#or drawn a protag fighting one of the human antagonists

[runefactorynonsense]

Spooktober - Day 25 - Angels/[Inner] Demons

> Kross-? > You don't need to worry about me.

[the-god-of-nihon]

Why Nyx is the most powerful entity in the Persona franchise so far, and the P3/P3P protag is the most powerful protag

1. Nyx is not a manifestation of any aspect of the collective unconscious, unlike Nyarlathotep, Yaldabaoth or Enlil (none of which are actual gods), but an almighty, astronomical entity who originated from the far reaches of space. Nyx’s origins are entirely alien and separate from humanity, and its power is not dependent, or drawn from Humanity’s Collective Unconscious, unlike every other final boss in the franchise. It’s basically an Eldritch Outer God.

2. Nyx is a celestial-body sized alien called a Planet Eater. Nyx crashed into prehistoric Earth where her body and psyche were separated. Let me reiterate: Nyx is a planet-sized, alien being that devours and wipes out entire planets. It exists on an entirely different scale to any of the other antagonists seen in the series.  

3. Life on Earth as a whole evolved to seal Nyx within the Collective Unconscious as their Shadows. Every Shadow exists because of Nyx. And When Nyx fell to Earth, it bestowed “Night and Death to the world, as well as the prophecy of The Fall.”

4. The Fall is when both parts of Nyx rejoin, rip the Shadows out of all the living creatures on the planet while simultaneously destroying Earth. Essentially a level of destructive capability no other antagonist can match. The Fall is the Moon crashing into the Earth.

5. Nyx herself is neither hostile nor malevolent; it effects humanity and the Earth on a grand scale simply by existing in proximity to it. It doesn’t need to rely on proxies or draw power from Humanity itself, just direction. It can wipe out humanity in an instant, Erebus reaching Nyx is just the signal for the “go ahead.”

6. The Universe Arcana, which solely belongs to the P3 Protag & P3P Protag, is a power that had never been seen before, nor since in the series.

As directly quoted from Igor in P3 “You may be able to defeat the one who cannot be defeated. What you have in your hands is the power of the Universe... ... Nothing is outside the realm of possibility for you now.”

The World Arcana which represents the world’s totality, possessed by the P4 & P5 protags, would be insufficient to combat Nyx, because as stated above: Nyx eats planets. A single “world” is nothing to Nyx, hell probably two “worlds,” don’t mean much to Nyx. As such a greater power beyond Humanity, beyond the Earth is required. The power of countless worlds.

7. The P3/P3P protag canonically held the personification of Death, the physical incarnation of a fundamental law of existence, inside them for a decade and as stated explicitly in text, “. . made Death’s power their own.”

8. They also died, and kept on living for a month on nothing, but pure willpower.

9.  Can summon two Persona at a time for Fusion summons.

Also the male protag of P3 can wield every kind of weapon (other than guns and knives) which is honestly just a flex. Also in Yukari’s Social Link Makoto/Minato gets into a 3v1 fist fight against three guys harassing Yukari and wins. Despite being the smallest male protag is demonstrably the best combatant out of the protags based on in-story feats & game mechanics. The only real competition is Tatsuya, who can stop time.

And the P3P Protag/FeMC is the only Persona protag other than Tatsuya that can be gay, which is just salt in the wound at this point.

[askmerriauthor]

Man, I'm really enjoying the new Digmon series. It's called "Digimon: Ghost Game" and holds to its horror theme remarkably well. Digimon has always had kind of a weird, eerie vibe to it and that tone lends itself to this approach.

This show takes the angle of Digimon appearing in the Real World as a way to play with urban legends. Plus it seems like this is an alternate universe to the original series or Tamers, where people don't know what Digimon are in this setting. Which I actually really like; it gives the show a chance to take it own unique spin on things and not worry about all the previous (and extremely convoluted) lore. I definitely enjoy the fact that combat is relatively low in this show as well; there's rarely any fights at all and when there is violence, it's usually only one or two strikes before the fight is done. The Season 01 reboot was absolutely terrible with how every episode was just one long, drawn out, pointless battle scene after another, so this is a very refreshing change of pace. So far every antagonist Digimon encountered has survived, with an interesting balance of the threats being neutralized peacefully and others remaining at large and swearing to return later on. Our protags have no interest in actually harming the Digimon at all and do their best to reach an understanding with them.

Normally I'm not big on the "we can talk it out with the power of friendship" approach being overused, but it works in this case because of Digimon mentality. Digimon are always this sort of odd mix of childish and animalistic; even the most mature, well-spoken, philosophical of Digimon still have these very basic drives and behaviors that inform what they do. That sort of trait is perfect for the horror theme of this series, as the Digimon antagonists and urban legend monsters/ghosts adhering to a sort of simple, repetitive behavior because of their mannerisms match perfectly. The majority of the antagonists so far are only dangerous to humans because they just don't understand what they're doing is wrong or harmful. There's only been two so far that are outright and intentionally hostile for the sake of causing harm. But even with those two, they're not trying to take over the world or anything like that; they're just assholes who like hurting people for their own amusement. Which, again, lends itself really well to the supernatural monster/haunting of the week theme this show has.

[recurring-polynya]

What comparisons can be made between renruki and Ichiruki? I often wondered about this.

This is such a hot button issue that as soon as I received this (perfectly polite) ask, my body tensed up and my brain went Am I being trolled?

It’s honestly a shame that there is so much bad blood behind this, because it is, in fact, a very interesting thing to talk about, and I am going to attempt to do so in good faith, because I love thinking about this kind of thing. Even though I am very openly a Renruki shipper, I love all three of these characters very much, and I think that Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship is very important! I am doing my best to be neutral, although I have not read very much Ichiruki fanfic/meta, so please give me a benefit of a doubt. Obviously, I can’t stop anyone from reblogging this and putting their own comments on it, but I have no interest in getting in debates over it, so don’t be surprised if I don’t engage.

This is both long, and I am sure some people don’t care, so I’m gonna put the rest under a cut. I have tried to hard to write this in a way that will not make anyone mad, but if you think it will make you mad, please give yourself the gift of not clicking on it.

So, what is the same between Ichigo and Renji? Lots, actually. Physically, they are both tall, strong, and have ridiculously colored spiky hair. They are outwardly grumpy, but secretly have soft, gooey centers. Neither one of them is dumb, but they are both dumbasses. They are protectors: they would rather take any amount of pain or damage onto themselves than see a loved one hurt. Their friends are everything to them, and that goes triple for Rukia.

How are they different, then? There are three major bullets:

- Ichigo is alive. Renji is dead. Perhaps this is a little flip, but Renji belongs to same world that Rukia does, and Ichigo does not. This is not a value judgment, it is just a fact: If Rukia ends up with Renji, she stays where she is. If she ends up with Ichigo, either Rukia or Ichigo have to make a huge change. I will get back to this.

- Youth vs. Experience. Ichigo is a 15-year old boy, as we are told about 1000 times. There is some mystery over how old Rukia and Renji are, but they have graduated from secondary education and are currently employed. I think it’s safe to assume that they are roughly close in age to each other, but I think Rukia may perceive Renji as seeming older than herself-- he graduated from school, and she didn’t; he’s on his third squad transfer, whereas she’s hasn’t budged from her initial, entry-level job, and he’s now middle management. However, the arc of the story we don’t get to see, is that over the timeskips, Rukia not only catches up to, but surpasses him. Also, not for nothing, but I think that in the same way Rukia is immediately drawn to Ichigo because of his resemblance to Kaien, I think she is also drawn to him for his resemblance to Young Renji-- a grumpy, prickly young man, leaking self-doubt from every pore, whom she is more able to be generous towards through the lens of age and experience. (And I think this comparison could support either ship)

- Ichigo is the protagonist. Rules don’t apply to him. Fate breaks on his sword. He represents the triumph of love or hard work or dreams or what have you over the cruel millstone of the world. Renji, on the other hand, is firmly bound to the rules of the world in which he inhabits. In fact, that is arguably the entire purpose of his character. Renji’s fights are often used to set the stakes of the conflict-- ah, Renji got mangled, this guy must be tough. In the Soul Society Arc, he is an antagonist because he is doing what he is supposed to. In the TYBW, Kubo literally throws the two of them in a pit to fight some asauchi just to make the point that Renji is a shinigami and Ichigo is something else.

Let’s jump over to Rukia for a moment. Rukia is a great character, one of my favorite characters in any media. Rukia contains multitudes. She is tough and strong, but often melancholy. She can be beautiful and elegant, but she also lies and breaks rules and tried to put Kon in a dead cat once. Emotionally, she likes to present a cool front, but she has a big, loving heart, and she feels deeply. As a character, all of this makes her very easy to project onto, which is why I think so many people OTP her with someone, no matter who.Some people choose to try to make her into one of these things or another, and some people try to keep her as the full bundle of contradictions that she is.

There is no romantic content in canon Bleach. There is no romantic content in canon Bleach. There are many, many scenes that can be interpreted romantically, but no one goes on a date, no one kisses. Ichigo gazes longingly into the eyes of all his friends, it’s just a thing he does. Orihime does explicitly proclaim at one point that she loves Rukia, although I suspect that in the original Japanese, it’s the word for “friendship love” and not the very-rarely-used “romantic love.” I have seen a scene-for-scene comparison of IchiHime “romantic moments” only it’s Chad and Uryuu (which I choose to believe supports IshiChad, rather than negates IchiHime, but we may all choose for ourselves!) My point is that shipping in Bleach is a DIY craft, which, when we’re all having a good time, is what makes it so fun.

So, bringing all of this together, given that Ichigo and Renji are fairly similar characters, why are the ships so different, and what makes one appeal to some people and be abhorrent to someone else?

I think about romance stories a lot. I actually took a class on romance novels in college and I just really like to think about the mechanics of stories. In the truest sense of the word, “romance” is about extremes-- about sailing the high seas and wearing ostentatious shirts and shouting off a cliff in a rainstorm. When we talk about romance as a genre, the characters tend to behave in a way that we would not prefer our actual romantic partners do, but the over-the-top nature of it makes us swoon and our hearts drop -- except when it doesn’t. What is heart-breakingly romantic to some people can be a huge turn-off to others. The biggest fight my husband and I have ever had was over a kdrama. The male lead was hiding his identity from the female lead in order to help her, and I found it all to be deeply, deeply romantic, and my husband turned to me and said “He is being dishonest with her and I think it’s morally wrong” and I almost died.

So, let’s break down some of the themes of the two ships, which I think gets at the meat of what you were asking. Now, like I said, shipping is very participatory, and anyone may have their own ideas of how these relationships would be, and I am a big fan of “a great writer can get away with anything”, but in broad strokes, I think that these are the themes of the two ships:

IchiRuki:

Love conquers all/ Love is enough to overcome differences of class, age, lifestyle, geography, etc.

Instant connections/Love at first sight

Love is a force of the universe that cannot be denied or defeated

Young love

Grand gestures

Your partner changes you (in a positive way)/You effect change in your partner

Your partner is the center of your world

Your partner is the one person who can get through to you/You are the one person who can get through to your partner

Banter

Dumbassery

RenRuki:

Love takes work

Best friends to lovers

Second chances/Broken things can be repaired

Love is a choice

You improve with age

Shared experiences build love

Pining

Working together with your partner to create a mutually satisfying life together

Your partner enriches your world, but your independence is maintained

Banter

Dumbassery

There is also some degree of character interpretation at work, too-- there seems to be a huge degree of disagreement between fans as to whether:

a) Ichigo enjoys his normal, human life, and even though he do anything to protect what he loves, he would prefer to live a human existence with his human friends and family. He credits Rukia will helping him realize his strength and powers.

b) Ichigo is unsatisfied with his human life and that meeting Rukia opened the doorway to a life of excitement and adventure, on top of being given the strength to protect his loved ones.

As far as Ichigo pairings go, I think that most IchiHime people fall in category (a) and most IchiRuki (and GrimmIchi) shippers fall in (b). In both cases, peoples’ ships align with their view of what makes Ichigo happy. Most IchiRuki content I have seen  seems to feature Ichigo moving to Soul Society, rather than Rukia moving to Karakura. Rukia pretty explicitly indicates at the end of the Soul Society Arc that she wants to stay in Soul Society, plus she’s got a pretty established life there. Contrast that to the story of Isshin and Masaki-- Isshin seems pretty flippant and disaffected about his life in Soul Society; it doesn’t seem like it was a particularly hard choice for him to give up being a shinigami. Also, it’s pretty clear that what Isshin did was illegal, and I’m not sure there would be an easy way for Rukia to just say “WELP, I’m off to live as a human, smell you jerks later.”

To try to wrap things up, I think the actual dynamics of an IchiRuki or RenRuki relationship would be very similar, actually. They would banter a lot and dive headfirst into danger and support each other no matter what. Byakuya would treat either guy with the vaguest, most grudging amount of respect. The primary perpetual, unresolved argument between Rukia and Ichigo would be “The Living World is dumb/Soul Society is dumb”, whereas with Rukia and Renji, it would be “Squad 6 is dumb/Squad 13 is dumb wait no I didn’t mean that Captain Ukitake is an angel.”

Personally, I headcanon Renji as being more able than Ichigo to step back and be the support person in the relationship (see that bullet about Ichigo being the protag), so I think that RenRuki could manage to run a functional household, whereas Ichigo and Rukia would just go on adventures until they got arrested for tax evasion.

*For the record, I am very pro-IchiRenRuki, except that they would be even worse at running a household. It’s just Renji trying to explain how a chore wheel works while Rukia and Ichigo walk out the door on him.

[ryttu3k]

First Bloodlines run - here’s how it worked out!

Didn’t get to actually finish - thanks, cutscene glitch - but I got to the last scene and I at least watched the Anarch ending on Youtube XD;; While I really do want to do at least two more runs, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to; either way, I mostly enjoyed my first run a ton!

More detail below the cut - how Sierra turned out as protag, and her views on other characters. I’ll write a separate ‘thoughts on Bloodlines as a game and its characters’ later on, this is just for Sierra’s run specifically.

So, Sierra as a character! Usually super high humanity - most drops were due to glitches or completely accidental (glitch - had to kill Hospital Guy because it flat-out wouldn’t let him escape, danced it back. Accidental - shot one of the hostages at Hollowbrook, felt horrible for it). One non-accidental one was convincing Ash to switch clothes with a guy at the club; she hadn’t expected the hunters to kill first and ask questions later. Yeah, also felt guilty about it. Otherwise, I’m pretty happy to put her at 9 for Humanity - she tried to help everyone she could, aside from those actively trying to kill her.

Ended up a much brainier character than I was expecting, which, uh, is usually what happens with my characters tbh. Still fits her character! She’s not scholarly (was a college drop-out) and prefers actually doing things than sitting still, but she’s clever and curious. Combat was usually almost always melee, because vampires with katanas are cool. High persuasion, she’s good at defusing a situation when fighting isn’t warranted.

Most-used discipline ended up being Animalism. Never did max out Protean :( Did use it a ton in dark areas, but mostly for night vision.

Sidequests - got a lot done. Failed three - Spiritual Release (sorry, ghosts :( ), You Only Die Once A Night (actually, I started this then died with 30 seconds to go, reset, and refused to start it again XD), and Dirty Dishes.

Missed or outright avoided Drug Trip, Trick or Treatment (Heather - the whole storyline with her bugs me), Daydream Believer (Copper is sweet, dammit, don't be mean!!), Replanting a Lily (never went back to the clinic after saving Lily), Traffik, And Her Name Was Venus/Venucide, Pimpin' for Romero, A Dish Best Served Cold (alas, you can’t convince the reviewer to give it a ragingly good review just to piss off SparklingWater XD), Model Citizen/Cover Girl, Poster Session, and all the Chinatown ones (I would have done Gone Fishin' if I had found it, refused Eye Gouge Hell, didn't encounter the others).

Character interactions - ended up ride-or-die Anarch. Part of that was that her literal first impressions were of Nines saving her life and Jack guiding her through how to survive a terrifying, bewildering situation, a lot of it was that she did start out as an activist in the first place, so falling in with the Anarchs was a natural continuation of that. Adores and looks up to Nines, felt horrifically guilty at the blood hunt, and was devastated when she thought he had died at Griffith Park. She was a mess after that (also a good part to do with rotschreck and spending a good five minutes or so trying really hard not to frenzy in terror), and it was only because of Jack that she didn’t fall apart completely. Jack is like the favourite weird uncle - she doesn’t know his involvement in the whole plot and I think wouldn’t quite understand why he set it in motion, but she really likes the impression he shows. Adores Damsel, and she’s not sure what to do with Skelter’s belief in the more religious aspects of stuff but likes him a lot too.

Aside from Nines, the other character she adores the most is Beckett! Her first words to him were literally, “Holy shit how did you do that that’s so cool can you teach me to do that?!”, she finds his adventures and knowledge absolutely fascinating, and she definitely started looking up archeological and anthropological stuff both for her own curiosity and to impress him XD

Other positive relationships - Jeanette is a bit complicated because of the whole Slashterpiece and pendant thing, but damn, at least she didn’t try to kill her like Therese did; while she wanted to reconcile the sisters, she was kind of relieved when Jeanette was the one who survived. Just found her more approachable and welcoming. Also definitely got drawn in by VV. She’s weak for pretty girls XD Got on great with Merc (despite the whole... Cammy thing), Knox, the Thinblood kids (who she hung out with a bunch while still in Santa Monica), Trip, Mitnick, and Ash (who she will fight people to protect). Chunk is a precious being who must be protected at all costs; at the Tower, she advised him that LaCroix was no good and he deserved better.

Complicated situations - initially did think Strauss was okay but her views on him soured fast when she learned about gargoyles. Isaac is mostly fine but they don’t have a lot of common ground, given her preferred genre is ‘loud action movies’ XD She can see why VV looks up to him, though, and felt quite sad about everything with Ash in general. Pisha scared her but she tried really hard not to judge, basically? I mean, predators gotta eat too... The cab driver bothers her for reasons she can’t articulate. Very odd man, that one. When she learned why the Southland Slasher was doing what he was doing, she felt sorry for him, and encouraged him to join the Anarchs for direction and a more positive outlet for his emotions.

Antagonists - mostly didn’t take pleasure in killing them, but she definitely felt pretty satisfied stabbing LaCroix >.> Will have nightmares for the rest of her unlife about Andrei’s house and the sanctum at Hollowbrook, the Mandarin’s tests, and the expression on Ash’s face when he talked about how much the Society of Leopold enjoyed torturing him. Gimble freaked her the hell out. And if she ever catches Vandal Cleaver alone, she’s going to flat-out kill him if she gets the opportunity.

For the future, I’ve been trying to work out how she and Lettow supposedly know each other (he mentions the fledgling as ‘a friend of mine’), given their opposing political views. I’m thinking their common ground would be that they’re both Gangrel; I can see them meeting by chance at some point, and Sierra requesting tutoring in Protean forms, which Lettow is pretty damn good at (she might be higher generation, 8th to his 9th, but he’s a lot older and more experienced).

Beyond that, info on her and her coterie can be found here! Yes, she fully appreciates the irony of dating a Garou, haha.

[mysticdragon3md3]

JJK ep6-13

My reactions while watching Jujutsu Kaisen ep 6-13.  Please ignore my idiocy. This is more for my own fandom memories. . . .

6:49 PM 12/20/2020

Jujutsu Kaisen ep6

Haaaaaahhhhh~  Crunchyroll crashed at the beginning of the first commercial break.  Now I remmeber.  I decided to stop watching thru Firestick and reconnect my laptop to my Tv.  

6:53 PM 12/20/2020

Let's try this again.  

I forgot how great this animation was in this series.  I should have paid attention to studio MAPPA before Yuri on Ice.

"rotten mikan"?  

7:18 PM 12/20/2020

The great thing about watching on my laptop instead of Amazon Firestick, is that I can rewind and pause when I need to get food, and I don't have to worry about the Firestick crashing Crunchyroll.  ;u;  

Oh now...Fushiguro is talking to that guys' mom... ;o;

Y'know, everyone keeps describing Fushiguro as "cold", but he's REALLY nice.  A LOT.  

Wait.  She doesn' thave a PE uniform?

Oh, that's cool.  The other freshmen need someone good at close combat, and Yuuji is good at it.  

Oh no...!  SUNSHINE SMILE!!!!  MY HEART...!!!!!!!!!!!!!  GODDAMNIT!...

"I couldn't save anyone...I want to become strong."  Endearing shonen protags!!!!  ;U;!!!!!!

This paper silhouette of Yuuji is hilarious.  Which is really odd, becasue just the other week, I was complaining and complaining about how KNY's drawn-out humor got on my nerves.  Yet this joke has been going on for a while, and it wasn't annoying.  O_o?  

Wow.  So many references!  ^O^  Spirit Gun, Bankai, Rasengan,...LOL  

Gojou-sensei says he's not suited to being a teacher, but he's good at being encouraging and focusing students on what they need to study.  

"Negative emotions are the source of Cursed Energy."  Well, nice to get confirmation on that other episode's implied world-building.

I really like so far how this movie-watching training is about practical, mundane emotional control.  I always liked magic systems that alluded to real life emotional experience, and just added some "supernatural", but kept the way emotions work in reality.

Also, I like how often Yuuji does something foolish or silly, and Gojou not only goes along with it, but often also agrees.  In so many other past series, it would be an excuse to chastise the silly protagonist for some "comedy".  You know the routine.  They go back and forth arguing...One gets insulted or angry at the other's lack of sympathy, the other either gets angry that they're getting yelled at for the other's incompetence, or they're stoically dismissive and then the protag gets insulted at that lack of respect, or the protag tries to justify their foolish actions as reasonable, then the other character argues with them about that,...blah blah blah.  Gojo getting along so well with Yuuji is so incredibly refreshing, you don't understand.  

7:44 PM 12/20/2020

I'll save ep7 for later.  Watching anime takes so much effort when I keep wanting to write reactions AND eat at the same time I'm reading subtitles.  Maybe if my eyes were as fast as they used to be...Ah well.   . . . 10:28 PM 12/20/2020

JUJUTSU KAISEN Episode 7 – Assault

I thought this guy got warned not to fight Gojou head-on?  No, wait.  It was just to seal him vs killing him.  Is he ready to seal Gojou?

Gojou's asking this guy to hold up his hand, while he's drawn all cartoony...  This series' humor---!  LOL  ^O^

That is CLEARLY LOTR...  How is this series getting away so many references!  lol

Gojou is really consideratee, compared to a lot of past mentor characters.  I always appreciate compassionate characters.  ^-^  If this series keeps slipping these traits into most of it's characters, I'm going to really love this series even more than I already am starting to.  ^^;  

"New Humanity"?  Is that what Curses think they are?  Talking like it's superior?  But if they're made up of primarily or only negative emotions/energies/Curses, then they have a limited spiritual/experiential range.  That's stagnancy and evolutionarily inferior.  This series is more and more sounding like my Personal Myth's magic system.  lol  And if they start talking about Domains cancelling each other out by one overtaking the same space with its own energy density...Well, this series may be more in sync with my type of thinking than I realized.  ^^;

He can still interrogat Jougo after decapitating him?  Did they establish that Curses can still function a little after being torn up?  Or am I remembering Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba instead?  

Well, I guess that guy is a former student.  

Flower attack and they're both cartoony again.  LOL  This freaking show and it's humor blended into the tense scenes!  ^O^  ...WAit a sec.  How the hell did MAPPA find a director that could so seamlessly blend all that?!  ...Well, it's anime and anime ahs been doing that blending of tones for years, so why is this so surprising to me?  I guess the contrast is a lot more stark.  And yet, it's not jarring AT ALL!  O.O!  

I like that the attack spell was to take away their will to fight.  Usually, I've only seen that concept with humor instead of a peaceful setting.  It's interesting.  

Suddenly it's classroom ettiquite. These dorks!!!!!!!  ^O^  I love them so much already!  LOL

Halloween?  Are they going to explain why sealing Gojou on Halloween is advantageous?  I love Halloween mythology.  

Wow, this omake has a LOT of animation!  O.o . . .

3:43 AM 12/22/2020

JUJUTSU KAISEN Episode 8 – Boredom

I skipped watching this earlier because I thougth I coudlnt' eat and write reactions simultaneously.  But that just made me not watch anime all day.  ;_;  So I'm going to eat while I watch again.  

Odd they're going for a tournament arc when I thought fans were getting tired of it.  But I guess it's only some anime critics.  

Even stranger that fellow students are being set up as antagonists, when there's already such a strong threat established outside of their comrades.  But I guess it's to futher establish the "higher ups" are corrupt and more of a problem than Curses.  

Okkotsu's place?  Was that the person Fushiguro implied died with him on a mission but wasn't in the same year?

I guess not.  

"Boring tastes in women"????  What if someone says they like a feature and in Aoi's opinion that's a "boring" trait but in that person's opinion, it's a great trait?  I can't believe this guy recognnizes it's ok to like guys instead---he'll understand someone else's differing opinion on that level, but not in how subjective a trait can be valued.  -.-;  Well, "ridiculous character introduction" achieved.  

"Unshakable character"  is a good answer.  

See?  What'd I tell you.  Subjective perception.

I'm starting to like Nobara.  She deciphered Maki's weakness already an just started insulted it.  lol  Not even bothering for a physical attack.  

"I panda.  I no understand human speech."  lol

Interesting how Renin makes sure to insult both herself and her sister instead of just insulting her sister.  

Is it weird I like Nobara even more because she's seriously choking Maki?  Naw.  Must be my pet peeve against bullies making me really want to see Maki suffer.  

Liking Nobara more, seeing how calmly she takes these new antagonists.  

4:04 AM 12/22/2020

Crunchyroll is buffering.  ugh.  I hope it doesn't crash.  I'm watching thru my laptop and everything, so it shouldn't crash like the Amazon Firestick.  ;o;

4:14 AM 12/22/2020

Ok. Looks like Crunchyroll froze.  Finsihed an entire YouTube vid, waiting. I'm going to reset the episode then.  ~_~;

4:15 AM 12/22/2020

Oh wait.  It's working.  ---No, wait.  Buffering again.  Ugh.  It's so hard to watch this series!  Lucky I like it more than Demon Slayer KNY.  Makes watching worth the buffering/crashing.  But Yuuji hasn't been in this ep so far, and it's trying my patience without him.  

4:17 AM 12/22/2020

omg.  It unbuffered for only one second.  o__o;;;;;;;

4:19 AM 12/22/2020

Refreshing the page.  

There's stil buffering, even after reloading the ep.  Ugh.  I'm tired of this.  I can try to watch this ep later.  I'm going to watch YouTube.  

5:28 AM 12/22/2020  

I kinda miss my other fandoms.  Persona 5, FE3H,...Much simpler, or rather relationships between characters felt less vitriolic, even when they disagreed.  Even Akechi got dealt with and eventually taken off screen permamently.  I didn't have to spend (much) time with characters I hated.  At least those series didn't have bullies.  Bullies reallly tick me off.  Which again, is weird pet peeve for me to have since I've never been bullied before.  But certainly makes sense in terms of my depression.  How can people go out of their way to make life miserable for others, when life is already miserable on it's own? I can't forgive that Malice.

These so-called classmates from the Kyoto school don't even know what True Strength is, if they're wasting their time bullying their underclassman or any comrades in general, instead of focusing on fighting Curses.  No wonder the number of Curse-related deaths is so high.  

Ugh.  I need to get past this episode soon, before I get soured on this series and drop it, despite its excellent protagonist, like HeroAca.  There are enough horrible things/people in real life.  Why would I put up with fictional people who aren't a joy to be around, in any way?   . . .  

8:41 AM 12/23/2020

Jujutsu Kaisen ep8

AND CRUNCHYROLL JUST CRASHED AGAIN!  LOL

I was just trying to re-watch ep8, even that first half that I didn't like, and Firestick crashed again.  I thought it'd be ok since it was the first thing I had the Firestick do this morning, but dang.  

Anyway, I just wanted to reiterate my annoyance with Todou Aoi.  Just because he thinks "tall" and "big ass" are interesting traits and that "taste in women" supposedly reflects an interesting person, doesn't mean those are objective assessments of those traits.  There are no objective assessments of sexually appealing triats!  A trait that could be "boring" to Todou could mean everything interesting to someone else!  What a jerk.  If he wants to fight so badly, he should stop hiding behind excuses and come out and fight.  Idiot.  

And the worst thing is that ridiculous antagonist characters like this are probably going to turn out to be really buddy buddy with a "silly protag" like Yuuji.  Goddamnit.  ~_~;;;; . . . 12/25/2020 ..During breakfast, once again tried to finish Jujutsu Kaisen ep8, but Crunchyroll crashed again on Amazon Firestick.  The other day, Crunchyroll crashed on my laptop too, so I didn't have much hope for watching thru my laptop, which is why I bothered watching thru the Firestick/TV in the first place.  It crashed only after the first few minutes; not even reaching the mid-episode commercial break.   ..Got fed up an watched Jujutsu Kaisen ep8 on YouTube, but it was an edited version that skipped every few seconds.   . . . 11:45 AM 12/26/2020

Jujutsu Kaisen ep8

During breakfast today, I completely gave up on trying to watch on Crunchyroll.  It's crashed on me too many times on Amazon Firestick/TV and too many times on my laptop.  So I just straight up went for the YouTube bootlegs.  I didn't even try this time.  Because I've tried to watch this episode 8 at least 5 times by now, and I'd like to finish it before Nendoroid Fushiguro's preorder window closes, so I can decide if I should preorder him or not!  How many times do I have to watch this first half of ep8?!?!  And it's full of bullies, no less!  Bullies are my pet peeve!  I've dropped frickin BNHA because of just ONE reoccurring bully character, and the first half of JJK ep 8 has TWO.  So no, I don't want to keep watching the fist half of JJK ep8 over and over and over again!  

Miwa was cute and the gag about her being a Gojou fangirl was funny.  

But it made me stop and wonder why this episode had 2 fanboys/fangirls:  Todou Aoi and Miwa.  What are they trying to say?  Since the traditionalist Kyoto school leader was visiting, is it a statement against blindly following something?  

Another thing discussed in this episode that struck me was the very non-traditionalist, antagonistic towards "the olds" way that Gojou spoke.  It clashed against a lot of the popular Shonen series lately that have background messages about "working hard", "simply accepting things", unquestioning,...and something else I can't quite rmember.  One Punch Man, Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba, and maybe even Boku no Hero Academia  I'll have to watch the 2nd half of this ep again to solidify this thought.  But I did notice something in this episode that made Jujutsu Kaisen seem more counter-culture than a lot of the other popular Shonen series I've seen in recent years.  

Also, what's up with that one month future time skip, only to go back to the present to return to Miwa getting her photo with Gojou?  What?  What was wrong with just showing the sequences chronologically?  The curiosity is going to drive me nuts if I dont' stop thinking about it.  lol  

I also really liked Nobara's cute head lean onto Zenin Maki when she realized how much she respected her.  I'm sorry, but I'm always weak for kuudere girls unconsciously making all the other girls fall for them.  ^.~   . . . 1:59 PM 12/27/2020

Jujutsu Kaisen ep9

I"m not going to type so many reactions, until maybe after the ep is over, because I'm going to focus on eating instead.  Hopefully, I'll remember all the points I reacted to.

2:29 PM 12/27/2020

Episode over.  Let's see what I remember.  

I liked how in depth it portrayed how real life emotions and grudges can fester until they become these supernatural curses.  That first part of the ep, just about Yoshino's supressed anger, getting bullied, feeling harassed, etc. got a whole lot more screentime than most other demon-hunter or yokai series. (Maybe it's just because he's going to become a kind of major character, seeing as he gets to be in the opening theme sequence.) Usually that type of emotional backstory to explain supernatural phenomenon, does get a poignant exposition, but even though it's effective, it's often pretty quick. (Though, I am referring to the more frequent one-shot characters of each supernatural escapade.) Especially in action demon-hunter series, like Ushio & Tora.  Still emotionally effective, but very short screentime.  But this guy, Yoshino's bullying scene goes on, intercuts with daily slights, for that chaotic feeling of compiling grudges everyday, and then he gets onscreen monologues of his specific thoughts while getting beat up.  It's all very viceral and I apprecate that.  I mentioned before how I like that Jujutsu Kaisen seems to portray real emotions to explain its magic system, instead of just making up a fake mystical power source.  I mean, I'm usually fine with that type of purely imaginary magic system that has only vague explainations (in real life emotions), but JJK feels like it more directly translates grudges into Curses/magic and that feels interestingly refreshing.  

This scene with Yuuji and Gojou introducing Nanami was so funny, I was instantly laughing out loud, several times.  I'm so glad I ended up preordering Gojou's Nendoroid and not just Yuuji's.  lol  

I love how whenever Nanami says he doesn't care, the direction returns to the exact same angle, frame, etc.  Really makes the joke hit each time.  LOL  

But again, like I was writing earlier about my growing suspicion that a lot of current popular Shonen series seem to fetishize hard work (without considering people disadvantaged by the same systems) and even sometimes outright parodying people who expect hand-outs (like One Punch Man)---(though I will append that BNHA does have a character like Shinso that demonstrates how the system is stacked vs people no matter how hard they could work)---It may be just my misunderstanding, but I feel like JJK seems to criticize the system, in contrast. I suspect JJK may be more counter-culture than other popular Shonen series right now.  While checking out other current series like OPM, Demon Slayers KNY, and BNHA, I often run into a moment that makes me uneasy in how eagerly a protagonist throws themselves into accepting the abuses of a system, instead of criticizing the system, and how "heroic" that unquestioning or submissiveness is portrayed.  In contrast, Gojou straight-up explained he doesn't believe in the Jujutsu community's current authority systems.  But now we also have Nanami here pointing out that no matter which system you submit yourself to (whether Jujutsu sorcery or office work), it doesn't matter.  Nothing matters...towards happiness or fulfillment, anyway.  Therefore, he explicitly says that he doesn't put excess effort into anything.  But at the same time, he states that he agrees with Gojou about the current system of Jujutsu authority to be wrong.  I'm sure there was a time when themes of fetishizing hard work, without question, worked for me, but I've gotten too old and seen how the system is stacked against people even when they work hard, and how blind followers of the system fetishize "hard work" as an excuse to not show compassion towards others.  It seems especially important in recent years.  

I liked that Nanami mentioned that explaining your technique can actually make it stronger.  It's an idea I liked to play with but  didn't used much until Persona 5.  The idea that the reality people build in their heads can be influenced by external forces.  It's why in Kingdom Hearts II, just thinking about Maleficent, remembering her, resurrected her.  Everyone's thoughts about her, together combined, adding energy for whatever traces of her to finish manifesting.  It's like how some entities come into existence, simply by enough people sharing the same thought or pouring energies into the same beliefs/images.  Some yokai series use this idea to explain why some entities manifest out of prevaent thoughts/emotions that happen in the same place or centered around a specific object.  It's nice to see JJK also use this idea in both to explain Curses that manifest out of fears people have had for centuries about the mountains/forests/ocean, and also to reinforce a magic attack.  Because seeing this technique used in a magic system for the purposes of combat, and not just exposition to explain an entity, doesn't appear often.  (Until Persona 5).  

Oh, and I REALLY LOVE the art style/animation on Yuuji's Divergent Fist.  *U*!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Interesting that they're starting to alreay discuss the concept of humans turning into Curses.  But I guess it's more a display of "some villain's horrifying technique", than the climactic change that a lot of other series use this trope for.  ...I love this trope, by the way.  Just villainizing antagonists as "monsters" always feels flimsy to me, so I like plot reveals about "the random enemies you've been fighting all this time are actually human victims transformed into monsters".  Madoka Magica, Claymore, Kamen Rider Heisei phase 2, Bleach, Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba, etc.  But most of all, I love how this trope forces protagonists to use more empathy, since my favorite ideal is "Compassion as the ultimate True Strength".  

That omake---!  LOL  I really thought this was a flashback about Gojou asking Nanami to help with Yuuji, like he mentioned during the episode.  But it turned out to just be a penis joke!  LOL!!!!!!!!!!  I laughed out loud, "WHAT?!"   . . . 2:26 AM 12/28/2020

Jujutsu Kaisen ep10

Isn't Yuuji going to be sent to infiltrate Yoshino's school.  I hope he can protect them.  

This poor kid Yoshino.  Never been validated before.  He has to hear that it's ok for him to go vs his ideal of Indifference by hating people.  

The body came before the soul.  On this planet, anyway.  And at the very beginning.  Of course now, there's been so much history and accumulation and entities evovled on Earth that there can be entities that begin as souls first and maybe they stay that way or maybe they get souls.  But I think you'd have to go to a whole other star system to find a species that was first on their "planet" that evolved as energy/souls first.  But I'd think most of those species actually started in nebulae than planets.  ..Unelss we're talking about gaseous planets.  

omg I can't believe Yuuji pants'ed that teacher.  It's true that dragging Yoshino along with him woudl've been more expected.  I'm glad the writing called that out.  

Can Yuuji see negative energy on people better now?  Can he see how much Yoshino hates that teacher?  Or was he just reading his expression?  

Interesting that Mahito is distinguishing between protecting the body vs protecting the soul and reinforcing this idea about needing to be aware of one's own soul in order to protect it.  

Aw.  Episode over already?  ;o;  This series is good, but I am trying to catch up, since there are spoilers for this series all over social media and I already ran into a few of them.  

What the hell is this omake.  Why is Nobara's uniform being worn by Panda and Inumaki...And Gojou---Actually Gojo makes sense.  I get the feeling he'll do anything for a laugh sometimes.  lol   . . . 8:38 PM 2/19/2021

Jujutsu Kaisen ep11

Started Jujutsu Kaisen ep11 around 8:10pm.  

8:41 PM 2/19/2021  Just finished.  Hm.  2 sets of previews.  I wonder why.

I finally managed to watch anime again.  ;_;  For many years now, I've had this problem where I can't get myself to watch anime, becaus eI know it's so good and I know it'll be totally engrossing and distracting, that I get preemptively guilty for being so unproductive.  I mean, a lot of times, I can't even multitask _eating_ during anime, because I can't read subtitles as fast as I used to.  So I haven't really watche anime on a regular basis in a long time.  Even though I know I love it.  I guess this is why a lot of my recent fandoms have been videogames instead of anime series.  which I guess doesn't make sense, considering games take as much or more time than watching a series.  Anxiety is wierd.)  There's the inability to multitask, there's pausing every few minutes to write reactions, there's the inevitable daydreaming I have whenever I watch something that's SOOO good that it demands my mental interaction, and if I manage to not write while watching, then there's writing reactions after the episode.  watching anime just takes a lot of time out of me.  I wish I wasn't afraid of that.  Because I'll lose time, wasted on YouTube instead, and a lot of that is just "empty calories" compared to anime watching.  Anyway, I finally managed to watch anime without sitting at my computer, pausing to write reactions at every few minutes.  Finally!  I was searching for a YouTube vid to watch, and everything I clicked was so uninteresting, that I ask myself, "why arn't I watching anime?"  If I wanted something interesting, then go watch anime!"  

Since I'm writing my reactions AFTER watching the episode and I have a very bad memory in general, these are by no means all my reactions:

Sometimes I get confused when Mahito's dialogue slips in some kind of exposition thing about how the magic system in this series works.  Like, a soul's connection to its vessel, effecting the shape of a body.  Yeah, that makes sense, but then he also talks about the reverse not being true---and I'm like, "No, both have to be true, otherwise it doesn't make sense.  I watched FF7AC; there was logic behin Kadaj not being able to house Sephiroth until his body changed to be able to fit Sephiroth.  But psychosomatic effect is a thing that exists in the real world."  Much more than Mahito torturing/experimenting on random people, I was more perplexed by him not recogizing the body/spirit connection not going both ways.  Or like in this episode, when he explained something about his surprise that he really could do something with the shape of his soul.  Didn't he already know he could do that?  But then later in this episode Nanami's internal monologue explained that Mahito must be a new entity and is essentially just a kid playing around, still trying to figure their powers out.  Makes sense.  

Not that I don't understand this magic system, but there seems to be a funamental work around on its restrictions.  Like, Curses/negative energies can't be the only strong magics in a magic system that translates emotions into energy/magic.  Series after series, we see magic based on negative emotions as being outclassed by magic based on positive emotions.  I keep expecting that to be the big twist in Jujutsu Kaisen.  Because a magic system based solely on negative emotions seems strangely restricted.    

Yuuji continues to prove himself to be really sweet an IMMEDIATELY smile-inducing.  It was really nice to see him getting along so fast with Junpei Yoshino.

I was worried about Yoshino and his mom being on bad terms, because of all his repressed anger asides.  I was afraid that maybe she used to abuse him with cigarettes and maybe that was why he had made her promise not to smoke around him.  I can't believe I had _completely forgotten_ that the bullies burned Yoshino's face with cigarettes.  So I was relieved when Yoshino admitted to Yuuji that his mom was nice.  Too bad she immediately was murdered. I feel like Mahito did it; just another experiment.  In the flashback, it was really surprising to see a Japanese mom being ok that Yoshino take time away from school for his mental health, and being so supportive about it.  This manga-ka sure knows how to portray characters as uickly endearing (except Nobara).  

I liked that Yuuji's explaination for his reluctance to kill felt a little more nuanced that the usual answers I hear protagonists give to that uestion.  The line (Yoshino) repeated from Yuuji's monologue was about "being afraid of killing tainting one's soul".  But I preferred how Yuuji explained it before that line.  Something about the temptation of having killing as an option in your arsenal, until it becomes too commonplace, and you lose a sense of taking lives as having any meaning, also losing the sense that lives have value (in preserving or appreciating).  

9:56 PM 2/19/2021

well, that's all I remember so far. . . .

5:45 PM 2/21/2021

Jujutsu Kaisen ep12

6:12 PM 2/21/2021

So the good news is that I actually got myself to watch anime while eating---guilty about distracted unproductivity be damned.  The bad news is that the episode was so good that I stopped eating.  Thsi is my first meal of the day so I really do need to eat.  But I"m not the type of person who can eat popcorn while watching movies.  when I watch something, I give it my full attention.  I don't eat while I'm concentrating.  

Ok.  I guess I should say something about how odd this omake is.  o.o?  Usually you'd have a chibi cameo of a known character.  But I guess we're just getting metaphor instead...or just nonsense.  ^.^;  

Since I avoided sitting at my computer while watching, I'll have to retroactively write reactions again.  

i really loved that this series just had our protagonist TALK to the antagonist, get junpei's story, his reasons for attacking the school, sympathize with him, solve the conflict by promising to help him.  Any other past Shonen series would have had them just fight and then later, after the protag kills the antagonist, he'll learn the "tragic truth" and then carry that regret into his next battles.  I'm glad thee genre is evolving past that.  Not that I don't like that old style---hell, I love that vanilla Persona 5 killed Akechi, instead of redeeming him like P5R---but it's nice to have a variety in the genre.  And Yuuji has proven himself to be a highly sympathetic personality, and curbing genre tropes to accomodate his best qality is really nice.  ;u;  in fact, a lot of the top series in modern Shonen have highly empathetic, visibly emotional, and vulnerable protagonists:  Demon Slayer Kimetsu No Yaiba's Tanjiro, Boq no Hero Academia's Midoriya, and now Jujutsu Kaisen's Yuuji Itadori.

I had been considering for a while the idea that people in this series' would coul be turning other people into Curses on purpose.  not just the soul-shape transfigurations that Mahito is doing.  I mean like, manipulating people to be so full of negative emotios that they become a Curse.  Like, is that how Suqna became a Curse?  It's interesting to see this episode kind of foreshadow that idea through Mahito's monologues explaining his manipulations of Junpei.  

I'll admit it.  As a Kingdom Hearts fan, when Junpei was repeating what Mahito taught him about hearts not really existing, all I could think of was Xehanort lying about that to Organization XIII, in order to manipulate them.  ^.^;  

I will say it's really wierd to watch this series act like being able to influence others' souls and being aware of one's soul energy, is a novelty or a rare high level skill...after watching so many series in my life, where that was basic.  Like, in Claymore, that's pretty much HALF of what they do!  There's even a warrior Galatea who is DEFINED by manipulating other's energies.  And I don't mean Jujutsu Kaisen has a bad magic system.  it's really exciting that it's kneecapped its protagonists so much so the audience can anticipate how far they're ascend.  Instituting harsh level, restricting magic system rules, to establish the characters' growth throughout tackling the conflicts of the series' battles, is something I'd wish videogame seqels would do instead of just taking away the protagonists powers.  Don't make the protag start at zero just to give them an up to go to!  Make the system/environment more difficult, to match their increasing power level!  So I'm not frustrated at Jujutsu Kaisen doing this.  But it is strange when your brain is buzzing with, "well, why don't they just do this?" after having watche so many other series' solutions to similar conflicts.  Like, if this was Claymore, any warrior with enough training woul have been able to sync up with Junpei's soul energy and reform him into his body's original shape.  So it feels very odd to be in the POV of a protagonist like Yuuji who doesn't even realize that's a thing that's possible, or at least seems possible within this world's rules.  I mean, Mahito is doing it.  But Yuuji is still a novice student, so he gets a pass; he doesn't become a frustrating protag to follow.  But this series does give the impression that Mahito's ability to transfigure people's souls/bodies is like a power specific to him.  I wonder if his character is just establishing this techniqe into this world's magic system or if it really is just Mahito.  Because so far, it feels like only Mahito.  Only time will tell if Mahito was just an establishing point for this function of this magic system.  

Also, Yuuji, don't rely on that jerk, Sukuna.  lol   . . . 6:24 PM 3/29/2021

Jujutsu Kaisen ep13

Let's see if Crunchyroll will finally let me watch this series.  Well, it's not crashing atthe first commercial before the episdoe starts.  That's a good sign.  

6:32 PM 3/29/2021

Well, look at that. Crunchyroll didn't crash at the 2nd commercial break, right before the opening theme.

6:39 PM 3/29/2021

LOL  Yuuji totally just punched through that Domain?  LOL!  

Whatever potential Fushiguro has that Sukuna is interested in, the story is certainly setting this up this foreshadowing early.  

It's really has been a while since I watched this series. I can't remember where Yuuji got those holes in his back.  

Love these little resolution talks after a big fight in a story.  Impressed that Nanami sidestepped actually answering the philosophy of Yuuji's question and just commented that Yuuji saved him and can save others.  It's that type of good writing I can't do, that always makes my writing get bogged down.  Like in Kingdom Hearts II when Xehanort was asking all these philosophical questions and Riku got caught up in answering them, but Sora had the wisdom to see that the whole line of questioning was faulty or a distraction to begin with.  

Playing a vocal song during the last scene?  Makes it feel like a season finale.  Well, it is ep13, so I guess it's a halfway mark for the season.  

6:52 PM 3/29/2021

I'd had to stop watching when Crunchyroll is actually working well for me right now.  But I've got other stuff to do.  ;o;

Ha!  You were going to skip the previews!  I forgot this series has an omake segment after the ending theme!  

So if Yuuji taught Fushiguro to make meatball...Oh yeah, they think he's dead.  

6:55 PM 3/29/2021

How odd.  Crunchyroll automatically brought me back to teh episode selection screen intead of autoplaying to ep14.  I appreciate it.  But I wonder why that happened.  Is it part of Crunchyroll crashing and glitching on me all the time?  Or did they change their UI?  

[ghostofmoriarty]

Fictional Favorites Tag Game

I was tagged by @yourgoodfriendraichel so here goes  I am going to follow in Raichel’s footsteps and put this under a break, because oooh boy did it get long  1. What is your MBTI? It changes every time I take the test, but  INTP /INTJ are my most common results 

2. What is your Hogwarts House? Ravenclaw. I’m quite the academic these days.

3. Are you a book person or a TV person? I love books on principle, but I love tv so much and it’s so much more CONVENIENT.  (this is @yourgoodfriendraichel‘s answer, but it’s so 100% accurate, I’m keeping it) 

4. What is your favorite book series? Harry Potter will always have a special place in my heart, as will Percy Jackson and Cirque du Freak. I love Dirk Gently (Douglas Adams was an amazing writer through and through) and Sherlock Holmes because I am garbage for a good detective story.  ASOIAF and the entire Tolkienverse (LotR et al) are some of my favorites. Oh! And The Sparrow, there was a sequel so it counts as a series. I haven’t read the sequel yet, but The Sparrow was legitimately one of the greatest books I have ever read and I am super excited to check out the sequel when I have a few days off of work that isn’t dedicated to mowing the lawn (it's been raining sooo much here)

5. What is your favorite TV series? I love so many tv series. Aquabats! Super Show! will always be in my top 10. I am garbage for TURN: Washington’s Spies even though I think it’s kind of terrible, oooh and Dirk Genty’s Holistic Detective Agency, can’t believe I forgot about that one, I was literally just talking about the books. And no matter how angry I get at Doctor Who, I will always return to watch the new season (this last season was really good, thank god) but I think Classic Doctor Who is a thousand times better than the reboot

6. Which fantasy universe would you most like to live in?  I don’t know, because in any universe I won’t be the hero (I’m not even the hero/protagonist in THIS universe, so why would it be any different in a fictional one?) so I would need one that I could live happily and not be incinerated by dragons or forced to fight some nobleman’s war. Yeah, I’ve managed to talk myself out of every fantasy universe I could think of. How about Harry Potter? Yeah, sure Hogwarts has a scarily high student fatality rate for a high school and there’s a massive war every couple of decades that wipes out half the generation, but magic would be fun. I think I would take a short life with magic over a long life without it (assuming that I don’t end up a muggle or a squib, of course)

7. Favorite character ever? Finn from Star Wars, Sansa Stark from ASOIAF (note: ASOIAF and NOT GoT), Prince Charles Edward Stewart from Outlander…. That’s a really weird one, but Outlander was one of the most horrible (and uncomfortable) shows I have sat through but I really loved Bonnie Prince Charlie?? He was just an idealistic ray of sunshine in this bland, bleak wasteland of a tv show. He wouldn’t make the list if my hatred for the show was any lessened, but because I hate the show so much, my love for him is exemplified immensely. Anyway, Theodore “TBag” Bagwell from Prison Break, the entire cast of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, Pietro Maximoff (and 99% of all XMen), Sauron, etc. So many.

8. Character you would like to personally slap in the face: Abe Woodhull from TURN: Washington’s Spies. He’s terrible, through and through.

9. Character you would like to personally murder: CHLOE FROM LIFE IS STRANGE. I WOULD HAVE MURDERED HER SO HARD IF MY GAME DIDN’T GLITCH ON THE LAST LEVEL.  *she’s a terrible human whose manipulative and abusive. WLW deserve better options in both general representation and romanceable wlw characters in video games

10. Character you would gladly intern under:  Any of the Xmen (can I be a plucky assistant who has a really lame super power but still tries to help, please???)  OOOOOH and Larten Crepsley from Cirque du Freak (I LOVE HIM, YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW also he is in my top 5 favorite characters of all time, so I can’t believe I left him out in the fave character section)

11. Character you would totally have tea with: I don’t drink tea, but I’d probably go on a late-night coffee run with the entire Star Wars cast or Aquaman. Aquaman probably hates coffee though, so The Riddler? Edward Nygma seems like an “up all night anxiously drinking coffee while finishing up some project (probably a criminal scheme)” kinda guy.

12. Character that you feel really needs a hug: The entire freaking cast of Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (note: the tv show, not the books)

13. Character you love that you would probably hate irl: Most of them, to be honest. I am drawn to horrible people in fiction. Simcoe, TURN: Washington’s Spies (note: tv show version, not real-life verson); T-Bag, Prison Break; Cesare Borgia, The Borgias;

14. Character you would realistically be friends with irl: Ken, Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency 

5. First character you had a crush on (if any): Jack Sparrow………

16. Favorite ships: ooooOOOh boy where to begin…. DISCLAIMER: when I say I ship things, I just mean I find the dynamic between the 2+ characters interesting and compelling. I don’t necessarily feel that they should be a canonical end-game romance (or even a romance at all), nor do I stan the relationship as healthy for either of the characters, nor do I feel that these relationships (platonic, romantic, or otherwise) should be heralded as a beacon of #goals to aspire to. I literally mean “hey those two have a cool dynamic, I wanna see more of that” -Master/Missy (I’ve been calling it “MASTERbator but I don’t know what the official ship name) (Doctor Who) -Anna Strong/Hewlett (TURN) -Foggy Nelsen /Matt Murdock (Daredevil) -Abe Woodhull/ Robert Townsend (TURN; note: Rob is too good for Abe but Rob’s reactions to Abe are too perfect to not ship) -Sansan (ASOIAF; I ship this 100% platonically) -Jaime and Brienne (ASOIAF; this is 100% not a platonic ship) -Finn/Poe -Han/Lando (we have NEVER heard the details of that card game, is all I’m sayin’) -Edward Nygma/ Oswald Cobblepot (Gotham/ DC; this is legit the ONLY reason I continue to watch Gotham. Everything else is garbage, but these two’s relationship, man. It’s so compelling, they’re so in love and so unwilling to put their differences and murderous tendencies aside to make their relationship work. I have so many feelings about this ship, okay)

-Joker/Batman (LEGO Batman; it was so beautiful, guys)

I have so many more, I don’t even know

17. Series (TV/book) that you feel ended terribly:  Harry Potter’s ending is literally a meme now, so I won’t do overboard explaining that one. BUT, The Hunger Games. Okay, so this fucking series has a female character who is constantly talking and thinking about how she doesn’t want any children, and how she doesn’t feel like she should be a mother, which is pretty progressive right??? Also, 2 and a half fucking books are building up to an end all war/ revolution and It’s gonna be the biggest damn thing ever, right??? WELL how does this book series end??? Katniss, the FUCKING  NARRATOR, gets hit in her head and blacks out, so she (AS WELL AS THE READER) misses the majority of the final battle, and THEN this series reveals that Gail (the less useless of the two potential love interests) may have caused the death of Katniss’ sister, so he leaves and Katniss chooses Peeta for no other reason than “well, I’m 17 so I should settle down with SOMEONE and you’re within proximity, so I guess you’ll do” and they get banished to District 12 where Katniss mothers a bunch of children because what else are you gonna do but fuck, and basically the entire ending is one piece of bullshit after the other (ALSO THE MOVIES FRAME THE ENDING AS “KATNISS IS NOW A MOTHER THEREFOR SHE’S REACHED HER POTENTIAL AS A WOMAN, ISN’T THIS A HAPPY ENDING” and fuck this entire series)

18. Series (TV/book) that had so much potential but was actually an epic disaster: Literally everything I watch. Dr Who, TURN: Washington’s Spies, Gotham, Sherlock, Game of Thrones; But hey, that’s what fanfiction is for

19. Worst book/movie/TV show you’ve ever read/seen: Ooooh I’ve read and watched some TERRIBLE things in my day.  Outlander. Outlander was pitched to me as having 18th Century Scotland and TIME TRAVEL. Some of my favorite things, aaaand it ended up being one of the worst things I have ever seen. 90% of it is just boring, but the other 10% involves, in my opinion, really poorly handled sexual assault. I won’t go into details here, but it was bad.  

Also, Borgias was fascinating, but bad. And TURN: Washington’s Spies. Honestly, I watch a lot of period pieces because I think the clothes are pretty or I am interested in the time period and/or historical events in which its set around, but then 99% of them are all really poorly-written soap opera-y dramas with nice sets and costumes.   20. Favorite book from your childhood: Harry Potter

21. 3 Favorite Tropes: Complex Family Dynamics (I think that’s more of a category of tropes than a trope itself, but I love me some fam drama), Happy endings for gays (that’s not really a trope, but it fills me with love and happiness every time it happens –which is rare), oooh I don’t know. I can’t think of any right now, but I do love a lot of tropes, I promise.

22. 3 Most Hated Tropes: Bury your Gays (killing off gay characters for no reason), Rape as empowerment (ie: when the narration treats a sexual assault as a motivator for women that “makes them stronger”); Man Pain (when a woman is assaulted/ threatened by the antagonist, and the main male-protag uses it as “motivation” to fight the antagonist. The story doesn’t allow the female character who experienced the trauma to be the focus of the story/arc, her traumatizing experience is not about her, it is ONLY there to develop the male character she is close to; the story essentially treats the male as the real victim)

23. Scariest thing you’ve ever watched/read: James and the Giant Peach

24. Anything you’d like to recommend? Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency (please send me a message if you want to know what it’s about, it’s SO GOOD. It’s fun, quirky, unlike anything else, and it has a diverse cast including characters who are poc (and woc), characters who have disabilities, women who are badass, none of the women are ever sexualized at all, it has corgis, and mysteries, and scifi, and it’s just a big adventure. (I also recommend the books, and the 2011 tv series Dirk Gently)

25. Would you like any recommendations? I’m game for anything. I love period pieces, fantasy, science fiction, TIME TRAVEL, quirky detectives, gory things, child-friendly things, honestly as long as it has interesting characters I am game. I don’t even need a good story, just characters.

  Heeey I am terrible at tagging people. If you want to do the thing, please do! And tag me so I can read it :) Also, if you actually read this whole thing, then you deserve all the gold stars, thank you!