#recontextualizing lines my beloved <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[merakiui]

8) There’s so much to love about your writings!!! My gosh, I the characterization, the setting, the way you weave in details that utterly change with the ending once you recontextualize clues…

I also love how, depending on the context, the reader’s personality fits the situation and your readers are so relatable!!! They are all sympathetic to a degree and there is a reason why they are the way they are.

Plus, your ramblings are bite sized and easy to digest, which makes it all the more compelling and fun once you give us entire meals!

Also the themes? Symbolism? Pretty much everything you write has a purpose and I aspire to write like you!!!

9) Anything octatrio related! I’m not ready for TMDG, but I know it’s gonna be a blast!!! And your Azul thoughts (both planned sequels and future original thoughts) are always a treat!!! And let’s not forget about our cute, fluffy boy!!! (Give him more spotlight, I feel like he’s being neglect sometimes >.<)

3) Octatrio again, but with a special mention to Jade. I’ve taken inspiration from the way you’ve written him and have received positive feedback! Your Jade is so conniving and devious, but catch him at the right moment and he’ll be soft as his mushrooms he likes to forage! (It’s all an act, he’s acting cute just for you 0.0)

(ask game)

- - -

WAAAAAAAAA OMG OMG...... you're too nice. T_T I read your messages with such a happy smile omg omg omg... >w< thank you so much!!!!

I'm so glad you can enjoy all of those facets of my writing! I am a sucker for symbolism. It will have to be pried out of my hands before I ever stop putting lots of symbolism in my writing hehe. >:D and relatable readers!!! :o thank you for saying so! I always hope the reader's personality can be enjoyed in my fics. Their interactions with certain characters are so different depending on the type of reader, and I try to write a different sort of reader for each fic just to add more flavor to the plot. Like a reader who greatly dislikes the yandere (in the context of DRU or Love me Not) or a reader who is head over heels for the yandere (like in Azul thought 4). It's also just really fun to write a variety of varying personalities for each reader and to see which would clash/connect with the character's personality!

Hehehe I fear no one will be ready for the monster that is TMDG. ^^;;;; like Azul thought 4, it's a concept that plagued my brain so much that it compelled me to create a playlist for it and it has me looking up all manner of moray eel courtship to slyly add into the scenes. I'm very excited to share it with everyone! ^0^ it's quite a lengthy read, but I hope such a thing can be acceptable. orz

And my Azul thoughts omg!!! Thank you for liking them! Azul is my beloved muse. He's just so fun to write for. I put him in so many concepts and he never fails to entertain! And then there's our beloved Floyd... admittedly, he has been a little neglected as of late. Rightfully so! >:( he was too troublesome during his basketball card rate-up!! But he is always properly loved on the blog hehe. <3

AAAAAAA thank you for liking the way I write Jade!!!!! He is very devious and conniving; that is a good way to describe him! I love him a lot because he's an eerie menace and a danger to all, but beyond that he can be so incredibly soft at certain moments. Just like the mushrooms he loves so much as you wrote!!! Maybe it's an act, or maybe it's the truth. It's so hard to tell with him, but when he's being so soft and sweet how can you not feel so fluffy? Not to share yet another excerpt from TMDG, but he's so soft!!!!!!! This is an eel who is so unabashedly in love with you and he's just barely treading the line between friend and lover. I love writing him in this way. In my mind, you hold the leash and he is happily, pleasantly collared (for now hehehe).

[belovedgamers]

“Answers. I just want answers.”

reblogs >>> likes! tags are treasured!

Back at it with the angst!! I hope you enjoyed your break <3 Taglist under the cut!

No bonus content this time because I really speedran this last night! You can thank @anotherweirdohere for the motivation!

However I feel like I have posted enough that I can tell you a fun fact! I dunno if you’ve noticed but flashbacks always have the hatching with pastel/crayon tools while everything in the present is with the watercolor painting style! Remember you can always send me asks about my pieces!

Tag list:

@truncatedgrip @stablerock @imdedinsidex-x @indridthemoth @cringeshitposts @sweetsmalldog @brainsanalysis @eternalblr @honeybee-block

@dsmp-blog-i-guess @fanri-chanf3 @ireblogcooleretart @wanderingpie @gayishgothamite @mastasof-ravenkroft

Sorry that I didn’t give enough time for many people to reblog! If you want to be on the taglist permanently, you can send me an ask with the url of the blog you want included (if you’re on a sideblog, you can send it on anon with the url of your sideblog!!!)! Thank you so much for the interest!

[ariapmdeol]

Alright. I'll bite. What's COE? I assume it's a game? And where would I be able to watch a playthrough(?) of it?

細胞神曲 - Cell of Empireo is an RPGMaker horror game by Sharktale Factory! You can find an English Translation on YouTube here!! It has the full game with all of the endings, and the first five Records of the DLC! The game itself is playable in both Japanese and Korean.

If you'd like to play it with Machine Translation yourself, I have a tutorial here! Please be aware that MTL is hard to work with, and can be confusing. IF you choose to do this, there is a walkthrough on how to get the best ending here!

TLDR: You play as Haruki Atou, 28 year old detective! When his coworker, Eiji Shinano, goes missing, Atou tracks his last known location to the mysterious cult called the Empyrean Heaven Research Institute. Atou finds himself wrapped up in a situation far larger than expected, and discovers a lot about both the Institute and himself along the way!

This game has everything: it has gay people. It has religious imagery. There is a headless rat. There's a mad scientist who asks to hold hands. The Divine Comedy is everywhere. There is foreshadowing and lore EVERYWHERE and it is sooooo fascinating!!! Genuinely I love this game so so so much!! There is a reason I have been drawing it for (checks watch) almost a year nonstop.

Cell of Empireo play order:

Cell of Empireo DLC: Records of Sanemitsu Isoi [YT tl stops here, after record 5 Hermit's Room Interlude Cell of Mirage (unreleased, fukao-San is working on it)

If you want to go in completely blind, I'll leave it there, but I'll add some of my own rambles under the cut! I'll also post the content warnings there as well o7 This game is recommended for people 17 and up, but I think you should be fine! The rating is for violence mostly. There are some flashing lights and shaking screen moments.

CONTENT WARNINGS (by me)

religious themes, human and animal experimentation/death, gore, hallucinations, suicide, murder, familial abuse, body horror, attempted SA (brief, nothing happens, i can tell you when it happens if you need a warning for this)

aaand some ramblings

There are soooo many different variations based on what ending you're on track for. It is FASCINATING to see lines change in really subtle ways because of Atou's actions.

the lore MAKES SENSE and adds things SYMBOLICALLY and there are LAYERS and you can theorize about stuff!!! This game is so good!!!

the boss fights are SO MUCH FUN. For an RPGMaker game there are so many different mechanics??? There's a RHYTHM GAME SECTION??? it's FANTASTIC

this is a game and a series about love in all its forms. There is platonic love, familial, romantic, whatever the hell flowerpot trio has going on, and more!

There are so many terrible dads that I was able to run a 'Worst Dads' Poll and people had genuine debates, it was fantastic!!

METAFICTION. IT'S METAFICTION (i am very normal)

Sanemitsu <3 Sanemitsu isoi <3 Sanemitsu Isoi my beloved <3

I have written so many theory and analysis essays. there is so much lore i go so insane it's so fun (LORE ANALYSIS NOT REQUIRED FOR A SATISFYING WATCH/PLAYTHROUGH. I AM JUST INSANE)

The information you learn along the way recontextualizes earlier parts so you want to watch Through it again to catch the details that you missed the first time around!!

Also every character has reasons and motivations for what they’re doing, even if atou doesn’t know it. They are all so so painfully human…. Emotionally devastating

[deripmaver]

laurent is a good person - book 1 meta

one of the most amazing things about captive prince is how the reveals in book 3 recontextualize all of the scenes leading up to them, including about laurent himself. in book one, all we see is damen pov as he’s being abused and humiliated by this supposedly spoiled, vile ice prince. when the regent comes to damen and subtly (and not so subtly) insults laurent, calling him unfit to rule - well, why would he think anything different? laurent has insulted him, had him whipped within an inch of his life, and even attempted to (and later successfully lmfao) have him raped while drugged out of his mind. 

after book 3 we can reread most if not all of book 1 as a very traumatized boy who has finally been confronted with the man who killed his brother, leaving him alone with his abusive uncle, and who he clearly has made into a complete monster in his own mind. damen of course sees him as a complete bitch, but there’s textual/subtextual evidence that laurent is well liked, and that his behavior during book 1 was actually pretty out of character for him. i’d like to provide some examples of that now!!!!

“Laurent had stopped dead the moment he had seen Damen, his face turning white as though in reaction to a slap, or an insult. Damen’s view, half-truncated by the short chain at this neck, had been enough to see that. But Laurent’s expression had shuttered quickly.” Captive Prince, Chapter One

i couldn’t resist adding this one in hehe. laurent recognizes damen!! he’s come down, knowing his uncle has devised another truly horrendous and triggering “gift” and that he’ll lose support if he calls it our for what it truly is, only to find out that it’s fucking damianos of akielos sent to him as a sex slave. a jab at laurent’s trauma about auguste and also a jab at laurent’s frigid sexuality - which ofc is completely the regent’s fault. fuck that guy so much lmfao 

“‘It’s so rare to see you at these entertainments, Your Highness,’ said Vannes.” Captive Prince, Chapter Two.

this is right before the fight between govart and damen in the ring, of course. damen sees laurent as depraved and vile as the sexual sadism on display by the veretian court, and considers him to be a willing purveyor of it. this is wrong, of course, as said by vannes here. laurent has only shown up because he wants to humiliate damen lmfao.

“He did remember being supported by two of the guards, here, in this room, while Radel stared athis back in horror. ‘The Prince really . . . did this.’ ‘Who else?’ Damen said. Radel had stepped forward, and slapped Damen across the face; it was a hard slap, and the man wore three rings on each finger. ‘What did you do to him?’ Radel demanded.” Captive Prince, Chapter Four

this scene, to me, was the most telling lmfao. it’s right after damen is whipped. you could argue that radel is just a servant in the employ of the royal household, so is of course going to be loyal to the prince, but he seems genuinely surprised of the prince’s cruelty towards damen. not only that, but he slaps him and immediately assumes damen must have done something. which - i mean, technically he did lmao. not necessarily enough to deserve having the skin flayed from his back, but you know. if laurent was in the habit of torturing pets and slaves, why would the overseer react this way?

“The men guarding him were the Prince’s Guard, and had no affiliation with the Regent whatsoever. It surprised Damen how loyal they were to their Prince, and how diligent in his service, airing none of the grudges and complaints that he might have expected, considering Laurent’s noxious personality. Laurent’s feud with his uncle they took up wholeheartedly; there were deep schisms and rivalries between the Prince’s Guard and the Regent’s Guard, apparently.” Captive Prince, Chapter Four

laurents relationships with his guards are also some of the biggest indicators that he isn’t just a spoiled brat, but can insire a deep loyalty in his men. even if they do all want to fuck him. ah, sexual harassment. it’s also hilarious that damen immediately assumes they’re loyal to him because they want to fuck him - nice projection there, dude. we know a bit more about laurent and his guards thanks to green but for a season, but this little bit here is interesting.

“Laurent was indeed good at talking. He accepted sympathy gracefully. He put his position rationally. He stopped the flow of talk when it became dangerously critical of his uncle. He said nothing that could be taken as an open slight on the Regency. Yet no one who talked to him could have any doubt that his uncle was behaving at best misguidedly and at worst treasonously.”  Captive Prince, Chapter Five

idek what to say here. laurent my beloved <3333

“‘When someone doesn’t like you very much, it isn’t a good idea to let them know that you care about something,’ said Laurent. Damen felt himself turn ashen, as the threat sank in. ‘Would it hurt worse than a lashing for me to cut down someone you care for?’ said Laurent.” Captive Prince, Chapter Seven

this isn’t really relevant to my thesis lmfao i just love this exchange bc it gives SO MUCH information about laurent and his uncle in just three lines of dialogue. what has the regent done, who did he cut down just to hurt laurent? when and how did laurent learn that? p a i n 

“Laurent’s fussy horse began acting out again, and he leaned forward in the saddle, murmuring something as he stroked her neck in an uncharacteristically gentle gesture to quiet her.” Captive Prince, Chapter Nine. 

HORSEY NO- lmfao this scene just hurts so badly on the reread. especially later on, in book 3 i think, where laurent says something like “i provoked my uncle.” he’s really blaming himself for his uncle KILLING HIS HORSE, his horse that his murdered brother trained, one of the only living connections to auguste... all because his uncle could not let a single miniscule plan laurent had set go through without some kind of repercussion. literally all laurent did was do something to stop an innocent group of people from being abused, nothing to undermine his uncle’s rule, but because the regent is VILE he could not let laurent have even this. he’s so good with her, too. he must have known by this point and also known that there was no way to stop this. P A I N

“‘I know that you have somehow arranged this,’ said Erasmus. He was incapable of hiding what he felt, and just seemed to radiate embarrassed happiness. ‘You kept your promise. You and your master. I told you he was kind,’ Erasmus said. ‘You did,’ said Damen. He was pleased to see Erasmus happy. Whatever Erasmus believed about Laurent, Damen wasn’t going to dissuade him. ‘He’s even nicer in person. Did you know he came and talked to me?’ said Erasmus. ‘—He did?’ said Damen. It was something he couldn’t imagine. ‘He asked about . . . what happened in the gardens. Then he warned me. About last night.’ ‘He warned you,’ said Damen. ‘He said that Nicaise would make me perform before the court and it would be awful, but that if I was brave, something good might come at the end of it.’ Erasmus looked up at Damen curiously. ‘Why do you look surprised?’ ‘I don’t know. I shouldn’t be. He likes to plan things in advance,’ said Damen.” Captive Prince, Chapter 9.

this is the first in-text confirmation we have that laurent has a good heart beneath his layers and layers of trauma-induced lashing out. book one often skeeves people out because of its graphic and, honestly, yes, kind of sexualized depiction of rape, slavery, and depravity, but beneath it all you meet these two protagonists who are going to have all of their most deeply held views about each other challenged. laurent from very early on is shaken to his core when damen refuses to rape nicaise in the ring - it cracks the very foundations of the person he’d built up in his head as this horrible monster who killed his brother in cold blood. and damen keeps defying laurents expectations by being a good person through and through. on the other hand, laurent spends the first part of the book taking out years of anger on damen, but here for the first time we see him do something just because its the kind thing to do. yes, torveld is an ally against his uncle, but laurent has clearly been scheming with him for a while now, and he’s now overlooking his hatred of damen and working with him just because none of the slaves deserve whats happened to them. it’s such a sweet moment.

“One of the other men, eyeing them, approached a moment later. ‘Don’t mind Jean. He’s in a foul mood. He was the one had to stick a sword through the mare’s throat and put her down. The Prince tore strips off him for not doing it fast enough.’” Captive Prince, Chapter Nine.

HORSEY NO- pt 2. this is just another really sweet and sad detail - laurent being so upset that the horse’s death could have been more painless. it must have hurt so much to see her in pain, and to know that the only way for that pain to end was being put down as quickly as possible. i wuv him. im sad

that’s it, though there are still a few more chapters left in the book. this isn’t providing any new information, of course, the path of the three books is to show that laurent isnt the man we meet in book one, that he’s actually sweet, and earnest, and he’s been fighting his own battle practically alone against his abuser since he was fifteen years old. also, the reveal that laurent knew who damianos was from the start makes it clear imo that all of his violence in book 1 was supposed vengence, not... him being evil. he apologizes explicitly in-text, and also, all of the acts of violence he commits cause serious problems for him in terms of his future alliance which he then needs to fix. i just love how layered these books are, how there’s so much information in them that makes rereading almost more fun than reading them for the very first time!

[piejumper]

Finished rewatching Maoka Magica, thoughts below

Having finished a rewatch of madoka magica I think the reason it holds up so well as a "dark subversion" of the magical girl genre is because it doesn't actually stop being whimsical and genuine ironically enough. It never shows gore or excessive horror and even in its most dark moments it doesn't dwell on it and its only about 3 to 4 moments in the whole show that it goes that far, and gives it an appropriate amount of respect to the emotional impact it has on its characters without turing the whole show into a downer. Beyond that it's remarkably simple in its execution all in all. (It got kinda tiring how often madoka cried for me personally, but it was refreshing seeing how like, a normal teenager would react to the situations compared to other shows that have protags go through 1 million traumatizing events and act unaffected afterwards)

Other than that it's almost entirely committed to telling a tragedy about love and hope in the face of a grim and jaded world and how innocence is bashed against it without sympathy to those it hurts. It's pretty simple and overt with how it presents those themes but it never feels out of place I feel partly because of the extreme lengths the show goes to present itself with a overtly whimsical play aesthetic with its incorporation of collage based visuals and real world materials inside an almost MC Escher like city with a lot of focus on depicting it's scenes and characters with as much visual metaphor and beauty as possible rather than choosing to depict a purely real or grounded setting to go with its themes of losing innocence and despair.

And it fits perfectly because its a story that whole the ending is still bitter sweet, is still about hope and love conquering all, even a cold and unfeeling universe. And I think that's why I can't stop thinking about it's visuals so many years later.

Although my favorite part of the series is the sequel movie Rebellion and that has a story that recontextualizes the whole series as it plays out and while it's more tragic than hopeful it's manages to stay totally in line with the original series and it's one of the rare cases where I've seen a sequel to a beloved franchise stick the landing because it chooses to take what was there in the first installment and expand and evolve on it with its decision to focus on the themes of doing something selfish to do something good that was there in the anime and following them to their natural conclusions, like "is madoka happy now that she's an abstract concept who isn't remembered by anyone?" And "what did going through all those time loops do to homura when she wasn't able to protect the person she loved?" And tackling them in the same surreal and magical setting while cranking it up to 11.

I'm hoping the next movie can wrap this up in a way that's satisfactory because it's very hard to follow up something that shaked up the status quo so severely and successfully pay off all the character arcs they set up. It makes me hesitant to really want a sequel because while the ending to Rebellion wasn't "happy" it still felt really satisfying to me. Oh well, that's enough talk about magical girl shows out of me. Gonna go and listen to some kalifina now, kyubey can get bent