#k-on really saved me and I have so much love for the franchise

[graceofagodswrath]

Ok ok ok your "Humans of Transformers franchise are space orcs" rant is out of this world.

I detest with passion when humans are reduced to pets and plot devices when instead the story could be about two alien species finding one another equally amazing/terrifying for their own respective reasons.

Here is my question: do humans and Cybertronians see how eerily similar they are? They have love of music, familial relationships, similar urban infrastructure, societal structure, financial systems, competitive entertainment, organized societies and war, colonialism, recreational intercourse, marriage...

Not to mention, why was it never addressed how similar both species look: bipedal, waists, noses, cheekbones, 5 fingers, chins, facial expressions and sense of aesthetics and beauty? Sure, humans have hair but in rather strategic places.

Veins and wires, blood and energon, metal and flesh, nanobytes and blood cells, Sparks and brain impulses, sexual organs...

Imagine Autobots arrive on Earth for the first time expecting some primitive cave-dwellers, only to encounter a less advanced mini-version of Cybertronian cities (New York, Singapore, London, Rome, Tokyo, Rio, Dubai...) and societies running on scientific, artistic and philosophical development which has no right existing on the ruthless, all-organic planet such as Earth is. Societes run by creatures who 4.000.000 (the duration of their war) years ago were hanging from the trees btw.

Autobots would be terrified.

Lemme make sure this response saves this time, cause it took me a minute to answer cause my first deleted and I had so much written I got unbelievably angry and refused to even look at the tumblr app.

But here we are.

So, this is EXACTLY what I have been thinking about for who k owe how long. It’s also the intro to this wack as fuck universe idea I’ve had in my head a while, and have kinda hinted at in my other works, but I’ve never gone into detail about.

And I still won’t.

Anyways, yes. It’s crazy that we backlit humans so much when any other sentient species is about. Transformers, TMNT, etc (I’m on a one track mind, feel free to jot down any other fandoms I can’t think of). The main theme of these stories? HUMANS SUCK. And that is severely unfair. People want to cry about how much our generation doesn’t give a shit anymore. Have you SEEN the media we feed kids???

That’s why I live Humans are Space Orcs so much. It really puts into perspective how unique and batshit our species is.

So, onto the Transformers vs humans concepts. The ONLY reason (forgoing technoism and general hate towards organics) cybertronians don’t see humanity as an imminent threat, or one in general, is because of size. WE BE SMALL AF. Can’t blame them, I get it. We do the same. Insects? Fuck them mfs.

But have you seen a botfly or tick burrow into your skin? The infection that comes form that? Have you seen ants jump a small animal as a colony and absolutely shred it? Or a spider only biting you, and the horror the venom causes (recluses and huntsman’s specifically). We have a good fucking reason for disliking these mfs.

But transformers? These are organic experiences. Worst they go through are rust infections, spark death, the works. They are not at risk the same way we are. That is why they view organics as small and inconsequential. They have no idea how hard we fight to simply stay alive.

And now the similarities. It’s understandable that they wouldn’t immediately recognize the physical, cultural, and psychological similarities between our species. Transformers are an incredibly diverse race, like any other. But specifically in physical form. Your average cybertronian holds a similar appearance to your average human. We tend to have the same features, just with different names. Eyes, noses, faceplates, ears, two arms, two legs. Sure that’s average for them too. But they are unique because of the fact that they have two forms. Vehicle mode. Their mode decides what they’re second mode looks like, which can create extreme diversity is appearance. Small, large, many limbed or not.

So the immediate similarities probably wouldn’t jump out to them in an odd way. There’s also the idea that because they’re so spread out in the universe, they’ve seen other organic races that are also similar. Pairs of every body part could be the common denominator among species.

That goes culturally too. War, love, music, government, politics, it’s all a natural form of sentient evolution. Another common denominator. It’s how it’s done that makes it unique. And the similarities between human and cybertronian culture is uncomfortably familiar.

I think that’s why cybertronians are seen being closest with humans rather than other species in the shows and comics (obviously because the audience is human and they need relation to characters but shhhh forget that for a sec). This is where the theories start.

Let’s say cybertronians begin to recognize the weird similarities between our species. The really, really weird stuff. The itty bitty details. Like:

- how we also mainstream kissing on the lips as the top tier romantic gesture.

- use verbal tone and cues for our language.

- have intensely complicated interpersonal relationships in the exact same manner.

- suffer from extreme mental health issues like depression, anxiety, PTSD (I totally headcannon that forms of adhd, autism, and ocd exist in cybertronian society, have y’all not seen my boy rodimus prime??)

- will also destroy each other in the name of our gods, until we have a common enemy.

That’s just the basics I could come up with. The only time I actually saw a moment where a transformer genuinely take a moment to realize that humans can be a threat, was in transformers prime. Episode 6 of beast wars (I think, correct me if wrong), where Miko beats the ever loving fuck out of an insecticon (I think) and upon Megatron hearing this, just goes blank Kubrick stare for a hot second. Man had an ugly realization that did not fit in with anything he had experienced his whole life.

AND THEY NEVER FUCKING ADDRESSED IT EVER AGAIN. Sick of this shit. Could’ve had the most badass character development, where the humans actually proved useful and did something (it would have fit Milo’s character so perfectly too) and scared the utter shit out of the transformers. BUT NO. They continue to be annoying as fuck.

One thing I loved about TF Prime was that it canonically turned Unicron into Earth. And humans came from the earth. Which relates humans beings and cybertronians so hard. Cousins Fr. We are the cybertronian equivalent of organics, and transformers the inorganic equivalent of humans. The individuality, the chaos, the culture, it clicks. There is so much material to really go into it.

But they never do. Don’t get me wrong, I love Transformers lord and just discovering more without humans being involved. We’re just annoying af at this point. But there is so much u tapped potential in transformers actually taking the chance to LEARN about us. But we’re just friends (pets) to these mfs.

That’s why I love TF Earthspark so far. Transformers ingrained into human culture because they’re not from Cybertron, and cybertronians having to adapt to human culture because they have no where else to go. Granted, it’s a kids show. There’s only so much they can do. But I’m excited for where it’ll lead. It really shows how much of threat and ally humans are, and how we are just as diverse as cybertronians.

I need to write another fic about cybertronians meeting humans their size from our world tho. Need to continue my old piece. Would give me so much life. Y’all help motivate me, college draining my ass.

[funnibluecreturs]

15 for Smurfs ask game

Oh gosh- This is a big one okay

Strap yourselves in, this is going to be a really LONG one!

If I were to make a new Smurfs adaptation, I would add the following:

1) Smurfette is a feminine girl again.

In the 2021 show, there are a few moments where Smurfette is a feminine girl, yes. But it just seems most of her femininity seems to have been stripped away from her in recent Smurf content nowadays. Smurfette is iconic for being the FEMALE ICON of the Smurfs franchise in general. It just feels like Smurfette being dreamy about love, liking make-up and dresses, being a motherly figure to Baby Smurf, is just overshadowed by more masculine traits so she could just girlboss, show-off and be a Smurf-fu master constantly.

I literally have a rant about this, but I'll probably save this for another post, since if I say it here, we'll be here all day. If I were to work on a Smurfs adaptation, Smurfette would be mainly a feminine girl again, but she will have this tomboyish streak to her and she'll have this arc where she learns how to do martial arts under the guidance of the Grove Smurfs, where she'll start off bad at it (not too bad, she still has enough knowledge to at least leave her opponent bruised.) to getting better at it as the adaptation progresses. Though even when she gets better at martial arts, she'll still be a feminine girl who loves feminine stuff and dreaming about romance. Smurfette will also have a martial art suit, but instead of red it will be her favorite color:

PINK

SERIOUSLY I don't know about you, this is probably nitpicky in my part, but if Smurfette were to have a Smurf-fu outfit, it should have been P I N K. But that's probably just me.

In summary, I'd still have Smurfette involved with Smurf-fu like in the 2021 show, but she'd be like her comics and og cartoon self most of the time, where she a feminine girl.

Speaking of the Grove Smurfs...

2) Expand on the Grove Smurfs

As much as I love the introduction of the Grove Smurfs, I also don't think they are as interesting as the original Smurfs. I dunno, it just feels most of the time when the Grove Smurfs are involved, they're just only there to girlboss, fight, practice martial or have competition with other Smurfs. Maybe this is just me not consuming enough Grove Smurf content, but it just seems like that based on what I've seen.

There are episodes that have some exceptions like "Smurfy Day Care", where it focuses on Storm taking care of a village full of babies, but the Grove Smurfs doing anything else but martial arts and girlbossing doesn't seem to be pretty common and that can feel kinda repetitive whenever they show up.

And while the Grove Smurfs have their own personalities, they also don't feel very different from each other?? I dunno maybe that's just a me problem ^^; I feel one Smurf who stood out to me the most is Smurfbegonia, especially in the episode "Crashing Gargamel's Party" where it's just Begonia and Dimwitty hanging out with each other and working together to help Gargamel with his party idea. (Even though it doesn't turn out the way Gargamel wants it. Big time.) This part might be why Begonia is my favorite Grove Smurf out of the others. There's also Meteorite but there doesn't seem to be much of her. Maybe we will see more of the Grove Smurfs this upcoming season 3 of the 2021 show, especially since we're finally going to see the Girls' Village. But if I were to handle the Grove Smurfs, maybe I could try to have the Grove Smurfs to do more than just martial arts and competition. Like what are they doing if they are NOT doing those things. What chores are they doing? Maybe have them enjoy feminine activities because from what I've seen from the existing comics of the Grove Smurfs online, they canonically participate in those kinds of activities, like gossiping, they have a spa area, one of the Grove Smurfs have a dress collection, they probably also like make-up and stuff, since Blossom doesn't want Willow knowing she's been breaking the rules for Clumsy so she can keep using this cream.

Maybe my opinion would change if I look into more Grove Smurf content, but this is based on all I have seen involving the Grove Smurfs.

3) Give Clumsy and maybe Brainy their own arcs (maybe...)

Brainy is one of my favorite characters of the franchise because I find him to be a complex character. Clumsy in the 80s cartoon is the most interesting adaptation of his character for me. I feel they don't really do much with him in the comics and the 2021 show. (I know there's a focus comic with him besides Scaredy and Dimwitty (Dopey) but I don't know where to find that comic)

If I could give those two their own arcs, their characterizations could be best on my own headcanons and opinions. Here's what I think: -Brainy starts off as annoying and maybe rude, but he's not terrible. He means well, he just tend to babble on and on about what he knows or if he's scolding someone. Clumsy starts off like the 80s Clumsy, very sweet and maybe kinda naive but he has a big heart. The problem with him is that Clumsy is a doormat and accepts unfair treatment without complaint.

-Brainy just only wants what's best for the other Smurfs. He wants to be validated, noticed and loved. But as the show progresses, Brainy becomes more cruel and inconsiderate of others' feelings. He also becomes more deflective when someone calls him out on his behavior. This leads to a cycle where when Brainy is being annoying, he gets bullied by other Smurfs, which leads to Brainy being more cruel in return, thus also making the other Smurfs cruel in response. Clumsy on the other hand would get mistreated depending on the episode due to who he is. He doesn't constantly get bullied every episode, but there's just some times where he really gets mistreated and he doesn't defend himself and Smurfette has to step in to protect him. But as the show progresses, Clumsy becomes slightly more frustrated and defiant when other Smurfs kept mistreating him.

-One particular episode has Clumsy finally snapping at the other Smurfs from mistreatment. Ever since that episode, Clumsy continues to be his clumsy, big-hearted self, but he knows how to defend himself from now on. Brainy gets a redemption arc where he realizes his actions are doing more harm than good and reverts back to his original character, except he's probably more smarter now compared to when he was first introduced.

-Bonus: Like in the 80s show, Brainy and Clumsy are best friends. Brainy would be annoyed by Clumsy's antics, but he clearly cares for Clumsy and want what's best for him. But as Brainy becomes more cruel and insensitive and their friendship becomes more toxic. Clumsy ends up being a victim of Brainy's constant criticism and mistreatment and would start off accepting Brainy's behavior, but as the show progresses, Clumsy becomes more openly frustrated with Brainy. It wasn't until Clumsy finally snapping at Brainy and leaving their friendship that serves as a wake-up call for Brainy. The two made up and continued to be friends after, but Clumsy becomes closer with Dopey/Dimwitty, like how Clumsy and Dimwitty are best friends in the 2021 show.

-Maybe Clumsy and Brainy would have a reconciliation arc, though it's subtle whenever you see them on screen. Maybe there would be one episode that would be about them reconciliating, but their progress would also be seen whenever they interact in other episodes. With the both of them being seen slowly warming up to each other, learning to joke with each other again to even including each other in their activities.

4) Honorable Mentions

I probably might want to include certain Smurfs and make them appear more, like Sweepy Smurf. I fricking love him so much ishgldbd

I might have more ideas, but this is probably the ones I could think of right now. If I change my mind on some ideas or want to add more, I could reblog this and tell what has changed or what I plan to add.

Remember these are all just my opinions and everything.

So in summary for my adaptation in general:

Smurfette would return to being a feminine girl

Expand on the Grove Smurfs

Clumsy and Brainy might probably get character arcs

Make other Smurf characters appear more.

[allthefujoshiunite]

Have you watched Buddy Daddies? If you have do you like it?

Random ask....Do you think anime like Free, Sk8, Jeweler Richard and Yuri on Ice are queerbaiting or at least have semi canon couples? I mean I love those anime series and my fav otps are from those series, but what do you think?

P.s Love your latest meta, it really made my day and when I read them, I also found answers to my internal questions my self...Thanks for sharing them...( I'm not the anon who asked that)...

💐🌷🥰🤩

Hello! Today's great coincidence that made me chuckle into my morning tea was getting asked about my opinion on queerbaiting by two different people, 1-hour apart 🤣 Thanks a lot, both of you! I'll put my two cents down about queerbaiting discourse in anime and I know it's silly to mention but just to be sure, these are all opinions, and my opinions only. 

Before I start rambling about gays, no I haven't seen Buddy Daddies yet. I've been very excited about it ever since I've seen the PV but as you may know, I decided to review every first episode of the Winter 2023 season so I'm pretty much swamped... I'm saving Buddy Daddies to savor it! If you wait a bit, you'll be reading my first impressions of it soon. 

So. Okay. Queerbait. First of all, definitions because for the love of BL gods, people have been throwing words around without knowing what they mean. 

According to this interesting book that's been sitting on my TBR pile, Queerbating and Fandom: Teasing Fans Through Homoerotic Possibilities, the definition of queerbaiting is as follows: 

Queerbaiting describes an industry tactic where “those officially associated with a media text court viewers interested in LGBT narratives... without the text ever definitely confirming the nonheterosexuality of the relevant characters.” For this reason, the term is seen as exploitative, and when fans use it to describe a series, its marketing, or the actions of producers, they are engaging in a “form of queer activism.”

There are other terms coined by the scholars such as "covert courting" (i.e. targeting gay consumers using subtle elements not intended to be picked up by heterosexual audiences) etc. but in my opinion, these terms are built upon the presupposition that there is a queer audience to bait into consuming your media. And I'm not sure whether there's a group of audience that is acknowledged as queer in the minds of producers and/or creators in Japan. 

What they want to tap into according to yours truly, however, is FujoMoney. No, it's not a new currency, although now I kind of wish it was. There's an interesting video on it that delves deeper into the topic but in short, they are after the buying and creating potential of shippers. Creating fan content is, in itself, a grey area legally but it's overlooked because the franchise profits from it immensely. A similar practice, if you're or have been into K-pop at some point, is the fansites. Normally, they shouldn't be allowed to make merchandise off of the artists and gain profit from it. However, they attend concerts out of their own pockets, take these photographs using their own cameras, and contribute greatly to the group or the individual artist's popularity. Tl;dr: it's free real estate for the companies. 

So I guess the term we're looking for is fujobait, rather than queerbait. What the higher-ups want to attract are shippers who are buyers and/or fancreators. Look at any sports anime and you'll see. There have been multiple times when I got into a series because I've seen a shippy fanart or a video edit of a character. And to be honest, if I was more fortunate economically, they'd be making that kind of monetary profit through merch off of me as well. xD

While queerbait and fujobait might seem like they mean the same thing, they eventually are not because the former capitalizes on real-life stigmatized identity while the latter relies on a consumer's practice of queering the content at hand. I'm personally not as interested in putting the label of "right" or "wrong" on these terms, so I'll leave it at this for now. 

Moving on to the series you mentioned, they can't all be put into the same box, but can be divided into two groups where Free and Sk8 rely more on fanservice and the intricacies of the relationships are left to the shippers' imaginations while Jeweler Richard and Yuuri!!! on ICE are entirely different. Especially, Yuuri!!! on ICE because there's no room left for discussion or different readings that Yuuri and Victor are a couple. They literally get married, and the only reason some people still to this day question whether they are canon or not is because of eurocentrism/racism. I come across reels of real-life women taking a ring out and putting it on the ring finger of another woman with people cheering in the background and no one is asking to see their marriage registration in the comments. On the contrary, they congratulate them! The exact same scene is there in animated form, so why do we even question its validity? 

In the case of Jeweler Richard, sadly light novels aren't my thing. I have only seen the anime and have read the first volume of the manga. However, I've read an extensive blog post on the light novels comparing them to the anime adaptation. From the blog post, their relationship is evident even though to an anime-only it might come off as implied. I personally didn't think it was implied even in the anime, but if anyone else did, we have our answers in the source material. 

All of this then begs the question: does having things spelled out on screen matter? If yes, to what extent it matters? I mentioned in the previous meta post that the consumers of Asian media are already lucky when it comes to the existence and variety of such content. I'm personally someone who's in favor of having media to consume at hand instead of waiting for the Perfect Representation. I don't even want representation, because what is representation anyway for a non-monolithic community with a deep, rich history? I want portrayal, and while having things openly said is cathartic and something I want to have, I won't discredit the works I enjoy and find meaning in just for the sake of it. Especially content that come from countries with heavy censorship or a high possibility of GP backlash.

Plus, while I'm not in any Chinese BL or BL-adjacent work fandoms, I watched dramas here or there and have a lot of mutuals who are actively in the fandoms of certain series, so through osmosis, I learn a couple of things as well. I've seen people talking about the cultural significance of certain choices in these works that someone who's not well-versed in the codes of the Chinese culture won't be able to pick up, i.e. characters wearing red can be an insinuation on marriage because red is a color worn in weddings. Or there's no way I would pick up that Chinese BL dramas are dubbed over just so they can pass censorship. Would it be better if China were to be supportive of LGBTQA+? 100%. Should people there push for the content they'd like to see or portrayals that they see themselves in? Without a doubt. Should it mean that they should get nothing until they get exactly what they want? A hard no. There must be still works that portray such relationships even if they are implied because I see this attempt as getting a foot in the door. 

To sum everything up: what I want is to enjoy what I read/watch and share it with others while trying to keep a critical eye on as much as I can. My background is in STEM and I'm not formally educated in humanities anyway. What I try to do is to read and discuss questions I have in mind, and writing helps me order and expand my thoughts. I find value in trying to keep an open mind instead of gatekeeping and micro-analyzing every little thing, or at least, I try not to let them take the fun out of it. To quote the great Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts:

I am not interested in hermeneutics, or erotics, or metaphorics, of my anus. I am interested in ass-fucking.

Easily one of the best books I've read in 2022. Pure brilliance.

[emoishcatgirlfriend]

Porcupine Tree @ Mexico City 2022 🇲🇽 🇬🇧

My. Fucking. God.

Where do I even begin to explain the absolute bliss I felt during the 3 hour long show????

Being Porcupine Tree my absolute favorite band ever and being a big Steven Wilson fangirl, in no way I was gonna miss this show. The whole day was an adventure, though. Sadly, my girlfriend had an accident around 5 am that day and was unable to go to the concert. I went to take care of her the whole afternoon and she told me to give her ticket to someone else. By the evening, her brothers were taking care of her and knowing she was safe, resting and feeling a little better but not enough to leave home, after talking about the situation, I left to the concert. (She's even better by the time of this post, thankfully.)

Arriving somewhere but not here at the venue, I waited for some friends that I told to reunite with me at the entrance, and I met at least ten other friends that I didn't expect to see there, from classmates to teachers and fellow musicians. It felt nice to know more people appreciate this band as much as I do (almost).

I entered the venue a little late, mostly because I was waiting for my friends before going into the Pepsi Center auditorium together, so I wasn't in place to enjoy properly one of my favorite songs from them: Blackest Eyes. I was listening to it as I was walking to my table in the VIP Lounge section, almost at the very front. (I'll never be able to thank my godfather enough for that). Said table was next to a metal railing spliting the general section from this one, where I spent the whole concert in monke mode shaking it, shouting and waving at my favorite ensemble.

After Blackest Eyes ended, Steven took the microphone to formally introduce the show and mentioned they'd play the whole Closure/Continuation album just before Harridan began sounding. That song to me is already destined to be a classic of the band. Such a fucking brilliant comeback, my gaaaaaaaaaawd 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

I'm not gonna describe the events song by song, though. You should know, however, that there is a tradition here in Mexico that involves throwing a plushie of the mascot from a popular national pharmacy franchise called "Dr. Simi" into the stage. At a certain point of the concert, one of those flew right into the tour's bassist Nate Navarro, so, after that song ended, Steven asked for more plushies to be thrown at them. Only one more Simi, a porcupine and a mexican flag made it there, to which Steven showed a little comical disappointment.

In general we all noticed Steven somewhat quirky and in a very good mood. The whole band was, in fact. Even Barbieri's cheeks rose one millimeter at one point of the night. Steven joked about having to make an intermission because of them being old. Also, at some other point, he asked the crowd to shout "Happy Birthday Yali" while recording it into his cellphone to show the video afterwards to his adoptive daughter. What a sweet, heartwarming detail 🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤

The songs they played outside of C/C were Even Less, Drown With Me and Last Chance To Evacuate Planet Earth Before It Is Recycled (not in that order). Love those songs, but when the feels really started to kick in was when Fear Of A Blank Planet began. That album saved my life from eternal mysery of a poor career choice. It felt very intimate.

When I really lost it was with Anesthetize. As soon as I began hearing the guitar intro I couldn't contain myself and I started crying a fucking river. Ugly face, runny nose, shouting the lyrics with no mistakes and headbanging as hard as I fucking could. That song means the absolute world to me. One of my friends had to hug my from how aggressively I was sobbing. I remember that moment and I want to start crying as hard again. I even shouted from the top of my lungs "TE AMO STEVEN" like a K-pop stan. I'm a big dummy for him, I swear.

They ended the show after "playing adult peek-a-boo" with Collapse The Light and Trains, and as if it had been only 30 minutes, the concert was over. Made some impulsive t-shirt purchasing after that and I got an In Absentia one and a FOABP that doesn't fucking fit me because I couldn't fucking read the tag attached to it.

So, yeah. It was a lifetime experience that I am extremely thankful to have lived and shared with my friends, and a memory I'll carry dearly until the day I die. I want to cry again. Hug me, please.

[maidenvault]

I or K for the ask game?

Has tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why

I mean my profile says one of my main interests is "agreeing with nobody about Star Wars anymore" and I mean it lol. Nothing could ruin my love of SW forever but for a while after TRoS I felt like I did need a break from the fandom because it was exhausting seeing all the popular takes I strongly disagree with. The Jedi Order are a bad cult who beat up parents and steal their babies to train them, and they're obviously also all-powerful so should be able to simply eradicate slavery and other societal evils. The Jedi Order have never been in the wrong when it comes to anything even though in the prequel era they were canonically misguided and wrong about many things, and got caught up in fighting a war despite being "peace keepers," which all helped their downfall. Reylos are all evil racist baby murderers, basically. It's delusional to claim TFA was setting up a Finn/Rey romance that got abandoned and Rey telling him to stop grabbing her hand was a cool girl power moment (not simply giving her characterization as someone who isn’t used to being touched or treated well but in the next moment willingly takes his hand in a choice to trust him after all because after that explosion he immediately checked if she was okay...ugh!!). Luke having a moment of weakness that turns Ben against him - Luke, who in an over-emotional moment forgot he came to save his father and cut off his hand in rage - was totally out of character. Because Luke takes after Padme and Leia takes after Anakin obviously, it's very simple. Rose's line about "saving what we love" is super deep and has anything to say about the franchise as a whole that holds up under scrutiny. Rian Johnson criticizing how supposedly blood-thirsty the rebellion against a fascist power is, in a movie in which he decided to slaughter almost that entire rebellion, was soooo smart.

I'm sorry I could go on forever and I really shouldn't because I'd lose all my followers. 😆

Say something nice about someone in any of your fandoms

@richiebadnews is possibly my favorite batcat writer even though they haven’t done much. Even if “Voir Moi” never gets finished (which I totally understand), the two chapters will continue to be re-read by me. 🥰

[absentcaryatid]

The fact you remember where I'm from and that is spring here is quite cute ^^ I've been seeing so much about fall on social media, but my vibes are different right now, I'm on flower and pretty colors vibes 🌸💐 I hope you reunite with your Sweet Bill soon, you sound so lovely together!!

And about the video, I wish it was me and Seonghwa 🥺 it would be adorable! This Wednesday is national holiday in Brazil, so, as I don't have work or uni, I'm thinking on finally watching Star Wars. What do you think? If you know a lot about the franchise, could you point me to the right direction, please? :D

Ooh, Star Wars advice. That is going to vary from fan to fan. More often than anything useful you are going to get a ramble from the person about what works for them and the place the movies found them in their life. But hey, it is my page so I can ramble. It is a deep world with lots of television shows and books too, but my knowledge is limited to the movies, and I haven't even seen all of them yet. I like the well known characters R2-D2 and C-3PO from my childhood and the more recent BB-8.

The short answer is if you just want to try one to see if you might like more the original 1977 movie that started the franchise. It is a fun adventure called Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. Alternately, the 2015 Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens is another good one if you want a more modern looking movie.

PC Magazine has a nice roundup of the movies and several suggested orders to see them. It is also fine to just watch one and decide trying once was enough Star Wars in your life. Alternately, the recent streaming shows like The Mandalorian might be more interesting than the movies so there are many ways to sample Star Wars. That's on my viewing list one day since I love the character people were calling Baby Yoda until he got a name in the story.

Two other things that may be of interest upfront, you might enjoy the adult reader insert stories of Tenelkadjowrites about Star Wars. (She is really the one to ask about Star Wars, even her username is from the wider Star Wars world!) I already liked her Seonghwa writing so seeing more work in a different fandom was fun too.

Also, my love of K-pop costuming has me smiling when I see somebody dressed in clothes that could pass for something from Star Wars. Yoongi from BTS had a photo shoot where he could have stepped off the set of the 1977 movie and Seonghwa of course keeps making me think Star Wars with his flowing outfits and swords.

On to the more personal answer with pictures (including my underwear!) and a video of the worst entry in the franchise but one of my favorites anyway!

A little too young for the first movie, I did have some of the action figures growing up and loved playing Star Wars with my friends. I was the right age to appreciate one of the most hated elements of Star Wars- the sort-of-cute teddy bearish Ewoks from the 1983 movie Return of the Jedi. I even bought Ewok Underoos recently but can only show the package I saved because I did not follow the no-heat in the dryer instructions and the iron-on design peeled right off my shirt.

I love BB-8 the most and have a lot of stuff with that character including a pillow, backpack, and plate.

So, I like the cute stuff and my love of Star Wars is shown in stuffed animals too. Here are Max Rebo, C-3PO, R2-D2, and a jawa hanging out at the end of the hallway at my house.

And I like the designs of the storm trooper costumes too so have one of those toys in my room along with a second BB-8 backpack and a matching luggage out of shot.

And last, the worst entry in the Star Wars World- the children’s Ewok movie The Battle For Endor. I was eleven when it came out and liked it. Now I can look at the trailer below and see the fern filled redwood forests I am familiar with now that I live in the San Francisco bay area. Bill says we even have some of those fern types in the backyard but he is insistent it is not because he likes Ewoks.

So my final answer is there are many ways to enjoy Star Wars including just the toys or taking one look and realizing it might not be your thing and all are perfectly reasonable ways to feel about the franchise. If you like it, there is always more to see, but it is okay if it is just a movie to you. For me it is mostly the show where some favorite characters came from.

[proofthatihaveaheart]

April 2023 Wrap-up

i had covid this month which was a terrible time EXCEPT that when i wasn’t miserable with fever watching chopped, i had a lot of time to read. and i read a lot of good stuff this month. bold + italics for faves

THINGS I READ:

Books:

Babel by R. F. Kuang - What a book!!! It’s one of my favorites from the year so far. The character arcs + relationships, especially Robin’s, are complicated and emotional and excellent. Pair that with the broader themes around the role of academia in colonization and student-led revolutions and the linguistics/history, and you’ve got an excellent reading experience. It’s not subtle in all its messages but it is utterly engrossing and it has a lot to say about violence. Also, the rich details of academia resonated with me - the love/hate relationship, the exam stress, the cohort camaraderie - it’s the most accurate depiction of what academia is like that I’ve read in fiction.

A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon - I LOVED this book. One of my favorites (it was a good month for reading). Just the rich world-building, the amazing characters, the struggle between what is expected of you by others and your personal wants and how each main character fits into this greater theme, DRAGONS, it hits hard.

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong - Spectacular tour through animal sensory systems and worlds. I learned a lot of cool things that made me appreciate how different species perceive the world around them - and how much we still have yet to learn.

Bury My Heart at Chuck E. Cheese's by Tiffany Midge - humorous essay collection on politics, identity, and life written by a Native woman. overall, it was hit-or-miss for me - some were really fantastic and some fell flat

Die Vol. 2 Split the Party by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans - still very into this comic series. It’s got gorgeous art and messy characters and fun dynamics and really cool ideas playing with rpgs and fantasies and the things people do for their fantasies

Die Vol. 3 The Great Game by Kieron Gillen and Stepahnie Hans - really liked Izzy and Ash’s dynamic in this volume (and in general)

The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline - I liked this book. Interesting premise that works well with the themes, good focus on family and tradition

Saga Vol. 1 by Brian K. Vaughan - i can see why this is considered a classic. creative and funny with delightful characters. i’m excited to see where the story goes because these first six issues have done a great job setting things up

Fic (all for Arcane):

All the King’s Horses by paxbanana (Cait/Vi, 135k): All the walls come tumbling down. Jinx’s decision triggers catastrophic effects that leave Piltover reeling and Zaun on the brink of war. Vi is desperate to juggle all the broken pieces for Caitlyn and for Powder, but no matter how hard she tries, it’s not coming back together again. Or:  Jinx's attack on Council brings down the whole tower. Vi, Caitlyn, and Jinx struggle with the aftermath. Vi balances being there for Caitlyn and cleaning up some of her sister's mess with finding a way to save her sister. Meanwhile, interested parties from Topside and Bottom plot to take advantage of the situation. [Oh this fic my beloved, the CaitVi dynamic, the mystery, the dialogue, the sister dynamic, I truly love this fic with all my heart.]

THINGS I WATCHED

Movies:

Jurassic Park - my friends and i watched this because it’s the best one and not all of us had seen it. an excellent movie, holds up well

Jurassic World Dominion - and right after watching JP, without having planned it before, someone pitched watching the worst movie in the franchise... we had a lot of fun making fun of it but it was an awful movie

TV:

Chopped

The Last of Us (finished) - excellent adaptation of an excellent game

THINGS I PLAYED

Video games:

Alba: A Wildlife Adventure - charming, adorable, and chill. It’s simple but made for a nice few hours and I really liked all the real birds

Legends of Runeterra

[ayoyoungg]

If she’s not crying while listening to Cagayake!GIRLS then what is she doing

[jjkxlv]

You Made Me This Way!

: ̗̀➛Summary: Everything was fine until you got an anonymous letter.

: ̗̀➛Genre: Mystery, established relationship, boyfriend!jk, stalker (!), angst, fluff

: ̗̀➛Warnings: none for this chapter🤔

Chapter 1

“Huh” said Areum as she stepped on a box package wrapped in a beautiful red wrapper. She doesn’t bother who sent it and she just grabbed the package and put it beside her door before she closed and locked the said door.

Areum enter her care and she rushed to her workplace. She had woken up late as she snoozes her alarm three times this morning. Yesterday she worked herself to the bone. Meetings after meetings and she went to visit the new project site which her father had verbally given his faith on her to manage the project on her own.

It was fair to say that she was born with a golden spoon. However, not like any other privileged kids, she certainly did not get it easy. Her father always made sure that she worked hard for anything she wants. Yes, she got everything that she wanted but only if she worked for it. You want a brand new phone? Daddy will give you allowance every week but you need learn how to save your own money to buy that.

It was hard she admits. But she doesn’t hold grudges against her father. In fact, she was thankful for her father that he teaches her to always be humble and always thankful that she was born in a very privilege family.

Arriving at her office, Areum apologise to her secretary for being late and let her do all the task alone. Hyo Joo her secretary did not care at all to say the least. She really admires Areum and her down to earth attitude. I mean who apologise to her worker?!

Hyo Joo follows Areum inside her office to do her usual morning briefing for her schedule of the day.

“Okay Miss Areum on 10 a.m. you got an appointment with Mr. Kim to discuss about the new franchise at Gwangju, 12 a.m. appointment with Mr. Han about the proposition you sent for his daughter and- Hyo Joo read all of her schedule for the day. “great thank you Hyo Joo and before I forgot, have you clear my schedule starting from lunch until- “until 3 p.m. because you want to meet Mr. Jeon. Yes, I did” she said with a wide smile adorning her face.

“Yesss, Thank you. You’re the best. Might give you a pay raise if you keep up the good work” Areum teased her as she jokingly wiggles her eyebrow. “You said that as if my monthly salary is not more than average people who also worked as a secretary. I guess that’s the perked of being YOUR secretary am I right?” Hyo Joo replied jokingly.

“Aww I know that’s right” Areum chuckles as she winks at Hyo Joo. “Okay Miss Areum I’ll get going. Have a nice day”

‘You too!”

Hours had passed and it’s finally lunch time. Areum sighed after she sent Mr. Han out her office as they shook hands after they made an agreement.

She then went back to sit on her chair and take a deep breath until somebody texted her.

Beloved: wyd?

Areum: just finished a meeting. Come here take me. Let’s go there together 🥺

Beloved: 🤨🤨

K. be there in 30. Stay there, I’ll call when I arrive.

Areum: YEAYY OKAYYY. LOVE YOU LOTS BUN. DRIVE SAFE😍❤️���🔥

Beloved: HSHSHSH LOVE YOU MORE BABY.

Areum chuckled as she read the text from her fiancée. That’s right she got herself a fiancée. She met Jungkook through one of her friends. Jungkook caught her eyes since the first time they met. Like everyone, Areum also intimidated by him when she first knows him. From the sleeve tattoo and the jet black slicked back hair to his stony biceps until his meaty thighs. She knows he’s not the one to play with. But surprisingly, Jungkook and her got so many things common and they just clicked.

Going into relationship with Jungkook made her realized. Despite of his rough appearance, Jungkook is the nicest man she met. One time, he even went to talk with your father when he thought your father was being too harsh on you after you came crying to him when your father yelled and threatened to kick you out of the house if you don’t get your shit together. Not gonna lie, you were at the lowest point of your life at the time. So many people come and go from your life just like that.

Your father of course did not agree with him at first, but after Jungkook told him something that Areum made him promise to not tell anyone, her father had apologised to Areum and said that his intention was to teach her and that he too was in pain seeing his only daughter in pain. In the end, he told Areum that it’s okay to stop and feel down sometimes but she needs to get up and go on with her life as soon as possible because time will not wait for us. He didn’t want to see his daughter in pain because of someone else.

And that made Areum realized that no matter how many people come and the best, the one who loves her will stay and she see them. She sees those who love her and that made her appreciate them more.

Areum train of thoughts were distracted by her phone ringtone. It’s Jungkook. “he must be here” she thought to herself as she answered the call.

“Hiiii”

“Heloo, I’m here. Be quick”

“Okayy comingg”

She said excitedly as she rushed to the elevator. Smiling ear to ear she cannot hide the excitement she felt with the thought of seeing him. It’s been 2 days since she last met Jungkook as their schedule would always clash.

Ding

The elevator dinged signalling the lift is here. The door opened and a weird looking cleaner got out of it. “he seems familiar but where did I met him?” she thinks to herself. Shrugging the thought off she pushed the G button to go to the ground floor where Jungkook is waiting for her.

But little did she know, the odd looking cleaner have his own agenda that’s going to change her life.

Forever.

HSHSHSH THANK YOU FOR READING THIS IS JUST TO GIVE EVERYONE IDEA OF THE STORY😉LIKE AND REBLOG IF YOU LIKE IT THANK YOU SO MUCH😩💢❤️‍🔥

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK💕

‼️please don't steal my idea, don't repost my story on any other platform‼️

[asharkapologist]

May the 4th (Star Wars Day) Special Post

Happy May the 4th, everyone! Although I don’t post too much about Star Wars, believe me when I say that Star Wars is one of my favorite movie franchises out there, and The Clone Wars is one of my favorite TV shows of all time. So, in order to celebrate Star Wars Day, I decided to be positive and say at least three nice things about every live-action, theatrically released Star Wars movie, including Solo and Rogue One. So, let’s begin.

The Phantom Menace

Call me crazy, but I actually like the political stuff. Maybe that’s because I like political science and history, but I honestly don’t mind the Senate scenes at all. I think that, for a film trilogy that takes place when the Jedi were still around and working in tandem with the soon-to-fall Republic, political scenes were needed to worldbuild and set the setting.

Duel of the Fates. Need I say more? One of the best musical scores and duels in all of Star Wars--maybe even movies in general.

The podracing was very well done, in my opinion. If you ask me, it still looks convincing by today’s standards, and is suitably thrilling, and Jake Lloyd’s acting was pretty decent in the podracing sequence.

Attack of the Clones

The scene where Anakin’s mom dies and he slaughters the Tusken Raiders is very well done. And it’s excellent (and more violent and chilling) in the novelization. (In fact, I would fully recommend reading the prequel novelizations, they are excellent).

Across the Stars is a beautiful love score that communicates the love that Anakin and Padme have for each other, as well as their very tragic fate.

There’s a really good deleted scene where Anakin and Padme visit Padme’s family that I wish they had kept in the movie. It’s very cute, fleshes out the relationship between Anakin and Padme, and I really like how Padme’s family interacts with Anakin.

Revenge of the Sith

Palpatine is incredibly entertaining in this movie. You can tell Ian had a blast playing him.

The scene where Padme tells Anakin that she’s pregnant and his reaction to the news is perfectly written and acted. Hayden does such a good job with his line delivery and facial expressions--you can tell the emotions he’s going through as he’s reacting to the news that he’s going to be a father so, so well.

This movie does not hold back on the emotional trauma. When I first saw RotS, I cried incredibly hard, and I think the scene that really started the waterworks was the scene where the score “Padme’s Ruminations” play, where she and Anakin are looking out their respective windows during sunset, right before Anakin makes the choice that will change the course of galactic history forever: going to interfere with Palpatine’s arrest. There’s no dialogue in the scene, save a brief voice-over of Palpatine, and when Anakin starts to cry in that scene, so do I. The music is chilling, and, once again, Hayden’s acting is excellent. He doesn’t have to say anything for you to know what emotions he’s feeling.

Solo

Donald Glover KILLS it as Lando. Stole the show.

It’s a small background detail, but I really like the Imperial propaganda posters/videos/holograms you can see in public transit places. It definitely adds to the overall immersion and worldbuilding of this point in the galaxy’s history. 

Okay I kind of liked the way that Han got his last name. Unpopular opinions, but I think it was funny. Love how some random guy created the last name of one of the most influential people/heroes in the galaxy.

Rogue One

The music? Super underrated. The score “Your Father Would Be Proud” makes me very emotional and suits the scene very well.

K-2SO is the best droid in the franchise. Yes, he is better than C-3PO and R2. You cannot convince me otherwise. 

Like, Revenge of the Sith, this movie does NOT hold back. It straight up kills all of the main characters, and shows that just because you do something heroic doesn’t mean that you’re going to get a happy ending. And it shows that you don’t have to be a space wizard, politician, or part of some important lineage in order to make a difference within the universe. 

Bonus one because this is one of my favorites: The hallway scene with Darth Vader. Enough said.

A New Hope

I mean…this is literally the movie that started it all? Without this movie, we would have no Star Wars.

Han, Luke, and Leia play off each other better than any other main characters in the franchise. I love their back and forth as they’re escaping the Death Star.

I really love the meeting scene with all of the commanders, moffs, important people, etc. are talking about the rebels, the Force, etc. I think that scene perfectly establishes the character and organization of the Empire, and it’s interesting, since it shows that Vader respects Tarkin, even though he could easily kill him. (I really love how The Clone Wars built on this.)

The Empire Strikes Back

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. It’s hard to pinpoint specific things that I like, because, like, everything is borderline perfect.

It has one of the greatest plot twists in all of cinema history. Like, sure, Vader being Luke’s father is common knowledge now, but when it first came out? Nope. I would have loved to be in the cinema, watching that scene for the first time, and getting my mind blown. 

The duel between Luke and Vader is so underrated, in my opinion. Like, sure, it’s not as flashy as some of the duels in the prequels, but the stakes are high, and I love how Luke and Vader utilize their surroundings to fight. (Doesn’t beat Darth Maul using a hallway to fight in TCW, though). It’s probably my third favorite duel in the franchise.

Bonus because I love this move: it shows that Leia is Force Sensitive. Her using the Force in the sequels did not come out of nowhere.

Return of the Jedi

The celebration music is SO GOOD. One of my favorite Star Wars tracks of all time. It’s one of the few times a Star Wars movie has a definitive happy ending, and it’s so satisfying seeing the characters celebrate and have fun together, having won a war that was going on for over two decades.

Again, call me crazy, but I love seeing Hayden’s Anakin as a force ghost. That tied the prequels and original trilogy together wonderfully.

The scenes in the throne room of the second Death Star is some of the best scenes in Star Wars. There’s real drama, danger, and other powerful emotions. The Emperor really shows how evil he is here.

The Force Awakens

Finn is such an interesting character, and is perfectly used in this movie. Humanizing a stormtrooper, who, previous to this movie, had been nothing but blaster fodder that the heroes easily and effortlessly gun down was a cool concept.

Hux is at his best here. That speech? Perfectly acted by Domhall Gleeson.

Honestly, I’m glad that they made the main character female. Like, say what you want about the sequels or Rey’s abilities, but, even if her character wasn’t written perfectly (well--it was written perfectly, which is a bit of an issue lol), it was good to have a female Jedi in a live-action movie. Some people say “well, the prequels had female Jedi.” Yes, but those Jedi were on screen for such a short amount of time that you could literally blink and miss them. “Clone Wars had female Jedi.” Yes, they did, and Ahsoka is one of my favorite Star Wars characters of all time. However, a lot of people who go and watch Star Wars in the movies don’t go out and watch side TV shows or read the comics/books. And if you ask me, you shouldn’t have to search side material if you’re just a casual Star Wars fan to find female representation. I am genuinely glad for all of the women who are Star Wars fans who only choose to see the movies (and that doesn’t make them any less fans than people who watch the shows and read the books/comics) who felt empowered seeing a main character who was a female Jedi. 

The Last Jedi

Kylo Ren is written excellently here. His inner conflict is SO. WELL. ACTED. By Adam Driver. That man carried the sequels.

Rey, too, is at her best. In this movie, she fails. She struggles to get through to Luke, and she fails to turn Kylo to the light, and she loses the fight against Snoke. But she grows, and in this movie, she’s very compelling.

I love Luke and Kylo’s fight. Not only is it well choreographed, but the dialogue between the two of them is top-notch, too.

Rise of Skywalker

Honestly? I really like the back and forth dialogue between Poe, Finn, and Rey. Those actors have really good chemistry.

I do appreciate Palpatine quoting Revenge of the Sith, since Disney likes to pretend the prequels don’t exist.

The movie is very fast-paced and makes for a very energetic viewing experience

Well. That’s it. Happy May the 4th once more!

[incepstla]

Tag game 1: rules: post your lockscreen, the last song you listened to and the last picture you saved.

Tagged by: Cat @eijunes and Siri @jaegerists thank you both for the tag <3

Last song and last picture (lockscreen is just me on holiday lol so I won’t be posting)

Tag game 2:

Tagged by @jaegerists thanks for the tag!

list 10 songs you really like, each by a different artist, and then tag 10 people to do the same:

Mad Woman - Taylor Swift, I love the whole of folklore but been listening to this song a lot lately.

In my head - Ariana Grande, I really love the production and instrumentation of this.

Lovely - Billie Eilish & Khalid, honestly always been obsessed with this song.

Hold on - Chord Overstreet, it’s sad and I’m a sucker for sad songs.

Clocks - Coldplay, one of my fave songs from them just because of the piano riff. It’s actually one of the first songs that motivated me to learn to play piano, so it has a special place in my heart.

Youth - Daughter, always makes me feel a certain way so I adore it.

Marvin’s Room - Drake, sad and made me see Drake in a different light the whole album did I love.

Photograph - Ed Sheeran, this just makes me reminiscent of the past I love everything about it.

Iris - goo goo dolls, I find myself always going back to this song also love the lyrics and guitar in it.

All the stars - Kendrick Lamar & SZA, was obsessed with this song when black Panther came out the visuals and vibe was something else. I still love it a lot.

-o-

Favourite colour: blue practically every shade, softer shades of purple/lilac. I mean I splatter it all over my edits so I don’t try to hide it sjsjsj

Currently reading: Gone Girl and education books.

Last song: All I want - Kodaline

Last series: euphoria

Last movie: Seven or Se7en

Sweet, savory, or spicy: I like all tbh depends on mood but savory is the most consistent.

currently working on: some event stuff

-o-

5 things I love talking about: (no order)

1) fave ships

2) tv shows I’m into or anime

3) Levi

4) New music

5) movies

-o-

use this picrew to make a muffin: I think mine is ugly but I tried sjsjs

Link

Tag game 3:

Tagged by Steph @hanae-ichihara Angie @okkottsus Victoria @tatakaeeren and Siri @jaegerists thank you all so much for the tag <33

let's get to know our Animanga Fandom mutuals/followers better?

01. how did you find out about anime? I would watch Dragon Ball Z as a child with my older brother in the very early 00’s. It was what we bonded over and everyone at primary school would talk about dragon ball. I was so young then but I remember glimpses. Around this time I also remember getting into Sailor Moon as well.

02. What’s your favourite anime? As much as I have my ups and downs with the final arc I would say Shingeki no Kyojin. I adored the plot twists, suspense, story, thrill, sadness, the emotional journey, character growth and arcs, honestly it’s a great ride. And I still wholly love Levi, Eren, Erwin and co. It was fascinating to see their motivations, journeys (and not always agreeing lol). I also really love fma brotherhood, still have a soft spot for the Dragonball franchise too.

03. Do you have a favourite J-music/k-pop group/singer? Ahhh I adore Hiroyuki Sawano <3 and Yiruma.

04. When is your birthday? And how old are you? May 11th, 27

05. Currently, what is your favourite fandom anime? Idk I guess Shingeki, but it’s more of me engaging with a smaller selection of people. I also like talking about bnha, jjk and kny from time to time. Larger fandoms in general tend to be messy imo.

06. Despite the ups and downs of tumblr, what motivates you to stay here today and do your best? Honestly it’s nice seeing so many talented people and creations here I’m always in awe. And even sharing my own when I feel up for it. And honestly despite that yes tumblr doesn’t feel as lively as other social media, but there is a general respect for content creators on here compared to other platforms. Also there’s always super nice and supportive people on here.

07. finally, create yourself in this picrew:

Link

Tagging: @sattosugu @gojosattoru @hiraxo @lou96 @gizaoyas @aslaanjade @zuura @tohmura @kyojuuros @childeapologist @fugoukeijis @ackersoul @theforgers @hashaneeee @crimsonrosee and whoever else wants to do it!

[alpacaparkaseok]

Hey how you're doing

Just here to talk about how weirded out I'm by Hybe. They're now on wattpad.

And they're doing a new story on bts but like what about the original BU. I mean they stopped run bts for what a franchise. I love BU I mean it was like 1/10th the reason of being army but it feels like they're trying to tale over what is essentially the fanculture writing ffs about your favourite to discover them. The best fan stories are the ones based on their favourite personality but that's besides the point.

Also now they're doing virtual photocards but that will according to comments in YouTube basically increase carbon footprint. Opposite of what bts talked about at unga.

And the new storyline will probably collab with other new artists which i feel basically means they're going to have us buy merch of others to get on material to the storyline or whatnot. Basically ride on bts. Which is unfair on the other artists who on a daily basis get compared to bts .

Not that we can do much. What do you think?

hey!

ok, let's break this down haha

Wattpad: Kinda weird, but I'm not too worried about it. Not super surprised by it, as they've always been moving with storylines. With Webtoon and Wattpad being so connected (and their story on Wattpad being quite successful as the boys have gained traction), it's a little disappointing that they're not sticking with the orginal BU but I don't know enough about the new storyline to have much of an opinion on if the change was good or bad. However, they've been dabbling in the world of ff for years I feel like, so I don't have too much of an opinion on this.

Virtual photocards/NFTs: not a fan of the idea, personally. It's ironic, all things considered, with the carbon footprint. I'm interested to see how they respond to it. I don't think I'll really even interact with all that anyways because I feel like physical photocards actually...meant something? I can download a million pictures of the boys to save to my camera roll, whereas a physical photocard that came with an album or something meant something more to me. Hybe has definitely been taking measures to grow, they're bound to do some things that don't make sense, I feel like this is one of them lol.

And lastly, as for collabing with other artists on the storyline, I think this is a double edged sword. Like you said, it might kinda suck for those other artists because they might become popular by association. But on the other hand, it could really open up a lot of opportunities. Like, I got into k-pop because of BTS, and they in turn opened the door to me falling in love with the likes of Han Jisung and Solar and Taemin and IU and countless others that are amazing and deserve all the world, but I wouldn't have really given them a chance had I not had BTS to open the door to that world. Now, I don't associate them with BTS. Like, Taemin's hips deserve their own soundtrack, and that has literally nothing to do with BTS. So I can see both sides of this issue, because it also reminds me that when Monsta X was so excited to be the first kpop group playing Madison Square Garden (WHICH IS AMAZING AND STAN THEM THEY'RE SO COOL) and the interviewer found a way to drag BTS into the interview rather than building off of their amazing feat.

So yeah. Mixed emotions, good and bad. Hopefully the good outweighs the bad!

[hurremsultanns]

aside from Hürrem and Kösem, who are your faves from MC and MC: K?

I have a couple of gifsets of my favourite characters from MC and MC:K and I listed a lot of the characters I like in my intro post. But I’ll pick my favourite and explain what I like about them.

I really like Nurbanu. I love her intelligence, bravery, ambition and audacity and I think she’s definitely a worthy successor to Hürrem.

Defne was really sweet. I loved her interactions with Bayezid and his family.

I know she only showed up for 10 minutes tops, but Cihan Hatun (Mehmets favourite in Manisa) was adorable.

Hatice was fantastic. I like her kinder and more compassionate side and I think her character was an interesting exploration of trauma and mental health issues.

Şah was awesome. I loved how clever she was and how she really shook things up in season 3. Her schemes were different than those of the other dynasty members and it was so interesting to see. My favourite opponent for Hürrem on the show.z

Nigar Kalfa was a great character. I thought she was the most fleshed out and compelx Kalfa int the franchise. She was smart and someone who thought for herself and was primarily on her own side. And I respect that. Also she and Esmanur were adorable. I do still feel like her relationship with Ibrahim did her a massive disservice though. Also her hatred for Gülşah gives me life.

Diana Hatun/Fahriye Kalfa I loved her dynamic with Hürrem, Sümbül and Afife. Plus, she was a character who often stood for the right thing (like when she saved Helena from Fatma).

Sümbül Ağa He was funny and always enjoyable to watch and I loved the progression of his relationship to Hürrem. Especially in season 4. And seeing how sad he was at the end of the show was heartbreaking.

Afife Hatun I loved how her friendship with Hürrem developped. And I’m still not over that hug in episode 72. I think she was one of the characters who understood Hürrem the best. I’ll always be bitter about her death.

Cennet Kalfa I love how she was smart, loyal and took no shit.

Halime Did she do a lot of morally questionable things? Sure. But she was a very interesting antagonist who was in a uniquely vulnerable position. So I can understand why.

Hümaşah She was smart, accomplished, and for most of season 1 thought very much for herself. I loved when she rescued Kösem in order to save her children.

Gevherhan She was smart, kind and stood up for her family. Deserved so much better.

Esther Kira She was loyal to Kösem and an absolute badass until the end. I respect her so much for that.

[punkrockbuttrfly]

for the fandom asks:

- gallifrey

- .........and i know *i* know nothing abt it but if you have the time for it,,,,,, power rangers...? i wanna hear u get excited abt something you really really love again jdhfjfjkf

Send me a fandom and I’ll tell you my:

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most)

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped)

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave)

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week)

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave)

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason)

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell)

Gallifrey:

Blorbo: It's hard to say because I love all of them but it's probably going to end up being Romana because she just needs a hug and for people to listen but also to listen to other people because everyone should listen to Romana, she's right, until she's not at which point Romana Stop.

Scrunkly: Narvin, obviously. My Baby War Criminal. It's wild listening to the early episodes and hearing him be such an Asshole (derogatory) when you know he's going to develop and become an Asshole (affectionate) but seeing that development is glorious.

Scrimblo Bimblo: Aaaaaaaaaace! I know she's not underappreciated in the fandom but the series didn't do enough with her. Also Eris, who Deserved Better.

Glup Shitto: Mephistopheles Arkadian, of course! I know he appeared for a few episodes but he just made such an impression, he's The Worst and I love hearing him get stamped on.

Poor Little Meow Meow: Valyes. I know it's popular to hate Valyes. It's also correct to hate Valyes, he's awful and I hate him. But he's such a slimy fucker that I can't help but find him entertaining when he gets stamped on, much like Arkadian.

Horse Plinko: Braxiatel, the Bastard Man himself. I have written a few stories involving him but not enough that involve him losing dignity in funny ways because as much as it's great seeing him be a bastard, watching him get stamped on is just so entertaining. This is a theme now, isn't it?

Eeby Deeby: I know you're expecting me to say Darkel but she's honestly quite entertaining and effective as a villain. Nope, I'm going to say Zakar because fuck him. He's such a bastard that I can't even find him entertaining. He's just disgusting and I hate him.

Power Rangers:

Blorbo: I'm not entirely sure which to pick here. Do I pick the Ranger Slayer, who ended up becoming so runaway popular that she keeps coming back because everyone loves Formerly Evil Punk Rock Alternate Future Kimberly Hart? But also Ellarien the Purple Solar Ranger, who also ended up being runaway popular for being amazing and awesome and the first canon black lesbian in the franchise along with Remi her wonderful girlfriend? Or do I pick Doctor K, who desperately needs so many hugs and whose backstory episode genuinely makes me cry every time (and also the bit in the finale of Power Rangers RPM where she finally erases her greatest mistake and gets vindication on everything she's done since then?). Or maybe I should pick Jen Scotts, the hardass drill sergeant time traveller who learns to love life again as she saves the world time and time again? There's so many options.

Scrunkly: This one I am gonna say Doctor K. The image of the most intelligent woman in the world, but also one of the most traumatised, hanging around eating way too much sugar in bunny slippers while steadfastly refusing to emotionally connect with anyone until she just can't help it anymore is wonderful (oh! Add her reunion with Gem and Gemma onto the list of Doctor K Moments That Make Me Cry!)

Scrimblo Bimblo: Cassie! Cassie Chan is honestly my favourite member of the Zordon Era. She tends to get overshadowed by Kim or Kat or Andros or TJ (and that's not even talking about how fucking everyone in that era gets constantly overshadowed by Tommy and Jason) but she's just the best. Also it's harder to tell in Power Rangers in Space because she's normally in uniform but take one look at any of her outfits from Power Rangers Turbo and tell me that she's straight. She has the most lesbian fashion sense and I love it.

Glup Shitto: I'd wanna say Ellarien because she appeared in one story arc in the comics that nobody ever seems to talk about (in fact I think I was the first person to write a fic about her on AO3, and that was a couple years after she debuted) but she did get a reappearance later in the comic so maybe she's not as obscure as I tend to assume.

Poor Little Meow Meow: Eric Myers. Much like Narvin I talked about from Gallifrey, he starts out as an asshole (derogatory) but once he confronts his own racism and comes to the conclusion that he's actually wrong he genuinely does a lot of development very quickly and is one of the best characters (seriously, Trip Takes a Stand as an episode may not have aged that great (and I've written essays about that, and how Power Rangers Time Force as a whole handles the awkward subject) but for Eric's development it's a real turning point and afterwards he's a genuinely endearing character once he stops being a racist). He's a cop whose character arc is learning why being a cop is bad and then he (sort of) quits and that's great to me.

Horse Plinko: I mean, half of my Power Rangers writing has been about Ranger Slayer and that whole bucket of Trauma. You can't really write her without either tormenting her or tormenting everyone around her.

Eeby Deeby: This is not an unpopular opinion but Mentor Ji. He just fucking sucks, a mentor character written so badly he ends up coming across as completely unreasonable. He's written like the kind of asshole parental figure that the characters will grow beyond and realise that he's been awful to them (like Wes Collins' father if Mr. Collins didn't have any of his own character development) but he never realises he was wrong, and we're apparently supposed to agree with him. He sucks, and while there are plenty of problems with Power Rangers Samurai, the series would have been orders of magnitude better without him.

Thanks for the ask! Enjoy my wild ramblings!

[ibroughtyoumybullets-ningy]

which is better? dr who, torchwood, or ace attorney?

i have no idea who asked this, but now we're gonna break some shit down.

doctor who

is it good?

eh, sometimes. it depends on your definition of 'good'. the show is problematic in a million different ways (especially if you're watching Classic) but it's also campy as ALL hell and yes that's a good thing.

doctor who will always hold a special place in my heart for a variety of reasons. Rose was a very important character to me growing up, and the show was where i saw my first queer character. alongside all that, the show's themes of how anyone has the power to stand up and be the hero, how everyone has that one thing that seems completely useless but is the key to saving the day, and to never stop exploring and asking "why?".

the show is more than just a mixed bag. it's thirty different mixed bags all tied together with some rainbow yarn masquerading as the same bag. there are very few people who will enjoy everything the show has to offer (heck, i don't enjoy everything the show has to offer) but there are very few people who won't enjoy at least some of it.

torchwood

is it good?

hahahahahahaha no. 💚. i say this with so much love for this stupid franchise. it's shit 💚. but, at the same time, it drew me in. beyond the first season and it's bizarre, dated nonsense, there's a surprising level of depth to be found here. torchwood connected with me in ways i really never expected it to, especially given its first season. it's deeply 2000s for better or for worse, but it managed to craft several character arcs and even just individual scenes that are going to stay with me for a long time.

on a different note, i also really appreciate (most of) how they handled the show's queer representation. having an all bisexual main cast is something unheard of from that era of entertainment. and, adding onto that, they don't make a big deal out of it. until the third season, there are no big coming out scenes or drama over characters being in same sex relationships. everyone's bi and it's treated as a normal thing.

don't get me wrong, this whole franchise is hit or miss. the episodes themselves range wildly in quality, the novels are (for the most part) pure garbage, but a lot of the audio dramas have ended up redeeming the franchise and helping it capitalize on that idea of 'doctor who but for Grown Ups™️' not with pointless sex and gore but with darker storylines and ambiguous moral implications the original series couldn't or wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. is it for everyone? no. but it is for 2000s kids who like rtd doctor who.

ace attorney

is it good?

well. as a game, the gameplay loop can become very repetitive and exhausting after going at it for 10 hours straight (and yes, i've been there). and as a story it has a tendency to not only jump sharks, but organize an annual shark jumping and feeding festival. of course, no murders will happen at the shark jumping and feeding festival. why, such a thing would be completely unheard of! and i, Shar K. Bait, can guarantee no one has ever been fed to our sharks.

in all seriousness, i went into these games expecting complete bullshit. we've all seen the memes. so then i started Turnabout Goodbyes and it ruined my life.

i don't know how long the series will be able to hold my attention when i'm done with all the games (i still need to finish aa3, i have the Chronicles, aai should be here in a few days, and when all those are done i can play Apollo Justice, no clue yet where i'll play aa5/6 since i don't have a 3ds), but so far i'm interested. the writing and gameplay being intertwined the way they are is a nice balance, neither feels like it's overtaking the other and by shifting back and forth between courtroom battles and visual novel content neither outstays its welcome.

as far as this series of me rambling is concerned, ace attorney is probably the best constructed overall. but, it's a different medium (video game) so its production works much differently than that of television.

i didn't expect to get as invested into the series as i did. particularly, i really enjoy miles edgeworth's arc (part of the reason i was willing to fork over so much for aai cough cough) and i'm curious to see how his character is handled in later installments, since i've heard some of the writing goes downhill in the later games.

so which of these is better?

well, my dear anon, not to be a wishy washy bitch, but none of them. i can appreciate them all for different reasons and recognize that some have strengths the others don't. yes, doctor who is technically one of my oldest hyperfixations, but also i dropped the franchise for almost a decade because of a certain writer (who will not be named) completely killing my interest. i've only had torchwood for just over a year and ace attorney for a couple months, so it's hard to say if they'll slot themselves into a permanent hyperfixation slot in my mind.

but i can't truly call one 'better' than the other, as i go to them for different reasons and expect different things from them. i hope you enjoyed my breakdown on why. 💚💚

tl;dr - you're comparing apples to bobbins, they serve different functions in my life though i love them both

[liquidstar]

I'd love to hear some of your recommendations! And I'm good without any content warnings, but since you're posting this for all your followers to see probably best to add them

Alright sure! I’ll be general then and since you’re just starting out this will sort of be bringing up a lot of really popular ones, the really good ones where the general consensus is “you gotta see this!”, but I’ll also try to give ones from different genres so you have a variety of things to pick from, so this isn’t really a list of personal favorites but I’ll throw in a couple of those too lol, but generally think of this as a handy beginners guide with just a little personal bias.

I wrote a lot so I'm gonna put them under the cut here.

Fullmetal Alchemist

Fullmetal Alchemist is a franchise that’s considered a must-watch, it takes place in a world where alchemy is a borderline magical power, but is considered scientific in-universe and follows scientific laws, namely the law of equivalent exchange. Something can’t be made from nothing, to gain something of equal value must be lost. The story follows the story of two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, who at the ages of 10 and 11 committed alchemy’s one and only unforgivable sin, human transmutation, in an attempt to bring their mother back to life. As a result, one brother lost his arm and leg and the other lost his entire body, leaving his soul bound to a suit of armor. However the brothers are resolute to regain their original bodies, and the older brother, Edward, joins the State Alchemists, a branch of the military, to try to gain access to research materials to help them achieve their goal. But was that really such a good idea?

Fullmetal Alchemist can be a bit confusing to get into due to the fact that there are two series: Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (2009). The latter is a reboot with a different story that follows the original manga. They both have the same beginning, but diverge paths and tell very different stories. My recommendation for how to watch this show is: Watch 2003 first, and Brotherhood second. Everyone has a different opinion about which is better, but everyone agrees that 2003 has better backstory but a contrived ending, and Brotherhood has a rushed beginning (Because it works off the assumption that you’ve seen 2003) with a great and fulfilling ending. If you can’t do both I say just watch Brotherhood because it will leave you more satisfied and you don’t have to watch 03 to get into it.

For both series the biggest trigger warnings are: Parental death, child death, pet death, war, genocide, dismemberment, religious themes, and miscarriage. For brotherhood specifically: on-screen suicide, and for 2003 specifically: rape (not on-screen) and pregnancy from it. The 2003 series is also a lot darker than Brotherhood which has a more optimistic tone, so that’s worth noting too.

Soul Eater

A show I think is incredibly fun, and a good one for an October watch if you wanna save it. It takes place in a world where certain people have the ability to transform into weapons, and they team up with other people who become their meisters. The characters often travel around, but the main setting is Death City, a fictional city in Nevada based off of Las Vegas but with a huge Halloweentown vibe, and a school right at the top of it called the Death Weapon Meister Academy (DWMA) where a bunch of kids that turn into weapons learn how to hunt down witches and kishins (Beings that consume human souls). The school, of course, is run by the grim reaper, Lord Death himself.

Our main characters for the series are a group of 7 students. Our protagonist Maka Albarn and her weapon partner Soul “Eater” Evans, a scythe. A loud mouth assassin named Black✰Star and his weapon partner Tsubaki, who has many weapon forms. And the son of the grim reaper, Death The Kid, and his two weapon partners Liz and Patty Thompson, who are twin pistols. There are also a bunch of really lively colorful background characters and antagonists, and the cast of the show being as insane as it is really makes it, on top of the great atmosphere and of course the plot, which just builds more and more as the series progresses. Also Crona is there and we all love Crona.

Trigger warnings for this show include: Child abuse (Mental and physical), manipulation, snakes and spiders (The motifs of two major villains), some very surreal moments that can verge on unreality. Also, in the dub and most subs: misgendering of a canonically trans character. Crona is a character who is non-binary, but the dub and subs use gendered pronouns for them due to general ignorance about neutral pronouns in 2008, though this isn’t the fault of the original series and falls on the translators hands.

Also it’s important to note: that the first 3 episodes are prologues and they take themselves less seriously, there’s more fanservice in them than there is in the rest of the series (Except for Blair she stays the fanservice character :pensive:)

Zombieland Saga

Idol anime is really prevalent as a genre, the most popular being Love Live, but my personal favorite is Zombieland Saga. It’s an idol anime, but it’s also a comedy about zombie girls who become idols. It sounds ridiculous but there’s an insane amount of heart in it regardless, it wasn’t a show I expected to get emotional at but I did! It also made me laugh a lot too. The series itself can serve as a bit of a subversion on what idols are, not just because they’re literally zombies, but because of who the characters are.

Sakura Minamoto is a character who starts off as a more typical idol, a peppy pure girl, as the series continues her struggle with depression gets highlighted. Saki Nikaido serves as her initial foil, a delinquent girl with a criminal record who subvers the idea of pure perfect idols. Ai Mizuno, a former idol who has since undergone severe trauma (The way she died). Junko Konno who has ideals that seem very different on what idols “should” be due to the time period she died. Lily Hoshikawa, an explicitly transgender idol. Yugiri nolastname, a former high ranking courtesan, subvering the pure image of an idol by being a sex worker. And Tae Yamada, a completely nonverbal idol who’s still treated with the same amount of importance as the rest of the team. The premise here really is just that these girls don’t fit the incredibly rigid mold of what idols should be and yet they still all deserve love and they gain a fanbase by being their earnest selves.

Trigger warnings for this series aren’t incredibly severe but since they’re zombies there’s still talks about death and they way they died (Including motorcycle/car accidents, plane crashes, getting struck by lightning, and a heart attack), there’s also comedic dismemberment, as in their arms just sort of pop on and off and stuff like that. The most notable thing is the deadnaming of Lily, the trans idol, by her father, but it doesn’t appear to be malicious in any way.

Note: this series is in the middle of it’s second season right now, if you want to wait until it’s over it should be 12 episodes long and just aired it’s 3rd, so about 9 more weeks.

Death Note

This is also absolutely another series that gets recommended to people right off the bat, and for good reason, this show is an intricate game of chess between a serial killer and a detective trying to catch him, and it’s incredibly easy to get super invested in the suspense of what happens next. The story begins when a shinigami, a god of death, drops his “Death Note” into the human world out of pure boredom. A Death Note is simply a notebook where if you write someone's name in it… They die! And who better to pick up such a powerful object than Light Yagami, a prodigy praised for his genius and academy accomplishments as well as his charm and popularity, and with a very strong but juvenile black-and-white sense of justice, likely due to being raised by a cop.

So naturally Light begins his power trip as soon as he finds the notebook, he intends to “fix” the world by cleansing it of all the bad people, but truly he intends to become the world’s new god. Or the “God of the new world” as he puts it. But there’s one thing standing in his way, a detective resolute on catching him with the codename L. The series entire crux is a game of cat and mouse between these two, as they try to outsmart each other and the murders continue, Light loses more and more of his humanity, L becomes more resolute on catching him. There are more twists and turns than a cheetah race, and it’s honestly pretty addictive to see what happens next.

Trigger warnings here obviously include a lot of death and murder, including suicide, but in some cases it’s a forced suicide at Light’s hands. Also abuse, as Light loses his humanity he isn’t above manipulating and discarding people who love him. And one instance of near-rape on screen fairly early on, but the purpitrator dies before it happens and the victim escapes.

K-On!

Slice-of-life is an incredibly popular genre, and K-On! is the quintessential example of it. It’s a series that not everyone will like, because not a lot truly happens, and it can be overly saccharine or “moe” for a lot of people, and that’s fine. But I personally think that despite not a lot happening, the story has genuine substance, more than you may gather at first glance. It’s true that not much in the way of big plot really happens, it’s mostly life events, that’s why it's a slice-of-life. But it’s not about nothing. The real theme of the show is the fleeting nature of youth. It’s about how important the friendships you form at that time are, how they’ll stick with you for a lifetime, and how everything comes to an end. It’s sweetness even becomes a little bittersweet because you knew their after school tea time would end come graduation, and as they realize this it breaks their hearts a little, but they continue on, because they’re still After School Tea Time!

The series itself is simply about 5 girls in a band, Yui Hirasawa on lead guitar, Mio Akiyama on the bass, Ritsu Tainaka on the Drums, Tsumugi Kotobuki on the Keyboard, and Azusa Nakano on Rhythm Guitar (Who shows up later). They’re in a club at school called the light music club where they waste a lot of their time just drinking tea and eating cake, but they’re having fun and that’s what counts! The series has a lot of really great direction and expressive animation despite the fact that a lot of it is just sitting around and talking, it’s incredibly visually interesting so you don’t get bored.

I honestly don’t think there are any big trigger warnings I can give for this series, maybe that Sawa-chan can be a little too forceful when she wants to dress up the girls in cute outfits sometimes but it’s usually not presented as too creepy especially after season 1 where they tone it down due to straying from the manga.

Mob Psycho 100

This series is an absolute love letter to the art of animation as a whole, the artstyle itself may not seem like much to look at but the animation is some of the most expressive, fluid, creative, and vibrant out there right now, it’s the type of series that you can tell was made with a real passion for its medium and it’s story. It’s protagonist is Shigeo Kageyama, nicknamed “Mob”, a term that literally means “Background character”. Mob is a middle school kid and an incredibly powerful psychic, like, insanely overpowered, but he’s currently working part time for a shady conman, Reigen Arataka. Though it may seem as if Reigen is just using Mob for his powers, their bond is actually a very sweet one and you can tell they care for each other, it’s a very important one at the heart of the series.

The core themes of the series itself are what really make it shine, it’s message is stated as clearly as possible in the opening songs, “your life is your own” and “if everyone is not special, maybe you can be what you want to be”. Put simply, you’re the protagonist of your own life, but the other important message of the series is that all the supposed background characters are just as important. The friends you make, the connections you have with other people and the way they impact you, they’re what make you strong. No one is born special, everyone is just a normal person, and everyone deserves kindness. It’s a series that I recommend incredibly strongly for just how powerfully it portrays this message.

Trigger warnings for this series include kidnapping, possession, a scene with a “man in a dress” joke, and a racist design for a background character. Also (spoilers) a scene where it seems like a child was murdered and a scene where it seems like Mob’s entire family was murdered.

Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War!

Hey, speaking of amazing animation, Kaguya-Sama is a romantic comedy series centered around the premise of two incredibly arrogant people falling in love. Kaguya Shinomiya and Miyuki Shirogane are the vice president and president of the student council at the prestigious Shuchi'in Academy, they eventually develop feelings for each other but they’re both simultaneously too proud and too insecure to admit it, so the real crux of the series is the 3D chess they play with each other to try and get the other to confess first. Along with the scatterbrained secretary, Chika Fujiawara, the treasurer in desperate need of Prozac Yu Ishigami, the cast is incredibly fun and they all fit into the comedy great. Every single little game of “do you like me?” that they play is written like the most intense thing in the world, the insane animation absolutely adds to it, making it seem almost like a psychological thriller, the comedy comes from the absurdity of just how much they hyperbolize it.

It’s not pure comedy though, due to a lot of the series being set up around mindgames, the characters are actually fairly psychologically complex with a lot of genuine development stemming from their childhood to explain why they are the way they are. The series may be about mindgames, but the actual narrative frames them as a juvenile way to go about relationships, a way to try to protect yourself from getting hurt because you’re afraid to trust. The entire core theme is that communication in relationships of any kind is the most important thing and you cant replace it with clever little tricks, so the main pair only ever make actual progress when they’re actually upfront with each other. Even if it’s scary to be that vulnerable with someone, especially if you’ve been hurt in the past like they have, the relationships you build off of mutual trust and openness will be worth the risk, and they can help heal you. And one of the things I love about the series is that this doesn’t just apply to the main pair, but it places equal emphasis on the importance of friendship. All the characters' relationships with each other are unique and interesting and they all develop the same way, with trust and openness, and they become better because of each other.

Despite being generally a comedy, a lot of the characters deal with some really heavy things too so trigger warning for: child abuse (not on-screen), child abandonment (again not on screen), anxiety and panic attacks, suicidal ideation- initionally played off as a joke but it becomes very obvious the character in question is legitimately suicidal and in the manga he nearly attempts it but is stopped, this plotpoint will most likely be in the anime at some point as it’s also not complete.

Your Lie In April

Alright I gave you a funny show now I’m going to make you cry. In fact it’s hard for me to type this synopsis because I’m an absolute crybaby and thinking about this show gets me, but I think it’s absolutely worth checking out because it’s a very beautiful sadness. Your Lie In April is a series that follows the stress and trauma young musical prodigies face in their lives, as well as the people around them, and it’s a series about the beauty of music and art, and just how much it affects people. The music in the show is absolutely gorgeous, the way that they convey emotion through it is so beautiful and intricate that it just sticks with you. You feel the music, and you understand.

I’m actually going to give the trigger warnings right now instead of at the end because in order to explain the plot I’ll have to talk about them so tw for: Child abuse (phsyical and mental, on-screen), terminal illness, death, in depth depictions of PTSD, vomiting, panic attacks, the works.

The series follows Kousei Arima, a formal piano prodigy who hasn’t performed since the death of his mother two years ago. Kousei's mother was terminally ill, but she was also incredibly abusive. Kousei has incredibly complex feelings about his mother because of this. The trauma she instilled in him is severe, but because he was a child, he still is a child, and he loved his mom a lot, as any child would, and he didn’t want her to die and he blames himself for not being good enough. He wanted to make her happy, and the only way he knew how to do that was to play the piano. So he played and played and practiced until he was perfect, they called him the human metronome. But he would still get severely punished for being anything less than perfect. He had lost all the passion he once had, and after his mother died it was the final nail in the coffin, his trauma manifests now in a way that makes him unable to play. But all that changes one day in April when he meets a violinist named Kaori Miyazono, a girl full of life and passion for music, she’s someone who according to Kousei “Exists in springtime.” and she’s going to help him play again and refined that love for music whether he wants to or not! Teen drama happens of course, but there are much bigger roadblocks ahead.

Assassination Classroom

This series is thankfully generally more lighthearted… Most of the time at least. The premise is pretty simple, but incredibly ridiculous. An incredibly powerful octopus-like creature is the teacher of a classroom of middle school students tasked with the assignment of assassinating him in order to save the world. The series starts off very slice-of-life as it focuses on introducing the very large cast of characters inside of Class E, also known as the “end class”, but it quickly gains traction and gets a lot more intense as time goes on.

The octopus creature in question, Korosensei, is actually a very kind and genuinely good teacher to all his students. The real crux of the series is that it’s sort of a critique on the educational system, the students in the end class are there because they’ve been ostracized from the rest of the campus, far away in the mountains, to be made examples of. Why? Because they’re students that are considered worthless, instead of getting help they’re only pushed back further down in the system and left to struggle within it fruitlessly. They’re given up on, despite being children with so much potential, because they don’t fit a very rigid mold. That’s what Korosensei wants to help them with, and they’re able to grow as people together. As the series progresses you feel such a great sense of unity for the class, they’re like a family, they stick together and it’s very heartwarming. And watching them work as a team of assassins is so fun!

However the series can get heavy at times too, it doesn’t stray from heavier subject matter at all and i found myself incredibly shocked by it a few times, so trigger warning for: Child abuse (on-screen and off), both at the hands of a parent and a teacher and in one case a parent who is also the principal, misgendering of a character, sometimes as a “joke” but other times played dead serious at the hands of his mother, child death- specifically suicide, a successful one as well as 3 assassination attempts that doubled as suicide attempts by the main 3 characters (weird parallel they all got there huh)

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Honestly this is a series that is good to go in blind for if you need to tws, it’s a deconstruction of the magical girl genre, but if you don’t want to know more than that you can stop reading here. If you want to know more, it’s a series that starts off very light-hearted and in tune with typical magical girl conventions at first, however by episode 3 it’s made painfully clear that these girls are being led to sign up into something they shouldn’t. It’s heavy, though not incredibly so, but it’s also a lot to explain in a summary. Madoka magica is… It’s Faust with magical girls.

I’ll explain as much as I can without giving too much away. The story begins when Madoka Kaname and her friend Sayaka Miki encounter a creature who calls itself Kyubey, who says it can grant a wish of theirs and in exchange they have to become magical girls and fight witches. Both the girls are hesitant, but Sayaka wants to wish for her childhood friend’s injuries to be cured so he can play violin again, while Madoka is content as she is and can’t think of a wish. Luckily they have a mentor, a magical girl named Mami Tomoe who helps introduce them to everything. However something is stopping Madoka from becoming a magical girl, a mysterious new student who is also one herself, Homura Akemi, is resolute on keeping Madoka from becoming a magical girl by all means possible, for reasons Madoka doesn’t understand. Things get even more complicated when a rival magical girl shows up, Kyoko Sakura, who becomes Sayaka’s new rival. As things get more heated between those two they discover a terrible secret about the nature of magical girls, and what they truly signed up for.

Spoilers ahead but trigger warning for: Child death, parental death (backstory only), decapitation (off-screen), needles, incredibly surreal imagery inside the witch’s labyrinths that may feel unreal, mind control, suicide, depression and despair expressed by young characters. Also don't bother with Magia Record

The Disastrous Life Of Saiki K.

Alright something lighthearted now, there are a lot of comedy anime I enjoy, a lot of series that have made me laugh, but none has made me bust a gut like this series has, it’s absolutely hilarious. It follows the life of a boy named Saiki Kusuo who has psychic powers. His powers are incredibly overpowered, and he absolutely hates them, in his eyes they cause him nothing but trouble. There’s not much in the way of a plot to describe, because there isn’t any, the series is comprised of 5 minute segments surrounding Saiki and an incredibly vast and colorful cast of characters that are just all completely insane, many serve as parodies as types of anime tropes because the series as a whole is very self aware and doesn’t shy from breaking the fourth wall a lot, but the characters surrounding Saiki are what make his life… Disastrous.

Like I said there’s not really a plot to describe but like FMA people may get confused with this one, there are 3 seasons but one of them is titled “The Disastrous Life Of Saiki K: Reawakened” as is a continuation of the first two with just 6 episodes in it. Also for some reason only the second season isn’t dubbed so if you’re planning on watching it that way you’d have to either stop or switch to subs for season 2

The only major tw I can give here is an ongoing joke about a character being into his sister, he’s treated as disgusting for it of course because he’s a parody of that trope but that doesn’t make it any less uncomfortable, luckily he doesn’t show up much.

Little Witch Academia

Little Witch Academia is a series I personally just adore, it takes place in a world where witches are common and well-known among the people, but the era of witches is over and magic is dying out. However that doesn’t mean passion of magic doesn’t exist, the protagonist is a young girl named Atsuko Kagari, or Akko for short. She’s resolute on being just like her icon, a witch known as Shiny Chariot, as she attends the same magic school: Luna Nova! Unfortunately Akko isn’t exactly a magical prodigy, in fact she can’t even fly a broom, but that’s not gonna stop her, nothing will. Just like Chariot said, believing in yourself is your magic.

Once at school Akko gets into all types of crazy shenanigans with her with her two roommates, Lotte Yanson and Sucy Manbavaran, and occasionally her rival, Diana Cavendish. Akko still struggles a lot in school, in fact her inability with magic is pretty explicitly handled as a metaphor for a learning disability, and though this makes it harder for her she’s still resolute. Though the series is generally episodic, a concrete plot starts to form by the second core. Along with the help of her guidance counselor, Professor Ursula, Akko learns that she needs to unlock 7 “words” to bring magic back to the world, each time she learns a new one it comes with an important lesson to her and ultimately relates back to each of the core themes of the series

The series is pretty lighthearted so the biggest trigger warning I can give is one for bullying, two characters in particular tend to target Akko for not being a good witch and it can really sting to watch. Other than that none come to mind