swords that look like swords but are actually something else, things that look like something else but are actually swords... the list goes on and on.

Thunderbolt Fantasy also has many themes, but I would argue that a major one is that swords are tools first and foremost; whether they are good or bad depends less on the sword itself and more on how it's used.

In the wrong hands, even a holy sword created to fight demons with the purest of intentions can be misused; in the right hands, a demonic sword can save the day, as evidenced by Shang Bu Huan's and Lin Xue Ya's clever team-up using Night of Mourning.

But it gets complicated because swords aren't just tools--or at least not all the time. Season 2 introduces us to Seven Blasphemous Deaths, who blurs the established boundaries--she is a person who is also a sword. Then we have Lang Wu Yao in Bewitching Melody of the West, a person who is explicitly compared to a sword; the climax of the movie hinges on Lang's decision to take full agency for his actions instead of letting unscrupulous people manipulate him.

Bewitching Melody of the West ends with Ling Ya--another character who blurs the line between person and object, and who is sometimes, but not always, a sword--teasing Shang that the Sorcerous Sword Index itself might one day gain sentience. "Any object imbued with strong enough sentiment in time grows a heart of its own! Not that all of them are chatty like me! ... You keep dragging that batch of magic swords around and sooner or later it [the Index] might start talking, too!"

Shang is incredibly flustered by this: "Shut the hell up! Don't jinx me!" He's learned to accept both Lang and Ling Ya as friends and comrades, but the idea of anything more than that scares him. Then he catches himself, "Er, I mean..."

"Mean what?"

And for a moment it seems like Shang is going to tell him, and then he pivots to thanking Ling Y for his assistance earlier and changing the subject. Which is too bad, because I really want to know what he's thinking here. Would it really be so bad if the Index and/or the swords within it was no longer a tool, but a person in their own right? If they could make decisions about how they wanted to be used?

Okay, so maybe it would be bad, given that swords are weapons--they can protect people, yes, but they can also kill them, or turn them into puppets, or generate massive earthquakes. It's only natural they would want to perform the functions they were made for, and some of those functions are terrible. Even holy swords are dangerous, as evidenced by Wan Jun Po being burned alive from the inside out from wielding one of the Three Holy Relics. Good is not soft, to say the least!

Given everything we know so far, it would not surprise me if Shang can "hear" the swords in the Index, and has a sense of their personalities and desires. His restraint in using the Index is entirely justified because these swords are dangerous, even though he has the skills to use them (and this restraint is one reason he can wield them). My personal headcanon is that one reason Lin Xue Ya is such a natural at using Night of Mourning is that he is also incredibly skilled at manipulating people and thus their desires align; he might have more difficulty with a sword that makes other demands of its wielder.

But as we've established, a major theme of Thunderbolt Fantasy as a whole is that even villains can grow and change (cf. Xie Ying Luo's arc in S2) and that people aren't bound by fate--they can and should be able to make their own choices. So why not extend that to the Index as well, especially considering how many people are trying to control it?

And would a sentient Index really be so terrible if it was embued with Shang's feelings? The man who is the moral center of Thunderbolt Fantasy, whom Lin Xue Ya (a master thief) says is the safest place he can imagine? I think an Index that grew out of Shang carrying it for so long would inherit that strong moral center--and I think it would be fitting, given how much carrying it has transformed his life.

One way or another, Shang can't rest until the Index is dealt with. One possibility is that Thunderbolt Fantasy punts the final ending, by having him keep wandering with the Index, but somehow I doubt it--Shang may well continue to journey on, but if he does, I think it will be because he genuinely wants to, or has some other task he wants to do, not because he's still carrying out the same old one forever.

In order for Shang to give up the Index, he has to trust it will be safe from people who will misuse it. We saw how that went at Xian Zhen fortress; even an institution dedicated to preserving the world couldn't keep the Index safe for less than a day, and most of them are worse.

The Index could be hidden, perhaps, or chucked away into the void, but the reason Shang hasn't already done it himself is because the swords are humanity's one hedge against another demon invasion. The swords were created to fight the demons, and they will continue to exist as long as that threat remains. So peace with the demons has to happen first. This is likely for other reasons--see Lang Wu Yao's whole arc--so I feel pretty confident about this. Maybe the swords, most of which originally came from another world, will end up returning there in the end--and like I said, the void of space seems to be a favorite place for chucking stuff you never want to see again (eldritch horrors, Lou Zhen Jie, etc). So it's definitely a possibility.

We also know as of S3 that the swords came from another world, and it's possible that they'd lose their powers if they were returned to their home and be ordinary swords again. So that's also an option.

But given all of the hints and established themes, I'm rooting for a secret third thing: to neither hold on to the Index or to throw it away, but to let it grow up and come into its own. Maybe the Index would decide to leave of its own accord; after all, the swords inside it came from another world and maybe they'd be happier to return there after all. Maybe it'd stick around under the auspices of Dan Fei, Juan Can Yun, and the Hu Yin Shi, who are going to need something to do with their lives once the war with the demons is over for good. I don't know. But I want the Index to have the same freedom as any other character. I want it to be able to choose.

How exactly this would work, I don't know. Maybe the Index is a single entity, or maybe it's a collective intelligence composed of all the swords inside it. Given that Huo Shi Ming Huang's theme centers around this kind of "swarm", and that he seeks the Index, I can't help wondering if the two are connected. But if the Index has to choose between Shang and Huo Shi Ming Huang, I think Shang's influence will ultimately carry the day in the end, though it might get pretty dicey before the end. After all, he's the one who carried it for so long!

(Look, I am but a simple soul--all I want is to see all of the swords flying out of the Index all at once in the climactic battle, preferably under their own accord. Yes, I know that technically already happened in the S2 opening, and it was great, but can we have that as the centerpiece of the final movie instead of 10-15 seconds?? Bonus if that severed arm is still in there and smacks someone across the face.)

All of this is to say, I fully expect that this is going to be a major theme going forward, and I have "the swords unionize" on my personal bingo card.

[accio-victuuri]

excerpts from this article talking about yibo’s performance as li mo @ all tomorrow’s parties 🗒️

So the role of Li Mo , Wang Yibo's performance this time, is completely different in difficulty and significance. Although there is no "showing off" in its presentation, it has already shown Wang Yibo's maturity as an actor everywhere. He avoided the problems and pitfalls that can arise, understand the character thoroughly, bring the character alive and make us perceive everything about him with complete accuracy.

Wang Yibo's performance in the film, as a young actor, did bring some surprises. I think it is an "important homework" among all his works that I have seen so far. The film itself is life-like, not dramatic, and the actors' performances must follow the same logic, which is different from most of his previous works. Coupled with the fact that the length of the film is not long, and the style of the film and the character of the characters are constrained, the lines of the characters are even more limited. A lot of information depends entirely on the performance of the actors to explain, such as the aforementioned "whether the parents know that they have returned home", so the work Although short, it feels like a performance with a completely different meaning.

I like the character Li Mo very much. He looks reticent and introverted, with a kind of insensitivity, but his heart is delicate and romantic, very sensitive. This role is very layered. This level not only brings requirements to Wang Yibo's performance, but also is the final shaping of his delicate performance.

Let's talk about the first "requirement" first. Li Mo's role setting leads to a "contradictory" demand for the actor's performance logic in the same situation at the same time. He must not only fully express Li Mo's external insensitivity, but also accurately externalize Li Mo's internal thoughts. He must not only maximize the "clumsy" response of this character when facing the world, but also make us feel that his heart is always perceiving, flowing, and extremely "moving".

As the director said, if you don't play this role well, you will be stuck, because if you don't perform well, you will be easily swallowed up by the external "clumsy" appearance, which instead covers up the spring of the character's inner life. But on the other hand, if the strength of expressing sensitivity and tenderness in the heart is not deep enough, it may damage Li Mo's insensitivity on the outside, and turn into a kind of delicate melancholy or anxiety. How to reconcile the two contradictions and let it form A harmonious logic to "live" this role is very challenging for an actor, and if he misses it, it will be a thousand miles away, but Wang Yibo obviously grasped this kind of fire, and brought a stunning and delicate performance.

How did he grasp it? Wang Yibo cleverly used a "multi-frequency" but "degraded" expression. We can see that the character of Li Mo has a basic body movement logic. He has many small movements, but most of these movements are a kind of movement tendency, which will be completed but not completed, not implemented, and slightly obvious. Hesitantly slow. For example, he put down his backpack but didn't put it all down, but held it awkwardly a few centimeters off the ground. For example, he wanted to hold the edge of the hem of the clothes, but he just kept holding it and leaned on it. When he saw Zhang Chen, he yelled at the first time, and then walked over slowly with shyness in his pace. The most obvious one is the finger movements that express inner unease when sitting outside the conveyance room and waiting, and the speed is also relatively slow. Obviously, Wang Yibo designed and grasped this logic of action at all times. The speed at which this character responds to the outside world is actually frequent and continuous, but his actions are all slowed down and blunt. This is very subtle, and the character's ingenuity and clumsiness come out all at once.

I have to feel Wang Yibo's cleverness. I don't know how he grasped the processing logic of the characters, but this logic cleverly echoes the expression of a line by Li Mo. Which sentence? Xiao Zhou said, "Haven't you heard the closing song of the Asian Games?" Commonly speaking, the complete answer is "I was on the train last night, I didn't watch it", but Li Mo only said "I was on the train", This is very cute and vivid. A social fear, the words spoken are half-finished and incomplete, and half of them are stuck in the mind. Wang Yibo's action processing happens to fully fit this logic. Li Mo has very few lines, but he can read it to this level, which is really rare. I can appreciate how hard he pondered and digested this character, and how cleverly he found the same expression.

We often say that actors are also creators. Actors do not complete their shaping according to the script, but recreate characters, then discover them, and give them vitality. In this role, we can feel that Wang Yibo and the producer of the role of the writer of the lines have completed the subtle co-creation. This is a very wonderful thing. I believe that Wang Yibo has already experienced this beauty, and will also bring this beauty to us.

Now, let's talk about the second requirement. It is a requirement for the expression of information. This article is difficult to summarize first. What is information? To put it simply, it includes but is not limited to the character's personality, life experience, past experience, possible character relationship, current state and mood. about personality. Li Mo's appearance, the first action let us know that this person is a social terror. How did Wang Yibo explain this information to us? In addition to the shyness in the lines, what's more important is that he designed a very clever movement without any trace. When ordinary people ask Xiao Zhou, they can either stand at the bottom of the steps and ask questions, or they can walk up the steps and ask questions, which is simple, neat and smooth. But Li Moshe feared that he was shy and a little nervous, so we saw that Wang Yibo first stepped up the steps with one leg, and at the same time in the process of asking questions, he clumsily and laggingly completed the movement of the other leg, realizing a kind of "Smooth crutches" in words and deeds. When he appeared on the stage, he straightforwardly explained his nervousness at this time, and it also clearly let us know the character information of the character.

If you observe carefully, you will find that all of Li Mo's relatively large movements are made up of his inner determination first, and there is a process of "gathering courage". It was very deliberate, and Wang Yibo grasped it very well, very naturally, and his expression was very accurate. Including Li Mo's uneasy small movements all the time, he handles them more gently, so what we sympathize with is the slightly tight social fear, not the overly anxious anxiety or timid shrinking. The physical state of each other is completed in coordination. When walking with each other, the fists are bowed and adducted, but they are not dejected. What is completed is a descriptive atmosphere dictated by personality.

The second information that I am very concerned about and very happy about is Wang Yibo's possible explanation of the relationship between Li Mo and his parents. In the carport scene, Zhang Chen asked Li Mo if he had told his parents when he came back. Li Mo didn't answer, but his physical reaction clearly gave a negative answer. It is actually not difficult to make a negative confession with the body. It seems very simple to shake your head slightly, or bow your head in silence, but the negative given by Wang Yibo is layered and informative. What amount of information? One is the possible attitude of the parents towards Li Mo, and the possible parent-child status; the other is Li Mo's feelings about "not telling his parents about coming back"; the third is Li Mo's closeness and trust to Zhang Chen; the fourth is the reshaping of Li Mo's personality .

About the mood. If Wang Yibo gave a general negative movement, shaking his head, this is to cut off Zhang Chen's temporary emotional expression in front of him. He doesn't make a sound and doesn't look at you, and hides my face. I'm sorry. But this is actually a kind of cut off to the audience. The audience knows "Oh, it's a bit embarrassing to deny it", but the audience can't see his face anymore, and they don't know that he has more emotions, so the most exciting part comes. ! Wang Yibo used one leg with bent knees to express awkward movements, expressing Li Mo's heart very vividly. This is a child's embarrassment that we are more familiar with. In the embarrassment it expresses, there is often a kind of child's awkwardness and stubbornness, unwillingness to admit or not knowing how to admit it. With this action, although Li Mo didn't speak, what did we feel? "I didn't tell. I didn't tell. Is it because I am ignorant? I am embarrassed to answer you, but how can I tell my parents? I can't say that I escaped and came to you first." There is a lot of information behind this extra action, why didn't Li Mo tell his parents to come to Zhang Chen first? Because of possible conflicts and incomprehension in the parent-child relationship, he used a child's gesture to prove the parent-child relationship. At the same time, because Zhang Chen understood that he could relax him, he could also perform a child's gesture in front of this person. , and also very important, this action also shows Li Mo's inner innocence, which is very cute. His shyness is a kind of shyness of a child, with some uneasiness and tenderness.

As I said before, characters don’t know where they come from and where they are going, and they exist here, which is a characteristic of the New Wave, but as Li Mo’s character, we seem to be able to touch something, his possible family relationship status, what kind of pressure he has, How to make what choice, the script and props gave some cooperation, but what cannot be ignored is that Wang Yibo also gave a lot of details to explain in terms of performance, leaving a lot of heart-derived imprints on the characters about past possibilities , the pen is limited, I only gave these two examples, you can look for it again, and see how Wang Yibo broadens our imagination of this character through performances, which is extremely important for actors, it is It is also what I call a "re-creation" of an actor. To be able to do this is very remarkable for a young actor and can surprise people.

When I talk about the display of characters’ contradictory personalities, some people may say that Han Guangjun in " Chen Qing Ling " is cold on the outside and hot on the inside, Xie Meimei in " You Fei" is out of the deep, and "The Wind Rises from Luoyang" is small and dull. Isn’t this contradictory? Why is the meaning of this performance so different? Here we are going to talk about the difference between TV series and movies. The presentation of TV series actually brings a lot of assistance to the actors' performance. For example, for the above three characters, before they appear on the stage, someone will say what kind of person the second son of the Lan family is, what kind of person Baili Erlang is, or the off-screen publicity, the exposure of the biography, or the original IP spoiler , will give us a foreknowledge of the "role". But in movie performances, the actors can only rely on themselves in the situation.

What did Li Mo have when he appeared on the stage, and there was nothing. The mystery and confidentiality of the film outside the play, the rejection of spoilers, and the in-play will not use any means to assist in explaining before the play. Li Mo's character can only rely on Wang Yibo's lines There is no other way to express it with the body. Does the difficulty come up all of a sudden? Furthermore, TV dramas often have a lot of lines, shots, and plots to shape the characters. You have something to hide, okay, I will give you a second close-up of the second expression after you forced a smile, I especially let you go to the inner monologue Speaking to myself, I will add a status scene to you, and I will directly let you chat with others and explain in the lines, there are too many auxiliary methods. Let's look at life-oriented movies again.

The length of the movie is condensed, the camera is objective and straightforward, and the lines are worth ten sentences without any auxiliary background. The actors in a scene are basically the only information carriers, and the actors themselves must become a good readable book, so that the audience can understand and understand the ins and outs.

[dr3smile]

This is gonna be a very long post and I'm sorry for it.

The reason why so many people are comfortable talking like this about Daniel is because of Zac, Andrea, Jenson, and all the 'big names' that openly and harshly criticized Daniel.

The moment Zac started trash talking Daniel in front of the media he opened the door to the nasty and jealous assholes to follow in his steps.

You don't hear anybody from Alfa Romeo taking about Bottas the way Zac talked about Daniel, I don't remember anybody from Alpine trash talking Fernando every time he DNFed, and he did a lot, or when he refused to do PR or him not being able to win even though he's a 2 time world champion.

Nobody is criticizing Nico because no one at Haas said a word about his performance.

It all started with Zac and Andrea, after that the boundaries that exist between criticizing a driver for not being good and publicly harassing and insulting a human being that you don't know we're broken.

I'm a huge DR3 fan and I can admit that Daniel didn't perform as expected while he was at McLaren but to put the blame solely on him is ridiculous for the simple fact that if he was the problem McLaren now would've been fighting for 4th in the championship not for p17. They've been having problems since Jenson and Fernando, then they had one ray of hope when Carlos got his first podium with them and thought that they are now back at being the historical team they once were completely ignoring that they need to rebuild the whole team from scratch, and instead they laid all of theirs and their fans unrealistic expectations on Daniel, who just drove for Renault and put them higher in that season's championship.

Daniel become then the face of the team, promises were made by Zac and Andrea but instead of backing him up and giving him a car that fitted his style to give him a chance to show his abilities they fucked him up.

One thing that Daniel is and will always be known for is his late breaking yet his car at McLaren not only was not adequate but it penalised him every time he broke later making him go slower. So people started saying 'oh Daniel Ricciardo is exposed because he can't adapt to a new car' but how can someone change their entire composition, mentality and a decade of knowledge on how to drive fast cars that are able to win 7 Grand Prix and multiple podiums? Isn't it the job of a team to follow the style of their drivers? Yes drivers have to adapt but to demand a full 180 from someone because you're not arsed to changes is delusional.

So in conclusion is not that people have more faith in Nico and believe that he's somehow better than Daniel is that so far no one from Haas have yet giving them a reason or the permission to criticise him.

I hope this makes sense and apologize for any mistakes but English isn't my first language.

OMG Thankyou for this. This explains everything so well. You put everything into words I couldn’t come up with.

The whole braking thing at Mclaren is still an issue to this day so it’s clear they didn’t take any feedback Daniel gave them into action. They just blamed it all on him. Who are they going to blame this season? They’re not going to blame the golden child and they can’t blame a rookie. It has to fall on management.

[ordinaryschmuck]

Season One of Percy Jackson and the Olympians is FINE

All and all, I'd say it's a fine adaptation of the first book.

The spirit is very much in place. The story's sense of humor and light drama is present and well balanced through the show. One moment you have a gripping discussion of Sally explaining she fell in love with a god, and it's followed by Percy asking if she found Jesus. It's a funny line that doesn't undercut the drama because that's exactly what a kid like Percy would ask. Even some bits that WEREN'T in the book that very well could have been, like Mr. D lying to Percy about being his father for some cheap booze or the gosh dang Consensus Song. Moments like that show me that the people behind this show are HUGE FANS of the books and wanted to make something that's faithful but still provides something new to enjoy.

And there are SOME changes to the story, a lot of them I don't really mind. I like that they made Sally more sassy and Grover more proactive. I like that Medusa's made more as a tragic villain instead of a monstrous one. I REALLY like that we got to see Poseidon early. That last one takes the punch out of the dramatic weight of seeing him in Book Four, but seeing him now really helps cement the idea that this version DOES love Percy and Sally, something that I didn't really get in the books. Which might have been the intention, but the show is trying to be something different, and I respect it for it.

When it comes to the action, it's pretty good. Stuff like the Minotaur fight and the battle with Ares wasn't as long or epic as it was mapped out in my head, but I can understand it. These are big fights involving little kids and CGI is expensive (Even though you wouldn't have this problem if the show was ANIMATED, but I digress). Despite the limitations, the show did will and provided some kickass moments.

As for the actors, frickin' round of applause across the board. Nearly everyone they got does GREAT in their role, fitting the changes the show is going for and the spirit of the book everything is based on. Some particular standouts for me are Adam Copeland as the perfect D-Bag that is Ares and Walter Scobell who IS Percy Jackson. It's the kid especially that impressed me the most, as he nails the sarcastic, angry, endearing, idiotic, and loyal to a fault hero that makes Percy the best. If there's any actor who I think is struggling it's probably Leah Jeffries as Annabeth, who seems a bit too standoffish and closed off, as if she's holding back a lot of personality that the character has. However, to be fair...

A. Annabeth was more or less the same in the first book, so I'll allow it. Just as long as she has more of a wit to match Percy's. It's what made Percabeth amazing.

B. This is a child actor we're talking about. Even Walter, who is PITCH PERFECT casting, manages to have some awkwardness and stiffness to his performance at times too. I'm sure that as more time goes on, these kids will get better and better each season.

And, yeah, I'd say that this is enough to make Percy Jackson and the Olympians a FINE TV show...But there's some things that hold it back from being good or even GREAT.

Firstly, there's the pacing. The pacing in this show is off a lot of the time, and this is mainly a problem with most straight to streaming shows nowadays. We can have long, extensive TV shows anymore as networks and services are demanding shorter and shorter seasons, to the point where its less of a season of television and more of a long movie. It's no different here as we're forced to fly by past plot point after plot point, all while trying to be more episodic AND while setting up future stuff. It makes you appreciate the moments when the show DOES slow down and let moments settle, but there's not enough of that.

Then there's the way moments are told out of order or are condensed. Like how Percy and Annabeth have their heart-to-heart on the train instead of on the animal truck. Or how Annabeth starts calling Percy Seaweed Brain when the journey's almost over instead of doing it right away. Or how Luke sparred with Percy near the END of the season, not the beginning. I'm not exactly an accuracy purist. I find changes are fine as long as the spirit is in tact, which it very much is. And if I wanted the story told exactly as it was, I would have just read the book. But changes like that make me feel like they're missing the point. Like, that zoo truck wasn't great, but it will be a happy memory between Percy and Annabeth as a time when they REALLY talked. Annabeth calling Percy Seaweed Brain was a straight up insult that Percy hated but grew to accept as something only SHE can call him as it later turns into a sort of petname for him. And interrupting Percy's battle with Ares with Percy sparring with Luke spoonfeeds us information, when showing them do that in the beginning would have benefited in making that scene act as a set up with a pay off. Besides, we spend so little time with Luke anyway that when we get to that BIG REVEAL, it's not as impactful because he was barely a character. Again, I don't mind changes, but if you're going to do them, make sure the story doesn't suffer.

But while we're on the topic of changes, let's talk about the ones that REALLY bother me.

I don't like that some other gods are introduced too early. It takes the impact out of Ares and Hades being big, intimidating figures when there are other gods that the characters can just chat and reason with.

I don't like that Annabeth's fear of spiders is just glossed over. Not only does it SHOW US (instead of telling us) that a strong-willed character like Annabeth can be emotionally shaken by something as small as a spider, but leads to a sense of tragedy of her past and her being a child of Athena. To gloss over it is a huge disservice to Annabeth as a character and it doesn't feel right.

And I REALLY don't like that the movie did the Lotus Casino better than the show. Because if the movie that the author loves to shit on managed to be more faithful than the SHOW...it messed up.

So...the show is a mess at times. I still enjoyed it and I hope we get a season two. But if this series wants to get past The Sea of Monsters, it'll need to focus on what makes it GREAT instead of using more of what holds it back as just FINE.

[misericordia-writing]

Reminisce

"One day, he finally snapped-- crossed the line, and became what his father wanted, but in the last way he’d have thought. He filed a missing persons report the next day.

Danny didn’t win any medals, but he did win the war."

Chapter 4 of Matchbook

Pairings: Danny “Jed Olsen” Johnson | The Ghost Face/Gender-Neutral Reader

Word Count: 800

Summary: Reader reflects on what they know of Danny's past. Some sweet cuddling action at the end-- I feel like we need some fluff after the last chapter.

Angst, Fluff

TW for canon-typical violence, mentions of parent-child abuse, and of course mention of murder

Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/45585013/chapters/115150627

               You knew a lot about Danny.

               You knew about the way he grew up, losing his mother and moving in with an estranged father during elementary school. Balancing meeting his rigorous demands with appeasing the eyes of the church and town standards.

Reading, reading, and reading-- looking for any way to escape, through grisly novels and morbid classics to run away from the horror of daily life. By sixth-grade, reports showed that he had reached a college reading level, focusing on Dostoyevsky and Lovecraft while his peers scraped the surface of The Outsiders.

Danny’s father promptly threw these reports in the trash and lectured his son about what really mattered, more than flowery literature or book smarts.

               The man was ruthless in his training, spending the most formative years of Danny’s life teaching him about how to survive war, instead of teaching him to ride bikes or build baking-soda volcanoes. His classmates were playing football and watching cartoons on weekends, Danny was up at the crack of dawn, making his bed and doing push-ups. Reading wasn’t going to save him.

               He instilled in him from an early age what the truth was. How everything was a façade, the meaning of humanity. Danny’s father had seen and experienced horrific realities, and thus, so would he. But he hardly needed teaching-- he’d learned quickly from the hands of schoolyard cruelty during the day and drunken beatings during the night.

One day, he finally snapped-- crossed the line, and became what his father wanted, but in the last way he’d have thought. He filed a missing persons report the next day.

Danny didn’t win any medals, but he did win the war.

               Naturally, he hightailed it out of there as soon as he could. With a solid 3.9 grade point average and a nearly full-ride scholarship to a school up in Salt Lake, he packed his bags and didn’t look back. Nobody knew what had really happened, only that old man Johnson had finally went crazy and abandoned his boy at some camp-ground. People looked down on him pitifully, unsurprised at the outcomes of his upbringing.

               Of course, Danny succeeded in college as well-- easily surpassing his peers in performance, grades, and comprehension. Amongst the many other passions and hobbies a student might pick up in university, though, he felt more drawn to murder than he did beer pong or debate team. And thus, his career began.

               But now, in the dark, these things do not exist.

               His head rests on your chest, soft puffs of air meeting the skin of your sternum. He mutters something against you, and you gently scratch at the skin of his scalp. He does this, sometimes. Talks incoherently in his sleep. On the rare occasions that he does sleep, that is. It’s always fitful and almost never intentional. You think that he wouldn’t do it if he didn’t have to.

               Danny isn’t very good at taking care of himself. Too invested in his work, in his passion, in his façade. The constant turning of his mind quickly rips him away from basic needs, hyper-focused on making his stories. You distantly feel a pang of nausea, but are drawn away from it quickly, mesmerized by the man laying on top of you.

               You can feel the slow movement of his ribs against your stomach, toned and defined torso melding into your softer one. He sighs, knitting his eyebrows for a moment, and so you steady your hands. You feel like the world is in your grasp as you trace the lines of his face, all the marks and scars and bumps. Threading dark hair through your fingers, making little twists and parts absentmindedly.

               If only something had gone differently, you think, he could be so beautiful. You correct yourself. He is beautiful. On the outside. On the inside, maybe, a long time ago. Maybe a little bit still. But you doubt it. You think he is too far gone, too damaged and corrupted. Too cynical.

               You wonder what he would look like, genuinely at peace and happy. Would he look like he does now? Eyes closed and face soft? Or would he be completely unrecognizable? You wish he was happy and at peace. If he was, he probably wouldn’t have to go around killing people for a fix.

               You cradle his skull to your chest and frown, feeling crushed underneath the man. You don’t mind the pressure, though. He shifts, moving his head down to bury his face in your warmth. The air conditioning thrums soothingly, and you hear a car pass in the distance.

               “I love you.” You say, to the night.

[kumoriyami-xiuzhen]

Hakuoki - Record of Curious Tales: Katana and Samurai #1, 11th Generation Izuminokami Kanesada

Well... guess who ended up spending their non-gaming time timing the first of Hakumyu Hijikata-hen's extras instead of translating? lol. even while splitting the work, timing is quite time-consuming... and my understanding of spoken Japanese only goes so far. Not that it'll be an issue with the final version since I'm not the only one editing the extras.

anyway, this translation is for one of five stories I have tl for concerning some of the Shinsengumi's weapons. Aside from Hijikata, I've got tl for Souji, Heisuke, Harada and Sannan... though I can scan the others as they were reprinted in the 薄桜鬼 十周年記念本 -桜花爛漫- book. Any scans I make however will probably be on the lower quality side since the text is smaller...

This story was originally published in 電撃Girl’s Style 2015年11月号. Special thanks to @koto-wari for translating the title since I didn't have it. Also, I'm fairly certain that no new images were published alongside these stories in their original printings since the 10th anniversary book doesn't have any graphic that I don't recognize alongside these respective stories.

Hakuoki - Record of Curious Tales: Katana and Samurai #1, 11th Generation Izuminokami Kanesada

Translation by KumoriYami

3rd year of Bunkyu——. After the political upheaval that occurred in the Imperial Palace during the eight month and the Serizawa Incident in the ninth month, the relationship between the Shinsengumi and the Aizu clan became even closer. However, at this time, the Shinsengumi and the Aizu Domain were not yet in a relationship with mutual trust, rather they were trying to secretly analyze each other's intentions and financial situations, and observing each other attitudes. It was precisely at this time, someone from the Aizu Domain, took a step towards the Shinsengumi. This person was the the ninth lord of the Aizu clan, Matsudaira Katamori, who at the time, was the Military Commissioner of Kyoto. During the fourth month, while watching a match and performance at Konkai Komoyoji Temple at Kurodani, he became interested in the Roshigumi, and heard about their swift actions during the imperial coop during the eighth month, which lead to him giving the name "Shinsengumi." Although there were many demands from the Aizu clan during this time, the Shinsengumi underwent a major internal reorganization and purged its opposition. When Matsudaira Katamori learned about this from a senior vassal, everything was already over. The vassal said that this would make the Shinsengumi easier to handle, but Katamori just listened silently, and did not say anything.

Thus a period of calm passed, and soon it was time for the autumn winds to blow. Kondou, the Chief of the Shinsengumi, and Hijikata, the Vice-Commander of the Shinsengumi, were summoned to Kinrenji Temple in Kurotani, the headquarters of the Aizu clan. The Aizu clan did not inform them of the reason for the summons, but only stated that they wanted the two of them to come alone. Kondou and Hijikata sighed softly as they looked at each other in dismay, as it was difficult to not feel uneasy. It was less than a month since the Serizawa incident, so what sort of difficulties would this summons present? On the following afternoon of the next day, the two arrived at the Kinrenji Temple at the appointed time and were led into a room facing a courtyard. As the two of them sat side by side, quietly waiting for the arrival of the Aizu clan's officials. After sitting for a while, Kondou looked somewhat nervously at Hijikata and opened his mouth. "Um... what are we going to be talking about today."

Hijikata, who had been spoken to, turned to look at Kondou and answered without changing his expression.. "Hmm… we already handled Serizawa's matters in accordance with the Aizu Domain's instructions, but it'd be a bit unreasonable to get one request after another. Right now, the main problem I hope we can settle quickly concerns the maintenance costs for maintaining the troop…” Hearing this, Kondou's expression became anxious. "Do-Don't tell me that they can't pay? Iya, that's a real problem! For the matter of the salaries, if they don't even give us money to pay for food, the troop cannot be maintained!" "No, calm down, Kondou-san, you can't just decide that yet." Just as Kondou was so excited that he wanted to stand up, it seemed like someone was approaching the other side of the soji door. The two then quickly shut their mouths, straightened up, sat back down, and waited for someone to appear as if nothing happened. Soon, the sound of footsteps approached, and as the door opened, Kondou and Hijkata bowed their heads at the same time. Judging from the gait and atmosphere of the other party entering the room, it felt as if the other party was different from the usual public official. (As expected, it's going to be something unreasonable again…) With their heads lowered, Kondou and Hijikata inwardly worried, but as the other person didn't speak for along time, and seemed to be preoccupied solely with putting something on the tatami… After a while, they finally spoke up. "Raise your heads, Kondou-dono, Hijikata-dono." "Yes." Kondou and Hijikata answered in unison as they liifted their heads, and upon seeing the two swords that had been placed in front of them, they felt a little sadness and disappointment. Their previous uneasy premonition had indeed been true, and they would be forced to do something bloody again… "....These are the words from our lord." The official spoke slowly, as if it was difficult to speak, which made Kondou and Hijikata's faces even more tense. It seemed that there were orders from the lord of the domain this time. "You've worked extremely hard. However for the Shogunate and the peace and security of Kyoto and its people, I hope the Shinsengumi will continue to support the Aizu Domain in the future. Therefore, it was decided that these swords will be awarded to you. Please continue to work hard in the future." After listening to the official's words, Kondou and Hijikata's eyes widened in surprised, and they were stunned to the point that they could not move. They had been told something they couldn't even dare to imagine. Kondou, who finally breathed out a sigh, squeezed his voice out. "Then, this is..." "Yes, these are katana for the two of you——for Kondou-dono, Nagasone Kotetsu, and for Hijikata-dono, Aizu Kanesada." The moment they heard the sword inscriptions, the two of them instantly felt like something had pierced them, which caused their whole bodies to feel overcome with excitement. "From now on, please continue to support our Domain… no, our lord." "Yes——!" The two shouted together in unison and bowed their heads at the same time.

Now, Hijikata would wield the Aizu 11th generation Izuminokami Kanesada. After experiencing a strange fate, the sword ended up in Hijkata's hands.

---end---

i kept the original breaks in the text so i guess the format looks a tad weird.

original title in the 10th anniversary book is:

異聞録 刀と侍一 和泉守兼定十一代

which I did not have tl for. the translation of the title I had was "Hakuoki Official Novel Shinsengumi Katana Side Story Hijikata Toshizou and the 11th Generation Izuminokami Kanesada".

also, to make this translation more accurate, i ended up checking the following sites:

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Hijikata_Toshizō https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matsudaira_Katamori

[felixcloud6288]

Fullmetal Alchemist Chapter 96

I absolutely love how that one guy threw a rock at one of the Mannequin soldiers and another soldier is stomping on one.

Another of the High Command meets his end, and now we know where that door in the President's office leads.

At this point I did a mental checklist over all the people in high command to check what their statuses are, and I realized something:

There are actually EIGHT members, not including the Fuhrer, in Central Command and one of them just vanishes from the story.

Here's a panel of Roy being brought into their meeting room in chapter 50 and a panel of Major General Armstrong in chapter 74.

Notice how there are clearly seven people here. The only person absent in both is Major General Raven. Raven brought Roy into the room in the first panel, and Olivier is there to replace him in the second.

This panel from chapter 87 is the only one I could find with our mystery scumbag's face.

But once the fighting starts, he just vanishes from the story. We get no reports or scenes indicating the man was killed or captured.

I want to know how strong these guys were that they were able to force Sloth to a near stop with that chain.

They should all have dislocated their arms on impact.

But now let's talk about the Philosophical themes around Sloth. Sloth as an aspect is not just simple laziness, but also a disinterest in improving, performing to the best of your ability, or simply not caring to act.

Sloth dug out a giant transmutation circle over several centuries, and he did this because he was too lazy to argue against doing so. So Sloth's nature made him just accept the poor conditions he was stuck in. And he follows orders simply because he's too lazy to argue.

Now who were his opponents? The Armstrongs, the Curtises, and over a dozen Central soldiers. Olivier Mira Armstrong's characterization could be seen as an entire antithesis to sloth. She takes command of the situation and acts directly on the front line while taking responsibility for her and her subordinates' actions. She does not sit in the background while her soldiers risk their lives and then make excuses for their deaths. In fact, she has killed several of Central's top brass for doing exactly that.

Meanwhile Alex Louis Armstrong had his own sense of sloth he's dealt with through the whole series. He knew the Ishbal campaign was wrong, but he chose to do nothing. Instead, he abandoned his duty (In this case, his true duty of fighting against the injustice of it) and has lived in shame since. His sister did not let him forget, but she made sure to pave the way so he could have a second chance to do what is right.

And Izumi and Sig chose to be here. They don't have any obligations to join the fight. No one would blame them if they chose to ignore all this and just continue their traveling.

And the soldiers could just say they were following orders and use that as an excuse to justify their actions, but Olivier demanded they act in the way they thought they should and they not only decided to ally with her, but they also managed to figure out how to adapt to the situation.

Sloth was defeated by a force that chose against apathy, and that force was led by someone who refuses to let anyone be less than exemplary.

So that's one more major plot thread concluded.

I'm going to start talking a lot more, so here's a panel of Alex and Sig being best friends to break the pacing a little. Sig should have taken his shirt off during the fight.

And now we have Hohenheim vs Father, which we haven't seen anything of since chapter 91. This is the only plot thread that was poorly paced in all of them. That is to say, we never saw anything about it during everything else. Foo's search for Greed has similarly not had any updates in a long while, but there also haven't been any major developments so there's no need to keep us updated on it.

Just for a comparison, the anime moved Hohenheim meeting Father to the equivalent of the end of last chapter. The general assumption that I make, and which I think is fair to make, is that different scenes tend to happen in chronological order to each other. And if we have one scene and then cut to another scene, the second scene happens either at the same time or after the first one.

So Hohenheim meeting Father in chapter 91 implies he met Father at the same time Al began fighting Pride and Kimblee, Envy regained its body and started fighting May, and Sloth attacked Olivier.

The anime moving Hohenheim's initial meeting with Father to where it did changes the timing implication to make us assume Hohenheim was approaching Father's lair during all that, and he only just reached it just before Sloth's death.

There's a ladder in the little room Hohenheim made. So he carved out the space, made a ladder, climbed down the ladder, and then created the door.

Hohenheim, the Philosopher from the West who taught the Eastern nation of Xing Alchemy, attacked with stone pillars that look like Eastern dragons.

Father, the Philosopher from the East who taught the Western nation of Amestris Alchemy, attacked with stone pillars that look like Western dragons.

Hohenheim's design is also more intricately detailed than Father's.

Hohenheim definitely hit the mark when he told Father he wanted a family. Maybe a long time ago, Father tried to emulate having an actual family bond with his children, but like everything else, he wasn't willing to put the actual effort into actually understanding how.

And since he's unwilling to learn what it means to be a parent, nor what it means to share a bond with someone, what hope would the others have. No wonder they're all so messed up when it comes to their feelings about human attachment.

back

[stardustlyssa]

Does Marlow ever confront Steve about the questionable actions of the Emperor's Coven? Obviously he's a very nice guy on an individual level but the EC is doing v bad things and I was wondering what Marlow's opinions of all that stuff was (yay for more TOH OC and Steve content!! Keep it up)

The thing about Marlowe is that she is a total pushover. So confrontation and even vocally opposing things can be extremely difficult for her. More details below the cut :)

For context, Marlowe was basically a pushover from birth. Ironically, her identical twin, Maeve, was the polar opposite, turning out to be a complete spitfire. Being twins, they have a very strong bond and connection despite their differences. Maeve unintentionally became Marlie's voice growing up, defending her and pushing her to follow the path she wanted to take instead of their mother's demands. Unfortunately because of this Marlie never really learned how to stand up for herself.

When she's branded, it destroys her self esteem and physical wellbeing as well. I personally headcanon that different coven sigils take more magic than others, since not all magic forms in the show require the same amounts of power or any magic at all (like potions). Marlowe had an inclination for bard magic before this and intended to become a bard before multiple changes in her life (story for another post), and the sigil drained all of that power. She lost not only her singing voice and ability to whistle or even hum, but also found that her normal voice was weakened as well. Marlowe also loses a lot of strength from the sigil and becomes prone to fainting spells because of the extreme change. The loss of her ability to sing crushes her to the point that she cannot even listen to music anymore. All she can do is cry when she hears it.

Marlowe does question covens because of this. She had everything ripped away from her because her mother begged her to keep the family business open while she was ill. She doesn't understand how witches can be happy when they lose parts of themselves with a brand. But she also doesn't want to question the unknown. She fears the things that she doesn't know for certain because they are out of her control, and as a natural follower she feels she can't truly understand what would be "best" for witches.

She asks Steve questions, like what he would do if he wasn't in the Emperor's coven, or if he was a wild witch, or if he could only pick one magic. Honestly, for Steve, learning how much Marlowe's sigil has taken from her makes him feel like he's doing something wrong. The first time they pass a bard performing on the street and he sees Marlie pause, big tears immediately spilling out of her eyes as she hears the sounds and magic coursing through the air. Learning that she can barely even yell because her voice was taken from her. He probably went to Hexside at the same time as her but never knew her, having left early to join the coven. But maybe he sees a recording of her when she was still in the Bard track on Penstagram. She's singing and smiling bigger than he's ever seen her do before, she looks so much more alive. And he feels like shit even if it's not his fault.

Now, the person who WOULD confront him is Marlowe's twin, Maeve. Though she is a proud Beastkeeping coven witch, Maeve is a vocal skeptic after seeing her sister change due to her sigil. She never understood Belos anyways, or why everyone had to conform in one way or another. Her opinions have landed her in hot water, but never beyond a stern warning from scouts.

It would be intense. Maeve doesn't get to visit often with her work (she's a professional ratworm racer) so she has no idea why her sister is hanging out with one of the Emperor's lackeys. Marlie would try to explain and Steve would probably try to be friendly, but Maeve would not hold back.

"Besides the fact that you kiss the but of that old geezer, you're part of the reason why my sister can't sing anymore. She cried for DAYS. Nothing I did could help her. She can't even cast a levitation spell without feeling winded. Do you get some sort of sick ego trip from being around her when you can use any kind of magic you want?! Or are you using her for her kindness just like the last person did?"

Maeve just wants to protect her sister. All of her experiences with coven scouts were riddled with rude, callous treatment, so she expects the same from Steve. Steve for the most part is speechless because really he doesn't know what to say in response to everything thrown at him. Surprisingly, Marlie would probably be the one to respond and stop her sister. Telling her Steve saved her and walks her home to keep her safe. Marlie even scolds her sister softly for blaming him when he didn't brand her.

It's a bit awkward and Maeve is still unsure about Steve, but probably tells him what she's felt and experienced as Marlowe's sister and watching her struggle. That would really eat at Steve, being a brother himself. He understands she's worried about Marlowe especially because they can't see each other often, he experiences the same thing in his own life when he worries about Matt. He would tell her that he never knew about the sigils harming people, and that being a scout was different than he expected. He doesn't know how he feels about everything but he wants to help other people and doesn't always agree with his coworkers because of their attitudes. And most importantly he would never think about hurting Marlowe-- he's happy to keep her safe and walk her home and loves the time he spends with her.

Maeve feels better knowing her sister has someone looking out for her who genuinely cares about her, and Marlowe is just happy her sister didn't try to fight Steve.

But yeah, Marlowe has a sister who looks out for her and Steve is a good listener who begins to realize the coven system and emperor have hurt a lot of people when he spends time with Marlie.

[gayleviticus]

not doing a 'ed and al failed when they tried to perform human transmutation. but did you know there's an even more powerful alchemist out there who managed to resurrect himself from the dead?' youth pastor moment here but something ive been thinking abt re fullmetal alchemist 2003 is the biblical Book of Job. (ofc cw christianity/religion)

There's a common thread throughout the Bible that views disaster and misfortune as a punishment for sin - the plagues sent upon Egypt; the plague sent upon Israel because of King David's error; and most significantly, the extremely traumatic exile and captivity of Israel, God's chosen people, because they oppressed the poor and engaged in idolatry. We also see more generally in Deuteronomy blessings promised for keeping God's Law and curses threatened for breaking it, and lots of Proverbs speaks about the ruin that inevitable comes to the wicked and foolish. And of course, in the Christian New Testament, Revelation promises a judgment of the world and wickedness at the apocalypse.

This kind of viewpoint is probably something we associate fairly often w religion (and not just organised religion - new agey law of attraction type stuff is not a radically different concept). Goodness is rewarded, evil is punished. A kind of equivalent exchange concerned primarily with ethics rather than 'hard work' as such, but even then they're not that disconnected; we do, after all, view diligence as a virtue and laziness as a vice.

Now, I don't think this is an inherently 100% wrong notion. The idea that goodness should be rewarded and evil punished is a sympathetic one, and to a certain extent it's true; often being an asshole ends up alienating everyone and making them hate you, and arguably on a mass-scale we see the self-devouring consequences of evil in the way ruthless oppressive capitalism is destroying the world through climate change.

But if we take this notion of divine judgment or karma or equivalent exchange as absolute… well, we end up with some extremely nasty ideas. AIDS was God's punishment on sinful homosexuals, or cancer is a consequence of not praying/believing/thinking positive thoughts enough. Poor people deserve their poverty because they didn't work hard enough and the rich deserve their wealth to do with as they please because it's a divine blessing. If we believe in a rigid one to one correlation between action and consequence then we can't avoid the unfortunate conclusion that victims of war and murder and genocide actually had it coming to them for their sins.

fortunately the Bible isn't absolute on the topic. It has voices that offer a more nuanced, alternative take. One of the most obvious is Jesus, literally God who was executed as a common criminal. Did he deserve to die? Was it a punishment for his sins? No, of course not. So if God himself can get brutally murdered by the state's 'justice' that puts a huge hole in a nice, straightforward theory of 'bad things only happen to bad people'.

But another big example is the Book of Job, which is essentially just the story of Job, a very upstanding guy who loses everything - children, property, his health. And so naturally, when his friends come to visit to comfort him, they assume, of course, that this is some kind of punishment for his sins and that he needs to ask God for forgiveness. Job is adamant he's done nothing wrong, but his friends continue to insist that these things happen for a reason.

Eventually God himself appears, and Job demands an answer - which God refuses, instead displaying his tremendous, terrifying power to argue Job as a mere mortal has no right to argue with him. But crucially, in the end, God states that only Job - who maintained his own righteoussness, and rejected the logic of suffering as punishment, all while refusing to curse God - spoke rightly of him, not his friends. In the end Job is given no clear-cut answer to why he has suffered so, but he is restored to full health and prosperity, and his innocence is vindicated.

so i guess to me fma 03 feels like a similar kind of take to Job, cutting against the grain. It goes into the depths of misfortune and suffering to question a naive, childish notion of equivalent exchange - but also, to find what's valuable in it and preserve it. Equivalent exchange as a way of rejecting reality - or as a pious fiction to constrain and capture the terrifying reality of God - is a lie, but the Elrics find value in it as a driving ethical ideal, and Job maintains that fundamentally the misfortune that has befallen him is not fair.

Neither work descends to cynicism either. Their conclusion is not that life is cruel and capricious and therefore meaningless, but I think actually the opposite; their rejection of absolute equivalent exchange is a compassionate move rejecting the cruel logic that people who suffer had it coming, while also arguing that tragedy doesn't have to mean despair. They're grim, perhaps, but not for the sake of revelling and indulging in it but because sometimes grimness is a necessary antidote to toxic positivity.

Ed and Job's friends also share a similar kind of spiritual sloth I think - a clinging to certain ideas because it makes the world a more palatable place, regardless of the implications or consequences. Ultimately there is comfort in facing the truth and understanding there is no magical defence against sickness and poverty and war and loss - but it can be terrifying too for those who would rather ignore it.

[fzzr]

Hyouka and Why Slow Anime Can Be Great, Too

Hyouka is a 2012 anime about the four members of the Classics (literature) Club hanging out and investigating the mundane mysteries that surround their lives. The mysteries of Hyouka are never as simple as finding out what happened. A mystery is not solved until you find the root cause, the emotional and interpersonal forces that put things in motion in the first place. Sometimes you find once you know the root of the problem, you don't actually have a solution, or indeed the unsolved mystery is preferable to a full airing of the conflict at its heart.

Our protagonist, Houtarou Oreki, wishes only for a life at the lowest energy level possible. He will expend effort, but only for the purpose of removing friction to lower the amount of effort needed in the future. When circumstance puts him in the Classics Club with Eru Chitanda, he finds that her curiosity about the world and its small mysteries pulls him along despite himself.

Hyouka demonstrates several things that many other series should perhaps take to heart.

First, it's slow by design. There are concessions to time pressure in the story itself, but the show never acts like it's running out of time. If it needs an episode to interview every interested party, it takes it. There's no rush to a solution once the evidence is gathered, either. Hyouka wants you to think before proposing solutions. It's possible your first solution is wrong. If you are wrong you need to understand why, not just find the correct answer on the next try.

Second, it's complete by default. Most slice of life series have some over-arching goal that is used as a binding agent for the entire series, like “we’re going to have a great performance” or such. This lets them have a finale that stands out from the energy level of the rest of the series. Hyouka has arcs that feed into each other and wrap up things from earlier, but they’re not the glue of the series. After the setup there’s no need to continue to justify the framing. Everyone just shows up to the club. There’s no dramatic “oh no it’s coming apart” moment, it just gets on with the life slices.

Third, it shows that even the tiniest amount of deviation in energy can be enough. Like its protagonist, Hyouka looks for the places it can make the most impact with minimum energy output. Mysteries have stakes, but they're almost all personal - important to those affected, but not world shattering. Extrinsic forces do not require them to take action. Instead, the club's involvement in a mystery is prompted by Eru with the simple phrase "watashi kininarimasu" - "I'm curious" - and a soft chime.

It's not like the show is running on low battery all the time. Many characters react to circumstances with great energy. The show simply refuses to take the bait. No one runs dramatically down the stairs to make it just in time to save the day. One moment of resolution comes from Houtarou paying attention to something happening outside the window, and interacting with it.

I’d call Hyouka a slow burn, but there’s no burn. It just is what it is. The story is complete when it stops for no other reason than that’s where it stops. It doesn’t demand a resolution. It’s open to more but doesn’t feel like it’s incomplete without it.

There's something I've been stepping around all this time. As described so far, Hyouka ought to be an 8/10, perhaps on the high end. However, there's something that nudges it over the line to a 9. Here it is. Hyouka, when it wants to be, can be absolutely beautiful. As with everything else, it does not expend this kind of energy often. When it does, it is emphasizing something very important. Hyouka isn't a filmed with straightforward style because that's all the animators can do. It's a choice, and using accents like this so sparingly makes them unreasonably effective as the rare exclamation point in Hyouka's otherwise calm and collected prose.

Conclusion

Score: 9/10. Most of my 9s are bombastic, tense, or feature a wide variety of energy levels. Hyouka is the exception, the only exclusively and truly slow show I regard so highly.

Recommendation: This is an anime for everyone. A small amount of knowledge of the Japanese language and cultural background are helpful but by no means required to appreciate the show from beginning to end. The official subtitles give the extra context needed. Feel free to skip the OVA pool episode.

Comparisons

Saekano is not as exclusively slow as Hyouka, but it does keep its pacing under control. The difference is with Saekano, slower than average parts are more to keep you in a particular emotional state than because the story isn't in a rush to get somewhere. It's not stalling for time, it's just written such that escaping from the abyss takes effort, and to really feel that you have to spend a while there.

Final Thoughts

This one is personal. Hyouka is one of a collection of anime series (along with Rascal Does Not Dream and especially Oregairu) that wormed into my head and now won't leave. In many shows, the ending is what sticks with you. In Hyouka, the part I can't shake is the beginning. I feel deeply connected to Houtarou's desire to absolutely minimize the effort and friction in daily life. Seeing him crack out of that mindset ever so slightly through interacting with others sent me on an inward journey. What grooves have I worn in my life that make toxic solitude the easiest path? What would I be if I hadn't had anyone to pull me out of that valley? What would I be if I had refused them? The fact that I feel the slightest pain when I engage with those questions and feel my mind skitter over them is not a comfortable one. I will be returning to Hyouka someday - and perhaps the next time those questions come up, I will have answers.