#overall I'm tempted to check out the manga

[baked-hylian]

Tag game: Tour my bookshelf!

Thanks for the tag, @hirazuki

An estimate of how many physical books I own: I feel really behind as over the years and moving around I haven't held on to a lot of the books I had once had. At the moment my collection is of roughly 75 books (lost count when my cat wanted to be picked up) including reference books, 36 light novels, 132 manga volumes 11 of which are omnibuses (3-in-1 kind)

Favourite author: That's not actually an easy question for me mostly because I don't pick favourites when it comes to authors, I like different ones for different things. Like I love MXTX for fucked up relationships and situations. And I like the way Tasha Suri and Samantha Shannon describe food in their works The Burning Kingdoms trilogy and The Priory of the Orange Tree. That being said I haven't even tried MXTX's first novel, nor am I clamouring to grab Tasha Suri or Samantha Shannon's other novels, admittedly I am waiting for the prequel follow up to The Priory of the Orange Tree to release in paperback, and Tasha Suri is doing a Doctor Who novel and I'm mildly tempted to check that out, but that's more so the Doctor Who angle.

A popular book I've never read and never intend to read: Honest probably most YA that I didn't read as a kid, I gave an exception to Iron Widow just because I like the author and the youtube content they produced and the concept of imagining the rise to power of the first empress of China as a young woman dealing with some type of alien/monster invasion sounded neat. Another I would say is the first novel from MXTX. There are some tropes from it that sound enjoyable, but I really struggle with the kid eventually growing up and hooking up with his teacher crush for the romance angle. Like I get that because plot technically it shouldn't matter but idk it's just not what I look for when it comes to a romance, yknow?

A popular book I thought was just meh: Under The Whispering Door by TJ Klune. He's the type of author I will only buy on sale as paperback. The House on the Cerulean Sea was super charming and fun, this was just, like sterilized handling of death. Idk I just was not a fan of it, plus the romance of it felt quite weak. Honestly Klune vibes like he'd be better off writing for tweens than adults.

Longest book I own: The Priory of the Orange Tree, if it isn't that then it's this dictionary I have specifically for old timey slang that I found while thrifting.

Longest series I own all the books to: Ascendance of a Bookworm is probably just overall the longest even comparing novels, as by the time they finish publishing it it's going to be some 35ish volumes each at least 300 pages (the odd picture probably drops it closer to 290). I'd say Tian Guan Ci Fu but that's mostly because english translations always wind up longer than the original mandarin, i.e. TGCF is only 3 books long in mandarin but getting 8 volumes in english due to length (although, honestly, I have problems with the way they keep constantly copy pasting the same glossary for each novel, could easily trim 30 pages of that and redistribute the overall story to cut out at least two of those volumes.) Inuyasha for manga and I don't even have half of the series.

Prettiest book I own: Maybe it's because I just finished it, but He Who Drowned the World has an absolutely gorgeous cover. The artwork by JungShan is just so pretty and I love the colour choices.

A book or series I wish more people knew about: Among Thieves and its sequel Thick as Thieves. Just a fun medium fantasy duology with the first book being set up and execution of the heist of a highly important magical item that will determine the fates for everyone around the world. The second dealing with the aftermath of that heist and finding out more about where magic comes from in this world.

Book I'm reading now: .......... The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady volume 3. I know how it sounds and honestly it's better than most isekai nowadays at least.

Book that's been on my TBR list for a while but I still haven't got around to it: The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Tried The Hobbit in high school right around the time I lost interest in reading, feels like it was mostly a me problem so I figured I'd give them another shot. Just gotta find a very specific copy of Return of the King because I already have the others from that set and I don't wanna mix n match too much.

Do you have any books in a language other than English: I used to have a Japanese pokemon card, does that count? French instruction manuals? No? Then no.

And lastly, paperback, hardcover or ebook? Situational. I like hardcover for certain lengths, but I find once you're nearing 600 pages they become irritating. Hardcover is also dependant on how much I like the author/that series as I'm cheap and I've been burned once by disappointment and not letting it happen again. However I do like that certain manga are getting the hardcover treatment, it looks very classy for some of them, like the Thus Spoke Rohan Kishibe specials, and the Fullmetal Alchemist recent prints.

Tagging anyone who really wants to talk about their books!

[seasaltmemories]

What is your opinion about Machi and Kakeru?

So sorry for the late response, I was wanting to make sure I was caught up bc I sensed we'd get more development of them, but then I forgot lmao, still considering FB seems to be in its winding down phase, I think this could be a good time to review some thoughts and lay out my hopes for bits we might be able to squeeze in

Kakeru

Honestly, the archetype he comes from of "loud comic relief that annoys quiet, straight-laced counterpart" can be very hard for me to enjoy, especially with the realistic nature of the student council, I've had my own harrowing experiences trying to wrangle together highschoolers into accomplishing something, and so a lot of his early behavior was too familiar for me to enjoy

That said, as he opened up about himself I did enjoy him much more, he pushes Yuki in good ways and can be a bit of a grounding force, and can bring out his teasing side (love that when yuki is putting Tohru in the mom-zone he argues back that mommy kinks are a thing) Also his relationship with Machi is very sweet, I love his little shows of protectiveness

Machi

I've been curious about her for the longest time, there's a lot of weight put into the way she occupies Yuki's attention, especially that imagery of her breaking down the door when Yuki got trapped in the closet, as we've gotten to know her, I again like her relationship with Kakeru and her flustered nature is very cute, I enjoyed her focus episode we got in s3, it was a really good example of Yuki's personal growth from his relationship with Tohru letting him be there for others, I feel though as if we are only know getting to know her, and I hope her arc isn't finished

Shipping

lmao not in the question itself, but looking at the fandom, I thought this might be a good time to get some of my feelings on the two most popular Yuki ships out

I know I am in the minority for believing Yuki's feelings for Tohru were romantic (like you don't blush so hard you transform when your mom calls you by your first name) But I think regardless of one's interpretation, it is obvious Yuki wants an equal relationship and considering the way he's been caught up in his own baggage, he's never been able to help Tohru in return like Kyo has

Going back to that image of Machi breaking down the door, it is hella powerful and spot on visual language, suggesting a way Machi can reach Yuki in a way Tohru couldn't and with the talks and chalk scene (which had me gasp from how smooth it was) Yuki definitely seems to be in a place where he can be a good partner

My one concern is that we haven't really seen concretely what Machi "does" for Yuki, I don't want to be cruel and act like support between two people always has to be completely balanced, and I am a general fan of the ship dynamic "character A helps out character B with trauma" but after getting the emphasis with Yuki/Tohru and all that build-up with Machi in general, I would like to see the dynamic fleshed out/strengthened a bit more

Which when we look at who has gotten Yuki to "open the lid" Kakeru definitely fits that role, not to mention Takaya likes to pair up a couple and develop them side by side, my biggest problem with them though comes down more to taste, for one, the ship dynamic of "A lovingly annoys B" is one I tend to hate lmao and tbh I just have trouble seeing Yuki attracted to men

Even taking off my shipping googles, Yuki just never seems comfortable with queerness as a concept, like he's very defensive over how the student body will feminize him and has a lot of screen time with canonically queer characters like Ayame and Hatsuharu, and while when it comes to their sexuality, he has outright disdain for the former and confused patience for the latter, it gives very big "straight guy who has had a decent level of exposure to queerness but still doesn't really Get It"

Now ppl say his mom thing with Tohru sounds similar to comphet, and I can definitely see some versions of that, but for all Takaya likes to play with queerness, her writing is still very cishet, she just doesn't have the skills to articulate all the subtleties I'd want from a narrative like that, in the hands of a more talent writer, I think it could be great, but as of canon, there just isn't enough foundation to make me interested in exploring that interpretions

That said I totally get why people would like either of them with Yuki, so most of this is just me splitting the hairs about my personal taste lmao

[sootandco]

meeting them for the first time

pronouns: they/them summary: how you met the different members of the dream smp. requested: no a/n: my first mcyt preference! + i'm vv tempted to write lil imagines about these! tw: couple swear words and slight tw on wilbur's one for creepy ass pervs :) wc: 0.7k including: dream, george, sapnap, quackity, karl, wilbur (might include more later)

dream:

you were a big streamer and referred to as 'dream's competition' since you also speed ran minecraft, and were doing v well on twitch and youtube. the whole internet compared you two to each other, and basically declared you as enemies

he had heard of you but never really looked into your content, but one day he decided to check in, expecting you to be a stuck-up, cocky bitch, but he was surprised af! you were so nice!! and wholesome!! how could people assume he hated you?!

he messaged you after your stream telling you how he actually enjoyed it and that he in no way, shape or form hates you, and you told him how you loved his content too and found him to be super cool!! so technicallyyyyy it wasn't meeting face-to-face, but you felt a connection straight away!

george:

you were online friends with badboyhalo and skeppy and there was a running inside joke that you were in a poly relationship with them. so one day, bbh and skeppy asked dream if you could hang out in the smp for a bit. dream of course said yeah :)

you were on call with bad, skeppy, dream and george, giving you a tour and having an overall good laugh! and poor little gogy started gaining feelings for you out of the blue but he was convinced you were dating bbh and skeppy, and when he brought it up- oh boy, did dream LAUGH!!

you basically explained how the whole poly thing was a joke :) so maybe george does have a chance after all ;)

sapnap:

he met you at a book store, he was looking for some manga that was very rare and the only place he saw it was at this small book store. as you were looking for a text book for school since you were starting your first year of university and you knew the kind, old man that ran the shop

sapnap was struggling to find the manga and you offered to help. he was shocked that a super pretty person just approached him!! vv flustered :)

he wimped out and didn't ask for your number but he kept going back to the book store in hopes of finding you and he wasn't disappointed !!

candle girl type beat

quackity:

he was starting law school and alex was vv nervous. his leg was bouncing up and down at his desk, waiting for the teacher to walk in and start the lesson already. it seemed like no one wanted to sit near him, but maybe he was just being paranoid??

he heard his voice being called as he looked up to see you! you looked different, very different. you looked gorgeous! you used to go to his high school before you moved, but he remembered you as the quiet kid in the back of the classroom, but he was thrilled that someone he knew was there!!

you sat in the seat next to him and he was genuinely so happy! you started talking and agreed to hang out and catch up some more after class :)

karl:

you were around eighteen when you joined the mrbeast crew, you were seen as the 'adorable-comicrelief-wholesome-amazing-hilarious-brilliant-memberofthecrew' or just simply the 'favourite' :)

karl was just the camera man when he met you. you were just doing one of the 'last to leave' challenges and karl was getting some close-ups, but you just started having a whole ass conversation with him because you were extremely bored and wanted to know more about the cute camera man :)

he pretty much just recorded you the whole time since he was so distracted <3

wilbur:

he was on the empty tube late at night, earbuds in, listening to music, absolutely tired. a couple meters away he heard two voices talking making him look up. a creepy ass man was talking to a very uncomfortable you. he was slowly edging closer to you as you were trying to get as far away as possible

wilbur was immediately on alert mode and decided enough was enough and stepped in. wil pretended to know you, making the man back off. you were a bit emotional so he stayed by your side

he walked you home since you were visibly scared. overall, wilbur felt like he needed to protect you at all costs straight away

[seeingteacupsindragons]

I haven’t seen Nabari no Ou (tho I'm going to start it now that you mentionned it!) but Shimanami Tasogare doesn't have a bad ending. Without spoilers, it’s really a sweet manga. I have the impression that the goal was to tell an encouraging story and above all to inform peopel about several queer identities. Of course there is some hard moment but overall it's really sweet. I encourage you to check it one day if you feel like you can ^^

Warning for anyone who may be tempted to start Nabari because of me, this is official art for the series I have had saved for like 5ever.

Nabari, is loosely, about this 14yo boy named Miharu, who lost his parents in a plot-related tragedy many years ago and lives with his grandparents now. And then he realizes his family was a ninja family and he has this godlike ninjitsu called the Shinrabanshou that basically can do whatever the hell he wants it to do.

But he doesn't actually know how to make it work, and he's extremely apathetic and depressed, so he doesn't really want anything enough to make it work, either.

So the various ninja clans realize he has this thing and they all, in various ways, try to get it to use it for themselves. And then he runs into this young intersex ninja named Yoite, who is ostensibly on the side of their worst enemies, who threatens Miharu's friends and family if he doesn't agree to help Yoite "Never have been born."

(Although at this point, I should mention that the anime does not make Yoite intersex explicitly, but he is explicitly intersex in the manga. FWIW)

So Miharu agrees, and they both sort of set out on a quest absolutely zero other people want them to be on in order to figure out how to make this stupid thing work so Miharu can make Yoite never have been born, and they bond and, arguably, fall in love. And Yoite stops wanting to die (although I'm compelled to point out that in this series, never having been born and dying are not at all the same thing) so badly and Miharu starts becoming invested in his life and care about people, and.

Well, I'll stop there to not share All The Spoilers.

The anime doesn't exactly end badly, but it does end tragically, and somehow the gay couples/implied couples all end up sadly but the straight couples make it out okay, and that annoys me in retrospect although it didn't really register at the time.

I have heard the manga ends much better, but I have not once heard that it ends happily. I actually have the fist 6 volumes still on my manga bookcase, and then sort of lost track of it because Money, but the college friend read the scans and filled me in on some of the other stuff.

I do still like Nabari. It didn't make me angry the same way that Banana Fish. The tragedy is much more narratively sound (although I have many arguments I'd like to make about the anime version of it that I know don't track for the manga), and frankly, cathartic, and I don't think it's a harmful tragedy in the way Banana Fish is.