#only the OVA left and I can start writing!

[luckystarchild]

STOP SHARING THIS TWEET.

This is 99.99% likely to be fake. As someone who works in the anime industry, let me tell you why.

This has been sent to me dozens of times over the past few days, and it's pretty obvious to me that it's fake.

I work in the anime industry. Here's why I don't put any stock in this "official" announcement at all.

1. THE 'SOURCE' IS A TOTAL RANDO

The source is a random Twitter/X account. It isn't a studio or licensor. It's not even one of the "reputable" leakers. It's just some random person making a claim with zero backing and slapping the words "official" and "confirmed" on it.

Accurate leaks have happened, but they're usually accompanied by some kind of source claim (a leaked press release, a leak within the company, etc.) and a claim that an announcement is coming soon. This has nothing. This is just a random person saying shit for clicks.

Every one of their posts has "FOLLOW FORE MORE" in a subtweet. They're just farming for followers. The rest of the account is just random anime edits and posts + promotions for a discord they run.

I could literally write anything in a tweet and slap "OFFICIAL, CONFIRMED" on it, but if you see those words, you need to be asking, "Who confirmed it? What makes this official?" And in this case, it's NOTHING and NOBODY in the world of anime.

Media literacy, folks. It applies to Twitter/X. It ESPECIALLY applies to Twitter/X.

2. THIS 'SOURCE' DOESN'T UNDERSTAND THE ANIME INDUSTRY

"Studio has not been announced" is a WILD thing to suggest here, because YYH's rights are LITERALLY OWNED BY AN ANIME STUDIO. Studio Pierrot is still a license-holder for this IP, and it would be weird as hell for them to not handle a remake.

(Also, "studio not announced"... NOTHING has been announced. The wording here is very sneaky, as it implies an announcement was made but the studio was just left out of it. If an announcement had been made, it would be Pierrot/the studio/Shueisha doing it.)

Not only has Pierrot made animated content for the series as recently as the 2018 OVAs, their copyright info is on literally every piece of YYH merch being produced this year (alongside Shueisha and Togashi). They still have some rights. They (in part) hold the IP. They still make art for it. They will be the studio for any remake unless they willingly let go of that license. Considering they're still making money off of it through merch sales and the liveaction adaptation (tho that's another can of licensing worms we could discuss), that's highly, HIGHLY unlikely.

The likelihood of Pierrot letting some other studio handle the remake is very, VERY slim. It's one of their hallmark, legendary series. Why would they ever let that go to a competitor?

The "studio hasn't been confirmed" bit tells me this person doesn't know who actually owns the rights to YYH, and when they don't even know that basic piece of information, it puts everything else they say into question.

3. THE TIMING IS SUSPICIOUS

Anime series are in production long before they air. How long in advance depends on the project. You can't keep a lid on a high profile project for an extended period. For big projects, studios want to start the hype train sooner rather than later. (Obviously there are exceptions to this (see the Fruits Basket remake) but we'll get to that later.)

This tweet claims the project is coming out in 2024. We are at the VERY TAIL END of 2023. It is basically 2024 already. That tweet isn't an official announcement (despite the word "official" on it), which means the studio/license holder would have to announce it even LATER than this tweet did. The latest anime seasonals begin airing in Q4/October/the Fall Simulcast season. That gives Pierrot less than a year of lead-up time to market the anime before its latest possible air date in 2024, and for this particular property, that does not seem realistic OR wise.

Let's examine Pierrot's recent treatment of the latest Bleach installment as evidence. They announced the project in March 2020 via a livestream event. They began airing the project in October 2022, MORE THAN TWO YEARS LATER. That gave them two years to market the series.

YYH, like Bleach, is one of Pierrot's hallmarks. The idea that they'd give it less than a year of marketing is just not realistic. They'd likely give it the same kind of treatment as the new Bleach arc, given it's one of their past tentpole titles getting revived.

(Also note that Pierrot animated the new Bleach installments after years of no new Bleach. They didn't let go of those rights. They held on and made more content later. Now apply that logic to YYH, and arrive again at: To suggest another studio would handle a new series is farfetched.)

If the tweet had said the series was dropping in 2025 or later, it would be much more believable. But the details they gave, again, discredit their claims from the jump.

If a new YYH was coming out in 2024, btw, the series would already be well underway and likely have been in production behind the scenes for quite some time. They probably would've announced it last year if they intended a 2024 release.

4. THE LIVEACTION OF IT ALL

A liveaction adaptation for YYH is about to drop (December 14 on Netflix).

I can already hear the argument of, "Oh, well maybe they'll announce a new anime for 2024 when the liveaction comes out," and while that might be a possibility, I think there's another, far more likely alternative.

If the liveaction does well and the license holders make a fuckton of money on it, or if they at least see a large resurgence in interest in the IP, THEN I think the license holders/anime production committee would start thinking about a new anime adaptation to cash in on that interest. But I do not see them making that decision before the streaming numbers for the liveaction come in, and I do NOT see them working on the anime before the liveaction has even aired.

The anime world moves slowly. The execs and committees behind the scenes like numbers and sales figures. If they see good numbers, balls might start rolling. But it's unlikely they're already in production NOW, let alone far enough into production to support a 2024 release for a remake.

If the Netflix show gets the ball rolling on a new YYH anime, that anime won't come out in 2024. There just isn't time.

And I can now hear some muttering the argument of, "Oh, well they probably just held the news to time it with the liveaction," but see again their habit of announcing projects with lots of lead-up marketing time.

CONCLUSION: THIS SEEMS FAKE.

BUT...

Given the details above and the COMPLETE LACK OF EVIDENCE supplied by the tweet, I do not expect we'll get an ACTUAL "official, confirmed" announcement for a remake anytime soon.

In the event that I'm wrong, what I'd predict is the announcement of a remake (one made by ACTUAL official sources, AKA Pierrot and Shuiesha) sometime in Q1 or Q2 2024. Pierrot would be the studio, and the project would be slated for late 2025, or even more likely, sometime in 2026. (And yes, projects slated for 2026 and later are in the works right now.)

I think the above is a longshot, but it's possible. The timing suggested in the tweet everyone is sharing isn't realistic at all, however.

Long story short:

DO NOT TRUST RANDOM TWITTER ACCOUNTS.

ANYONE CAN SAY "OFFICIAL" or "CONFIRMED"

THE ONLY OFFICIAL SOURCES FOR ANIME NEWS ARE STUDIOS AND LICENSORS

QUESTION EVERYTHING

[melishade]

Attack on Prime Writing Process

I know I have questions in my inbox that I haven't answered. I promise I will get to them.

So if you all remember, I originally had a writing schedule back into 2023 before I started a new job back in October. If I finished chapter, then I posted a chapter. Shit in life happened and I wasn't able to follow that schedule the way that I wanted. But now I'm in a better place.

But if you remember the schedule that I had where I had left off was Guren No Yumiya. And with Guren No Yumiya, I had five chapters left of Attack on Prime and 2 OVAs. We'll just say five chapters for the sake of five chapters. I knew that Guren No Yumiya would be a monster of a chapter because it's the final battle, but...Jesus Christ let me give you some context.

So the Cybertron OVA, one of the longest chapters that I have on record is...looks at notes.

32,251 words.

As of right now, Guren No Yumiya is...

27,966 words

And I'm only halfway through writing the chapter.

I still have to write so much shit! Eren vs. Optimus, Eren vs Megatron, Eren vs EVERYONE ELSE! And I still-!!!

2024 hasn't been a great year so far.

Like, I had the energy to write Guren No Yumiya and I want to finish it before I start the new job. And there's definitely some edits I still need to make to the chapter because the chapters between War and Guren No Yumiya need severe revisions because I need to make extra edits for what I set up in the final battle. Like this is all I have left:

Guren No Yumiya

Making Peace

After the War

An Era of Peace

Goodbye

And then the OVAS not really included for the main story:

In between

Wild Life

I am almost done and I would very much like to finish Guren No Yumiya. I started this fanfic in 2013, I cannot believe I'm near the end. I will get to as many questions as I can tonight, just...if you ask me any more questions, just expect a delay for the time being before it's answered.

Kay? Okay.

[bnhaobservation]

BNHA Observations, speculations and assorted info: Todoroki Mansion (Part 1: Outside view)

So, in order to write my fic, I spend much time observing canon scenes, comparing the manga and the anime version, take note of details, translations and info in them as well as finding out how are some things called.

Since what I noticed/speculated/found out can be of use for other fic authors I thought to share as well.

Resources:

Chap. 39 “Todoroki Shōto: Origin” (轟焦凍：オリジン Todoroki Shōto: Origin) Chap. 44 “Relaxing Day Off” (休め振替休日 Yasume Furikae Kyūjitsu) Chap. 192 “The Todoroki Family” (轟家 Todoroki-ke) Chap. 248. “One Thing at a Time” (一つ一つ Hitotsu Hitotsu) Chap. 249. “The Hellish Todoroki Family” (地獄の轟くん家 Jigoku no Todoroki-kun-chi) Chap. 250 “Ending” (エンディング Ending) Chap. 252 “The Unforgiven” (許されざる者 Yurusarezaru-mono) Chap. 301 “The Wrong Way to Put Out a Fire, Part 1” (火の不始末 前編 Hi no Fushimatsu Zenpen) Chap. 302 “The Wrong Way to Put Out a Fire, Part 2” (火の不始末 後編 Hi no Fushimatsu Kōhen)

Ep. 23 “Todoroki Shōto: Origin” (轟焦凍：オリジン Todoroki Shōto: Origin) Ep. 25 “Todoroki vs. Bakugo” (轟VS爆豪 Todoroki vs Bakugō) Ep. 88 “His Start” (始まりの Hajimarino) Ep 90 “Vestiges” (面影 Omokage) Ep. 105 “The Hellish Todoroki Family” (地獄の轟くん家 Jigoku no Todoroki-kun-chi) Ep 106 “The Unforgiven” (許されざる者 Yurusarezaru-mono) Ep 130 “The Wrong Way to Put Out a Fire” (火の不始末 Hi no Fushimatsu)

OVA “Laugh! As If You Are in Hell” (笑え！地獄のように Warae! Jigoku no you ni)

OBSERVATIONS, SPECULATIONS AND ASSORTED INFO:

The Todoroki family (轟家 ‘Todoroki-ke’) is clearly a rich one due to Todoroki Enji being the Number 2 Hero and solving more cases than anyone in recorded history.

It's composed by 6 people, Todoroki Enji (轟 炎司), the family head, Todoroki Rei (轟冷), née Himura (氷叢 Himura), his wife, his eldest son (長男 'Chōnan'), Todoroki Tōya (轟 燈矢), his eldest daughter (長女 'chōjo'), Todoroki Fuyumi (轟 冬美), his second son (次男 'jinan'), Todoroki Natsuo (轟 夏雄) and his third son (三男 'sannan'), Todoroki Shōto (轟 焦凍).

Below there's a scheme of how the family was before family members started leaving the house as, at this point in the manga, apparently no one lives in it (first Rei was hospitalized, then Touya supposedly 'died', then Shouto moved to U.A. dormitories, then Fuyumi and Natsuo moved to their new house and, even though Enji is supposed to still live there, since he was tailing after Midoriya, the house was basically left empty).

We know Enji's father died way before his marriage, we have no info about his mother and we know Rei's parents continued to live in the Himura residence, which is clearly a large traditional Japanese house.

While it's implied in the past the Todoroki family had people working for them to help with the housework and, possibly, with the care of the children, in fact, after Shouto's birth Enji said he would hire helpers/servants (使用人'Shiyōnin') and Natsuo mentioned they used to have a maid (お手伝いさん 'Otetsudai-san') who would cook for them but retired due to back problems (the English version calls her a cook though), we only see in the house someone who's not a Todoroki once, when the children are playing.

It could be a servant supervising them... or it could also be Rei's mother visiting them. We'll never known.

The Todoroki too live in a huge traditional Japanese house, which the manga calls Todoroki mansion (轟邸 ‘Todoroki-tei’).

Since no one mention the Todoroki family being prestigious for something else that's not the fact Enji is the Number 2 hero, I tend to think the house is one he either built or bought, not the one in which he was raised.

OUTSIDE OF THE MANSION (AERIAL VIEW)

As usual, manga and anime disagree on how the place should be.

The anime gives it an even huger garden and adds what might be two extra storage buildings and a large gate on the left, probably to allow a car in.

The house also seems a single block, where in the manga it seems U shaped, with a garden at the center of the U.

THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

We see glimpses of the neighbourhood when Aizawa carries Shouto home (he has to park his car outside it)

...and when Ending pecks at Endeavor's house.

There seems to be a street that leads straight at the gate since when Natsuo leaves the house he walks straight ahead of himself.

In an OAV instead we see a glimpse of the street that runs parallel to the gate.

Anyway it's clearly a residential area.

In Episode 25 we see Shouto walking to reach the hospital. It's unclear if the area he's walking through is near his house or he got distant from it already, but, in case it's near his house, the scenery seems to imply the house is built uphill since Shouto has to walk downhill.

THE GATE'S ENTRANCE

Manga and anime seem to mostly agree with how it's supposed to be, the only addition being the anime shows also a glimpse of what I assume is the large entrance for a car.

INSIDE THE GATE

Now yes, there are some differences between the manga and the anime, like the path leading to the house, the small gate near it, the placement of the trees and the Ishi-dōrō (石灯籠 “stone lantern”) near the house is completely missing in the anime.

Credits when it's due it was the anime who first came up with how the Todoroki Residence entrance looked like so, if anything, it was Horikoshi who did the changes... unless he showed them a drawing of how he wanted it before showing it in the manga.

ENGAWA

An Engawa (縁側/掾側) or En (縁) is an edging strip of non-tatami-matted flooring, usually wood or bamboo. It may run around the rooms, on the outside of the building, and can resemble a porch or sunroom.

Usually, it is outside the translucent paper Shōji, but inside the Amado (雨戸) storm shutters (when they are not packed away). However, sometimes it runs outside the Amado. An Engawa that cannot be enclosed by Amado, or sufficiently sheltered by eaves, must be finished to withstand the Japanese climate. Modern architecture often encloses it with sheet glass.

The Todoroki Engawa is meant to give a view to the inner garden. In the manga the one we always see is the one on the right...

Here you can see the ceiling of the Engawa

This is probably the Engawa from above.

GARDEN

From the engawa the garden can be seen with what's likely a koi pond and a bridge.

THE TRAINING HALL (OUTSIDE)

The manga seems to imply that that small building outside the house but still connected to it is the training hall, since its from it that the noise form Enji and Shouto's training comes.

The anime instead seems to imply this is the training hall from outside.

Note that in the story when the characters seem to go to the training hall they don't seem to get outside, nor the training hall is shown to have round windows... so yeah, whatever.

ROOF

The anime shows us the corner of the roof. It's not overly important, I'm just showing it so that the whole thing is complete.

[thislittlekumquat]

Sooo… question: do you think reapers can reproduce? I wonder what the fandom’s collective take on this is tbh

SPOILERS for manga content, if you care, and sorry for the recap if you know all of this!

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+

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SOOOO I personally am running with the prevailing fandom theory that Undertaker is actually the father of Vincent (and then by that logic possibly Frances, making him then grandfather to Ciel, R!Ciel, Lizzie, and Edward)

It started with two small details in the manga: when Undertaker left his memoriam chain of lockets and mementoes with Ciel in Campania arc, and when Sascha and Ludger in the Green Witch Arc noted that there was something possibly odd about Ciel's family tree. The only members of his family you get to see in the shot are Ciel, his parents, and above Vincent, someone named Claudia (presumably his mother). Significantly, the locations of Vincent's father and any other siblings Ciel might have had are obscured by speech bubbles or a thumb. Folks went back and looked at one of the lockets on the chain Undertaker left with Ciel, and saw that it had the initials CP, which, as many people (including myself) think stands for Claudia Phantomhive.

I'm actually pretty far behind on the manga, so I mostly know things after the death of Agni through @lululeighsworld providing me with spoilers. The two of us theorize that part of why the Bizarre Doll situation has finally "worked" with R!Ciel is that he has reaper blood in him, and it would also explain why Undertaker got involved with the Phantomhives to start with. Something Leigh and I like to think about too is the fact that everyone always writes off the fact that Grell wants to have babies as impossible not because of what's in her pants but because of the fact that she's a reaper. Reapers can't reproduce anyways, or so we all thought. But we wonder now if perhaps there's more to it. The reapers are not a particularly well-fleshed-out phenomenon in manga canon (even though they have FAR more attention paid them by now than I think any of us expected back in the Circus Arc days and earlier), so it's unclear whether there even ARE any female reapers of either the cis or trans persuasion besides Grell. Ronald is always presented as a ladykiller type of guy, but aside from little things in the reaper OVA from s2 and stuff in the stage musicals, it's VERY up for interpretation.

To conclude, I actually am very intrigued by the idea that reapers can produce, and sort of hope that's where things are going. Whether it's true, and also whether Undertaker did it in the conventional way or through further dark magical chicanery, remains to be seen!

[no1ryomafan]

I title this Getter Essay: I couldn't fucking sleep and my brain was thinking about Getter Emperor:

Alright so here’s a common misconception I see in the fandom regarding Getter Emperor as some people think it’s a multi dimensional being and/or Emperor travels around the multiverse collecting pilots- which isn’t the case.

Getter Emperor is NOT a being that can travel through timelines. Every Emperor or Emperor equivalent has the ability to time travel, but they CANNOT go to timelines that are completely separate universes. Manga Emperor can only access the manga timeline, Armageddon Emperor can only access the Armageddon timeline, New “Emperor” can only access the New timeline, etc. News Emperor isn’t even referred to as “Emperor”, he is called “Saint Dragon” but he is STILL that universes Emperor due to having Ryoma as its “pilot” and possessing the ability to time travel.

Saint Dragon more or less combined the concept from the manga which was a completely different entity from Emperor, and merged the two. This solidifies every timeline has a different Emperor that doesn’t overlap, but more so getting the message across that MOST timelines led to this very outcome. Armageddon's Emperor is not the manga one, he bears resemblance to him but is clearly NOT him with these factors in mind.

The assumption that manga can dimension hop stems from little context of who this Emperor is due to Armageddon not providing much light as to why Emperor even IS, which is where this misconception started. The whole point of the Emperor at the end of Armageddon is to show what would happen in the future if they CONTINUED to use Getter Rays, much like what every other timeline shows it as. (Kei even saids “We will give up Getter Rays!” Near the end as she realizes they’re what draws the Invaders and even CREATED them.)

This is immediately after why it’s assumed Go team gets to live a happier life: The Getter Rays are gone. Shin Dragon is destroyed even if its corpses remain and Shin Getter is left inside of Valhalla, aka no longer in the present. This is the EXACT same narrative theme as New, just with less explanation and more up to interpretation.

TLDR: The message the OVAs tell is the Getter Rays need to eventually be removed from the timeline if the Getter starts to become sentient enough or it’ll lead to a catastrophic event in the future, those who chose to remain with the Getter but know if it’s evil fight a eternal war in the future just so that the present can remain peaceful. This parallels the manga theme of “the future can be changed by our actions' ' when it comes to the Emperor, except they are trapped in a pocket dimension connected to the future fighting off the enemies the Getter Rays attract, rather than fighting off Getter Emperor and risking their lives to prevent it from evolving. The connection here is the fight never ends for either side, they are just fighting a completely different battle, even though New is somewhere in between. (Fighting both his Emperor and the gods) 

I know someone is going to get mad at me writing this whole thing but I needed to get this off my chest cause HOLY FUCK-

[sylviegunpla]

Gunpla: Completed Collection of Minis: Part 5: The Rest: Gundam Wing, Endless Waltz, Evangelion, Amaim Warrior at the Borderline, Sakura Wars

The final set of minis! Only a few more to go! I feel like i just did the pokerap after writing up these blog entries. Anyway, the two images above are roughly contiguous in real life, just at slightly different scales (Heero Yuy on the left is right next to the Peach amiibo on the right)

MG Sandrock: Quatre Raberba Winner

Another figurine finished with nuln oil. Also i believe this was one of the last figures i painted before i started using the magnifying goggles. Still turned out pretty decent imo. And of course, we have a pilot figure!

And of course, we got some shots of him in the cockpit. Realizing you can see some hair and dust in these images, alas. Nothing i can do now to fix them (I mean, i'm not getting into photo editing just for that, i think it kind of tells the human story of the conditions these mechs sit in too: out for months collecting dust. These were even dusted off before i photographed them but i guess i wasn't as thorough as i could have been!) Anyway this kit is pretty neat, and will also someday maybe get its own post. More below the cut

HG WF-02 Shenlong Gundam: Chang Wufei

So this is a kit i do not own, but the figure was given to me by my friend's partner (who i believe i have now hung out with enough to also call a friend). They must have had this kit years ago. Anyway, i made the base stand myself again too! This figure was kinda interesting to paint. The dragon pattern on his tank top was actually part of the sculpt. That being said, it was really hard to match, and i wasn't yet using the magnifying goggles top assist. I did have aqueous gold paint however. And surprisingly, there was an ANCIENT color guide for this kit! I did the best i could to translate it and it seems like it was still using paints that Mr. Hobby still sells today. Or at least, close approximants. Small flub: the eyes are kinda asymmetrical. Also, the way i finished him was i gave him a semi-gloss coat, then masked over (broadly) the gold part of the shirt, and then finished him with a flat coat. That way the flat coat doesn't ruin the sheen of the gold paint. This was definitely a fun one to paint. A much larger scale than i was used to!

HG OVA EW-2 1/100 Wing Gundam 0 Custom: Heero Yuy

I DO own this kit (but pictures will NOT be forthcoming. Maybe one day. it's currently in "storage"). This was one of the first larger figures i painted. There was no color guide, so i had to take my best shot at mixing colors. so I mixed the paints using some of what was leftover from the PGU mini painting and from the Spiricle Striker Mugen figurine painting (i need to write a blog post about that, as it's vaguely relevant to these mini painting posts!) I hit this boy with some super clear gloss, panel lined, then flatcoated. Badda bing bada boom. I do not know what scale this guy is at, i could not find anywhere it's stated. I'd guess maybe 1/24?

HG Spiricle Striker Mugen (Claris Type): Clarissa "Claris" Snowflake

This whole kit deserves its own post, and tbh i didn't think i was gonna include it here, but then i mentioned it above and now here we are. She was painted in Fall 2023 but she turned out better than most of the minis. The eyes are Water Slide Decals though (which means i successfully applied water slides over a painted surface!) I followed the color guide pretty well but i wasn't really sure how to paint some of the details. I struggled with "detail loss" through the paint here, but i think i managed to make it appear as good as i am gonna make it in the end. I also primed her in White, which made the detail loss worse (because it seems the white primer pools as it dries moreso than gray primer). BTW, this is 1/24 scale

Moving on to planned figures for this post:

HGLM 003 Evangelion 00: Rei Ayanami & Gendou Ikari

These have been finalized since the last time i posted them, mostly by applying Flat Coats. Rei has been panel lined though, which her suit kinda needs. Gendou's outfit is already dark and doesn't really warrant panel lining imo. I suspect the scale here is 1/24 but i cannot confirm. Also, there was no color guide so once again i winged it. I think it turned out pretty okay for winging the palette! Also, i like and know things about Evangelion and i know Gendou needs to stay far away from Rei. i'm kind of appalled they put him in the same box as her!

Full Mechanics 1/48 MAILeS KENBU: Amou Shiiba

So i will admit, i know nothing about this series. "AMAIM Warrior at the Borderline" is what it's called apparently? BUt that's a weird localized title and its japanese name is just "Warrior Machines at the Borderline" when translated literally?) But this is the protagonist. This is another kit that i don't own, but my friend asked me to paint the minis for this kit. This particular standee is actually two peices. I painted them separately, then glued them together with tamiya extra thin, and then painted over the seams as best i could. TBF the camera angles hide the seams pretty well here, but i betcha can't tell! Anyway, since i don't actually own the model, i actually got to keep this standee! I think not panel lining this makes it look a lot cleaner. Also, i'm surprised the eyes came out as well as they did. He looks like he's looking off to the side a bit.

I also painted the cockpit pilot figure! So i got some photos when i brought the boy over to my friend's. Honestly this kit has some really cool poses and details and i kinda want one myself. I love that the stock of the gun fits into an open space on the arm, sometimes it's really hard to pose a gundam wielding a gun for this reason. I wound up digging through my friend's box of mixed plamo to find all the missing pieces for it, too, just so i could disassemble it to put Amou in. yes, the disassembly was NECESSARY to put him in. Believe me i tried otherwise lol. I'm glad i put in that work though! Now my friend's model kit has a little some extra special inside it and that makes me happy. This conclude my tour of all the minis i have painted over the 3/4 of a year. Wow! It's been a lot! I'm sure i'll come across more minis in the future (hell, i still need to paint that one Mystery Pilot Figure That I Think Is Kira Yamato!). When i do, i will probably cover them in future mega galleries grouped by "however many i can fit into a post at once". But i don't plan on buying any more plamo anytime soon, so at this point i'm at the mercy of people who want to give me more minis to paint. I'm sure I could scrounge up some from my friend, but finding them and/or extracting them would absolutely be more trouble than my friend is willing to put into displaying her models (currently). if you've taken the time to read through all my posts, thank you so much! This has been one of my biggest hyperfixations recently and i'm really happy to be able to put it all into a gallery and show others. I am here, and human, and shout into the void to prove i am alive.

[tellllaura]

Tell Laura

Becky Kill says: Just talking about you and it made us smile about the laughs we had. Thinking of you always. miss you xxx

Becky, school mate, New Malden says: Laura was anyone’s perfect child, really good at sport, really clever, always happy and although she was ill, I think she was one of the happiest people I know. Love her forever. You’re always in our minds. Laura love you. 

Laura you have been gone for over 2 moths now but I still find it hard to believe you have left us. You may not be in sight but you will always be in my heart from the day I met you and forever. School just isn’t the same while our not here. But I am sure you are happier where you are, because you are put out of this suffering wish you were. Love you.

Miss you 2222 much Laura. As soon as you get online, Whose name do you look for first?When a slow song comes on the radio,Whose face comes to your mind? by Becky Kill - | Miss you 2222 much

Natasha says: I really miss you. It’s not the same without you, even though we didn’t talk much I still feel there’s something missing. I always remember you walking into ‘Saturn’ with a big smile on you face. You are still a part of everyone’s lives in Saturn even though we can not see you, we still feel you and hear you. Lot’s of love Natasha.

Natasha Skliar-Ward, New Malden says: Laura was always happy and laughing her head off! I miss her loads… I was in her tutor group ‘Saturn’. I remember when we were in Room 52 (our old tutor group), there was a blue chair, which was for the teachers, but we all always wanted to sit on it. Laura would always be sitting there and all tried to get to it , but we never could :-). Laura was very popular. Everyone knew her. She always had this big smile on her face. I am sorry for your loss, but NO ONE WILL EVER FORGET HER !

Ivancica, Marko, Oliver, Katarina i Zeljko jaran says: Dear Laura, we miss you very much. You will be forever in our thoughts and in our hearts. You always knew how to make us smile. Knowing you gave us even more affection for children. I remember how happy we were when you started school and always laughing at your imitations and performances. We would love that you are with us now to share together happy moments with our own children.

  Draga Laurice, uvijek ces biti sa nama u mislima; veoma nam nedostajes. Uvijek si nam uljepsavala zivot i kroz tebe smo jos vise zavoljeli djecu. Voljela bih da si jos tu sa nama da dijelimo sretne trenutke sada kad i mi imamo djecu, kao sto smo bili sretni kad si ti krenula u skolu i tvoje prve imitacije. Nikada neces otici iz nasih srca. Vole te tvoji London, 30 Oct 2008. Richard, the Magician fr London says: In two hours I spent with Laura, I gained more enjoyment then in many years. It was like we shared magical moments together.

Olja auntie says: My only niece, my love, my beautiful doll, I miss your smile so much.A time has passed, but I still can not accept that you are not with us. Tears and time don’t help. Pain in my heart is even bigger.May the angels carry you on their wings. (Ljubavi tetkina, nedostaje mi tvoj osmeh. Lutko moja, zar je vec godina prosla? Tesko je prihvatiti da te nema. Suze i vreme ne pomazu. Neka te andjeli nose na krilima, duso tetkina! Da li ce ova tuga ikada proci? Strasno puno mi nedostajes. Spavaj s andjelima. Voli te tetka! Dani i meseci tako brzo prolaze, ali vreme ne pomaze. Velika tuga u mome srcu je jos teza i bolnija.)

Zvezdana, London says: Laura, my beautiful girl, I miss you my angels so much. Days and months are passing but I am stuck in place of sadness, stuck in time and memories. Look after each other… My dear Laura, it is hard to describe my longing for my little Luka and you. Words can’t express countless pages my soul in silence write for you both, letters that only we mothers can read in deepest part of our hearts. Our angels, we love you forever, you are always in our hearts!

Nikita Patel, New Malden says: Laura, it’s been over just a year since you’ve gone. I know that everyone is missing you loads. The School isn’t the same without you. I miss walking in the maths and seeing you sitting there with a big grin on your face. I was never close to you, but whenever I did talk to you, you could always make me smile. You’ll never be forgotten. r.i.p babe. love you xxx.

Bianca, Momentum, Kingston says: A year today Laura that you passed away. I have some wonderful memories of you that I will treasure. Your ever smiling eyes would lighten up with excitement if were talking about things. I know that we shared both happy and sad times together but the happy ones stay with me.

Rebecca, Kingston Vale says: I will miss you very much Laura and I will never forget you and the good times we had together at primary school. There isn’t a day when I think about you, and I will always have the memories of me and you, as I have a picture of us on my window still when we where in year six. Rest in peace! xxx

Aimee And Daraysa, Yr 11 Students At Coombe Girls School : Rest In Peace Laura We Didnt Really No You That Well But I Remember Talking To You Once At School. We Always Used To See You In School With A Beautiful Smile On Your Face! It Is A Very Sad Loss! We Were Very Shocked When We Heard The Terrible News! Rest In Peace Laura!

Abbie, Kingston says: I didnt know Laura that well, but I do know she was loved a lot at school! I also go to Coombe and where ever Laura went every one smiled!! Laura will always be in our hearts!!

 (Martha, New Malden)…We weren’t really friends, but I found this site it really brought tears to my eyes. It’s so sweet. We do miss you loads. Can’t believe you’re not in class anymore. Hannah, Kingston says: Laura it’s so hard to take in that your gone. I still can’t get over the fact that I will never see you again. I expect you to just walk into school with that massive smile on your face that you always had. I will never forget you Laura and you will always be in my heart. Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of love from Hannah, Kingston .

Karen Jenkins, Navesink, NJ says: May God bless and comfort you dear friend in grief. I, too, lost my child to death. A death unexpected but final. My prayers and comfort to you in this long hard road we travel.

Leila, London says: Hey Laura. We all miss you sooooo much. I’ve never lost anyone I know and it was quite hard for me because of it. Even though we didn’t talk much, when we did it was soo fun. Break will never be the same without you.

Lizzi, Gibraltar says: Hey Laura. I Cant Believe Your Gone….Nobody Even Told Me You Were Ill Coz You Know I’m Livin In Spain At The Moment And That Made It Hard For Me To Contact You…I Sent You A Few Letters When I First Moved Her And I Still Have The Letters You Sent To Me. Sometimes I Get The Feeling Your Watching Over.I Remember When I Was Still in Coombe Me And You Made That Graffiti Alphabet Up… and Your Tag Name Was Joker And Mine Was Band…. Ha ha….That Was In Chemistry. Well I Miss You Lotz Now & Forever!

**Tetka **says: BLAGOSLOV Blagoslovi ovo maleno srce, ovu nevinu dušu što je nebesa privolela da zemlji poljubac daju. Ona voli sjaj sun?eva svetla, ona voli lik svoje majke. Ona nije svikla da s prezirom na prašinu gleda, ni za zlatom da ?ezne. Prigrli je na svoje grudi i blagoslov joj daj. Ona je došla u ovu zemlju gde se stotinu raskršca racva. Ne znam zašto je baš tebe izabrala medj’ tolikim mnoštvom, na tvom pragu se obrela, za šaku te dohvatila, za put upitala. Ona ce te pratiti uz smeh i pricu i bez senke sumnje u srcu. cuvaj njeno poverenje, vodi je pravo i blagoslov joj daj. Položi šaku na njenu glavu i moli se da, iako talasi podnožju sve silniji prete, dašak s visina ipak sleti, da sobom ispuni njena jedra i odvede je u luku mira. Ne zaboravi na nju u svojoj hitnji, nek’ se u srcu tvom svije i blagoslov joj daj.

Becky, school mate, New Malden : Just a little poem form me to you, To say how much I will miss you, And how much I love you. These days its not the same. In school, out of school And around every corner I turn. We sit there in our lessons just waiting. Waiting and waiting ……But I guess we will be waiting a long time now. We don’t see you just walk through the door with that grin on your face. No more turning around in maths, No more putting the blame on Heather No more you? Just wish I could spend one more day with you, One more hour in your company, One minute will be one minute longer. It’s not fair that it had to be you, But I guess it was your time, You’re put out of your pain and suffering. Love you Laura And you will never be forgotten. I think about you everyday. I hug my pillow that you gave me for Christmas last year. 

Becky Kill, 2007: Take my hand we will make it I swear. When u hear your phone ringing who do you hope is calling. Whose name makes your stomach drop when u hear it. When you see her. It feels like your heart has just skipped a beat. Who is the person u miss so much. You would do anything to bring them back. Do u realise wt u r 2 me? What you are always going to be. You are the one I miss the most. Everyone else will always be my second best. There will never me another you. I miss u is that obvious. Love is when u miss sum1. As soon as they have left your side you cud listen to them talk all night. And never get tired of hearing there voice. When the sound of her name. Sends chills down your spine. When you imagine her face, the second you close your eyes. I love you. I’m going to miss you forever. I cant stop missing her and I never will. Once upon a time A bad thing happened 2 me………..It was the day u left me xx Trust me we I say……………..I miss u because……..I mean it. 

[a-room-of-my-own]

A while before the latest hoo-ha about Judith Butler, I had just been reading her again. Though she claims her critics have not read her, this simply isn’t the case. I read Gender Trouble when it first came out and it was important at the time . That time was long,long ago. She was just one of the many ‘post-structuralist’ thinkers I was into. I would trip off to see  Luce Irigaray or Derrida whenever they appeared.

I got an interview  with Baudrillard and tried to sell it to The Guardian but they  didn’t know who he was so its fair to say I was fairly immersed in that world of theory.  For a while, I had a part time lecturing job so I had to keep on top of it. Though Butler’s idea of gender as performance was not new , it was interesting.  RuPaul said it so much more clearly in a  quote nicked from  someone else “Honey ,we are born naked, the rest is drag”

What I was looking for again , I guess is not any clarity – her writing is famously and deliberately difficult-  but whether there was ever any sense of the material body. She wrote herself in 2004 “I confess however I am not a very good materialist. Every time I try to write about the body, the writing ends up being about language” . 

Butler from on high ,cannot really think about the body at all which is why they (Butler’s chosen pronoun) are now the high priestess of a particular kind of trans ideology.  The men who worship Butler are not versed in high theory. The fox botherer had a “brain swoon” at some very ordinary things Butler said. Mr Right Side of history nodded along in an interview. Clearly neither of these men are versed in any of this philosophy and would be better off sticking to tax law and the decline of the Labour Party. Butler is simply a totem for them.

Butler said in the Guardian interview for instance  “Gender is an assignment that does not just happen once: it is ongoing. We are assigned a sex at birth and then a slew of expectations follow which continue to “assign” gender to us.”

So yeah? That’s a fairly basic view of the social construction of gender though I take issue with the assigned at birth thing ,which I will come back to and why I started reading her again in the first place.

This phrase “Assigned sex at birth” is now common parlance but simply does not make sense  to me. I am living with someone who is pregnant. I have given birth three times and been a birthing  partner. I know where babies come from. There is a deep disconnect here between language and reality which no amount of academic jargon can obliterate. 

Babies  come from bodies. Not any bodies but bodies that have a uterus. They grew inside a woman’s body until they  get pushed out or dragged out into the world. 

The facts of life that we are now to be liberated from in the form of denial. Only one sex can have babies but we must now somehow not say that. The pregnant “people” of Texas will now be forced into giving birth to children they don’t want because they are simply “host bodies”. The language of patriarchal supremacy and that of some of the trans ideologues is remarkably close, as is their biological ignorance.

There is no foetal heatbeat at six weeks for instance. When a baby is born , doctors and midwives do not randomly assign a sex, they observe it and they do it though genitalia. 

There is a question over a tiny percentage of babies ,less that one percent with DSDs but even then they are sexed with doctors having  difficult conversations with parents about what may happen later.

Somehow, though when I read the way in which this is now all discussed it is clear to me that the people talking have never been pregnant, never had a foetal scan, never been near a birth , never miscarried, do not understand that even with a still birth babies are still sexed and often named. 

If you want to know the sex of your baby you can pay privately and know at 7 weeks ((*49-56 days from the first day of the mother’s last menstrual cycle). A 12 week scan will show it. That is why so many female foetuses are aborted . I have reported on this. 

Talking to paediatricians about this is interesting because they do indeed have to think through these things that we are being told are not real eg. that sex is just a by-product of colonialism for instance.  Sometimes pre-conception , geneticists will be looking at chromosomes because certain diseases are more likely in men or women. Males have a higher risk of haemophilia for instance.  

One doctor told me “When babies are premature, the survival advantage of females over males is well known throughout neonatology. This is sometimes something we talk about with parents when there is threatened premature labour around 23 weeks' gestation and options to discuss about resuscitation and medical interventions. In fertility treatment (or counselling around fertility in the context of medical treatments) it is pretty inherent to know whether we need to plan around sperm, or ova + pregnancy.”

She also said that if she involved in a birth that “assigning” isn’t the word she world use. “Observed genitals a highly reliable observation, just like measuring weight or head circumference which is also done at this time. “ Another doctor said that anyone involved with a trans man giving birth  would be doing the best for the patient in front  of them. 

Sex then is biological fact. A female baby will have all the eggs she will ever have when she is first born which is kind of amazing. It is not bio-essentialist to say that our sexed bodies are different nor is it transphobic to recognise it.

Except of course in my old newspaper ,The Guardian who are now so hamstrung by their  own ideology they have got their knickers in such a twist they can barely walk.  They completely misreported the WiSpa incident , basically ignored the Sonia  Appleby  judgement at the Tavistock. Appleby was a whistle blower ,a respected professional concerned with safe guarding. She won her case. The cherry on the cake this week was an interview with Butler, themselves (?) in which they went on about Terfs being fascists and needing to extend the category of women.

Does anyone EVER stop to think that most gender critical women are of the left, supporters of gay rights, often lesbian and that this is not America? We are not in bed with the far right. This is bollocks. Just another way to dismiss us.  

As we watch Afghanistan and Texas ,to say Butler’s words were tone deaf is to say the least. But they didn’t even have the guts to keep the most offensive stuff in the piece and overnight edited it out without really explaining why : the bits where Butler described gender critical people as fascist. Perhaps because the person their “reporters” had  defended against  transphobia at WiSpa turned out to be a known sex offender,  perhaps because someone pointed out that Butler was throwing around the word fascist rather like Rik Mayall used to do in the Young Ones. 

All of this is rather desperate and readers deserve better. When I left that newspaper I said that I thought and expected editors to stand up for their writers in public. Instead they go into some catatonic paralysis. I may have not liked this interview but it should never have been cut. Stand by what you publish or your credibility is shot.

But this is about more than Judith Butler and their refusal to support women . Butler is not really any kind of feminist at all. What this is about is the large edifice of trans ideology  crumbling when any real analysis is applied. Yes, I have read Shon Faye’s book and there are some interesting points in it and I totally agree that the lives of trans people should be easier and health care better . I have never said anything but that.

What Faye does in the book is say that there can be no trans liberation under capitalism so there will be a bit of a wait I suspect. 

Yet surely it is the other way round and what we are seeing is that trans ideology (not trans people – I am making a distinction here ) represent the apex of capitalism .

For it means that the individual decides their own gendered essence and then spends a fortune on surgery and a lifetime on medication to achieve the appearance of it. Of course lots of people spend a lifetime  on medication but not out of choice.  Marx understood very well that the abolition of our system of production would free up women.

Now it is all about freeing up men. Who say they are women. Quelle surprise.  

 Nussbaum’s famous take down of Butler is premised exactly on the sense of individual versus collective struggle “ The great tragedy in the new feminist theory in America is the loss of a sense of public commitment. In this sense, Butler’s self-involved feminism is extremely American, and it is not surprising that it has caught on here, where successful middle-class people prefer to focus on cultivating the self rather than thinking in a way that helps the material condition of others. “

Such thinking now dominates academia. There is simply an unquestioning  rehearsal of something most of know not to be true thus Amia Srinivasan writes in The Right to Sex  “At birth, bodies are sorted as ‘male’ or ‘female’, though many bodies must be mutilated to fit one category or the other, and many bodies will later protest against the decision that was made. This originary division determines what social purpose a body will be assigned.”

What does ‘sorted’ mean here? A tiny number of intersex babies are born. A tiny number of people are trans and decide to change their bodies. The feminist demand to challenge gender norms without mutilating any one’s body no longer matters. What matters now is this retrograde return  to some gendered soul. This is not something any decent Marxist would have any truck with . Of course one may change over a lifetime and of course gender is never ‘settled.’ We are complex people who inhabit bodies that often don’t work or appear as we want them to.

But not only is there a denial of basic Marxism going on here , what becomes ever more apparent is  that there is a denial of motherhood. Butler said “Yet gender is also what is made along the way – we can take over the power of assignment, make it into self-assignment, which can include sex reassignment at a legal and medical level.”

Self-assignment is key . One may birth oneself. No longer of woman born but self -made. This is a theoretical leap but it also one that has profound implications for women as a sex class. We are really then, just the  host bodies to a new breed of people who self-assign.

Maybe that is the future although look around the word and there isn’t a lot of self-assignment going on. There are simply women shot and beaten in the street, choked to death or having  their rights taken  away. There is no identifying out of this , there is no fluidity here . This is not discourse. It is brutality and do we not have some responsibility to other women to confront male violence ?

Instead the hatred is aided and abetted by so called philosophers describing  other women as Terfs. It is utterly depressing.

The sexed body. The pregnant body. The dying body. The body is in trouble when we can’t talk about it . I thought of Margaret Mary O’Hara’s  beautiful and  strange lyrics and what they might mean. I await my child’s return from the hospital as hers is a difficult pregnancy and thank god they are on the case. The sex of the child she carries does not matter to me at all .

It simply exists. Not in language but within a body. 

Why is that so difficult to acknowledge? 

[nikadoesanart]

My predictions on BSD getting animated going forward

I’ll be taking a look at the novel page counts (Japanese and English) and comparing them to the screen time they’ve gotten so far and then using this to predict how long the remaining light novel adaptations will be (approximately). At the end will also be my rough prediction/hopes for the order of some of these being adapted. I say some because I have yet to read what there is so far of the gaiden novel translations, the main story manga has essentially still been on the DOA arc almost since where the anime left off, and I personally think that it’s currently too soon for Storm Bringer (aside from money purposes).

Note, most of this was written well before the anime 5th anniversary livestream but the announcements wound up not affecting it. I then of course made adjustments as needed account for the novel content we do have so far, both in Japanese and in English (officially).

Page to Episode Count

Not counting the afterward, ads, etc for the English/US copy, Japanese is including it

Also all eng page counts are using the Yen Press release and jp page counts are taken from the fandom wiki

*148 is purely counting the Untold Origins portion of the novel. If we also count the A Day at the Agency short story that’s included before it (56 pages), then we get the full 203

Also the English page count for BEAST was noted before the English release date but after page counts have been posted by affiliated retailers, so subtract a couple pages from the written count of 176 for the time being to account for the afterward and possible character sheets being included

Now that we have our page to episode counts (as of April 5th, 2021), let’s find the actual content run time of what we do have animated so far.

Seasons 1-3 and the OVA all have the same episode length/duration. Each episode is 23 minutes, and we can subtract 3 minutes on average from that to account for the OP and ED being played. This leaves us with an average of 20 minutes of BSD story content per episode. So on average, each of the first 3 seasons contain 240 minutes, or 4 hours, worth of story content.

Dead Apple’s total run time is 91 minutes, with the OP and ED making up 9 of those minutes. However, we do have a bit of the story content being played while the ED is playing (as sometimes happens in the anime as well). To keep the math simple, I’ll be approximating story content time at 82 minutes.

Apply these numbers to the novels that have been animated so far and this is (approximately) what we get:

Now let’s use these numbers to predict the screen time needed for the other novels

Note that we can’t really use Entrance Exam as a fair measure because of how much got cut out (just compare the run time of it to Dark Era and it speaks for itself). However, the numbers for Dark Era and Dead Apple are the best ones to use, as they both have minimal changes between anime and novel and both have official English translations currently available. Take out the approximate time taken up by OP/ED and and the numbers pretty much match up.

So with that being said, we can estimate Untold Origins (only) at approximately 3 eps/60 min and 55 Minutes at 1h 40-55min/100-115 min or 5-6 eps if it doesn’t get a movie. We can also estimate the A Day at the Detective Agency short story at the beginning of Untold Origins to take up about 1 ep, probably even a bit less.

1+ 3 + 5-6 = 9-10 episodes which isn’t enough for a full single cour season unless they all get put into one big OVA season, but also 10-11 eps (or less) seasons are a thing (ie. Fugou Keiji: Balance Unlimited, Blood Lad, Black Butler: Book of Circus, The Seven Deadly Sins: Signs of a Holy War, FLCL)

My personal predictions/hopes for the anime adaptation timeline going forward

This is considering the manga content, current “pausing/stopping points” what wouldn’t be too awkward, each of the novels relevancy/necessity to the main story manga, and assuming we continue with single cour (12-13 ep) seasons

Hopefully/ideally a 55 Minutes movie

S4: ch 54-70

Early S5 (preferably) or end of S4: Untold Origins or A Day at the Agency

S5: ch 71-88/around where we are now?

A Day at the Agency can, in my opinion at least, be chucked in at any point either as a single episode OVA or as the light novel content for s4 (maybe not even taking a full episode and then starting ch 54 in the last few minutes for example). Keep in mind that the current DOA arc is a long one and has plenty to it, so personally I think it may even be better to not include a novel adaptation in a future S4, as it would likely already be a right squeeze content wise. Remember, we also have a few XX.5 chapters that are continuations of the chapter directly before them.

I still need to read what’s currently available of the gaiden novel fan translations but it can probably be adapted at any point as well. I’m estimating approximately 5-6 eps as an OVA series. I don’t really think it would get a movie, partially because you can make it only so long, especially since it’s an anime movie and unlike Storm Bringer, it doesn’t have Chuuya to practically guarantee the profit.

BEAST also doesn’t directly impact the main story and can be adapted at virtually any point. However, seeing as we do have a live action confirmed for it and it’s page count lines up very closely with Dark Era, it can be either 4 eps or (more likely in my opinion) a movie, as it can be considered almost stand alone content.

Personally, I believe it is currently way too soon to animate Storm Bringer as it came out only a little over a month ago (as of writing this) and has minimal plot necessity as of ch 91, but I do believe it should be either split into 2 movies (a part 1 and part 2) or it would need 8 episodes, likely as an OVA season. If it were to get animated sooner than 55 Minutes or Untold Origins, which I believe to be very unlikely, I feel that it would almost certainly be driven by the financial gains of Chuuya being included, and his popularity alone. Reminder, SB is about Chuuya and not SKK. Dazai’s appearance in SB is proportionally a very small percentage and he’s not even mentioned in the official plot summary.

However, you can argue that SB is starting to have some relevance now, with the recent mention of the Order of the Clock Tower in ch 90 and the increased relevance of sealed ability weapons in ch 91. However, I really do believe that you can’t adapt Storm Bringer before 55 Minutes because of Standard Island and its treaty, it also talks about sealed ability weapons, knowing who Wells is, and 55 Minutes canonically takes place during the “downtime” portion of S3. In fact, here’s Asagiri’s words directly from the Afterward (translation by Yen Press):

“this volume didn’t take place in the past, but rather sometime after the tenth volume of the manga. In other words, it’s a tale about the ‘usual’ detective agency in novel format.” (55 minutes, p 237)

Untold Origins also should be adapted sooner rather than later (at least compared to SB in my opinion) because it’s about Ranpo and Fukuzawa’s shared past, which becomes increasingly relevant ch 70 onwards, as well as the need for the ADA being founded (which ties in with Yosano’s backstory in ch 65-66).

In regards to whether I think each of these would be better suited to a movie adaptation or as multiple regular length anime episodes, it’s mainly due to page count and partly due to the budget difference between the two, as well as how difficult I think it would be to animate each of these based on what needs to be drawn. The anime industry isn’t the fastest to switch to newer technology, hence why we see issues with 3D blending sometimes. I really do think that at the very least, 55 Minutes deserves the movie budget because of how detailed and complex the architecture of Standard Island is described as, as well all the mechanical parts needed for the final battle of the novel. Hate the lizard mouths introduced in Dead Apple all you want, but you can’t deny that the 3D cgi was blended very smoothly. For any of the other novels to be movies, it’s more so because gaiden and BEAST can be considered their own stand alone stories that don’t rely too heavily on the main story in terms of when they take place and get adapted. I feel that SB is more likely to get its own season or an OVA season more so due to its length, but multiple part anime movies have also been done before (ie. the Fate/Stay Night: Heaven’s Feel movies), so it’s not entirely impossible. Especially considering that merely having any Chuuya screen time means that you can expect the profit and popularity to really go up, especially with SKK being on screen together (regardless of whether you love or hate how the fandom tends to push a shipping POV on them).

These are all of course just my hopes and predictions and estimates based on information currently available, so take them with some salt. I’d love to hear opinions on how, when, and why each of the currently non animated novels should be adapted going forward. Also please stop begging the relevant BSD official Twitter pages for SB to be animated next and go read the other light novels you Chuuya simp

[thunderheadfred]

🤚The Second Worst (Pt. 1/?)🤚

Part 2 of my Shigaraki Thesis Headcanons. HC's // The Second Worst: 1 - 2

The half-mad ghost of Shimura Tenko is in love with you, and your life is about to become a tragic wreck. -- AKA here's when I gave up on bullet points and went off the fuckin rails

I'm self-conscious about writing so much, so uhhhh, please be kind, hahaaa. This is rather long and involved. Are these still even HCs or just a self-indulgent AU outline? There are some mysteries we may never solve.

This is on AO3 now, if you prefer reading there. Anyway. Minors do not interact.

- - - - -

You met Tenko before the League existed.

Believe it or not, there are a million ways it might have happened, but in the end: you were both bargain-binning in Akihabara.

You reached for a copy of a collectible bullet-hell cute-'em-up (near-mint! CIB!!!) and accidentally bonked hands with a complete stranger. He flinched about five million feet away from you. Ouch. You're just a nobody, quirkless and average, but you didn't think you were THAT repulsive.

(You're not. Hell, even if you were, this guy couldn't care less. He barely registers that you have a face.)

(Shigaraki is accustomed to getting in and out of this shop in seconds. He always comes in before anyone else and goes straight home. -- Is that really home? Is 'home' a real place? -- ANYWAY he's already pirated this shit, god, why does he even care? He doesn't need to be here. Father doesn't like it. Is that why he's here? Just to do something Father doesn't like? That's pathetic.)

He's had at least ten complete internal arguments with himself before he so much as looks at you.

You know in the tenth of a second he actually meets your eyes... this fucker is going to fight you to the death over this game.

- - - The death match ends in a draw. He was not expecting you to know the first fucking thing about this game. Nobody knows about it, even in Japan. Who the fuck do you even think you are? Oh, no, he's still taking it. But... maybe he can show you how to play it it. He'll give you a little taste, just to make you jealous. He's got his hoodie pulled down like he's going to commit an act of terrorism. What little you can see of his face looks twitchy and messed up. If you have any survival instincts at all, they're kicking in right about now. But... why not. You're not going anywhere with this dude unsupervised, so you suggest a crowded web cafe down the street. The cafe has the necessary console... but the retro gaming booth is laughably small. The TV is about four inches across and you end up having to practically sit in his lap. You were sure this guy was a nasty fucking creep, but he's................ only mostly terrible. Way too angry, for sure. Has no idea how to have a normal, friendly conversation. Inadvertently insults you every other sentence and seems to have a deep-seated persecution complex.

You'd prefer to be mad about the awful company, but... he's obviously deprived of human contact. When it's established that you two share a lot of media fixations, he calms down and starts treating you a little more like a human being. Or at least like a fellow elite.

Wherever he came from, he doesn't seem to want to go back. He keeps pushing you to play one more level, pretending he wants to beat your score. You feel kinda bad for him. You get the distinct feeling that his life is a disaster. He looks like he's never had a full night of sleep in his life. He trips your trigger hairs in that 'is he gonna follow me home?' kind of way, but... up close, he's a lot more depressing than scary. At the very least, you want to buy him a stupidly cute dessert. Just... as thanks. For letting you try out the game and stuff. It's not a big deal, so just pick a flavor, okay? The world isn't actually that awful, y'know.

It's not even that impressive... Definitely not a great cafe. But he takes practically a full hour to eat a single slice of strawberry cake.

When the hoodie comes down. He's all shriveled and dried out, like someone left him him in the desert to die. He chews on his peeling bottom lip and nervously scratches his neck. He doesn't thank you for the cake. Which is fine. It's not a big deal. Actually, you wish he would eat faster; you feel weirdly responsible for him now.

Under all that mess he's... gorgeous? His hair is stunning: a bright, gleaming silver that catches the light. His bone structure is flawless. If it weren't for all the scars and the misanthropic slouch, he'd look like a fairy fucking prince.

You were not prepared for that. In another life he could have been a model, the type of guy who would never even look at you. But something bad happened to him. Something... very bad. Do you even want to know? You have no idea how to ask. Has anyone ever been nice to him? It doesn't seem like it. Should YOU be nice to him? You sort of want to try. - - - This becomes a regular thing. This weird little secret. You should probably tell someone when you see him, just in case you don't come back one day, but you say nothing; how the hell would you explain why you want to see him so bad? You don't know his full name. Maybe he's on a watch list. When he gives you a long string of random numbers so you can schedule meet-ups (is THAT his e-mail, really?) he tells you to just... call him Tenko. Or whatever. It doesn't matter. (He sneaks out when Father is deep in his plots. As long as he comes home on time, it doesn't really matter where he goes, right?) He brings a different game every time. He has an insane collection. Where does he get the money for all this? You know he doesn't work. God, is it drugs? It's probably drugs. Wherever these hidden gems came from, he proudly shows them off to you, like he's never had an audience before. It's sort of cringe-inducing, the way he one-ups and rubs every little victory in your face, desperate for attention.

But at the same time, you are becoming too... something...to mind. Do you... like him? He's not funny, but he thinks you are. His mouth is huge when he laughs. He seems to hate everyone but you, and you've had to earn the distinction of being merely tolerable. Still, he gets really excited about random shit like the garage kit black market and haunted dolls and the price of weed on the dark web.

And... strawberry cake. The realization hits you both at the same time when the waitress brings one piece with two forks. God, what the fuck, are you... are you dating? Quick, think. You look forward to seeing him, and don't even mind sitting close to him anymore. Sometimes you push your leg up against him just to see if he'll still flinch away... and he doesn't.

You jealously notice the way he touches everything but you: with delicate precision, one finger at a time. His large, elegant hands always have a pinky up like he's aspiring for a fiefdom, and you wonder what his skin feels like. You go home and dwell on the way he plucks flowering weeds out of the pavement in front of the cafe. The way he stands rooted to the spot as you leave, just... looking at nothing, unsmiling.

You watch his lips too much, and not just because you want to buy him chapstick. You catch him gaping at you all the time. You thought he was just creepy like that, but maybe... Yeah. I guess you are dating him. Shit. - - - Okay, so, yeah. Bringing him back to your place was definitely a bad idea. You know you shouldn't trust him, even if he is... apparently... your boyfriend? Sort of? You still don't have his phone number. So. Um. What now? You order overpriced pizza and queue up a campy horror movie. What the fuck are you even doing. You don't really think he's going to murder you anymore, but... still. Is the suburban massacre scene gonna give him ideas? Turns out, no. He doesn't like gore, even when the blood is neon pink. He gets upset. Like, really upset. Shaky and green, like he might puke on you. He can't stop scratching that scaly spot on his neck.

Tenko, are you crying? Fucking hell, did you just trigger him? Of course he has a traumatic past, it's carved all over his face. You're so fucking stupid. You don't know how to make it right. You want to hug him, kiss him... anything. But he's never really touched you, and you're too afraid to push now. It ruins the whole night. He leaves without explaining anything. Doesn't even say goodbye. He just. Leaves. Maybe you'll never see him again. Maybe that's for the best. Your chest hurts. - - - He shows up at your door a few weeks later. You haven't heard from him since that disastrous movie night. You had pretty much accepted that you'd broken up with a boyfriend you never actually had. But no. Apparently not.

This time, he’s brought his own entertainment. He's holding a boxed set of some show you're not familiar with. You're distracted by these weird little half-gloves he's wearing, like a cyberpunk hacker. That's a new look, and even if it's a bit edgelord adjacent, he makes it look cool. You tell him as much. It's the first time you've let on how attractive you find him. He's wearing a tight black shirt with a deep, deep V-neck. That's distracting too.

He clears his slender throat and doesn't look at you.

You try to apologize for before, but he's acting like it never happened. What are you even talking about? Have you seen this OVA or not? Get out of the way and let him in already. You've watched three episodes now, but you still have no idea what this stupid anime is about. You can't pay attention to a single frame. All you can think about is how his arm has crept up behind your shoulders. A few inches more and he'll be holding you. Does he... want to hold you? You lean toward him so slowly your spine creaks. One molecule at a time. After a thousand years, your head slides nervously under his chin. His arm comes down, locking you in, fingers clutching your sleeve in a death grip. Even that snobby little pinky. His head tucks down into you hair. A sharp collarbone bites into your cheek. His heartbeat is hard, fast, and irregular. There's not a scrap of fat on him, and as you wrap your arm around his stomach, you think you see a twitch in his pants. Is that just you being desperate? Or... hopeful? This is really happening. --- Soon, you learn that Tenko is a clumsy kisser. It doesn't matter; the fact that he's kissing you at all is good enough for now. His lips are dry, but not half as dry as you expected. There's a slick of menthol helping things along; he's been using something medicated on his lips. Plus, his mouth tastes like he drank a gallon of mouthwash.

All this thrills you more than a little, because it means he came here wanting to impress you. Wanting you. Full stop. Underneath that minty sting is a strange, worrisome aftertaste, like something rotten. Your brain fires off an alarm. Stop kissing him. Right now. This thing will make you sick. But his hands nervously slide over your body... and you decide not to worry about it. Instead, you kiss him deeper. He makes a sweet, startled little noise. Your brain is a fucking liar. It occurs to you he's probably never done this before.

When you lace your fingers in his and try to pull one of his gloves off, he rips his hand away.

Don't. That’s the only explanation he gives.

No need to ask if it's a quirk thing or a trauma thing. Judging by how jittery he gets, it's probably both. You remember the way his hands almost float over objects without ever holding them. Maybe his touch is dangerous. Maybe that's why his face looks like that.

Maybe you should learn more about him before things go way too far...

No. It can't be that bad. Now that he's in your arms, everything frightening about him evaporates. He's vulnerable. He's alone. He's shaking a little. Has anyone else ever seen this side of him? You want to keep him all to yourself, just like this.

So what if he has to touch you with gloves on? You've heard of worse quirk-related inconveniences.

It's okay, Tenko. Do you want to keep going?

You put his hands back on you and wait for him to kiss you again. It doesn't take long.

---

You open his pants. He's long and thin, calloused even here. Every part of him feels untouched, unloved. You hold him tight and squeeze.

It doesn't seem to occur to him to please you in return. He looks afraid. Confused. You're sure you scared him earlier with the glove thing. Is this too much? No. He gasps and leans into you. The tiniest, broken please.

He cums in your hand right away, face buried in your shoulder, his eyes wet and hidden.

I have to go, he says. Over and over and over.

It's okay, Tenko.

You know he doesn't want to.

- - - - - (oops I wrote more)

[tracingdreams]

Zeno and Taejun: What the Yona Anime misses.

I’ve been rewatching Yona with the view to rereading the manga, as a change of pace while avoiding the Inajitsu game because I’m a coward.

And it strikes me that if you only ever watched the Yona anime, you’d completely miss the value of two characters in particular – Zeno and Taejun.

True, Zeno does have his (beautifully acted, thank you Shimono Hiro) origin OVA, which charts the chapters from a later point out of sequence from where the anime ends. But the anime ends around vol 7-8, whereas at the time of writing there are 36 or 37 volumes of manga in print. That’s a LOT of manga, srsly.

Both Zeno and Taejun do appear in the anime, but, Zeno’s OVA aside, I’m not sure it does either of them justice. Below the cut contains spoilers for the manga, please read at own risk.

Although Zeno is introduced at the end of the anime, there’s very little opportunity to get to know him. His random appearance in the camp makes it seem like a contrived or rushed ending to make sure they find him before they run out of episodes – in fact I have seen someone suggest that. But Zeno’s appearance at the camp is not random in the slightest, and makes perfect sense once his origins and his dragon power are revealed some several chapters later. Zeno did not just stumble into their camp, he was following them. And he waited for them for two thousand years, through the trauma of his experiences, still knowing that they will all one day also leave him behind.

The tragedy of the other dragons is the fragility of their lives. The tragedy of Zeno’s is the exact opposite. Zeno can die for Yona a thousand times, and suffer every moment of it – but he cannot die. All he can do is watch those around him leave him. When you know that, looking back on the scenes at the end of the anime, they carry a different resonance.

The existence of the animated OVA does help to paint that picture for people who haven’t read the manga, but it is yet to be licensed.

The other character I mentioned is Kang Taejun. Frankly, the anime does Taejun no favours whatsoever. You see the worst of his character in those episodes – his flirting with Yona, his desire to kill Hak, his defiance of orders that leads to Hak and Yona going off the cliff. But…that really isn’t who Taejun is, and in fact, the arc immediately after the end of the anime goes a long way towards showing us that. Taejun’s genuine grief at Yona’s apparent death is a big part of that growth, as is his accidental discovery that she is still alive. It’s hard to believe if you only watch the anime, but Taejun goes on to become one of Yona’s stalwart allies, and it’s impossible not to become fond of him. 

(He’s also hilarious, and a great foil for his very serious older brother).

The moral of this story is, the Yona anime needs a second season. And a third. And a fourth. But failing that, it needs everyone to read the manga. The anime is great. But it only goes so far. And, frankly, it ends in an odd place given the opening. The battle scene that appears at the very start seems to relate to the invasion from Kai, which is indeed in the manga – but the anime never gets to the point of connecting those dots. It’s little wonder that it’s left a lot of people confused…

[merry-kuroo]

My Top 10 Anime of 2021 (Non-Seasonal)

This year has been amazing and beyond stressful. While making this list, I could pinpoint what animes I was watching while I was in graduate school in Wales, and what I was watching when I came back to the U.S. to work on my dissertation. I actually ended up rewatching animes or watching older ones because it gave me comfort.

Despite how tumultuous this year has been, I was still able to watch some incredible shows and it really helped me get through lockdown when I was alone in my flat and uncertain about the future.

So, I hope you can find something great to watch next year too 🥰

1.) Fate/Zero

No cap 🧢🔥

This is the best anime I’ve ever seen in my life.

Like I started having anime burnout after finishing Fate/Zero because I knew deep in my heart that no other anime would ever compare to this one.

2.) Gakuen Babysitters

This was the first anime I watched in 2021. I wanted to watch something happy and light after being put in lockdown again.

This is honestly the cutest anime I’ve ever seen in my life. Like...I had a warm fuzzy feeling after watching every episode. This show definitely needed a season 2.

And hell I’ll admit it. I had baby fever after watching this 😂😂 That shows how much the show got to me.

3.) World Trigger

This anime has such a unique concept and I can’t believe it’s not talked about more! I’ve had World Trigger on my watch list since I was in high school, and I finally decided to watch it back in August. I quickly fell in love with this show, and I’m so glad that it got a second and third season! I will definitely be reading the manga from now on.

Please go watch World Trigger! It has amazing characters and awesome openings 😉 You’ll want to binge watch it too!

4.) Bungou Stray Dogs

I rewatched Bungou Stray Dogs because I was writing a fanfic for it and I needed to reacquaint myself with the characters and the setting. I totally forgot how much I enjoyed this show, and I’m very excited for season four! 🥰

5.) Kimi ni Todoke

This was another anime I wanted to rewatch! I never finished season 2 because I think I was irritated with Sawako and Kazehaya lmao. I always felt bad for never finishing it, so I decided this year it was time to watch it again.

Kimi ni Todoke is one of my favorite romance animes, and I just love seeing the natural progression of Sawako and Kazehaya’s relationship. They’re like the sweetest couple, and watching them slowly fall for each other made me very happy ❤❤

6.) Bleach

BLEACH TYBW LET’S GOOOOOOO! 🔥🔥🔥

I couldn’t believe that Bleach was getting its final arc animated! So, of course I had to rewatch the anime in order to reacquaint myself with the series. It really hit me with nostalgia. Like I wish I could go back to those days where I watched Bleach on Toonami every Saturday night (2009 Toonami hit different 🥺).

Rewatching Bleach has given me a new appreciation for the show, and the characters. When I was younger, I only cared about Ichigo and a couple of other characters. Now, I’m really invested in the other characters too (like the Captains). I hope I can finish my rewatch before October!

7.) Monster

Okay, so I haven’t finished Monster yet (no spoilers!) I hope to finish it in January or February!

This is such a good thriller/psychological anime! The premise intrigued me and each episode left me wondering what was going to happen next. Dr. Tenma is a cool guy, but I hate that he’s burdened with this.

I'm really worried about him tbh 👀

8.) Given Movie

The Given Movie was great and it gave me a new insight into the character’s relationships with one another. It hurt seeing the toxic relationship Akihiko and Ugetsu had, but I couldn’t help bawling like a baby when they broke up for good.

“Bye Bye, Akihiko” just hit different, ya know? 😭💔💔💔💔

Overall, I really enjoyed it and the new song Mafuyu performed was amazing. I love that the OVA gave us a acappella version of it too.

I’m definitely going to read the manga next year!

9.) One Piece

I was on a “Wow, One Piece is too long and it’s not even that good!” tour for three years, then all of a sudden nostalgia hit and I was like “Well, maybe I can at least finish the Alabasta Arc!”.

So, yeah, I don’t know what I was smoking back in 2018...but One Piece is pretty good. I finished the Alabasta Arc, and I really appreciated the character designs...and the characters themselves. They were all really unique. Some new mysteries were brought up after the Alabasta Arc, and I’m very interested in Nico Robin, so I guess I’ll have to keep watching now 😅

I’m going to start watching the Sky Island Arc next year, and we’ll go from there.

10.) Boruto: Naruto Next Generation

I have a love/hate relationship with Boruto, but the Kawaki Arc was really good. The animation and fights were amazing. It was just nice to see some manga canon content 🥲

[lilydalexf]

Old School X is a project interviewing X-Files fanfic authors who were posting fic during the original run of the show. New interviews are posted every Tuesday.

Interview with MustangSally

MustangSally has 33 stories at Gossamer. Even if you haven’t read it, you’ve probably heard of at least one of them, Iolokus, since it’s an X-Files fanfic classic. All her fics hit big and are well worth your time. I’ve recced some of my favorites here before, including And Dance by the Light of the Moon, All the Children are Insane, and Iolokus. Big thanks to MustangSally for doing this interview.

What's the story behind your pen name?

I could tell you but then I would have to kill you.

Does it surprise you that people are still interested in reading your X-Files fanfics and others that were posted during the original run of the show (1993-2002)?

Yes and no. Yes, because life has moved on since the early nineties and the characters and the fans are in vastly different places now. Our current tech would make the premise of the X-Files impossible. No, because of the longevity of some of the Star Trek TOS work (there’s an archive of hard copy fanzines at the University of Iowa). Top-drawer authors started out in TOS fandom.

I’m just greatly saddened that my physical body is showing wear and tear while the fic doesn’t. Fic gets to stay smooth-skinned and muscular, captured at the peak of perfection.

What do you think of when you think about your X-Files fandom experience? What did you take away from it?

At the risk of sounding atrociously trite, I think of the friends I made.  I met some very remarkable women that I’ve been able to stay friends with online for over twenty-five years.  We may have moved to Facebook and post entirely too much about our pets and which of our body parts has sagged this week, but we’re friends.  It’s a furiously funny, feminist, and well-educated group of women with jobs in the highest levels of academia, finance, communications, and media.  I’m amused by the fact that if I have a question about how a virus replicates, I can ask a PhD I’ve been drunk with in Las Vegas.

Back in the day, I had a job that sent me traveling around major cities in the US and UK. I could post on a message board and within ten minutes there were people I could go out for dinner and drinks with. We already knew we had something we could talk about for at least a couple of hours. Additionally, most of these people were women so there was an added level of security. Social media didn't really exist during the show's original run. How were you most involved with the X-Files online (atxc, message board, email mailing list, etc.)?

Well, it was mostly atxc and the Yahoo! groups mailing lists that spiraled out into Geocities sites and, eventually, LiveJournal. The amusing thing is that getting in on the ground floor of social media and the Internet has helped me get jobs!  When I look at a new piece of software, I think, ‘this is hella easier than uploading to Geocities.’  We had to walk uphill both ways, in the snow, on dial-up, fighting off dinosaurs with our AOL CDs while writing HTML code. What did you take away from your experience with X-Files fic or with the fandom in general?

DO NOT FEED THE TROLLS.

The past four years in politics have basically been the ugliest online kerfuffle the world has ever seen. I survived the Shipper Wars of ’96 and I thought those were brutal, but that was NOTHING. The only way to win an argument online is to not have the argument at all. Arguing with a troll is like mudwrestling a pig: You both get filthy and only the pig is happy.

Also, READ THE FUCKING TERMS OF SERVICE.

What was it that got you hooked on the X-Files as a show?

I had the most terrible straight-girl crush on Scully. I wanted to be her best friend, I wanted to BE her.  I wanted to order Chinese food and paint each other’s nails and talk about bones.  Scully and Princess Leia and I could all just hang out poolside with hot and cold running waiters and poolboys, drink margaritas, and bitch about how unfair it all was – if the stupid men would just get OUT OF THE WAY AND LET US DO OUR JOBS, the world would be so much better. What got you involved with X-Files fanfic?

This question is really about Iolokus, isn’t it?  You can’t fool me. [Lilydale note: I can neither confirm nor deny the motivation for this question, but I cannot complain about the answer.]

Simply put, I was enraged. The moment it was revealed that Scully’s ova had been used in experimentation, I lost my feminist mind. It was the most obscene defilement imaginable.  Scully wasn’t nearly as angry as I was.  What I thought needed to happen was for Scully to become a fiery force of vengeance against the MEN who had done this to her.  Clearly, I was not going to get that level of satisfaction from the show, as I was imagining Kali-like carnage on a global scale. I emailed RivkaT (whom I did not know well at that point) with a proposition that we work together. Strangely enough, we didn’t meet face to face until we were well into the project, but we did talk on the phone quite a bit. The rules were simple – everyone had to be punished in truly horrific ways, and at some point, we had to see if we could write a car chase (only because that seemed impossible).  Then it basically turned into a very twisted game of chicken to see who could be the most outrageous in terms of killing people off or writing really horrific things that fit within the structure of the narrative.  I did, in the end, write the car chase, but RivkaT one-upped me by throwing in a helicopter (a FOX News helicopter, at that).  

Really, RivkaT?  A helicopter? What is your relationship like now to X-Files fandom? I am terribly proud of what I wrote, pleased that it brought pain and pleasure in equal amount to people, and, again, thrilled by the people I became friends with. I admit that I stopped watching the show when Scully announced her pregnancy.  I could only see a long jump over a shark tank for the rest of the series. I haven’t watched the new episodes, either.  It is complete in my mind and doesn’t need to be continued.  I wouldn’t say no to having a reunion with some of my fic friends, although we’re still chatting online like everyone does.   Were you involved with any fandoms after the X-Files? If so, what was it like compared to X-Files?

Rivka and I wrote in the Buffy fandom for a few years, but then we moved on to real adult jobs that left absolutely no time for me to write. I’m in education, and I regularly sweat blood for fear that someone is going to find my old fic. The Buffy people were fun; there was a certain *shininess* to them that I really enjoyed. The X-men authors were just batshit and delightful, and some amazing stuff came out of Marvel fandom, particularly in the Thor/Loki and Steve/Bucky subgenres. I’ve learned to appreciate a good coffee shop AU and one famous Erik/Charles fic where all the main characters are crabs. Seriously, crabs—it’s hysterical. [Lilydale note: Other Crabs Cannot Be Trusted by groovyphilia currently has almost 2,500 kudos at AO3.]

Every few years, I’ll have a student try to explain to me what fandom is and I just smirk. Do you ever still watch The X-Files or think about Mulder and Scully? No. Not really. Do you ever still read X-Files fic? Fic in another fandom? I fell into an X-Men hole a few years back and had a great old time wallowing in the Cherik muck, and there was a flirtation with BBC Sherlock as well. Strangely enough, I became interested in A/B/O fics only because of what they were saying about the role of women in our society. The limitations on the male omegas seem absurd and then you realize those are the same limitations put on women all. the. time.

Is there a place online (tumblr, twitter, AO3, etc.) where people can find you and/or your stories now?

RivkaT very nicely formatted everything and put it up on AO3. What is your favorite of your own fics, X-Files and/or otherwise?

I will always be stupidly proud of how shocked and horrified people were by Iolokus. The truth of the matter is that Iolokus has Greek drama at its core. Scully is Medea, and the entire story is lousy with “blood on the threshing floor” and Dionysian rites. The everyday is subverted into horror, and wives and daughters will tear men limb from limb like the Maenads. Since I was ultimately disappointed with what Chris Carter did with the entire show, that approach seemed appropriate.

At a certain level, all fic is corrective fic.  Like critic Anne Jamison said, “Irritated fans produce fanfic like irritated oysters produce pearls.”  And because fic has fallen so much into women’s sphere, a pure form of correction is not just the death of the author but the MURDER, a new creation springing up from the spilled blood like Cadmus sowing dragon’s teeth.

Okay, that’s a bit much. Maybe I should just take myself back to the isle of Goth Amazons or something. Do you still write fic now? Or other creative work?

I had to write a self-evaluation and a reflection on pedagogy today. If that’s not fiction, I don’t know what the fuck is.

All my creativity is caught up in trying to pretend to be a normal middle-aged white woman so no one knows I am really a lizard.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with fans of X-Files fic?

Keep writing, keep reading, keep fighting the commercialization of narratives. As things grow more and more commodified, all our dreams and desires reduced to tchotchkes made in China, it’s a revolutionary act to separate your work from the marketplace. Be bold, take chances, turn the trope on its ear and kick it in the ass. Take everything the creators have done to make a work palatable to the unwashed masses and set it on fire.

Be subversive.

Be mean.

Have a great fucking time.

(Posted by Lilydale on March 2, 2021)

[itsclydebitches]

Hey Clyde, did you check out Wonder Egg Priority at all? The first ep is super promising, but the series as a whole is one of those real fascinating disasters from a story and a production standpoint that might be up your alley as a thing to pick apart haha.

I’d warn that it’s also reeeeal offensive and this generally gets worse as it goes though.

Hi, Phoenix! How are you and Cube doing?

Okay, I hadn't watched Wonder Egg Priority when I received your ask this morning. Now I have. In a fit of intense curiosity I settled down for a rare binge session and tore through all twelve episodes + OVA in a single sitting. It is now nearly 3:00am as I write this because I, oh so clearly, make fantastic life choices.

A question for you: what did I just watch?

The rest is going under a read more partly for spoilers, but more-so because WEP—and the summary I'm about to give, because I feel like I need to try and explain this to tumblr's faceless void for my own, dwindling sanity—comes with about every trigger warning under the sun. Seriously, if you are triggered by anything that we might think of as a "standard" trigger (meaning, not unique to you and your own experiences), best to proceed with caution.

Right! What the ever loving fuck happened in this show? Well, let's work through this chronologically. Two genius, frat boy brothers (I get their names mixed up so I'm not even gonna bother) are locked in their apartment and closely monitored because of Super Secret Science Research. Even though, I think, they're the ones who created this company. Not important! What is important is that they're bored enough to create an AI for funsies, thinking of her as their daughter and letting her name herself Frill. Frill is the perfect, cutesy, also genius child who has a habit of popping her lips — which the camera focuses on in an incredibly creepy fashion. One day Brother #1 (the hot one) falls in love with a random woman we know nothing about and Frill gets jealous.

"Jealous in a general sense?" you ask, thinking this show is in any way normal. "Like, just of her Dad giving attention to someone else?"

"No," I respond, patting your hand. "Jealous because she's in love with him." Which, beyond the subject matter itself, comes completely out of nowhere. Frill has a line about what you'd do if some woman stole your husband away. I, fool that I was, briefly considered that these two guys were lovers, not brothers. Oh no. They're brothers. Frill just considers Dad #1 to be her "husband."

So, in true evil AI fashion, she murders the wife, leaving only her newly born child behind. Who is a daughter.

Uh oh.

Dad #1 locks Frill in a coffin-esque hole in the basement and goes on with his life. Things are great! Until years later when the daughter reveals that she has fallen in love with her uncle (Dad #2 to Frill). She knows (somehow??) that both her dad and her uncle loved her mom, so if the loser uncle will just wait a few years he can marry her instead! He brushes her off, but the next day she’s found dead of an apparent suicide.

Realizing that this was somehow Frill’s doing, he marches down to the basement and confronts the murderous child they’ve had locked up for years. She’s now surrounded by screens in, again, true creep AI fashion. How did she get all this while she was locked up? Oh, just the three bug girls she created as friends prior to killing the wife. They’re devoted slaves, I guess. So the uncle says enough of this insanity and seemingly sets Frill on fire.

OH and Frill’s subtitled dialogue also puts “uncle” in quotation marks, implying that the daughter was always Dad #2’s??

Anyway, both brothers are now super obsessed with death and claim that they think Frill has had a hand in lots of girls’ suicides, even now after her own death. This is brought into question later when it’s revealed that they might have just concocted this scheme to try and bring back their daughter. I’m really not sure. Regardless, they use hand-wavey science to create eggs that I guess contain the souls of young girls who have committed suicide, then they sucker in other young girls who have lost people to suicide to try and rescue their loved ones in a dream world, saving others along the way. A tomboyish girl, Momoe, lost a classmate who admitted to loving her, but who Momoe rejected. Rika, a former junior idol, used and rejected an overweight fan only to learn later that she’d starved herself to death. Neiru, the 14yo president of some science company (yup) was attacked by her sister before she jumped off a bridge. Finally Ai, our protagonist, is a victim of bullying who managed to make friends with a single girl, Koito, who then jumped from their school building for unknown reasons. They’re all given the chance to bring these individuals back to life, provided they protect other victims of suicide by defeating the monstrous traumas that drove them to that act in the first place.

And you know what? That concept was great. However, the execution ranges from “Okay, that was pretty good for an anime. Kudos there” to “That’s the most offensive thing I’ve seen in my life.” Needless to say, unpacking all the battles they fight would take a lot more than this already absurd summary. Basically, if you can think of something horrible to happen to young girls (and one trans guy whose existence in that egg undermines the whole message of the episode), there’s an attempt to tackle it here.

During all this the four girls become friends and Ai works through her suspicions about Mr. Sawaki, a teacher at her school. What’s going on with Mr. Sawaki? Uh… everything! He’s somehow connected to Koito’s death, he’s dating Ai’s mom, and Ai apparently loves him too because her friends say so, even though this is never actually addressed and she barely interacts with him. It’s all quite the complication.

In time though the girls complete their “mission” of bringing their loved ones back to life. Rika and Momoe manage it first, only to find that Frill’s bug-girl lackeys have arrived to kill them. Why? Because that’s what Frill does, I guess. Momoe’s crocodile familiar (cute animals the girls were gifted to help them fight) takes a killing blow for her and the bug-lady then proceeds to carve up his corpse and force feed it to Momoe. Fantastic!! Building off of that, the next bug-lady who Rika encounters kills her turtle too, following in the footsteps of her bug-sister by, presumably, forcing her to eat parts of its head. Ai refuses to sacrifice her familiar to stay alive, but luckily the suicide she was protecting turns out to be herself from a parallel universe (that's a thing now!) and she takes the killing blow herself, which is done by pulling out the eye she’s sensitive about (she has heterochromia.) So parallel Ai passes on (again?) and the three girls don’t work through this trauma at all, instead becoming more traumatized through the realization that the loved ones they brought back no longer remember them. They’re alive, but the relationship they all had with them is dead.

It’s about this point that the main storyline wraps up and I’m relieved that there’s an OVA to finish things off. Surely they can somehow bring this all together in 45 minutes.

…25 minutes of that OVA is recap.

So with only about 20 minutes left, we learn that Neiru, the only one to not complete her mission yet, has mysteriously gone missing. It turns out she was an AI/clone/something all along, made to replace her sister and, presumably, that’s what caused the whole stabbing-suicide incident. She successfully brings her sister back, but stays behind in the dream world because Frill promises her she can become human. How is Frill here when she’s dead? How will Neiru become human? Isn’t Frill the “temptation of death” or whatever? There are no answers. A flashback finally reveals that Koito was having a relationship with a teacher at another school, he committed suicide, she transferred, she tried the same thing with Mr. Sawaki, he kept refusing her advances, and finally while threatening suicide to get his attention, she accidentally fell.

(So why was she in the suicide egg if it was an accident??)

Except, all this information comes through Mr. Sawaki himself, there’s a whole subplot about whether he’s really a villain, or if Ai is just making him into one, and this show might as well be titled How Much Pedophilia Can We Put into One Anime? So make of that what you will.

A dead character randomly shows up, but it's fine because she's actually just a version from a parallel world. How did she get here? Why is she here? Lol, it's cute that you think these are answered.

Rika, the character who cuts and almost committed suicide halfway through the show, breaks down saying how much she misses her dead loved ones, right after her friends refused to let her go on another mission that would surely end in her death and… that’s it. That’s all we get about her.

Momoe too, though she’s hopefully just vibing somewhere with that longed-for boyfriend.

Ai transfers schools and then one day randomly remembers that she loves Neiru and rushes back to start cracking eggs again because that will? Somehow?? Let her see Neiru???

When I say there are too many unanswered questions to possibly list here I really, really mean it.

Finally, in a personal attack on me, the protagonist with a name that is literally AI is not in any way an artificial intelligence.

And that’s it! Congratulations, you now “understand” WEP. And see, the funny thing is that the off-the-rails, bat-shit crazy aspects kind of catch you off guard? Yeah, the first episode is fantastic. In fact, I think I got through about six episodes thinking that this was a solid, if at times really messed up anime, but I was willing to shrug off a lot of stuff due solely to the amount of sensitive material they were attempting to cover (which is always quite difficult to do). Probably the only reason I was able to binge so fast was because the first half of the series was so engaging. The characters are charming. The animation is GORGEOUS. There's actually a ton of good here that is also worth yelling about. But then the plot comes in like a freight train and I was left staring dumbfounded at my screen as more and more insanity kept happening. Having watched the "explanations" I am now more confused about the show I just saw.

Phoenix, if you’ve bothered to read this rambling, 3:00am rant: thank you. I think? Idk if I should actually be thanking you or cursing you for tuning me into this, but it was definitely an experience, that’s for sure lol.

I'm off to bed now RIP the chance of having normal dreams ✌️

[bogality]

Nana Was Killed at Tartarus.

( have not seen this been pointed out before, or even talked about, but if it was pls tell me so i can either delete this or credit whoever did it first! ) friends and foes, as self appointed Number one Nana stan and simp ( and someone writing a Nana-centric fic ), i was re-watching All Might Rising ( an OVA for MHA: Two Heroes ) for what has to be the hundredth time this week and i finally actually took a closer look at the island Nana had her final fight with AFO on and thought it looked familiar. someone in the comments ( youtube account: vegito blue ) pointed out that it looked almost identical to Tartarus. so uuuh, got some reference photos and?? same fucking building. first image is from All Might Rising, its the place we see Nana get obliterated in, and second image is of Tartarus.  ( season 3 ). 

(  ID: The first photo is of a building in the middle of the ocean. the sky is a deep red and there’s an explosion in the middle of it. The second photo is of a building in the middle of an ocean, attached to it is a metal bridge that stretches out of frame. End ID) 

look at the similarities between the two. not only are they buildings straight up in the middle of the ocean, which i can assure does not happen that much in bnha, but they’re completely secluded. when Nana is fighting AFO the entire scenery is warped and destroyed, the fucking sky is red guys, that is a fight that more heroes, hell at least the national news, would be covering. why? because it looks like it’d endanger hundreds of lives!! national news covered Kamino, but didn’t cover Nana’s fight with AFO? why would they do that unless there were 1. no civilian lives at risk, Nana’s fight had to take place somewhere secluded if this was the case. 2. they didn’t know it was happening, meaning Nana’s fight would’ve had to be someplace the public isn’t aware about or doesn’t have access to. 3. we never see anybody else there besides Nana, All Might, Gran Torino, and AFO, meaning yeah. Had to be secluded. 

(  ID: Nana Shimura, a bnha character, stands at the bottom of the photo, her back to the viewer. There is carnage and purple fire strewn around her, and she’s in a bracing stance. In front of her is further carnage, giant plant-like tendrils twist into the red sky. The silhouette of a man, All For One, stands on one of the tendrils, red lightning crackles around him. Shards of Earth float around him too. There are buildings in the distance of the scene. End ID) 

what are places in canon that we know that are completely secluded, general public doesn’t have access to, and are made to handle villains that have the sheer power like AFO does? Tartarus! Tartarus is the only one ( maybe besides I-Island, but the island Nana was one when she died and I-island look completely different. ) this doesn’t even mention the similarities! like what other place has those tall looming buildings, but no civilians? 

( ID: An arial view of a building surrounded by waves crashing against it is seen. Its the same building as the second photo. There are smaller buildings and structures on it. There’s also a bridge leading off frame connected to it. End ID ) 

That’s right. Tartarus. Yes, there are some minor differences like the bridge on Tartarus and how the island where Nana was killed has some minor architectural differences, but uuh, what happens to that island Nana was killed on decades  ( enough time to rebuild ) before canon starts? 

( ID: Its the same scene from the first image, a building in the middle of a calm sea, red sky, and a giant explosion on it. This time the explosion is far bigger, bigger than the entire island. Red lightning crackles around the explosion. End ID ) 

a big fucking explosion. you cannot tell me that explosion did not make that building need some repairs after that, you cannot. it’d make sense to throw on a bridge for easier access and make the building look more modern after that. and its not like there’s not enough time from when Nana dies on the timeline and we first see Tartarus. there’s literal decades. 

TL:DR that Nana was killed at Tartarus because there’s no other place in canon that’s as secluded, and that wouldn’t receive media attention as Tartarus, not to mention how similar the two look.

also i think if this was true that means that this scene:

( ID: Yagi Toshinori, All Might, from BNHA  sits on the other side of glass in his smaller form away from the camera, he’s frowning. On the left side, other side of the glass of All Might, of the picture is medical equipment belonging to All For One who is not pictured, but present. End ID. ) 

All Might was talking to his teacher’s, the woman he thought of as a Mother, killer in the place she was killed. 

[sandflow]

Sugimoto and Ogata’s Rivalmance - anime vs manga comparisons

Hello there.

So I just saw the last episode from he 3rd season of the Golden Kamuy anime series and it left me a little perplexed. I’ll be talking about how the anime handled their scenes compared to the manga.

I’ll be blunt, season 1 was average while season 2 turned out kind of bad. Season 1 is alright as an introduction to the series, even though the CG bear really turned off many people from liking the show. 

Season 2 skipped a lot of arcs and while some of them turned out to be animated as an OVA, there are arcs that even at present haven’t been adapted and as of which happen pre-Abashiri. (Ogin arc, Fake ainu arc).

Season 3 was alright though. The animation quality is way better and the pacing felt really fluid and relaxing for the most part of the season.

I will only be comparing the scenes that have changed, and won’t adress the ones that haven’t been adapted in the anime.

Here we go.

Season 2 Episode 3 (chapter 81) - Sugimoto saves Ogata in Edogai’s house

The manga - After Sugimoto says the infamous tsundere line to Ogata, Ogata spits blood and then the scene shifts to something else.

The anime - After Sugimoto’s line, we can see Ogata looking disgustingly at Sugimoto while he’s leaving the room, and then he spits blood.

I guess that the anime tried to make it look like Sugimoto hurt Ogata’s ego with that line. And Ogata didn’t like it at all. 

(Chapter 83) 

The manga - Ogata tries to hunt the birds by shooting them only to be denied by Asirpa. Sugimoto is all smirky because Ogata is being lectured.

The anime - They don’t show Sugimoto’s evil smirk reaction to Asirpa lecturing Ogata.

The manga -  Sugimoto being jelly of Ogata who caught more birds than Asirpa. When Sugimoto says that Ogata tried to hunt the birds just to prove Asirpa wrong, we can see Ogata’s sad reaction to that line.

The anime -  It’s pretty much the same scene but we don’t get Ogata’s reaction.

Season 2 Episode 5 (Chapter 99)

The manga - Sugimoto calls out Shiraishi’s betrayal. Shiraishi panicks thinking that he might kill him right there, but it ends up with Sugimoto showing him that he gave fake skins to Hijikata.

The anime - it’s the same scene except for when Sugimoto calls Shiraishi out, we can see Ogata’s expression while the conflict unfolds.

And then Sugimoto says that the skin that Shiraishi gave to Hijikata was a fake.

And we see Ogata again where he closes his eyes.

The Ogata reactions never existed in the manga.

I’m thinking that they added this so as to hint at his future betrayal in Abashiri.

(Chapter 100)

The manga - they kill some deer so as to hide in them and get rid of the 7th from pursuing them, Shiraishi becomes delirious and runs away. No one goes after him.

The anime - Shiraishi runs away delirious and Asirpa goes after him and tells Sugimoto to skin deers with Ogata until she comes back. Sugimoto decides to go after her and Ogata calls him to come back.

This entire scene did not exist in the manga.

OVA 3 (Chapter 104)

The manga - Shiraishi gets bitten by a snake. Sugimoto, for some reason, gets bitten too. 

And when both of their heads get inflated, Shiraishi asks Sugimoto what happened to his face.

The anime - Ogata is the one who asks Sugimoto about his face.

All I can say is thanks Geno for this addition.

OVA 4 (Chapter 111)

The manga - Asirpa asks Ogata to help Tanigaki escape from these ainu dudes who think he violated and killed wild animals.

In the manga, after Asirpa asks Ogata for help, Ogata follows it with the reasoning that Tanigaki may have killed his comrades from the betrayer group, to which Sugimoto and also Asirpa defend Tanigaki by saying that he wasn’t the one to do it.

After that, Sugimoto sort of taunts Ogata by saying that uwu Asirpa won’t cook for you anymore~

The anime - After Asirpa asks Ogata for his help, the whole reason he wouldn’t save him is skipped, and it jumps to just Sugimoto taunting him.

All what Ogata needed was a small tease reply from Sugimoto and he was totally down on risking his life saving Tanigaki. Comrades getting killed by Tanigaki? Naaaah.

Season 3 Episode 7 - (Chapter 169)  

The manga - The group starts talking about the legend of a mountain cat (lynx) and Koito thinks that they were probably refering to Ogata. And so the bullying begins.

Sugi when first hearing of this, he smirks in a way that says “Lol wut where did that come from”.

The anime - when Sugimoto first asks “What’s Ogata gotta do with it?” we don’t see his smirking face like in the manga. 

And when he says the line of “What a pathetic joke”, his face looks a bit more..dramatic and sad in a way?

Or when he looks all determined after Koito says that they should kill a cat when spotted.

This scene felt like he really does feel sorry for Ogata being bullied compared to the manga.

Season 3 Episode 11 - (Chapter 187)

Ogata lies about Sugimoto’s death to Asirpa so as to get the code out of her.

He sees that Asirpa isn’t cooperating with his pleas of sharing the code with him. So he uses the Sugimoto card.

The manga - he starts blushing the moment he mentions Sugimoto

The anime - the blush wasn’t shown in this scene

He starts talking about the fake flashback of hearing Sugimoto’s last words.

The manga - we get this simple panel of just Ogata calling out Sugimoto’s name.

The anime - we are serviced with the same scene but from a different angle which I appreciate because it looks shippier.

Another notable thing is that while this scene is happening, you can hear Sugimoto heavily breathing. To me it felt like the breathing sounds lasted a bit longer than I imagined when reading the manga... 

Sugimoto’s voice sounds very soft and gentle while begging for Ogata to take care of his buddy’s family.

The manga - blushy lying Ogata

The anime - blushy lying Ogata but the blush seems to be drawn lighter? You gotta squint to see it.

The manga

The anime

I don’t have an argument for these panels I just like how cute he looks while blushing.

when you imagine your arch nemesis’s last soft, gentle dying words you just can’t help but feeling flustered

The manga - Ogata leans in close to Sugimoto’s face. Sugimoto is looking directly into his eyes while trying to mutter Tome’s name. And Ogata seems to look sad.

The anime - the scene is shown from a different angle, and Sugimoto is probably looking at the sky or something. We can’t see Ogata’s expression anymore.

The manga - Ogata is still running on the ice floe while pretending to care about Sugimoto’s last wishes.

look.at.his.frowny.cute.staplebrows.

The anime - Ogata and Asirpa are...standing still, looking at one another, and being all sad about their boo-boo Sugi-chan's death wishes.

The manga - The projecting is now going off the charts.

Sugimoto grabs Ogata’s hand, holds it tightly,with Ogata also tighting the grip, tells him that he wants to go back to his hometown while also tearing up, all of this happening while they look in eachother’s eyes.

This is peak soft fanfiction I SWEAR-

The anime - Geno wasted all of their money in this episode and they didn’t have any other left to animate this panel, so they just use the same frame as before.

That sky must be very fascinating to look at.

The manga - Ogata being all pouty and sad that he has to bear Sugimoto’s burdens-

The anime - He seems not as pouty but the cute eyelashes are more visible. CUTE.

The manga - a beautiful ending for a fanfic  Ogata projects even MORE because I guess that everyone on this planet loves the same fish stew as he does.

The anime - it’s basically the same but Sugimoto’s voice is so dramatique and sad that it just brings tears to my eyes how Ogata is so good at writing fanfics.

(Chapter 188)

The manga - Sugimoto heard Ogata’s fanfic and was enraged because of how ooc he turned out, so he went to him and to show what sort of fanfics he’s into, he comes from behind, grabs Ogata by the hair, pulls it, and cuts his poisoned eye out.

The anime - He comes in from the front???? catches Ogata’s head in a very gentle way, and cuts his eye out. No hairpull.

Geno. I’m looking at you.

The manga - Sugimoto making very angry eye contact, sucking Ogata off and still pulling his hair.

The anime - Geno doesn’t like gore so they just animated one single suck panel. Ogata is sort of moving his eye a little there. Hm.

We also get some new frames that weren’t in the manga.

One in which he scolds Ogata for wanting to make small children kill people.

The other still looking angrily at his bandages face.

Ok Geno you’ll get a pass on this one.

Season 3 Episode 12 (Chapter 197)

The manga - Sugimoto tries very hard to convice everyone to save Ogata.

The anime - it’s the same thing except the very heterosexual tension orange glowy eyes, and the more obvious and wider drawn devilish smirk.

This is thirst depicted in one frame.

The manga - The doctor says that Ogata will most likely die and Asirpa is sad.  Sugimoto is looking at her thinking oh nooo she’s a killer now.

The anime - Asirpa is sad but Sugimoto isn’t looking at her but towards the doctor....

The manga - Sugimoto has white danger eyes with a tint of sadness/dissappointment in his expression.

The anime - Sugimoto looks SO ANGRY HOW DARE YOU DIE LIKE THIS? PATHETIC OF YOU. *spits* 

He’s just as thirsty here too.

I didn’t understand why they coloured his eyes like that. What was is supposed to mean????? He wants blood but he also wants to continue to hunt for it I guess???

This is, I think, the first time in the anime where they colour the pupils that bright.

The manga - Sugimoto is so shocked that Ogata is alive and ran away.

The anime - they added two new frames, basically empathising how Sugimoto is slowly processing the whole event.

God the adapted manga panel looks so funny he just goes super duper wide eyes as if no one would have predicted this outcome.............

(chapter 200)

The manga - wishing for his arch nemesis to come back to him. A very normal wish.

The anime - it’s the same. But now with sparkly eyes like in the volume.

And that’s it.

I think that Geno somewhat tried to promote their relationship to a certain extent by adding new scenes while trying to stay somewhat faithful to the source.

Sadly, they cut a lot of arcs. If you’d watch this series without checking out the OVA’s, you’ll definitely miss out on scenes where their bickering bond is being shown in all of its glory. They didn’t even animate the Fake Ainu arc even as of today, which has the best sugio bickering in the series.