#like both series have a lot of characters with yu names

[epickiya722]

JJK 🤝 YGO

Yu- names

[himboblackdragon]

Catalog of LBFaD drama name origins

Mythology -> book -> drama

Dongfang Qingcang / 东方青苍: The origins of this name are hotly contested, and to be honest the only hypothesis I remember is the Azure Dragon of the East. East being "Dongfang," and the dragon itself being alternatively called "Qing long" and "Cang long." (x)

Haotian Tower / 昊天塔: The tower where DFQC was imprisoned in, in both media. There's no Haotian Tower in mythology, but "Haotian God" is one of the names of the emperor of heaven. (x)

Ninth You / Jiuyou / 九幽: One name for the mythological netherworld, the capital city of the Moon Tribe in the drama. The capital city of the devil tribe in the book. (x)

Sansheng / 三生: The name comes from the "Three Lives Stone" (sansheng shi 三生石), which represents a lot of things in Chinese tradition, but probably the most salient being a rock in the underworld near the Oblivion River. In the novel universe, the rock is graffitied with the names of the ones the dead passing by wished to see most. The stone seems to have transformed into human form in the first book of the series, succinctly titled Sansheng, which tells the love story between Sansheng and Moxi, the novelverse God of War. (x)

Siming / 司命: A folk god, and usually male, who oversees human fates. In the CLJ novel she is responsible for writing the Fate Books. (x)

Xirang / 息壤: Mythological self-expanding-and-growing soil. Although it plays a key role in the book, it only appears in a throwaway line in the drama, when Changheng suggests building XLH a new body out of it. (x)

Mythology/literature/history -> drama

Chengying Sword / 承影剑: One of the ten famous swords of China, in historical and literary tradition. From the Spring and Autumn Period. (x)

Chonghua / 重华: Chonghua is the given name of a legendary emperor of China. (x)

Haotian Matrix / 昊天阵: "Haotian God" is one of the names of the emperor of heaven. (x)

Hellfire / 业火: A Buddhist concept, the fires of karma. (I'm pretty vague on what it actually is and where it exists.) In the book, DFQC's powerful fire is usually just called "raging flames" (lieyan 烈焰), and it's red instead of blue. (x)

Liyuan / 澧沅: Li and Yuan are two of the four big rivers that flow through Hunan. Coincidentally, also the names of two of the four rivers that flow into Shuiyuntian, that flooded when DFQC broke the pearl. (x)

Love Tree / Seven-Emotions Tree / 七情树: The name "seven-emotions tree" comes from the phrase "seven emotions and six desires," (qi qing liu yu 七情六欲). The exact emotions and desires this refers to differ based on school of thought. (x)

Lord Dong / 东君: A deity often paired with Yunzhong-jun as one of the two primordial gods. Seems to be a sun deity. His name literally means "Lord East." (x)

Lord Yunzhong / 云中君: A god from mythology, often paired with Lord Dong as one of the two primordial gods. Sometimes interpreted as a woman. (x)

Oblivion River / Wang Chuan / 忘川: A river in the land of the dead. To cross it, you must first drink a soup that makes you forget your past lives. (x)

Qu Shui / 曲水: Literally "winding waters," the name of Xiao Run's pageboy might come from the upper-class drinking game "Qu Shui Liu Shang" 曲水流觞, in which players "wait by a winding stream and compose poems before their cups full of rice wine float down to reach them." His nickname Ququ'r is phonetically very similar and means cricket. (x x)

Return to Ruin Realm / Guixu Zhi Jing / 归墟之境: "Guixu" was a place far to the east, that every body of water eventually emptied into. The characters break down into "return (to)" and "ruins." The "Zhi Jing" makes it "Region of Guixu" or "Guixu Area." (x)

Tai Sui / 太岁: A folk deity, but not necessarily evil. (x)

Xuanwu God / 古神灵玄武: Xuanwu is a constellation representing a tortoise-snake spirit. (x)

Xunfeng / 巽风: His name most likely comes from the "xun" trigram of the Eight Trigrams, of which the element is wind, or "feng." (x)

Yingzhao / 英招: Legendary creature that has the body of a horse, the face of a man, stripes like a tiger, and wings of a bird. Not like our waddling ball of fur at all. (x)

Yunmeng Lake / 云梦泽: One of the largest lakes in China in ancient times, now mostly nonexistent. (x)

Book -> drama

Bone Orchid / Gu Lan / 骨兰: It has more of a dried-vine aesthetic in the book.

Chidi Nüzi / 赤地女子: The god of war of the heavenly realm, in both media. DFQC's nemesis and the object of A'Hao's obsession.

Dayu Battalion / 大庾兵: Only mentioned once in the drama, along with the Tieyu Battalion 铁羽兵, as forces that Shangque has mobilized in response to Xunfeng's insurrection. Dayu's the name of DFQC's adorable (to me) pet sky/sea serpent.

Destruction of Heaven / Ruins of Ten Thousand Heavens / Wan Tian Zhi Xu / 万天之墟: A formless place where Siming can be found, in both the drama and the book. The book series further specifies that the Destruction of Heaven sits above the Three Realms and the Endless Desolate City (无极慌城 wu ji huang cheng) below.

Dieyi / 蝶衣: Ronghao's loyal right-hand woman is also present in the book.

Fairy Execution Platform / Zhu Xian Tai / 诛仙台: Where Changheng is to be executed after talking back to Yunzhong. In the book this was a platform over a mass of the book equivalent to evil qi/suiqi, which XLH was cast off from, almost getting eaten alive by the evil qi.

Fate Books / Mingbu / 命簿: The combination of these two characters seem to be an invention of the novel, and are records of the destinies of living people collected and administered by the land of the dead.

Fate Tree / Mingge Shu / 命格树: "Mingge," in both the novelverse and in the Love You Seven Times drama, are the stories high immortals (in CLJ's case, Siming) write to direct the fate of mortals. I'm not clear on the distinction between mingbu and mingge in the CLJ book.

Lucheng / 鹿城: In the book, a militarily important city of the Jin Dynasty, although the drama has styled it more into the Tang Dynasty, some thousand-plus years later.

Ronghao / 容昊: In the book, the wheelchair-bound master of the demon commerce city who's later revealed to be Chidi's obsessed student. We're not given the first character of his name in the book; it only ever calls him A'Hao.

Shangque / 觞阙: The name of the prime minister of the devil realm in the book, horrified by DFQC's erratic behavior while his body is being partially controlled by XLH. Show!Shangque's personality likely came from Dayu, Book!DFQC's overpowered flying serpent who follows him around like a loyal dog.

Shuofeng Sword / 朔风剑: "Cold northwest wind" sword, it's Chidi Nüzi's weapon in the book and the drama. It stays in sword form in the book, but becomes a geographical feature and a seal in the show.

Thousand Dreamland / Thousandfold Illusion / 千重幻境: A realm of endless very similar illusions that Ronghao/A'Hao tries to trap DFQC in to prevent him from finding XLH, in both media.

Xiao Lan Hua / Orchid / 小兰花: Our heroine!

Xie Wanqing / 谢惋卿: One of Chidi Nüzi's mortal incarnations in both media. However, in the book she is a general who's betrayed by the man she loves, an ordinary mortal, while XLH and DFQC watch.

Misc

Changheng / 长珩: Changheng's not in the book, but the book does have a troublemaker by the name of Changming 长命 who is DFQC's biggest "love rival" (he's like ten years old), and I wonder if the "Chang" part of Changheng's name comes from Changming.

Flying Fairy Pavilion / Life-Ending Pavilion / 飞仙阁: A reference to Xie Wanqing's real identity as the Fairy God of War. Also a euphemism for death.

Haishi / 海市: Conceptually, comes from the demon/nature sprite city, yaoshi 妖市, in the book. For the drama they got rid of the demon part and called it Haishi, Sea City.

Xiao Run / 萧润: I'm not sure the Run part of his name is a reference to anything, but the Xiao is probably there to make the Xiao-lang wordplay work. (x)

Yannü 盐女 and Cangyan Sea 苍盐海: The "yan" is the same as in "Yannü." Which came first, I wonder? (The "cang" is the same as in Dongfang Qingcang.)

Sans Data

I do not know any special origins of, or was too lazy to look up:

Black Sash 黑杀斩, Bone-Devouring Spikes / Frost-Salt Nails 霜盐钉, Cangyan Sea 苍盐海, Changle Street, Cloud Shadow Mirror 云影镜, Danyin 丹音, Dark Pine Forest 暗松林, Dream of Nine Serenities / Jiuyou Dream 九幽一梦, Eternal Flame 长明火, Evil Qi / Suiqi 祟气, Firefly stone 奇幻流萤石, Fountain Palace 涌泉宫, Four-Water Pearl 四水宝珠, Fuju Cave 弗居洞, Glazefire 琉璃火, Granny Tie 铁婆婆, Green Flame Wine 绿焰酒, Hall of Divine Waters / Shenshui Ting 神水厅, Heart-Hidden Pin 藏心簪, Hidden Treasures Shop 藏珠斋, Jieli 结黎, Jinling, Jingyiya Teahouse 静逸雅轩, Karma Jail / Karma-Spanning Abyss 渡业渊, Liufang Pavilion 留芳阁, Night-Stream Building 夜溪楼, Northern Sea / Beiming 北溟, Primordial spirit 元神, Qingchuan 青川, Ranxi Flower 燃犀花, Shaking Light Peak 摇光峰, Shuiyuntian 水云天, Shuyu Forest 漱玉林, Silent Moon Palace / Jiyue Palace 寂月宫, Silver Lake 银湖, Soul Transformation Cauldron 化魂鼎, Soul Transformation Grounds 化魂��, Southern Fairyland / Extreme South Fairy Continent 南极仙洲, Spirit Lock Gate 灵锁门, Spirit-Shattering Abyss 碎灵渊, Spirit Stones 灵石, Tianji Mirror 天极镜, Tongyun 彤云, Universe Pills 无极乾坤丹, Wind Prison 风牢, Wind Warriors, Wuqi 巫芑, Wuxian Clan / Witch-Salty Clan 巫咸族, Xilan 息兰, Xingluo, Xishan 息山, Xiyun 息芸, Xuanshuang Whip 玄霜神鞭, Xuanxu Realm / Mysterious Realm 玄虚之境, Yisi year 乙巳年, You Jade Ring 幽玉戒, Yujing 玉京

Much thanks to sassybluee's Reference for Fic Writers.

This is mostly a reference for myself, and is subject to change. Additions, corrections, and discussion welcome.

[absolutebl]

BL Coming in March 2023 

The month of Thailand busting up established pairs, apparently. 

03/01

The Promise, (Thai WeTV) 10 eps - friends-to-lovers, follow up to a previously aired miniseries Phupha | Nanfah. Because of this and the WeTV platform I likely won’t bother.  

03/02

All the Liquors prev. Liquor (Korea Gaga & Viki) 8 eps - Liquor company rep and party boy Han Ji Yu buts heads (and other stuff? eh, it’s Korea, probably not) with hot chef Park Ki Hoon, who doesn't drink.

Heesu In Class 2 (Korea unknown prob Viki and/or Gaga) - A gay(er) version of Sex Education? Based on a webtoon. Heesu’s world revolves around Chanyoung, his best friend and secret crush. He doesn’t mind cheering Chanyoung from the sidelines or listening to all his girl problems. He doesn’t care if people only know him as “Chanyoung’s friend.” Then one day, Heesu starts hearing his name everywhere. On the bus, in the halls, during lunch… Turns out, there’s a rumor going around school (Got a love problem? Find Heesu in Class 2 and he’ll tell you what to do!) and with that, Heesu suddenly finds himself the center of attention. But how could he give anyone advice? He doesn’t even know what to do about his own crush! 

I want this one to happen SO Bad but am very nervous about all the delays and connected sandals and lack of distribution so late in the game. It started filming in December and seems more of an ensemble cast with lots of mixed in het romance. So... ??? 

03/03

A Boss and a Babe (Thai YouTube) 12 eps - ForceBook in an office boss/employee. Chay is a sunshine gamer who wants to get big in the e-sports industry. However, his plans are dramatically altered when is made to intern at a company. There his boss Gun has him do some pretty weird errands, confusing Chay about his true intentions. What do Gun’s actions mean? And will Chay return back to his gaming life?

I’m optimistic, I want ForceBook to get another chance and I like a cheesy office romance. 

03/04 (maybe March 9 international)

Love Syndrome (Thai unknown prob iQIYI or Gaga) 10 eps - trailer, based on a Y-novel, has side characters from Unforgotten Night but no crossover actors or other apparent connections. Day & It have been together for 2 years (looks like a violent off again on again thing). An accident leaves Day seriously injured and It blames himself then Day wakes up with amnesia. (Stars Frank formerly of FrankDrake.) 

03/08

Pastsenger AKA Past-senger (Thai Gaga) 12 eps- Stars Marc (My Gear & Your Gown) and Cooper (My Engineer) who were both formerly paired with others, in a time travel paranormal that smacks of HIStory 5. Sunshine 90s kid travels to 2022, goes to university, encounters grumpy nerd. 

03/09 

Our Dating Sim (Korea unknown prob Viki) - What happens when two men, friends since schoo, meet again at work to create a dating simulation game together. 

03/12 (maybe March 19 international)

Future the series (Thai YouTube & Gaga?) 5 eps - Based on a y-novel by Faddest (En of Love - yeah I didn’t know that was based on a novel, either). About, you guessed it, an engineering student and a dentist. Maybe this will be the FOTS we were all hoping for? Fuse (the engineering student) is played by Boom from the En of Love and is kinda the same character (Field). I think we can expect this one to be soft, it’s from the 21 Day Theory people. 

03/14

A Shoulder to Cry On (Korea Viki & Gaga) 7 eps - Adaptation of Dongmul's manwha this is high school set and appears to feature a teasing confident gay and a rich/poor pairing, with themes of hurt/comfort and homophobia/gossip. One boy starts a dating rumor with another, putting the later’s archery scholarship in jeopardy. Stars idols Jaehan & Yechan BOTH from Kpop group OMEGA X. 

THIS IS ONE OF MY MOST ANTICIPATED BLS OF 2023!!! I still can’t quite believe it will actually happen. 

03/17

Unintentional Love Story (Korea iQIYI) 6 eps? - Ceramic artist Yoon Tae Joon has withdrawn from society, but Ji Won Young (an employee at a large company) tracks him down. Ji Won Young is intent on winning over the heart of Yoon Tae Joon as he's the company chairman's favorite artist. Stars actor Cha Seo Wo and idol Gongchan (maknae of B1A4). 

Individual Circumstances mark 2? No thank you. But if I must, I must. 

03/22 

Make a Wish (Thai Viu) - trailer, stars Fluke Natouch (OhmFluke UWMA etc...) & Judo (The Miracle Of Teddy Bear) in a light-hearted medical-fantasy romance with a comedic flair. About a doctor who sees ghosts and a deity who resides in a Bodhi tree that earns merits whenever he fulfills a wish. He is shocked to find the doctor can actually see him and decides to help him find the reason for his ghostly ability. Thus begins a chaotic yet romantic journey. From a y-novel by Sammon (Manner of Death, Triage). 

I’ll watch it if I can get hold of it. We’ve seen Fluke iwth other pairing before, and I like Sammon’s stuff. 

(source)

This is not an exhaustive list. Not responsible for updates that come after date of post. Read the comments for more info and changes. 

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

KOTORI MIZUKI/TORI MEADOWS (YU-GI-OH! ZEXAL)

1.) first: ygo zexal is directed (and partially written) by known misogynist shin yoshida who is on record as saying that he would Never write female characters if he wasn’t being forced to by higher-ups. kotori’s voice actor signed a legal contract forcing him to include her character in Every Single Episode. she gets no duels that aren’t tag duels (2v2 duels), one of those is interrupted in the middle and all others she both loses, aren’t even shown in full, and all happen in the same episode. she is literally contractually required to be a major character and the dude in charge still point blank refuses to do anything with her despite the fact that she’s supposed to be the female lead of the series. please take pity on her for being handed to one of the worst people in the world and how despite the active attempts by other people to make her relevant in the story she was still denied that

2.) She only dueled once in the whole show and it was when she was brainwashed. Her main role is to only cheer the male protag on and say his name during his duels I guess.

IRIS SAGAN (AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES) (CW: Inappropriate Age Gaps)

1.) Listen I'm sure other ladies have it worse but Iris… and as an extension several other girls in AITSF… she deserves so much better. First of all she's a DANCER and she's wearing HEELS AND A TINY SKIRT character designer can you please go easy on her. She's suffering. Give her shorts at least. Second of all she's 18 and she has not one but TWO adult men who want to date her and constantly make comments about it!!!

This is… emblematic of a writing problem, because they KEEP MAKING MEN WHO WANT TO DATE 18 YEAR OLDS. This is partially a character trait thing for the two men, sure, but like. The game also makes jokes about her forcing the main character Date (who is 30) on dates even though she's later revealed to (unknowingly to either of them) be his relative slash daughter figure, kind of sort of. It's complicated. And like, part of the game is recovering his lost memories from amnesia and he gets these rapid heartbeats whenever he remembers, and because his past is tied to Iris I've had to reassure people playing the game the first time that his heart is NOT rapidly beating around her because he's attracted to her. I shouldn't HAVE to do that because the game should be NORMAL about her, but. no. The writing of the game is very clear that men in their mid-20s and later are attracted to this girl, so how should we expect Date be different? Astounding how shitty the writing is regarding that, especially because one of those men (Moma) isn't even creepy until the epilogue AND THEN IN THE SEQUEL HIS ENTIRE PERSONALITY IS THAT HE WANTS TO MARRY HER. SHE'S HALF HIS AGE.

As for her writing itself… She does get a lot of focus overall in the first game (she has an entire route of the game focused on her! Yippee!) but a lot of it is based on said forcing Date to date her, and she dies at the end of her route. I actually like her route but it IS the least conclusive of the route in the first game. In the SEQUEL though oh my god. I'm still bitter that they HEAVILY advertised her as being in the game and then she was BARELY IN IT she was just there to a) have her shitty father be relevant for 0.5 seconds and b) have men creep on her. Okay maybe that's an exaggeration but ONE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS IS SOMEONE SHE SEES AS A SISTER. TWO OF THE OTHER MAJOR CHARACTERS ARE HER BEST FRIENDS. WHERE DID SHE GO. They barely show her with her friends too like her friends are hanging out ALSO with shitty adult men with romantic interest in them (see. writing problem.) BUT LIKE I'M SO PISSED OFF FOR IRIS ESPECIALLY BECAUSE I LOVE HER. The first game literally has her have delusions about a secret society Naix hunting her down. The second game has The Real Naix be a major organization and antagonistic force. It just feels wrong to not have her… be important… at all… when she's the only reason Naix was mentioned in the first game at all…….

But like. Mostly the issue is that JESUS CHRIST THESE ADULT MEN NEED TO LEAVE HER ALONE AND THE WRITERS WON'T LET HER TELL THEM OFF OR EVEN REALIZE THEY'RE INTERESTED IN HER HALF THE TIME. IRIS PLEASE GET BETTER PEOPLE TO HANG OUT AROUND, LIKE YOUR FRIENDS WHO YOU'RE ONLY SEEN ONSCREEN WITH FOR 5 MINUTES.

2.) (AITSF Spoilers) The male characters often make unnecessary and uncomfortable sexual remarks towards Iris, especially with her status as an 18-year-old internet idol. These men include her close friend (24), an ally yakuza boss (48), and the protagonist (42), who is later revealed to have been her surrogate father figure.

There are also smaller but baffling choices around her writing, such as her framing tagging along with the protagonist as a date, and her route centering conspiracy theories in contrast to the relatively grounded and emotional stories of the other characters. (The latter part is contextualized in-game but is still a jarring tonal shift for the first-time player).

3.) Iris, like almost all returning characters from AITSF, is a victim of the sequel - The Nirvana Initiative - being afraid of spoiling the first game and letting the characters keep their development from the first game and grow past that. It just so happens that the hit Iris' character takes makes elements of misogyny from the first game all the worse. So, Iris in the first game at first glance can be dismissed as a dumb internet idol. This is particularly reinforced by her belief in outlandish conspiracy theories. However, the game gives her depth by revealing that she has a brain tumor (which has caused delusions) and knows that her time is limited as well as delving into her backstory and the impact it has had on her. She gets the tumor healed at the end of the first game, there's a 6-year time skip in the second, and she… acts the complete same and has basically the same beliefs. And she has so few scenes that she really is reduced to a shallow, vapid character. I'm not even sure she had a chance to react to her father figure 'dying.' The first game had an issue with male characters being creepily into Iris the idol. Ota, who is 24, endears himself to the 18-year-old Iris by making sock puppet social media accounts that insult her only for him to swoop in with his main account and defend her. The main character does not think that it is important to tell her about this breach in trust. Moma, who is 48 years old, is also a big fan of hers. While it's mostly (mostly) an endearing character trait in the first game, in Nirvana Initiative, Moma has mainly been reduced to his interest in Iris (who he refers to once as his "future wife"). His only plot significant contribution is made by using a voice changer to sound like her. The implications of his original plan for that voice changer skeeves me out. The other characters, by the way, are pretty ambivalent about this.

[weeb-polls-with-pip]

Autistic Anime Boys Side A Round 1 Match 11

Propaganda:

Yu -

"Like all Persona protags, he hardly canonically speaks. Seems too cool for school but is actually just a cringefail guy who loves his little sis Nanako, likes to fish and make beef stew, and also likes cats. He also solves murders with his friends and forcibly teach people the power of friendship! And to paraphrase one of my mutuals, "I love Yu because he just stands there like •_• and then everyone falls in love with him. Gets accused of dating like every girl he meets, gets teased by every girl on the investigation team, has whatever he has going on with Yosuke. This kid and his autism swag". Oh yeah there was also originally gonna be an option for Yu to romance said Yosuke guy, including the confession dialogue being recorded in both Japanese and English, but it was removed because ALTUS hates gay people </3 But don't worry because there's a mod that adds this option back in because the devil works hard but gay JRPG fans work harder."

Sechs -

"As a teenager his father reveals to him that he's actually not human and then he essentially intellectualizes his own crisis toward that so hard that he talks himself into enacting a doomsday plan to make all life cease to exist so technically nobody will suffer anymore. So he takes two of his fellow wizards both of whom are absolutely infatuated with him (one of which is the closest the BlazBlue series gets to a canon gay man imo), takes a super powerful weapon from his father and in a sort of misunderstanding slash random event ends up killing him, and then the three of them flee the country and start trying to act out his plan. He pretty much just stares at people silently and only talks occasionally, when he does it's usually either a short sentence that is either blunt or vague. His magical attribute is gravity magic idk as someone with vestibular/proprioceptive sensory issues gravity magic is an autistic as hell magic to master in. He also has a funny name. In the joke route he is also written adding a sort of gap moe attribute to his tendency to not talk a lot where he stops talking in any instance where he's thrown off a social script or doesn't know what to say, and in the gatcha spinoff of course because they have to make him at least cooperate with you he tends to read as less overtly evil and more just having low empathy and a strong sense of his form of "justice." There is so much more I could say about him he's one of my favorite characters in the entire BlazBlue extended universe he's just a very cool character both as a villain and a circumstantial ally. Vote for funny guy named sex as a win for autistic emo twinks everywhere."

[entamesubs]

Yu-Gi-Oh! Go Rush!! Episodes 104 Sub Release

Torrent

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Please make sure to read the FAQ if you have any questions.

There are translation notes below, so spoilers ahead.

-------------------------------

Sabyuas' speech

So you may notice that a lot of what Sabyuas says kinda doesn't make sense! This is intentional and present in the original Japanese as well.

He doesn't say exactly what he means, but instead embellishes it to such a point that it's hard to understand what he actually means. For example, the line of dialogue about how he "observed" the ship whose people "lived outside of shadows" - it's just flowery speech for "I've never seen a non-Darkman before".

Same for "the silence was unable to be kept" - that just means "I couldn't help myself from making an appearance". He quite literally just speaks like this and it's a quirk I've chosen to keep since it's part of his character.

I've translated his words into English. Now you have to translate them into common sense! Translationception!

サ sa Sa

Sabyuas uses this as both his personal pronoun as well as a sentence prefix (where a pronoun would be unneeded/make no sense to put there).

I don't quite know how to handle this yet. For now, when he says Sa, I've kept it in the sentence since his bio also states that it's one of his quirks. I don't see a reason to change, but who knows.

キ ki 'Ya'

This is another of Sabyuas' weird speech quirks. Instead of addressing people by 君 (kimi), he instead says キ (ki). I tried to make it work in English as best I can.

I initially wanted to leave it as Y or Yu, but it was pointed out to me that people may mistake it for him saying 'Yuuhi' when he's not, so I made it 'Ya'.

Translating Sabyuas has been terrible...

ダークメン Darkmen

Thanks to this episode, we now know that "Darkmen" or "Darkman" is not actually the name of a person, but the name of an entire new species of... whatever they are. I can't say alien because Sabyuas' official bio (and Yuuhi's hair in-show) say that he doesn't quite seem like an actual alien.

Anyway, I will be switching between plural and singular as it makes sense for English. Japanese has no concept of a plural conjugation like English does (like ways to make words specify 1 or more, ie adding -s at the end of words), so they will keep referring to the species as Darkmen even if they only mean one of them.

Dark Matter

I just want to clarify that when Sabyuas is talking about how cards are letting him add "Dark Matters" back to hand, that's not actually what the cards say.

Sabyuas himself is twisting the card effect and says only Dark Matter, but the cards themselves say any DARK Galaxy.

Putting this here before we get people asking about if Rush is finally doing archetypes like OCG/TCG is. The answer is no.

-------------------------------

Font changes!

Season 3 has kicked off, so there's a couple things I'll be changing as the season goes on.

The fonts used up til now I decided to use back when the show first started and it fit the whimsical mood of Go Rush a lot more. Obviously Go Rush has grown a lot in that time, so I'm re-evaluating font choices for the series.

To start, in this episode:

Default: Rubik Medium -> Sephora Sans

Yuuhi (+Yuamu): Baloo 2 -> Pikolo Regular

There may be some other changes as characters come back or duel. Yuudias' font may be changing as well (I know he already had a duel, but).

Just a heads up!

[infinity-squared-comics]

My last trans Yu-yu essay before the finale.

Listen. Yu-yu Kondo is not cis. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. There’s a lot going into this headcanon, and a lot of reasons it may very well be canon. I’ve layed out many of them in a previous essay, but today I’m gonna look at stuff I either newly discovered or that was newly released. Starting off with the most recent episode (minor spoilers). One of the main metaphors uses throughout this episode was that of a dress. Now, I probably don’t have to tell you that dresses are associated with femininity. For Yu-yu specifically, this metaphorical dress that their friends have woven around them is associated with comfort. Now, why would someone choose a dress as a metaphor for comfort? Perhaps because dresses are something that comforts them, as they comfort many transfems, myself included. Next point- the actual footage of Yu-yu wearing a dress. This metaphor of Yu-yu’s friends providing “comfort like a dress” is inter-spliced with footage of the first episode, where Yu-yu met many of their friends while wearing a dress. Now, the question we must ask ourselves is, why did the creators choose to put Yu-yu in a dress in that first episode? Why did they choose to remind us of that in the penultimate episode? Why is “dress” used as a word throughout the series, for both series names and for the names of most keyword abilities (overdress, dressboost, revoldress, X-overdress, unison dress, dress up)? It’s been said that writers never put in details for no reason. Why would dresses be so heavily associated with the series and with Yu-yu themselves? Could it be that the writers are priming us for the idea that Yu-yu could be a girl? Maybe. Once again, I’d like to point out that Yu-yu uses a dress as a metaphor for comfort. This is an extremely transfem feeling.

Next up, the speeches. I’ve talked about some of Yu-yu’s heavily trans coded speeches before, but I’d like to point out that Yu-yu averages one speech about being yourself, finding yourself, accepting yourself or staying true to yourself per season (none that I remember in season 1, two in season 2, one after Danji and Tohya’s fight and one during Yu-yu’s fight with Mirei, one in season 3 during their fight with Raika, one in season four during their fight with Urara, an none as of yet in season 5, with one episode remaining). The themes of being oneself is constant throughout Yu-yu’s characterization, and is a theme that resonates with many trans people, myself included.

Now that I’ve explained the in text evidence for Yu-yu’s gender, let me explain out of text reasoning that Bushiroad might choose to have their newest protagonist come out as trans. First off, the Bridget effect. When Bridget came out as trans, she skyrocketed sales of guilty gear strive to 1,000,000 copies. A character being trans brings an extreme amount of attention in today’s sociopolitical climate- it’s a hot issue, and will lead to countless discussions from both trans allies and bigots, furthering the promotion of the franchise to new heights. In addition, Bushiroad has said that it’s important to them for every player to feel represented in vanguard. What better reason could there be to introduce a new type of character?

Bushiroad is no stranger to queer undertones and even the occasional queer overtones, from Kai and Aichi, to Miaki and Kourin, to Rummy Labrynth, to team New Nippon where it wasn’t even undertones that boy just straight up told his teammates he had a crush on them. This is not only possible, I feel it’s likely: Yu-yu is a trans character, it’s engrained in their identity and story, and I truly believe that Yu-yu coming out in next week’s episode will be the best possible conclusion to their story. What better way to end a story of self acceptance, then with becoming oneself?

[moonknightproductions]

For the character bingo, Xehanort and your favorite Yu-Gi-Oh character?

Gonna put this under a cut because the explanations are gonna get a little long lol

For Xehanort:

Explanations:

I absolutely love his design (any of them), Nomura knocked it out of the park with this one (although him being darker skinned than most of the cast is kinda… you know). Love the coats, love the boots, etc. BUT they could’ve gone even further with his character, even as a kid. Establish his weird empathy powers and run with it. Second row’s are pretty much self-explanatory.

As much as I want to say he’s got a big fanon focus, it’s really only a select group of people who’re in the know about Dark Road (see bottom left of the bingo lol). He very much is THEE character for me, the one who solidified my love for KH.

Autism beam.

If I think about him too long I get a headache (affectionate). Changed my life (as a package deal with kh obviously but Xeha specifically was a big part of it). I really want him to come back in KH4 even if just a cameo. Let me see my boy again in Quadratum living his best 14th life.

For the Yugis (I got a bingo!):

This is for both Yugi and Yami (which is why the dynamic one isn’t filled in; they work as standalone BECAUSE they’re so often in a dynamic). They’re a package deal.

Everyone makes fun of his hair but is it really any worse than, say, Goku’s? Yami especially could be a lot weirder (I know he mellowed out by Duel Monsters with Yugi’s help but l wish he retained some of his season 0 energy, he was very fun in that). The only ship I don’t really hate is Yugi/Anzu, actually. Yugi’s very transmasc to me but also I saw this fanart of fem-presenting genderfluid Yami and she was kinda hot ngl, so.

They very much captured my attention (in a “godammit why does every media I get into nowadays feature a characters with multiple personalities/accidental DID rep (affectionate)” way) and is basically the reason I kept watching past the first few episodes.

His name means game (how original, Takahashi). Autism.

Similarly to Xehanort, if I think about them for too long I start to cry (they’re just so sad and sweet to each other and aughhh). Due to his main character status, people constantly try to kill Yugi and he was bullied a lot before finishing the Puzzle.

Also similarly to Xehanort, he changed my life for the better (in combination with the series but it was mostly Yugi and Yami). However, in exchange, they will not leave my head. At all. They’re the form my consciousness is deciding to take for when I need to talk to myself (and it’s only natural that it’d do this considering the above-mentioned accidental DID rep). Not that I mind, I love him!

For context (even though this means nothing to people who aren’t also into it), I haven’t gotten to GX’s fourth season yet, but I have watched/read all of s0, watched both the og and dub of Duel Monsters, and am in the middle of reading the Duelist manga. I’ve also watched most of the Yugi-related movies except Bonds Through Time, so it’s pretty safe to say I’ve seen a lot of Yu-Gi-Oh media with Yugi in it. YET SOMEHOW I MISS HIM ALL THE TIME? I know I could always reread/watch stuff but every time I finish doing that I just wanna see my boy again??? I’m never satisfied with the amount I’ve seen him???

Despite all that, I do hope he’s happy. I haven’t gotten to 5Ds yet so idk what he’s like in that but I hope the protagonist of that show can help him if he needs it.

[natlacentral]

‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’: Kid dentures, prison buff Iroh and more during PaleyFest

The animated fantasy action series Avatar: The Last Airbender has a passionate fanbase that can be very protective of the franchise. After a failed movie adaptation over a decade ago, some approached the most recent live-action television show with skepticism. However, this version was better received. At PaleyFest 2024, the cast and creatives came together to discuss the first season and their expectations for the future. 

Showrunner Albert Kim, executive producer and director Jabbar Raisani, and actors Gordon Cormier, Kiawentiio, Ian Ousley, Dallas Liu, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee, Arden Cho, and Elizabeth You all took to the stage.

During the panel portion of the evening’s events, the audience heard some behind the scenes stories during filming. For example, Kim did not realize how young his lead actor was until he received a call from the production office about an accident on set. There was no fight or stunt accident, but Cormier did lose one of his baby teeth. A week later he lost another. Kim hired a denturist on staff to create dentures for the star. Imagine, a twelve-year-old with dentures.

Lee was the oldest cast member on stage, and he reflected on how when he was growing up, he never saw himself in the shows he watched on television. He felt blessed to be part of Avatar: The Last Airbender with such a diverse cast. He was especially excited to work with Daniel Dae Kim, who plays Fire Lord Ozai, and Ken Leung, who plays Commander Zhao. Lee loved Leung’s character on Lost so much, that he named his son Miles.

Near the end of the discussion, the actors were asked what they were excited to explore about their characters in seasons two and three. 

Kiawentiio touched upon how Katara has gained a new confidence over the course of the first season earlier in the night. She would like to see more of that confidence, and just more of the main trio. Ousley spoke how Sokka experienced his first catastrophic emotional situation with a love interest in the season one finale. Now there is a lot that he’s going to have to work through emotionally.

One of the most engaging pairs in Avatar: The Last Airbender is the uncle and nephew duo of Prince Zuko and Iroh. Liu is anxious for fans to see more their relationship.

“You get to really see how close Uncle Iroh and Zuko really are compared to the animated series. Carrying that over to the future seasons of our show, if you’ve watched the original, you know how big some of those moments are in the ending and at the beginning of season three,” Liu said.  “I’m really stoked for Uncle Iroh and Zuko’s moments in those seasons because I think they’ll hit that much harder because of what we built in season one.”

Lee felt that his TV nephew stole his original answer. He then jokingly responded with Prison Buff Iroh to be aided with the use of CGI. 

Yu is looking forward to playing a bigger role in Avatar: The Last Airbender. “Towards the end of season one, I think Azulah gains her freedom from the Fire Nation when she’s able to reign terror on the rest of the world.” With that new sense of freedom, Yu is hoping to finally be able to interact more with the other characters.  

For Gordon, his thoughts came back to his character’s flying bison. He shared, “In episode one we get to see Aang’s relationship  with Appah a little bit, and if we did get to dive into that more in season two and three, that would be so amazing. That would be awesomeness.”

The final words of the night came from Kim. He will be stepping away as showrunner of Avatar: The Last Airbender and Raisani and Christine Boylan will be filling in moving forward. But fans don’t need to worry about the change in creative leadership. 

“Both of them were so involved in the first season. They were so vital in making the season what it was so I have utter confidence in what they are going to do,” Kim told the audience. “I know that Christine, who is here today with a bunch of our writers who are all here, they are hard at work on the scripts for season two. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do as much as anyone. I’m very very confident and happy of the hands the show is in and where it’s going to go.”

Check out the rest of the programming schedule of PaleyFest 2024.

[det2x-fanfic-dump]

OBEY ME/ TWST MC HEADCANON

My Twisted Wonderland Yuu-sona and Obey me Yuki-sona for my fanfic

Basically my OC of my own Yuu-sona or Yuki-sona for these two games. Mostly based on Obey Me Lore since I thought...hey...they both started with "Yu" so why not...and im kinda lazy to do OCs since they're basically the same imo.

Name: Yuki Hitsuji 

Obey Me’s default MC name [Yuki] is used instead of Yuu is because they both began with “Yu”. So it can be Yuki or Yuuki.  Hitsuji is used as her last name because I like to have words like what Twisted Wonderland’s characters are named. Hitsuji is Sheep in Japanese and since Obey Me MC is a sheep…yeah

Alternative Name that I thought of in the middle of writing my long series crossover: Yuuki Lambert (Reason: Lamb-ert hehe)

Age: 15 years old

Pronoun: She/her/them

Physical Description:

Hair:  Long slightly curly black hair

Eyes: Dark blue eyes with purple gradient

Height:  5 feet or 1.52 Meters

Accessories:

Often wears a cat bell tied in her ribbons ;

Will often wear a magical black ribbon during her time in the Devildom. This ribbon often changed color depending on which demon brother she's near with. It will turn to black if they’re a lot.

Has a sheep horn headband in the Devildom but forgot when she got isekai'd to Twisted Wonderland.

Personality:

Playful

[She likes to tease others and jokes around. She’s a sorta go-to-the-flow person if there was no conflicts or problems in the situation.]

Adaptability

[Arriving in the Devildom and the brothers often taking her to unimaginable places makes her open to accept any unexpected situations and events.  Hence, her arriving in the magical world of Twisted Wonderland didn’t bother her that much except for wanting to go back home at first.]

Empathetic

[She always likes to help and understand feelings of those who she encountered and interacted with. However, she doesn’t want others’ to worry when it comes to problems regarding her so she often kept it to herself]

Reckless and Nosy 

[Because of her empathy, she has this sense of obligation of finding out the truth in order to figure out someone’s worries. She would be nosy enough to check on things she has nothing to do with in order.]

Inspiration: MC in both fandoms are pretty much involved in the plot, either having a role or just a spectator during overblots

Tactical Thinker

[Yuki had developed herself into having a tactical mind for survival during her first few days living in House of Lamentation and the Devildom.]

Reason: I imagine living in hell is a nightmare no matter how attractive the characters are. It’s still hell. So even tho, it's stated that MC is very adaptable...I imagine her first days in the Devildom and has to quickly think ahead to survive.

Has trouble at lying (Based in Obey me wiki)

[Yuki had a pet peeve of avoiding eye contact with the person she’s lying to and blinking continuously whenever she told a lie. She would often speak before she thought hence she would jumble her words in an attempt to hide her secret.]

Inspiration: Luci said so somewhere in the game so why not.

Oblivious to Romantic Feelings

[Yuki has too much on her plate to think of Romance. She often gives the benefit of a doubt to everything unless someone straight out say it to her face their feelings for her.]

Inspiration: It’s an MC and Author is indecisive and loves/likes every character. both TWST and Obey Me are not an otome game with specific  romantic routes so what’s the point of having a specific ship. 

Affiliation in Devildom/ Royal Academy of Diavolo:

Student Council Prefect (Where she has to enforce discipline to the Student Council)

Attendant and Babysitter in House Lamentation (Yuki had to go to House of Lamentation to check on the brothers and basically serve under their needs)

Solomon’s Sorcerer Apprentice (Yuki had special lessons from Solomon about using Magic and other sorcery things)

Affiliation in Night Raven:

Ramshackle Dormitory’s Official Prefect (Prologue)

An Unofficial member of the Heartslabyul Dorm (where she is obliged to attend to the unbirthday parties at the end of  Heartslabyul Arc)

Savanaclaw’s Voluntary Assistant (where she volunteers to take Ruggie’s errand boy job in exchange for Savanaclaw members to help her in her contract with Azul)

Voluntary Maid Waitress in Mostro Lounge (Where she has to ork at Mostro Lounge to pay the damages she committed during Azul’s Overblot)

(Tba cuz idk yet, fanfic's not done)

Powers and Skills: 

1. Forming Pacts and Contracts:

[Yuki developed a knowledge of formings pacts because of her exposure in making pacts with the seven demons in her time in the Devildom.

Yuki and Azul might make bond over this similarity but unlike Azul, who is an expert to contracts in paper form, Yuki used verbal contracts and use of blood if necessary. ]

Summoning Creatures

[Because of her pacts, she can summon the demon she makes a pact with the use of a magical item or blood.]

Elemental Magic, Curses, etc.

[She learned this while studying in RAD and Solomon’s tutelage.]

Whatever Lilith’s power is supposed to be

[Reason: She’s a descendant of a supernatural being so she probably have them in her blood.]

Additional Skills Acquired under Solomon’s Teaching:

[ I added this section because I think Solomon influences Obey Me! MC a lot. Being the other human exchange student in a world that's filled with supernaturals, I HC'ed that MC seeks human comfort in Solomon even though he's not human anymore cuz immortality lol]

Potion Making and Culinary Arts

[Yuki had developed a knack of Potion-making because of Solomon’s guidance and exposure. She had also developed her culinary skills because of her months of living with Solomon under the same roof. 

Flying with Brooms

[Yuki is pretty decent at using a broom for flying. Solomon taught her for a week after a random discussion about magic transportation however she prefers using teleportation magic or items instead]

[epicspheal]

Something that I brought up on twitter that I wanted to bring here was how some of the choices for the Indigo League in the original anipoke series are often severely underrated. Namely speaking how Gary was knocked out of the tournament before Ash does and Ash will soon be knocked out too. As much as the anime gets a lot of flak for it’s writing (and yes there are plenty of flaws) I think it often doesn’t get the props it deserves at times for actually being a bit subversive in how it handles certain aspects and the Indigo League is good example of that when it comes to the rivalry of Ash and Gary The Kanto Protagonist-Rival dynamic is one of the most iconic in the franchise and for good reason. It’s portrayed solidly throughout the games, anime and manga although it’s really iconic mostly for the games’ portrayal (and I’m talking the RBGY and FRLG portrayals because it’s the minute details that made it so worthwhile Blue as the rival whereas trying have lightning strike twice with Trace fell flat and it’s not because “Friendly rivals are trash” but rather “you can’t put friendly rival in a story meant for a character that has negative tension with the protagonist and expect it to work”). The manga’s portrayal is solid but it’s the most vanilla of the three dynamics because it takes out one of the key features of the dynamic (the strong friendship that was destroyed prior to the journey adds emotional weight that both the game and anime portrayal actually keep intact) and didn’t do anything subversive with final like how the games and anime do. Now the anime, I think writing-wise had the most shocking portrayal of the rivalry. We’re coming into the series, especially if you watched this is the late nineties/early aughts where shows like Yu-Gi-Oh! and Beyblade were also on TV, expecting for a climactic showdown between Ash and Gary in the finals of the Indigo League where are naive rookie Ash will take down his former childhood rival and become champion. They don’t even get to face each other at all. Gary is knocked out in the top 32. I remember watching this as a kid and I was like “WHAT!? When is Ash going to face Gary?” because we had been waiting for a battle between them for ages. If it is one major criticism of the Ash-Gary rivalry that I have is that they should’ve had more battles with each other leading up to the eventual final battle in Johto. But still the subversion was huge and now that I’m older I can really appreciate it for what it was trying to do.

First off it’s super realistic that two people in a heated rivalry never face off compared to how most manga/anime tournaments tend to be where it just so happens that the main character will face most if not all of the major side characters. As a sports fan, realistically match-ups are quite random and rivalries don’t always get a chance to be settled in major tournaments (especially in the finals where even non-sports fans tend to tune in). Of course in a fictional narrative we want to see that payoff hence why the match-ups are a bit more contrived but it’s categorized under the willing suspension of disbelief for the sake of closing story arcs. Second upsets happen in tournaments all the time. Number one seeds get ousted by the lowest ranked people/teams in the tournament. Promising newcomers get unexpectedly thrashed. Gary was definitely one of the more promising rookies and we were expecting for him to go further than he does but again being promising doesn’t guarantee anything really Those two bits of realism act as a major wakeup call, for Gary, for Ash and for the audience. For Gary between that and being clapped hard by Mewtwo at the Viridian Gym (again another subversion from the games and manga where Blue is with Red and Green the last few characters to ever win the Earth badge off of Giovanni as gym leader) it’s a huge signal that something’s got to change. It’s why he acts so different once we meet him again after Ash comes back from the Orange Islands. In the moment of the Indigo League, this is a huge wakeup call for Ash as he realize “shit is real”. Despite the current animosity between him and Gary he still massively respects him especially as a trainer. And seeing him get knocked out the tournaments leaves such an impact that Ash almost considers dropping out himself, showing some rare moments of insecurity because at the moment he doesn’t believe himself to be better than Gary. If Gary can’t make it past the Top 32 what chance does he have? And then for the audience it’s a wakeup call that this despite being a kid show isn’t going to play by every trope that we come to expect. That you’re not going to win everything or always get a chance to prove yourself to someone else. It’s sobering, and quite mature for a kid’s show and I think it just doesn’t get as much credit that it deserves. It leads to introspection for both Ash and Gary and even though they don’t have their final battle until the silver conference Ash still “claims” a victory of Gary by getting further and going to win the Orange Island Cup. And this helps inform Gary’s eventual decision to become a researcher because he’s really not seeing the same results as his game and manga counterparts end up doing in their respective universes.

[sokkastyles]

Reading ATLA: The Promise - pp94-158

The subplot with Toph and Sokka training her students is cute, but it’s not funny enough to be enjoyable as even comic relief, and Sokka’s character seems to be ONLY comic relief now. I’m really not surprised, because all of the characters have been flanderized, but the mistreatment of Sokka here is particularly egregious, especially since he’s the only brown skinned boy in the main cast.

This is another page that’s been harped on to death already, but I just want to reiterate how tired I am of seeing Katara be made to feel guilty for prioritizing her own feelings. I’m going to choose to believe that Aang did genuinely want to feel closer to his people and that he isn’t just using it to be manipulative, but the thing is, why isn’t Katara allowed to share in this? Even if Katara felt left out because of her own jealousy, why doesn’t it ever occur to Aang to try and include her, especially since they mean so much to each other. Why is she not included in this part of his life (that coincidentally involves Aang being fawned over by tons of girls who are all in love with him)? This scene could have ended with Katara confessing to feeling left out, and Aang offering to teach her how to play the air flute or something. It would have been sweet and emphasized the comic’s theme of cultural exchange, as well as done a lot to portray the KA relationship as an equal relationship.

Zuko visits Ozai again and Ozai reveals the lesson of his story the previous night - it doesn’t matter whether the Fire Lord chooses to help the hawk or the turtle crab, because whatever side he chooses is the right one simply because he chose it. This sounds a lot like what Azula tells Long Feng about power in the series, that those with power are the ones who have the will to exert it. To Ozai, it doesn’t matter whether his decision is right or wrong, and being uncertain is a sign of weakness. Of course this is an immoral stance, and Zuko says he trusts Aang to do what’s right. Ozai asks Zuko if he trusts Aang more than he trusts himself. And then this happens:

This is a good scene, actually, as heartbreaking as it is. Ozai is manipulating Zuko, and Ozai is right about power in one respect. Ozai has power over Zuko psychologically because he’s able to tap into what he knows Zuko’s weaknesses are. Even though Ozai is in prison and Zuko is the Fire Lord, Ozai is still Zuko’s father and Zuko spent sixteen years living under his thumb.

But ultimately, Ozai being able to boss Zuko around like this just shows that the only power Ozai really has is through being a bully.

It’s frustrating to see Zuko backsliding, and yes, the entire comic is frustrating for the way it retreads previously resolved conflicts, but it’s not unrealistic that Zuko, an abused kid, would still have this kind of reaction, no matter how many times he tells Ozai he’s not going to listen to him anymore. That kind of psychological dependence is hard to break. What’s frustrating is that Zuko has to be completely isolated in order to get to that point, which also involves every other character acting in ways that are OOC. Especially Iroh, who knows Ozai more than anyone and how dangerous he can be even when Zuko is out of his reach, should have foreseen the danger here. If only Ozai could have been put in a maximum security prison far away...perhaps in the middle of a boiling lake inside a volcano...I don’t know, I’m just spitballing here...Not just for Zuko’s safety but that also reduces the danger of anyone in the capital who might be sympathetic to Ozai staging an escape attempt. Especially considering that Iroh himself broke out of that prison without firebending at all.

There’s also a subplot where Kori’s boyfriend, Sneers, who was one of the protestors outside Yu Dao, says she has to choose whether she is Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom, but his name is Sneers, so.

Katara and Aang visit the Earth King and, hilariously, both talk at the same time over the other, Aang saying that the Fire Nation people don’t belong in the Earth Kingdom and Katara saying that Zuko is trying to defend the families living there. Literally nobody communicates in this comic, even when they’re trying to communicate!

Kuei apparently has been taking a page from Ozai’s book of How to Become a Fascist Dictator because he decides that this is the moment that he needs to Be a Man (you tell him, Katara!) There’s something here about toxic masculinity and power dynamics. Kuei’s situation is similar to Zuko’s because he’s also been manipulated by his government and feels the need to prove himself as a strong leader, and the Earth Kingdom is also no doubt experiencing some serious political upheaval in the wake of the deposition of the Dai Li. 

But we know that Zuko isn’t his father, because he doesn’t want to rule through fear and intimidation.

So, Mai broke up with Zuko because he didn’t tell her he was going to visit Ozai, but she had a conversation with Suki behind his back about it - after she went behind Zuko’s back to fire his personal guards and put the Kyoshi Warriors in their place - and she’s mad about him keeping secrets?

I’ve also seen some criticism of Zuko here for ordering Mai to stay, but it was obviously something emotional said in the moment that he instantly regrets - and it didn’t work anyway. She also did the same thing to him at the end of ATLA when she told him never to break up with her again so like, turn about is fair play. Zuko doesn’t know why he says this, but like, this is the kind of behavior you learn if the person you’re in a relationship treats you that way. Also we just saw Zuko’s father order him around. It’s the trauma, bud. We won’t address any of this though, we’ll just pretend Zuko is going nuts because this poor kid hasn’t been gaslit enough in his life.

Zuko’s general comes in to tell him that the Earth King is marching against Yu Dao.

The biggest problem with this is that it’s framed as Zuko turning evil instead of “Zuko needs therapy.” Oh, and to not be around his abusive father. 

Zuko wanting to live for his mom, who left to save his life.

I do like the idea of Zuko and Aang having this shared psychic spirit connection.

Aang and Katara go to warn the people of Yu Dao to flee the city before the Earth King’s forces arrive, but get attacked themselves. Aang meets the Yu Dao chapter of his fan club, who have pretty much straight up appropriated Air Nomad culture, and gets really pissed off and then decides to double down on his stance that the nations have to be separate. Because THAT’S the message here folks, rather than “cultural appropriation is bad,” we’re going for “isolationism is good.”

[dimiclaudeblaigan]

Random anime/manga recommendations (good oldies!) I have for y'all just bc I love them and hope you would too! also I just want to talk about them bc I love and miss them all!!!

In the list:

Hikaru no Go

Shaman King

Loveless

Yami no Matsuei

Yu Yu Hakusho

Hikaru no Go:

it's about the board game Go but I promise it's so much more heavy than that and the character interaction/development is top tierrrr. also one of the only series that made me bawl like a dumb baby. also!!! you get to watch the characters GROW UP!!! from tiny baby faces to grown teenagers!!! and the fun of it is that while you watch/read, you don't even notice it happening!!! you just look back and go holy shit they were literal BABIES!!!

85 episodes and one OVA, but the OVA only covers half of the final arc, which is manga only. very faithful to the manga otherwise though.

Shaman King:

uhhh okay hear me out you gotta like, read the manga first or watch the 2001 anime first, then do the other one. then you can read the spinoffs. then you can read the sequel if you feel like it but it's more second gen esque and has been off and on for many years, long story, and it's also cut into two different names, long story, but it's flowers and the super star.

once you've read the manga and watched the 2001 anime, the 2021 anime is the remake of the 2001 anime bc the 2001 anime was concluded bc the manga was on hiatus and had caught up to the source material, so they did an anime only ending while sprinkling in bits and pieces of canon into that. the remake was insanely rushed though and cut a lot of content (including a majority of my favorite characters' content which was already low!!!) and super cut corners so imo it's really not a replacement for the manga, hence why I suggest the manga first.

some ppl have said watching the 2001 anime after the manga kinda made the anime feel less great overall bc of the anime only direction it had to take (if it hadn't, it would've ended up like naruto with filler and if y'all were there for that ride, uhhh... never again lmao), so it may be a better experience to watch it first then read the manga.

the anime is aaaaalmost completely faithful (some changes and alterations, but mainly ones that were meant to develop the main characters more and quicker) up until around episode 25, and then it starts getting... timeline-wonky but does follow canon. it just follows the events somewhat incorrectly, put in anime only aspects and swapped things around. after that point, when the characters reach the Patch Village, it's all basically anime only from there with the very final arc sprinkling in some manga only stuff.

anime ending is pretty standard shounen unfortunately, but the manga's ending was a breath of fresh air where it actually follows its themes and story beats right to the end.

that said, the original series is completed. the sequel is... ongoing... sometimes... when it's not blocked by a wall of hiatus bc of the magazine it gets into going under like every single magazine it goes into... but if you don't care for the sequel (understandable tho since it's very different!) that's not a problem. there are tons of spinoffs/side stories though that are both completed and ongoing. there are... a... lot... so basically SK universe is like forever ongoing, but the main series is completed.

** fun fact: hikaru no go and shaman king ran together in shonen jump!

Loveless:

okay so I promise this one is good, but it does feature trigger topics and overall more mature topics.

general premise is hella cringe, cat ppl with cat ears and a tail until they have sex. generally a shounen-ai but there are also het and wlw relationships. older dude claims to be in love with younger dude but it's actually fake and he was just told to say that, so that part goes from cringe to like, actually having backstory.

pretty much a psychological series with side romance (bc as much as it markets itself as romance, there's no "real" romance between the two main characters and the only confirmed pairs are not them). tackles a manipulative, emotionally abusive person who is yandere toward his younger brother, hence tackling more mature and potentially triggering topics. rape is also talked about/implied, though we don't actually see it in explicit detail.

series is complex though and some enemy characters become friendly with the main characters, some just neutral, and some become very close to them. the relationships and dynamics are all amazing though and I love how the more mature topics are handled (tastefully, in other words. it doesn't make light of them and gives depth to the characters) and how the main villain is handled. some more morally gray leaning villainish without being a villain characters are there too.

unfortunate parts of this is that the anime is only like 12 or 13 episodes and was never brought back. worse part is that volume 13 started and the manga went on indefinite hiatus a very, very, very long time ago and has not been touched since and probably never will be again. still an amazing series, but pretty much in permanent limbo unless the author magically decides to take it up again.

Yami no Matsuei:

uhhh listen it's another shounen-ai BUT it's not just romance. i don't really read purely romance series and always need substance and story/plot.

uhhh listen this one's kinda difficult to explain but basically it's a group of dudes who are detective-like ppl who are all actually dead and they get partners assigned who are also dead. villain is batshit nuts.

story can be pretty heavy on the romance/one-sided romance and stuff, but that didn't deter me.

also, talking bird buddies.

as above, the unfortunate parts are one season of about 13 episodes and not picked back up, and the manga is on indefinite hiatus and probably will not continue.

Yu Yu Hakusho:

uhhh you all probably at least know the premise of this one but im gonna come out and say it!!! ...watch the jp dub. promise. i know ppl say the dub was good but. i don't. rly feel that way??? despite growing up with the dub??? and also the sub sounds better to me???

anyway watch this series (or read it!)! :D

** fun fact again!: this series also ran with hng and sk in shonen jump!

[pandasmagorica]

First watch: DNA Says Love You

Okay, first let me say I enjoyed this and recommend it. It's not perfect. It's a bit slow, and some plot points and side characters take a long time to come back to. I felt the chemistry between the two leads developed well over time. There is a lead role for a character who is part of a sexual minority we rarely get to see at all, let alone in a lead role. There is both queer pain and queer joy. There is a touch of fantasy, although it is not completely developed. There is a strong female supporting character who, while she loves one of the leads, never turns evil when she can't have him (although she does make one misstep).

But there was plenty of light moments and leavening humor, an established gay couple, and lots of food and scenery porn.

Content warnings: Suicide attempt, possible suicide contemplation, major medical decision made for a child without the child's consent, bullying, gay panic (non-violent), sexual minority phobia, outing, pronoun issues in the English subtitles (but not the original spoken script).

I was mildly unhappy with the subtitles. Typos were plentiful and there was an issue with gender (details after the jump).

See also my mid-watch thoughts and COVID masking in DNA Says Love You posts.

Spoilers follow

Childhood friends Le, Yu-He, and Wen-Wen were inseparable until Wen-Wen was whisked away overseas by her parents. Ten years later, Le wonders where Wen-Wen is. A moment later, Amber enters the cafe where Le and Yu-He work. He reports that he has just returned from overseas.

The timing is a little too obvious. We as audience are clearly meant to understand that male Amber and female Wen-Wen are the same person ten years apart. If it's not clear to some of us at the start, the show continues to drop bigger and bigger hints. Eventually, Amber absentmindedly sings a song the three of them wrote as kids and Yu-He catches him and confronts him about his identity. She proceeds to out him to Le, who reacts badly that he feels he has been deceived.

A lot of things we learn from flashbacks. Apparently, some viewers are not fans of flashbacks. I personally love them as they allow me to recontextualize what I have seen. I feel they were well-used in this series, although the timing of some of them were odd.

I initially thought Amber was a transman, and that the family left Taiwan after Amber came out to his parents as male. However, it appears that Wen-Wen, after initially being thought to be female and raised as such, was discovered to be genetically male and was taken to the UK to be medically affirmed (not sure this is the right word - that's more of a trans term) as male and re-socialized to be male. It is not clear how much say Wen-Wen had in this decision - likely not much - but clearly it was traumatic for them to be uprooted from their friendships.

Not sure what pronoun to use here. I'm a cis queer male and I don't know how the character identifies or how voluntarily that identification was. We don't really get enough information about Wen-Wen/Amber's transition.

As a side note, Amber is a strange name choice for someone transitioning to male, as it's a female name. I'm guessing that's an error on the part of the writing team.

I'm also not happy with how the translators handled this transition. Spoken Mandarin pronouns do not distinguish for gender, but English pronouns do. So sometimes in seems that Wen-Wen/Amber was being misgendered. He was, sometimes, in the subtitles, but not in the spoken script.

There was at least one other gender error in the subtitles when referring to one of the other characters.

There was a bit of a fantasy element with regard to the hunt for a mysterious temple. In one episode they hunted for it and wound up going in circles. But it never appears.

A reasonable complaint about the series is that Wen-Wen/Amber likely didn't have any choice in his transition. I am given to understand this is also true of most intersex transitions in real life, although the intersex community is working to change that. I'll say that this is not an area that I am knowledgeable about and that if you want to know more, seek out writing by the intersex community in print and on the internet.

What I do know is that over my long lifetime, mainstream queer content went from the queers nearly always die in the end to the queers rarely die. Ann Bannon, when writing her classic Beebo Brinker novels had to leave Beebo unhappy at the end and her female lover in the arms of a man. Gay-themed films ended unhappily at best and tragically at worst. Side gay characters often died, for example in Francois Truffaut's The Last Metro.

Eventually, there were more films with gay characters and happy endings started to appear. There was Will and Grace on TV.

We are starting to see well-rounded trans characters in QL: Mae in 3 Will Be Free is an outstanding example of a major character who has a clear vision of herself and a major impact on the plot, even if she loses the men who accept her for who she is. There are other smaller trans roles appearing now in QL and I hope the trend continues. While Only Friends left a bad taste in my mouth, at least Yo's story ends well. And there is a happy trans member of a couple in The Warp Effect and one in Not Me. And a happy (mostly - there is some bullying) non-binary character in Secret Crush on You. All of these shows are Thai.

To me, the biggest problem with this show's handling of the intersex subplot is not that Amber has no choice in his transition, but that there is a total lack of intersex stories. It's a big step forward that Amber is a main character, and we need to have more stories, including stories of intersex characters who get to choose their future. It's too much to ask one story to be perfect, but it's not to much to ask there to be more and varied stories.

Let me correct that. I was not happy they chose to have the one intersex character attempt suicide when their love object panicked about their relationship. (Similarly, having side character gayly coupled Li contemplate suicide - at least that's how I read the scene - was over the top.) That's too close to the historic tragic gay narrative. I would hope we get over that. It wouldn't be an issue if it were one of dozens of narratives, most of which didn't include attempted suicide, but it's not.

The side couple of Li and Gwan was handled a bit lackluster, but it was nice to see their domesticity.

In all, I recommend this series, but be aware of its shortcomings going into it.

[harleyshahas]

[5 comfort characters and 5 tags]

I was tagged in something!!! Holy shit, thank you @heartlessfujoshi !!

So uh... there's been so many characters over the years it's hard to narrow down to just 5! But there are ones that I always find myself coming back to for one reason or another so we'll start with:

Sora (Kingdom Hearts) - My son. My sweet baby boy. My beautiful sunshine boy. This kid makes me cry every single time I play these games, without fail. I know a lot of people latch on to Riku for one reason or another, and I know there was a lot of Sora hate when Two came out, but I have grown up with Sora, and I love his drive, his commitment, his optimism. Hes not afraid to rely on his friends, and he's been able to find the light in the dark every time his circumstances spiral, and there's been so many times in my life where I've needed that, and I just appreciate it so much in him.

Sly Cooper (Sly Cooper/Sly Raccoon) - this one's a little embarrassing, but I can't make this list without him. If there's one game I go back to more than KH, then it's the Sly series. In the words of Kevin Miller, he's cool, he's calm, and he has a sexy voice. It's a game I love to play on a rainy day, and I love watching Sly grow into himself as both a thief and a person, learning to rely on his friends, living up to his family name, and then learning to let it go when the time finally comes. He's wonderful and I adore him.

Yugi Muto (Yu-Gi-Oh) - oh boy. He's sunshine and sweetness and adorable, and I won't hear a bad word about him! YGO was my very first fandom. It introduced me to online spaces like forums, DA, LJ, and ffnet. Once again, here is a character who's not afraid to rely on his friends, who can find light in the dark places, and is incredibly driven (I'm sensing a theme here...). He wants nothing but the best for the people around him and I just love him so, so much.

Eggsy Unwin (Kingsman) - He's just... He's a near perfect character! Kingsman is easily one of my top two favorite movies, and Eggsy is such a big part of why it's a great movie. His family is broken when he's a kid, he grows up in a terrible environment but still recognizes that his mum did the absolute best that she could for him and he loves her regardless. He loves his baby half sister and wants the best for her, but because of his circumstances he can't provide that for her. Even after he's offered a way out, he still has trouble getting over his flaws, with reconciling who he's been and what he wants to become, and he's willing to put forth the effort to make the changes he needs to make to become that better person. He's kind, he's determined, he's a snarky shit, and he's great.

Jack Skellington (The Nightmare Before Christmas) - if there's one movie I've seen more than Kingsman, more than any other movie I've ever watched, it's TNBC. Jack is someone who is just... tired. He's so tired. He's tired, he's bored, he's done with everything, and everyone around him. He's lost his drive, his spark, his reason for being. He's the embodiment of depression. People like to give this movie a lot of flak, and I get it, but it's a simple movie with a simple story, and it's this one guy trying to validate his reason for being. And along the way, he loses a little bit more of himself. He doesn't even see that it's happening, but the ones closest to him? Zero and Sally, they try to help him see, they try to bring him back, but Jack's so blinded by this new shiny thing that he can't see that he's losing more than just himself. It's not until it's too late, until he's put himself and Zero into harm's way that he finally realizes that he needs to better himself, for himself, for his friends, and for his town. He learns to recognize he's in a depressive spiral and resolves to do better, to be better, and see what he's had all along.

Some runners up include: Frodo Baggins, Samwise Gamgee, Jim Hawkins, Danny Fenton, Vlad Masters, Pitch Black, Jack Frost, Dipper Pines, Stan Pines, Hiccup Haddock, Seto Kaiba, Garrus Vakarian.

5 tags: @creamsodaprince @gilly-moon @ashgunnywolf @bunnimew @dennyz-backroom

[straightbaittournament]

only the option with the LEAST votes will be eliminated. propaganda under the cut (and more always welcome!):

akko kagari and andrew hanbridge:

Very typical hetero-love-interest introduction, rival vibes, aloof rich boy & headstrong "commoner" girl, learning to see each other's point of view, she dresses up for the first time in the series to sneak into his party to try to talk to him. Just classic 'ugh they're clearly gonna get together' but... they don't. Nothing romantic is ever explicit, and by s2 they're friends and that's it. there's no discussion or drama. they're good friends. literally shocked me. apparently a guy and girl who fit a bunch of romantic tropes... can just be friends

sam winchester and eileen leahy:

The last season set them up to be together, and then in Sam’s finale flash-forward, they replaced her with “blurry wife” literally a random blurred out woman rather than having him end up with Eileen Eileen is the coolest Supernatural character: she's deaf and also formerly dead (like Sam)

asuka tenjoin and yuki judai:

The ship name (fianceshipping) comes from the episode where Judai *accidentally* duels some guy to become Asuka's fiance (said guy never asks Asuka how she feels about this, ugghhh greater Duel Academia student body be normal about ladies challenge). Turns out that he *didn't know what a fiance was* and just wanted to have a good ol' time cardgaming. I think that this says more about this ship than anything else I could tell you. During the final season, Asuka almost confesses to him but cuts herself off & they then thank each other for giving each other some clarity of mind because they're both going through pretty rough times at that point in the plot. Looks concerningly like they're about to do a whole "ohh we need to make the main girl and boy romance out of obligation" bit and then they just don't do it. It's great. judai is the gayest guy of all time (subtext) and im like 80% sure asuka was experiencing comphet bc he's the only guy in their grade that treats her like a person. besties 4ever!!!!!!!! [straightmod has been informed that judai is also textually queer because he is canonically attracted to a non-binary character.]

kurosaki ichigo and kuchiki rukia:

Oh man, where do I even begin? So, for some context, Bleach starts when Rukia (a shinigami) gets critically injured saving Ichigo from a monster, and she transfers her powers to him so he can finish it off. Instead of transferring half her powers as planned, however, she transfers all of them, which forces Ichigo to take over her job as a shinigami. During this time period, Rukia... lives in his closet. Yeah. The entire first arc of the manga is dedicated to their relationship, and while a lot of it is playful banter, Rukia's presence in Ichigo's life fundamentally changes it for the better. Rukia then gets kidnapped by the rest of the shinigami who aren't at all happy she gave her powers to a human, and the main plot ensues from there. Throughout the story, Rukia and Ichigo constantly save each other when they're at their worst. When Rukia thinks she deserves to die, Ichigo is there to tell her she deserves to live. When Ichigo is in a funk about his superpowered evil side, Rukia is there to snap him out of it (something his canon love interest explicitly realises she was unable to do). They share a sun/moon motif for crying out loud, and yet like that last sentence said... they don't end up together, but with other people instead. Yeah. No shade to the canon ships, but Ichiruki is peak straightbaiting, honestly. They have a lot of banter/chemistry, fundamentally change eachother's lives for the better, save each other when they're at their lowest, and have a very deliberate sun/moon dichotomy... but they both end up paired off with different characters instead asdfghkl

izuku midoriya and ochako uraraka:

It’s the classic main character x friend who is a girl ship. They have no actual romantic interactions outside of their friendship. Ochako has “feelings” for Izuku, but they are clearly feelings of friendship until one of her friends insists that she must have a crush on Izuku, making her feel confused and embarrassed. Izuku clearly sees Ochako as a good friend, but when they first meet, he blushes and thinks “I can’t believe I just talked to a girl.” On the same day, he also blushes when he sees that a famous male hero is proctoring their exams. It’s literally so boring as a romantic ship. They have no chemistry as a couple.

edward elric and winry rockbell but SPECIFICALLY in the 2003 anime:

literally in different dimensions by the end! they still have a lot of the hallmarks of "ohh endgame childhood best friends" or whatever but fma 2003 just said. naah. winry got the shortest end of the stick and i feel so bad for her!!! continuity specific straightbait. in every other universe they get married and have kids but screw you two specifically 🙏

mako, korra, and asami:

it's that one meme where the guy ignores his girlfriend to check out another girl, only the two girls get to know each other and get together. S1/2 has love triangle drama between who Mako will be with (Korra or Asami). S3 no one is together but Korra and Asami become really close friends. S4 Korra and Asami are together. Mako is single. Like the only example of exes being good friends and Not getting back together, as well as giving the middle finger to heteronormative assumptions when after the love triangle is over, the two girls get together Shipping the two girls in a love triangle together but it actually happens

pat and ink:

Pat has a crush on Ink early on, and it seems possible at first that she may feel the same way. However, it is later revealed that she actually has a crush on his sister and is a lesbian. It's okay though because then Pat realizes he's in love with his childhood rival and they become wlw mlm solidarity! Everyone wins!

maka albarn and soul evans:

Throughout the series, they have a deep friendship with each other which is consistently extremely important to the story's narrative. In order for them to be able to fight, they must get along and resonate with each other, and due to the mechanics of their world, fighting independently of each other is extremely difficult. In multiple instances, they are shown to be willing to put themselves in harm's way to extreme degrees to keep each other safe. They are even shown to live together. They are The Singular Straight Ship I have ever shipped and I love them. Also they are really cool and Soul can turn into an awesome scythe weapon that like only Maka can wield. And they fight really awesomely together.

luke skywalker and leia organa:

The idea of Luke and Leia was used in advertisements but they obviously decided not to do that. IT’S SO FUNNY. Like, I think this is the closest white straight people will ever get to ‘they were cousins’ing a couple. I looked up advertising to see if it was just in the movie proper or it WAS used to sell it and https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5z1SziDPKQw&t=118s&pp=2AF2kAIB ‘Luke and Leia: in danger, in love, in Star Wars’ is going to be one of the things that rolls around in my head for ages. It’s not just the whole ‘het love triangle advertises 2nd pairing that everyone knows won’t happen’ like Twilight, it’s the backpeddaling ‘no no it can’t happen, they’re actually siblings! It’d be weird! Ignore the ‘good luck’ kiss and the ‘I’ll be back’ kiss in the medbay and of course the full on make out session scene that happened! And even our own advertising’ Of it all.

good luck everybody! now go vote!