#reading immersion

[onigiriforears]

Mar 2023 Seitokai Bookclub | とつくにの少女

Hi friends! The Seitokai Bookclub is STILL ongoing--the only reason why you haven't seen a post about it lately is because we were still reading コンビニ人間. However, starting on Feb 26, we will be reading とつくにの少女 (Totsukuni no Shoujo), also known as The Girl from the Other Side. If you're interested in joining us or want more details on how our bookclub runs, come join us in the server or feel free to message me/drop an ask (or even @litheah and @tokidokitokyo).

What if I've never read a book in Japanese yet? I'm not confident in my skills. That's fine! Not only do we always have a group vocab sheet that we collectively add to (anonymously), but we have ongoing discussions about whatever book we're reading. That means you're free to ask questions, send screenshots, rant about a character or anything like that. You'll definitely find me asking about certain grammar points or if using a particular set of kanji for a word changes the nuance in a particular sentence.

What's the goal of your bookclub? Well, we're interested in fostering confidence in reading in your target language without feeling that you have no one to turn to. Our server has people of all levels of fluency, meaning that there's always someone who can answer your question. And if we can't, we have people we can reach out to ask. We won't leave you hanging!

You don't seem to choose books I'm interested in--how can I change that? Well, we take suggestions and vote as a bookclub for what we'll be reading next. If your book doesn't win the first time you submit it, try try again! とつくにの少女 was suggested and in voting 3-4 times before it finally won (same with a lot of our other books.) Don't be discouraged!

We hope to see you there! | Seitokai's Nihongo Discord Server

[sannastudies]

My Japanese Reading-Corner, feat. some free reading materials

I use OneNote for my studies & I created a dedicated section where I can keep track of all the things I am reading. It was important to me to give this page a pleasant design - I want to feel cozy the moment I jump to my Reading Corner ; u ; )

Since I am reading a lot of Graded Readers on Tadoku I am dividing them into their Levels as well.

LV 1 and LV 2 are very easy for me and I could jump to Lv 3 right away, however all these graded readers still teach me plenty of new words, so I don't want to miss out on any of them. Thus, I am making my way through Lv 1 & Lv 2 first - the more I read, the better! ( . u . )

Aside from Tadoku, I also read on EbookJapan - they have a very big selection of free Light Novels & Manga across all Genre. Access is time-restricted though, as after a while, the selection changes and new titles replace the current ones. Thus, if I find something interesting I have to keep in mind to finish reading it before it vanishes.

However, there is of course still the option to buy the ebook version for usually very cheap prices ( . u . )

If you are looking for websites where you can practice reading in japanese I definitely recommend these two sites.

Tadoku's graded readers should offer something interesting across many Levels - and so does EbookJapan~! ( . u . )

[clownsuu]

Have you read any welcome home fanfics? What ones to you like or would recommend? Love your art btw! :)

Iv read a few! Though sadly there is very little of what I’d like to read, so I can’t really say any recommendations as of current 😔🥄🥄

also take some sleep deprived doodles JDGDDDH

cw obsessive behavior

He just like me fr fr

[runningwithscizzorz]

Reading BamSaras fic and Jesus Christ guys how do you physically stop yourself from drawing every single chapter

[benkyoutobentou]

language learning culture is always watching children’s media in various languages

[maireyart]

I read a kakaobi fic yesterday... OMG.

for love of a boy by revecake. Based on Yukio Mishima's The Sound of Waves. One word: masterful. My art does not depict a specific scene from the fic, it's just something inspired by its mood! Obito's appearance is not fully fic-compliant. Just look at these various quotes:

from the water, kakashi rises and rests his arms on the edge. a tilt of his head, his wet hair falls, pooling silver on obito’s boat, and when obito looks, looks with a certain haze across his eyes, kakashi becomes the mystical half-fish of his dreams. kakashi smiles, and the plain beauty of his naked face is perfectly real. “it’s a good catch today, isn’t it?”

“kakashi-kun?” his father laughs, an exasperated turn of his brow. he continues to trace his blade under the skin of tuna, and another piece of flesh comes butterfly-free, as light and pink as a sakura petal floated from the island’s schoolyard to the sea.

the rain blurs for a moment, and the sight through the dripping leaves is akin to a sheen of sun being thrown from the sky. dazzling, a celestial maiden’s robe has been haphazardly tossed from the heavens to be muddied as a damp blessing across the fresh ground.

when he’s finished, the only curtain to his nudity are the wet clothes draped and swinging from the window pane. they balloon and deflate in the imitation of a body in the wind, but as obito rises, stretches, strides towards the bedroom, the shape of his shoulders and back leaves a solid impression through the wet glass. he doesn’t need to wash, not when the sun has already bathed the lean lines of him in dry heat.

dreams are only fading things, passing on waves, caught in the wind, melted into dew by the morning.

obito looks up at that pale face, and what he sees - he wraps his hands around kakashi’s wrists to keep him there. how can he say this? how does he give language to his desire, how does he make kakashi understand his earnesty in this very moment? he cannot let it become an untranslatable disappearance, as so many dear things are, have been lost to sea.

[dont-offend-the-bees]

That bit in the comics where Rose is only wearing a bed sheet in her dream so Morpheus shows up in an emo bed sheet and shows some skin. Solidarity, equality, 10/10 no notes

[purpleshadow-star]

Pic context: Talking about the exy stadium at USC considering the fact that USC is a real school

I love how Nora just invents things in order to avoid complications with real-life things.

Like, using USC's football stadium as the exy stadium too would take a lot of work to figure out how that would be possible. Solution: invent a new stadium!

Having the characters play a real sport that already exists would mean looking into all the rules and regulations and history, etc, and there could be multiple elements of the sport that work against the plot of the story or complicate it in some way. Solution: invent a new sport!

I mean, it gives her full creative control over what happens in the story, and we as readers get to learn about a cool new thing without feeling the need to fact-check every element. Tbh, it makes so much sense to me.

Like, go off! Make stuff up! It's your world. We're just reading and enjoying and becoming obsessed with it!!!

[selfindulgentpixies]

Slight Suguru Geto x Gn!reader.

Edit: Okay so this is extremely self inserty and indulgent. It involves the cursed technique I head canon for myself in jjk. I've gone back and done some editing to bring it more up to my current standards. This part is relatively unchanged and just has some corrections in grammar. I love this series dearly and I hope you all love it too

The hands that hold you

chapter 1/prologue: Not alone

When Yaga tells Geto that he’d like for him to keep an eye on one of the new first years, he's not sure what to think at first. He's not sure how to feel when he learns you also have the ability to absorb curses and use them. The method is different, as is the ultimate application. You can't summon them but instead turn them into weapons. You also don't have to swallow down the toxic sludge of them which admittedly causes some envy to flare up in his chest. An ugly emotion that he squashes.

It's not until he's tasked with taking you on a mission with him that he realizes that the suffering that your cursed techniques cause the two of you may be different but it's there all the same. He watches as you clutch the orb of cursed energy in your hand, watches as veins like the darkest ink rise on your skin, spreading from your hand, up your arm, and even peek up above the collar of your uniform along your neck. He watches as your posture hunches slightly, teeth grit as you curl around your arm until the orb has been fully absorbed, your arm darkens in a way that distinctly reminds him of pictures of frost bite he'd seen on documentary once.

You're so focused on your arm that you don't even notice another curse making its way quickly toward you. Before it can get close enough to harm you Geto's already destroyed it.

He walks over to you and your eyes refocus looking up at him, glancing from him to the twitching remains of the curse that had been heading your way. You apologize to him, maybe for dropping your guard or for being weak in front of him, perhaps it's both. "S-sorry.." the words fall past your lips and he wants to catch them and put them back.

Carefully he reaches for your arm, mindful to see if you react in pain. You stubbornly keep your face neutral as he takes your arm to look at it. "You don't need to apologize," he says with a furrowed brow and you're taken aback a bit by the gentleness in his tone. Sure he wasn't as overtly rude as his best friend but you'd still been prepared for some sort of commentary on your moment of weakness. " Is this normal for you when you absorb curses?"

"Yeah... it usually clears up in a couple hours, sometimes less depending on the curse. Nothing to worry over." He looks at the tight smile you're giving him, wonders how much the ability actually hurts you as you put on a brave face in front of him.

He thinks in that moment that he understands why Yaga wanted him to keep an eye on you. That maybe the two you could find some sort of understanding in each other that you can't find among other sorcerers. There's comfort in knowing you're not entirely alone.

Edit: this is officially part one of a series!

master list

@nanamikentoseyebags @strawberrystepmom @gojoest

@icy-spicy (Since i know you also love him)

[aurosoulart]

I’ve been having fun turning my VR art into AR paintings lately.... really makes me feel like I’m just casually living in the future. this scene is the landscape from ‘Reality Is’, and it was brought into AR with Figmin XR!

if you want to see how this was made, I’ve got a process video here. (everything you see was hand painted and hand placed in virtual reality)

Patreon | Insta | Twitter | Ko-fi | YouTube | TikTok | Twitch

[onigiriforears]

日本の歴史366 Day 11

1月11日 Summary:

Have you ever heard of the Japanese proverb "Give salt to your enemies?" No? Well, neither did I until today. This phrase comes from the time that Uesugi Kenshin (daimyo of Echigo Province during the Sengoku period) delivered salt to his longtime rival, Takeda Shingen, (daimyo of the Kai province) after everyone else had blocked him from salt imports. Uesugi says that wars are to be fought with bows and arrows, not salt. Uesugi doesn't believe in using such underhanded tactics to win war (supposedly lmao).

Vocab beneath break:

上杉 謙信 うえすぎ けんしん Uesugi Kenshin (daimyō who ruled Echigo Province in the Sengoku period)

敵に塩を送くる てきにしおをおくる lit. send an enemy salt/give salt to your enemies (to help an enemy in need)

卑怯な手を使う ひきょうなてをつかう to play a dirty trick; to use underhanded methods; to hit below the belt; to play foul

許す ゆるす to forgive; to pardon; to excuse; to tolerate

武士 ぶし samurai; warrior

弓 ゆみ bow (weapon)​; archery

刀 かたな sword (esp. Japanese single-edged); katan

戦う たたかう to make war (on); to wage war (against); to go to war (with); to fight (with); to do battle (against)

敵 てき opponent; rival; adversary​; enemy

今川氏 いまがわし Imagawa clan

北条氏 ほうじょうし Houjo clan

止める とめる to prevent; to suppress

苦しい くるしい painful; difficult; tough; hard

立場 たちば position; situation

武田 信玄 たけだ しんげん Takeda Shingen (daimyo of Kai Province during the Sengoku period of Japan)

救いの手 すくいのて helping hand; help; support; aid

差し伸べる さしのべる to offer (e.g. aid, help, etc.)​

長年 ながねん long time; many years

宿敵 しゅくてき old enemy; longtime enemy; arch-enemy; arch-nemesis; longstanding foe

貴公 きこう you (primarily used by males when addressing their male equals or inferiors)

争う あらそう to compete; to contest; to contend

弓矢 ゆみや bow and arrow

あらず not​

泣かせる なかせる to make someone cry; to move someone to tears​

当時 とうじ at that time; in those days

人々 ひとびと people; men and women; everybody; each person

命 いのち life; life force; most important thing

保つ たもつ to keep; to preserve

命を保つ いのちをたもつ to preserve life

大切 たいせつ important; precious; valuable

手紙 てがみ letter; missive

必要 ひつよう necessary; needed; essential; indispensable

約束 やくそく promise; agreement; arrangement; one's word;

ライバル rival

宿命 しゅくめい fate; destiny; predestination

大事 だいじ important; serious; crucial; valuable

流通 りゅうつう circulation (of money, goods, etc.); distribution

困る こまる to be troubled; to have difficulty; to be in a fix; to be in straitened circumstances; to be badly off

何たる なんたる what (e.g. "what rudeness")​; what (something) is like​

白黒をつける しろくろをつける to determine whether something is right or wrong; to make something clear; to settle a matter​

苦しめる くるしめる to torment; to pain; to inflict (physical) pain; to hurt; to harass; to cause (emotional) pain; to afflict; to distress; to bother; to trouble; to stump; to baffle

ひきょう cowardly; unfair

きわまりない extremely; in the extreme; knows no bounds (e.g. rudeness); unparalleled; boundless; limitless

心配 しんぱい worry; concern; anxiety

いくらでも as many as one likes; as much as one likes; great many; plenty (of)

正々堂々 せいせいどうどう fair and square; open and aboveboard

[moonshinemagpie]

I saw this old map of the Mississippi once. The cartographer drew the river as it actually is, but he also drew all the previous roots and channels the river had taken over the last thousand years. The result was a mess of lines and labels, a tangle of rivers that no longer existed except for the faint scars they left behind. It was difficult to make out the true shape of the river beneath the weight of its own ghosts.

That's how the history of Starling House feels to me now. Like a story told so many times the truth is obscured, caught only in slantwise glimpses. Maybe that's how every history is.

—Alix E. Harrow, Starling House

[louroth]

Hello everyone :> 

It's been a month! it's incredible how much my life has changed- while I'm still adjusting I'm just...still walking on clouds. it feels unreal. the patreon took off and I can almost make a living wage on it which is frankly fucking insane, and the discord is so vibrant it scared me for a moment (not anymore- shooting the shit with the people there is the favorite part of my day, even if I sometimes just leave a trail of emotes lskjdhajksdhkjasd.) I couldn't have asked for a better community. YES I am crying about it. Thank you, so, so much. I am cradling your face in my hands. crying.

But as always, enough of my bleeding heart. Let's get to it!

The first two weeks after posting the update, I took a sort of quasi vacation and only wrote a handful of story-words each day, and spent some time fooling around in the discord + brushed off my smut archive to refine for Patreon. There are already 4 stories up, and a new one coming tomorrow- though I haven't decided yet whether it will be possessive/jealous L sfw short or one very nasty short where you come across a particularly insistent species of vines while trekking the forest. hehe. we'll see. >:3

But, even though I had to rest not to combust after work, I am very pleased to say that the next chapter is coming along great, with the skeleton finished for its entirety, and about 45% and some change already written (it's very hard to gauge because I jump around a lot when I write.) This is the final chapter before the forest, filled with action and the heart wrenching drama of offering tenderness to a certain someone, and deciding for your hunter when enough is truly enough. I have teared up writing certain scenes and I genuinely cannot wait for you to experience this next part yourselves. 

It is so funny reading things I wrote for this chapter six months ago, or longer, because I knew exactly what emotions I wanted to bake in and couldn't really nail it, but now it is coming together beautifully! Sure, it will still be wonky first draft writing, but the core is there and that is all that matters for now. I'm saying soon™ for the update for now, because I am allowing myself to adapt to writing full time- I didn't quit my job to become my own nightmare boss, and I truly want to enjoy this process. I think, in the long run, it will result in a better story. Patience is my mantra. All in due time- I cannot force quality creative work. But by everything wretched and sinful, I cannot wait to share this next part with you!!! I'm frothing at the mouth!!!

In other news, y'all. I need to get organized. I get heartburn thinking about all the different variations of files and notes and notebooks and scraps of paper and variables and branches of plot and just generally, the things to keep track of is getting to the point of a dragon hoard of scary 'oh no I forgot about that part'. I'm gritting my teeth through it until this chapter is out, but after it, I am going to spend some time to

 1) get my shit together in gorgeous, beautiful spreadsheets

2) get serious about finding beta- and proofreaders. (me @ u: 🥺)

But that's it, my friends! I scrapped an entire progress report because I started sounded corporate and listing points which was just... sad. I really hope I evolve into writing these in a more fun way, which would make them more fun for you to read too! But for now, I think this will do. I hope you have a beautiful day/night, and if you would like to see more in depth dev-logs of my writing life, or random sneak peeks, I post those weekly on patreon!

Or join our discord, which. It's just the nicest place, I can't even come up with words that do it justice. It's my favorite daily newspaper.

Until next time! x

[cocktopic]

i think my fatal flaw is that i truly believe that no matter who reads it literally everybody can benefit from reading orv. like even tho it’s such a simple message the thought that no matter what I am Loved and Important and i Will survive no matter what was smth that hit me so hard especially in the context orv does it (trying to be spoiler free) making me feel Seen and helped in a way that no other media has. idk. i love kim dokja so much guys

[technicalthinker]

I feel like debating who Loki was talking to when he said "For You" in the last episode, is missing the point of the scene. And people referring to it as "cowardly" and a "no-homo" moment is just?? Baffling to me tbh because like;

First of all, it is obviously intended to be to both of them? If they only wanted to make it about Sylvie, Mobius wouldn't be there. If they only wanted to make it about Mobius, Sylvie wouldn't be there. If they wanted to make it about everyone they would've just framed it more equally, he does do it for all his friends ("for all of us"), but they have that scene to highlight these two specific relationships. The framing is quite clear, they have him take a last look at all of his friends before going down the stairs, but Mobius and Sylvie runs after him to have a final significant moment.

Which absolutely makes sense and is consistent with the show we have seen so far, s1 and s2 combined, which is what I love about it. And it was to be honest a surprise! Going into this season, I had little hope for Loki/Mobius interactions, just didn't want to expect too much since S1 had a lot of their connection, but that could've been it. I was shocked when s2ep1 was full to the brim with Loki and Mobius scenes? And then they kept reinforcing every week that they care about each other, is a funny duo to watch, and are important to one another.

And despite this, I expected the rug to at some point be pulled, especially compared to Loki's relationship to Sylvie. No matter people's personal viewing on the show, she is still cited as a love interest by showrunners and is just portrayed as that by the narrative a lot of the time. Sidelining that, even in s2 when the romantic hints are more vague, she's still a very important person in Loki's life. She played a central part of the plot and Loki's own character development of understanding himself.

So to me, I was surprised seeing Mobius and Sylvie side by side in the end. Both being framed as The important people in Loki's life. Then, however you wanna see in what ways they are important is up to you, but they are the people he keeps coming back to for advice and self-reflection. You can frame it as "oh it should've been only been Mobius and they added Sylvie to downplay it", which, I just disagree with (If they wanted to go for explicitly canon Lokius they needed to set that up even more earlier in the season but that's a post for another day). Sylvie is still like, a constant in the narrative and driving force of s1, even if s2 changes things around a bit, and imo it would be inconsistent if she just vanished here. I guess I am used to media that downplays a meaningful dynamic between two dudes in more aggressive ways, which they absolutely could've done, and would've taken me out of the story to be honest... but they didn't, Mobius and Sylvie got to be side by side in the end and that imo validated the Loki/Mobius dynamic way more than downplays it.

TLDR; The "For you" was for both Mobius and Sylvie because why would you frame it that way otherwise, and having them side by side like that validates Lokius way more than downplays it in a "no-homo" way considering the full context of the show.

[homestuckreplay]

Harlequin Anger vs Jester Ennui - Color as John Egbert’s Emotions

Week 2 Retrospective

John Egbert is the silliest little guy, but we’re starting to see hints of what he’s feeling beneath the surface. Looking at the themes of the comic so far, my current theory is that the colorful elements in the comic are the things that make John feel strong emotions - both good and bad - while the monochrome elements represent what makes John feel bored and frustrated.

Analysis below the cut - about 2,200 words.

‘A familiar note is produced. It's the one Desolation plays to keep its instrument in tune.’ (p.82)

Desolation has two, related meanings - one is loneliness, grief, and lack of companionship, while the other is ruin, emptiness and destruction. The first meaning is John’s current mental state, while the second is the suburb he lives in. The majority of what’s surrounding John is entirely monochrome, and so is John himself. We also learn from the narration on p.82 that ‘something feels missing from [John’s] life’ and that he has a sense ‘not of mirth, but of lack’. I think he spends a lot of time going through the motions - poking at things in his room without settling to anything, wandering up and down the stairs when his dad is occupied - but his life is the same day in and day out, and he struggles to inject any excitement into his life, or even any anger at the situation he’s trapped in. 

I think it’s extremely notable that almost everything relating to John’s family is monochrome. In addition to the house as a whole, the portraits of his dad and nanna are monochrome, as are the gifts and cakes from his dad, the car outside, and most importantly the piano. I don’t think John hates his father, but I think he struggles to connect with him or feel close to him. Ignoring page 72’s peanut ambiguity, the worst we hear about Dad is that he will ‘monopolize hours of [John’s] time’ (p.30) and ‘can be a real cornball’ (p.49), which is a big contrast to him calling Betty Crocker his ‘arch nemesis’ (p.48). 

Therefore, John’s dad is an inconvenience, not a threat. John might know intellectually that his dad loves him - ‘the old man really came through this time’ (p.19), as well as the kind fatherly notes left on John’s birthday presents (p.12, p.55) - but I think he can’t make the leap to actually caring about his dad in return or enjoying his company.

John is a gifted piano player, and gives us a ‘haunting piano refrain’ (p.77). Him being a musician ties back into the act title - ‘the note desolation plays’ uses the language of music, something so often filled with emotion, to describe a lack of it. Given that, of course the piano is monochrome. Perhaps John even sees the piano as the source of his problems, or at least representative of them. 

I noted at the time that it was strange John hadn’t listed piano among his interests when it’s clearly something he’s spent a lot of time on, and now I think it’s something that was taught to him as a kid by either his dad or nanna. He’s good at it, but he’s so disconnected from family life that it no longer brings him any joy, it’s just a hangover from his childhood. ‘Haunting’ makes me think it was his nanna who taught him - now every time John plays, he’s haunted by her memory (or even her literal ghost). Possibly her death is what made John disconnect from the hobby, especially with ‘desolation’ relating to grief.

On page 4, we get our first glimpse of the outside. The blue sky shot through with the brown tree is the largest splash of color in John’s room. The promise of the outside world is extremely colorful, and we know John wants to go there - the window reflected in John’s glasses on page 28 as he grins excitedly is a clear visual indication of that. Yet when we finally see it, the outside isn’t all color - the grass, sky, trees and flowers all are, but the man made aspects such as the driveway, tire swing, and other houses in the neighborhood are gray and dull.

Page 82 gives us the dramatic moment of John removing his clever disguise and gazing up at the sky. It’s the first time we see the sun and the uninterrupted expanse, and it’s framed like it’s significant for John, too. I don’t think it’s literally his first time stepping outside (you can’t tell me his dad didn’t push him on that tire swing as a kid) but I think it’s the moment he realizes that leaving his literal house doesn’t mean he’s not stuck - the neighborhood is just more of the same, and whatever restrictions John’s working within mean he can’t go any further than this. A front yard is legally part of a house, and the reality of the outside doesn’t excite him as much as the idea of it.

And then there’s the clowns. The one aspect of his dad that really gets John going; the harlequin portraits in the hallway and living room that Dad brought back from clown con are bright, obnoxious, and impossible to ignore. Interestingly, the ones in the study are black and white - perhaps John is okay with the clown pictures in the study, because that’s explicitly his dad’s space, but he doesn’t like the ones in the main area, because they make him feel like the house is fully his dad’s, not a shared space they could decorate together. 

This is pure speculation, but I don’t think John has ever moved house. I get the impression that he grew up in this house, which is his dad’s now and was perhaps originally his nanna’s, and has never known a world outside of this specific neighborhood. Because John’s been there since he was born, it’s never crossed his dad’s mind that John might want to, say, put his Little Monsters poster in the living room - hence why that gift was left in John’s bedroom, while the harlequin doll is allowed to be downstairs. 

Speaking of John’s room, it’s definitely not an oasis of color within the house. In our first shot of the room, we see six splashes of color, including the outside and John’s shirt - comparable to the living room (six including John’s shirt and hat) and study (five including the outside and John’s hat). A full three of the colorful elements in John’s room are related to Sburb, which in both the visuals and text is the thing John’s by far the most excited about right now, but I’ll circle back around to this. 

John’s magic chest, magician’s hat, blood capsules, and copies of Colonel Sassacre’s and Wise Guy are all colorful too, but other prank elements - fake arms, beaglepuss, handcuffs, sword, smoke pellets) are all monochrome. This one’s tough, but my best guess is that John feels conflicted about his interest in pranks because it’s so similar to his dad’s interest, and perhaps even that the monochrome items are things John’s dad bought for him for past birthdays and holidays, while the colorful ones are things John got for himself. 

John’s shirt is also worth mentioning here. John’s ambivalence with the house extends to himself, and kids often don’t have a lot of control over their appearance. He probably doesn’t choose his own clothes or glasses or haircut, and he definitely can’t go out and get a tattoo of Slimer or anything like that, so it’s very telling that wearing a shirt with a favorite movie on it is the one way John can actually connect to himself. 

That said, all the movie posters in his room are monochrome, which I’ll again circle back to. One exception is the close up of the Problem Sleuth poster (p.11), which is mostly monochrome, but has four kernels of colorful candy corn. I love this detail so much. It’s a fun reference to Hussie’s previous work and suggests that the candy corn gags in Problem Sleuth are John’s favorite part, which feels right for him. I wonder if John will use candy corn for a prank at some point in reference to this game he likes. I also noticed that the menu bar at the top of the web page also contains four kernels of candy corn - is this just because Problem Sleuth is Hussie’s most notable work, or could it be a clue for Homestuck too?

The most colorful and complex elements of the comic so far are the screens. We see John’s computer, which as a physical object is monochrome but which lights up to a brightly colored world of chums, flashing programs, desktop icons and stunning feats of graphic design, including things John loves (Slimer) and things that make him boil with rage (coding). We also get to see a very green tinted TV commercial in the living room, and a full color clip of Con Air linked from page 20. 

All this makes me wonder if John’s list of interests is chronological. First on his list (p.4) is ‘really terrible movies’, and many of his favorite titles are from the 1980s and 90s, meaning he probably grew up with them. I think he still loves watching and discussing them, but - given that movies are a fairly passive medium - just the reminder of them on his wall isn’t enough to take him out of his own head anymore. He then got into programming, the paranormal, magic, and video games in sequence, meaning that the final two are his most active interests right now, and the ones to which the most time and color are devoted. In this way, the casual end to the list ‘You also like to play GAMES sometimes’ reads like intentionally downplaying something that’s actually really important, the sarcasm of ‘sometimes’ revealed later when we learn that John has ‘put countless manhours into this assortment of quality titles’ (p.31).

Unlike the movie posters, most of the games on John’s CD rack are in color, and unlike movies, games can offer an interactive, immersive experience. Games are enticing to John right now because they’re the best escape from a monotonous, suburban life that John has access to. He’s played his current collection time and time again (to the point that Bard Quest and Problem Sleuth have lost their color), and that’s why he’s so desperate for Sburb to arrive, and why the colorful reminders of Sburb are all over his room.

I think there’s a very real question of whether Sburb will live up to John’s expectations. At only one letter away from Suburb, it’s a clear reminder that video games don’t actually take John away from the life he’s stuck in, they’re a cosmetic alteration at best - and if the themes of the game are too close to John’s real life problems, he won’t find that escapism. So while I’d love to see a version of this comic where John finally starts playing Sburb and the whole screen immediately explodes into color, I’m not sure it’ll be that easy.

Finally, there’s the meta elements of the story. The captchalogue card overlay and strife specibus are pink and green respectively, and other elements that pop up (indication of whether or not we’ve got John’s name right, the cake turning blue when selected, the blinking green telling us we can put the poster on the wall, etc) are colorful too. The hammer that John allocates to his strife specibus is monochrome, however, which fits really well with John allocating it on TG’s instructions and not knowing that the allocation is permanent. If he’d known, he would have chosen something he felt more strongly about.

Interestingly, the narrative text is black. I still don’t think we’re directly getting John’s perspective, I think that’s been filtered through a specific narrator who has a voice very different to John’s (based on John’s Pesterchum messages), but I don’t think John has any awareness of this. In contrast, he’s all too aware of his captchalogue deck and the artificial, needlessly complex limitations it imposes, and he visually reacts to us getting his name right or wrong. 

If John were to somehow become aware of the narrative text, and have strong feelings about the way he’s being portrayed (or the fact that he’s being written about at all), perhaps it would change color? After all, when John talks to his friends, each of them has a defined color, perhaps relating to the different relationships he has with each friend, and different emotions arising from that. John doesn’t seem to always like his friends - he gets frustrated at the notifications, and spends his whole conversation with TT already trying to leave - but he still replies and actively engages with them, a massive contrast to how he is with his dad. 

‘His riddle is Absence itself.’ (p.82)

To conclude, I do find it interesting that the brightest colors in the comic are the things that are most natural (grass, flowers) and the things that are most artificial (screens, the abstract concept of the inventory) while everything in the middle is black and white. This fits with the idea of color being about both extremes at once, and the idea that John wants a chance to explore both the real and virtual worlds. 

The meta function of color is to make certain visual elements stand out to the audience and tell us they’re worth paying attention to. From a purely functional perspective, it makes sense that the things most important to John would also be highlighted to us. But given the theme of lack and emptiness, the absence of color is just as important. And as the comic is already playing so much with the meta, I think that’s the most helpful starting point for analysis.