#isekai- too many and there are a lot of bad ones and i am the type to get fomo and try them all

[intomybubble]

I'm just about finished with My Little Inferno, and the ML (the LI) is so pathetic omfg. I feel like I'm reading Dame na Watashi ni Koishite Kudsai due to the main leads both being fucking losers (the FL in Dame na is in a dead end relationship and is practically a sugar mommy who ends up in debt to support her BF which almost leads her to being sold into prostitution. Her attitude isn't great either). Like if I could get a hot guy to fall head over heels in love with me even after he witnesses me puking, pissing, and crying myself out of fear and getting hassled by old bullies (if only I were a BL protag bc he'd think I'm cute), I would think something is wrong with him and that I probably made it in life. The ML isn't particularly... useful. The only thing he has going for him is being cute and short, and being needy towards the LI. The LI makes for a good house husband.

Based on the cover art for the manga, I would've thought it was really dark (like Killing Stalking or Blind play) but its mostly just about cyber crime and embezzlement and sorta the yakuza (mostly mentioned, briefly seen). To an extent, this series sorta reminded me of Semantic Error, but only because of the computer stuff though. Otherwise, I sorta like the slice of life aspects. I think the crime stuff is sorta underbaked. I wish there was more risk or something to make things tense bc the only thing was ML's mom getting get info stolen and getting $300k in debt.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

idk if anyone has recommended this yes but This Isekai Maaid Is Forming A Union is really good. it's about a maid who keeps getting reincarnated as "maid characters" every life, and it also has a lot of exploration of how labor polictics would actually work in an isekai/Fantasy Western Nobility(tm) setting. The main lot is the MC trying to form a maid union, but there's also a ton of fucked-up magic and reincarnation and worldbuilding. not too many weird faces, but the art is actually very nice.

Thanks for the recommendation; I just read it and while I'm unfamiliar with the things it's lampooning (I assume the amount of routinely-dismissed service worker abuse, horrible love interests, and focus on nobility dismissively introducing modern tech in shallow stupid ways in the genre is greatly exaggerated, the genre as a whole cannot possibly be that bad), I am having a lot of fun with it. One problem I had with The Greatest Estate Agent was the huge gap between the work's politics and mine (which isn't a dealbreaker, it's still fun!) and this one matches my politics perfectly.

[novas-corner]

OH DEAR GODS PEOPLE ACTUALLY LIKED MY WRITING???? I hope y’all know I’m freaking out about this, it will get to my head (my apolocheese)

Anyways, a singular person asked for more… so… more it is!!

Again with all of this I know almost NOTHING about the game, I’ve missed out on a lot of lore since I am simply a card collector… and I’m very biased towards characters 😭‼️

Also this was NOT proofread properly (I’m doing this on no sleep at eight in the morning.)

Anyways, part 1 is here!

Also I’m basing their schedules around THIS post here!! (I think it’s official stuff? Idk)

Thank you for listening to me yap… back to being isekaid!!!! (I still do not know how to spell that)

Oh also there’s angst ish in here? Idk man I’m just writing out my thoughts at this point LOL

OH FUCK AN ISEKAI

Alright well sleeping was… a nightmare. All five of them argued until you eventually gave up and went to the couch. Damn boys, they’re gonna make your life trouble and you know it. But you gotta admit… five guys fawning all over you is kinda nice! The attention? Fantastic. They give you massages? UGH, so nice.

Well… you’ll need one of those mentioned massages tomorrow, you know damn well your back is going to be killing you in the morning.

You’re surprised to see Sylus walk into the living room, sitting next to you.

“You shouldn’t sleep out here sweetie, it’s not good for your body… what if I took you back to the N109 zone with me? You could sleep in a nice comfortable bed there and there would be much more space”

You groan, sitting up

“The only way I will do that is if you bring the other four with us. You need to remember that we are all not technically in our own universes since this ISNT the main storyline of the game. I don’t want them to be stranded here, I’d feel bad about that”

He sighs, but smiles down at you, pulling your head into his lap.

“Always thinking of others before yourself hm sweetie? Be a bit selfish sometimes okay?”

You huff, but relax into his embrace nonetheless.

“Yeah… I’ll try. Why are you up anyways? Couldn’t sleep?”

He’s running his fingers through your hair (or just rubbing your bald head, idk man) and chuckles down at you.

“Oh come on, I thought you knew all about us”

He’s teasing you… cocky mf-

“The N109 zone doesn’t have a day or night technically, so my schedule is a bit off from everyone else”

Oooooooh… riiiight… you had forgotten about that, honestly there’s probably so much you’ve forgotten. You never did read through the events or stories, just let them play in the background to get more pulls for banners… maybe you should get back into the story after all this blows over… or then again… maybe you won’t have to due to being with them all the time now.

“Right… I forgot about that… well I’m… tired. So I’m going to sleep- lemme move-“

You’re trying to shuffle off his lap to not disturb him, but he just rests a hand on the small of your back and tells you to ‘not worry’ and that he can ‘handle you sleeping for a bit’

…that’s sweet…

You’re relaxing into him almost immediately and drifting off, letting your slumber take over you.

What you don’t know however, is that once sylus is sure you’re asleep, he’s analyzing you, trying to see if this was all some ploy to not be caught for cheating… but it’s really a different person. What was once a person he knew was now just someone who knew him. It was a strange feeling, they had the face of the one he loved, they almost sounded like them too— they just spoke differently. It felt so right and yet so wrong to have you there… maybe he should have Zayne give you a physical checkup tomorrow, make sure you’re healthy and all.

Sylus tries to not care for you, after all… you’re not HIS, not the person he knew. But you acted the same in so many ways… hopefully this can all be fixed. For now though, he sits running his fingers through your hair as he reads a book.

~Timeskip~

It’s morning now and you groggily wake up to the smell of bacon. You’re sitting up, rubbing your sleep ridden eyes as a cheerful voice calls out from the kitchen.

“Oh! Sorry pips, did I wake you up?”

You’re standing now, walking over to Caleb with a yawn.

“Nono… I just woke up… whatcha making?”

He’s all smiles, you’re honestly not sure how he has so much energy at six in the morning but whatever.

“Just some bacon and eggs! Want some?”

He says with a grin, pointing to the plate of bacon and eggs. You pause, eyeing the plate.

“Were the eggs made first? I’m allergic and can’t really risk cross contamination… don’t wanna die today, y’know?” (I’m reminding y’all that this is ME written as if it’s YOU. We ain’t having eggs together homies 🫵🥲)

“Oh?? Uh… I think so? Maybe you shouldn’t eat them to be safe… I’ll make you something else!”

He’s saying while already looking for something else to make… at least they know where everything in this apartment is located, I’ve got no clue.

You’re trying to find bread and hear him mumbling something about how his version of you isn’t allergic to anything… guess that’s a difference.

He sees you rifling through literally every drawer and pats you on the head.

“You know you can ask for things… right?”

“Well- maybe I just wanted to see if I could do it myself, this is technically my apartment after all… but uh… where’s the bread?”

He’s laughing at you, pointing to the bread literally in the counter, you blind blind mf. Your shoulders almost slump in defeat as you pop some toast into the toaster and open the fridge. Huh… fully stocked… that’s nice, where’s the butter though…

As if reading your mind, Caleb walks behind you and grabs the butter for you.

“Here, it’s buried in there, you wouldn’t have found it alone”

You’re just kinda looking up at him, he’d got you cages in between him and the door- HE DID THE HOT THING WHERE THEY GRAB SOMETHING FOR YOU GANG. Ugh you forget that this is a game about flirting and they’re gonna be doing that.

“Oh… right, thank you”

You’re quickly scurrying away from him— and as everyone does, you get spooked by the damn toaster. That mf laughs at you AGAIN. Jerk…

Anyways you’re buttering your toast and watching as he plates his food, having made extra for the others… that’s sweet of him.

“I usually ask my version of you to work out in the mornings… so… would you want to join me for a morning workout after breakfast?”

You look up from your toast, a mouthful and crumbs on your face, he just smiles at you as you swallow your food and wipe your face.

“Mm- sure? Im not the strongest though so expect me to not keep up.”

Which gets you thinking… how in the hell are you going to do the job of the MC??? There’s no way you could deal with wanderers… would you being here jeopardize the job the MC has? Oh gods I mean you can technically rely on the guys for money but what if they get sick of you not being their MC. Not only that, is time passing back home? Will people realize you’re gone? Are you going to end up like an unsolved crime case?

“Hey… are you okay?”

His voice snaps you out of the despair trace you were in, you look up at him with wide eyes and see him looking at you concerned.

“Oh… yeah sorry I was just thinking… I’ll join you for the workout, it’ll probably take my mind off things.”

You’re trying to keep smiling, you’ve been obsessed with these men for months and they’re literally all here, you should just enjoy this in case it’s a dream, y’know?

He’d still visibly concerned but decides to drop it, finishing his food and grabbing yours and his empty plates, putting them in the sink to wash later.

“Well let’s go workout then shall we? You can sit on my back while I do pushups? Alright pips?”

OH BOY!!! You’re standing with a smile, nodding along and following him along to the door, pausing and looking down at your clothes.

“Ooooh wait I need to change my clothes first”

You begin to wander back to what you found out is your room, walking in to see Zayne buttoning up his shirt, and Rafayel and Xavier cuddled up in bed… well more like Xavier cuddling up to Rafayel but whatever they look kinda cute, y’know?

You smile at Zayne, he just nods to you, finishing putting his shirt on.

“There’s breakfast there, Caleb made eggs and Bacon, plus bread for toast”

You’re saying as you walk over to the closet, rifling through the clothes there. You know that MC has got to have something for a workout other than this damn hunters uniform… surely right?

Oh thank the gods they do. (I actually could not find one but I’m gonna guess MC has a workout outfit)

“Are you working out? Have you eaten breakfast yet?”

You turn to see Zayne, who is now hovering behind you.

“Oh! Yeah Caleb invited me to workout with him, I guess him and the me you know worked out in the mornings”

He just nods.

“Alright, enjoy that then, I’ll be back later, I’m going to try and stay with you overnight and whatnot to see if I can help figure out what’s going on, the rest of the men have also agreed they want to be around as well.”

You just nod, biting at your lip slightly. It’s sweet that they care about you enough, but you’re sure they’re only caring because they want their old lives back. You can’t really blame them though since you just want your life back too. Again, it’s nice to be here with men you’ve simped over… but you have friends, parents… ugh be positive damnit, we can’t be depressed all the time.

“Right okay…“

You’re trailing off, not really knowing how to proceed.

“The white haired man— Sylus I believe? He mentioned that I should give you a checkup at some point today. Would you rather visit the hospital during my lunch break or wait I til I get back?”

You raise an eyebrow at his words. Oh boy these mfs are in for a TREAT, they’ll never expect the amount of things wrong with me. Huh that begs the question, will my body function differently than theirs? I mean obviously I don’t have the protocore heart and whatever else… but is it different since they’re game characters?

OH MF YOU DIDNT ANSWER-

“Probably just when you get back, I’m not really sure how to get to the hospital after all.”

He just nods, patting you on the head and walking out.

“Sounds good, I’ll expect you to be ready when I get home then. Have a good day.”

HE’S SO STOIC???? I don’t know how to feel bout that but whATEVER YOURE SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING OUT.

You gather your clothes and move over to the bathroom, as you’re getting dressed you can hear Rafayel waking up and causing a ruckus over being cuddled by Xavier. God damn he’s loud…

You’re changed now and walk back to the living room, where Caleb is sat on the couch waiting for you.

“Ah! Finally pips! Felt like I was gonna have to search for you in case you had gotten lost!”

He’s honestly adjusted really well to the fact that I’m not the me he knows. I wonder if it’s a facade, I know damn well he cares a great deal for his version of me. STOP THINKING SO NEGATIVELY. DAMN.

Anyways you’re smiling slightly at his words, listening to him yap about what he’s planning to do for his workout, it’s just going in one ear and right out the other if I’m being real.

You leave the apartment and go to the gym that I guess the apartment has? (I’m making things up as I go at this point, things will just appear as I need them too)

He’s doing weights and stuff, you’re struggling to get through his tough workout (I’m crippled sorry gang, if I gotta struggle so do you 💔)

He notices this of course and slows his pace down, eventually stopping and patting you on the shoulder.

“Hey… you don’t need to do this y’know?”

You just sigh and look up at him defeated.

“Does your version of me do this every day? That bitch is ATHLETIC.”

He laughs at you and offers to just help him with his workout I stead, which you joyfully agree to, watching Caleb workout? YES PLEASE.

So now here you are, sat on his back and counting his pushups for him. Huh, suddenly the angst from earlier is gone as you watch his ARMS??? UGHHHH 🤩

He eventually finished that up though (UNFORTUNATELY) and just looks up at you… still on his back, making it just a lil bit hard to get up.

“Pips… you gotta move y’know?- I will just roll you over, you should know this.”

Oh we gotta know what that means.

“Hm? The ground is talking, how strange…”

You’re looking up at the ceiling with an almost expectant grin on your face, which he does not fail to realize. Well you asked for it.

Suddenly he has managed to roll you off him and have you underneath him. Don’t ask the logistics of it, just go with it.

You’re looking up at him with wide eyes, Christ it was fast— how in the hell did he do that???

He just chuckles and gets off of you, offering a hand out for you to take, which you do and he pulls you up. "l have to say, you don't act all that different, it's easy to forget you're not the same person I've known." OUCH????? OK ANGST IS BACK IG??? He's walking you back up to your apartment, the hand he used to help you up now wrapped around your shoulder "Oh?.. is that... a bad thing?" "I suppose it isn't! It makes you fun to be around!" "Ah okay..." You trail off, you know what you want to ask but... "What happens if you can't get... the other me back?" The words tumble out of your mouth before you can think to stop them, he almost freezes in his tracks but keeps walking, smile faltering slightly. "I'm... not sure..." "Would you stick around knowing I'm not the person you knew? Or are you just here to get them back?"

He doesn't know how to answer you, because of course he wants his version of you back... but would he just.. leave? He doesn't even know himself. "For now lets not worry about that, okay pips? I'm here now and that's all that really matters, we'll figure everything out eventually" You just nod, looking down and mumbling a small apology... well that's... sad. So anyways you finally make it back to the apartment, and head to your room to grab a basic outfit.

Xavier is STILL asleep- does this mf have narcolepsy??? Whatever, you grab your outfit and turn to go to the bathroom, you need a shower to think again, plus you smell like sweat.

The door to the bathroom is closed when you get there, you knock only to hear Rafayel telling you to come in. You walk in and OH MY STARS-

“OH- sorry didn’t realize you would be IN the bath- I can come back later I’m so sorry-“

He cuts you off with a wave of his hand.

“No no it’s okay, did you need something?”

He’s asking with a slight tilt to his head. Dear gods man he is sculpted like a god, probably because he literally is one- STOP STARING.

You manage to snap yourself out of it, face absolutely red and looking down at the clothes in your hands.

“Sorry I was just trying to shower and get dressed- I can do so later-“

He’s sitting up in the bathtub, motioning for you to come closer.

“You can come bathe with me if you’d like? I don’t mind sharing.”

SIR?????? You are red as a lobster and I fear he is reveling in this fact— HOW IS HE SO CALM ABOUT THIS????

“No- that’s fine I’ll just… see myself out… thanks for the offer though”

You manage to mumble out, looking anywhere but at him and finally turning yer butt around to walk out. You hear him chuckle behind you and call out to you as you shut the door, playful as ever.

“Your loss Mx bodyguard!!”

TEASING MF. Ok anyways we need to find somewhere else to change it seems. So you opt to just shut yourself in the little closet and get changed. Xavier is still asleep in bed, which is kinda cute, he’s out like a ROCK. Honestly and earthquake could pass through and not much would happen I fear.

You wander around the place, Caleb, Zayne and Sylus are all out somewhere, Rafayel is in the bath and Xavier is asleep. There’s… not much to do.

You’re tired though and you slept on the couch, so you find yourself walking over to your room and climbing into bed opposite to Xavier.

You pass right out.

—————————————

Gang I’ll be honest, you could FEEL it falling apart at the end😭‼️

In my defense, it’s almost eight in the morning and I have not slept.

I wrote myself into a bit of a corner too since there’s like… nothing going on ‼️‼️‼️

I also do not know how to write seggsy time so I had to QUICKLY 180 from that.

Anyways I have ideas for another part, if people don’t burn me at the stake for being a crap writer I might add another part to this disaster LMAO

Okok yap session is over, thank you for reading this !! 🤩

Tag list ?!?! (Ask to be added 🤩)

@lunia-likes-pomegranet

[genericpuff]

With LO being done, a mass layoff apparently happening recently, and high profile creators like that of Bugtopia bailing from them, do you think Webtoons is gonna last much longer?

So I had heard about the layoff through the grapevine (as in, pals that I know who are aware of the situation) but honestly, I don't think this is the end of Webtoons as an app... I think this is definitely an end of a version of Webtoons that we were all familiar with as both creators and readers. I've been noticing this shift over the past couple years and now it seems to be coming to a head, a status quo shift from Webtoons being an earnest "anyone can find success with us" community of readers and indie creators to just another enshittified corporate platform that's only interested in churning out content to keep up its bottom line.

Before I continue, obligatory reminder that I am not an Originals creator, just a former Canvas creator and avid webcomic reader. None of this post is to accuse Webtoons of foul play or spread misinformation, these are simply my opinions based on my own experiences with the app and its staff, research that I've done into Webtoons' practices and history as a company, and firsthand + secondhand accounts of experiences on the backend from various Originals creators who have willingly spoken up on the matter. Take the following dissection and rant about Webtoons with mountains of salt.

The biggest sign of this shift I've seen has definitely gotta be the reduction of greenlit Canvas series in favor of imported Korean series. Now I will say there was a time that there genuinely were too many greenlit series, back when they used to do their launch weeks, and I think scaling that back isn't necessarily a bad thing to prevent oversaturation, but oversaturation is still very much happening, it's just through imported series now.

Though I will say a counter argument to this is that Webtoons' own audience has a habit of believing that EVERY piece of work needs to be read and kept up with. This is surely a side effect of Webtoons going from being a smaller platform with only a few select Originals series to suddenly launching hundreds more over the course of the last couple years, there WAS a time you could genuinely keep up with most of the series on the platform if you wanted, but now that's no longer possible, and while some would argue that's a flaw, I'd argue that greenlighting so many series isn't necessarily an invitation for you to read them all, it's just to buff up their library with more choices for those who are more particular about what they read. Do you enjoy isekai but don't like the one about the girl being reborn into her favorite medieval romance book? Well there are 50 other isekais set in medieval times for you to choose from.

That said, the ratio of greenlit Canvas series : Korean imports definitely feels like it's skewed more towards the latter over the past couple years, as we're now seeing them simply opt to import and translate series from their Naver platform. Some people don't really care or notice the difference, and there's certainly lots to be said about the popularity of many Korean works, but many other readers are now feeling iced out by the platform's sudden shift in art styles and storytelling tropes because Korean webtoons and manwhas do generally aim for a different audience than what a lot of veteran Webtoon users are used to. Plus from the creator side of things, it's undoubtedly making the playing grounds feel uneven where greenlit Canvas series now have to compete with the webtoons from overseas that are made in studios with teams of people and seem to also be paid far better than what NA creators are being paid. Webtoons already severely limits what series they choose to advertise and that's only gotten worse over the years with the ongoing oversaturation of the app's library.

That's only regarding quantity though, as there's surely lots to be said about how a lot of the higher quality stories are ones here made in North America, and a lot of that I feel has to do with the benefit of them being comics written in English by people who natively speak English. Unlike Korean manwha/webtoons, they don't have to go through the process of translation and localization which can unfortunately cause an otherwise well written manwha to lose its subtleties and specific writing choices due to rushed or poor translating (people who read scanlations of manga and manwha or who even just watch dubbed vs. subbed anime can certainly attest to this.)

With all that in mind, my own personal theory (*again, this is my opinion and tinfoil hat suspicions, not fact) is that Webtoons/Naver has essentially been outsourcing to North America to build up their app through titles like Lore Olympus, and now that that audience has been built, they seem to be bringing in their Korean series to benefit off that audience while reducing the amount of NA Canvas series they greenlight, particularly their most popular genres like Romance, Fantasy, and Action. How much they'll benefit, I can't say for certain, considering this is a company that has been operating in the red for years and IIRC they even practically admit to this in their IPO proposal (it's actually really funny to read if you're familiar with legal jargon and Webtoons as a company)

Fact of the matter though is that despite Webtoons building up that audience through legacy NA titles, they seem to have forgotten one fundamental thing - most of the people in that audience just don't seem to be interested in the content they're now trying to sell. Credit where credit is due, the aggressive marketing campaign surrounding Lore Olympus for the last 5 years did a great job at pulling in new people to the app, many of whom never read webtoons before. In all its flaws, Lore Olympus is very beginner friendly for people who are new to Webtoons, with guilty pleasure romance writing that a lot of NA readers enjoy nowadays and an art style that was very unique at the time.

But out of all those people who were attracted to the app through series like LO, how many do you think are reading Korean manwha? I don't have the numbers to back up this argument 🧂🧂🧂 but I personally doubt it's very many if all the complaints about Webtoons becoming 'samey' over the years is anything to go off of (right alongside the complaints of LO being marketed way too much lmao)

So no, I don't think Webtoons as a company is going anywhere. They've made it this long operating at a loss, mostly in part to their parent company Naver injecting them with funds (and for anyone unaware, Naver is essentially the Google of Korea, they're a massive tech company that owns Webtoons as a separate venture, not too different from Google owning Youtube in a sense) and now they're turning to public funding.

I do think Webtoons as we know it is dying and changing, for better and for worse however you may define it, and regardless of which way it goes, it's going to come with the consequential shift in both audience and creators that such a transformation brings. I was there when it happened to Tapas, I was there when it happened to DeviantArt, and now we're seeing it in real time with Webtoons all over again. Whether or not they rise from the ashes reborn anew or simply fester like a dying animal, that remains to be seen, but considering this is the same company that's currently exploiting and underpaying creators to keep their bottom line afloat, developing AI tools, and running an app that's held together with staples and glue and doesn't even have tagging implemented, I'm not holding my breath for the best case scenario. The company and its app may live on but the Webtoons that we knew for years is long gone and may never return again.

And that's my many cents on that.

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

Hobie x Isekai!Reader

[Reading Between the Lines]

WEEOO WEEOO Platonic Fic Idea WEEOO WEEOO

Hobie x Reader Isekai fic where the reader (me) is a Spider-man meta-analysis writer and they fall into the ATSV universe.

They meet Hobie and are completely starstruck, unable to speak. Flabbergasted. Uhh okay imma just do the intro "Hi, My name's Hobie, Hobie Brown. I was bitten by a-"

"...WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO KNOW YOU GET WHAT I MEAN!! And for the last three years I've been the one and only- *proceeds to do his whole intro for him*."

"What the fuck. Those are my lines. Bruv cut that shit out wth."

Everyone thinks they're weird as fuck, but Gwenpoole (and other Nexus beings) are taught about at The Society at least, so it's not a mystery why they are the way they are.

But they're just SO META

They're basically bouncing and they tell Hobie 'OMG, your like my favorite superhero. I write about you ALL THE TIME- Ignore the OC folder'

Hobies like 'I'm not a hero-'

'I knew you'd say that!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!!'

All of a sudden there's this huge Hobie groupie fan in the group that knows everything about them and their trauma 😭😭

The reader sees Gwen and is like '.......I know this isn't my place but I've read through the scene between you and your dad and I have some comments I'd like to make. I can leave out the ones where I wish him death.'

There's even a scene like this one between Miles and Gwen

Where Hobie is like 'oi this your analysis book lemme see-' only to open to dozens of pages of x-reader fics and Hobie x OC drawings

And reader is like

'Uh.... I ain't write that. I don't know how that got in there. That's not even my handwriting. I found that notebook actually 😭😭'

Meanwhile Hobies like 'Christ - how much time do you have on your hands 🤨🤔'

'....Is it that bad?'

'Oh I ain't say it was bad. Could use a some work though. Actually- *takes out Noir's reading glasses (which he stole) from his pocket because he's not gonna stand here and judge a book by its cover*'

Of course Hobie still reads the x-reader cause he's a cocky bastard.

And then he returns said fics covered in red pen and notes of 'I wouldn't do that-' or 'actually you should add this. This would be better.' or even 'Lemme do it. That other shite you wrote don't make no sense'

BASICALLY HELPING CONSTRUCT FICS ABOUT HIMSELF. Simply because he finds the concept hilarious.

He gets to the smut and he's like "How easy do you lot think I am? Think you can have a pass at me, you must be taking the fucking piss-" just ranting and raving as he STILL READS IT

Sitting there with a cup of tea reading smut of himself and covering it in red pen like it's the mornings crossword 😭😭

The crew eventually realize that the readers power of trope analysis crosses over and it's SO USEFUL

All they need to do is get reader in front of Miguel and reader gives him a heartfelt reading and connection of his trauma that equals the culmination of ten years of therapy

They're like 'i know this is all an act Miguel. I know this is all an act to cover up the crushing feeling of chaos and helplessness that comes from canon. And really, all of this is just a mirror - you wanting to control how things 'should be' because there were so many things you went through that you think shouldn't have. But those moments are apart of you-'

Miguel's likes 'WAIT WOAH STOP TALKING'

They start bringing up Gabriel and Xina and shit from the comics.

Everyone's like 'Who the hell is Gabriel-" meanwhile Miguel is on the floor sobbing going 'mi hermano. mi hermano pequeno 😭😭😭'

And it ends with them all hugging Miguel after this person just read him for filth using the power of Isekai Canon Knowledge

I'm having TOO MUCH FUN WITH THIS

In the end Reader and Hobie become best friends because they both stand out so much in other universes and both take nothing entirely serious.

Plus they're both really perceptive and nosey and good at reading people so sometimes they see some subtle shit go down and they look at each other like

"We minding our business~ 😩🎶🗣️ we ain't gon say shit~ We gon mind our goddamn business 🎤🎸🔈'

Ok ok I'm done I'm done 😭😭😭

[parkouringrabbit]

20 Questions for fic writers

@hylianworrier tagged me (love you mean it)

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

20 even!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count? 185,151

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

The Wizard Distribution System

Just ridiculous Bloodweave reverse isekai, for fun. A big excuse for me to make a bunch of jokes.

Sugar, Spice, and everything nice

Bloodweave gender-swapping porn

Gale Chose the Bear

Oakweave porn

Head Over Heels

Fluffy Bloodweave story. My first gift for Hylian

A View to a Kill

Crossdressing Bloodweave porn. My second gift to Hylian. I just really like Hylian, okay?!

4. What fandoms do you write for?

Only BG3. I really didn't do fandoms much, except briefly into League of Legends and it was a bad experience so I didn't get involved again until BG3/Gale/Bloodweave. It has been a great experience with a few bumps, but I've made some amazing friends!!

I had no idea Ao3 even existed until last year and I knew about tumblr but I didn't mess with it until about a year ago, too.

All of this is very new to me!!

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to! I have moments where my brain doesn't know what to say so I say something generic, but I try to be as thoughtful as I can!

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Probably Always

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Most of them are one-shots and I haven't finished either of my long fics, but both of my long fics will be happy endings.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not so far. Everyone has been pretty nice. I have got scammers on a fic before though.

9. Do you write smut?

Yeah! My most recent fic was smut!

10. Do you write crossovers?

The Wizard Distribution System will feature a brief crossover, but that would be my first one.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. I don't really see the point, does this actually happen?!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I host fic trains, if that counts, and recently did some RP which I've really enjoyed! I would REALLY LOVE to co-write with someone though, it just seems like fun. If someone wants to co-write a fic with me for fun sometime DM me or message me on Discord, I'd be totally down.

14. What’s your all-time favorite ship?

I never did ships before BG3! Ships is totally new to me too! Bloodweave is my favorite, but now that I've been doused in shipping culture I've been into Jayvic (Jayce and Viktor from arcane) and judge me all you want but Stobotnik (Dr. Robotnik and Stone from the live action Sonic movies)

15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have a Shadowheart/Wyll fic sitting in my google docs, along with a Dark urge/Gale that's 25k words but it's so complicated and ambitious I don't know if it will get finished anytime soon (if ever)

16. What are your writing strengths?

I am still a baby writer, so I'm not totally sure, but I like to experiment with writing styles a lot. A lot of my fics are very different in terms of writing style and content.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

I'm still on the struggle bus with grammar and tenses. My vocabulary is also not as big as it could be, but I've been learning. Also, I'm totally open to criticism if anyone wants to DM me and tell me I'm shit and how I could improve.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

I've never done it, but if I did it would be something very brief. I'm not sure I trust google translate to do it completely right lol.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

BG3, first and only.

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written?

Probably Letters from Morena

A series of letters I wrote from the perspective of Morena to Gale during his isolation in the tower. It's very personal to me because I'm also a mom, so I wanted to explore how she probably would have felt during that time.

Come on out and play, @chaoswritesthemultiverse , @itinerantginger-blog , @miradelletarot

[hellofeternity]

ORV transcends language | how ORV is kind to readers (1.1k words)

the difficulties in analyzing text are already numerous without a language barrier, the way one word can mean 5 things and when you put it in a sentence suddenly it can mean 50 things and put that sentence in a paragraph? go further and put that paragraph in a page? construct a whole world around it, weave it into the fabric, and suddenly you are painting with words.

ORV is a daunting text, it calls and references so many mythos world wide, greek, roman, indian, chinese, japanese, it plays with meaning and intent and uses gaps in our knowledge like weapons, making us extrapolate our own meaning between the sentences, it is a tome of knowledge when it comes to histories and philosophies it feels at times like I will never understand all these things inside it.

One of the difficulties of reading a translated text is that when we analyze a text the authorial intent weighs very heavily in our minds, sure we can immerse ourselves in the world but once we start picking apart at the threads we hit a wall pretty soon when we start asking ourselves "what did the author mean by this?" however in a translated text there is an obvious gap, a game of telephone, did the translator actually capture the authors intent? or are we just reading the translators perception? sadly I don't know korean, and I cant say I have the drive to learn it, as such I know there will forever be a side of ORV that I will never be privy to - however I am bilingual and had the pleasure of reading two translated versions of ORV, an English translation and an Arabic translation, I didn't finish reading the said Arabic translation but a couple things stood out to me when I briefly did ORV is very kind to readers, following along in other stories can seem confusing at times, the pacing might be too fast and you might miss some details in a characters actions, the wording might be too vague and ah damn 20 pages later you realize you don't actually know why the characters are doing what they are doing. A big writing adage that you will see a lot is "show dont tell" and it holds merit, but ORV doesn't subscribe to it, because ORV shows AND tells. ORV built a world around readers and reading, and it makes sure that there is clarity every step of the way on what is happening, first by starting out as a homage to the isekai genre, and not deviating too much at the start, making the readers feel at home in a worldview they are familiar with, systems, leveling, videos games etc, and when it starts deviating it explains things with clarity that no matter how bad the translation is you understand the general intent, and secondly by being VERY blatant about the names of things and having a built in "story" system that is built on common story tropes and names the themes for you! take for example "unbroken faith" and "Blade of faith" both of these are two translated versions of dokja's sword. I will never know which one is closer to the original authorial intent, but I can tell you something, dokja's sword is symbolism to the faith he is wielding. (CH386 vague spoilers) or the entirety of "the great war of saints and demons" being about the concept of good and evil fighting and how kimcom aren't just above being good and evil, they are both. By using story tropes that we are familiar with to explain the complexity of situations in a simple forms you no longer have to worry about losing you readers understandings through language barriers. Every story in the world in every language knows what good vs evil is, every language has the words to explain them. and therein lies the beauty of ORV. But of course this isn't to say translations don't matter, it does speak to the strength of an original texts clarity when it accounts for the big things by making them simplified, but when we get down to the nitty gritty it starts to lose form take for example

"Tell me, you fool. If I continue to regress, will I ever get to meet you again?"

this person here has a great write up explaining the translators thoughts behind this specific line

but it has spawned a lot of debate in the English speaking fandom, as to the strength of its translation, I remember when I first saw someone claiming that its a mistranslation and "you fool" isn't part of the original, my first thought was "and so?" I do not mean to be dismissive to the original text, but I do not exist in a space where I can appreciate it in the original korean, I do not exist in a worldview where I can understand the historical implications of a lot of the characters, and even when I try to research it in English sadly the resources do not exist yet and its even more laughable to think of finding these things in Arabic. (Goryeos first sword doesn't have an English wikipedia page as a clear example) a lot of people have issues with the most popular English fantranslation of ORV - and I can understand why, being bilingual I have a lot of opinions on how a lot of things SHOULD be translated most of the time, and have done my own translation work but as I sit and think about this popular translation I cant help but just feel love for it, it might be lacking to some, it might be inaccurate at times to others, but its just enough for me to paint the gaps in the text with my perceptions, the words used are tied to my affections the Arabic translation of ORV is clunky, it is messy, it doesn't have as much grace as the English translation of ORV does, the words barely string together cohesively, but it has enough clarity, enough intent, and enough love for its readers, to catch their hearts, their attention and their energy

and so I want this to be the first post on this blog because, the author is dead here, not because I buried them, but because the tower of babel fell down a long time ago, and all we have is rubble and each other. a lot of the analysis on this blog will try to be respectful to the korean original wherever it can, however my words will be coming from an anglosphere perspective, and build on other English reader's perceptions of a text translation that a decent amount of people don't think is adequate, but just like ORV is kind to us, we can be kind back, I will quote the most popular version because its what connects us together, and while the authors intent might be lost, we can share our own meanings with each other, and build our own intent from the rubble.

[alpydk]

20 Questions: Writing Edition

Oh god @nocryptographer - I'll be here all night... But thank you :D

How many works do you have on ao3?

66... But I write a lot of shorter fics. Though, one of those fics is actually 24 fics too. I have a lot of fics.

What’s your total ao3 word count?

303,617 - A year of work there :D

What are your top five fics by kudos?

Cabinet of Oddities

Consequences and Confessions

Eclipse

By Mystra

The Moment

Also, while I'm here. Your fic of Riley Loses The Baby is an amazing yet absolutely heartbreaking fic and I love you for writing it.

What fandoms do you write for?

BG3, House MD. I have some one-offs for Silent Hill 2 and Resident Evil, and am the sole writer for Last Days of the Space Age.

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Yessss..... But I'm crap at it. Someone leaves me an amazing comment and I plan to reply and then I forget and then too long passes and I think it's odd to reply so I put it off longer. It's a whole thing. I also never know what to reply back.

What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Hahahahahahahahahahahaha. So many to choose from!

I'm going with Circling Sky though. What started as an angst will they/won't they, turned into the most painful fic I've ever written ending in Gale's writing a suicide note and the woman who fell in love with him unsure if she could be with him any longer. It was heavy even for me.

Do you get hate on fics?

Only anonymously. Got accused of copying another writer's idea, despite the fact I posted my fic before them and we hadn't even discussed it together AT ALL. Had someone bad mouth an ending to a fic simply because they didn't enjoy it (boo hoo). And I've had someone tell me to KMS because my work was depressing. You see why I deleted my Tumblr with my breakdown?

Do you write smut?

I have written smut but I doubt it will be happening again for a while. I just don't enjoy it. Not because it's difficult. I, 1 - Get bored with it. Once something has gone in a hole, how many ways can you really write it? and 2 - Smut just makes me uncomfortable. Maybe I'm just old?

Do you write crossovers?

H.S - Sort of a BG3 Tom Cardy crossover. I'd love to do a House and BG3 one but it needs to get into the queue with every other idea.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of. But then again, I don't go searching.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

I have to try to understand my own English a day or two after writing, but I doubt that's what's being asked. So, no.

Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

No, but me and @judasiskariot have been discussing it! We just need the stars to align!

What’s your all time favourite ship?

BOOOOOOOGGGGGGGG!

Otherwise Gale/Rugan

What’s the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I don't think I can leave a WIP unfinished. I have my Isekai one started... and that's been on chapter 1 for about 6 months now, but the notes are written. I think I just need to figure out the ending for that one.

What are your writing strengths?

Asking the wrong person. I can be poetic as fuck sometimes.

What are your writing weaknesses?

My writing.

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

Done it! What a Røv - A Gale and Tav short where she speaks Illuskan (or Danish, in this case). It was a lot of fun but I dread someone coming along and saying it's cringe. IT'S NOT OKAY!

First fandom you wrote for?

Baldur's Gate 3 - Just over a year of writing now. Though I did write fics when I was young, I wouldn't class them as fanfics. I just stole names from things I liked.

Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

I've been thinking a lot about As You Wish recently. That one just seemed to click in all the right places. Asshole abusive Ex-husband, Gale being Romantic, angst and comfort with a nice happy ending.

My favourite changes with each day of the month it seems.

---

Tagging @optimisticgrey @senualothbrok @serenaoffaerun - And open tag for anyone else who wants to take this.

[aldritch-ao3]

old person, do you play games ?? what games do you play

[ insert pitiful hamster ]

andd!! fave colour(s), reading genre, do you prefer manga manhwa or manhuas ??

this feels like an interrogation ... im sorry 🙁🙁🙁

questions for me … what a treat ! don’t be sorry it’s like a nice little delight :o) especially after a longass car ride. blegh.

for the record, my online alias is AM ! cogito ergo sum, i think therefore i write self indulgent fanfic. calling me aldritch is fine too. whatever feels right

i DO play games ! i’m an avid shiny hunter in pokémon games, but my go-to favourites are don’t starve together and skyrim. for the good of my reputation i won’t say how many collective hours i have in skyrim. my favourite games are either cozy farming-type games (stardew, fields of mistria, cattails, etc) and games that are a little scary to play or experience (shipwrecked 64, bloodborne, home safety hotline, etc).

bonus mention to pokemon mystery dungeon 2 explorers of time/darkness/sky, and super danganronpa 2 goodbye despair. not games i replay often but long-time favourites of mine. and anyone who knew me before playback will know i’m a big fan of the sonic franchise. even if i’m ,.. really bad at the games and prefer the comics

as for colours, i like yellow a lot! mustard yellow … though i wear a lot of maroon and green. and my whole pc setup (and part of my hair) are pink. you just have to trust me on liking yellow. i promise i do

reading genres … even more all over the place, i’m not gonna lie, esp bc i dont have as much time to read. i really enjoy a bit of dogshit xenofiction via warriors, but when it comes to actually enjoyable books that i own, id say highlights are the indifferent stars above by daniel james brown, and plastiboo’s vermis series! (i feel like my main username and alias should tell you what my favourite short story is lmao) i also can’t reasonably call a webcomic a novel no matter how long it is, but if i could justify it i’d add homestuck to the favourite novel list.

i’ve definitely read the most manga versus manhwa and manhua, but i don’t read many of any of them in general to be honest! aside from jjk, i'd say kaiju no. 8 and my hero academia are easy favourites (and bnha's horikoshi is one of my favourite artists of all time), and anyone who’s added me on discord will be used to seeing giyuu from demon slayer as my icon every now and again … but i tend to have a love-hate relationship with most manga i read. while i love when a book series sucks, very few manga suck in ways that captivate me the same. tokyo ghoul? maybe?

i don’t read a lot of comics in general i’m kind of like a video essay guy. shounen is my guilty pleasure but i also have very little patience for tasteless fanservice or most romance tropes or the overuse of shock value in horror series or the way the modern isekai genre Is. so it’s. yknow. in theory i like manga. in practice im a massive hater.

if you want to access the wavelength of my brain, just get really into hazel's normal creepypasta retrospective , the ember knight , and the ninth hour all back to back

[itsavgbltpta]

Should You Watch The Anime?

(Speed Run Winter 2024 Edition!)

I watch too many shows a season to really want to dig deep and review all of them, but since we're a few weeks into the Spring 2024 anime season, I figure I can give you a rundown of the Winter 2024 season!

I'm only talking about shows I finished, and maybe only a couple with sentences on my judgement and some flavor text. If you want to know more about my thoughts for a specific anime listed, let me know and maybe's I'll do a full review on it.

So, Should You Watch The Anime?

In no particular order...

Fluffy Paradise (Isekai de Mofumofu Nadende suru Tame ni Ganbattemasu)

No. It's not a bad show, but not really worth the time either - unless you just have to see a little girl petting random animals and monsters.

The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic (Chiyu Mahou no Machigatta Tsukaikata)

Yes, if you like isekai that take their time building things up. Fun premise and fun characters, though it doesn't have a conclusive ending.

Mashle season 2

Yes, though only if you watched season 1 already. Still a lot of dumb shounen fun, but now with the best OP of the year.

7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! (Loop 7-kaime no Akuyaku Reijou wa, Moto Tekikoku de Jiyuu Kimama na Hanayome Seikatsu wo Mankitsu suru)

Yes, if you're looking for a good romance anime with interesting characters/world. I liked it so much I read all the translated light novels out so far.

Mr. Villain's Day Off (Kyuujitsu no Warumono-san)

Yes, if you're looking for a unique slice of life show. It has chill vibes most of the time, but also some heartfelt stuff. And pandas.

High Card season 2

Not really, even if you watched season 1. They added some weird twists and barely resolve character arcs.

Snack Basue

Maybe, but only if you like kuso-anime and can appreciate assholes as they converse. I laughed at this one more than I thought I would, but it ain't for everyone.

Delusional Monthly Magazine (Gekkan Mousou Kagaku)

No, but it's decent for an anime aimed at a younger audience. Just a little too silly for most of the run, so I couldn't get invested.

Bucchigiri?!

Absolutely Yes if you love dudes that kick each other's asses while feeling like they should be making out with each other instead. This was my favorite show of the season, but I also have unique tastes, lol.

Brave Bang Bravern! (Yuuki Bakuhatsu Bang Bravern)

Maybe, as long as you jive with the main protagonist and don't guess the big twist by episode 3. Guessing the twist so early kind of made the rest of the show a slog. I did want to like this one, but it was just okay in my book.

Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard (30-sai made Doutei dato Mahoutsukai ni Mareru Rashii)

Yes, if you're cool with Boys Love. Despite the absurd premise, the show conveys adult romance fairly well - and the couple actually communicates with each other!

Shangri-La Frontier (Shangri-La Frontier: Kusoge Hunter, Kamige ni Idoman to su)

Yes, especially if you're the type of person who watches Let's Plays. I am that person, so I had a lot of fun watching the progression through the game, especially with the great animation.

Metallic Rouge

No, unless you're really hard up for some sci-fi anime. I wanted to like this one, but it failed on a lot of levels.

[thelittlepingu]

⋞ A Hero and their Weapon. }] く⁠コ⁠:⁠彡

Splatoon Manga/Coroika x Isekai? Reader

⋞ enjoying your new life!!

16-Jan-2024 <-!!

[{ Thank you for enjoying the first chapter, I noticed there's a little misspelling as for 'hire' and 'here', eventually i Will learned my lesson and make better things with it,but still thank you for reading it it's bring me a smile.and it's a Lots of fun making this than I thought!! }]

The Fallacy has spoken: it is just so nice to see you again dear familiar

[{Reader will be called [{Redacted}]/Familiar in this and Will be using They/Them pronounce just for Everyone to enjoy in every Page,this will keep going in the future page}]

<<Chapter 1.5 [{you here}] <- [{previous chapter}] Chapter 2 ->

To be honest.. what chapter is this?.. it's still 1?.. then it's still Rider.. Probably now their team is already fighting.. uhhggg god dammit, you really wanted to watch their show who knows you can learn while watching their show ahhhgg dammit dammit..

. . .

Wait.. wait a minute.. you still can, it's a Corocoro cup tournament, every once a year there's going to be a tournament, whoever is Number one on Turf war is a Champion or you can say getting the cup.. and if many inkling join the tournament that's mean there's going to be some kind of live video eventually you know who there's too.. of course it's the one and only the Emperor.

Hm.. maybe that's why he get name like Arrogant air by Crusty Sean or everybody name him an Arrogant air... who kidding, he really is.. but in the end he got better.. but then nerf.. and then he start being a fast food worker... He must be bawling out his eyes in his room from losing to a C- inkling, okay that's funny and very true reaction

You. Pretty much like the Emperor but you don't want to be like that Arrogant inkling, you just have the trait of a Good confidence.. And you are already getting into Rank X in Splatoon 2, you are proud of yourself nonetheless, but like getting your ass kick by C- is damn so much denial because what the hell..

Okay enough, you then let yourself enter the Test Range.. you look for a spot to sit and watch the live.. after taking a spot to sit, of course taking the phone to watch the live..

. . .

Oh.. oh how cool, it was better from the Manga, you never know this is going to be intense.. those move and those weapons the Dynamo Weapon.. it looks really heavy.. to be honest you remember in Sheldon store it's really bigger than you thought, admiring the ^Play^ it's really good and having slick move too..

You get up and stare at your weapon.. a glimpse of thought start go again and again

. . .

' how will you win.. '

A devil speak to itself yet you are not a devil nor a villain you just.. you, you just seek thriving goal.. such as this ^Turf War^.. you wanted the seeking challenge, you can't let yourself down for just such a little thing.. you just can't... You can't..

. . .

. . .

. . .

SPLAT!!

SPLAT!!

' hah.. hah .. Hah.. '

You took a look at your hand.. the look at the dummies

It hitting the dummies, the look of concern and sweat was building up to your face.. was it really necessary to be like this.. you felt sorry for what emotion you're feeling right now but you can't help it either.. but then again.. people have their right to be little selfish right?,gosh what are you thinking stop being like that, stop trying to make things look like it's great even it's literally bad, ..hah.. okay.. you giving it a shot, of course the practice what were you thinking.

You start to walk in front of the dummies.. not too far not too near then start to Aming the Shooter at the dummies

After a whole hour passed by and you are sweating.. but you do feel awesome, it's like having fun to yourself, you learn a move or two, you like it, even though it's just some Beginner weapon it's was fun.

You can't wait for your main weapon, it is going to be great. Such a great journey..

. . .

Hah.. you guess you can rest for a while who knows the next thing goggles will be losing to another inkling.. yeah he does really get his butt kick with Rider Dynamo it's little funny.

And.. after that they are going to face the Army team, they thought they were not going to face them in the second of the game, like they thought they didn't face Rider for the first round of the Game, oh how unlucky but even though they still manage to win, and idiotic blue still win even they face the S4 for a second time is shocking, then again he is the protagonist of this Manga even he lose to skull and wanting a rematch then he still win

' gosh is there another way.. '

And here you are remembering that, but it is nice to remember a little thing even if it's not necessary to do.. you are bored.. the next Match it's of course Goggles team And Army Team.. okay why do you say it's Goggles team, the leader is literally Glasses.. ah whatever..

But yeah it's going to be them, the next match is will take a while than you thought.. why not texting ^Cloak^ for something.. anything is okay since you are literally exhausted from training.. maybe talk about the S4..?

Familiar Has Text.. [\White Cloak\]

[\Familiar\]: Hey 'cloak' I'm taking a break from training, and I'm exhausted.. but I wanted to know more about the S4, any idea?

[\White Cloak\]: oh?.. interest about the S4 are you.. well what do you want to know about them, personality? Training? Or more, I got everything

[\Familiar\]: anything, personal information could be included.. if you can.

[\White Cloak\]: oh of course I can, the first you probably know. Rider, he's an inkling who are the first Goggles and their team encounter, as you know first he looks like an intimidated inkling and of course he is,he has a tough personality and he seems to be short tempered, then he began cares about his team, he rather change when he gets defeated by goggles and his team in the end, he still keep his intimidated and still have his serious attitude look in my perspective.. but he truly good, he is the least strongest of S4 but he manages to play with S4 in the end [When Army cannot join the game actually].

[\White Cloak\]: and about Army, Army is an inkling.. who is the second goggles and his team encounter after Rider, but you already knew that aren't you, his personality stern, strict personality, straight forward inkling who pride himself on his Team ability to an counter any possible move that their opponent can make, but it's due to the data they collect in their Manual,in the end he lost to goggles, and yet now he making curry as a data of his too.. cannot blame him, to be honest you just like him.. a little haha

[\White Cloak\]: that's all I can say, for the other you are going to watch them by yourself, and probably ask me again ^^ I'm willing to answer things.

[\Familiar\]: ah.. that's okay.. but.. thanks for this, I can use this information, and still thanks Cloak.

[\White Cloak\]: no problem Dear Familiar, all I can say is I'm just helping you learn something that you wanted to know.. oh well then again I still have something to do.. bye familiar

[\Familiar\]: okay.. bye cloak

. . .

' oh okay that's some data you can use '

That is some information.. but you are excited for this, you can't wait to see their battle in front of your eyes.. you just can't wait but..

' right now I'm going to enjoy my life! '

. . .

Surely you do..

[{ To be Continued }] く⁠コ⁠:⁠彡

<<Chapter 1.5 [{you here}] <- [{previous chapter}] Chapter 2 ->

[trigunsbbygirl]

If you’re open for requests could I get a part 2 to Nai being isekaid onto Earth? Maybe when he starts to adapt and get used to the concept? Thank you and feel free to ignore if your requests are closed!

I've seen so many drawings of Knives working fast food on twt and its so fucking funny I love it so much. he would evaporate if he worked in my city during tourist season. but anyways, always down to talk about reverse isekai. hope you enjoy it!!

•it doesn't take long for Knives to get used to how things work on Earth. in fact, he finds a few similarities on Earth and Gunsmoke: you go to school, graduate, get a job, pay bills, buy groceries and so on.

•it's the way the corporate world, government and social media works that he has a bit of a harder time understanding? Knives gets it, he understands the concept and how greed consumes but he's still baffled by it all.

•I won't get into much politics or the saddening things that are happening around the world, but every once in a while, when watching the news, Knives will turn to you and just say 'I am considering returning to my old ways.' and you just hum in agreement.

•he also has a hard time adjusting to being around so many people almost all the time now. even though he stays inside your home most of the time he can still hear people talking, cars driving by and airplanes. it takes him a while to get used to all the noise.

•Knives only really goes shopping with you out of curiosity. he wants to see all the things that are on Earth even if he says he doesn't care. (overtime he starts going with you to make sure you're safe and that he can protect you.)

•I think he'd quite like farmers markets though. it may be busy but he can push through it for the fresh food.

•this man has zero online presence. the only account he would ever have is a youtube account if you and Vash (mainly Vash) managed to convince him to make one to post his music. other than that, he refuses to make accounts for Twitter or Instagram. he sees no point in it.

•Knives doesn't use a diary, but he does write what he did that day on the calendar app. his notes are very blunt too, 'went to zoo. interesting animals.' 'went grocery shopping. boring.' 'celebrated their birthday.. was fun.'

•he also doesn't text much and when he does the messages are short and straight to the point. "what do you want for dinner?" "when are you coming back home?" "we are out of x, pick some up on your way home." and he leaves you on read a lot too.

•also uses proper punctuation and dots the ends of his sentences. he rarely uses abbreviations and slang. the first time Knives used lol you acted like it was the biggest thing ever and he just replied 'stop freaking out.' then promptly left you on read.

•now let's say Knives somehow gets an ID, ssn and all that stuff. like the universe said go help pay bills and gifted him those stuff or smth.

•I've been seeing Twitter talk about Knives working at McDonald's in a modern au and yeah that's funny, but this is a reverse isekai and Knives is still dealing with his kill all humans mentality. if he worked customer service or at a restaurant he may genuinely say fuck the military consequences and consider mass genocide after one too many bad encounters. plus Knives would just be like 'why would I serve an inferior being?'

•but I could see him working at a small local book store or library. it's quiet, not too busy and Knives gets to easily learn about new books or books he may never have ended up hearing about. not much really happens, but one day more people than usual come in to buy a certain book. Knives mentions it to you and you have to explain how a Trigun fan account recommended 'This is How You Lose the Time War.' he has to take a second to take the information in.(I'm so sorry I just had to add this in nsvsjwhks- iykyk-)

•he still has a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that people enjoy Trigun. Knives tries not to think about it a lot, it weirds him out. the fact that a lot of people know about his past, trauma, and apparently, future makes him feel a little queasy and gross. he knows there's nothing he could've done and though no one knows he's actually there, it's still really invasive to him.

•anyways, if Knives learned how to drive, he would be very responsible. the only time he'd break any laws is speeding 10 mph above the speed limit on the highway, but everyone does that so he just joined in.

•whenever someone near him is driving like an asshole he sits there with a death glare. he's there thinking, 'I could ruin your car with my blades. I won't, but I could.' (he wishes he could but he knows many cars have a dashcam and that would cause bigger problems than just legal ones.)

•if it weren't for him living at your place, Knives would have little to no decorations in his home. maybe a few plants and coasters on the tables and books that he likes on a bookshelf, but that's kinda it. he might frame some of his paintings and hang them up. (I can see him with hanging vine plants)

•he gets into gardening a little, maybe hydroponics. Knives doesn't really want a big garden, but he'd like to grow a few vegetables and herbs.

•Knives still doesn't sleep, but over time he will join you for bed and cuddle you as you fall asleep. though after a while, Knives will get out of bed to do his own things. it takes a while for him to get into the idea of just sleeping, but he starts to indulge himself as he realizes how comforting it is to lay with you and rest.

•he starts to surprise you with romantic dinners, like he'll have candles lit up, a slow melody playing in the background. afterwards Knives will draw a bath for you and if you want him to, he'd gladly join you. either way, he's helping you wash up, telling you to just rest after the day you've had. it's the least he could since he can't work.

•overall he does end up adjusting quite well, it just takes him a long time to accept that he does have to live among humans and that the goal he's been working towards for years is practically undoable now. and it takes even longer to start indulging himself in other hobbies and his emotions that start to grow. (although I think his view on humans won't exactly change. but he acknowledges that there are people who are fighting for the greater good.)

[spookfished]

media roundup sep 2024

hello! havent done these in a while. im currently "extremely unemployed" lol well see if i go back and do any of the previous months i skipped ㄟ( ▔, ▔ )ㄏ i think its nice to force myself to summarize my thoughts like this

BOOKS: the tyrant baru cormorant by seth dickinson: most recent book in the masquerade series, which is a thriller (?) about the mechanics of empire. dude this book was so great. no notes. there were some incredibly gratifying payoffs in here and some craaazy twists. idk i wish i had something more to say i just thought it was really really good im glad that baru gets to have some good things as well as bad. of course, seth dickinson has amazing prose and the ending was so like, uplifting? and inspiring? i was very surprised lol

when the angels left the old country by sacha lamb: queer jewish immigrant YA, apparently for fans of good omens. an angel and a demon from a small, small town go to america to track down one of the town's mising daughters. despite neither being a gomens fan (although i did read it) nor jewish, i really enjoyed this! it has a dreamy, fairytale, eva ibbotson-like tone to it that made it a pleasure to read, despite the somewhat foreboding topic (let's all have a fun time on ellis island while visibly jewish!) the stories of the humans and the non-humans feel equally important, but i really especially enjoyed the way the angel changed over time as a response to the world it saw. its just a really nice book :3

long live evil by sarah rees brennan: villainess isekai, but western tradpub. a woman dying from cancer at a young age is given the chance to live again--as a two-bit floozy villainess the day before her execution?! how will rae find a way out? and how well, really, does she remember the time of iron? sarah rees brennan is sort of a comfort author to me; in other lands meant a Lot to me as a mentally ill teenager. all the same, i almost dropped this book during the first couple of chapters. in my opinion, this book has a REALLY rough start that evened out into a ride that i enjoyed quite a bit despite many other factors. while some parts of the part are clearly deeply personal (this is the author's first book published after recovering from late stage cancer), it also has a tendency to hammer in its points over and over again and undercuts too many serious moments with quippy dialogue in a way that deflates tension rather than increasing it. also, one b-couple takes clear inspiration from one of her previous works (but this time more #toxic --they kill each other in time of iron) and as a result unfortunately outshines the main couple at times, who also have to share screentime with a huge cast that often feels improperly balanced. but also, i thought the main couple was pretty cute, actually! the ending twist, while not unpredictable (and also very, uh, danmei?) was also very enjoyable and nice to let creep up on you. i feel like i'm being more strict with it than i am with a lot of villainess isekai i read though, haha… i agree with ineedacatchyname's review of it (and a lot of these thoughts just echo theirs. woops!)--a lot of this could be fixed with a bit more editing, but ultimately i spent the second half unable to put it down and i'm still going to read the sequel.

against football by steve almond: fairly short nonfiction. one diehard football fan's searing condemnation of the state of american football today (and what we could do to make it better). this was recommended to me by megafaunatic, and i really enjoyed it :3 i come from a pretty "ugh, sportsball" type of family, and so it was really interesting to see why people love watching football (especially a team as "wretched" as the former oakland raiders) as well as playing it--but also how the continuation of football in its current state is pretty much inexcusable (one bright side is that division i graduation rates have actually gone up quite a bit since this book was published in 2016!) id easily recommend to both football fans and non-fans.

GAMES: pikmin bloom: pikmin bloom is a game about walking around, growing pikmin, and planting virtual flowers. i didnt play this game for a while bc i was like "well, its pokemon go but with pikmin -_-" and like. it is. but niantic has also taken the opportunity to overhaul a lot of its base game mechanics with a focus on actually getting you to GO OUTSIDE and WALK AROUND, which i think is to its benefit! like, yeah it actually did get me to go on some walks when i wouldnt have otherwise. the microtransactions kinda suck but as long as youre willing to kill your darlings (pikmin) its fine i think. < guy with a very high deathcount in pikmin 3 and 4

return of the obra dinn: stylized mystery game about unpacking what happened in a scaaary voyage by seeing the moment surrounding the crewmembers' deaths. dude. this game is so fucking good. it was like everyones goty in 2018 and as soon as i finished it i was like "i wish i could get hit in the head so i could play it again." imo, its a really good game to play as a group (with one person driving) bc so much of the gameplay takes place outside of the game--deducing, speculating, etc and it's really fun to do that as a conversation with someone else! the game does a good job of disincentivizing random guessing--when i played this game with my family, we did guess on a couple but it was almost always a 50-50 "choice A or choice B". and the game can (apparently) be completed without any chance guesswork whatsoever! can be a little gory at times, but its all in this sort of dithery monochrome style so you don't really think about it until you're walking to the bathroom in the halflit moonlight and youre kinda like hey this kinda looks like return of the obra dinn haha. wait. anyways play this game!!

unpacking: cute little game about unpacking/moving in during the various phases of one person's life. probably a masterclass in "environmental storytelling" that invites you into making your own stories for our unseen protagonist while also providing these understated beautiful little moments of understanding. also, it was really theraputic getting everything perfectly placed in order when i currently live in a very messy house ;-_-

umineko chapter 2: ahhh year of umineko 2024 continues. im definitely not finishing the whole game this year (lol) but i might end up finishing the question arcs at least..? anyways ive been lbing this the whole time (#year of the seacat 2024 for blacklist) but man this was pretty harsh compared to the first episode. it even makes battler break down..! i was secretly wondering how it was going to try and turn around my opinion on rosa, but, well, i still really dont like her. has bright points in more beatrice!!! the introduction of the meta, some ???really horny??? parts and the [You are incompetent] scene. also, everyone seems to really hate george for some reason but i feel like i still dont get it.

SHOWS:

the decameron: drama about fucking and dying in black plague-era italy, and a villa meant to be a getaway from it all. in high school i wanted to read the decameron because it was mentioned in theatre of coolty--just so you know, this is nothing like it. its just really fun! and full of light intrigue and twists and reveals and tragedy. a lot of the plague-based humor hit in some pretty uncomfortable places, which the showrunners were definitely going for. neifile and panfilo hands down had my favorite relationship.

witch from mercury: revolutionary girl gundam?? this is how everyone pitched it to me, which honestly put me off a little bit. wfm is clearly aware and respectful of its predecessors but also takes the first episode to go "nah were going to do something a little different though." like, its kind of like instead of tackling rape culture it decided to tackle the military industrial complex instead ? ? i guess?? it seems like a good entry point into gundam for many (including me!) i enjoyed the first season very fun and currently watching the second. looking forward to seeing how sick and twisted things can get

in terms of music ive been listening to a lot of zerobaseone.. every time were in the car together neil is like lets listen to yurayura and im like yessss. yurayuraa oh ive also been listening to counter//weight while driving but im not going to include it bc its been slow going lol. all my thoughts about it so far is like "this is the thing neil really likes"

anyways if you got to the end or skimmed or whatever, thanks for reading! hope u have a good one.

[yellowocaballero]

hi! i know that i'm fated to read your every work despite not knowing the media half the time. this time i would like to finally be one step ahead. so uhh. where do i read orv? do i go for the webtoon or the novel? to clarify, i did try to search, but got confused by reddit. also i am going to watch trigun. i've been eyeing animorphs too but the 54 (?) books are making me go hmm. thank you for existing you're pretty great. you're like the spiderman of writing but instead you got asbestos rat'd.

THIS ASK IS INSANE. WE'RE REFERENCING MY LORE NOW?

But thank you, you're insane. People ask why I have stupid high standards for the fics i post on AO3 and it is because there are people like you who will just read whatever regardless of whether or not it's good. I have a responsibility.

This ask also made me wonder if I have good taste. Because every time somebody says this my first reaction is "oh god and the source materials aren't even good". I read a lot of trashy stuff (but, like, define trashy), and I consume too many bad things to be able to say I have discerning taste. If I enjoy something I almost never call it bad, because things were made to be enjoyed and I enjoyed them then they had value in at least one aspect. If you were to ask me if my favorite TV show of all time the Incredible Hulk 1974 was actually, unironically, good, then I'd break into a cold sweat. Is somebody bad because it's camp? Is something bad only if it's unintentional camp?

Regardless, I never write fic for something that isn't only like 80% good - there's a sweet spot of 'good enough for me to obsess over' and 'bad enough that I'm rewriting it in my head'. It's rare I write for anything I find completely good. Which is why I feel bad when people say that they're reading this thing I'm writing fic for jalksdf there's better things out there I SWEAR.

ORV is in the sweet spot of "this isn't high literature" and "this has given me brain worms". Definitely for sure start with the webtoon - the webnovel is clunkily translated, you don't read it for the writing at all, and it is also a literal million words. Don't read the webnovel unless you're like "I'm going insane and I need more of this". It starts off kind of slow ("This is a well executed very banal isekai") and you're like a frog in the pot of it slowly going more insane until you're a ways in and you are in a tangle of ridiculously complicated gambits and convoluted storytelling. There is literally no other way to describe it than the Homestuck of webnovels. If you're completely unfamiliar with isekai that's fine, but as a warning - ORV being your first webtoon/webnovel isekai is like your first shoujo manga being Ouran High Schol Host Club, or your first magical girl show being Madoka, or your first mecha anime to be Neon Genesis Evangelion. It's one of the best works in its genre but it's supposed to be viewed in context of the genre. Or maybe it's more like if Homura starred in Evangelion, which was Ouran. I'm just saying words.

Animorphs is kind of like Mother 3 in which everybody who has ever read/played it said that it changed them as a person, it changed their relationship with media and storytelling forever, if you read/play it you will be born again from the world's egg, etc. Works that genuinely become part of your personality. I also never recommend it to people because it is incredibly hit or miss. I remember using a spreadsheet of just "what books are skippable or not" because some of them are incredibly weird and some of them are incredibly weird in the bad way. The only Animorphs fic I've ever written is from 2019 so it's also not that great. Each book only takes an hour to read and the pdfs are free online, so it's incredibly accessible in terms of the reading experience, but it's kinda the Animorphs gestalt that changes you forever and not the individual books. I try not to recommend stuff that's like 25% bad.

Watch Trigun if you like what Trigun is - it's not going to deliver on something it's not. Also watch 98 first. Watch Stampede/read Trimax if you want more Trigun. The Trigun fic is based off Stampede but refer to my "I only write fic for smth that's 80% good and not 100% good" statement.

Also I think being bit by an asbestos rat just means that I probably have mold and drywall in my lungs, which would explain a lot about this blog. Thanks for the ask I love it.

[theimaginatrix27]

My Personal Approach to Fantasy AUs

I have received a number of comments on my Deep Space 9 Fairy Tale AU, Seven for a Secret, to the effect of "I love how you've kept everyone so in-character!"

I also recently sent a friend part of the first chapter of a prequel fic in the same setting, and they said they're not usually interested in AUs of this nature, because too often, they've seen characters written in ways that make them less recognisably themselves. But they did like my writing.

So I'm going to try and explain my process in a way that hopefully makes sense to everyone reading it. I'm absolutely not making this post to gatekeep fanfic, or to tell someone how to write their story, I'm just explaining what I do when writing a Fantasy AU within a fandom context.

For clarity, this post is about AUs where the characters were born into a high/epic/secondary world fantasy setting (I have heard all these terms before). It is not about charas being isekaied into fantasy settings for crossover purposes (that genre encompasses portal fantasy, doesn't have to involve the charas dying), though tbh I love those, too. Excellent fun. But the characters in those cases are still the canon ones, just being put in a situation. I actually plan on writing a series of DND campaign fics with the casts of my three favourite classic Trek series that are basically this premise, but that's not what I want to talk about today.

In a lot of cases, when someone has written a fantasy AU, the characters are changed so much that you could, theoretically, file off the serial numbers, switch out canon references and turn it into an original novel. This is also not strictly a bad thing—I've done it myself, and although that story never got finished, it paved the way for those that followed, so it's helpful in the creative process to recognise when you have enough material for an original spin on something.

However, for me especially, it is more fun to see and recognise the fandom characters, and then watch them navigate a story that is both unique and would not be the same without them.

Presenting Exhibit A: The Princess and the Dragon, a fanfiction for Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters, written by my dear friend, @kohakuhime

This was one of the first fics of this nature that I came across in my wanderings through the blighted wastelands of FFN—Kohaku's fics were very much an oasis in the desert, so refreshing and vibrant were they, but this was her big fantasy baby, centred around a ship we both loved, and rich with lore and magic and mystery. It was also peppered with canon references, and all the characters were kept breathtakingly in-character—I won't get into spoiler territory, but let's just say I could hear the voice-actors saying so many of these lines, they were so good! My bar for this type of AU was set pretty high in large part because of this fic.

To be quite fair, Kohaku has said she could probably file off the serial numbers of TPATD, change some of the components of the magic system and release it as an original novel, as the concept itself (again, avoiding spoilers by going into details out of respect for this friend and her excellent story) is a fun twist on a particular trope. But although there are many original elements, it still feels like a Yu-Gi-Oh! fic, because of all the grounding points woven throughout, and how familiar the characters are.

This fic was not the only story I found that helped shape my approach back in 2012—there were a couple other fics in the Dragon Ball Z archive on FFN that also contributed, but they were both written a long time ago and I'm not sure they'd hold up nearly so well today. One of them was a fairy tale retelling (well, a Disney film retelling, but it was really good from my perspective as a fic newbie!), and this plus some other—shall we say, less interesting adaptations in the Yu-Gi-Oh fandom inspired me to write the fic now known as Wild Swans of Domino, which I'm not linking here because I am in the process of editing it up to my current standards. Seven for a Secret is, in its way, a spiritual successor to WSoD, though I do intend to finish the latter (and the sequels I developed over the years). WSoD was my practice ground for developing the approach I wrote this post to explain, and it kinda shows in the current version, because I started out simple, and then my brain started generating lore and places for more canon references to go and the story got away from me. That—happens to me a lot.

My approach with this type of AU comes down to one major point: If I am writing a fairy tale adaptation (it's usually a fairy tale adaptation that starts this for me), or some other fantasy story in an alternate universe which these characters are, for the purposes of the fic, native to, then both they and the setting must have some familiar aspects tying them back to the source material. The characters, especially, must still feel like themselves, or you may lose readers' interest, because "Benjamin Sisko wouldn't do that!" or "Seto Kaiba wouldn't react that way in this situation! Stop making him quote the movie's dialogue, it sounds so contrived it is painful to read!"

... Ahem, moving on from bad memories of bad fics.

WSoD and Secret are both based on a fairy tale I already have an original story idea for (several, actually), so I don't need or want either of them to be unique enough to divorce them from their fandom origins. Therefore, while developing them, I have done/am doing my utmost to weave in as many threads from canon as possible within the boundaries of the setting, and have also done my best to preserve the characters' personalities. And according to those aforementioned comments, I'm doing pretty well!

To be absolutely fair, in both cases, the fandoms in question are either another form of Fantasy or as close to Fantasy as a Sci-fi setting can get (Sisko's an honest to the Prophets Chosen one, for goodness sake!). But I do believe you can do this with any character, from any setting, if you put enough thought into it.

And maybe that's part of why I don't see it around as much, because some (often younger but not always) fic authors can have a concept float into their head or sent to them by another fan, and bang out a fic in a week that hits all the points they wanted it to without too much brainstorming behind it. Whereas I, a perfectionist and possesser of an increasingly plot-tribble-infested brain, can't make a single plot decision without pondering it for several days, and fret over little logistical details until I'm purple in the face (probably. I don't have eyeballs and thence can't look in a mirror). But I still think it's doable for any character.

To do this well, you must consider what fundamentally makes this character who they are. What traits would you absolutely have to keep (aside from physical appearance in most cases) to ensure this character was familiar to the reader who clicked on the fandom tag and subsequently your fic. If you ran across Sherlock Holmes in, say, the Pokémon world, how would you know he was Sherlock Holmes? Why, he'd be solving mysteries, and doing so by analysing all sorts of details, noticing things others failed to, putting pieces together that formed a solution others wouldn't have even considered, because the majority of those puzzle pieces were overlooked! And he'd probably be skulling shuckle juice when he didn't have a mystery to solve. And obviously he'd be autistic.

Are you imagining it? I hope you are. Now imagine a character, or several, from one of your fandoms, that you love. Imagine what you love best about them, what makes them who they are, from your perspective. Now imagine a setting that's different from their source material—there are any number of AUs you could pick. Now, think carefully about how you would write them in this setting, while focusing on changing as little about them as possible.

In Secret, Ben and Julian are both princes (this is revealed in Chapter 1, I don't mind telling you). The Dax symbiont is a Fae being magically bound to Jadzia, who is a mage. Their personalities are still familiar to the reader. Miles O'Brien has barely changed at all, because he doesn't need to.

And there's the single golden rule: When writing an AU like this, only change as much or as little as you absolutely need to for your story to work. You can, of course, have fun with how you change things—just check out Innate Conditions and its companion fics by @tokidokifish for a DS9 example (Cardassians are shapeshifting dragons! How cool is that?)

I hope all this makes sense. And again, this is not an attempt to dictate how you, personally, write your stories. I do hope you at least give it a little thought, though, if you haven't already. Most importantly, have fun!

[ming-sik]

villainess manga recommendation list

hi! i've read a lot of villainess manga/manhwa and i am here to tell you the ones that i think are pretty good that i don't think many people have heard of.

i'm not going to be recommending i favor the villainess or hamefura because they're either what got you into the genre or you have at least heard of them.

I want to read a lesbian villainess reincarnation story like I'm In Love With The Villainess/I want that but i was put off by the sexual harrassment jokes in I'm In Love With The Villainess: you want 请欺负我吧，恶役小姐!/Please Bully Me, Miss Villainess! the protagonist is reincarnated as yvonne, the mean rich villainess and an in-story all-powerful game system forces her to bully heroine elsa or terrible things will happen. yvonne does her best to bully elsa into banishing her or leaving her alone so she can't hurt her anymore but elsa chases her after she gets banished because she's really into being reluctantly bullied by a cute girl.

I want to read a lesbian villainess reincarnation story with an isekaid protagonist who isn't reincarnated: you want 限界OLさんは悪役令嬢さまに仕えたい/The Fed-Up Office Lady Wants To Serve The Villainess! midori is a hard-working office lady who gets fired for bullshit reasons before being whisked away to the world of her favorite visual novel as the familiar/pet of the twist villainess lapis. midori prevents herself from being discarded by claiming to be able to see the future by having knowledge of the VN, so now it's her job to try and save lapis from herself and also the guillotine.

I want a funny villainess reincarnation story with no romance/I want a funny villainess reincarnation story with an original premise: you want 悪役令嬢転生おじさん/Akuyaku Reijou Tensei Oji-san! 52-year-old father/civil servant kenzaburou is reincarnated into the villainess of his daughter's favorite otome game and my god is he fucking funny about it. his "elegance cheat" from years of polite civil servant ettiquette and loving fatherly attitude make the new grace accidentally beloved by every love interest and the original protagonist because of her old man charm, much to the chagrin of his wife and daughter who are playing the game he's in to try and get him to the end so he can wake up from his coma. the story is also genuinely sweet at a lot of points specifically around the topic of parenthood. the art is a little wonky but in a way that only adds to the experience.

I want a villainess reincarnation story that has basically the default premise but a little to the left and is just executed very well/I want a tsundere villainess protagonist who is funny: you want アルバート家の令嬢は没落をご所望です/The Young Lady Of The Albert House Wishes For Ruin! mary albert is the reinacarnated villainess of her favorite otome game and due to political reasons it's beneficial to her family for her to be exiled and as a reincarnated commoner she's happy to be banished to start a rice bowl store in the north, but that's just set dressing for good old-fashioned tsundere villainess action as mary tries her damndest to follow the plot of the original story but fails because despite being a tsundere she is too silly and practical to do anything genuinely harmful. mary is a very funny protagonist and manages to straddle the line between mean enough to actually be a tsundere but not enough that you have no idea why these people like her very well, the series in general is very funny, and the original heroine and the prince mary has an amicable divorce with(broken engagement technically but they act like divorcees) both have very funny and genuinely sweet relationships with her, especially heroine alicia. the new volume has mary come into contact with two other reincarnated villainesses following the two most default villainess paths(reverse harem and avoid the bad end). she and her butler who is her eventual love interest are the best comedy duo though.

I want a villainess story that isn't an isekai/I want a funny villainess reincarnation with an original premise that IS a romance: you want ツンデレ悪役令嬢リーゼロッテと実況の遠藤くんと解説の小林さん/Endo and Kobayashi's Live Commentary on the Villainess! endo and kobayashi are two high school students in the broadcasting club who decide to do sports commentary on the otome game kobayashi's playing only for the prince to turn to the screen and ask if the gods can hear him! as gods, kobayashi and endo have to use their powers to prevent liselotte the villainess from meeting a grisly end after she's possessed by the witch by repairing her relationship with the other characters and actually strategizing for the fight. this story actually has three romances, between kobayashi and endo, liselotte and prince siegward, and original heroine and the character who the game dooms to always die protecting her despite her best efforts. all three of these romances are well-done although liselotte and siegward are the standout. the manga is very concerned with why liselotte is a tsundere and why siegward hasn't ever seen past her exterior before. all of the characters have a lot of stuff going on, and despite juggling the three romances the story still manages to have a lot of genuine intrigue over what exactly is going on with this weird supernatural save file and parts of the world the game originally didn't let the characters see, as well as having time to flesh out a really good friendship/sisterhood between liselotte and the heroine.

I want a funny villainess reincarnation story with a well-characterized protagonist with romance that isn't the focus of the story: you want 悪役令嬢レベル99～私は裏ボスですが魔王ではありません～/Villainess Level 99 ~I May Be the Hidden Boss but I'm Not the Demon Lord~! the protagonist was reincarnated into eumiella, the secret final boss of an otome rpg who also serves as a villainess in the main game. eumiella is isolated from a young age due to her dark magic, but since she only really cared about the RPG part of the game as a toddler she has the idea to grind up so she can survive the otome part and eventually flee the country. her balls to the wall "blow the monster summoning charm and kill everything that attacks me" soloing strategy means that by the time she enrolls in magic academy she's hit level 99, which means that she can do shit like summon a black hole that swallows the sky above the entire academy or bend mithril with her bare hands. partly due to her isolation from a young age and partly due to her past life eumiella is a pepetually stone-faced hyper-introvert who doesn't care about anything except getting stronger, although she eventually grows a tiny soft spot for her first true friend, patrick, who has an unrequited(for now) crush on her that he's not really expecting to go anywhere. eumiella is not a coward's weird girl, she's genuinely off-putting to most people and although she's not malicious she's also not nice to people who don't benefit her. this is a compliment, one of my favorite things about eumiella is that she sticks to her guns! she makes enemies of all of the love interests and most of the school almost immediately because she keeps almost killing people, not because she's a sadist, but because her gamer mindset means she views deadly magic and summoning high-level monsters on students as acceptable risks for leveling up.

I want a villainess story that is a drama with a morally complicated protagonist/with really good visuals/with heavy worldbuilding: you want 悪役令嬢の中の人/The One Within The Villainess! this series was made in a laboratory for me. emi is a sweetheart of a protagonist who's reincarnated as the villainess remilia, her favorite character who she always wanted to give a happy ending, and has a heartwarming story of fixing all the tragedies of the original game and making everyone happy....... until the original heroine, pina, arrives and pulls some puppetmaster manipulation that ends up with emi facing the tragic condemnation she tried so hard to avoid, which drives her into the depths of despair, at which point remilia, who has been watching emi from her subconscious this entire time and narrating the story, reawakens in her/their body and vows revenge on everyone who made her beloved emi suffer, especially pina. remilia's twin motivations of wanting to get horrific painful revenge on her enemies and wanting to build the happy, peaceful world she knows needs to exist for emi to return to her make remilia a very engaging and complicated protagonist with a lot of stuff going on in her head. the story isn't perfect, my main gripe is that pina's manipulation centers around her sexuality and so she's aggressively slut-shamed which is frustrating because among other things having her be able to also manipulate women would make her a much more threatening antagonist. seasoned villainess manga fans are used to much worse, but that's not an excuse for a frankly lazy characterization in an otherwise standout story.

I want a story with the vibe of a villainess manga that's not actually about the villainess/I want a story that really reckons with "escaping the narrative" of an otome game: you want 乙女ゲームのヒロインで最強サバイバル/Otome Game no Heroine de Saikyou Survival! alicia is the protagonist of an otome game who gets ambushed while she's still in the orphanage by a woman who reincarnated as an unimportant side character who learned black magic to swap their souls so she can take over as the protagonist. alicia kills her, but is left with her memories and is not interested in playing along with the otome game's storyline, so she escapes the orphanage and tries to find her own way of surviving, although she can't fully escape the characters of the original story, especially the villainess. otome survival really makes you consider how much it would suck to realize your shitty situation is being manufactured for the sake of a romance you don't even want, and alicia's desperation to find strength and success without being forced into that narrative is compelling. like i said it's not technically a villainess manga, but it's definitely a variant of the concept. it's in the tag.

I want a villainess manhwa that is representative of the genre and done well: you want 계모인데 딸이 너무 귀여워/Not-Sew-Wicked Stepmom! villainess manhwa are an overlapping but not identical genre to villainess manga. villainess manhwa in general tend to have adult protagonists or at least protagonists who become adults, and they also tend to make the love interest also be a villain or even sometimes the villain, with the heroine being his wife/daughter/sister/mother/elevated side character/pet lizard. not-sew-wicked stepmom has the children's fashion designer protagonist reincarnated as abigail, the abusive stepmother of blanche and estranged second wife of her father who won't even sleep in the same room as his spouse. abigail has to figure out how to repair her relationship with both of them and give blanche the happy childhood with lots of cute clothes her daughter deserves. aside from generally just Being Good with a strong protagonist, this story is surprisingly deft at handling the topic of abuse, both blanche's and her father's. it's hard to make a cold emotionally repressed love interest not annoying but giving him a very very good reason to distrust abigail and not want her anywhere near him or his daughter does the trick, and their eventual opening up to her after she starts to earn both of their trust is sweet. unfortunately, it has not updated in two years.

EDIT: The second season is out now!

I want a good villainess-ish manhwa that has updated in the last two years please: okay 장르를 바꿔보도록 하겠습니다/the villainess flips the script is technically a villainess manhwa but it becomes a straightforward romance pretty quickly and due to the premise where nobody knows the protagonist used to be a villainess it doesn't really read like a villainess manhwa. 남편은 됐고, 돈이나 벌렵니다/forget about my husband i'd rather make money reads like a villainess manhwa but isn't technically one. 여주의 시스콤 오빠와 이혼하겠습니다/i will divorce the female lead's older brother also reads like a villainess manhwa despite not being one but it only really hits if you've read a lot of really dogshit reincarnation romance manhwa so it's a bad first start, and its most available translation is REALLY rough as in most chapters have bubbles left blank or uncleaned so they're just overlaid over the raw korean text.

I want a good starter villainess manhwa that has updated in the last two years please: 입양딸 역할을 지나치게 잘해버렸다/I Played The Role Of The Adopted Daughter Too Well is pretty good except for all the bad parts!