#prince of tennis self insert

[almaadst]

Commission for my sweet @kittifer (❁´◡`❁) Sanda from Prince of Tennis and her self-insert ♡ POV from the window to show contrast in temperature was a cool challenge! Also, I tried to use a different, thinner lineart brush and I think it looks better now ^^ Other: Commission info Kara and Revan Kuvira and Sayi

PLEASE DO NOT REPOST WITHOUT MY or OWNER PERMISSION

[iamamood]

Does anyone remember the kareshi+ series of haikyuu and kuroko no basuke? I remember i looved reading them here, now there has been different kind of variations like yandere+kareshi etc. I wonder if there is a japanese term for these kind of self inserts books. Is anyone fluent in japanese or has knowledge and may help out with that?

Look up @astrq.ella s tik tok if you want to know what I mean

Edit: If anyone is curious if you search for an anime name in romanji and add the katakana word "plus" on twitter and pixiv you get something similiar like the kareshi series. For example jujutsu kaisen = じゅじゅ プラス ("juju purasu") or add 夢 (jp. For dream) and anime name, e.g. 夢術廻戦

[ragingstillness]

Describe anime badly

Bungo Stray Dogs: Famous Authors are all Gay and we been knew

Fullmetal Alchemist: Smol Amputee accidentally takes down the government

xxxholic: Yuuko’s legs are longer than Watanuki’s tolerance for bullshit

Code Geass: Boy with eye transplant takes down the government, on purpose this time, becomes the government, then takes down the government again

Mob Psycho 100: Quest for self improvement goes horribly wrong

The Promised Neverland: If you do not have trauma some will be provided for you

One Punch Man: depressed adult adopts a robot 

Attack on titan: you wanted nudity but not this

Tokyo Ghoul: coffee is the food of monsters

Food Wars: rt if you like being hungry and uncomfortable at the same time

Bleach: large groups of men have sword measuring contests

One Piece: what if the preacher kid from the fourth pirates movie was the captain of the black pearl?

Death note: teenagers scare the living shit out of me

Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki Kun: real life self insert

Pokemon: what if you could take your pets with you everywhere

Soul eater: teens bond over worshipping death

Little Witch Academia: Harry Potter for adorable girls 

Baccano: Doctor Who with mafiosos

Durarara: city so filled with crime it’s amazing people still live there

Hellsing: Ever wondered if Dracula was antifa? Turns out, he is. 

Fairy Tail: Friendship! Dead Parents! Dragons! Boobs! More friendship! 

Kimi ni Todoke: Having a crush in high school simulator 

Free!: swim team described by someone who’s never been on a swim team

Yuri On Ice: gay seratonin on ice 

Noragami: God is a homeless bum

Ao no exorcist: teenage rebellion might not have been a good idea 

Another: the hunger games for middle schoolers

Death Parade: you can drink in purgatory 

Assassination classroom: never thought a tentacle monster would make you cry did you?

Deadman wonderland: wrongful imprisonment 

Overlord: gamer boy dedicates his life to topping the leaderboards...oh and mercilessly killing people

Black Butler: since when can twelve year olds sign legally binding contracts?

Ouran High School host club: smooth genderfluid protagonist has their choice of the handsomest men and the prettiest women and somehow gets both

Black Lagoon: male Elizabeth Swan meets female Barbossa 

Dangonronpa the animation: it’s really not worth it to leave school early

Mushishi: fall asleep to people being dumb about magic

Ben-to: ever wanted to fist fight someone in a grocery store? Now you can

Classicaloid: man discovers cloning only to use for stupidest reason ever

Steins;gate: Groundhog Day but somehow more fucked up

Castlevania, the animation: fantasy throuple goals

Akikan: congrats, you no longer have to choose between your girlfriend and your love for a cold one

Erased: childhood take two somehow more traumatic than the first

Grand Blue Dreaming: fish-scented hijinks

Demon slayer: traveling with children in suitcases

Serial experiments lain: the evil baby of a physics degree and a computer science degree with some philosophy for flavor

Cardcaptor Sakura: who gave this child a job?

K-ON!: if band kids were cool

D N Angel: must be gay to play

Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE: the clamp cinematic universe

Skip Beat!: what people who don’t live in LA think LA is

Maid-sama!: blackmail + frills = love?

Baka and Test: an arcade game but make it anime

The Devil is a Part-Timer: I think this title explains itself

Angelic Layer: Lego League on steroids

Princess Jellyfish: what happens when you let only autistic people rent apartments

Prince of Tennis: it’s middle school tennis, chill out

Yu-Gi-Oh (4Kids version): watch as I point my finger at you aggressively

Yu-Gi-Oh zero: the Saw franchise but make it Squid Game

Is it wrong to pick up girls in a dungeon?: yes.

Arakawa under the bridge: trendy homelessness

The Way of the Househusband: male-wife has never been so accurate

Library Wars: if ardent readers formed a militia

Shaman King: I see dead people

Rave Master: that sword is taller than you are son

Magic Knight Rayearth: magical girls with galactic stakes

Rosen Maiden: Victorian Chucky

Shugo Chara: childhood development simulator, also eggs

Vampire Game: genderfluidity off its fucking rocker

Two Flowers for the Dragon: Love Triangle but your gf might eat you

My Next Life as a Villainess: the dictionary entry for ‘clueless bisexual’

Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches: kiss kiss turn into a witch

Violet Evergarden: cyborgs can get ptsd too

Moriarty the Patriot: the gayest Sherlock Holmes adaptation you’ve ever seen and that’s saying something

Cells at Work: we finally did it, we anthropomorphized the human body

Don’t Mess with Eizoken: if only entry level jobs were this easy to find

+anima: trauma, but at least you get to be part bird now

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K: high school surprisingly cool with kid with antennae on his head

D.Gray-man: the exorcist but cool

Tegami Bachi: “Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

Blood Lad: the resurrection of Christ vampire edition

Kitchen Princess: 2000s rom-com that also makes you hungry

Kamisama Kiss: god is a homeless bum take two

Teasing Master Takagi-San: puppy love simulator

Pandora Hearts: Alice in Wonderland but no fun at all

The Earl and the Fairy: Rudolph but people

Lovely complex: we stan short kings in this house

[beldaroot]

i forgot that he wanted to learn tennis 🥺 spare eddie + tennis hcs, anita?

alright i'm going to preface this by saying i have no prior knowledge of tennis outside of playing it in pe class as a child, and that one episode of prince of tennis i watched when i was 15 lol, but here ya go!

ok so from the book it says that eddie “would break it off with myra...and then, after she had finally sailed over the horizon of his life, he could maybe take those tennis lessons he'd been thinking of for such a long time.” so, since he said this quote before he got married, let's say he's in his mid-30s when he starts taking lessons.

eddie’s only really interested in tennis because he considers it a “fancy” sport. many of the rich clients he drives talk about tennis, so he comes to associate tennis as this kind of elite sport to play. also, he likes that it’s an individual sport with little physical contact. and he likes how muscular the men’s thighs are under those small tennis shorts. 

he doesn’t know much about the sport technically, so right before his lessons he ends up going to the library and reading a bunch of books about tennis so he doesn’t look like a total fool on the first day of practice.

he definitely goes all out on the outfits! he gets multiple white tennis shorts, white polos, and many multiple colored headbands to keep away his sweat.

he spends a ridiculous amount of money on his tennis racket that is supposedly very “aerodynamic” and “the best in the world” (it’s actually a pretty standard racket, but he’s a bit gullible and sales people take advantage of that lol) 

his tennis instructor is this nice lady named janet who is very calm. she never pushes him too harshly but is still super supportive of both his failures and wins. 

he just loves running across the court to reach the ball. even if it’s just a small step, each movement feels so freeing.

when he first started, he was genuinely scared of the balls flying towards him at such fast speeds. overtime however, he began to picture the tennis ball as all his frustrations - his mother, his work, his medications, his love life - and now hits the ball with all his strength; finally he’s the one with power and isn’t the one getting hurt.

sometimes, he has group lessons and that’s where he gets to meet and play with other players. most of the players are a lot younger than him, but he’s still able to keep up with them! they go out to drink every once in awhile, and it’s the first time he feels like he belongs in a group (though sometimes he remembers a long long time ago he was part of a special group... almost lucky) 

one day, janet is sick so a substitute instructor arrives instead. his name is james and he’s around eddie’s age and he makes eddie feel something he fears to say out loud. 

by the end of the lesson, james is so impressed by eddie’s skills that he invites him to his country club to play a match with his friends. part of eddie is scared to accept, but the other half of him wants to take the risk. he’s already come this far, what else is there to lose? 

he accepts the offer at the end, and plays several games with james and his friends. he only wins one game, and usually losing that much would cause his self-esteem to drop, but he just had so much fun playing he isn’t really bothered by the losses.  

james and his friends suggest eddie play competitively, but that’s an offer eddie definitely declines without even thinking about. tennis will always just be a hobby to him - he doesn’t want it to become something he doesn’t love anymore. 

so, he just plays local games with the tennis friends he made and loves watching tennis matches regularly. he realizes that even though tennis is an individual sport, he still ended up making teammates along the way!

when he survives derry 2.0, he teaches all the losers how to play tennis as well because he wants the people he loves to love the things he loves too :’) (insert richie making a joke about love being 0 in tennis and eddie hitting him with his tennis racket lol) 

[keriwi1]

Honestly, give me this au, guys. Other than not having Steven (who btw is still missing anyway) it looks good to me. I don't think this Amanda end up with prince of Moldavia so sure, go for Liam, he's yours baby girl.

Real talk here. I hate Liam. He was clearly someone's self insert who had a crush on OG Fallon. I bet that's why Jeff end up so bland, just hanging up on the background for the most part, and even worst her cousin to make shipping them incest. Thanks, I always wanted my favorite couple from original show turn into cusins in reboot. And to be clear, Liam could be good if he was always intended to be Jeff, they have similar energy as a couple as Jeff and Fallon. Only Fallon had more pride in original when it comes to Jeff. But they push so hard to make him new character ignoring fans of original by making my ship imposible to hope for. F*uck he even married Alexis at one point just to show fans the middle finger. And now I'm suposse to be sad Liam is breaking up with her? As if. I hoped he will cheat on her and she will be the one to chase him away. How much will she beg him to go back to her? Oh, I'm sorry, he can go, I don't want him. And nice call back with Fallon having time to play tennis in that dream au. Are you saying og Fallon was useless because she was not a workoholic? This Fallon have a real problem, she honestly should take more time for herself if it's ruining her relationship. And I'm not saying Fallons marriage with Jeff was always perfect, far from it. But at least it was interesting.

[tickotaku]

Hello and welcome to my blog!

I wanted to make a sort of introduction post for myself to pin, So here it is!

This is my hodgepodge blog where I:

Reblog asks and other random stuff.

Rp on occasion (I’m not really an OC as much as literally just a self-insert)

Post little scraps of writing/any random thoughts or experiences I have.

Participate in tag games (Picrew or otherwise)

Answer any asks I get. 

Basically really whatever I feel like posting at any given moment XD.

I try to tag posts with consistent tags, (I didn’t when I started on here so some older ones have yet to be given tags) and will try to tag any nsfw (or ish) and potential triggers. 

Tags I (try to remember to) use:

Tw (: whatever it is)

nsfw (nsfwish or ish)

Ask game (These are always open to be asked btw! So send some in if you want)

Tag game (and/or "tagged")

The show/game/whatever something is from (like BSD, DL, Genshin Impact, etc)

Long post (or longish post)

Not mine (when it's not made by me)

Mine (My writing, etc)

Random

My thoughts

Etc.

You can ask just about anything you want. Just know that if I for any reason feel uncomfortable or feel that I can’t answer something, I will either answer the ask with the reason why, or delete it and privately tell you why. I’ll never judge you for something you send in and my DMs are always open to anyone who needs comfort/to talk/just someone to talk to about anything.

[But please know that any explicit hate will most likely be ignored (unless I feel like answering back for a specific reason) (However, any hate towards other blogs, will not be tolerated.)]

Under the cut is just some infory about me if you wanna know. Thanks for reading and checking out my blog!₍₍ ◝(　ﾟ∀ ﾟ )◟ ⁾⁾

I go by Kris.

I’m a Christian and I believe Jesus died to save me and everyone. And anyone who believes in His death and resurrection is saved from death and has hope no matter who they are or what they've done. He has personally worked in my life and I see Him as my Father, Creator, and Savior. I will not force my faith on others, but I will openly speak about it because my faith is a core part of my life. I respect others and want to be open and kind to everyone, regardless of beliefs.

I am an adult (adding this for specific reasons, but I do not want too much info about me on here. And I don't want certain kinds of blogs spamming me. For that reason, I will not be posting my specific age. Just know I am above 18.)

I’m bi-racial (black and white)

I’m an INFP-T. (Ambivert as well)

Likes:

Watching anime.

Gaming.

Writing.

Reading.

Otome games.

Casually playing sports. (Like tennis, soccer, football, newcomb, gaga ball, basketball, etc)

Smaller groups of people/friends.

Animals.

Hiking (when I can)

Etc.

Fandoms (Generally I'm not in the "fandom" but am a fan) (Also some of them I haven't completed yet)

Bungo Stray Dogs

Assassination Classroom

Bungo to Alchemist

Cells at Work

Death Note

Diabolik Lovers

Fruits Basket

Ikemen Prince

Genshin Impact

Honkai Star Rail

Ikemen Revolution

Ikemen Sengoku

Karneval

Ikemen Vampire

Ikemen Villains

Magic Kaito

Monthly Girls': Nozaki-Kun

My Hero Academia

Noragami

Ouran Highschool Host Club

Pokemon

Snow White with the Red Hair

Violet Evergarden

Yona of the Dawn

Your Lie in April

The Legend of Zelda

There's a lot more, includeding things that I need to get to watching more of, but yeah. I also like reading but I'm might put a list of books later.

I apologize a lot. So if I apologize for something that you don’t think I needed to apologize for, just know I’ll probably apologize one more time for apologizing.

A also talk, quite a bit. People just kinda tune me out now. So if I type out several paragraphs in response to you asking me what I ate for lunch...I just do that.

I highly appreciate brutal honesty. If I do something that makes you uncomfortable, just tell me. I won’t take it personally. 

And that’s all for now! Thanks for reading!

[splitpush]

multifandom fic in review

as usual, nothing prompted this. i was reminiscing about the various fandoms that i’d traversed over my last decade+ of fanfic. if had to pick one story written by me that was my favorite for each fandom, what would it be?

if you see this meme and you want to do it, feel free to. i am tagging you.

the first set of fandoms are ones i dabbled in when i was basically prepubescent so it’s hard to pick a favorite when they’re all equally cringe (but.. in a cute way....). not linking back to anything on my old ffn because it’s embarrassing but they’re easily accessible if u squint (please don’t squint)

Artemis Fowl - no favorite

Guardians of Ga’hoole - probably the story i started writing about Pelli being a nazi cuz she was on good terms with Kludd before she tried to escape his cult with a bunch of nestmaid snakes. wow look at me being a real edgelord here

Kill Me Kiss Me - no favorite but i did a double-take when i went back to check i’d actually written something for this manhwa

next set of fandoms are from when i started to get into anime, namely tennis & ninja foolery. i was based on FFN at first because of my ties to a group of forum friends, but then it bled into LJ as the circle started to migrate. those friends were probably the reason i was faithful to tenipuri for so long. having multiple 知音s in a fandom really does start to make it feel like your home base.

ATLA - crane station for jetko fic exchange

APH - ok for real this fandom dragged. i only stayed in it so i could keep talking to some of my favorite people. i guess if i had to pick a story i liked at all it would probably be softly treading softly

Bakuman - Your Chance to Rewrite the Bible

Code Geass - no favorite

FMA - Pacific Ocean, Telephone Line. i treasure this story. reading it feels like opening a time capsule of hopes i held onto near the end of high school

KHR! - SUNSHINE for me today. kyouko/haru rapture!

Prince of Tennis - tv cables. written as part of a private gift exchange between forementioned forum friends. marui gets hit by a car but it’s not an angsty story by any means. for a while my brand was injecting humor into concepts that were typically tragedy-driven and i kind of lived for it lmao... like i really thought i was doing something

PJO - definitely ハミングバード ~HUMMING BIRD~. nc-17 luke/nico magical realism 16k binge. first time writing id fic, i was hooked!

Naruto - The Pop Is Dead; Long Live The Superflat. deidara/oc, which makes this a self-insert. he was my favorite baddie and i’ll never understand why... whole lotta edgy references in this story but it’s probably the first time i felt like i got even remotely better at writing so it has a special place in my mind

the rpf fandoms i wrote for were scattered between LJ/tumblr eras but i’m going to list them all here. like most ppl that write rpf i ran in and out of it. 

e-sports - probably subperfect. everything on that blog is gratuitous & no you’re not welcome. i stopped writing e-sports rpf after i met najin sword irl. it got weird after that obviously

Genius Game - my Modulo on your Modulo. jdm/ohm for yuletide

JE - lot to pick from but probably Kind of happy, kind of not, written for je_holiday. my first foray into the pseudo sci-fi genre. i also accurately predicted the demise of politics americana but just so we’re clear the orange-kun mentioned in the story was a geass reference

kpop - no favorite

NBA - lapslock towel science for wall/cousins. yes i was actually drunk when i wrote this

i want to call this era of fandoms my ““second”” anime wave, wherein a lot of life imitates art bullshit came about via tunglr. it started with knb and led into time spent moonlighting as a typesetter and writing stuff across several pseudonyms. i made and discarded a lot of fandom friends/interests at this time and if you met me during it, i’m very sorry for the trouble i caused

Ao no Exorcist - Songe à la douceur. let’s be honest this fic transcended levels of self-insertion it was practically an autobiography

Daiya no Ace - finite fixation. but if i were picking by titles, “tanba-san is a secret” cuz i’m BL trash thru & thru

Free! - emotional trapcards you never wanted to play

Kuroko no Basket - i can’t pick just one, but i can tell you that it’s definitely nothing i wrote as gamblers. either aomido tennis AU “drive if destination not set” or nijimura/aomine “both of you, dribble like you want to win”

Slam Dunk - Rebound Rhapsodic, unfortunately. gratuity at its finest!!!!

Shingeki no Kyojin - remember when his name was rivaille lmao. pepperidge farm remembers. i got no favorites here

and finally we’ve reached the list fandoms that i’m currently writing for, so these are subject to change.

Haikyuu!! - probably オイ-メシ!! ~simple japanese homestyle cooking~

Saezuru - i’ve written only 1 fic so far & it’s not my favorite, but since i joined the discord it’s made me want to write more. we’ll see!

[sheepishlyshippingsheep]

for the ask meme, 6 and 9 please!!!

Hi anon! Thanks for sending in an ask :3 I just answered 9 right here since someone asked it first.

6) Is there any fic that makes you super embarrassed to reread and remember you wrote that?

OEMGEE THERE IS! xD In my older fandom, Prince of Tennis. Back in FFnet. I’ve deleted it... but I can still remember it! I wrote it when I was first year in highschool... so like... 11 years ago? It was an AU about a runaway princess and her fiance, who is a prince of another kingdom runs away too to find her escaping to my country, the Philippines. IT WAS SO CRINGY. Because back then I thought self-inserts were cute. LOL. I mean nothing against self-inserts! But I just know I did it sloppily... god I even included my classmates in there and the first day of our high school was an exact copy of one chapter... I really cringe when I remember reading that that’s why I deleted it years ago xD I couldn’t stand it.

Don’t get me wrong! I loved writing it before xD but there are just things that make you feel like... “Why did I write this!?” So yeah xD thanks for refreshing my embarrassing memories, anon xD

[almaadst]

Has anyone watched Prince of Tennis? @kittifer sure did! (*¯3¯)╭ I'm drawing her and Sanada ✨ Commission info Finished art!

[alaspoorwallace]

YEAR OF THE DEPEND ADULT UNDERGARMENT

[...] [DFW, Infinite Jest, 5b]

The sideboard is against the wall opposite the room's electronic recliner under a triptych of high-quality Byzantine erotica. The padded cartridge-mailers with their distinctive rectangular bulge are mixed haphazardly in with the less entertaining mail. Searching for something to unwind with, the medical attache tears the different padded mailers open along their designated perforations. There is an O.N.A.N.M.A. Specialty Service film on actinomycete-class antibiotics and irritable bowel syndrome. There is 1 April Y.D.A.U.'s CBC/PATHÉ North American News Summary 40-minute cartridge, available daily by a wife's auto-subscription and either transmitted to TP by unrecordable InterLace pulse or express-posted on a single-play ROM self-erasing disk. There is the Arabic-language video edition of April's Self magazine for the attache's wife, Nass's cover's model chastely swathed and veiled. There is a plain brown and irritatingly untitled cartridge-case in a featureless white three-day standard U.S.A. First Class padded cartridge-mailer. The padded mailer is postmarked suburban Phoenix area in Arizona U.S.A., and the return-address box has only the term 'HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!,' with a small drawn crude face, smiling, in ballpoint ink, instead of a return address or incorporated logo. Though by birth and residence a native of Quebec, where the language of discourse is not English, the medical attache knows quite well that the English word anniversary does not mean the same as birthday. And the medical attache and his veiled wife were united in the eyes of God and Prophet not in April but in October, four years prior, in the Rub'al Khali. Adding to the padded mailer's confusion is the fact that anything from Prince Q---------'s legation in Phoenix, Arizona U.S.A. would carry a diplomatic seal instead of routine O.N.A.N. postage. The medical attache, in sum, feels tightly wound and badly underappreciated and is prepared in advance to be irritated by the item inside, which is merely a standard black entertainment cartridge, but is wholly unlabelled and not in any sort of colorful or informative or inviting cartridge-case, and has only another of these vapid U.S.A.-type circular smiling heads embossed upon it where the registration- and duration-codes are supposed to be embossed. The medical attache is puzzled by the cryptic mailer and face and case and unlabelled entertainment, and preliminarily irritated by the amount of time he's had to spend upright at the sideboard attending to mail, which is not his task. The sole reason he does not throw the unlabelled cartridge in the wastecan or put it aside for his wife to preview for relevance is because there are such woefully slim entertainment-pickings on his wife's irritating Americanized tennis-league evening away from her place at home. The attache will pop the cartridge in and scan just enough of its contents to determine whether it is irritating or of an irrelevant nature and not entertaining or engaging in any way. He will heat the prepared halal lamb and spicy halal garnish in the microwave oven until piping-hot, arrange it attractively on his tray, preview the first few moments of the puzzling and/or irritating or possibly mysteriously blank entertainment cartridge first, then unwind with the news summary, then perhaps have a quick unlibidinous look at Nðss's spring line of sexless black devout-women's-wear, then will insert the recursive surf-and-rain cartridge and make a well-deserved early Wednesday evening of it, hoping only that his wife will not return from her tennis league in her perspiration-dampened black ankle-length tennis ensemble and remove his dinner tray from his sleeping neck in a clumsy or undeft fashion that will awaken him, potentially.

When he settles in with the tray and cartridge, the TP's viewer's digital display reads 1927h.

[DFW, Infinite Jest, 5c] [End of the chapter Y.D.A.U.][Next chapter’s incipit will be labeled DFW, Infinite Jest, 6a]

[very-grownup]

Can you believe a kraken STILL hasn’t eaten Nitori over summer vacation?

I'm going to talk about Free! Dive to the Future now that three episodes have aired.

I have not seen any of the films produced between the end of Eternal Summer and the start of this third series. They are not available on English streaming services and I'm going to be real with you: in 2018 there is so much media to consume that is legally and easily available, I'm disinclined to figure out how to obtain fansubbed anime in this the year of our lord 2018.

I loved Iwatobi Swim Club and Eternal Summer. They were well done, tight, self-contained coming of age series, one about a character overcoming an angry and isolating adolescence, one about a character learning to overcome the inertia of fear that often grips young adults when they're confronted with the inevitable change of going from adolescence to adulthood, of having to make a choice. The first two series were masterfully directed by Hiroko Utsumi and a breath of fresh air: a show helmed by a woman, for young women, and not based on an otome game or another property centered on the relationship between the male characters and a female avatar.

Hiroko Utsumi did not direct any of the film entries in the series and is not directing Dive to the Future (she's directing the incredible Banana Fish anime) and I admit, when I read Utsumi was no longer involve the series, I became skeptical about its direction and quality.

Now that I can actually watch an entry in the series made without Utsumi, I don't have to be skeptical. The kindest thing I can say about Dive to the Future is that it's obviously floundering for direction. But this is the internet, so I can also go into a far more thorough and much less kind discussion of missteps, questionable choices, and things that are actually not good.

There's one problem that stands out for me, because a lot of the others can be bracketed with expectations of what sort of show Dive to the Future is trying to be, but this one part, a small fraction of the runtime of the three episodes, undoes, or at least undermines, something the first two series did in the characterization of one of the only girls in the series. Gou, the younger sister of protagonist Rin and manager of Iwatobi High School's swim club. Gou has no romantic interest in any of the boys on the team, unlike the female manager in (shounen) sports series. Gou isn't interested in swimming, either; this isn't a substitute or displacement because there is no girls' swim team. Gou initially becomes involved in Nagisa's desire to start a swim club in their high school as a tool to reconnect with and help her distant, unhappy brother.

Gou continues managing the swim club because she unabashedly enjoys looking at muscular dudes. Again, she isn't interested in dating any of these boys. She just enjoys being able to look at these living swimsuit pinup boys. She's a teenage girl vocalizing an aspect of her sexuality and keeping it for herself. She loves muscles. They're hot. While the narrative is about the boys, Gou's presence acknowledges that a lot of girls in the audience are watching this for very simple, non-narrative reasons.

And that's okay.

In media targeted at women, especially young women, the acknowledgement of sexual desires as a component of a romantic relationship is still relatively new after centuries of women's feelings being portrayed as chaste. In a post-Twilight world, media is starting to allow that maybe girls are as sexually attracted to that boy they're crushing on as it's given that boys are to girls.

Gou's characterization says: it's normal to be attracted to boys, even if you aren't interested in dating right now. It's a quite, understated bit of characterization and representation, but it's appreciated. Gou's presence really cements the sense in the first two series that this is something being made by a woman for other young women.

Dive to the Future introduces a Japan-obsessed Russian swim coach who is fixated on Rin and wants to work with him, and only him, in Sydney, Australia. He's an authority figure who is overly focused on an eighteen-year-old boy who is in a foreign country, away from his friends and family. Although this may, understandably, raise some concern and discomfort, Free! is not the kind of series that is going to be dealing with something as serious as authority figures taking advantage of young athletes sexually. This character is just a joke, a goofy, out-of-touch adult who thinks he's cool and is also slightly camp. He's very obsessed with muscles.

In episode three this is brought up again, as Kirishima, a wandering swimming hobo, tries to bribe the coach, Mikhail, into taking him on, offering up various sexually exciting photobooks and magazines featuring muscular young men. Cut to Gou back in Japan, trying to convince her new kouhai of the importance of the same photobook. An equivalency is drawn. Coach Mikhail and Gou are the same, their interests are the same, they provoke the same reaction. A comical obsession, a gag, an out-of-touch character who can't read the room. A teenage girl's interest in the bodies of teenage boys is the same as a grown man's interest in those same bodies.

It's gross.

The most charitable reading still sees Gou's healthy, normalized if quirkily expressed attraction being reduced to a gag, robbing the character of the understated, positivie representation of adolescent sexuality she offered originally. It's unneccessary and unkind to girls in the audience like Gou.

The idea of the carnivorous woman who knows what she wants, sexually, is not equivalent to an older man in a position of authority viewing the vulnerable individuals around him as a source of voyeuristic pleasure.

After unburdening myself of the surprising level of anger resulting from a single scene, nearly blink-and-you'll-miss-it length, the other problems with Dive in to Future seem less important, but they all concern larger elements of the program. It's just that they're problems of something not being done very well, not the problem of the reveal of a potential hostile or contemptuous attitude toward a part of the audience.

Nevertheless.

Dive in to Future doesn't know what it wants to be. I stand by my assertion that Iwatobi Swim Club and Eternal Summer were never sports anime. They were coming of age journeys for two different characters who had different problems to work through. They were, quite simply, never structured to be a series like Slam Dunk, Prince of Tennis, Kuroko's Basketball, Haikyuu, insert-your-preferred-shounen-sports-series-here. The focus isn't on a team, it's on a group of characters, four of whom are going to the same school and are in the same club. At the end of Eternal Summer, Haru, Rin, and Makoto, three of the five core characters, are going to be graduating, moving on to the next stage of their life, Rin in Australia, Haru and Makoto in Tokyo. That transition, those three characters growing up and away from their younger friends, is a major component of the story told in Eternal Summer, culminating in a teary happiness. It's sad they won't be friends in the same way, but it's natural, inevitable, and full of potential excitement for the new things these changes will bring.

There are a lot of directions that could have been chosen in doing a third season. Staying in Iwatobi, focusing on the changing, growing swim club. Going to Tokyo with Haru and Makoto, building upon those themes of change and growth as two codependent childhood friends find their own, separate paths. Going to Sydney with Rin, a protagonist returning with new eyes and confidence to a place where the festering anger and unhappiness that burdened him in Iwatobi Swim Club originated. You could follow any of those threads and double down, focusing on one of them, on turning the series into an actual sports series with a large cast and rival teams and tournaments and competitions. You could continue telling the story of these specific friendships, five boys in three different places, figuring out how their friendship can evolve and continue in some form.

Dive to the Future seems to be trying to do all of those simultaneously, not wanting to commit to a particular focus because it would mean sidelining some of the characters. It's about Rin in Australia but it's also about Haru and Makoto in university and also Haru's university swim team and maybe actual swimming competitions for that university swim team with maybe a rival university of evil swimmers but also the club back in Iwatobi and after three episodes I couldn't tell you which of all those the series is actually going to be about. Maybe Haru's university swimming life will more clearly come forward. But it could easily go on like this, a jumbled series of characters and incidents without any underlying thematic glue bringing things together. There are solid individual scenes scattered through these episodes (Rin's morning routine in Sydney from the third episode stands out for me) but as someone who loved the first two series, the overall impression is ... that it's fine.

Dive to the Future also sees the introduction of characters from the films, specifically the prequel film made after Eternal Summer. The first episode of Dive to the Future feels like they dumped all these new characters into the mix at once, a sensation I'm sure is exacerbated by my not having seen the movies. There are also new characters in Iwatobi so the swim club can continue. There are boys swimming with Rin in Australia who have names, probably. More characters on Haru's university swim team. The previously mentioned evil university. All the characters from the first two series.

It's so many characters, all at once, with little regard for their significance.

For comparison, Rei is introduced in the third episode of the first series, after we've had a chance to become familiar with the characters who have a history together.

The unfocused narrative and the glut of characters go hand-in-hand, an ouroboros of problems.

Finally, another disappointing undercutting of what's come before: in this mess of characters and plot threads, a lot of screen time does seem to be devoted to characters being concerned about childhood friendships that were lost as kids moved to other parts of Japan and other countries. There's an obsession and guilt over it, instead of recognizing it as a natural thing that happens. The desire to reconnect with those people is also guilt propelled and it feels like a retread of the attempt to reconnect with the angry, distant Rin from the first series and a complete memory wipe of the lessons of growing up Makoto and Haru specifically learned in Eternal Summer. There's a worrying sense that with Dive to the Future, despite the name, is going to see characters who aren't allowed to grow and learn and move forward and change, but instead just go through variations on the same beats in an increasingly bland animated purgatory.

The final product is fine, I suppose, but fine may as well be failure when the previous product managed to achieve excellence.

[lunablues-juliet]

30 Questions (but not really) Ask Meme!

Tagged by @razzberriezz! Thanks for thinking of me :) I can’t wait to get to know everyone a little better.

1. Nicknames I don’t have any cool irl nicknames haha BUT people on the internet have called me Yue since I was in middle school.

2. Gender Female

3. Zodiac Sagittarius 

4. Height 5″0′ even :) or ~152cm

5. Time 8:46 AM, I leave for work in about an hour.

6. Fave Band(s): Relient K, Sleeping at Last, Supercell and Goose House

7. Fave Solo Artist(s): Ben Sollee... I don’t listen to a whole lot of solo artists, but I listen to a lot of composers like John Williams, Alan Menken, and Eric Whitacre 

8. Song stuck in my head Currently Platinum by Purachina (Cardcaptor Sakura OP 3, because we all saw how I’ve spent my spare time this past week).

9. Last movie I saw Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

10. Last Show I Watched Cardcaptor Sakura... hahaha

11. When did I create my blog? About a month ago! And I’m having a lot of fun so far!

12. What do I post: This blog is exclusively Style Savvy :)

13. Last thing I googled: How to convert inches to centimeters

14. Do I have other blogs? That I do! @spacemama-spectretwo is my Star Wars blog, @yueyume-hajime is my magical girl, idols, and j-fashion blog.

15. Do I get asks? Never haha I used to when I was a mod for a Magical Girl Confessions blog.

16. Following: 33 (still searching for blogs I like)

17. Followers: 27! And thank you, it feels like every day I wake up with an email saying “You have a new follower!” Brightens my day.

18. Average hours of sleep: My husband and I will go to bed close to 10:00 (with the puppy) and then wake up at 6:30 so he can get ready for work and I can take care of the puppy. So a good 8 hours usually.

19. What am I wearing: A purple dress for work.

20. Lucky number: 42!

21. Dream job: Animator! I love all things animation and would love to get into the business one day. You can check out my art on my instagram.

22. Dream trip: Alaskan Disney Cruise. Can you tell I’ve thought about this for a long time?

23. Favourite food: Shamelessly going to say chocolate. I have so much chocolate throughout my week.

24. Nationality American, and our family immigrated here basically at the country’s inception - so I really don’t have any other nationality left in me haha

25. Favourite song: This is an impossible choice.

26. Last book I read: Thrawn by Timothy Zahn (yeah, I read the Star Wars novels and unashamed).

27. Top three fictional universes I want to join: 1. Star Wars - My friend and I are actually writing a fan comic in which we are basically self-insert characters, but not quite as 5th grade.

2. Avatar: The Last Airbender - What I wouldn’t give to be a bender *-* this show is my favorite. Watch it at least 1-2 times a year.

3. Prince of Tennis - Probably just because the Seigaku guys were my imaginary friends when I had none and I’d love to just go say thank you.

I tag @sekaiichihappy because they’ve been one of my favorite blogs to follow and @m-i-e-k-a as a fellow SS blogger ;)

[ruiojousama]

Ship Meme!~

I was tagged by the lovely @agi92! 

First ship you ever read fic for: it was Tezuka x Atobe or was it Tezuka x Fuji (Prince of Tennis) back in high school? hahahah 

First ship you ever wrote fic for: I THINK IT WAS FOR AN OC X ATOBE (Prince of Tennis) but i trashed it so the next successful one was Ren x Masato of Utapri

Ship you write the most now: I think my Fleurentia outnumbers my Gladnis

Ship you read the most now: I juggle from the Gladnis and Fleurentia tag

Newest ship: CORQI MAH HOMIES

Rare ship you want to read more of: Cor x Loqi (FFXV) and Ushijima x Hinata (Haikyuu) pls astrals we need more of this

Your taboo ship: incest

They never met in canon ship: as much as possible I try to ship characters with interactions. cant say i had a never-met-in-canon ship.

Your unexpected ship: Cor x Loqi and Fleurentia. boi. they came in like a wrecking ball im wrecked and in a mess.

The ship you always forget to give love to: my Ren x Masa and Prideshipping (Yugioh)

Ship your OC with a canon character (if applicable): indeed i had an OC i ship with Atobe and maybe even Gaius (Tales of Xillia) but nowadays i dont really go for self-inserts/OC and just ship the characters with their canon co-characters

A ship you’re embarrassed to ship: BOI HAV I? nope not embarrassed to ship anyone haha

Your most romantic ship: Gladnis and Fleurentia 

Your sexiest ship: Definitely Gladnis (i do have biases on bara characters)

Your most tragic ship:  Corqi (the angst ive invested in this ship is remarkable on my standards like hell guys i dont want angst too much i go for happy feels hahahahahah fml)

A ship you want more content for: CORQI. FLEURENTIA.USHIHINA PLES.

tagging mah friends cos im curious @eclair @benelline @deathbringer013 @prompto-cam 

[clenastia]

You know what’s ironic? My tumblr avatar is from Prince of Tennis, and my AO3 one is from YuGiOh, and I haven’t written fic for EITHER of them.

------scratch that I was haunted by a vague idea I remember having as a kid and I checked my wattpad and I DID in fact write a couple yugioh fics that I actually posted and I am honestly terrified of reading them because oh GODS they’re probably so BAD ONE OF THEM HAS MY CHILDHOOD GO-TO OC IN IT AAAAAAA-

(also so many OTHER fics I had completely forgotten about)

(I was so proud of Fox when I started that one)

(i don’t even remember what half of my wattpad-posted fics are about and honestly at this point I’m too scared to find out)

(I THINK Into the Naruto World - IN WHO?! was a self-insert into Sasuke fic)

(but I’m only guessing that off the cover I chose)

(I have no actual memory of the fic itself)

(it’s for the best)

(I also remember like 0 details from my Supernatural fanfic that I apparently wrote)

(And some of my original fic on wattpad too is an endless mystery I’m too afraid to look into)

(ironically the one I DO remember is only saved as a draft. I never published it)

(is it too late to burn my wattpad account to the ground so that this stuff never sees the light of day again?)

[nekosayuri]

Family: Uchiha.

I recreated this family first, ages ago, pretty much when Konoha was still empty. <3 it’s probably no surprise if you know me even a little (I mean, I use them in my previews too nowadays xD that’s how much I love them.)

I first created Sasuke and Sayuri in Belladonna Cove for the heck of it, but then I got really attached, especially to their kids. Back then (2014ish), my ACOH story was also not all that developed past their 20s, but playing their sims inspired me a lot, and the kids they had became their kids in my story too (well, only the first three, cause come on, eight kids?!) I literally let their sims guide my writing. <3

Since I wrote little Sim/story profiles for them, I posted them separately first, but here’s the all at once post. :D

This is like the first time I ever do this, but I really wanted to try, so sorry if I’m confusing! 

Uchiha Sayuri, previously Amamiya, is first, cause why not? She’s one of the main OCs. Self insert originally, too, so I’m a little biased. :D

Sayuri never really fit into the Ninja world. Something about the occupation always rubbed her the wrong way. She knew she was born in a Ninja village to a Ninja family, but was that really all there was? Was her destiny really to fight and kill? She refused that. It took many years, and some friends in high places, but with effort and stubbornness, Sayuri got people to follow her dream and make it a reality: a village where kids could be kids, without the pressure of the Ninja world on their shoulders, where they have a choice and can make their own way. A place where she would want her own kids to grow up.

Nowadays, Sayuri is the head of the Diplomacy department of Konoha’s government. A skilled negotiator who is not afraid to get in the thick of it, she’s solved many situations that could have ended far worse. She gets personally involved, though, which takes its toll. But she can’t help it– this is how she is. She wouldn’t be so good at it otherwise.

Sayuri is a family sim with a pleasure secondary. Her zodiac is Cancer, with a personality of 5/4/5/5/6. She’s relatively in-the-middle there for someone as revolutionary as her, but despite being kinda shy, she’s also VERY stubborn and willing to fight for her dreams/goals/whatever.

Traits: Family oriented, nurturing, over-emotional, bookworm, and terrible cook.

Turn ons: black hair, logical (may have been influenced a little over the years she was married to Sasuke… xD). Turn offs: bad at cooking that should be a turn off, ugh! Right now, it’s robots, because there’s no such thing, yet! I can never find turn offs that actually make sense.

Sasuke is next, this is my attempt at explaining what he is like in my story?

Sasuke spent 10 years living a life that wasn’t his, pursuing a goal that was forced on him by his brother, Itachi. When he came out on the other side, he couldn’t recognise himself anymore– not the person he was before the whole thing started, not the person he had become over the years. He had nothing left but a hollowness inside that scared him. But he was wrong, and there were people who were there to show him that. As soon as he saw in himself something good that could become bigger, he grabbed it with both of his hands and never let go.

Nowadays, he’s the Head of Shield, a team of elite ninja, chosen only by him and the Hokage. They’re the very best for a reason. Each and every one of them are experts in their field and they normally go on the most dangerous missions, and come back alive. That must say something! Due to his position, Sasuke also has a seat on the council. Though he clearly cares about his position and the village itself, Sasuke would prefer to stay out of harm’s way most of the time… so he can come back home to his family at the end of the day.

Random facts: the name ‘Shield’ was chosen by the Hokage, Naruto, at the time. It’s inspired by a word he heard while visiting the Cloud village. Also, ‘dangerous’ isn’t the same as it used to be 10-20 years ago.

Sasuke is a family sim, too, with a knowledge secondary. His zodiac is Leo, with a personality of 7/4/8/3/5 (mostly head-canon, really). He’s a bit of a clean freak and his active personality is literally his core. 

Traits: Athletic, disciplined, brave (a condition for his job), social disaster, natural cook. 

Turn ons: fitness, creative. Turn offs: fat.

Kaito is the eldest and the only boy in the family besides Sasuke. I admit I was delighted their first kid was a boy. :D

Kaito is a genius. Everybody knows that. He’s “perfect” in every way (ask his fangirls), and so he should be, he’s an Uchiha after all. Kaito sees it a different way though, he just wants to be left alone, so he can read his books and do his ninja training and hang out with his friends and figure himself out. Everybody is in such a hurry to put him on a pedestal... 

Kaito is a teenager (15 story-time), so he has only one aspiration, knowledge. His zodiac is Aries, with a personality of 5/4/7/3/7. He was born in game and everything was copied over, although originally I had Sayuri encourage him to be nicer, so that was copied over as well. He’s hell of a lot like Sasuke, personality wise, but his attitude towards people is more like Sayuri’s. xD

Traits: Genius, brave (from Sasuke), terrible cook (from Sayuri). Teens in my game will have only three traits, get another one as YA, and last one as adults.

Turn ons: athletic, brown hair. Turn offs: jewellery.

Mikoto got her name from Sasuke’s mother, because she was born with her eyes (grey which is lighter than Sasuke’s.) It’s mostly not a thing to name your kids after your parents (with some clan exceptions), but meh. 

Right from the start, there was one thing that stood out about Mikoto: her unending care for others. Even as a young child, she would take care of her friends and her little sister, watching over them as if she were their mother. She got more into art as she grew, and she loves painting. She doesn’t really know what she wants to do with her life, you know? She’s only 13 after all! She still has two years before she has to decide whether to go to Ninja school or the Academic one, and she’s going to take her time figuring it out.

Mikoto is a child in the sims, despite being 13 story-time (I kinda figure Teen stage starts at 15), so her aspiration is still to grow up. Her zodiac is Aquarius, with a personality of 4/5/5/5/6. Again, born in game and everything was copied. She’s obviously a lot like Sayuri with the whole in-the-middle thing.

Traits: nurturing (from Sayuri), artistic.

Hikari was born in the middle of the night, when Sasuke and Sayuri caught a glimpse of a falling star just before Sayuri went into labor (that actually happened in my game, I’ll add a link to the picture when the archive actually works -_-). Anyway, I’m a bit of a cliche, so obviously she got her name from the stars lighting up the night sky. XD

Hikari is not like Kaito and Mikoto. She’s not unsure, she’s not confused. She knows exactly what she wants: to be a ninja, of course, so she can be as strong as her father, or even more! so what if she’s just 10 and has plenty of time to make up her mind? 

Hikari’s aspiration is to grow up in the sims, since she’s still a child. Her zodiac is Cancer, with a personality of 5/3/8/4/5. She got her active trait from Sasuke and her shyness from Sayuri. :D born in game, copied faithfully as always.

Traits: Shy, athletic (from Sasuke).

Bonus: The cats!

From right (sitting cat) to left: Kuro, Kurona and Ryoma. 

Sasuke found Kuro on a dark, rainy night when he was just a kitten. He never cared for animals all that much, but when their eyes met, he couldn’t just leave him be, either. Kuro had the kind of eyes that reminded him of his own, at the time-- aloof, independent, but also lonely and lost. So he took him in for the night. That was when he was 17. Needless to say, Kuro stayed. But Kuro came with his own dark past and his own troubles... he’s a ninja cat, after all!

Fun fact: Kuro means Black in Japanese. That’s how creative his name is! Sasuke’s idea.

It was again a dark, rainy night when… ok no, it was a sunny weekend day, when Sasuke and Sayuri were 21, that Kuro came running in frantically and begged (by meowing, a lot) for them to come with him. When they arrived at the destination, they found a pregnant white cat, but she seemed sick. They took her to the animal hospital, who decided to get her kittens out ASAP. Luckily, everybody survived. The kittens were given homes, and the pretty white cat, well… Kuro got attached to her, so Sasuke and Sayuri ended up taking her in, too. Need I mention she’s also a ninja cat?

Fun fact: Kurona was given her name because, well, there’s Kuro, so if we add na (supposedly, a short for nya, which is the sound cats make in Japanese), you get Kurona. It was Sasuke’s idea

Ryoma is their son. He was a part of a litter of four, but the other three were given away because there was just too much chaos at home and Sasuke couldn’t stand it. There was some whining and crying from the children, who were all old enough to understand what was happening, but what had to be done was done. For some odd reason, though, Sasuke decided to keep Ryoma... the hyper, wild kitten! 

Funny fact: He got his name from a character in Prince of Tennis. Yep. No story reason there. XD (the other kittens were named Ryoga, Nana, and Kana. Two males, two females. :D) 

A note on ninja cats for interested people: they’re not like normal cats. Their lifespan is much longer (closer to humans), even though their ability to breed is similar to normal cats– basically, they can breed as soon as normal cats, but they lose that ability the older they get (halfway through their life). As always, females sooner than males. Another thing is that they do understand the human language, and they can also talk! That said, both Kuro and Kurona escaped from their ninja village before they actually learned to talk, so neither of them can. They do understand the human language though, as they’re taught that sooner than to actually talk it. They can also read it, but not write.

[kaibutsushidousha]

We can't 100%dismiss Amami's sisters as fictional though. Shirogane could have been lying about the characters backstroke being completely fictional. Also Sato wanted to write about Amami searching for his sisters.

She could, but there are still some parts we can be sure are fictional. 

One thing I really liked about DR1 is how it shows Celes was lying her backstory every time and we could tell because the stories in her events were all plots from gambling manga with her self-inserting in the story. 

Then comes V3 and that level of anime reference becomes commonplace. I really disliked how that devalued Celes’ character until the ending showed her anime backstory thing was actually not derailed. 

We have no idea how much of the backstories are true, but we can be very sure Saihara’s parents are not Shin’ichi Kudo’s parents, Hoshi didn’t life the entire plot of Prince of Tennis during middle school, Gonta did not fight the Street Fighter characters, Toujou didn’t serve the protagonist of Mudazumo Naki Kaikaku, Amami was not friends with the Hunter x Hunter characters or the DanMachi protagonist and, the relevant part here, Amami is not a living Baby Princess parody.