#ok not really spoilers per se just vagueness

[zefirart]

so I WANT to like Bunet, but I'm struggling a bit. Would you like to rant about your boy here? <3

Hello, thank you for sending the ask! And don't worry, i got you >:) I'll gladly rant like a possessed soul about this man.

By general stuff i'd say the things that i like when it comes to him are:

Visuals since i think he's very handsome (to not say hot) and i'm a little gay

His voice! Both in english and japanese, they're pleasing to my ears

How he has like a worrying amount of game (His pact bond support + pact bond wake up events... sheesh)

How passionate he is about cooking even if he can be a "little" off the shits when it comes to wanting to taste try things. And while get why some people are put off by it i find his genuine passion for this craft and wish to improve and learn more and more to be eye catching to me. I think i happen to find that just to be purely relatable as someone who is VERY passionate about what i enjoy.

Even if he comes off as weird because of a part of his shtick, he's genuinely a sweet man! and you know, i like that sort of stuff.

But now, since i told my friends i would go IN DEPTH when ranting about him take this as a bit of me going over his supports + wake up events (no bond supports because i don't have easy access to those for him and i'm lazy to look it up on youtube but i'll do vague mentions of some i read) and talking a bit about how i see him as a character, an “analysis” (more like gushing like crazy) of sorts if you will! It will all be under the cut as to not clog people's dashboards. 

There will be spoilers for a character that you can recruit in chapter 21 so PLEASE be aware if it’s something u don’t want to know!

Ok so for background we have his ally notebook "After bandits razed his parents’ bistro, he competed to become a royal chef. Bunet didn’t win, but Fogado made him a retainer."

We know that he wants to reestablish the bistro and is making dishes whenever he can for it as said in his C support with Merrin:

Bunet: I want you to be the first to experience my newest recipe. Merrin: Oh. Is this for a cookbook? Bunet: For a restaurant, actually. I want to reestablish my parents' bistro after the war is over. Bunet: I have been crafting new dishes for the menu in my spare time.

Considering how important cooking it's really sweet to see how the passion even translates to his desire to rebuild the establishment his parents ran and hell that's also an important place for him because of his bond with Fogado.

Bunet: We have a long history─sharing meals together in my parents' bistro almost every day. Bunet: More than the meals, it was the hours we spent talking─well after patrons left─that I cherished.

(C support with Fogado)

From how fondly he talks of the time spent together with him in there, it shows that it's a place that he holds dear despite the painful end it had as Bunet straight up said to Fogado that the image of the destroyed bistro was burned in his mind:

Fogado: Yeah. When I heard about the bandit raid on your town, I was devastated. Fogado: There was basically nothing left. Your parents' cozy bistro...a pile of ashes. Bunet: That image is burned in my memory.

(A support with Fogado)

While related to the bistro but not necessarily important to this per se, i think his bond convo with Tiki is adorable:

Bunet: My parents ran a bistro, until it was attacked and razed by bandits. Bunet: Forgive me, Tiki... I do not mean to burden you with my feelings. You are just so easy to talk to. Tiki: That's all right. I appreciate you sharing that with me. Tiki: Chin up, Bunet. I know you'll make your parents proud. I have faith in you!

(A bond conversation with Tiki)

Considering Bunet is someone who takes failure VERY seriously even if what he did was liked per se, the fact Tiki encourages him this way is simply sweet to see. But on topic of him taking failure to heart, let me talk about some of those instances in which it shows!

Bunet: I entered that contest to become the royal court's chef, and…I lost. Bunet: It was the greatest shame of my life. Bunet: Yet you found it in your heart to overlook my failure and hire me as your personal chef. Bunet: I could never pay you back for that kindness.

(B support with Fogado)

Fogado: And then when I heard about the cooking tournament, I knew you'd enter. Fogado: There was no way you'd miss a chance to show off to the whole queendom. Fogado: If you think about it, your culinary skills are the reason we were reunited. Bunet: I did lose the contest, however. Fogado: Heh heh─this again! Bunet, it's not a big deal. You were out of practice. Fogado: If there was another contest today, you'd win hands down. Bunet: Oh, Fogado… Thank you.

(A support with Fogado)

Bunet: A chef's sacred duty is to make the right food for the occasion...and I failed. Bunet: I made something far worse than a bad dish. I made...the wrong dish. Pandreo: Bunet, it's not like that. Bunet: I am your friend and I let you down. A mere apology will not suffice. Please, strike me.

(B support with Pandreo)

As you can see from how he still feels about his loss at the contest you can see how TRULY passionate he is when it comes to cooking. Even when Fogado says his culinary skills are what brought them together he still points out his failure and only lets it go when Fogado says that he'd win if there was another contest (which shows how fucking sweet their friendship is)

NOW, besides how passionate he is, he's also a perfectionist, not only it shows with the fact how long he held onto losing a contest, but by how BAD he takes failure to the point of maybe being a little too dramatic even if ultimately what he did was great but simply not fitting for a party.

But while cooking is not the first thing you'd think as an art i can see the love and effort he puts into it the same way an artist would to their work and as someone who feels horrible sometimes about how something i made is not "good enough" even if it's just to my own standards i understand him taking it bad (hell even i sometimes take failure, even if it's not necessarily for art in a very dramatic way. I unfortunately can't make fun of him on that)

That said, i like that he has a garden for his own ingredients. It's not the most deep thing on earth but you know, it shows how he has more skills outside of cooking and taste testing!

Mauvier: Oh, is this your garden? Bunet: Mauvier, what are you doing here? Mauvier: Keeping guard. What manner of vegetables are you growing? Bunet: I plant a variety this time of year, though most won't grow until later. Bunet: Nothing is better than homegrown produce. Cook it just a bit and you have a masterpiece.

(C support with Mauvier)

Outside of just planting his own vegetables for cooking, gardening is overall just a hobby of his growing flowers too in his garden. The fact he likes flowers is very cute to me.

Mauvier: You are also raising flowers. Are they for cooking as well? Bunet: Oh, no. These flowers are just for looking at. And smelling.

(C support with Mauvier)

Jean: Wow, that's pretty swollen. This is definitely some sort of insect sting. Bunet: Well, I tend plants on the side. Probably got stung while I was in the garden.

(C support with Jean)

 "You should know, I'm growing these flowers as a hobby."

(Pact bond wake up event 2, he mentions growing flowers too even if you wake up soon!)

Bunet: I dislike parties. Too noisy, I find. Like a dish with many strong flavors all at once. Pandreo: Ah, too bad. I guess that's the price you pay for those acute senses of yours.

(C support with Pandreo)

Dislikes: strong odors, sunburns, training, loud places, bright places, heavily flavored food

(Ally notebook at rank C)

It’s not something that is a MUST know but i think the fact he dislikes parties and overall noisy places is very relatable (to me at least) so i wanted to just put that out! Strong odors, bright places, heavily flavored food, considering Pandreo does say he has acute senses it makes sense.

But let's throw away how cute he is with flowers and his #relatable moments for a sec and talk a bit about him personality wise! He's eccentric as hell and people tend to misunderstand him (as he says in his A support with Merrin and shows in supports like his C with Alfred)

Merrin: I'm sorry, Bunet. I had no idea you wanted to be friends. Merrin: Looks like I was all wrong about you. Bunet: There's no need to apologize. I am quite used to being misunderstood. Bunet: As a lifelong eccentric, it is something of a chronic condition for me.

Bunet: Prince Alfred. Might I ask you for a quick lick? Alfred: Run that by me again, Bunet… Bunet: Forgive me, sir. I can explain more clearly. Bunet: Those flowers you're wearing. I should quite like to acquaint one of them with my taste buds.

And while yes, the quick lick thing is odd as fuck and i get why people are put off by it he does show moments in which he realizes (be it by himself or someone being like "buddy, no") that he stepped out of line.

Alfred: You wanna taste a flower? Bunet: Hm, I seem to have crossed a line. Please disregard my request. Alfred: Hahaha! You're a riot, Bunet! Alfred: It's no big deal. I'll see if I can get you a flower like these.

(His C support with Alfred)

In this case Alfred is at first very "what" about his question until he explains and THEN after he explains himself, Alfred just out of curiosity asks that and Bunet just takes it as "oh i messed up" and recoils until he's met with Alfred being. Alfred.

This conversation is followed by another "quick lick" joke when Alfred says he's beefy and he's like "would you like a quick lick yourself?" and obviously Alfred just says no, that he's paying him a compliment. That said Bunet doesn't push at all that after his explanation and is just up to help him out with building form via changing his diet when Alfred expresses his wish to get bulkier.

Bunet: Divine One. I owe you an apology for my rudeness the other day. Alear: We talked through it. And I got my clothing washed─all fine.

Bunet: Divine One, I'm sorry that I made you uncomfortable. Alear: It's OK. I still support you, even if I had to draw the line.

(His A support with Alear)

Now, we know that Alear is someone who's very willing to draw a line or just be honest when necessary and it shows in the B support when Bunet stepped out of line—even if the intention wasn't a gross one—and Alear was obviously not comfortable with it and simply cut him off on it. The fact he apologizes for his behavior in the prior support shows that even if at first it doesn't click in his brain, he's capable of understanding when he's wrong and obviously apologizing for it.

That said for some fucking reason his b and a supports with Jade keeps on coming back to him wanting to quick lick the armor for some damn reason even if they get somehow end up getting somewhat well enough by the end of it????? That was... a support line yeah. And the way his A support with Pandreo just end up dropping the shtick out of nowhere and i think the problem i find with those is purely the fact that they try being “hee hee comedic” but they have the comedic timing of a cardboard (none)

That aside!!! I'd like to talk about bits in which he's shown to be a good man, because as i said before he is!

Bunet: I didn't come for firewood today. Bunet: Here. I made you a salmon stew. I hope it's like what you remember. Anna: Oh, wow! Can I eat it now?! Bunet: Yes, please do. While it's warm. Anna: Thanks a bunch! Anna: … Anna: Mmm! That warms me right to my bones. It tastes just like my family stew too. Bunet: I'm glad. It took some doing. Bunet: I had to research your hometown's cuisine and then seek out all the right spices. Bunet: I wasn't confident that I had nailed down the flavor… Anna: So that's why it tastes like home. Aww, you did all that for me? I'm really touched! Anna: I was getting so homesick that it was messing up my woodcutting. Anna: But that little taste of home cheered me right up again! I'm ready to split a hundred logs! Bunet: If you ever feel homesick, come talk to me. I can at least take your taste buds back there.

(His A support with Anna)

For context in the prior support he asks her how he got so good at wood chopping and the conversation makes anna feel homesick for the fish stew they had, he notices that and in the A support he brings her one like shown in the dialogue! As eccentric and he is he goes out of his way to help people out even if sometimes it's via cooking.

Bunet: The scent of fresh flowers has a way of easing the soul. Here, sniff. Mauvier: Huh… Mauvier: What a lovely fragrance. Mauvier: You are correct. It is quite calming. Bunet: You've been working too hard. Why not drop by here to relax now and then? Mauvier: That sounds…nice. Mauvier: Yes. I believe I will come by from time to time.

(His C support with Mauvier)

Mauvier: Your garden is quite lovely. I admit, I have found excuses to visit lately. Bunet: It really means that much to you? Bunet: I'll harvest some vegetables and cook up a nice ratatouille. The taste will move you, I promise. Mauvier: There's no need for you to go to such lengths. Mauvier: Simply taking time to pause here occasionally is more than enough for me. Bunet: Everyone needs a little downtime. And they can always use a good meal too. Mauvier: … Mauvier: I was one of the Four Hounds. Mauvier: So now I work to protect the weak, as an act of atonement for my past actions. Mauvier: People suffer daily. I fail them by allowing myself any pleasure, no matter how simple. Bunet: Don't think like that.

(His B support with Mauvier)

Bunet: Mauvier, I have some presents for you. Mauvier: Are these vegetables from your garden? Bunet: Yes. Appetizing, aren't they? They're for you. Mauvier: Bunet. I told you I do not want to treat myself. Not while others suffer. Bunet: That's too bad. I suppose these vegetables will just rot, then. Mauvier: … Bunet: Such a shame. I worked so hard to grow them. Mauvier: … Mauvier: Why do you pay so much attention to me? Bunet: Hm. I suppose you remind me of the plants from my garden. I want to help you grow. Bunet: That scrumptious, fragrant goodness inside has to be nurtured so it doesn't wither away. Mauvier: Heh… You are trying to make me feel better about my lot in life. Mauvier: Do you truly believe I can grow, and not just rot away? Bunet: Hm… I don't think I can answer that for you. You have to decide for yourself. Bunet: In the meantime, seriously, eat these vegetables. Mauvier: Yes. Of course. Bunet: You can grill them if you like, but they'll really shine if you let me cook them up for you. Mauvier: Thank you, Bunet. Mauvier: I shall continue looking for a way to grow so as to not rot away. For you.

(His A support with Mauvier)

I'm going to admit that this is one of my favorite support lines of Bunet's alongside the one with Fogado. Obviously Bunet knows Mauvier's background, yet he wants him to relax and take a break like anyone else as shown in both C and B support, telling him that he can drop by there and relax or that everyone needs downtime.

What catches my eye in the B support is how Mauvier talks about how he works to protect the weak as an attonement and ultimately is failing them by taking time for himself to relax. To which Bunet reacts with telling him to not think like that and ultimately it shows why he reacts that way because he sees Mauvier's goodness deep down and doesn't want it to wither away, which shows in him telling him to take time for himself too or even telling him he'll make him a dish.

"Do you truly believe i can grow, and not just rot away." "Hm... I don't think i can answer that for you. You have to decide for yourself." these two lines hit me specially because while he WANTS to help him grow, he's not the one to decide if Mauvier wants to do so, that's for him to choose. And Mauvier's last line? It shows that Bunet's kindness and desire for him to be a better version of himself hit him which i think it's very sweet and i maybe cried at this support

Jean: I can give you some herbs to reduce the swelling. Take care not to touch the wound. Bunet: I'm sure there's no need for that. Save your herbs for someone who could really use them. Jean: It doesn't work like that. Jean: We don't know what kind of insect stung you. If you leave it untreated, it might get serious. Bunet: I see... Forgive me. I suppose you would be more knowledgeable about such things. Jean: It's all right. Now you know. Just let me apply the dressing like so, and... Jean: All done. Nothing to worry about now. Just leave it be, even if it starts to itch. Bunet: Understood. I'll try not to touch it. Bunet: Please, take this. A small token of thanks. Jean: Wow... What's this pretty flower? Bunet: Some chamomile from my garden. It has a nice, soothing aroma, don't you think? Jean: Thank you. I appreciate it. Bunet: You ought to come visit my garden sometime. I think you'd like it there.

(C support with Jean)

Ok 1. The fact he’s willing to just let the stung be as is and have Jean treat someone else with the herbs because they might need it more... sir no. 2 Him apologizing because in the end Jean is the expert in medicine, not him. 3. Bunet giving him a flower as a little thank you gift???? Telling him that he should visit the garden because he think he’d like it there??? Idk why this man simply has sweets supports with children with small acts like these.

Jean: Remember the chamomile you gave me? I looked into it, and it has medicinal uses. Jean: It's a painkiller and can sometimes reduce inflammation. Do you maybe have more? Bunet: Interesting. Bunet: Well, there's not much of it, but what I do have, I will gladly give you. Jean: Thank you. Even a little will help. Bunet: It makes me happy to know that my little flowers will help people feel better. Bunet: Though, I must say...I'll be sorry to see them leave home after all my careful tending. Jean: Don't worry, Bunet. I won't let a single flower go to waste.

(B support with Jean)

The fact being able to help people feel better with his flowers and he’s happy about it is SO sweet and cute, also “I must say...I'll be sorry to see them leave home after all my careful tending” He kind of sounds like a dad seeing his kids go ngl.

Jean: You did me a big favor the other day. Jean: I put that flower you gave me to good use, and it helped in treating a lot of our people. Bunet: Good. I'm sure those little blooms of mine were happy to help. Jean: Here. This is something in return. Bunet: Hm... Flower seeds. Jean: You seemed to care a lot about the flower you gave me. Jean: So I thought it must have made you sad to see the space where it used to grow. Jean: This probably isn't much of a replacement, but...it's something to fill the space. Bunet: How thoughtful. I will make sure to give these seeds a loving, supportive home. Jean: It's the least I can do for the help you gave me. Jean: Well, I think that's all, so... Bunet: Jean, wait. Jean: Yes? Bunet: Are there any other flowers with medicinal uses that I could grow for you? Bunet: Sometimes I'm sad to see my beautiful flowers being plucked, but not when they help people. Bunet: I want to contribute however I can. Jean: That's really nice of you, Bunet. It means a lot that you're willing to pitch in. Jean: I'm going to do my part, too, of course. I won't leave it all to you. Bunet: Wonderful. I'm sure my flowers will appreciate having another caretaker around.

(A support with Jean)

First of all he still sounds like a dad talking about his children, but his children are flowers and it’s genuinely so cute to see how much he likes his flowers. Second, Jean giving him seeds because he thought Bunet would be sad about seeing that space empty?????? Him saying he’ll make sure to give those seeds a loving and supportive home?????’ This is so fucking sweet it makes me tender. And lastly! Him wanting to help out more because even if sometimes it makes him sad to see his flowers be plucked if it helps people then it doesn’t makes me insane, it shows his kindness really well!

Also this support line is not the only time in which he calls the flowers “my beautiful flowers” or just refers to them as something cute, it’s genuinely so sweet.

I’d like to derail the topic a little because while i have brought up his supports with Fogado i haven’t talked of their bond per se.

Bunet: Well, after all, I'm not just your retainer but also your personal chef. Bunet: It is my duty to know what you like and prepare your meals accordingly. Fogado: I know! I'm a lucky man. Fogado: But you forgot one thing. Bunet: What?! Does it need more lemon? Is the presentation not to your liking? Fogado: Oh, not the dish─the titles. Retainer, personal chef. You left one out. Fogado: Best friend. Bunet: Ah. Right you are, Fogado. Bunet: We have a long history─sharing meals together in my parents' bistro almost every day. Bunet: More than the meals, it was the hours we spent talking─well after patrons left─that I cherished. Fogado: Yes. I'll always remember those days. Unlike somebody, who forgot we were even friends... Bunet: I didn't forget. For friends and flavors alike, my memory is long and exacting. Bunet: It's just that now I see you as more of a savior than a friend. Fogado: Psh, a savior? Me? How come? Bunet: Heh... You don't understand. Of course.

(C support with Fogado)

Bunet: I could tell you were enjoying it because of that scrumptious smile on your face. Fogado: Oh, before I forget. We need to circle back and talk about what you said the other day. Bunet: What do you mean? Fogado: You know, the "savior" thing. I've been racking my brain, but I can't figure out what you meant. Bunet: Oh. That. Bunet: I entered that contest to become the royal court's chef, and...I lost. Bunet: It was the greatest shame of my life. Bunet: Yet you found it in your heart to overlook my failure and hire me as your personal chef. Bunet: I could never pay you back for that kindness. Fogado: Ah, I see. But, Bunet, I didn't really care about the contest itself. Fogado: I was just glad that you entered because it brought you back into my life. Bunet: What? Was that your plan all along? Fogado: Of course. It had been years since the last time we talked at your parents' bistro. Bunet: That's true... What a bitter separation that was.

(B support with Fogado)

Bunet: Indeed. Something you said has been eating at my mind. You...searched for me? Fogado: Yeah. When I heard about the bandit raid on your town, I was devastated. Fogado: There was basically nothing left. Your parents' cozy bistro...a pile of ashes. Bunet: That image is burned in my memory. Fogado: I felt so helpless. I had come as fast as I could, but...it was too late. Fogado: You'd fled along with everyone else. I had no idea where you might have gone. Bunet: I'm sorry... It all happened so suddenly, I didn't have a chance to tell you. Fogado: It wasn't your fault. At any rate...after you left, I never stopped looking for you. Fogado: I missed your delicious cooking, but more than that, I missed our conversations. Bunet: I missed them too. Fogado: And then when I heard about the cooking tournament, I knew you'd enter. Fogado: There was no way you'd miss a chance to show off to the whole queendom. Fogado: If you think about it, your culinary skills are the reason we were reunited. Bunet: I did lose the contest, however. Fogado: Heh heh─this again! Bunet, it's not a big deal. You were out of practice. Fogado: If there was another contest today, you'd win hands down. Bunet: Oh, Fogado... Thank you. Bunet: I'm grateful you kept looking for me. That is why we can enjoy delicious moments like this. Bunet: You truly are my savior. Fogado: "Savior" still feels a little...strong, but, eh, I'll take it. Fogado: And just so you know...I'm never letting you leave me like that again. Bunet: The feeling is entirely mutual. Bunet: I am your personal chef and retainer. Bunet: Most importantly, I am your best friend. And as such, I swear to be true. Fogado: I'm glad. Nothing is sweeter than your friendship, Bunet.

(A support with Fogado)

They’ve been best friends for years, spending hours and hour talking with each other and having meals at Bunet’s parents bistro, you can tell from that alone they’re extremely close. But the fact Fogado searched for him after they lost contact? Fogado making him his personal chef not out of kindness but because he simply wanted him back to his life??????? The fact Bunet thanks him for having kept looking for him???? 

Their bond, their friendship is so strong it’s endearing and shows a lot of how important they’re to each other! Bunet outside of being his chef and retainer seeing him as his “savior” because he’s so grateful for all he’s done that it’s just harder to see him as a friend, even if by the end of their A support he calls himself his best friend. God their friendship just makes me melt, it’s so genuine and makes me soooooooooo happy that they were able to reconnect after years of being apart. It’s what they deserve.

And NOW! Because i said this man has game, the instances in which he straight up shows it:

Bunet: The tomatoes and blueberries you see there, they were inspired by your beautiful eyes. Bunet: Enjoy. Alear: All right. Thank you. Alear: ... Alear: This is...incredible! It's better than anything I've ever tasted! Bunet: I am pleased to hear it. I was determined to make this dish something extraordinary for you. Bunet: When I cook with you in mind, the food tastes... transcendent. I would like to do so more often. Bunet: That is, I would like to cook with you in mind...forever...if it pleased you. Alear: Do you mean... Bunet: I mean, I would like to be your partner, Divine One. Bunet: If you found the food I made for you pleasing, that is. Bunet: But if it's inconvenient, I'll remember this dish fondly and return to my chef's duties. Alear: Oh... No. Alear: That doesn't sound good at all. Please, stay. I'd like you to make more incredible dishes for me. Alear: Actually, Bunet, even if you didn't cook me a single meal, I'd want you to stay. Alear: Here, this Pact Ring...it's for you. Bunet: Thank you! The ring is beautiful...just like you. Alear: All the cooking aside, there's so much we'll get to learn about each other. Bunet: I am looking forward to it, Alear. Bunet: This moment tastes of pure sweetness. But I will savor all the flavors we cook up together.

(S support with Alear)

Ok first of all, just like in his C support with Alear he compliments their eyes in the first support it comes off a little more awkward, mostly because Alear is unsure if he meant it as a compliment, while in this one it comes out more smoothly. Secondly the fact he cooks w alear in mind and would like to do so forever??? 

How Bunet just drops he’d like to be their partner but like, the fact he’s willing to just let it be if it’s inconvenient and he’ll just hold the dish (made thinking of alear) fondly???? I’d personally die if someone said that to me, i’m like that.

And more leaning to Alear on this one, the fact they want him around even if he didn’t cook a thing for them, how they’ll get to learn so much about each other??? the fact Bunet looks forward to it too??? They’re so cute what the fuck! Also him using his good ol’ food analogies to show how happy he is and how he’s excited for the future with Alear... cute. very. very. cute.

"Breakfast is ready. It is time to get up, don't you think, my dear partner? As I expected. Still asleep.  Well, I've prepared a sweet dish for you. It is sweet like our relationship is now and, I hope, always will be. Life is full of so many different flavors, and I've tried to taste as many as I could. But this time we share together, it tastes like nothing else I've ever encountered. Our recipe is unique and perfect, and it belongs to us and us alone. Now, eat up so you can win your battles. Tomorrow, and the day after that I want to watch you taste all life has to offer. And i want to be there to make sure it's delicious."

(S support wake up event 1)

BRINGING BREAKFAST TO BED?????? Peak romance methinks. His food analogies are there like always but how fondly he talks about their relationship and how unique their bond, their flavor is, it’s adorable 1. how in love he is and 2. how dear he holds it. Him wanting to be there to see Alear “taste all life has to offer” and make sure that it’s delicious (so basically, good, happy) makes me insane, it’s adorable!!!!!!!

"Haha, now be honest. Was it the word "breakfast" that stirred you from your slumber or was it your excitement to see me? I choose to believe it was the latter."

(S support wake up event 1 if Alear wakes up soon)

Self explanatory i think????? Anyway, he’s cute.

"No food from me. This time I've brought you flowers, Divine One. When you gave me the ring you said there was so much for us to learn about each other. I want to learn everything about you, and I want to tell you everything about me. You should know, I'm growing these flowers as a hobby. They're my favorite species. Its red petals are so bright and bold. And the blue bud Its scent is almost as sweet as you. Good morning. Now be honest, do you prefer my delicious food or my beautiful flowers? Though, you need not worry I will be happy to wake you with both from now on."

(S support wake up event 2)

The fact he kept to heart Alear’s words about having much to learn about each other and proceeding to share a bit about himself... I’m soft. His favorite species being ones that resemble alear in in color and how the scent is almost sweet as them? Romance king. Also the fact he’s just up to bring flowers and breakfast to wake them up? This is my personal taste talking but someone does that for me and i’m marrying them twice.

“You know I enjoy growing flowers and herbs. Now, next time I come you must tell me something about yourself. I want to know everything. The sweet things, and yes, the sour things too.”

(S support wake up event 2 if Alear wakes up soon)

We know he shares that he grows flowers even if Alear wakes up after the whole chat, but the fact he wants to know the good things and the sadder ones?? it’s just a sweet way of showing he cares about them.

Thank you for coming to my ted talk in which i derailed the topic 5000 times but i hope it helps! And if not.......... at least it shows i’m a little off the shits myself >:’D

[softpshycopath]

So with stranger things volume 2 being out I need to put my thoughts somewhere. (its been out for two weeks but thats not important)

SPOILERS FOR STRANGER THINGS 4 VOLUME 2

(These are all my opinions don't lose it)

Ok so, while I was watching it I kinda felt like it was going nowhere, it took so long to advance the california gang to Hawkins. Which in the end only happened after the climax, which I was kinda disappointed by cause there could've been so many great things there. Lot of wasted potential. Anyways the part about Will and his painting was a whole 'nother level of heterosexual audacity. Never in all my years have I been queerbaited so hard. I didnt expect byler to become canon, I'm not delusion, this is netlfix, but the fact that wills painting and all his feelings of being an outcast and feeling lost, were wasted. Him being gay was used to advance a straight relationship and that was just insane. Especially with the amount of hinting we got in interviews, I expected at least something of a coming out scene towards Jonathan. I did appreciate Jonathan and Will coming closer to each other again, but I had hoped that atleast he would notice will was hurting and actually say something about it and not dance around it vaguely.

Speaking of people not noticing obvious feelings, there is no way in hell that Mike didn't notice Will, his best friend, cry next to him. Nor should he be so fucking insensitive that he tells el his life began when she appeared, the day that Will disappeared. And even if he didn't mean it that way, there is no way Will missed that and my boy has been hurt to much and deserves so much better.

About El and Mike I don't have much to say, I appreciated Mike getting his head out of his ass, did not appreciate the fact that we spend an entire season, and the previous season, watching El come into her own, and rediscover her powers and her past, for her to need Mike's reassurance to defeat Vecna. I didn't mind the whole nina project part at first, it was a good wy to give El some closure, but escpecially at the end, when it seemed El was leaving only for her to be capture again, I was tired of it.

(still kinda laughing at the fact that the whole 'big reveal' was that Vecna was behind everything, The Duffers clearly have never seen their fans, cause people figured that out very fast.)

Anyways, a reoccurring theme in my thoughts is how sad I am that the meet up was so late. The Russia storyline was great, also it was probably the only one which had any lasting effect (jopper being canon, which had me kicking my feet and giggling like a little girl, they're so cute). It did feel like they were never gonna get out of there, which was kinda annoying, but I'm glad we don't have to worry about the demodogs and demogorgon anymore. I do wonder what happened to Enzo, since appereantly a russian guard trying to fit into a small American town during the Cold War wasn't interesting enough. We now have no informationa about what happened and that is just sad. All we really got for a resolution was that El and Hoppper were reunited (thank god).

Now, I can spend a long time listing other things that didnt sit right with me, but lets face it, my biggest complaint was that Eddie died. Not the fact that he died per se (I was heartbroken but thats another story), but how and why. The idea was that he 'didn't run this time' and wasnt a coward. But that doesn't make any sense, sure he would've thought he was a cowards for running and leaving Chrissy, but if I saw that happening in front of me I wouldn't just stay, I'd run like hell. So the times he ran were justified and there was no sort of poetic justice. Additionally, during the first DnD game he says that its ok to run, now that obviously sets up the whole 'running' theme, but they shouldve let him listen to his own advice. Or let him die for a good reason cause now it was just like they wanted to kill off someone and were to scared to kill the main cast, or follow through with Max, its the continous theme of killing of the new likable character in each season. And im pretty sure they left his body in the Upside Down, cause wtf no one reacted? Not Steve, who he just met sure, but was bonding with, not Mike, who let his hair grow out to be more like Eddie? Just Dustin and his uncle? What about the rest of Hellfire? I think the writers were to scared to write how Eddie coming back to Hawkins wouldve worked out and thats sad cause there was a lot of interesting potential there. Eddie didn't even die for a good cause, the bats didnt need to be distracted more, how would he know that after they killed him they wouldn't just follow Dustin, or how would he know they would even leave the Upside Down had he left. They gave Steve, Robin and Nancy plenty of time. Overall it was very poorley executed and a waste of a great character.

There is probably a bunch Im missing but idk something was just off this season.

[mattandsaraproductions]

For the HP asks: 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 26, 27, 30

5. Which scene was left out of the films that you think should have been included? 

Aside from all of them? :) Maybe it’s less of a left out scene, as an entirely different take on the material, but I never liked the blockbuster final battle, with Voldemort turning into dust. The entire point of it is that Harry has no need to fight, because he knows the Elder Wand is his. What he needs to do (because it’s right, and because he’s Harry) is to offer Voldemort one last chance at redemption. Equally, it’s just as thematically important that Voldemort simply fall over dead, because at the end of the day he’s just a man, and his death is the same as anyone else’s. But I think it’s generally true of the films, that they fail to be anything more than visually stunning mistakes (cos I’m a book snob).

7. In your opinion, what was an Iconic Moment™?

Less of a moment, since it’s a whole chapter, but “Flesh, Blood, and Bone.” It’s iconic to me in major part because I read the books as they were coming out, and remember GoF as the time when the Harry Potter phenomenon really took off (in the summer before the book’s release, it was a cover story on practically every news magazine). But the series was still seen, I think, as children’s lit, as something good because it got kids reading, but not Serious Literature for serious-minded adults. And then Harry and Cedric are transported away from Hogwarts, and Cedric is killed as easily as swatting a fly, and Voldemort is back for real. So the end of GoF marks a major turning point in both the characters lives and in the lives of the readers. Parents and grown ups didn’t notice the change from adventures at wizarding school to a story about war and death and growing up, because they never cared about Harry Potter anyway. For the rest of us, though, nothing would ever be the same.

8. What is your favourite quote/passage?

Because I can’t pick just one:

“Luna had decorated her bedroom ceiling with five beautifully painted faces: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Neville. They were not moving as the portraits at Hogwarts moved, but there was a certain magic about them all the same: Harry thought they breathed. What appeared to be fine golden chains wove around the pictures, linking them together, but after examining them for a minute or so, Harry realised that the chains were actually one word, repeated a thousand times in golden ink: friends … friends … friends …”

“You are the true master of death, because the true master does not seek to run away from Death. He accepts that he must die, and understands that there are far, far worse things in the living world than dying.”

“Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love”

12. Which character deserved better and why?

Filch. He’s not very nice to the students (and he doesn’t get that much sympathy from me, with his wanting to reinstate corporal punishment), but squibs shouldn’t be having to do upkeep on a castle full of magical students.

13. If you could swap one dead character for one character that survived, would would you revive and who would you kill?

Vernon comes to mind as someone to kill, as do any of the remaining Death Eaters (one or both of the Lestranges are unaccounted for, I think). As to who to swap for, that’s more difficult. Tonks, maybe, so Teddy has a living parent. Could be Remus or Sirius, but then we wouldn’t have the Marauders together in “The Forest Again.” Fred would be the obvious choice. Yeah, probably Fred.

26. What is your opinion of Dumbledore and his actions throughout the series

Generally positive, I suppose. He took the least-worst course of action open to him (I could also write an essay on why this doesn’t make him a utilitarian, but I’ll leave this for now). Failing to tell Harry earlier about the prophecy was wrong, but that’s not so much a moral failing as it is a logistical error. Setting up Harry to die (which would have happened had Voldemort not used Harry’s blood in coming back) is bad, but Harry would have to die one way or the other. AUs where Sirius or Remus raise Harry have never really worked for me, because in-universe that would be incredibly risky (though he could have sent more howlers to Petunia to make Harry’s life easier). On the non-war side of things, I think pretty much everything about the way Hogwarts is run is terrible. Probably it’s a much better school under McGonagall (though a much less pointed satire of education).

27. What is your opinion of Snape and his actions throughout the series?

I think Snape is a very interesting character, but he’s a good character for the same reasons he’s a terrible person. It’s odd, because I think most fans do recognize that, and yet “Always” has become this meaningful thing in fandom. And I’m sure it’s meaningful to Snape, but his love for Lily is so blatantly him being a “Nice Guy” that I think it’s true to say he never actually loved her (not in a way that treated her feelings for James as valid, not in a way that made him want the best for Harry). Snape would have been perfectly happy had James and Harry died on Halloween, if Lily survived. And that’s not even mentioning his body-shaming Hermione or being so cruel that Neville is as scared of him as Harry is of dementors. So while he’s a tragic figure, to be sure, his tragedy is that of someone unwilling to confront his own failings. He’s a fantastic character, but a horrible person.

30. If you could ask JKR one question, what would it be?

Is the Cursed Child spoiler ban in effect here? I’d ask why a certain character remains evil, because it seems to go against the theme of children learning from, being forced to confront and correct, their parents failings (Harry and James, Albus and Harry, Scorpius and Draco, Draco and Lucius). 

[annonmaly]

Oh, It's Not Red.

A post about Murr's eye color

I found a VnC official art collection thread and really appreciate people doing these kinds of things. As I browse these beautiful arts of Mochijun-sensei, few details took my interest. So, I want to drop some thoughts and ridiculous ideas that my simple mind can handle (some of these may already be out there). And maybe, I could drag someone else in this "what if" hole.

This is actually the the second part. If you're interested and still have more time to waste, check the first part out here: Regarding some of VnC Artwork. No promises that it's good tho'. You could also read these posts as stand-alone.

Before anything else, I want to say that best in writing is an award I never received. I'm not the person who could analyze, explain, or theorize things clearly. Please bear that in mind while reading. Photos are not mine, of course. Also, spoiler alert to be safe.

Alright, let's get down to business!

This art is from a cover of Gangan Joker. This is the most straightforward art I saw. I mean, it's just human Vani, Noé, and Murr hanging out there. The most suspicious thing is that Noé's holding the chains of the book. It is not the first illustration that this happened. We could also see it in these two:

(Noé's not holding the chains here, per se, but let's add this because it's nearly the same)

So, what does this mean? This is just me looking more into this, but I bet Noé is related to the blue vampire and the book itself (There's no way Sensei would ask Noé to observe the book for no reason at all. That man is shady(Maybe he is the original owner. ) But, hold on to that thought for now.

Let's head to the real reason I'm writing this post. What is so appealing about this to me is the realization that I'm so inattentive.

Because when I looked at the art closer...and closer...

You may already figure out what I'm talking about. Nonetheless, let's have one closer look.

If you can't figure out what I want to talk about. It's the eyes! The eyes! Murr's eyes are not red and blue. I always thought it is, and I blame the anime and the vague color scheme on that.

Murr's right eye seems to be off-red nearly to the pinkish side. Also, the series emphasizes the contrast between the colors red and blue. That's why I'm convinced that it is red, as the cat represents these contradicting colors. But looking at the art, Murr's right eye may be violet and blue. It even resembles the same shade as Noé's.

Ok, with just that art, I won't believe my own eyes. Maybe it's just colored wrong. That's why I did what people who had lots of time on hand do. I re-watched the first few episodes of the anime and checked the other arts.

For reference in anime's color scheme. This is red:

(I tried to look for something drawn like Murr's. Luca's the one closest to it. )

And this is violet:

(Murr is so cute)

Then here's Murr's eye color. From the artworks and anime:

Now, put the two side by side:

Still unconvinced, here's a secret weapon:

That's definitely not red in anime's color scheme. It's violet. Right?

Ok, now that I'm convinced, so what? This may be just a simple fact. But for me, it's a good find because there are plenty of possible ideas out there we could come with (how fun to explore those). Like the real relationship of Murr and Noé. Is he really a cat? A shapeshifter? We all agree that the cat is not just a cute mascot. Murr would be the game-changer in the series.

For now, I will end the post here. I apologize if it's an inconvenience cutting this into parts. Anyhow, as much as I enjoy reading long posts, I'm vexed doing it on my own. I didn't expect this to be so long just to say that Murr's right eye is violet. Well, you can read these separately. But, if you reach this point, you might as well read my ridiculous thoughts regarding Noé and Murr here: Ok, It's Not Red. So What?

See you Again!

Note: I wrote this to indulge my over-thinking self. This is just a random theory, thoughts, assumptions, and/or head-canons. Thank you for taking the time to read and understanding if I made any mistakes or post whatever it is you don’t agree on.

[yakocchi]

peh i waited 2 years for this shit. u thought i was gonna wait a month to do one branch what kinda sad whale would i be

bc cybird routes are kinda lengthy and go all over the place i made a fun bingo sheet of wild guesses of things i thought that would happen in the route and tbh the ones that didn’t make the cut make me sad because they were good. and then they somehow outdid me with other cliche shit i forgot to add??? god damn

SPOILERS BEHIND CUT 

explanations on the ehs

shakespeare has actually a kind of major role (compared to the other charas) but he’s in a much more sympathetic light now compared to the routes in the “first half”. bc as i said making him a real villain now is a little depressing. the boy’s just TROUBLED OK

leo isn’t really in the route as much as you would think. i mean he does show up a bit and then in one of the POVs they have a talk. but it’s not that big imo bc then there wouldn’t be enough room for vlad being creepy

faust and charles do help in the kidnapping of mc but they don’t start it per se. shakespeare does the initial entrapment and then they drag her to the castle. that’s not dramatic crazy, that’s just an uber

time does guide the mc to something, but it’s not a place. it’s not even something secret bc it’s the pocket watch he carries all the time. but the pocket watch is significant

stream of consciousness spoilers i want to talk about

they would reveal that the count has a real name, which is Abel. because mc can’t be going “count” during the sexy scenes (tbh... i was worried abt that)

so in the second half mc waits out the month but then the door doesn’t work for some reason so until then they gotta figure out why. but then it’s revealed that in vlad’s castle he ALSO has a magic time travel door and so you can’t use them at the same time or smth??? idk it’s very dumb

so vlad and count go way back, but like as in little boys way back. there are no sprites of shota purebloods im very disappointed about that

also speaking of which vlad has magic powers in which he can like.... do magic mind-manipulating shit??? it’s how mc gets to see count + vlad’s past

i have no idea why vlad seems to be pretty popular bc this guy just seems nuts. is it bc he’s voiced by saito soma? anyway the “crazy” thing he does in this route is throwing mc through his magic time door (where she might get carried away to a time period that’s not hers bc the doors were messed up at that moment) and then count has to go in to save her. bro wtf we do not stan

in the aisare branch they get married bc count wants to tie that shit down i guess i’m thinking cybird wants to still keep mc a human bc making mc a vamp at the end could make stuff messy. but yeah even he’s like “you know..... one day im gonna have to make you a vampire???” but her answer is all vague bc i guess she’s not ready yet. which i get bc she essentially gave her early 20s life to centuries old vampire

[mediaeval-muse]

Book Review

Descendant of the Crane. By Joan He. New York: Albert Whitman & Company, 2019.

Rating: 2/5 stars

Genre: YA fantasy

Part of a Series? Not yet?

Summary: Princess Hesina of Yan has always been eager to shirk the responsibilities of the crown, but when her beloved father is murdered, she’s thrust into power, suddenly the queen of an unstable kingdom. Determined to find her father’s killer, Hesina does something desperate: she engages the aid of a soothsayer—a treasonous act, punishable by death... because in Yan, magic was outlawed centuries ago. Using the information illicitly provided by the sooth, and uncertain if she can trust even her family, Hesina turns to Akira—a brilliant investigator who’s also a convicted criminal with secrets of his own. With the future of her kingdom at stake, can Hesina find justice for her father? Or will the cost be too high?

***Full review under the cut.***

SPOILERS in the last paragraph of the “Plot” section.

Content/Trigger Warnings: violence, blood, references to torture, slavery

Overview: I really wanted to like this book. I really did. The premise seemed promising, and I loved the idea of a Chinese-inspired fantasy world with a touch of courtroom drama. Unfortunately, there seemed to be too much going on, so much that I couldn’t connect with this book’s characters and the narrative didn’t flow in a way that drew me into the intrigue and mystery. I would have given this book 3 stars on premise alone, but because I didn’t feel like the scenes built on one another, this book only gets 2 stars from me.

Writing: He’s prose is fine for a YA novel in that it is fairly straightforward with a few poetic images sprinkled in here and there to evoke emotion. It’s very similar to a lot of other YA prose I’ve read, and I don’t personally think anything sets it apart. I did notice, however, that would sometimes use imagery or metaphors that I found more confusing than illuminating. For example, He describes a character as taking to the shadows “like a knife in a sheath,” which would have been ok, but the character was supposed to be more dangerous in the shadows - and a sheathed knife isn’t a threat.

I also found that He would reference bits of lore, backstory, or worldbuilding at odd moments, and sometimes, this info wouldn’t be especially relevant. It felt like she was trying to make references to her worldbuilding without infodumping, which is all well and good, but these references would sometimes distract from the main action.

I also thought He’s pacing and focus was off; the trial/mystery plot would sometimes fade to the background, while the tensions with neighboring kingdoms wasn’t really felt until a certain point in the novel, then it disappeared again. Some events received more attention than I think was warranted, while others received less. For example, we get a lot of scenes of Hesina doing paperwork, but then the ending felt rushed and a lot of information was dumped on us after several plot twists. There were times when things would be summarized rather than played out “on screen,” which is ok sometimes, but it often felt like He used summary so she shock the reader rather than lead them on a journey.

And lastly, I noticed that He has the tendency to use constructions where things other than the characters have agency. For example, “fear creeped into her” or “hope fluttered through her” and the like; it wasn’t bad, per se, but it was noticeable, as if He didn’t want her characters to have as much agency.

Plot: Describing this plot is fairly difficult, since, in my opinion, none of the scenes seem to flow or build upon each other to create a structured narrative. It seemed like He wanted to write a courtroom drama, a high fantasy novel, and a political saga, all of which came together to meditate on things like truth, history, and oppression. It was a lot to cram together, so much so that instead of an action-packed saga, I got a narrative that I couldn’t focus on because there wasn’t the time to explore themes or events in detail. In other words, because a lot happened, all events were rushed and felt shallow. The murder trial plot, for example, didn’t feel very developed; all of the courtroom drama felt pretty standard (this suspect couldn’t have done X because she’s left handed and the cut had to have been made by a right handed person) and most of the people who are trying to fabricate evidence are pretty bad at it. The political conflict, too, seems to be an afterthought, as the people’s desperation for salt isn’t really felt (just told to us) and no one seems too bothered about the raids along the border. I think the novel would have worked better if it focused primarily on the trial and following characters as they uncovered evidence that would be important for that trial. Not only would the narrative structure have felt tighter, but I think the courtroom drama could have been a good vehicle to explore the themes that He seemed interested in (things like oppression and truth can definitely come up with the right focus).

I also found myself to be frustrated by the plot twists because many of them felt random. There wasn’t a lot of groundwork that was laid to make them seem plausible, and I personally don’t like twists that I can’t see coming on some level. Don’t get me wrong - I think a little shock is good here and there, but I think plot twists work best when there is some hint that something is awry. The twist with Hesina’s father, for example, felt earned, whereas the ones involving her brother Caiyan and Lilian, felt random. I especially did not like that the whole epilogue was devoted to explaining how one of the plot twists was made possible; the behind-the-scenes action was dumped on us all at once, and I don’t really like it when I read a whole book and am then told “actually, this was happening the whole time” without some hints during the narrative that there is a bigger picture.

Also, just a quick note: while the plot twist with the Tenets is interesting, I feel like it has the possibility to be a scapegoat in the vein of “prejudice is due to a magical curse rather than something real and ingrained that we have to do hard, continuous work to remove.”

Characters: Hesina, our protagonist, is a Princess who becomes Queen for the purposes of having control over her father’s murder investigation. Personally, I found Hesina to be somewhat bland. She’s not really a ruthless ruler or cunning strategist; most of her decisions are driven by emotion, which can be a good character flaw, but it wasn’t really balanced out by a trait that I found particularly defining. The most she has going for her is that she’s pretty brave and is sympathetic to people who are oppressed, but I don’t think Hesina developed enough for me to really see her character as having an arc. I did sympathize with her dilemmas, especially when she had to make difficult political decisions, but I wanted a little more from her.

Akira, the convict-turned-lawyer who is tasked with solving the case, is a ho-hum love interest who Hesina chooses to represent the crown in her father’s murder case because a Sooth vaguely tells her to “find the convict with the rod.” Akira is written as somewhat mysterious, with skills that seem to come out of nowhere: he is good at fighting, knows some languages, and seems to be good at understanding chemical compounds. All these seemed to be laid as breadcrumbs toward figuring out his tumultuous past; however, I didn’t feel like I was dying to know more because Akira is so aloof and fades in and out of the background. We also don’t really see him putting together clues or explaining how he figured things out; most of the time, we get a summary of what he said (”Akira explained this chemical reaction”), so he doesn’t feel like a major player in the plot. Even his background is dumped on us all at once in summary, which made it less emotional to read. The romance between Akira and Hesina also felt a little forced. While it doesn’t take up a lot of space in the story, it did feel a little random. I didn’t really understand why Hesina decided she wanted to kiss Akira, and the emotional moments they exchanged didn’t really feel genuine.

Supporting characters also felt a little one-dimensional, such as Hesina’s mother, who doesn’t get along with her daughter (because of mental illness? other reasons?) but does get along with her son. Civil servants also weave in and out of the story at convenient moments, and commoners are fairly faceless. I did, however, enjoy the family dynamics between Hessina, her brother Sanjing, and their half-siblings, as it created some complicated personal and official court tensions, while also showing some family affection that transcended “legitimate” bloodlines. The dynamics between Hessina, Caiyan, and Lilian were especially well-done, as they seemed to balance each other out. I would have liked to see more instances where Caiyan’s and Lilian’s experience living on the street affected how the plot went; He tells us this detail, but I think it only comes in handy once.

Other: I don’t think every fantasy novel needs a lot of world-building, but more support in this book would have been helpful. I might have missed some details because a lot was going on, but I constantly found myself asking questions like “What are the limits of Hesina’s powers as queen? Why can’t she command this person to do this thing? Why bargain with her main enemy, Xia Zhong, instead of expose him right away?” I also think some of He’s terminology needed to be reworked, as she used phrases like “sticks of black powder,” “Investigation Bureau,” and “pillow log” - terms that got the main idea across, but felt a little clunky.

I did, however, like the idea of the Eleven and the Tenets, especially their role as historical people/documents that are idolized and not challenged. There’s a real opportunity in there for some exploration of how history is sanitized or how bad things are overlooked in the attempt to present the current state of a nation in the best possible light - it reminds me of the ways in which America idolizes the Founding Fathers yet glosses over aspects like slave ownership.

TL;DR: Descendant of the Crane suffers from a shallow exploration of too many plot threads, plot twists which feel in service to shock value, and a forgettable main character and love interest. While it does have some interesting themes, such as the idolization of historical figures, there was ultimately too much going on that I found it hard to focus on any one thing for long.

[kokkuri3]

a list of issues u have w/ the official translation would be epic yes. tyt if u want tho ik ur busy

So. Oof. This ended up being kind of long mostly bc I felt the need to explain. The tl;dr is a lot of choices ended up being bad within a larger thematic/narrative context, but weren’t incorrect translations Per Se. Most of these are heavily context dependent, but I can’t explain them fully without spoilers. For that reason... if you want to know more, please message me about any of these after having finished. I’ll be happy to explain.

Vaguely in order of appearance. Keep in mind I cannot fully explain some because spoilers but here’s the rundown:

- Tomo Kimura’s prose is just kind of weak tbh but awkward phrasing doesn’t equal a bad translation and it’s not gratuitous it’s mostly I just have writer vision on always

- At the start of the story one of the antagonists, Zwei, is referred to with male pronouns because she uses the usually male first person pronoun 僕. This got corrected in the rerelease and normally I wouldn’t care EXCEPT later on when it is made explicitly clear that Zwei is in fact a woman the translation notes insinuate she was intended as a trans man. She was not. The nuances of this are pretty important to understand and why she uses the first person pronoun 僕 is a major part of understanding her character but... it’s just... not mentioned in the official translation. Basically it’s a case of the official TL declaring a female character to be male because she is somewhat GNC and I think it’s a pretty poor thing to do with this character in particular.

- One of the main characters just straight up gets referred to by a homophobic slur when the original text said something along the lines of “timid.” I’d be willing to let this slide given that the word itself is... used casually pretty often? It always has homophobic connotations but it’s not always used to refer to gay people and ig you could argue isn’t always used negatively. Except the character it’s used for is. Really obviously supposed to be gay. Technically it’s not explicit, in the sense that well his complete disinterest in women throughout his life is a running gag and most of his character is built around his intense devotion for another male character and it really is some of the most overt gay coding I’ve ever seen such that it’s basically impossible to miss but. Yeah they called him a homophobic slur in the official TL. And then when it turns out the character was actually supposed to be gay they just left it in.

- Echo does not use first person pronouns in the original text for nearly her entire arc, and this is meant to be symbolic. However, in English, she switches between referring to herself in the third person and using first person pronouns. I can’t really elaborate on this without spoilers.

- A character who in fact did not lie directly to the protagonists in the original text is made out to have lied in English, by virtue of pronouns that were omitted in the original being inserted into the English translation in a way that made the not-technically-false statement an outright lie. For example-- and this is not a direct quote, deliberately, for spoilers-- a sentence that does not include pronouns for the subject such as “and you were attacked” being... definitely true and what happened, versus “and he attacked you,” which is a lie. The latter translation isn’t technically incorrect, except for how it misrepresents the author’s intent.

I’m expanding way too much on this but this bothers me primarily because of how it affects the characterization of A. the speaker character and B. another character who accuses them of having lied to him. The latter character has much of his arc built around his refusal to accept realities which conflict with his preestablished worldviews, to the point of acting in direct opposition to stated, known realities because they go against his assumptions. His insistence upon having been lied to was a part of this, and I think having actually been lied to weakens this point.

- A few other instances that are sort of similar which make it seem like the story was retconned/narration lied to you in English but were ambiguous statements in Japanese. I can’t tell you which they were specifically but you’d probably only notice if you reread, in which case I feel like most of them would be obvious. In addition, some other statements which have definite intended subjects but which leave out pronouns for symbolic reasons (i.e. within textual context referring to one character, but within a thematic context referring to another)

- An instance alluding to same sex attraction by one of the characters during his introduction gets made more ambiguous. In the fan translation this line was rendered as (paraphrasing) “wow, didn’t know you swung that way.” In the official translation, it gets rendered as (again, paraphrasing) “wow, didn’t know you were that interested in him.” This is in relation to another gay coded character. PH has a few of those. L

That’s what immediately comes to mind and what I’m 100% sure about. The rest is mostly... I can’t tell if the original text was like that or if the translation put it in, because it seems kind of weird knowing how Japanese works, but it could’ve been like that already, so who knows. Again please message me after having read it if you’re still curious about any of these points... I will explain. Ok thank you <3

[myassbrokethefall]

As a fan of The X Files, what did you first think of Fringe? I remember Fringe being compared to TXF before the show even premiered and the creators stated that it was influenced by it. Having seen TFX after seeing Fringe, I definitely understand the comparisons and I was wondering what did you think about that. One thing I think Fringe did really well (especially in later seasons) that I wish TXF S10 had done was having the mythology sprinkled in even in the case of the week episodes

When I first watched Fringe, it did feel to me like something of an XF ripoff. Basically that they added more people to make it different but then copied XF as much as they could. I thought it was OK, and I didn’t mind it being “inspired” by XF per se -- after XF’s peak popularity there were a ton of shows that tried to cash in on the vibe (anyone remember Dark Skies?), so there was actually a little novelty factor in one of them coming out years later, and I like XF and I like the XF vibe so I was fine with it being basically redone. 

But it was a little boring to me, and it didn’t really have anything on the order of the Mulder and Scully stuff that chained me to XF. I found myself not really looking forward to watching it, and after a few episodes in I basically had decided to stop watching it, but I had a series record set on my DVR and it kept giving me episodes so I kept being like “fine I guess I’ll watch this.”

And then it changed in literally one episode for me, which was the first episode with the Observers. That kicked it from “people investigate paranormal cases and fight vague opposition from Authority and crack jokes and Pacey is in it” to "...What is up with this creepy dude??? I MUST FIND OUT”

Then it had its hooks in me, and it got better as so many shows do as they find their footing and their rhythm and what they do best, and it actually grew to be quite different from XF. I never really cared about Peter and Olivia as, like, a ship, but I enjoyed the interactions of all the characters in their various configurations. And what I really loved about Fringe the most was that ANYTHING COULD HAPPEN. They weren’t afraid of gamechanger stuff, and after Season 8-9 of XF, that was a breath of fresh air for me. DD left the show and after five minutes of Scully crying and sad music playing, the show settled into the exact same format, except with Scully doing the “believer” lines and Doggett doing the “skeptic” ones. Hell, they even amped up the drama of Mulder leaving as much as possible by having Scully be pregnant to maximize her sadness and that in-the-moment emotion, just so they could then drop it all after the two-part season premiere and go back to doing the exact same shit. Fringe did an entire season (half season? I don’t really remember) set in an alternate universe. They just kept COMMITTING to stuff and it gave me a TV boner. 

I enjoyed a lot of the characters -- and I really am very fond of Astrid -- but the focus for me in that show was the plots and the twists and the sciencey excitement. For XF, I’m in it for Mulder and Scully, and I occasionally have glimmers of “you know, this IS sort of a cool mytharc thing,” but mostly the plot stuff is background noise (or atmosphere/aesthetic) for me, and has been since about Season 4. Which is fine; I love XF for what it is. But it does mean that I get impatient when we have to listen to people from the show talk about how a great twist is coming up or how it explores modern society’s blah blah blah Tad. I’ve never felt XF does any of that particularly well, even if it thinks it does. I just want to see Mulder and Scully doing things together. Also, after S10 and the breakup I’ve kind of transitioned from “I’ll politely tolerate all CC’s plot brainstorms and just enjoy all the Mulder and Scully I can” to “please don’t let CC’s plot brainstorms hurt Mulder and Scully, I just want Mulder and Scully to be OK, I wish CC would leave Mulder and Scully alone.” Hence, it’s hard to get excited about any spoilers anymore, because after he broke M&S up, seemingly in service of returning everything to status quo even harder, I feel like he might do anything, and our priorities as regards the show have, plainly, diverged. 

Well, that was a digression. I totally agree with you that Fringe integrated the “mythology,” aka, the big important stuff that was happening in the show’s universe(s), much more seamlessly into the show. And without that need to reset everything every week, no matter how high the stakes seemed in the moment, so the characters could get back to doing cases in the exact same way they had done since S01E03, Fringe was free to have foundation-shaking stuff happen and then actually build on it and progress and evolve. Separating it worked semi-OK for XF at the beginning, as the outlines of the conspiracy/alien stuff were still very faint and mysterious, but it worked less and less as the series went on and Mulder and Scully’s world darkened and changed around them, and at this point it’s pretty self-conscious, artificial-feeling, and silly. “We’ve always done it that way” is not a good reason to keep doing something, especially if you only did it that way because that was the only way you knew how to do it. But that is a fundamental difference of opinion between 1013 and me. 

[frozenartscapes]

Well...I caved...

I saw the Emoji Movie.

Now I want to make things perfectly clear here: I did not give Sony any money for this. I found it on Kimcartoon, because I refuse to contribute to something so fucking awful. I knew this movie would be crap. I knew I wouldn’t like it. I have several free movies on my Scene card (a points-based rewards card for Cineplex theatres) but I knew this movie wasn’t even worth that because a) it would still register as someone who went to go see the movie and b) this movie isn’t worth the bus money I would have spent to get to the movie theatre. I want to make it clear that normally I would not torrent movies, and recommend actually going to see them in theatres or renting them or viewing them on a site where their creators actually get something in return. People work hard on movies and credit must be given where it’s due.

Speaking of that, to the animators of the Emoji Movie: you have my condolences. The one thing, and I mean one thing about this movie that I will say is good is the animation. You guys tried, and hey! It’s not half bad. It’s not...great, per se. But you tried. You get a gold star! (And at least you can say you’ve worked on a multi million dollar animated movie for your resumes when you want to apply to a much better movie company.) The animation in the Emoji Movie is... Like I said, it’s good. It’s certainly better than some other more notoriously bad animated movies, and this would be where it being a product of Sony helps it out. But keep in mind that when I talk about the “animation” I’m talking solely about how this thing looks on a visual level. Things like rendering, colour choices, character design... yeah, they’re ok. But other aspects that delve more into the actual storytelling aspect of animation, not so much. World-building wise it is painfully obvious they’re going for a Wreck It Ralph meets Inside Out kind of look. Dialogue and music scores? Yeah, pretty bad. And the moral? Oh boy, here we go.

The actual story of the Emoji Movie is one that you’ve all seen a thousand times. I’d say spoiler alert but it is literally the most cliched story in the book. Does this sound familiar to you? Meet our main character. He’s excited because it’s his first day at his new job. Except, he’s a bit of a weirdo. He doesn’t quite fit in to the status quo so everybody hates him. Sure enough, when he does start his new job after ten minutes of painful filler, the thing that makes him different gets in the way and he screws everything up. His boss makes it clear he’s fired, but then turns into a super villain out of no where because that’s what bosses are like. So now our main character is on the run with this other random loser he said, like, three lines to before everything went to shit. The two losers then enlist the help of a badass female character who purposely rebels against the status quo. They convince the female character to help them out by giving her something in return that will allow her to even further rebel against the status quo and our trio of protagonists set out on their quest. Along the way they get into some wacky hijinks that bring them all closer together. The main protagonist slowly falls in love with the female character. The idiot sidekick has exactly one moment of brilliance that somehow saves the day, but it’s not enough to excuse the number of other times he nearly fucked everything up. And the female character, with the “help” of the main protagonist, slowly breaks out of her cold exterior to reveal she’s only like that because she’s afraid of people getting to know the real her, who really is a soft and caring person but is afraid of conforming to the strict gender stereotypes thrust upon her because she’s a girl. They finally get to the end of their quest, but then a tragic misunderstanding due to the complicated love-related feelings our male and female protagonists have causes them to split up. Meanwhile, through some vaguely explained and half-assed reasoning, the whole world is about to be destroyed. And it turns out that it’s our two potential love interests who are the only ones who can stop it. And so our main character learns his lesson that it’s better to be yourself, no matter what other people think of you, because being yourself can save the world. Our female lead leans that it’s not about what you want, but more what your boyfriend wants to make him happy. And our loveable idiot sidekick learns nothing and continues to be a loud, self-absorbed moron. And then a dance number happens, because fuck any questions you might have about the plot: look at how much fun our characters are having!

If you think this sounds familiar, you’re right. This plot has been done to death by many a children’s show/movie before the Emoji Movie. But at least those shows/movies knew what they were doing. The Emoji Movie is just a bland, poorly written movie that was likely strung together by a series of board room members and focus groups, not actual writers. In some scenes you can practically hear the discussion amongst the middle-aged executives about what the kids think is cool and also which app developers have given them money and how they can shoehorn in a reference to them. 

It’s made even more frustrating because, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, some of these ideas could have actually worked. It’s kinda like Wreck It Ralph, and how each video game opened up a whole new world with different colour schemes, styles, characters, you name it. It made the universe of that movie seem really big, despite everything actually only taking place in one arcade. But in the Emoji Movie...it all seems really compressed. Each app is represented as a giant box on the “Wallpaper”, which is essentially the main area of the phone. It’s where our characters can go to access other apps. But when they do go into another app, it still feels like everything’s trapped inside a box. It’s like there are these invisible walls that keep the world from getting any bigger (and in some cases that is literally what happens) and as a result it just seems really limiting. They could have done some really interesting things with certain apps, or you know, things that are actually funny. They could have had a car chase in a racing game, or maybe entered a platformer game like Doodle Jump where the art style is entirely different. Instead, we got a series of ads for a number of different apps in premises that were neither funny nor exciting, and all it did was that it left me wondering why a teenage boy had an app for Just Dance on his phone in the first place. I’m not saying that a movie devoted solely to telling a story about emojis would be Pixar worthy or anything but it could have been at least a little more creative.

I’m not too mad about all of this though because I knew the second this movie was announced that it would be a pandering mess. I knew it’d be a huge pile of steaming bullshit, and speaking of that here’s one thing I didn’t expect: the voice actors. Patrick Stewart, Sir Patrick Stewart, plays a literal piece of shit. You’ve also got T.J. Miller as our main character, Gene (the “Meh” emoji), James Corden as the loveable idiot- I mean, sidekick, Anna Faris as the female love interest, and many others including Maya Rudolph, Steven Wright, Jennifer Coolidge, Christina Aguilera, Sofía Vergara, Rachael Ray, Sean Hayes, and Jake T. Austin. And the sad thing is: you can pretty much hear in most of these characters’ lines that these actors did this for the paycheque and not much else. The line delivery is really flat most of the time, but I don’t blame the actors too much for that because I bet they read the lines and realized that they weren’t worth their best delivery. Yeah, the lines were terrible. There wasn’t a single time I so much as smiled. I was literally the fucking “meh” emoji. Which, gotta say, that’s pretty awesome if that’s what Sony was going for. But it’s not what they were going for. Normally, even a bad animated movie will have at least one moment that will make me go “Hey, that’s kinda clever” but this one had nothing. It was just painful joke after painful joke, the setups for which could be seen from a mile away and anything that did come out of nowhere came from so far out of left field that they were basically out of breath when they got there.

The thing that angers me most about the Emoji Movie is the story. If you couldn’t tell from my plot summary, I’m pretty bitter about it. I could write a whole separate piece about the “be yourself” moral and my issues with it, but I’ll keep it short here. It is the kind of moral that can either be done right, like how it was handled in Wreck It Ralph, or it can be done wrong, like it was here. The thing about this type of moral is that it rarely works 100% in real life, and as a result it works best when it’s not presented as such. Instead of being yourself becoming some kind of deus ex machina that magically saves the whole world and as a result suddenly changes everything for the better, it’s a much better kind of moral when you come to accept who you are, that you are different, and that’s ok. Things might not exactly change the way you want, but you yourself are a better person, and that then often affects other things like how other people react to you. Think about how Wreck It Ralph ended: it didn’t end with the apartment dwellers in Fix It Felix Jr. deciding that he no longer was the bad guy and he no longer needed to play that role - Ralph still had to play that role, despite him coming home a hero. What changed was how they treated him, that they accepted him as he accepted himself. And in turn, they started treating him with the same respect they give to Felix and each other.

In the Emoji Movie, being yourself does everything. It saves the world. It gets you the girl. It brings parents on the verge of divorce back together. The only thing it doesn’t do is give the villain any closure (seriously, she just kinda...disappears). I take issue with this because of how the climax of this movie is set up. Gene, the Meh emoji, rather quickly falls head over heals with the female main character, Jailbreak. Jailbreak states several times throughout the movie that her intention is to get to the Cloud where she is free to be who she is. Gene initially starts out helping her get to the Cloud so she can get the source code to the phone and reprogram him so he is a true “meh” emoji, since he deems himself “a malfunction” because he can make multiple expressions. (I’m aware of the long-windedness of that statement. The explanation is like that in the movie, too). However, before this can happen, Gene confesses his feelings to Jailbreak while he still can and she doesn’t quite feel the same way. It’s obvious that there’s some connection there, but I think it was one of those things where the girl just wants a friendship while the guy wants a relationship. After that rejection, without much of an argument or anything, Gene becomes a Meh emoji without the use of the source code. Just like that. We have a character who was shit on by everybody, even his parents, was told he was a malfunction and needed to die to do any good in the world, and had to flee the only home he ever knew and live on the run with killer robots sent by his own people chasing him and it was the rejection of a girl he knew for maybe thirty minutes that changed his entire personality. He then leaves for home. Jailbreak, just as she’s about to achieve her own goals, is told what happened to Gene by comic relief character Hi-Five and promptly abandons everything she had been working on for years to go back and fix Gene. That’s right. Gene wins in the end because Jailbreak returns to tell him that she also cares for him. She doesn’t get anything back in return. Her goals have been cast into the wind. She’s now been thrown back into a life she left because she met a guy and fell in love. The male lead gets the moral that everything in life will work out if you be yourself. The female lead gets the moral that life will be wonderful and happy if you have a parter (preferably a romantic male partner) to share it with.

And that’s my problem with this movie. It’s like the Lego Movie without the irony. We’re following yet another male lead protagonist who gets everything he ever wanted by the end of the movie, becomes the damn hero of his world, and never has to change a single thing about himself. It’s everyone else who has to change, who has to move out of the way for his “development”. The female character obviously has to change the most, going from her own individualistic style to back into a somewhat conforming token girlfriend who is always happy because she found Love™. His “best friend” sidekick can continue to be lovable and stupid and slightly self absorbed, just not quite as self absorbed now because he has a best friend! Yay! And for everyone else...not much really changes. Which makes this movie worse than some of the other cliched movies out there. 

Normally what happens at the end of a Be Yourself movie is you have all the characters at the end doing just that: being themselves and not who they were when they were conforming to society’s rules at the beginning of the film. SPOILERS for anybody who still cares at this point, the way Gene saves the day is by creating an emoji gif of himself making various faces to express his teenage phone owner’s feelings about a girl the kid has a crush on. This somehow works just before the entire world is deleted and somehow the kid unplugs the phone and brings everything back without a single hint of major data loss, which is honestly the most unrealistic thing about this movie. (Added to the fact that the kid wanted to do a hard reset of the phone but had to go into a phone store to have that happen, telling me that the writers clearly don’t understand how smartphones work if that’s the case.) But, moving on: the final scene shows Gene and all the other emojis happily working at their job, dancing to a pop song and generally having a good time. The movie ends with Gene producing another gif emoji reaction and the credits start to role. What would have been interesting would be seeing some of the other emojis are now able to make different expressions as well. Like maybe Hi-Five can perform a number of different hand gestures (which would actually be pretty hilarious considering one hand gesture in particular). Or the frowny emoji can smile, or stick their tongue out. Anything, really. But nope! It’s just Gene who can change his expression. Everyone else is still a boring old, one expression emoji. I guess you can argue that they are still being themselves, but then what’s the fucking point of the movie? The Be Yourself moral generally is meant to say that you don’t have to be what society tells you to be, but then in terms of this movie, it gets a little messed up. Is it society telling these emojis what to be, or the code of the phone itself? What if the happy emoji really isn’t happy, but is unable to express it because of a god-like limitation enforced on all of them? There were even jokes about this at the beginning, like the sad emoji can never be happy even if he wins the lottery. And if the source code can be used to “fix” Gene, can it not be used in reverse to allow these other emoji’s to have different expressions? And, also, at one point toward the end of the film the villain states that emojis are meant to only have one emotion, so does that mean the film is agreeing with a villain’s statement by confirming that yes, all emojis except for that one weird one can only have one expression. Typically you use the conclusion to contradict a big statement by the movie’s villain, but I guess that’d be too much work to write/animate.

I’m probably looking too much into a movie I hate, but they even bring this up in the movie. Gene’s father, the original Meh emoji, is able to cry. The only slightly decent scene in the movie, might I add, has him and his wife meeting up in an instagram pic of Paris after having a fight. In it they have a touching heart to heart about their son whom they’re worried for, and the father reveals that Gene’s the way he is because the father can also produce multiple expressions. Now, that’s a great explanation of how Gene works and all, but why? Would it not have made more sense to say that every emoji is able to do this, and most of them are just much better at keeping things in one emotion/expression? To have it so that they literally can only make one expression seems almost cruel, and it takes away from the moral of being yourself when 99% of the population can’t physically be themselves fully. It only makes the decision to eradicate Gene more sensible, as he really is the only thing wrong in the phone, and because of him and his actions, he almost wiped out literally everything on the phone. He got insanely lucky at the end of the movie, and it’s still not great because how long is he going to be able to speak for his phone user before he misjudges the situation and things take a turn again? I gotta say, if I got the final text of the movie sent to me I’d be annoyed (which was just Gene making a series of faces set to music, but you have to remember that neither Alex the phone user nor the person he sent it to would be hearing said music, so it’d just be an emoji bouncing and changing faces for far too long and for no reason).

Ok, I’m going to wrap this up. This was a bad movie. It was nothing but ads for various apps with a half-assed story about accepting who you are or some shit thrown in. If you’re curious, like I said: Kimcartoon. Don’t give Sony any money for this shit. The more money they get, the more they’ll think it’s ok to keep making movies like this. Thank you for reading, and if we’re lucky we’ll all die in a fiery explosion before the Meme Movie gets released.