#oh boy! fucked up yuri! my favorite!

[rayar32]

Well last post sure was adorable I wonder what I have in store today—

Oh. Right.

Listen I love my unhinged rays of sunshine with way too much power that mean the best, but are absolutely psychotic about it! And a Destructor GodBikki is like, ultimate power so yeah!

Case in point GodBikki kidnaps random strangers to take photos of her and her girlfriend and sends them to a timeless pocket dimension whenever they fuck up. Sometimes she forgets to take them out of there though...

Also yes she does very much realize she loves Miku the moment she ascends to godhood so she's quite protective of her. She never kills anyone, but will fingersnap any threat away to the other side of the world, or to the Vacation Realm (Tsubasa may be stuck there after trying to rudely attack GodBikki after she oh so kindly revived Kanade for her, so that's a little bit of a problem for the rest of the Gears)

[anodymalion]

ok I am in fact using this as an excuse to make a long post about this thank you thank you asjksdjfaljdf

---

Interpreting Yuri as asexual is my very very favorite type of headcanon, which is one that 1. is compellingly coded in the source material (even if that wasn't the creator's intent), 2. is thematically relevant to what the piece of media is Trying To Do as a whole, and 3. just means a lot to me, personally, because I said so.

Coded in the source material

Yuri’s short program is “eros”, aka desire (you can interpret what “eros” means in various ways, but YOI itself explicitly refers to sexual love, at least in the English translations). Yuri struggles with this. Hard. He can’t come up with an answer when asked what eros means to him. His big revelatory moment about desire is that it’s how he feels about wanting to eat his favorite food (omg… boy). Even as the season goes on and the way he views the Eros program changes, the program doesn’t ever really embody the idea of eros as sexuality or romance (which was how the other characters expect him to interpret it) but rather as a desire to keep Victor in his life.

Like look. I’m obviously not going to say that the creator intended any kind of ace subtext to be there. I kind of doubt it was her intent. But goddamn is the subtext there.

2. Thematic relevance

The central theme throughout YOI is “love”, and especially loving people in a way that inspires you both to be your best selves: Yuri learning that the people in his life truly love and support him; Victor finding someone who makes him feel joy about skating again.

Like, Yuri’s whole skating theme for the Grand Prix is literally about him exploring what love looks like to him, even when it takes a form that other people don’t totally understand. Viewing all this through a lens of him being ace is really compelling. It adds depth to the idea of learning how to express the way you feel love even when it looks different than what other people expect. I think it’s a really delicious layer that adds even more nuance to what the show is getting at.

Besides, it’s an interesting way of viewing the criticism of the show that occurred for it not being 100% explicit about them being a couple (aka people getting mad because the kiss in ep 7 is blocked by Victor’s arm lmaooo). Like, ok, did you see the ending scene of ep 9? Did you see ep 10??? They definitely, definitely love each other, in whatever way that means for them. Their relationship takes a form that’s pretty different than the other way people in the show are going about romantic relationships, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t real for them. That is very much in line with the main themes of the show.

3. Means a lot to me

In the final scene of the penultimate episode, Yuri tells Victor that they should end their coaching relationship after the Grand Prix ends. This is because he thinks he’s holding Victor back, that Victor would be happier being free to go back to skating on his own instead of being Yuri’s coach. When I watched this (and, I’ll be honest, this is completely me projecting here) I REALLY interpreted this as an ace thing. I think it’s pretty easy to internalize the idea when you’re asexual that you just won’t be… enough, for other people. In my case I ended up a strong impulse to self-sabotage relationships because I would rather be the one to end things than to let someone else tell me that who I am as a person is fundamentally lacking. Yuri destroying a connection he desperately wants because he thinks there’s something about him that is holding Victor back from a life he’d be truly happy with? Oh yeah. I can fucking relate to that.

Also: YOI came out in 2016, which was the absolute peak of hostility to ace people I was seeing on this site. It was bad here. At the same time Tumblr was going wild over this show. Everyone was watching it. Seeing a whole site of people absolutely adore a character I very deeply in my heart believed to be ace? Extremely vindicating.

---

In conclusion Yuri is asexual because it is fun and interesting that way, and also because of this:

[freezing-kaiju]

ALRIGHT, IT'S TIME!

THE SECOND RYUKI-AND-BLADE-ACCOMPANYING ANIME POLL IS NOW HERE!!!

SO, MEET YOUR CHALLENGERS!

AJIN Demi-Human

We start with a dark horror and possibly scifi about ethics in science, immortality, and an outlaw fugitive alien plot as a boy finds himself part of a group of immortals declared legally inhuman. While I have some misgivings about Oh No I Was Secretly A Creature All Along plots, I do fucking love horror and there’s a lot of ways for those plots to hit hard in the trans and gay and autism organs and be really important!!!!

Dimension W

The New Tesla Energy Corporation has monopolized the fourth dimension and the coils that connect to it. A duo of bounty hunters, one human and one robot, make money via repossessing illegal coils and seek out the answer to the mysteries within the dimension. I really wanna watch this one for a few reasons, the primary one of which is 'there are multiple fat women'. It seems to have freaks and weirdos and fun times, and its comedy is emphasized more than most of the other ones on this list so it might give some needed levity!

Kyoukai no Kanata

A bumbling monster hunter with blood powers meets an immortal via trying to shank him and ends up in an arrangement where she'll keep trying to kill him to boost her confidence while hunting monsters in what I hope is a monster-of-a-week show that came highly recommended by a friend as her favorite anime, or one of her favorites, so i have high hopes! Script's by the hibike euphonium guy and the power system seems quite interesting!

Air

A puppeteer (if he’s as good as Sakon will remain to be seen) stops his Road Trip To Meet A Golden Sun Jupiter Summon to stay for a bit in a town and, as happens to anyone who stops for too long, gets attached to the place and also meets a girl who might be said jupiteresque being. My friend informs me that it's gorgeous, sounds amazing (so I'll make sure to get clips), and has "nice sad vibes"!!! And it’s…listed in a “provincial horror” listing… hoho

Heike Monogatari

A child who can see ghosts and the future walks tirelessly through the tragedy of the war between the Taira and Minamoto families before the dawn of the first shogunate. It's wildly beloved by a friend of mine, and also centers a historical event i know some but not all about and definitely need to know more about the Taira side of. Seems like a beautiful drama, one I could lose my heart over.

SSSS Gridman

Digital kaiju! Digital hero! Digital amnesia! A monster of the week show about an unknown amnesiac summoning and merging with Hyper Agent Gridman to fight digital, possibly virtual monsters while making friends(?) in the real world! It's the one thing Tsubaraya Productions has that isn't Ultraman, and I expect some tokusatsu vibes from it along with the mecha stuff, i've also heard it has gay girl megatron??

Akudama Drive

It's a prison break and crime story set in a tech dystopia, starring a scene girl shoplifter, and featuring a bevvy of unpersoned convicts in what seems like an excellent ensemble clusterfuck!!! The Danganronpa crew made this thing! It's also beloved by a friend of mine, and I've heard it'll be a generally excellent tragedy of a time

Canaan

A reporter gets saved from assassins by a woman she might do yuri with, and the summaries I’ve found seem to imply a plot about terrorism and mystery! It’s a Type-Moon work that isn't part of the fate, tsukihime, OR melty universes! It might still have magecraft, but it's tagged sci-fi too, and a type moon take on scifi sounds interesting... it’s also based on. *checks wikipedia* a…perfect-Famitsu-score visual novel for the Nintendo Wii. So I might need to dig out some old hardware to watch this thing. For fun’s sake!

Killing Bites

A guy unintentionally becomes the underground wrestling promoter of a ?werewolf? Woman who murders his friends and wins him a shitload of money. The end goal? According to the summary, control of the economy!!! This was recommended as garbage and good lord I need garbage so much good god I need to put some trash inside of me.

[the-kr8tor]

Okay okay so a few headcannons I have for TTN

Reader totally has a step by step plan for getting hobie to ask her out (listen she'd ask but like it's Hobie we need him to break the ice or we could be reading this all wrong)

She's definitely at every show if she can be but leaves before the "after party". Not her scene she just came to support her boys (hobie and Ned)

She has a hard time making female friends, which is why the sudden bind with Yuri was so nice!

If Yuri stuck around instead of leaving here soon she'd totally start flirting with reader to mess with hobie all the time now that they're best mates now. She'd flirt and Reader would get flustered as fuck but try to laugh it off and play along and Yuri would be like "see hobie that's how it's done. You better be careful looks like I might be cherry's new favorite~"all playfully smug and hobie isn't bothered knows she joking so it just really messing with reader 🤣

Readers taken hobie on like 1500 dates and he still doesn't get that she wants him. I mean come in we dragged him to a runway show! I'm sure we've done similar else where. Having to "convince" him to come when he'd do anything for her.

Obviously it's the same from hobie's side from above I mean he took us to a fabric shop and got all sweet about it. I know there's been more

Hobie complains to Ned about reader and he's told him Tim and time again just go for it at this point he'll just look at him and raise a brow and hobies like yeah yeah I know I should tell her yada yada. Yuri just figured it out and teases while James is a lil special.

I may or may not have a crush on Yuri

Who said that 🤔 anywayyyyyys I love the series, and I love talking about it with you even if you shattered my heart in that last chapter with that ending after all that sugar. I was reading last night for a pick me up before bed and I was left dangling on a cliff after being loaded with friendship sugar. -_- 🫠 I had to re-read to make sure I hadn't missed something.

OMG @dema-heart you got me giggling, kicking my feet! This is so sweet ❤️❤️❤️

Gosh, that's adorable! I can imagine her doing that! Imagine that she has it all planned out in the back of her lil sketchbook, she writes: if I ever grow some balls. Then she has the step by step guide on it lol I think r is very meticulous when it comes to planning and studying

Oh definitely! She's their number 1 fan for a reason, she'd be too shy to mingle with ppl she doesn't know very well.

Oh I love their interaction! I had so much fun writing Yuri (I've based her on an oc of mine lol)

Lmaooo she's too powerful! Plot twist Yuri and the reader run away together 😂🤣

She always convinces him with the promise of shawarma or food lol and it always works like a charm

They're idiots your honor

I love the Idea that Yuri took one look at them when she first met the reader and went "yep they're in love" LMAOOO JAMES 🤣🤣🤣 he's a himbo okay

It's okay I too have a crush on her 😜 The way I wrote her was very attractive lmao she got me blushing and I was the one writing her

Hehehhe I'm glad you liked it! I'm ready to catch you if you ever fall because of the next chapter hehehe

Im honestly thinking about making a oneshot from chapter 4 where they were putting together Hobie's bed, imagine the banter lmao maybe when I finish the series I'll get to write it

[chaoscheebs]

So I've gotten into visual novels a bit more recently, do you have any recommendations? I've been a gamer all my life but vns are kind of a blind spot for me. Maybe some of the more popular ones on the DS and a handful of PC ones are about all I know.

Most of the ones I've played are adult ones (i.e. have sex scenes in them), but I can give some recs if that's not an issue.

All Ages:

-Jack Jeanne for the Switch is a really solid one and for something that includes hiding the protag's gender (she's in an all-boys school for theater), it doesn't fall into weird/horny tropes about it? Like no "oh no someone walked into me changing oh me oh my" nonsense, for example. Plus there's some characters that read very trans/gender non-conforming and I am living for it.

It's very slice-of-life, very pretty, and if you like/can work with stat-building dating sims and the rhythm game sections, I'd recommend it!

Guys Who Like Ladies (not all-ages):

--Princess Waltz is like my favorite VN of all time, it's so fucking good. It's about this (seemingly) normal dude who ends up entangled in this other magical world's tournament to pick a bride for the prince of a country in said other world, and boy howdy for something that is aimed at straight male audiences it is REALLY GAY (affectionate/positive).

The main "girl"? The prince. Who reallyreally comes off as a trans dude. It is awesome.

There's all sorts of cool fights, girls in cool/cute outfits, the "token loli" acts her actual age and is probably one of the most mature of the lot (god i love Suzushiro), it has Lun-Lun, the second best proper girl, yaoi fangirls, and a cute lil' dragon man.

I will provide a quick warning tho': it contains (accidental, they had NO IDEA beforehand) incest, potential adoptive sibling banging, and depending on how you see Chris, potentially misgendering. :c

If you can get past that, tho', it's fantastic and has a bangin' soundtrack.

--9-nine is a urban fantasy-ish multiverse-spanning mystery series in 5 parts: 4 for each girl and one extra epilogue game that wraps up the loose ends nicely. It also contains cool action scenes, has a great cast of characters, and even makes a Wild Arms 2 reference, which cements it in my heart forever.

Each game is a route, and while you could skip one and still get the story (and you might want to, one of the games focuses on the protag's main full-blooded sister who, uh, yeah, they eventually bang), but each part connects to the next and gives you more information to piece together, and it all comes together wonderfully. ;A;

Also, the male lead has a face, is voiced, and has a personality, which is a rare triple-crown in the VN world when it comes to het-focus stuff.

9-nine also has an "all-ages" cut, which can be found on Steam, if that makes a difference.

QUEER SHIT FUCK YEAH:

--Ne no Kami is a yuri VN which is in two parts (with a loosely-connected "prequel" that is plot-light called Sacrament of the Zodiac and has a successor plot-heavy series that has one part out called Watamari, all of which are yuri stores) and IT. IS. SO. FUCKING. GOOD. It and Princess Waltz battle for my heart for the number 1 spot.

The protag is a "normal" girl named Len, who gets drawn into this secret war against the ayakashi thanks to a mix of her childhood friend coming back into her life and her parents up and disappearing on her, and it gets... the actual images are never graphic in the violence sense, but it gets a bit brutal in the fight scenes. Which fucking rule.

It's a good balance of slice of life and battles (and girls kissing other girls of course) and the music fucking rules.

There is also an "all-ages" cut on Steam.

--No,Thank You!! is a BL VN, and it is also really good, but really fucking heavy and I have to give several caveats before recommending it. There is references to (and at least one on-screen instance of) rape, references to in-universe snuff films, non-consensual body modification to the point of body horror, drugs, and child trafficking, tho' everything mentioned past the rape is never shown on-screen.

If your can get past all that, you're in for a wild fucking ride. Haru is the (openly bi!!!!!) protagonist, who seemingly got amnesia in an accident saving this middle-aged man, and so the middle aged man, who is the protag of his own story that's interwoven in the background as he searches for his missing son and dips his toes into some Serious Shit(tm) as a result, sees to it that Haru has shelter and a job until he recovers.

Also, yakuza and a secret underground society that does Seriously Fucked-Up Shit(tm) are all interwoven into the plot, especially the latter.

Also Hiroyuki is best boy I make the rules.

--------

Anyway, that should be a pretty good starter kit. I'd also throw in Yume Miru Kusuri, which is a more grounded in realism story, but also it's really meta and not a good starter VN (... although it was MY starter VN, please give me a route for the canon gay dude in a fan disc I am begging you). It also. Um. Deals with heavy subjects (bullying, drug use...). So maybe see how you feel about these before that.

[piracytheorist]

Character ask : Anya Chichi

Anya Forger

First impression: Oh she looks cute. Hope she doesn't turn into a plot device. Impression now: My adorable chaotic gremlin who has more agency and control in the story than her spy and assassin parents <3 Favorite moment: I think I'll choose the moment where she rescues the drowning boy in episode 11. She's kind and selfless enough to risk her life to save him, and she didn't even hesitate to jump into the pool like how brave is that kid! And since she didn't want to expose her secret she took it all upon her to act and save him herself. Idea for a story: I think it'll be wasted potential if we never learn about the scientists who created her and their motives, so I think a story of her being taken by them will be interesting, albeit sad, until at least her parents come and kick ass to save her. Unpopular opinion: I don't ship Damιanya and that seems to be quite the unpopular opinion in this fandom... Even if they're aged up and Damian actually treats her decently, I still don't think they'd make an interesting couple. Favorite relationship: Anya with Papa and Mama. Don't make me choose! Favorite headcanon: I genuinely wonder if Endo is ever gonna explain why she has those little hats on her head, and I think it would be hilarious for them to be just hair clips that she wears literally 24/7. So my headcanon for that is that Anya is just stylish!

Loid Forger

First impression: LOL that's a way to break up with your girlfriend. Is he just gonna be one of those boring protagonists whose only character traits is past trauma and being OP? Impression now: If anyone hurts him I will commit several felonies. But please hurt him I want the whump :3 Favorite moment: Bench scene after Yor kicks the living daylights out of him. The vulnerable moment of him remembering his mother and opening up to Yor about that because we know it's real and not for the mission is unparalleled. Chef's kiss. Idea for a story: Okay okay hear me out. We know that he's a very disciplined spy so if he's ever caught he has to be caught in the act. Mere evidence won't do because he'll deny any involvement to hell and back and be pretty convincing about it. So he has to be caught red-handed. And an idea for that is, he's disguised himself as Yuri because for Reasons he has to infiltrate the SSS offices, but then for some reason the actual Yuri appears there too. "Yuri" and Yuri fight, and an incompetent officer finds them, aiming his gun at them. Twilight is silent, but Yuri tries to convince the guy that's he's the real Yuri and he should shoot the fake one. The guy says that "Only a spy would act like that" and shoots. While that happens, within a split second Twilight thinks "I have to let him die. I have to get out of here. I have to let him die." But he just cannot do that because he knows how much it would devastate Yor to lose her brother... so he pushes him out of the way and takes the bullet instead. Maybe not anywhere too dangerous, like his arm or something. But it's enough to slow him down as he tries to escape, and he's finally caught while still wearing a mask with Yuri's face. You can imagine Yuri's shock and horror when he realizes it's "Loi-Loi", who is a spy and tried to infiltrate the offices and also saved his fucking life. Because as many lies as he's said, Yuri has absolute proof that this man really does love his sister. I want this to happen so much you have no idea. Unpopular opinion: I've yet to read the manga and anything that explores his backstory but I think it's easy to think he'd abandon his spy work after he realizes he loves his family and wants to spend his life with them. Which yeah it's what we want for him but I think his desire for peace tops even his love for his family. He'd rather break his own heart along with theirs and leave if it means he can keep working as a spy and protect the fragile peace. Which is why I feel that the story cannot end without Ostania's government falling, and the new, more democratic government either signing a secure peace treaty with Westalis or uniting under one nation. Favorite relationship: Loid and Anya. Look I love twiyor as much as the next shipper but the father/daughter feelz was one of the things that hooked me into the show so it's the one I want more of. Favorite headcanon: I once read a post talking about how people from Westalis may have a different accent than people from Ostania, and now I cannot get that idea out of my mind. I think it would be interesting to see Twilight suddenly drop all pretenses and start speaking with the accent he grew up using, allowing himself to connect with that old part of himself he kept hidden. I doubt they'd do that in the anime (and since I watch the Japanese version I don't think I'd notice the difference) but it's still a very interesting headcanon.

(no manga spoilers please 😁)

Send me a character!

[hikari-ni-naritai]

hello emily. may i please ask for a recommendation for a yuri manga. i remember you were recommending a vampire one a few months ago

Oh yeah that was "seifuku no vampiress lord", which is really good. Even though it got fucking canceled after one volume and they had to cram 6 volumes worth of content into 2. It's fine. I'm not bitter. I'm not filled with rage. It's about a girl who becomes a vampire and starts sucking her best friends blood in a horny way.

Anyway idk what your preference is but if you want something that's not rushed and badly translated in the second half, I'll give you a few of my other favorites.

"Even if it was just once, I regret it" (also known by its woefully worse title "I can't believe I slept with you") is really good. It's about a girl who gets really drunk after losing her job and sleeps with her lesbian landlord bc she can't afford rent. One of the ones I reread every once in a while.

"Handsome girl and sheltered girl" is about a girl who's incredibly fucking hot who accidentally ends up dating a girl who thinks she's a hot guy. There's a lot of gendery vibes in it. Another reread candidate.

"Bloom into you" obviously. Obviously. It's a masterpiece so if you haven't read it, it's really good. A girl who can't fall in love has to deal with the perfect student council president falling in love with her (specifically because she told her she could never fall in love).

"Bright and cheery amnesia" is about the world's dumbest and horniest lesbian getting amnesia and finding out she's dating a hot girl and being very excited about it. The first couple pages of that used to float around Tumblr so you might've seen them.

"Useless Princesses" is a fuckin, personal favorite bc every single character is really unhinged and the drama between them gets escalated to unnecessary proportions. A girl who gets bullied ends up becoming close friends with the most popular girl in school.

Those are all, iirc, finished works, but there's a couple others that aren't finished yet if you're OK with them.

"After School" I think it's called? Is about a girl who starts kissing another girl after school for no reason. It's good kissing. I reread it every once in a while.

And "I love amy", which. Frankly needs a few trigger warnings probably, bc despite the incredibly cutesy art style, it features things like kidnapping, attempted child murder, killing a dog, child abuse, etc. It's about a very plain looking girl who falls in love with an adorable yandere girl who dreams of kidnapping a cute boy and keeping him in her basement. There is A Lot going on in it but I love it. It starts out feeling pretty het but that's very much changed in recent updates.

Anyway I hope this helps! Love u anon happy yuri'ing!

[saintofdaggers]

Top 5 Saw characters and Top 5 horror films.

oh man. you're really making me choose lmao. let's see. (I apologize in advance for the wall o'text this reply is about to turn into)

top 5 Saw characters

5. Hoffman. yeah he's inconsistently written as hell and the way he was handled in Saw 3D makes me want to eat drywall, but I love an absolute irredeemable bastard of a villain and he's just fun except when he's not. also I told my two cousins about "epic bad luck" and "we're all the same color on the inside" and they both lost their shit laughing, which was beautiful to me. they truly gave my man some of the worst lines in the entire Saw canon and I kind of love that <3

4. Perez. no explanation needed I think but she's gorgeous, she's smart, she's a badass, she's the only one who sees through Hoffman, she needed so much more screentime!! and she was/is one of my favorite characters to write in fanfics.

3. Adam! my boy. I adore his sense of humor, his empathy, his strong emotions, his shady morality but kind heart despite the shitty circumstances he's having to live in. his fate makes my heart hurt. it's devastating and it's our first indication of what John's "philosophy" really amounts to. the way he haunts both Amanda and Lawrence is just. chef's kiss even if the latter was more just... implied than explored. he and Amanda need to be BFFs in Saw fics more often.

2. Strahm. he's such a dick and for what. I ADORE obsessive and messy and impulsive and flawed characters who fuck up repeatedly, and I love it when they're tragic because they fully doomed themselves with their choices, but their choices were inevitable because of who they are as a person. I also love both the water cube scene and the ending of Saw V, they're such fun traps and such iconic scenes. and I may or may not have noticed his eyelashes a few times. sue me.

and 1. AMANDA. she's the beating heart of this whole franchise and I will die on that hill. she's such an incredibly complex and tragic and beautifully written character and I will throw hands with anyone who insults her. and she is THE horror lesbian to me. love the toxic yuri with Lynn, and her vulnerability and messy emotions and empathy for the trap victims, and the way she struggles with the weight of her own actions. she's such an icon. if I ever write Saw fic again (unlikely at this point but hey! no telling the future!) it will be either about her or about Perez.

top 5 horror films, and I'll try not to ramble this time:

Saw <3

The Descent

Scream

Blade

Hellraiser

[jadedharleys]

dave strider for the character ask thing?

favorite thing about them

his speech patterns enchant me

least favorite thing about them

that andrew hussie wrote him. yknow what i mean. hes so great at character writing but sometimes...

favorite line

oh god how can i choose ONE good dave line. the entire apple juice conversation at the very beginning is absolutely iconic. also the jupiter bit is quite funny. the whole conversation with dirk where he actually talks abt his traumatic childhood

^ this is so fucking stupid but it makes me cackle every time

^ does this even need a caption

^ one of the funniest scenes in the entire comic if im being real

i could go on for forever but i must stop here

brOTP

i do love pepsicola but also. imagine. john and dave as besties who maybe get a bittttt gay sometimes but like shhhh. they chill.

OTP

davekat rules i love yaoi but . i gotta go davejade here . childhood friends to lovers AND . the one pixel smile . like theyre so sweet but tragic and sometimes messed up but still soft and . theyre like straight yuri to me.

nOTP

hisses through teeth. why must large fandoms and sibling characters mix in such ways. i will stop there.

random headcanon

albino mixed asian guy (dirk has white boy surfer ecto dna and roxy would be of some kinda asian descent if she wasnt a paradox clone but i cant fuckin make up my mind for more specific than that help) + wears sunglasses bc light sensitivity. scars easily and has a ton from training w bro. thats like 5 headcanons in one whoops

unpopular opinion

shouldve been more texan. "thats just about the saddest thing i ever heard get said" please more of this. let me have my southern brethren.

song i associate with them

modern man by arcade fire and eight by sleeping at last

favorite picture of them

so silly

[mins-fins]

some of isa's favorite kpop bsides ! not in any specific order (¬_¬)

y si fuera ella ( shinee ) - one of the best covers of this song wbk!! and okay maybe its not originally a kpop song but god does it slap!! have cried to this song sm times you may as well make it a drinking game 😊👍 (guess how many times isa has cried to y si fuera ella shinee cover ver) (don't) (you'll get alcohol poisoning)

cool with you ( newjeans ) - every song on this album is a 10/10 tbh (ESPECIALLY GET UP LIKE COME ON) but im going to be honest this song just makes me very smiley 😊 everything abt it makes me feel insanely joyous i LOVE newjeans my bffs 🙏

i'll make you cry ( aespa ) - I'LL MAKE YOU CRYYYYYYYY, queens!!! making people sob and sounding good doing it 🙏 every time winter sang i started glitching in real time not fake 🙁 imyc better than lucid dream real!!!

round and around ( jo yuri ) - she knew this song wouldve lead to my death thats why she only made it one minute 😢 oh im so DIZZYYYYY 😖 would sell half of my right leg for a full round and around pls yuri ik its hiding somewhere in the studio 😞

love o'clock ( wjsn ) - ITS SO FUN!! ITS JUST SO FUN!! only ot13 wjsn song in my playlist shameful 🙁 but anyways my girl yeonjung did what she had to do and thank god she did!! they just all sound so joyful i love when women are happy 😠!!!

make me go ( twice ) - love me love me now love me love me good.. AHSGSHSSHA 🙁 the whole more&more album is SOO UNDERRATED YET SO GOOD GIVE IT MORE LOVE?!-&1?-?-?? mina's voice throughout the whole song 🤭 my wife did so well……

oxygen ( twice ) - ANOTHER MORE&MORE SONG YES!!!!! i really really really really want 😢… this song put me through the whole of 2021 easily my most depressed year and i just heard that lalalalalalala at the beginning and i was 😊

sweet talking baby ( girls generation ) - YES YES GIRLS GENERATION!!! literally one of the best songs on the album (boys & girls comes as a close second 😒) one of their most underrated songs fr more sweet talking baby appreciation dyk how much this song has got me through 😡!?-?-&—???? (lying)

salty ( the boyz ) - truly couldnt make a list without this song 🙏 there's a reason no person in the deobi fandom hates this song, it's literally so yummy like i need to CONSUME this song

will i ever see you again? ( red velvet ) - this one is kinda funny bc i didnt really like it when i first listened to it……. BUT I LITERALLY CANNOT HATE ANY RV RELEASES LIKE COME ON?? IT WAS BOUND TO HAPPEN 🙁 isa #1 will i ever see you again fan real

melting point ( zerobaseone ) - TOUCH TOUCH 심장이 BLUSH BLUSH 두 볼이 RUSH RUSH LIKE DO YOU HEAR THOSE BARS 🫨???? zb1 actually made this song for me guys gunwook and taerae were thinking of me in the studio when they were both FUCKING IT UP IN THERE!!! cutest song ever hello i listen to it almost everyday and im not ashamed 🫢

[a-tale-never-told]

So how did you enjoy the prologue? Any favorite characters or least favorite yet?

//Well, there is a lot to cover with this, so I guess I'll share what I like and what I thought could have been done better. Spoilers ahead for those who did not see the game//

//So one of the things I did like in the prologue is the characters and how they interact. Well, almost all of them since the entirety of them is supposed to be a new cast of characters that we have never seen and heard before, and I have to admit and give credit where it's due, the cast is almost near great for me, with a few exceptions//

//I think my favorite character so far has to be either Yoruko or Hibiki because those two are the ones I can relate to the most honestly. Yoruko is your resident tsundere, except she's more than that, and also the most realistic person here, especially during the beach scene. I honestly find her pretty compelling as a character so far and her crush on Sora is honestly pretty heartwarming to see//

// Hibiki is actually a better Hiyoko in my opinion. Yeah, I just said that. I get that she's supposed to be the "mean girl" of this game, but honestly, she's surprisingly tame compared to people like Hiyoko or Celeste. I know that people are not the biggest of fans about how she treats Kanade, but it never really bothered me or annoyed me because most of the time, she isn't really saying anything truly harsh, except for one time when she went overboard, and that Kanade is such a bland and boring character that I couldn't care less//

//Also, I have heard and said much worse than Hibiki, so. I can definitely see why Mod Bubbles likes her a whole lot, and I'm super happy she got the character development she should have gotten in the game. Runner-ups are Setsuka, Shinji, Iroha, Sora, and Hajime for me, mostly because they are the most chill people there for the most part//

//The island setting is also neat, and considering that this is on both the island and the cruise, I would find myself enjoying this. Monocrow is an okay host. Obviously, he's inferior to the quirky, sadistic Monokuma. But I do like how Monocrow at least has some standards for the most part, like how he criticized Syobai for stabbing Sora//

//But sadly, when there are the joyful things in life, there are, of course, the cursed things that are meant to suffer and this prologue has a few of them. So let's talk about them.

//First is Yuki's voice acting. I'm dearly sorry to whoever voiced him, but what is that voice coming from that character's mouth?! You have a high school-aged teen, why does he sound like a 12-year-old boy?! I know that this is rather nitpicky, but I will argue that Yuki is supposed to be the same age as these guys, perhaps even older considering the events of the last game. So why does he sound like that? It makes no sense! Other than Yuki's, the voice acting is pretty damm great for this game, and props to those that gave it their best effort//

//Second is Yuri, good lord Yuri. Where do I even start with this piece of perverted shit? Y'all thought that Teruteru was awful? Oh, he doesn't got anything when compared to Mr. Cosmonaut over there. I'm not kidding when I say that half of his dialogue and the entirety of his character is mostly him simping over women like a Mineta-esque clone of him, and shitting on Yuki and the dudes for.... being dudes. What the hell is this?//

// I believe Linjulij (Linjulij? I don't know how you spell his name correctly) lost a bet with some Russian men in Saint Petersburg and got so enraged about losing 200 bucks to these pricks, and decide to write and make Yuri into this perverted, man-hating asshole just to spite them. At least that's my theory, I have zero idea of what Yuri's character was supposed to be. He's so bad that he might be one of my most hated characters in this franchise, to the point that when he opened his mouth, I told him to shut the fuck up every. single. time. That's how bad he is to me//

// I think we all need to stop classifying Teruteru as the resident pervert in this franchise because there are characters that are significantly far worse than him. And people still think he's the main pervert? What? What the hell are you smoking, guys?//

//But the worst aspect to me of this prologue, was the early reveal of Mikado as the Mastermind so early on. I don't about you guys, but I am personally not a fan of this kind of writing when they reveal things far too early in the overall plot or story. We just got into the prolouge and already, we know he's the mastermind. Why don't they just kill him already when he's there? It would have been so much easier for Mikado as a character if the reveal that he was the mastermind came during or at the end of the first trial. That way, it's revealed semi-normal and feels natural. Have Mikado try to gain the trust of the students a bit by acting as their protector and savior, manipulating them untill he's revealed in the first trial. That way, the fear of being with the mastermind feel more deep as they thought this guy was going to protect them, only for him to be the person behind the whole operation//

//Don't get me wrong, this sort of twist is unique and can work, it's just that the overall execution of it was just bad and not really satisfying to me at all. It could've been handled far better than it had originally played out. It was unnecessary to reveal it like that, and it was completely unnecessary to have Rei and Teruya here just to show up and warn them, and then get their ass kicked by Mikado. That's it. What was even the fucking point of them being there aside from warning them and then just disappearing?! God, this frustrates me looking back//

//Other than that, I will say that the concept itself is at least unique and far different from any Fanganronpa I've seen or heard of before. And the decision of Mikado being a contestant is again, while flawed, a pretty great twist in all honesty. It just sucks of how the execution of it could've have been handled better than it did. That's just my thoughts though//

//Overall, despite those massive fuck ups, I did really like the prologue and it serves as a decent opening to the game in general. I was originally going to bring up Syobai and his character in this, but he's a topic for another time. The verdict? Not a bad start for this game. Let's just pray to god that the rest of the game is better going forward.//

[kafus]

For the ask game: Hatsune Miku

oh boy we starting with the queen herself huh

favorite song: THERE ARE SO MANY POSSIBLE SONGS. DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY MIKU SONGS THERE ARE?? AAAAAAAA (SCREAMING) uuuuuh. i think this is genuinely impossible to answer. so take this song that was my favorite for years even though i wouldn't consider it my favorite song of all time anymore (epilepsy warning on the video!)

ships: i've been a mikurin shipper since i was 11 years old and they're my ride or die. the Original yuri, the thing that made me realize i was gay in middle school, this is not a joke btw this was actually the thing that made me realize lmao. that being said i think i have very different feelings on them as a ship than you would see from most people talking about it just because of the time period i got into it. back when i shipped mikurin initially it was a really unpopular ship and like 99% of the content available for it (except for like. oster project's work shoutout to her) was tragic and fucked up. seeing mikurin be used as like the cutesy easy vocaloid ship now is weird for me. ANYWAYS I'M RAMBLING. besides mikurin i will ship miku with almost anyone, she's like the ultimate versatile vocaloid. always girls though sorry miku is a lesbian to me

favorite part of design: this is probably incredibly obvious and the most expected take of all time but her hair. literally how could you not. there's a reason every anime girl with massive pigtails reads like a miku clone it's iconic. doesn't need to be said

random headcanon: oh god which one i have multiple vocaloid universes with miku. she's multidimensional. UHHH. well i will say one of my AU mikus has a cat named captain fluffles hope this helps

[queen-beefcake-sqx]

Ask game, feel free to comment for both fandoms please or skip for one.

2,6,7,9 16, 17, 21, 22,

I'm going to like.... jump around to whatever fandom I feel like for each question.

2. a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

Okay so I did this for Disco Elysium so -- He Xuan would never bottom. My compelling argument is he told me personally. Next question.

6. which ship fans are the most annoying?

I'm sorry but all ya'll Qi Rong fans who keep trying to find him a boyfriend... I support you, but maybe go stand over there? please????

7. what character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

Again, did this one for Disco Elysium, so again tying into the above answer... Qi Rong is a character I'd like to be able to spend more braincells thinking about, because I think there COULD be some interesting meta I could make about him, but the fandom seems to have a very predetermined way of thinking about him and writing him that makes it so hard for me to want to engage.

9. worst part of canon

I feel like I can't speak on DE just because I haven't finished or explored it as thoroughly as I'd like to yet. For MXTX books... God I'll be so honest it was silly and fun the first time, but I cringe rereading the whole Statue Mecha scene near the end of TGCF. It's so ridiculous and outlandish that it breaks emersion for me a bit.

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Okay, I'll be SO HONEST -- as someone who's come to better accept his trans masc-ness because of Kim Kitsuragi -- I'm kind of shocked at the sheer amount of trans!Kim fics. And I guess there's a part of me squinting at it going, "Isn't there something a little weird about ascribing transmasculinity to a character who -- in the real world -- is part of a race that's often feminized (the "pretty Asian boy" stereotype) and is visually the most slender and short of the male characters? Like? That feels a little weird to me, ya'll..."

(Like, not saying stop, I get it, and the fanfics handle it really well on the whole, but also like... I think it's worth asking ourselves (1) WHY Kim gets this treatment over Harry or another character and (2) WHAT kinds of queerness we're ascribing onto characters. Especially in light of stuff like me seeing KimHarry on a yuri poll.... like. come on ya'll. A tiny bit of critical thinking) (and again. not saying "don't write queer characters" but maybe like... consider diversifying your options).

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

Tip Top Racer Kim. Why the fuck are none of you writing Tip Top Racer Kim Kitsuragi AUs. Why. Where's the art. Where's Kim in tight fitting racing uniform huh??? (which. uh. if anyone has a good artist you'd recommend for a commission....) (I am LEGALLY obligated to drop my favorite DE fic now just so you all can see THE POTENTIAL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/40802268) Also not enough Jean crossdressing fics, send tweet. That blonde wig is all I think about and there's so much unresolved in that choice....

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

In Disco Elysium, who the FUCK are these student communist dudes everyone is talking about because I LITERALLY haven't seen them.

Also for TGCF, the underwater kiss scene. The actual kiss is honestly secondary to me to EVERYTHING ELSE happening in that moment because people seem to forget how INSANE the circumstances are.

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores Oh for my MXTX fandoms that's easy -- I am easily the second most Beefleaf brain rot person you'll ever meet and the Black Water Arc of TGCF is everything to me. Everyone always talks about the climax and the beheading and sure that's cool but the BUILD UP? The visit to Fu Gu and watching the performance of He Xuan's massacre? The Truth or Dare game in the temple? The foreshadowing with the Water and Wind master statues? The visit to Shi Qingxuan's terrace and the poetry written there? BREAKING SQX OUT OF HER PALACE BECAUSE SWD IMPRISONED HER? AND THEN SQX WALKING AWAY FROM YUSHI HUANG'S FARM AFTER "MING YI" TRIES TO GET HER TO STAY BEHIND? None of you talk enough about the LENGTHS He Xuan went to to try to avoid getting SQX involved in SWD's death and it makes me ABSOLUTELY INSANE ON A DAILY BASIS!!! I am chewing on glass about this!!!!

[childofaura]

How about Todd Habberkorn? (I hope I wrote his surname correctly XD) And Happy New Year!

It's just one B, but it's such a unique last name and I'm absolutely sure I've misspelled it a few times too XD But also Happy New Year to you too!

So Todd Haberkorn plays M!Morgan, Joshua, and Siegbert. He's also famously known for playing Ling in FMA:B and Natsu from FairyTail and Death the Kid (lots of well known roles), and other roles that are my favorite of his are Sho Minazuki from Persona Ultimax, and one of the twins from Ouran High School whose name escapes me right now.

Ok, performance-wise, I'm gonna get this out of the way. When Todd was first brought into FEH to play M!Morgan and Joshua... it was bad. BUT I DON'T BLAME HIM BECAUSE WHOEVER WAS DOING THE VOICE DIRECTING AT THE TIME WAS FUCKING IT UP FOR A LOT OF ACTORS. Like I mentioned before, Bryce Papenbrook, Antony Del Rio, and Greg Chun (yes I know I said Greg Chun has issues with his own acting, but in part I DO blame a good chunk of it on whoever was voice directing him, too) all are actors who actually have a history of being great fucking actors. But his M!Morgan and Joshua were so flat, especially M!Morgan, my baby boy! And I'm not saying any of this to be mean, I LOVE Todd Haberkorn! I met him at a con in 2018 and I got his signature, which is still hanging up in my room (Along with Johnny Yong Bosch's signature). But damn if he wasn't screwed over by the voice director when he first came to FEH. However, it DID get better when he became the new voice for Siegbert. Even though I mentioned before that I'm more partial to David Stanbra's Siegbert (and we already went into a spiel about Stanbra on Xander Mobus's critique so I'm not doing that again, lol), Todd was a great pick as a replacement and his voice started emoting more, giving Siegbert that mild and slightly insecure tone. And finally, FINALLY, when we got the fallen Morgans and summer Joshua, we got to hear great performances for those characters! Oh and don't even get me STARTED on Ascended Joshua, that performance makes me blush. So overall, his performance is great, he just got screwed over in the beginning with that awful voice direction. Wait until we get Metody, then we'll REALLY get a great performance from him.

I think he fits all his characters perfectly, Todd has a very distinct voice that works in his favor for playing younger characters, just like Yuri Lowenthal.

Now range... again, I HATE to be so mean to Todd, but just because I love him doesn't mean I should be biased or overlook honest critique. Todd's range IS very limited, due to his distinct voice. Even though it's a perfect voice for voice-acting and his emotional performance is fantastic, his voice isn't exactly a great voice for range. Does he make up for it with inflection and emotion? Hell yeah, and that's what sets him apart from other VAs who might struggle with range. Although, even though I'm not super familiar with it, I heard he played some older character in Drakengard 3 (hope I spelled that right myself) which surprised the heck out of me when I looked it up.

All in all, Todd is a good comfortable 8/10. I adore his work and I hate that he got screwed over by the bad voice directing when I KNOW his voice acting is top-quality.

[miriamundertale]

Skate-Leading Stars, The Bane of my Fucking Existence

I've partially wanted to talk about this anime for a while, but after Confirmation that it's real and I haven't been fucking hallucinating it, I think now is likely a better time than ever to uh, Discuss this weird ass show. Skate-Leading Stars was first revealed to me while working on a separate whole project (My attempt to watch every anime where Hiroshi Kamiya voices a main character) and saw it as the main currently airing show that he was voicing a character in. Unfortunately for me, the thought that formed was "oh sweet, this is a currently airing one I could watch this as it airs," not realizing the two fucking year long brainworm I was about to nourish. As a precursor, I need to make clear I'm going to be jumping around in focus a lot. moreover, this is NOT a review, i just want to vent about something that's been taking over my mind. there is a LOT of weird shit going on with this anime that I'd like to at least cover so if I leave something hanging for a bit, I will get back to it at some point.

Spoilers for Skate-Leading Stars, Your Lie In April

What the fuck is Skate-Leading?

Have you ever watched like, a sport, a game, or some other activity (Including Single player ones!) and just wanted to add people to it for no fucking reason? like, "What if chess was 5 people on each side per board deliberating every action while really hoping nobody else listens in" tier shit. That's the main premise of Skate-Leading. It's a sport where 5 anime boys do figure skating all at once in a formation together. The obvious concerns about safety are not even mentioned and the idea of "how do you even judge this on a regional level well without a LOT of judges" is settled by having the numbers be put up as a box that they say is an AI judging it. a core plot point is the One Interesting Character figuring out how the AI works in his gamer cave and gaming it.

Your first bit of confusion you may encounter with that premise is of course "isn't there already pair skating as an actual real sport one could use for the drama of multi-person skating?" or maybe "doesnt this mean this just a more fucked up yuri on ice?" which to me are both great questions, with only the first easily answered with a Yes. Yuri on ice is the obvious comparison for what SLS is attempting to draw from here, given you have seen literally anything about yuri on ice and the timing of the two shows, but you need to understand that the figure skating is a bait. the yaoi is the point but is bait in regards for understanding this plot. they're not trying to do Yuri on ice. They're trying to do Your Lie In April.

Let's Talk about the OP (Updated info in final paragraph)

For some fucking reason that I originally credited to COVID delays, half the fucking OP is black screens.

I don't think anything of it is especially standout aside from that, while SLS has many weaknesses the OP isnt one of them. Unfortunately it's not anything to write home about either, so I don't want anyone else to feel like we're truly missing out when I reveal the fact that as far as I can tell the OP was censored for the western release. I'm operating on my own anecdotal evidence and what is one of my two current white whales (the other that isn't about to be mentioned is the Japanese dub of Batman Vs Superman) so if my theorizing here is completely incorrect than that's Fine. Thats Fine. About a month into watching the show while it was airing, the half black OP started to get to me. I wanted to see more, try and get to the bottom of it, and eventually managed to find the full uncensored version uploaded which remained up for about two weeks before disappearing. I know that the version we can find online is fucking censored. I have no idea why. once again, so little people I know have any knowledge about this show aside from me, let alone have talked about it. I cannot find anything online talking about the OP aside from light mentions in the comments of the Crunchyroll upload sandwiched between Jesus Bots.

While spending a pathetic amount of time delaying this, I actually in fact have been sent proof of the uncensored OP existing. from anything I could tell or from what the friend who sent this from me could tell, the entire reason is something involving covid delays (Confirming my original suspicion, at least!) making them rush out the international version before the broadcast version, thought the delay wasn't that huge? its still definitely a mystery to me that haunts me a little but at least I know it Exists.

Since I've spent enough time talking about not the plot I think its a good time to address the whole Your Lie In April thing

What the Fuck do you Mean Its Trying to do Your lie In April??

Your lie in April, if you haven't seen it, is a story about dealing with grief, parental abuse and falling in love again with your passions even after loss. it's a very rough anime to sit through emotionally, and while its very much a show i have mixed feelings about personally, it's still a very well written example of its genre. Skate-Leading Stars spends has the main character parallel Kousei Arima's (The Main character of Your Lie in April) very basic arc of a teenager getting back into the area he used to be a prodigy in as a child, any forms of subtly or trauma have been entirely replaced with as many meatheaded brash qualities as they can in order to fit the true BL purpose of the story. Instead of having the love interest heavily foreshadowed to die being someone who views said passion in an entirely different light than him as a way to work through trauma and difficulty handling the act of playing piano again, the love interest is a mysterious boy who's using him to try and get back at his brother. Skate-Leading Stars, unabashedly, apes the format and ideas of Your Lie in April, barely understanding anything else going on, and uses it for a bl anime about a sport that is at best impossible to judge and realistically physically dangerous to exist.

Ok now what?

I don't think its necessary to do a plot summary of SLS, partially because I don't want to, but mostly because who fucking cares. I love bad shows, and while the start of the show is undeniably strong in its garbage it goes nowhere with anything. It spends a large amount of its time as a story setting up beats that never pay off, having loud yaoi boys yelling constantly, or underusing Hiroshi Kamiya. There IS a manga I could read for the rest of the story that's likely been playing out, but since only the first chapter is translated I don't see any reason to examine it too closely. If you want to watch gay ice skating anime, Yuri on ice is talked about for a reason. if you want to watch bad anime with Hiroshi Kamiya Ultimate Otaku Teacher exists. If you have read the manga please tell me if Sasugai actually has some sort of fatal disease or they're just aping the framing from Your Lie in April without meaning again.

[skyllion-uwu]

for the OC ask game: professor chronos!

Oh boy, one of the OCs I'm most autistic about right now!

Full Name: She's had a few names. Project Chimera. Adam. Eve. Professor Chronos. Jenny.

Gender and Sexuality: Trans (no direction just trans) and ???? All I know is thon is my only alloromantic and allosexual OC. Julesromantic and Julessexual I dunno

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers, Thon/Thon/Thons

Ethnicity/Species: A many animal hybrid (originally human, snake, and mountain goat)

Birthplace and Birthdate: A top secret government sponsored lab. Unknown.

Guilty Pleasures: Romcoms, comics

Phobias: Being left behind/abandoned, having no true free will

What They Would Be Famous For: Designed for being a new type of super soldier, killing an entire facility of scientists and government soldiers singlehandedly

What They Would Get Arrested For: Murdering almost everyone in the facility, unethical scientific experimentation, probably war crimes if she ever went into the field

OC You Ship Them With: Jules (bitter exes that try to kill each other sometimes and also kiss each other sometimes)

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: Jules

Favorite Movie/Book Genre: Horror

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche (I'm assuming this is supposed to also be genre): Documentary

Talents and/or Powers: Enhanced strength, extreme stamina, amazing eyesight, vibration detection, good leaping ability, has venom, retractable claws... Goddamn thon's the whole package!

Why Someone Might Love Them: I made her based on fucked up toxic obsessive yuri, thon's often associated with blood and cannibalism, I think she'd do numbers on Tumblr

Why Someone Might Hate Them: Girl adjacent, very possessive, could be seen as trying too hard to be something appealing for Tumblr

How They Change: So in the story itself, not really. This is partially because it's a time travel and timeloop story and thon hasn't really accepted that things are over and can't be changed and also because she doesn't want to change. Before the story though thon was less aggressive with her possessiveness towards Jules, but upon finding out ey were forced to date thon, she took matters into thon's own hands and a. Killed everyone involved and b. Became way to narrow minded on how to "properly" win em over

Why You Love Them: I created her based on this stupid comic character I love/hate named Hugo Strange but also made thon a monster adjacent creature (need to make her more monsterous tbh) and I love using cannibalism for a metaphor of all consuming love. She's a VERY self indulgent OC

Ask Game