match-your-steps · 1 year ago
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if you're gonna have a weird unnecessary harem situation at least have some variety in there. like it can't all be jealous girls put some jealous guys in there too
#harem trope#tbh i kind of hate the harem trope#usually reverse harems too but i feel like those are done better more often so sometimes theyre ok#there's just so many girls (because it's always a guy and yk heteronormacy)#who like this totally average guy#he can be op in one way or another#but a lot of the time either his personality sucks or he's weak (often he's both regular nice and really strong tho)#and at 90% of the girls he meets fall head over heels for him for no particular reason#often dubious morality like a huge age gap or something is there too#and they're almost always super jealous of each other and way to conscious about him coming into contact with other girls#and if they're not jealous then they're like 'we'll share him I'll be glad to be his concubine 💕'#which is usually more tolerable than extreme jealousy#but also has weird vibes for stereotyping and objectification of women girls etc.#anyways yeah#i happen to like a genre that often has a lot of these harem trope things#i suffer every day#i cannot tell you how many series i have quit reading because i just couldn't stand the unnecessary weird harem thing#i cheer every time i become certain it's monogamous#and there is a defined love interest#not even because i hate polygamy i actually was polyamorous questioning for a long time#(until i figured out im aroace and just like having friends)#it's just that the non-monogamy is always weird and unbalanced because it's a super shallow harem situation#idc if your romance is a little shallow but at some point it's just objectification#anyways yeah if you're gonna make everyone pointlessly fall in love with a random average guy#then at least make one non-hetero serious pursuer of romance#and by serious i mean not like purely sex-focused or there as a gag#like being a ridiculous admirer of the random guy's muscles#that's one i think i actually see a lot#i mean but if he's so incredibly attractive that every female in the world is in love with him#then there's gotta be at least one gay person who thinks he's really hot right?
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crypt1dcorv1dae · 17 days ago
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One of the big points of Zuma as a character is that this guy who is 100% MOMO'S TYPE shows up, and she has.... Absolutely no interest in him. They spend a bunch of time alone together and she just... Doesn't give a shit. She gets flustered ONCE and that's mostly cus she was surprised his behavior changed and then immediately snaps out of it and scolds him for using up some of his power, not cus she actually has any interest in him
And it's a good way to show that like... Yeah... She's already got feelings for someone else. She's got no interest in anyone else, not even a guy who truly does check all her previous boxes for what kinda person she likes!!! No more room her heart is already full of big dumb brave nerd sorry buddy
And like, it's good cus they've shown the same w okarun more before that, multiple other people having interest in him and he just entirely is not interested (even if he does get flustered cus, like, yeah they ARE PRETTY and he's not at all used to that kind of attention!!! That's a normal reaction!!! But that's one of the differences in their personalities!! It doesn't mean he's less devoted or anything, he's just not as comfortable and confident with it as momo is) so it's good to really show that BOTH OF THEM are equally in deep, it's not one sided at all, cus tbh previously it was rlly only jiji around acting as a "rival" and IMO she made it clear she wasn't into him anymore but it was kinda subtle so I could understand some people not picking up on that, so having it be much more overt and obvious is good!!!
And yeah I do usually hate the whole "everyone is into this character" harem type trope but given it's happening to BOTH OF THEM and they both literally only have eyes for each other makes it more funny than cringe so it's fine. Plus like can you blame any of em?? These two are absolutely catches!!! They're wonderful people!!! My children are perfect of course everyone is in love with them. As they should be.
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mr-lelia · 1 year ago
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Day 4 of posting my thoughts until I find a friend
(Spoilers for mxtx's svsss)
I feel like we don't talk about LBH's insecurities enough tbh that man was always so self-assured and powerful (at least per SQQ's narration, which I wholeheartedly believed until book four like a dummy)* that when he dropped that "I hate myself" I followed suit and dropped my goddamn jaw. SVSSS is the first MXTX book I've read in its entirety, so idk if this holds true for the more dedicated fans, but I'm not used to characters (let alone the protagonist??) explicitly stating their feelings like that. I'm more used to the whole "suffer in silence until someone finds out" trope. But I can be a bit dull sometimes (refer to * section), so his lack of self-worth blindsided me! It was the first time he showed an emotion that was introspective rather than aimed at/for/because of SQQ. Although, I would argue it was SQQ who gave him those insecurities without meaning to. LBH is extremely emotionally dependent (don't base your self-worth on anyone but yourselves, kids), so this shouldn't have happened in the first place, but it did and it was a direct consequence of SQQ's lack of awareness.
I think it's because it took SQQ a while to see these people as more than just characters in a book, which might be his way of coping with what he's experiencing. He was so fixed on the plot he'd read, on the narrative he was familiar with, that he didn't realize he was an active player in this new world. He was so worried about being able to suffer in a 'fake' world, he failed to realize HE could also have an impact on the story itself.
So, going back to Bingie Boy, he's the protagonist, he's the chosen one, the one who stands above the rest. Except he's not actually the protagonist of this story, SQQ is. When LBH says "no one ever chooses me" I realized that without his harem of women, he's reduced to a very lonely individual, relying on the one person that showed him genuine care and kindness to validate his feelings. NZJDJXJWKSJ idk where im going with this lmfao i forgor anyway tldr lbh is toxic as shit and i love him for it 10/10 would give up their corpse
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liquidstar · 2 years ago
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hey! i’d love to learn about re:zero! well, not learn exactly but i’m thinking of maybe getting into it so i dunno, i’d love to know what sorta stuff you enjoy about it and everything 🤧 also, same anon who sent you that ask about wanting to be mutuals! so, hello!
Omg hiiii anon! It’s nice to see you again! Please feel free to send asks or even message me any time ^_^ I’m sorry I took a while to get to this but I didn’t have time to type a lot earlier and  was on mobile… but i would SO love to talk about what i like about the series (and a little bit of what i dislike, its got its fair share of understandable turnoffs but ill get to that part later- ill make a little tw list too)
But first i totally wanna share what about it i find compelling and fun as a story. I’ll put it under a cut here so I don’t clog ppl’s dashes tho hehe. I wrote... A lot actually. Like a lot a lot. Sorry .-. You can just kind of skim it if you want I don't want to make you feel like you have to read this fucking novel I wrote lol but here it is
First of all i think what made me agree to watch the series despite my preconceptions of it as a typical isekai harem was that its actually a deconstruction of that genre. “Deconstruction” often gets misused in anime circles to just mean “a genre but with a dark twist” so at first i thought it might just be a typical isekai harem but slightly edgier… but no it actually is a proper deconstruction! It takes the typical tropes of its genre and breaks them down, exposing the issues with the genre and its viewers (i.e. nerdboys wanting escapism). 
The premise on it’s own is relatively simple, it’s about a boy who gets transported to a fantasy world and discovers that he has been given a power that lets him reset time every time he dies. It gets a bit more complex from there, there’s some really cool lore that makes the world feel like it existed before subaru came to it (many isekai cant do this). And the themes of the series are actually pretty dense, which is a LOT of fun for me and the main thing i like about it tbh. So im going to talk about each one of the major themes here (and try to keep it as spoiler-free as i can!)
Escapism
One of the most important themes of the series is fantasy vs reality. Subaru, as the main character, is set up exactly like the typical nerdboy getting an isekai powerfantasy harem, and he’s genre-aware at that. When he first gets transported to another world, he instantly picks up on what's happening, and he thinks its going to go a certain way for him. 
In fact, because of the media he’s consumed in his life, he thinks he’s ENTITLED to an isekai powerfantasy and feels robbed when things end up being much more grim. For the first few arcs he can come off as annoying, he’s trying very hard to act like his idea of a “main character” and he has a tendency to reduce the people around him to tropes. He projects his will onto them, he does what he thinks a hero would do regardless of what they say. In the 3rd arc he becomes borderline unlikable (intentionally so) after a fight with emilia, and the real turning point of him as a character is whether he chooses reality or fantasy in this arc. He could go back to escaping, or he could face whats real. 
After this point in the story he begins to truly develop more as a character too, seeing the people around him as PEOPLE makes him more complete as well, and on a meta level this is also where we start to get his real backstory and characterization outside of just being the “isekai guy.” It’s like the story is telling him that he earned it, but it doesn’t feel like a sudden shift. If anything it feels like everything else about him makes MORE sense in retrospect.
But one thing that was always made clear was that subaru hated himself. A lot. He was a shut-in loser with terrible depression and anxiety, he used to get panic attacks just at the idea of going to school. He preferred to escape in his bedroom and avoid it all, and although his parents loved him very very much, deep down, he always thought they should just hate him instead. He thinks everyone should just hate him instead, which is why he tries so hard. It can be cringy to watch, but knowing where this energy of his comes from as a character makes sense…
He never really learned how to deal with people, he’s selfish and entitled to what media promised him. In this sense the story is screaming at you that NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU USE THESE POWERFANTASIES TO ESCAPE, REAL LIFE PEOPLE WILL NOT TREAT YOU THIS WAY. THEY WILL HAVE THEIR OWN LIVES AND WILLS THAT YOU CANT CONTROL AND THEY DONT OWE YOU ANYTHING JUST BECAUSE YOURE NICE TO THEM!!
This theme is even moreso evident when it comes to the woman in subaru’s life so lets talk about…
Gender 
subaru’s habit of projecting his own desires onto other people makes him place the girls around him into obsequious roles, he objectifies them, treats them like tropes in a video game. The message that the story wants to convey is fairly obvious, that you can’t treat real life women the same way you treat your fictional characters. And that they don’t owe you anything just because you’re nice to them. This is partly what emilia and subaru’s aforementioned fight was about, and it’s important that she only accepts his love after he treats her like a human being. She doesn’t want special treatment or to be placed on a pedestal. This theme kind of went over a lot of nerdboys heads because they wanted to jerk off to rem, who actually presented the “fantasy” ideal- kind of ironic…
On the flip side too, subaru tries very very hard to fit into masculine ideals of heroism (often emulating his father who was an athlete). He thinks he has to be a certain way and act a certain way. Though once he breaks out of this shell he actually ends up being more… Just himself. He’s not afraid to let emilia be the hero, he even compliments her for being “manly” (which she doesnt take as an insult and they have a cute laugh about) and in the ln takes up dressing femininely as something he was afraid to do in earnest before- previously seeing it as a joke.
Whats also notable about emilia is that shes one of the five dragon priestesses thats running as a candidate in the royal selection- that might have just been word soup, but what it basically means is that she and four other girls are running to become ruler of the country. The title that they earn is actually KING of legunica, not queen. This serves as a nice contrast to the room emilia was locked in during her childhood, the princess room.
Its a fantasy story so archetypes like kings and princesses and knights are all present but its more so about what those archetypes represent. The knights are the heroes, that masculine ideal subaru wanted to live up to. He claims to be one without earning it, which gets him beat the hell up by a real knight, julius. Whos also an interesting character in this regard, he’s the “knight of knights” and puts a lot of pressure on himself chivalrous, and subaru is incredibly jealous. Though eventually they grow closer and idk they’re kinda… hm. Anyway there’s also reinhard, another knight who is so ridiculously overpowered that its a joke. Like, one of his powers is he’s blessed to never eat anything too salty. He IS the overpowered isekai protagonist that subaru wanted to be, but unlike julius, subaru kind of admires reinhard (they got off on a better foot). But reinhard himself… the truth is hes so very isolated and trapped, he grew up with a terrible family and because of his powers the kingdom pretty much owns him, he has no freedom. This aspiration is a leesh.  
Mean while other candidates are all interesting in their own ways and also all represent some different ideologies (incase youre wondering the emilia camp is. communism.) but the ones most relevant to the gender theme is probably the crusch camp because… actually its kind of a lot, not all of it depicted well, but not necessarily horribly either. The basic idea is that crusch and ferris are two characters who “swapped” gender performances, though the series may still posit that their actual identities are still their agab this isnt exactly that simple (especially in the ln) and i personally think its a case of a cis author not really knowing how trans people work. Crusch behaves in a more masculine role until their memories are wiped and suddenly starts to behave like a “regular girl”- this is meant to be strange and upsetting because its NOT CRUSCH so i actually think thats well done enough. Ferris is… well, not a character i want to speak as an authority on, i think they could have been handled better, but it could have also been worse. I do like that in the ln they directly dispute the notion that ferris “dresses like a girl” to attract/trick men, at least. 
The series does genuinely seem to want to pick apart some gender norms though, and though i am critical of the ways it fumbles the ball i do enjoy the themes, especially as a deconstruction story. Its NOT perfect and i think one of my biggest gripes with it is that despite this “dont objectify” theme, a lot of the female characters designs are pretty sexualized! Mostly not to an absurd degree, i actually think the maid outfits are cute, but sometimes i feel like it can detract rather than add. You could make the case that its saying “even if theyre dressed like this bla bla” but i think thats a reach… at the very least though theres not that much fanservice despite the outfits, things arent usually framed weirdly just to get tits or ass in frame and all. I think the most the was was a scene in the ova where emilia and rem hug and their boobs touch
One way that the themes do come full circle though is with the emilia and subaru’s first kiss. Their first fight was about subaru denying emilia her personhood by ignoring her will in favor of his own. They have another fight that calls back to this but this is AFTER subaru has character development and one way that he proves to her that he loves her is by getting explicit consent for the kiss (verbally and physically) beforehand- it wasnt just an example of “a kiss solves all the problems” but a demonstration of how far hes come as a character, not assuming that playing out movie tropes alone will fix stuff but actually caring about what she wants.
Memories/Identity
Speaking of losing memories, that’s also a huge theme in the story. The idea is that your memories are your identity isn’t exactly unique, but what i like a lot about how the series does it is how OTHER peoples memories of you matter just as much as your own. It’s what i call “self-recognition through the other.” 
Your identity is molded through how people around you perceive you, and how you perceive those perceptions in turn. Not just about how you see yourself, but how you see other people seeing you. That’s why there are two types of amnesia in the series, one where you forget your own identity and one where people forget who you are. Those are the two things that make you… you! So when a character loses one, they lose half of themselves. When they lose both… they stop existing. They enter a comatose state and are just a “null”- something that never was and yet is right here.
The theme of subaru projecting his will onto other people has to do with this- subaru hates himself so he can only bare to recognize himself through the projection.
The show especially has a LOT of shots of characters being reflected in each other’s eyes, making it clear that whats going on here isnt just a character being seen, but also a character seeing themselves through another person.
One example, heres a scene where subaru is yelling at emilia, he screams at her and calls her useless and tells her she cant save everyone. Throughout the entire scene we dont see subaru’s face, only emilia’s reaction, and when she starts to talk she just says “why are you crying?” and the scene changes to a close up of her eye, subaru reflected in it, crying. He wasn’t really yelling at emilia, he was yelling at himself through her.
Another way memories come into play is because of subaru’s return by death power. Its an isolating power, because when he dies and resets the timeline… his friends forget about him. From subarus perspective these are people he was close with, people hes been friends with for at least a month (in total) but who have no memory of him. Its part of why he blows up at emilia, hes frustrated that his friends cant remember such important memories because to them.. THEY NEVER HAPPENED!!! These are things that only subaru will remember. In arc 2 when he grows close to rem and ram over time and they just keep forgetting about him… it hurts him a lot because his friends just suddenly stop seeing him as a friend. Its not their fault, but its not his either. And they can never fully help him through the trauma because he cant tell anyone the shit hes been through, the power wont let him.
But from THEIR perspectives… its scary. Its scary when some guy you dont know acts so familiar, acts like you OWE him something when you have no idea what hes talking about. Something you cant remember. Of course emilia is horrified when he starts lashing out, she has no idea whats going on! 
Whats interesting is that the SAME THING happens to subaru later on… through the witch of envy. She claims that she loves him, in fact thats all she says, “i love you, i love you, i love you” but subaru doesnt know her. He has no idea who she is, hes terrified of someone who loves him so much for things he doesnt remember. Yeah, doesnt feel so good huh?
7(+2) deadly sins
Each arc of the series actually focuses around subaru making a choice that’s centered around overcoming a deadly sin, and there are also several characters representing the deadly sins, including the two that pope gregory got rid of (vainglory and melancholy). There are the witches of sin, as well as the archbishops that represent those sins. What I find the most interesting is how these sins relate back to the theme of identity through the way their powers are represented as well as the ways their respective arcs are handled.
Gluttony is the most obvious, it’s framed as a sin where you “consume” another person's identity for your own sake, or take it on completely, without regard for them and how they’ll get dulled or lose their own sense of self devoid from you.
Greed is about a desire for connection, which in moderation can be a good thing, but it can also become possessive and entitled. It’s literally objectifying, treating someone else like your possession. On the flip side, placing that desire above all else can also lead to the detriment of your own well-being as well as those around you.
Lust doesn’t just refer to the sexual connotation, but about love in general. Specifically about using love as leverage to take advantage of and manipulate people, even by force, and even down to their sense of self. 
Wrath also isn’t just about anger, it’s about intense emotions in general, and what happens when you project these emotions onto other people, and how this can become a cycle of amplifying these emotional projections back and forth until the person’s identity has been consumed by them.
Sloth can be taken as being slothful in your relationships, not just romantic ones but to the people around you. Neglecting or abandoning them when things get hard, especially if they really need you. Choosing escapism over reality.
Pride seems to be about the arrogant assumption that your perspective of another person is the correct one, and treating them the way that you see fit based on that. You’re in the right, so if you decide they deserve to be punished then it must be justified.
Envy is also about the possession of others, similar to greed but with a much more targeted and controlling nature. The jealousy that comes with it is one that forces the object of desire into being isolated, lonely and unfulfilled, unable to form any true bonds with others.
Melancholy is the one we’ve seen the least of, but it seems to be about forcing your negativity onto others, hurting not just yourself but also other people through your own depression and apathy.
Vainglory is gaslighting. Despite being as mysterious as melancholy, the metaphor is obvious. It’s manipulating another person's entire perspective and reality to fit your narrative, to manipulate them into what you want them to be.
Basically because of the series's themes of identity and projection, the biggest sin you could commit towards another person or even yourself is warping that.
Suicidality
Suicidality is present throughout the entire story. Of course it is! Our escapist mean characters superpower is to fucking die! But it’s more than that… Subaru hates himself. He wants to die. He didn’t consider himself to have a life before, and now he sees himself as an even bigger loser for all the trauma hes gone through and all that hes lost. Even in reflecting on the person he was. In the 4th arc especially he makes it clear how little he values his own life, especially because of how much he cares about his friends (at this point, yes, he sees them as people and loves them more than anything). But hes so traumatized, so down on himself for all his failures, and he cant die no matter how hard he tries.
This theme isn’t limited to him, in fact the same exact thing is true of beatrice, an immortal spirit girl who was abandoned inside a library for 400 years. They actually end up having a very very sweet sibling dynamic later on, but whats more important is that theyre both hypocrites. Subaru wants to save beatrce, he doesnt want her to die. Beatrice doesnt want subaru to die and repeatedly saves him, which he screams at her for. Beatrice begs him to kill her, he wont do it. They both want to save each other from each other but dont want to be saved themselves.
Rem is also an interesting example of suicidality- shes not as outwardly suicidal as beatrice and subaru but she does have a very very very severe inferiority complex, and very intense feelings of guilt and shame for never being enough, only being a replacement for her displaced sister, the literal reincarnation of a god. Rem falls for subaru because he sees her as her own person, for the first time ever (the only other person to do that is ram, but rem feels too guilty to see it) but what makes her feelings interesting is that she sees subaru as her “reason to die”. NOT LIVE! Rem only sees herself as someone worth discarding, if she can die for subaru than she would die happy. Its her excuse. What many many many people overlook about rem is just how unhealthy her ideas about love are, shes so mischaracterized! And its sad because of how interesting and thematically important her arc is… boiled down to a love triangle! Augh!
Stars
I love star themes in stories!!! This is honestly pretty obvious given that I have my own set of star-themed ocs, but i’ll try to put them aside for rn to talk about this lol. First of all subaru loves stars a lot, its something I like about his character too- he’s not just a typical nerdboy who likes anime and games, he has other unique personal interests like mythology and astronomy! Of course he does, his name actually comes from the stars, that’s where his love of them comes from. Subaru is the japanese name for the pleiades star cluster and the individual stars of become relevant later.
Beyond subaru there are plenty of characters whose names come from the stars, though not always directly. 
For example all of the witches of sin (aside from one) are named after astroids. Echidna, Minerva, Sekhmet, Daphne, Typhon, Carmilla, Pandora, and Hector. The exception to this rule is Satella, the witch of envy, who was always an odd-one-out. Her name could mean either star or satellite (like an asteroid!). And all the sin archbishops are also named after stars, and the names of the stars actually directly correlate to what their powers are.
There are also plenty of other ways characters names often tie into stars and mythology, but not always- sometimes theyre just puns. For example, emilia comes from the latin “emilius” which means… Jealous.
Other stuff
Re:zero actually has a lot of different content, one of the coolest to me, because of how they expand on the series’ themes, are the what:if routes. I didnt talk abt them in the above bc i thought it would get too confusing, but theyre basically alternate routes for the story. What WOULD HAVE happened if subaru had made the wrong choice, if the thematic sin of the arc won. So far, and in order, there’s 
Pride:if
Wrath:if
Sloth:if 
Greed:if
Gluttony:if 
There will probably be more in the future, whats funny is that theyre written and posted on april fools day… aka subaru’s birthday!
Theres also ovas which i think are important to watch before season 2, and one that takes place mid-season-1 so my watch order rec is actually
Season 1 episodes 1-11
Memory snow ova (lighthearted and fun!)
Season 1 episodes 12+
Frozen bonds ova (emilia backstory!)
Season 2
Theres also a directors cut version of the show but its basically just two episodes stitched together w some mild animation improvements and ONE scene added at the end (Which gets repeated in season 2 anyway) so which one you watch doesnt make a difference
After that, if you want, you can pick up the light novel at arc 5. Arc 6 s the best one imo but i havent read arc 7 yet (bear that in mind for the tw list)
Anyway now that i talked about the themes, and before i get to the tws, i want to talk about
The characters!!!!
Easily one of the best parts of the series. I feel like I’ve mostly talked about subaru and emilia here but thats because if i were to get Into It with each of these characters on their own we’d be here all day (and this is already so long!) they all have a lot of personality and are genuinely very complex and interesting characters so ill just give little blurbs to explain them here
Subaru: I’ve talked enough about here. I want to say that i genuinely like him a lot as a character, after his growth and development he’s so likable and fun and you just kind of want to protect him
Emilia: A silver-haired half-elf, she’s hated for looking like the witch of envy, a figure from history so repulsive people won’t even say her name. People call her a half-devil, say that she doesn’t deserve to live, that her birth was a crime. But emilia is a kind girl, she wants to change the world so that everyone is equal and no one is treated like she is. She’s also very strong, her ice magic is incredibly powerful and so so so deadly in some really cool and creative ways.
Puck: Emilia’s spirit! He loves emilia so much that he would literally kill everyone in the world and then himself if anything happened to her. For real.
Rem: So mischaracterized by the fanbase! Poor rem! She’s both sweet and also not afraid to cut a bitch at any given point. But for the most part she also kind of hates herself, seen as the lesser of the two oni sisters, she could never live up to ram. One day though, the tables turned, and rem had to take ram’s place, though she only felt guilt and shame for it. Seeing herself as nothing but a replacement, time stopped for her the fiery night her sister’s horn was cut off.
Ram: Also often mischaracterized as being “tsundere” though thats far from the truth- She’s actually just a straight up cunt. Her main character trait is that she’s bluntly honest no matter what, so when she’s being a bitch she means it. She used to be the reincarnation of the oni god (and technically still is) but when her horn was cut off she lost the ability to control these powers. She often gets seen as being “lazy” by other characters, but the truth is that she’s in constant pain because of this. Despite that, she was a little bit happy too when she was finally released from the pressures of a god.
Beatrice: The guardian of the forbidden library, she was abandoned there a long long time ago. Now she only sits and waits for someone to find her, save her, kill her. She can come off as being bratty, but the truth is that she’s very lonely and also afraid to let people in.
Roswaal: The margrave of the estate… He’s so very fucked up in the head… There’s not too much I can say without giving away some major plotpoints but that make-up isn’t there for nothing, he really is a fucking clown.
Otto: A merchant that eventually joined the emilia camp. He spent the first decade of his life completely mute, saying that the world used to be a hellish place of harsh noise for him. Eventually this changed- when he gained his divine protection of spirit voice. Meaning he can talk to animals! And other things. After some loops he ends up becoming a very very devoted friend to subaru, someone he can always confide in.
Garfiel: Sort of a wildcard, but despite everything he actually does have a heart of gold. And everything about him actually makes more sense when you learn he’s actually fourteen. He’s can also transform into a tiger which is pretty sick. And he has mommy issues!
Frederica: Garfiel’s older sister, she works as a maid for the roswaal estate but has taken a leave. She’s very sweet and motherly, especially to garfiel and petra. And she can transform into a lion which again is pretty sick.
Petra: A child from the village who ended up joining the emilia camp as a maid-in-training. I’m not going to lie I think she’s only there so there’s a cute kid that needs protecting and so that we can be devastated when she dies in any given loop. It kind of works
(now onto non-emilia-camp-members)
Anastasia: Don’t let her cute appearance fool you, she’s a cutthroat capitalist through-and-through. A former merchant looking to become the next king of legunica. 
Julius: Anastasia’s knight, the knight of knights. Everything about him screams “chivalry” but in reality that’s a weaning facade. He and subaru don’t get along much at first, but eventually they end up with a really close bond. Subaru is kind of tsundere about it though lol
Crusch: The most militant of the royal selection candidates, crusch is sort of a hard-ass through and through… In fact they’re pretty much just looking to run a meritocracy, and subaru himself calls out the fact that crusch would be a good leader if not for abandoning the weak.
Ferris: Crusch’s knight, Ferris is playful and sometimes a smartass. Also granted the title of “blue” for their status as the best healer in the country.
Wilhelm: Crusch’s butler. He seems like just some old man but in reality he’s badass lol
Reinhard: The current sword saint, and wilhelm’s grandson. He’s the most OP man in existence, but he has so so many family issues, growing up with a terrible family situation and being blamed for his grandmas death. On top of that he lacks freedom and choice, being bound to being a knight for the kingdom. Making it fitting that he’s representing the candidate looking to abolish the current system, Felt.
Felt: A former thief from the slums, she was selected as a dragon priestess and chose to run in the royal selection… Because she wants to destroy the structures in place. She hates the nobility, she hates the knights, and she’s going to burn it all down. She wants anarchy and she’s got my vote.
Rom: Felt’s grandpa <3 well, adoptive, but still. Their cute little found family is actually adorable and I want them to be so happy. He’s also a giant.
Priscilla: She’s such a bitch. But like, it’s also really funny how much of a bitch she is. She was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, and her powers of luck make it so that everything always works out for her, no matter what. Basically she’s just aiming for totalitarianism, for all her whims to always be obeyed
Al: Priscilla’s knight, he’s pretty much just there to give her whatever she wants whenever she wants it. What's the most interesting about him though is that… he’s from earth. Like, our earth. Subaru isn’t the only one. In fact there are at least two historical figures that are also from earth. 
(now for antagonists)
Elsa: The first real threat subaru encounters, elsa is a vampire and assassin who’s been granted the nickname of “the bowel hunter” because of the way she… Well, she rips people’s guts out and loves to watch them die <3
Meili: Elsa’s little assistent, they actually see each other as sisters and care about each other. She’s also more than okay with a little murder despite being like 12, because that’s all she knows. And she has control over monsters which is awesome.
Petelguese: sin archbishop of the witches cult representing sloth. He’s actually out of his mind… But. There’s some legit backstory. All i will say is that his voice actor has some fucking range i swear. Also the way he’s animated is both horrifying and hilarious. Uncanny in just the right loony toons way
Satella: AKA the witch of envy, she’s sort of mysterious, sort of a contradiction.
Echidna: The witch of greed, an amazing manipulator. All she wants is to know everything, her greed is an insatiable thirst for knowledge and she has no morals. 
Minerva: The witch of wrath. What makes her angry? The injustices of a cruel world, pain and suffering, hardship and strife. She’s angry because she cares so much.
Sekhmet: The witch of sloth, she drove a giant dragon (basically deities in legunica) to the other side of the great waterfall (a barrier considered impenetrable, no one knows whats beyond it) just so she could nap.
Daphne: The witch of gluttony, she created all the monsters that inhabit the world. Why? So that no one ever has to go hungry ever again. But she thinks it’s unfair to not give the monsters a chance to eat too.
Typhon: The witch of pride, the young daughter of an executioner. Watching person after person be put to death, she childishly and cruelly began to judge people’s lives on her own. She might be a kid but she’s horrifying. 
Carmilla: The witch of lust, though not in a purely sexual sense. A vampire who was worshiped in her life- people went to war over her. She has no interest in love herself, however she does recognize how important love is and wants to help people realize it too.
Hector: The devil of melancholy, he’s a bit mysterious but the make takeaway is that he has depression.
Pandora: The witch of vanity, and THE most broken character in anything ever. Her powers are literally just speaking shit into existence. She’s like somesort of goddess, and like her namesake she’s trying to open a box right now…
Anyway. 
Trigger warnings
Re:zero is a dark show with some heavy themes, and despite being a deconstruction its also not immune to some of the grosser things abt the isekai genre. Heres my list of things to be weary of (Aside from stuff that wasnt already mentioned) so…
A not insignificant amount of gore. Its not corpse party or anything, but there are guts and eyeballs flying out, as well as plenty of examples of limbs getting cut off or in one case twisted until they break. In the light novel the descriptions of the gore are more graphic. Subaru dies in all kinds of fucked up ways.. As well as the people around him really.
Theres some pretty graphic depictions of self harm, particularly finger mutilation by one of the antagonists. Subaru also has a habit of biting his lip until it bleeds and in the ln its very heavily implied that he cuts himself. And again plenty of his deaths were suicides. 
It’s really not shown on-screen, but one of the antagonists says that when she was a child she was molested by a man while seeking shelter in a snow storm. She killed him though so theres that
Theres also a pretty gross scene (intentionally so) where echidna, a witch character, finds a young roswaal who had literally JUST THROWN UP and starts to… make out with him. Its literally so gross. On multiple levels. In-universe it was supposed to be to help heal him, but on a meta level i think it was just showing us how their dynamic was a bit... yeah. (Also if vomit in general grosses you out, subaru throws up a few times during the series… understandable. He is so so traumatized)
Speaking of roswaal, hes like, 100+ years old now, and ram is 18. and he burned down rem and rams entire village and took them in to work for him when they were kids. And ram STILL has romantic feelings for him. Girl you have stockholm syndrome!!! But at the very least roswaal doesnt reciprocate (as of rn. Hopefully never) and the other characters straight up tell her she has bad taste lol
Also just in general animals and children will die, sometimes brutally, and even though its usually reset it can still be upsetting to watch.
The series also isnt afraid to depict subaru has having Mental Issues. It can be assumed he developed PTSD from the Everything Going On. and its not afraid to show disassociation, especially in arc 6, he more or less develops DID (though a little misdescribed) but with like some fantasy aid. You could also see emilia as having repressed memories but again theres fantasy aspects to it. I dont think depicting these things is bad obviously but i know they can cause some ppl to have episodes. (I dont have DID or anything but for some reason after i read inside mari i was like completely disassociating for days it was weird). 
But what i find the most unpleasant to watch is the “loli” characters in the show. For the most part i dont find it to be that egregious, so i can handle it. but i think the worst example by far is liliana… i honestly dont know if ill be able to watch arc 5 when she’ll actually be on-screen and ill have to look at her like… eugh. Shes 22 but looks like shes 12 and shes in a relationship with a grown man who the other characters call a lolicon. Its genuinely something i hate about the series but like everything else enough that i dont look directly at it (doesnt mean im not conscious and critical though, please dont mistake that as what im saying lol)
There’s gotta be more so I’ll add on if I remember but that’s all I can think of off the top of my head.
Despite all the things that I dislike though you gotta believe me when I say there's stuff I like.. I mean that's what this entire novel was about. This wasn't a an analysis or critique of the show in ANY way, despite how much i wrote i actually feel like i'd be doing it a huge disservice in that regard. No, it's just all the stuff that I like, and on a somewhat surface level too because I didn't want to give EVERYTHING away, though I know I still said a lot!
So yeah! :thumbs_up: if you wanna check it out and the tws dont make you too uncomfortable I say go for it. I understand it's not for everyone and thats okay ^_^
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marimopeace · 3 years ago
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there's a limit on how much you can be an isekai intellectual...
a bunch of analyses have been popping up before me all day so i wanted to throw my hat into the ring. all love to ppl who are exercising their creative minds + ppl like geoff here who just talk about these things because of fan interest but i feel like there reaches a point where exploring the "types" of isekai is pointless? i've seen ppl list out the different types of villainess revenge isekai or fantasy mmorpg isekai but eh why fit them all into separate boxes like that?
i think it's easier to think of isekai as a "type" (genre) of itself with only two categories: 1) a focus on isekai (lit. another world) 2) tensei (lit. to be reborn). this allows for a variety of applications and thus tropes that ppl see so many trends of!
with isekai - in another world
you see everything from:
pure fantasy (inuyasha, digimon wait maybe not the best example but in my childhood mind i count digimon as pure fantasy, fushigi yugi)
mmorpg inspired fantasy/adventure (.hack//legend of twilight, sao ugh, log horizon, overlord (LOVE OVERLORD!)
otome game-esque worlds >>> this is where it gets complicated with "villainess routes" since i admit there are multiple villainess tropes but this is why it's nice to not think of this as a "sub-type/genre" bc it frees you from those complications! (the saint's magic power is omnipotent, the white cat's revenge as plotted from the dragon king's lap soso cute!, the savior's book cafe in another world, i'm a villainous daughter so i'm going to keep the last boss wait i can't remember if she's reborn in this one lmaooo see this is why rules make everything hard)
with tensei storylines - being reincarnated/reborn in another world as *insert character/role*
you see...
the same tropes!!
pure fantasy (a returner's magic should be special, reminiscence adonis, the lady and the beast, light and shadow, i can't think of a manga off the top of my head for this ah)
mmorpg inspired fantasy/adventure (so i'm a spider so what i stan kumoko so hard, her majesty's swarm, can't name another off the top of my head ah i hate lists shorter than two things...)
self-insert based games/novels (fiance's observation log of a self-proclaimed villainess, who made me a princess, death is the only ending for the villainess, the villainess wants to marry a commoner, honestly games vs novels are different applications but i'm not in the headspace to try to remember a bunch of both lol)
*insert line break to give random ppl a break from scrolling but tl; dr just enjoy things for what they are no need to micro analyze*
similar variations occur in both genres (if ppl want to be super technical i guess i'm arguing that isekai itself is a massive genre that has the "another world" subgenre and "reincarnation" subgenre tl; dr) so i think it's honestly a huge pain to try to separate all these trends into so many different types of stories. for me personally it's easier to not get overwhelmed by this gigantic umbrella of "isekai" that spans light novels, manhwa, manga, and mobile games by just stripping each story down into its trademark tropes (aka character archetypes, story structures) and slapping "oh this is a person going to a world that's not ours" and "this person gets reborn as blank in another world". none of this "omg this power fantasy is such a this kind of isekai moment" or "there are 14 different types of villainess revenge stories and this series fits into this" bc AH labels! limitations! circle-jerks via ppl trying to compartmentalize everything and sound smart for leaving a comment on story analysis instead of ooh-ahhing over a character's face! dividing things into light novel manga vs manga vs korean manhwa ft. female characters!
the last bit is mainly why i feel frustrated by ppl's insistence to group everything?
the video linked at the beginning of the post (honestly good video essay, i enjoyed it, i just kept thinking in my head the whole time "marimo these are tropes do not take the genre talk literally") has a baby comment thread talking about "korean isekai manhwas" as a genre featuring nothing but reincarnated villainess' and i can't.
like i cannot acknowledge that as a genre of any sort. the energy i felt reading through some of those insights takes me back to 2012 when all yt americans discovered k-pop and deemed all korean music k-pop from then on! (ppl still do this now, yes you are seen and don't talk to me pls i don't like you. k-pop is korean pop music and nothing less and nothing more. take a few seconds and try to parse apart aspects of korean culture instead of slamming everything into a monolithic label that has the letter k and a hyphen.) it feels so odd to see a bunch of young ppl on ig and tiktok acknowledge korean media that happens to be in the form of a webtoon as "oh stories all about young girls becoming villains in stories they made/played" bc it feels so reductive u.u
(positionality disclaimer that i'm praying isn't actually necessary: i am a 3rd-generation korean of japanese descent do not fite me i am exhausted irl of ppl asking for validation/verification bc massive shove off.)
breaking news! korean manhwa...is just as multifaceted as japanese manga...bc how can comics as an art-form not have multiple genres...huh such a shocker?!?! same likely applies to media in other parts of the world like chinese manhwa and french comics--not my place to explain either of those i just know those industries exist bc of wakfu and donghua shows by Tencent.
at the end of the day it's not like analyzing any kind of isekai is wrong--absolutely not!! i think it can be super fun to think about how isekai elements complicate a story (MCs trying to go back home, ppl from the og world, reincarnation plot-twists) or maybe even bash a series for including some kind of other world element when they could have just written a super fun fantasy.
insert marimo's brief ramble that hey you can get sick of truck-kun's hitting disillusioned guys who happen to be super duper smart or girls who happen to be master chefs/craftsmen but transporting a fully-grown being into a fantasy setting is the ultimate cheat code for making mundane modern technology seem cool and overpowered, and being reincarnated as a fully grown person in a world with a pre-made story/game set-up completely bypasses the need for an author to slowly flesh out world-building in a natural progression so isekai is actually a really smart writing tool it's just that there are some series where the author didn't use it well at all and it's cheesy or clearly isekai was misused as a vehicle for character/story development and it was pointless *DEEP BREATH OUT*
in this essay i will argue...lol i am such a culture studies major!! if i were an english major i would be talking all about writing but here i am having a side-tangent about world-building via someone being reborn wow i love this for me (don't get me started on when an author has someone reincarnate as a baby and the story is mostly them having warm fluffy moments with their family--typically father figures--and getting lots of powers i could and would and probably will rant about east asian toxicity)
but anyway am i crazy????? like yes for being passionate about the technical use of a word like genre (i am a scorpio rising let me be fussy pls) but i don't think it's a lot to ask for ppl to not unironically see "villainess revenge isekai" as the definition of korean manhwa.
idk as someone who resonates with why japanese isekai is so popular domestically + why a lot of korean manhwa feat. the same tropes (it's not for great reasons lads it's actually depressing tbh) i'm just starting to feel kind of pained by the generalization and need to separate "cute japanese girl in an otome game"/"japanese boy finds a harem in another world" from "korean girl dies and comes back as a villainess" bc they are just! applications to the same story device!!
recommendations for any who makes it this far down below <3
// also gladly recommend any of the examples i've listed in the above rant as i've read/watched all of them and adore them v much! //
save me princess
super refreshing fantasy manhwa ft. a princess and her ex-boyfriend having to save the world!
the beginning after the end
an AMERICAN web novel turned into a comic (but see it being not korean/japanese doesn't really matter when you just consider isekai as a genre...isn't it nice to not overthink it?) ft. a super-powerful wizard king reincarnated into another world and starting from scratch--gives mushoku tensei vibes but huge twists!
the reason why raeliana ended up at the duke's mansion
love love LOVE this story--read the title and you'll learn how this girl reincarnated as the character raeliana in a book gets married to a duke!
trash of the count's family
such a good novel!! a guy gets reborn as a lazy oaf and he takes the hero of the story under his wing...plot twists come up later on!
this time i will definitely be happy!
v good and refreshing for a shorter series! she's been reborn 3 times and remembers every time the hero's stabbed her in the back, and now she just wants to break up with him!
silver diamond
older manga but v good adventure w intrigue! a boy who loves plants get sucked into a desert world with demonic lizards and a mysterious bodyguard by his side. shonen-ai not BL but wonderful vibes nonetheless + great side characters!
the princess imprints a traitor
adore everything in this from the world (not in that way this society makes me so angry) to the machinations at play and the dynamic between the fl and ml
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miraculouscontent · 3 years ago
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(non-Miraculous asks)
Anonymous said:
Ok this may just be me but I hate deconstructions. I feel like they are always mean spirited and try to be dark and edgy and thinks that every single person is an asshole because that’s “realistic” when no it’s not. This maybe because I like superhero stories and love it when the heroes overcome their struggles.
I can agree for the most part. Whenever I hear “okay but what if it was dArK--” I’m just okay, gonna stop you right there.
Anonymous said:
I swear, nothing bothers me more than people who want Miraculous Ladybug to literally just be Yandere Simulator(with Marinette as Ayano, Alya as Info-chan, Adrien as Taro, Chloe as Osana, Lila as Kizana, Kagami as Megami, and Luka as Budo). It just grinds my gears, especially because they're, once again, framing Marinette as a stalker, which just makes her look bad, AND pits all the girls against each other for Mr. Generic Harem Protagonist, once a-fucking-gain. Just go play the actual game, ok?
All I'm hearing is that now I have to ship Ayano and Budo and write a fic where the ghost girl uses fancy fantasy magic to merge her soul with Ayano and lets her actually have emotions, healing her from being a yandere while the ghost girl (in a way) gets to live a life she was cut short of, also allowing Ayano to be happy and go onto be friends with all the rivals.
Extremely convoluted but that’s the only way we get happy endings in this house.
Anonymous said:
I remember how, when writing Sailor Moon, Naoko Takeuchi refused to bow to older male writers wanted, say, for the girls to be stereotypical manga characters, with one being overweight, one being a stereotypical nerd, etc. But Naoko wanted each of the girls to be beautiful and feminine. While I don't like that they all share a body type, I admire how she didn't listen to grown men when writing for and about young girls. And I can't help but think about how Madoka is the antithesis of all that.
I can appreciate writers who put their foot down to stick to their values. There are limits of course, but yeah, a women writing women probably shouldn’t be listening to a man’s input. I’m sure good advice exists buuut...
Anonymous said:
What is your ranking of the seasons of the year from most to least favorite and why?
Summer - I work best in the warmth
Spring - Always brings images of flowers blooming to mind
Autumn - Things are getting cold and I don’t like it
Winter - It can go choke for all I care
Anonymous asked:
Someone on TV Tropes actually said that the name Feminist Fantasy should be changed because "feminism excludes men the same way meninism excludes women" and actually had the nerve to link that to the "Not So Different" trope, as if women haven't been excluded throughout the history of almost every human society. Fortunately, someone responded to them in a way that technically amounted to "do your damn research" but I'm still facepalming so hard at TV Tropes' "what about the men" rhetoric.
I feel like I lost braincells reading this.
Anonymous asked:
I feel like in fiction written by men there are only three flaws that female protagonists are allowed to have: clumsy, boy-crazy, or ashamed of their flat chests. I hate it.
Don’t forget, “having to listen to the men for how they’re supposed to feel.”
Anonymous asked:
Jatp. Nominated. For. Seven. Emmys. SEVEN!!!! Miraculous could NEVER. Literally.
omg!! Congrats to Julie and the Phantoms!
Anonymous asked:
WHAT ARE YOUR FLASHBACKS TO EVER AFTER HIGH?? I GOTTA KNOW? OMG?
Oh, I’ve seen basically the whole series, though the one I remember most is definitely Epic Winter. It was my favorite one though Beauty and the Beast is my favorite Disney movie so I’m biased.
I also like a lot of the “twists” and just--crazy concepts they rolled with, like with Red Riding Hood’s story and how Apple White gets woken up from her slumber.
Anonymous asked:
You're gonna be happy to hear this...I just started watching Cardcaptor Sakura today, and holy shit not only do I love it, but I also love how freaking META it is! I know you said you're not all that knowledgeable about Magical Girl, but this show is AWARE that it's a Magical Girl show! From Tomoyo(the main reason this show is so meta, tbh) realizing Sakura is a Magical Girl and asking if she has a transformation pose, to designing outfits for her(more on that later) to videotaping her(aka literally making a Magical Girl anime out of her Magical Girl friend), it just has fun with itself and plays with Magical Girl tropes without making a mockery of them like all those "dark" male-aimed ones do(lookin' at you, Madoka Magica and Yuki Yuna!).
And not only is it hilarious and adorable(especially with Sakura's crush on Yukito, Tomoyo's crush on Sakura, and Touya picking on Sakura, but playfully), but I love how it's riddled with girl power. While watching some of the first episodes I was looking forward to seeing Syaoran(partly because I love male Tsunderes and partly because I can't pronounce his name), and was surprised that he wasn't in the first few episodes, but more importantly I was so happy to see a show that treats its female characters with respect and shows women unironically receiving support from other women and being shown possessing power and authority.
I love Sakura and Tomoyo's friendship even if I hate the trope of "Lesbian Never Gets The Girl"(not that I think she's entitled to Sakura's affections or anything, but still.) and watching her support Sakura in her magic endeavors without being jealous or vindictive, I love that they're allowed to be independent and smart but that the show doesn't forget that they're kids, instead of making them like Manon and Chris, and I love that the show passes the Bechdel test in pretty much the first or second episode, and that pretty much every important and unimportant character we meet that's not Sakura's family members, Kero, or Yukito(plus maaaayyybe the Shadow Clow Card) are female.
Even little things, like all FOUR of Tomoyo's bodyguards in the second episode being female without there being a "reason" or the show making a big deal of it(either in a "yay girl power!" way or a "what but women can't x" way or an objectifying way) fills me with insurmountable joy. Also, I love that the show follows the Magical Girl trend of pretty much admitting that femininity is power, since frilly dresses are stated to be the most "fitting" thing for a Cardcaptor to wear, as without it, they might not be mentally up to the task, and this is an unironic truth rather than a joke(although Sakura is shown to be embarrassed, but it's much more likely that she's simply not used to that kind of gear due to not being rich as Tomoyo is.) or a gag.
I just thought I should tell you this because I know you like Cardcaptor Sakura, and with the crappy episodes that just came out of this show, I think you deserve to read an ask that's about a GENUINE girl power Magical Girl show, instead of yet more Miraculous Ladybug salt or Madoka Magica hate(not that there's anything wrong with either of those two, but it just gets grating after a while.). Overall, I'm looking forward to watching this show, since I've been looking for a Magical Girl show to watch nowadays(I've been meaning to watch Star Twinkle Precure but I can't find the third episode and all of Cardcaptor Sakura is on YouTube now, so.). So excited!
Hey, I’m glad that you’re having fun with it!
Though, just a warning, you might wanna steer clear of the Clear Card arc. It’s a sequel to the original series made waaaay after the original (think the equivalent of Yashahime for Inuyasha, though continuing with the original characters) but omg I hated it.
Anonymous asked:
With the crappy Season 4 episodes that just came out I'm glad I got into Cardcaptor Sakura when I did. Who needs "Marinette needs to make a mistake every episode and learn something from it" when you can have genuine girl power and sweetness incarnate?
Alya could never compete with Tomoyo, I’m just sayin’.
Anonymous asked:
Your comment about white men feeling "disenfranchised" because more shows are about black people and/or women(I say and/or because the two aren't mutually exclusive.), as if there aren't a million other things they could be watching instead is so true! It reminds me of how I was talking to someone recently about the new generation of MLP, in which I stated that we didn't need a male mane pony(spoiler alert: they have one, sadly.), and he claimed that it would be beneficial since many shows aimed at boys at least try to include at least one main girl, and that it would be good for G5 of MLP to have at least one strong male lead so that boys could have a role model and know that the show isn't "girly".
Okay, so far, so good, but this I could chalk up to just unconscious internalized misogyny, especially since he didn't say it in any sort of "way". So I respectfully told him that the scale regarding representation is already not equal and that boys can look up to girls and that a show being girly is not a bad thing and all that stuff that you already know about. Then he responded claiming some stuff about how he keeps trying to pitch stories about straight white male characters and how nobody is accepting his offers and so this means that straight white men are underrepresented compared to everyone else. He even explicitly said, and I quote "White people are actually critically underrepresented in media right now. Especially boys."; I swear to the Goddess above.
At this point I was officially upset as a black girl, to hear this white(and presumably adult) man telling me that he was underrepresented in media compared to me, even saying that the media execs are practicing "quotas and tokenization"(and yes, he repeatedly used those terms for any instance of representation, even when I asked him politely to stop.) by replacing women with men or white people with pocs and are making white men look like incompetent doofuses.
He also kept saying stuff about how shows are always shoehorning people of color in where they don't belong by casting them in settings such as Shakespeare and medieval times when "realistically" there were no people of color during those time periods(which is obviously not true, it's just not what the history books show us.), and made a really insensitive comment about how black children in the USA today don't know the significance of having the first black president because the media supposedly already shows them black people in various professions(despite also claiming he couldn't speak to the "black experience" and yet here he is whitesplaining that shit.).
It got to the point where he was seriously and unironically using the word "blackwashing". When I pointed out to him that white men aren't underrepresented and that it's just his self-centered ego telling him that they are, that the word "blackwashing" isn't a thing, and that mis/underrepresentation in media DOES affect black kids negatively(even citing myself as an example) he went on to claim that I was being tone-deaf and that "blackwashing" is just as bad as whitewashing, and that making Ariel black is just as bad as making Jasmine white.
At this point I had to bang my head on the table and explain to him the difference; his ass still wouldn't get it. Eventually he started saying some really skeevy and hypocritical shite that white men say all the time when whining about how "oppressed and underrepresented" they are: that black people and/or women
(it looks like there might be an ask missing here, in which case, sorry if Tubmlr ate it!)
avor of supporting the commonly believed LIE that "women and/or minority groups don't have as much history worth learning about, so there's no point in focusing on them." He also kept using patronizing, condescending, mansplaining language such as "let me explain it to you" or "you still don't get it do you?", and when he said women had nothing to contribute to society because "oppression" he even had the nerve to tack on "welcome to the unequal society" as if I hadn't been lecturing him about just that.
Because obviously only white men did anything worthwhile or important in history. At this point, I had to block him. I couldn't take it anymore and this was on an MLP site of all places(although I'm probably just as guilty of that part, but at least I wasn't an ass!). I just can't stand white men who "want to be oppressed so bad" but still want to claim that their achievements are more important and deserve to be more prominent. Honestly, so many white men are so fragile the second they're not in the spotlight. I can't help but think that despite all the privilege afforded to their class being a white man sounds like the worst thing ever.
“he claimed that it would be beneficial since many shows aimed at boys at least try to include at least one main girl, and that it would be good for G5 of MLP to have at least one strong male lead so that boys could have a role model and know that the show isn't "girly". “
I might be looking too deep into that but I don’t like the idea of, “Well WE squeezed in a girl and therefore YOUR SHOWS--” like it’s some sort of matter of “fairness” or that boys’ shows aren’t putting in girls out of a genuine like for them but because they “need” one or it’s some sort of obligation.
Also, we need to stop this idea that boys can’t look up to female characters and vice versa for girls. You already said it but yeah.
And yeah, I hear "quotas and tokenization" and I officially tune out of whatever the person is saying, lol. White men are critically underrepresented???? Newsflash, maybe it’s just because others are being represented more??
Just the whole thing about whites being “underrepresented” boggles my mind. White people don’t have some sort of special ability or skill that other races can’t do themselves unless you count the “superpower” of white privilege.
Like, oh my god, all that “whitesplaining” and having to read the word “blackwashing” was physically painful. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I don’t know how they got hold of the technology to communicate with you from whatever time period their from, presumably the Stone Age.
Don’t even blame you for blocking them. There’s just a level of absolute... blindness? Arrogance??? That comes with the territory with them sometimes, I swear. You had every right to be upset; other races come to ask for equality and fair representation and suddenly you have these white men (not all obviously but damn) coming by and crying that they’re being oPpReSsEd. U_U
Like, honestly, my father in particular is absolutely that kind of person so I’ve heard that kind of stuff before. it’s all gross.
On a slightly unrelated note (trying to end this with some positivity), I hadn’t even heard about a fifth generation of MLP until I read this, and just wanted to let you know that I really hope you have a really good time with it! Hopefully the male character isn’t... well, you know.
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alesreadings · 3 years ago
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Supernatural Academy: Year One by Jaymin Eve.
✧ 3 stars. ✧ "Knowing I have you guys in my corner... it means everything. I would cut a bitch for you. Girl power, my friend. This is girl power."
I guess I'm out of my reading slump, or trying to. This book took me a while for that reason: my reading slump has last at least 3 months, and I'm slowly recovering, lol. I'm still debating so hard with this one. Maddison James lives a "normal life", moving on from city to city and changing her hair color every year on her birthday, january 1st... Until a tracker finds her and tells her that she isn't human and has to go to an Academy to learn how to control her power or she will be dangerous for the humans, yada, yada, yada. I like books with the academy / boarding school trope, because I missed my teen years due depression (that's a story for another day, lol) and so, I think they're pretty cool, entertained and a little bit refreshing. I like the idea of making new friends who will be with you fighting darkness and that kind of shit. This one, however, didn't feel as much as I expected (that's also why I don't make illusion with books in general). Maddison is recluted by Ilia and she goes to the Supernatural Academy. But there's something weird with Maddi: she doesn't know where does she fits, in which specie: demi-fae, magic users, vampires, shapeshifters, etc. Year One is basically a high school with people of 20+ years old. We have the girls who think they're superior than everyone else, the irrelevant people, the daughter of the princeps and the hot guys who don't mix with the other kids, and that also are so fucking powerful because why not? Maddi draws the attention to her in the moment she arrives to the Academy. Maddi falls into the arms of the super popular, hot, rich and powerful boy, Asher. The conection between them two is so goddamn fast. In matter of seconds, they know something is going on between them... The normal thing, right? The bad bitches mess up with Maddi and warn her to stay away from the hot kids. Another total normal thing. The pace is a little bit fast. Some characters are easy to love or to hate. Maddi is annoying, I still don't know if shelf this book as "badass female mc" or as "stupid female mc because Maddi was both sometimes. In the second half of the book, I get to dislike her. Asher was pretty good at the beginning of the book. It was towards the end when he became the asshole overprotective "hero" that believes he can decide over the girl and ugh, I wanted to kick him so bad. AXL IS MY FAVE NERDY HOT BOY, DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH MY BOY. Rone was being hostile with Maddi at first but suddenly he's like "I will protect you" and ?????? wHAT THE FUCK!! Jesse and Calen are sweethearts and I must protect them but still, they lack of personality and development. This is not a reverse harem (I don't like them tbh), even if it feels like that. While many people likes the bad boy with dark hair, edgy and rude and annoying, I like the hot nerd dude who's always with a book. Don't ask me why, I just know I love that type of guy, yES, AXL, I'M TALKING TO YOU! I wanted to kick Maddi for being an idiot the 99.99% of the time. She was feeling horny or rejecting the possible idea of being part of an ancient specie and was like "nO wAy I'm ThAt SpEsHuL, i JuSt CaN't", which is annoying as the fucking hell. Trust me, there's nothing that exasperates me the most than a girl trying to pretend that she isn't speshul, when she clearly is it, because hello, the book is of your pov. I'm not complaining, there were a couple of good moments, but some felt really dry, senseless and pointless. It's a 50/50 for me and I guess I will pick up the second one, but not yet because my currently reading list it still a little bit bigger for me, lol. bUT IF AXL DIES, I WILL RIOT AND BURN THIS WHOLE FUCKING WORLD FOR HIM.
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mc-critical · 3 years ago
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hey, it's been a while, hope you're doing fine!
your unproblematic faves in mc/mc:k and why?
mine from mc would be mihrunissa (she's the queen of s4, and also my 2nd favourite character from the franchise overall), cihangir (the king of s4), mehmet ( a non-existent character imo, was loving to everyone from what i could tell & was pretty so why not), nergissah (ik she didn't have much of a character but she was extremely loving, even towards mihrunissa who wasn't her biological mother, adored her relationship with mahi and she was the only family mahi had left after musti, nissa & mehmet died apart from fidan & yusuf), atmaca, yavuz, taslicali (musti's loyal friends; and i adored taslicali w/ mihrimah, the only guy i shipped her with tbh), and i guess that's it, i may be missing someone considering there were several characters.
from mc:k it would be geverhan (the queen of s2, i love her so much and she's my second most favourite character from the franchise overall, such a kind & sensitive soul, she truly deserved a better ending, i just wanted to see her happy), zulfiqar (one of the most loyal people in the entire franchise, deserved a better ending, dying in the place he spent his blood, sweat & tears was definitely a tragic death but also ties into his character, had a sweet relationship w/ humasah who also deserved a better ending), mustafa (my boy! he's just so adorable in the series, the baby & the adult, the joke he played on halime had me in tears, davut's reaction to him sending the table for a walk; i'm sorry but he was the mvp of s1 and deserved so much better than mu/rat killing him ((fuck mu/rat)) but i guess it's kinda cool that he got to sail a ship before dying considering he always loved ships? idk but he's just fantastic and such a cutie + the english subtitles w him were hilarious), and i guess that's it, most characters were kinda problematic in the series, even humasah who i adored but i definitely don't appreciate for trying to put iskender on the throne which would cause the death of kosem & her children. i would've added ibrahim, who i think is such a cutie and i don't understand any hate towards him; i understand the things he did in s2 ending were problematic but he was just having a severe mental breakdown and what he needed was therapy, not that turhande dethroning him. honestly, fuck mu/rat & turhande.
(also mustafa from mc though i don't think he would be considered unproblematic? )
sorry for the rant lol just, unproblematic faves are so good to talk about because you aren't conflicted with them like you are with characters such as hurrem, mahidevran, nurbanu, kosem, nigar, selim, bayezid, etc.
i hope you're having a great day!
Hey, I'm happy to see you back! 😻
We share a lot of unproblematic faves! I love almost everyone you mentioned!
In MC I love Mihrunnisa, because, as you said she's an absolute queen and the best match for Mustafa for me. She suits his level of maturity and they had a very deep, pure, truly genuine bond you didn't see with anyone else from his women. What's most unique about her character is that they didn't put any opposition around her, her story wasn't overshadowed by a love triangle and that helped the relationship between her and Mustafa shine all the more and we saw her have more agency as a character. Cihangir is such a cinnamon roll and cutie pie and yet he's so smart and perceptive of his surroundings. Neither his love for Mustafa, nor his deformity define him and I love what they did with him in the span of a little more than a half-season. Taşlicali, Atmaca and Yavuz are the best trio ever and I loved watching them in action. How loyal they were to Musti and how they wanted to protect him. 😍😍 I loved Taşlicali's moments with Mihrimah and Mahidevran as well as Mustafa, I loved how Atmaca put Rüstem in his place (we stan!) and Yavuz was so cool and they killed him too soon. We should've seen more of Nergisşah, tbh, but her relationship with Mahi is everything and like all of Mahidevran's relationships with the people she loves, she brought the best in her. And she also seemed like a loving and caring human being to everyone else she interacted with, too, she's just... lovely. Screw SS for marrying her off like that, this piece of trash should be killed with fire.
I would also add Helena to my list of unproblematic favourites, because, writing-wise, she's one of the better handlings of a tomboyish girl in the franchise, a mash-up of both Armin's plot and Aybige's character done much better. Yes, just like all the girls with tomboyish personalities (Aybige, Diana etc.), that trait of theirs was either diminished or gone, but with Helena the blow wasn't as hard as with the rest and you could definetly say that this is more a side of hers allowed to show from her completely new environment and is probably the one most restrained by it. The girl clearly deserved better than what they put her through and I loved how much she cherished her own freedom, rights and family. Her relationship with Rita was great, too.
I really want to say and Mustafa and Gülfem, as well, to be honest, because while they're flawed and far from perfect, they're overally consistently positive characters in the eyes of the narrative and their questionable actions aren't as drastic for me to put them in the "problematic" category.  I mean, compared to everyone else.... Okay, they still technically don't count, but I love both of them too much to refrain from mentioning them at least hehe 😅 Gülfem should've gotten much much more in the way of storylines of her own, but the moments where she shone really scream potential. She's such a loyal, patient and understanding person and her strenght to listen to other people's sorrows, be considerate of them and seemingly being able to forgive people because from whom she suffered (Mahidevran apparently) or made the people she loved suffer in a way and involving her in this, too (Hürrem), is extraordinary for me. And she tried to kill SS, about time someone did it, I stan, she left the show like a queen! And my adoration of Mustafa is pretty much endless, so I won't delve too deep into it. His relationship with his mother, his resilience, his intuition, his still firm hand contrasted to his loyalty to his father that crushed him, but I can't help but respect... yup.
For MCK I have the exact same favourites, as well, only I would add Meleksima, because she was pretty harmless, deserved better and loved Osman and their kids. Gevherhan is my favourite dynastic sultana in the whole franchise (followed by Hatice) and I love her selflessness and humanity. She subverted all the sultana tropes, basically, I don't recall a scene where she was ever elitist to someone below her, she didn't intrigue or scheme and she didn't have an agenda of her own. Her suicide was her breaking the ties she had with her environment and her deciding to finally be the selfish person for once, to do what she wanted, to decide her own destiny. Deserved to be happy with Silahtar more than anything else ever. Zulfikar was so understanding and noble, I'm surprised that the palace didn't devour him, his death was so heartwrenching. Mustafa is a precious bean that also got sucked by his own environment and by the horrible Fatih law and game of survival, his psyche was soo destroyed you can't help but feel sorry for him, at the very least. The same goes with Ibrahim who is also a product of his own environment and even the conflicts of his brothers, I get why he would turn his back on everything and everyone and fixate on the only thing that could bring him a bit of peace and escapism - his harem. He and Mustafa were put in roles they had no capacity to play anymore and I'm sobbing. And yes, Ibo didn't deserve to be so screwed over by Turhande, screw her and Murat. (and also Atike, what she did with her sister because of her selfish, unrequited love and she was told about it by Sil himself! was disgusting, interesting character, but so were Murat and SS and even Turhan in her thematic utility.)
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thuskindlyshescatters · 4 years ago
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Ren and Jaune!
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Already answered Ruby, so let’s tackle the bois!
Ren
Sexuality HC: Blessedly bi. Also kind of a heartbreaker, since he’s been in a committed monogamous relationship since he was seven lmao
Gender HC: Nb! A very introspective guy that recognizes the “gender is made up” thing, so he more presents as his culture than as his gender.
A ship: Renora for life, obviously. I kind of also have a guilty pleasure for Martial Arcs (Ren x Jaune), which I’ll explain more about below.
BROTP: Him and Jaune. Neither of them know how to interact with other boys their age, so it was a friendship meant to be.
NOTP: There are ships like Sunflowyr (Ren x Yang) where I’m like, at this point it might as well exist? Very little canon plausibility, so it really just depends on your fanon tastes.
Random HC: He and Nora must have either attended a prep school or lived with a Huntsman in order to have those weapons, so I like to think that they were brought under the protection/mentorship of the Mistral Huntsman network for a few years when they started training seriously.
General opinion: My boy is finally getting a character arc, I’m so proud :,) Rest in peace, Monty.
Jaune
Sexuality HC: Disaster bi. Has more crushes than he thinks he does. His envy for Neptune has some pretty gay undertones, if you know what I’m saying.
Gender HC: Trans boy (ftm) who looked at his sisters and decided “nah, I’m out.”
A ship: Although Arkos is canon, I don’t think he ever fully sorted out those feelings. And although Renora is canon, I don’t think Ren and Nora are out of the woods yet. Hence, I think that Martial Arcs with a dash of poly JNPR really suits Jaune’s situation.
BROTP: Tbh his crush on Weiss simmering out into a sort of “bros before hoes” relationship (ditching their lovebird friends to go hang out) is the best resolution to a love triangle I’ve ever seen. Pyrrha also like, fucking died which led him to realize that he took Weiss’s friendship for granted, which I like.
NOTP: Okay, so, in a bunch of these asks, I’ve listed a Jaune ship as the NOTP (Silent Knight, White Knight, Dragonslayer). This is not about canon Jaune -- this is about fanon Jaune. There’s this phenomenon in the FNDM that I really hate that I think comes from anime fans coming to RWBY and trying to apply the same anime tropes/cliches to fanon. In Volume One, Jaune could have been the main male character who gets into magic school but doesn’t know much so that the male audience can project onto him and feel good about him rising to become more powerful than everybody else and he’s such a ladies’ man but also a klutz so that the women around him take pity on him while also inexplicably falling in love with him so that he develops a harem of Genki Girl (Ruby), Tsundere (Weiss), Boobs (Pyrrha), Kuudere (Neo), and somehow the fucking teacher (Glynda). But in 1x12, it completely pulls the rug out from under you! Jaune isn’t the protagonist, and he isn’t going to rise above his friends, the girls. He’s a victim of internalized toxic masculinity which ends up damaging his relationships with the women around him, and so when he owns up to it, it’s aborts the entire trope. This anon put it nicely:
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My NOTP with Jaune is whenever anime fanboys in the FNDM who WANT him to be the audience-insert main character that he would be in another anime ship Jaune with anything that boobs so that they can turn RWBY from the subversive work it is into Trinity Fucking Seven.
*catches breath* Okay, let’s continue.
Random HC: He’s never told anyone other than Pyrrha that he faked getting into Beacon. Ozpin totally knows, but Oscar doesn’t care so he keeps it to himself.
General opinion: I would die for Jaune. He’s such a welcome fresh take on a tired cliche. 10/10 character development. 3/10 haircut.
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svtskneecaps · 4 years ago
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OMG honestly I recently redownloaded HPHM and I regretted it. I got so sucked in that I literally had to play like for 6 hrs just to keep track of everything. The constant quests and missions are so annoying especially when people cheat so often. I really hate how there’s like no continuity, I went to the ball with Talbott and he still doesn’t think we’re exactly friends. Plus doesn’t the fact that everyone in your friend group likes you make it kind of awkward. Like even Merula likes MC?
oh my god the continuity is fucking AWFUL idk why i forgot to touch on it, probably bc i don't consider timed side quests necessarily canon just so i can keep my head on straight
and it's falling into the reader insert trope of the harem; everyone likes the MC but why?? what has the MC done to deserve it?? mostly they get people in danger and break school rules, so i don't know why ben still goes along with it since that is the exact opposite of his mission statement like??? i wish i knew more about the characters than just how they're friends with the MC and they can help with the cursed vault in x ways
enemies to lovers is a really common trope so, color me unsurprised tbh
all the competitions are so distracting tbh, there's just always something going on and it's like go AWAY and i can't even ignore them because when i boot up the game usually it throws me into a screen showing my progress and i don't CARE like LISTEN jam city i've been trying to finish the quidditch class for months can you LEAVE ME ALONE i DON'T WANT TO PLAY FULL MARKS A A A A A A also it's like highkey impossible like i won ONCE and that was a complete fluke and only because i spent four straight days doing nothing but hphm which burned me out for the next week and a half it's ridiculous
if talbott had more of a personality i might say he's just like that, maybe he's saying it because not being friends is an inside joke built into the friendship, but knowing the game that's not the case and he delivered the line completely serious so the joke is On Me (i haven't gotten the ball quest yet so idk lmao). it would be cute it he was just playing around like teasing the MC but i doubt that was the intention so r i p
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ajora · 5 years ago
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I never played ff5 but ngl I kind of want you to answer ALL the questions on that meme because I like hearing your thoughts about it. (and faris for the character part, because hm. yes. butch lesbian pirate. I can dig this. and your otp for the ship part, obviously.)
Oh boy, settle in because this’ll be looong.
So, for everyone else: warning: this talks about being nb/butch, a taboo ship, and spoilers for FF5.
001 | Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:
Favorite character: Toss-up between Faris and Lenna.
Least Favorite character: I don’t actually hate him because his recurring crossover character status is hilarious and he’s got great theme music, but, Gilgamesh. His final words to Faris ( 恋でもして ちったあ 女らしくなりな | essentially: go fall in love, then you’ll become more feminine) always rubbed me wrong. The love that defines her is the love she has for Lenna, even if you don’t interpret it as romantic love, and her love should never force her to become what she’s not. 
5 Favorite ships (canon or non-canon): Honestly, just Faris/Lenna. I’m chill with other people shipping other ships, but farilenna is my forever ship.
Character I find most attractive: I overrelate to Faris and Lenna is exactly my type. Gosh, but her squeak in DFFOO is adorable.
Character I would marry: I mean, I have a girlfriend I intend to marry, but Lenna would be a nice second option.
Character I would be best friends with: I’d probably get along with all of them, but realistically Butz is just the kind of no-commitment, independent friend I get along best with
a random thought: After the DFFOO event with Butz giving everything that makes him him to his dark world clone, I unironically want to redraw a SUF screenshot with someone taking Connie’s place to say that the only one who hasn’t had Steven Butz is Steven Butz. Largely because Butz shunts his personal feelings to the side to be the supportive friend and teen girl escort everyone needs.
An unpopular opinion: The GBA localization is great, but it’s not an accurate translation and sacrifices accuracy for the lulz. Which is fine!
My Canon OTP: I’mma reach and say Amano drew my otp holding each other on official art that got plastered everywhere in Japanese GBA-release media, so that totes counts as official, right? It’s the same argument the Butz/Lenna shippers used back in the day. (I even have this art in poster form)
My Non-canon OTP: Because FF5 has no actual endgame ships, obviously my otp. 
Most Badass Character: Look, Faris dove into a dragon-generated whirlpool that could have killed her to save her crew when she was 15. She fell off a cliff and crawled back up for Lenna. Faris, hands down.
Most Epic Villain: tbh the most epic villain was one who wasn’t in the game until he became an optional boss added in the GBA revamp: Enuo. He might not have been in the game’s present, but his shadow loomed large 1000 years after his death/sealing away.
Pairing I am not a fan of: Not personally a fan of shipping Butz with any of the girls, largely because he’s shaped like a friend and has been a fantastic friend to all of them, and FF5 really isn’t a romance. I’m absolutely happy to ship him with Squall in the Dissidias though. Butz/Squall is my otp for him. 
Character I feel the writers screwed up (in one way or another): Eh, I feel like the ending sequence for Faris could have focused less on her being a woman and more on her actual acts of courage. Courage being her whole damn thing and defining trait and all.
Favourite Friendship: Faris and Syldra. Gosh, but all the Japanese texts on them makes me mourn Syldra’s death even harder.
Character I most identify with: Faris bc butch/nonbinary reasons and huge issues with being shoehorned into one gender (male) but not really feeling it (Faris does, in Japanese at least, identify as a woman; direct translation by me: “don’t treat me like a fool because I’m a woman”) and also not wanting to 100% be compliant with femininity.
Character I wish I could be: Look, who doesn’t want to be a pirate.
002 | Send me a ship and I will tell you:
When I started shipping them: 1997 baby. It’s been years and while I flitted out of FF5 fandom in the 2000s up til I returned now, I never stopped loving my ship
My thoughts: Yeah, the sibling incest complicates things, but also? They were separated very young, didn’t grow up together, and didn’t meet again until adulthood. There’s no actual power imbalance there. Even with respect to social status. Like, yes Lenna’s in line to be queen, but does anyone really think she’d abuse her position for anything? She adores Faris. Faris will destroy everyone in this room and then herself if anything happened to Lenna. 
What makes me happy about them: Oh, gosh, they are so good together. Also? I adore how muddled up they are together. Lenna is the Light Warrior of Water, her defining trait being conscientious kindness. Faris is the Light Warrior of Fire, her defining trait being courage. But Lenna will absolutely kill that dragon if she has to. She’ll hare off into the unknown with only a knife to find her father. She’ll trudge through poison to save that dragon she was gonna kill. Her sky dragon turns into a phoenix. She’s the spirit of Water, but everything about her screams Fire. Conversely, Faris is bonded to a sea dragon, nearly drowned twice that we know of, and over the course of the game she does become a kinder person than she was. She’s the spirit of Fire, and yeah she does have courage aplenty, but she’s so inextricably bound to water that her skills in DFFOO are water-related. 
What makes me sad about them: That they could never be together openly. Also? That modern/post-GBA fandom will absolutely shit on the ship’s fans. You’ve seen me talk in Discord about the hate I run across often enough. And it’s absolutely wild to me because I’ve been here since 1997, I’ve heard all the jokes about Faris/Lenna back then, and no one threw a fit about it like they do now. Nevar 4get the off-color FWAKs that were common back in the day. 
Things done in fanfic that annoys me: Mostly just... treating the girls as Butz’s personal harem. And this is a small thing, at least. 
Things I look for in fanfic: Anything with my ship. Alternatively, anything where at least Faris isn’t straight. 
My wishlist: God I just want to talk to fellow Faris/Lenna shippers! And if I have to improve my translating-to-Japanese skills for it, I will. Also, I wanna get involved in a Faris/Lenna doujinshi someday. Or an anthology!
Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: their dragons
My happily ever after for them: A cottage by the sea, all regal responsibilities forgotten, with new dragon companions because theirs died over the course of the game and Highwinds must have dragons.
003 | Give me a character & I will tell you:
How I feel about this character: Superb. Fantastic. When I was a young butch in the closet with only Oscar to look up to, Faris stormed onto the scene with all her flaws and character development and a dragon friend! and yes, I dig this. Still favorite, though Lenna unseats her ever so often. 
Any/all the people I ship romantically with this character: Lenna. That’s it, really. World of Final Fantasy floated the idea of Quistis/Faris, but didn’t provide a lot to go on. 
My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: Syldra! Although I have been known to ship her with Syldra too, back in the day. 
My unpopular opinion about this character: Faris is a very, very Asian trope character, her roots being in Oscar of Rose of Versailles, Takarazuka, and East Asian legends and histories of crossdressing women. I just feel really uncomfortable when white people, especially white cis people, ignore that, ignore that she herself says that she’s a woman, and insist that she’s a trans man. 
One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I do wish the epilogue slideshow focused more on her deeds than on her feeling uncomfortable complying with traditional femininity.
Favorite friendship for this character: Syldra!
My crossover ship: Faris and Quistis becoming friends in WoFF after Quistis challenged her to a fistfight is just so Faris that I’d love to see fics exploring that. 
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loracarol · 2 years ago
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Manhwa Masterlist
I'm making a list for myself on what I'm reading since I'm an Old and don't want to log into some of the.... websites.... that I'm reading at lmao.
I'm a Villainess, Can I Die? - Light Novel version, chapter 50 / Manhwa chapter 28
Trigger warnings galore
I want good things for her :(
The Scorned Villainess Survives in the Wilderness, chapter 55
Okay, but what's happening with the 'hero' of the story?
Does she know that she's in a story too? And that she's supposed to be the hero?
A bit OOT, is that intentionally a plot point or just weird writing?
Not Just Anybody Can Become a Villainess, chapter 70
Not sure how this is a 'villainess' story tbh
The FMC winning people's hearts w/ modern cooking (MSG) is a win + wonderful faces
Ughhhhh FMK, kill the duke every time
Queen Cecia's Shorts , season 2 (after chapter 86)
Please let the LI be bi even after he realizes that he's in love with a woman pulling a Mulan
Next time I run a DnD game, I'm going to handwave any issues with the fashions by claiming that someone showed up, claimed they were from another world, and introduced zippers and trouser suits for ladies before vanishing
I don't use tampons personally, but I 100% am cheering on Yuri, and her quest to create Ye Olde Tampone
Normally I hate the "mistaken for pervert" trope because I've seen it played out shittily sooooo many times, but I think I liked it in this version because (1) Yuri had an actual reason to be concerned - a woman fainted in front of her and she thought that loosening the corset would help, (2) Yuri has to disguise herself as a boy, but it's clear that she Very Much Isn't, and in that moment, she forgot what it would look like, (3) there are Actual Consequences, it's just treated like a Joke, (4) the victim is given time off to deal with her medical problems, and is not shamed for her behavior.
Abandoned Wife Has a New Husband, chapter 69
OOT in how bad the FMC's life has been, but watching her get revenge is lovely
A couple of years have gone by??? What???
The one with the magic incest-based sex changes
Those outfits tho
Also, I cannot take the last name seriously, I'm sorry - Brinacle? Like Barnacle? 🤣
But hey, the MC is getting into politics now! So that's actually kind of cool, ngl. I thought that the wedding would be the end but nope. She's using her political power/influence to try and change the laws that caused her to be harmed in the first place. Neat. :D
Under the Oak Tree - Chapter 50.5
Maxi ❤️❤️❤️
TBH I like the comic better than the light novel - I think the changes that they made to Riftan made me like him better
You know that meme about people gaining weight as healing? There's a scene in the manhwa that I don't remember in the light novel where the cooks get all excited over Maxi getting an appetite/eating more. Just saying.
A modern AU would have:
Maxi's in college, and her dad agreed to pay for her tuition
He changed his mind to pay for Rosetta's wedding
Maxi found out about this last minute, but also her dad is too rich for her to get any financial aid / FAFSA
Riftan offers to marry her so that she can be considered independent of her father's finances
She ends up in med school after it turns out that she's actually (shock! horror!) really smart and really good at the sciences, but her dad constantly told her that she would never amount to anything >:(
I will except 0 criticism on this
The Villainess Matchmaker - Volume 2, Chapter 8 (manga), chapter 35 (manhwa)
Saw a tag on one of the sites calling it a 'reverse harem', and if that's the case surrounding the 'Villainess'? I will die laughing
The prime minister trying to orchestrate a Romance Novel around the prince + his lowborn girlfriend, so that people will accept their relationship more? Despite her origins?
Comedy genius
The moment when the 'villainess' admits that she's having more fun playing the part of the 'villainess' because she gets to behave less 'proper' ugh, poor baby
Julia is wonderful and I only want good things for her
Nulliitas: The Half-Blood Royalty/The Counterfeit Bride, chapter 68
This one has A Lot of sexual assault, so uh, thanks for that, I guess
Including incestuous, so that's fun.
Everyone in this family is so unlikable that I'm at the point where I'm only reading to see how the MC and her LI take their revenge
(And to make sure that the MC's mom is alright)
Not really happy with the way that being gay is used in this series
But on the flip side, the only people who are shitty about it are the Bad Guys?
Like, one is the Unrequited-Lover-Turned-Villainess who tells the MC that her LI is gay after the LI turns her down
Which the LI decides to play into? For some reason? Until he realizes that Actually The LI Believed It? Um. Sir. Are you, what they say, stupid?
The other is the Villainous Parent Of The MC who's worried that he's sending his son to the care of a man who is rumored to "prefer young boys over women" which is. Yikes.
But seriously, can Avio just die already?? JFC
Like, I'm not expecting my romance manhwa to have a Very Special Lesson, but it's just Weird. I'm going to keep reading for now - seriously, some people need to get fucking murdered I s2g, but hopefully the weird #vibes end soon
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mihrunnisasultans · 7 years ago
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i know you're not a fan of MC Hurrem but whats your opinion of historical hurrem? i felt season 1, 2 and part of 3 really didn't do her justice
Hello Anon!
Sorry that you waited so long for my response, but I wanted to give you a comprehensive answer and thus it got really long, so most of it is under Read more. And thank you for an interesting question :)
I do prefer historical Hürrem to the MC one, but she’s still not my fave. TBH I don’t have that strong emotions towards historical figures as opposed to fictional characters because we really don’t have any real insight into their everyday life, and historical accounts are always more or less subjective. Hating someone about whom I really don’t have much 100% confirmed information? Unfair and pointless. To quote Galina Yermolenko from the introduction to Roxolana in European Literature, History and Culture:
Although Western historians have been struggling to define Roxolana’s legacy for over four centuries, it is often overlooked that she was largely a creation of the European imagination. Due to the lack of historical records and hard evidence, most of what is known about this woman rests on a handful of secondhand contemporaneous accounts and subsequent reinterpretations and speculations by numerous historians, quasi historians, dramatists, and other men of letters who have shaped the Western discourse on Roxolana.
Thus said, I do understand your reservations about MC early portrayal of her. Portrayal of Hürrem as a ruthless schemer and manipulator is certainly nothing new; MC’s depiction thankfully does not make her some evil walking caricature like the earliest Western works on her (from 16th or 17th century), but she’s a complex character that has her sympathetic moments even in the view of those who generally dislike her, in accordance with later tradition. But since you have no problem with S4 Hürrem, who is even more ruthless than the earlier one, I guess your problem is of a different nature.
Again, the portrayal of Hürrem as a wild, unruly spirit is nothing new in works devoted to her, and while I totally get the problem with “undignified” Hürrem, I kind of appreciate it now? Pretty much all of “big five″ women of Sultanate of Women in MY/K are portayed based on the “slay queen” trope, but I feel that aside from Turhan, they all have their own distinctive features, other than the generic woman who slays them all and loves power? Hürrem‘s character actually develops and she becomes the true majestic sultana later on; it’s again kind of realistic that she’s not one from the start? Her wild and flamboyant image actually serves to show how much she’s of an outsider and differs from other women. Again, she becomes more dignified and majestic as she integrates herself into the world to which she was forcefully introduced. (NGL Turhan made me appreciate earlier character creations more because she’s basically a generic slay kween with little of other characteristics…) MC Hürrem is definitely a good character creation that elicits strong emotional response from the audience, whether positive or negative. I e.g. love to hate her and enjoy rooting against her, others do the opposite, but it’s hard to stay indifferent about her. And as as I sad, she actually develops in the span of 4 seasons.
But then again, I agree it’s sometimes overdone on the show. The earlier seasons do have their tongue-in-cheek moments, and Hürrem‘s sometimes excessive flamboyance is also part of that.
I have more issues with what was not shown about her character in addition to being a ruthless schemer and clever manipulator, as well as her relationship with Süleyman.
From what we know, historical Hürrem took an active interest in state matters that sometimes also wasn’t connected with her intrigues. In the show, even in S4, her occupation with state matters does not go further than what she needs because of self-interest. Most of her non-mercenary actvities are indeed shown in S4 when her participation in foreign relations and diplomatic correspondence are mentioned, but they seem a bit shoerhorned at this point and especially the mention of her diplomatic correspondence just shortly before her death seems more “tell-not-show”?
As for historical Hürrem’s relationship with Süleyman, it is often stressed by historians how he viewed her as his partner and advisor. I understand that they didn’t want to make Hürrem as such from the start because she needed to also learn about her surroundings (and her position and influence on Süleyman did rise after Hafsa’s demise and marriage), but even later in the show we mainly see Süleyman telling her that “it’s not your matter and go to your room” or “do not bother your pretty head with it”. He definitely treats her more as a partner in S4. Same about the constant (and tiring) repeated introductions of new “other women” for Süleyman and then making us watch unnecessarily long arcs of Hürrem hunting down such women. Judging by historical accounts, Süleyman stayed faithful to her, and in the show it seems that early!Hürrem spent her days mainly plotting other women’s demises. I understand giving us an insight into harem struggles when Hürrem did have to fight for her position in Süleyman’s  heart at first, but later? Why, TIMS?
Historical Hürrem is definitely a controversial figure that sparks a lot of different approaches and opinions. Not long ago, I was reading two books with two totally different approaches towards her at the same time, one was André Clot’s biography of Süleyman (Suleiman the Magnificent: The Man, His Life, His Epoch), the other Empress of the East by Leslie Peirce. Clot is highly critical of her and shows signs of the older approaches in historiography concerning Hürrem (Sultanate of Women = ruin of empire), but at the same time sees her side of the argument and is of the opinion that it is Süleyman who is truly to blame for most things (so he breaks here with the presentation of Süleyman as an innocent puppet). [And frankly, Clot is salty about everyone except for Mustafa]. On the other hand, Peirce, in an attempt to debuke the “seductress who brought ruin on the Empire”image, goes from one extreme into another. Example:
A more peaceable system of identifying the next sultan began to emerge from transformations in the practice of succession-by-combat that began with her. Roxelana helped to move the Ottoman empire into modern times, where treaty negotiations became as challenging and significant as victory in battle and domestic well-being occupied as much of the government’s attention as conquest. Bolstered by the reforms she introduced, the Ottoman sultanate would sustain itself for another three and a half centuries
Even ignoring the VERY questionable first statement (struggles to determine Süleyman’s successor that Hurrem did influence were terribly bloody), there were many factors at play that affected Ottoman Empire’s transformation and to reduce the whole complex process to one historical figure’s influence is absurd  and gross oversimplification, just as blaming solely one historical figure for deterioration of the Empire is. BTW, I recommend Günhan Börekçi’s thesis Factions and Favourites at the Court of Sultan Ahmed and his Immediate Predecessors and Baki Tezcan’s Searching for Osman: A Reassessment of the Deposition of the Ottoman Sultan Osman II if you want to read a comprehensive discussion on the whole complex process of Ottoman Empire’s political system becoming more sedentary ;) A bit of digression -  I’m sad to be so critical of Peirce here because I do enjoy and appreciate The Imperial Harem and she is far more objective and balanced in that book. Also, I’m disappointed that such a large portion of Empress is based on imagination rather than a thorough historical analysis of sources.
Another criticisim of Empress of the East that I have was well put into words in the NYT review of the book:
Less convincing are her strained exculpations for Roxelana, insisting that she was not behind various unsavory murders that benefited her. One is left with the impression that Roxelana consistently wielded impressive power, except when things went badly.
Again, in trying to fight with demonisation of someone, do not make that person an angel either. We may not have concrete evidence of Hürrem being involved in e.g. Ibrahim’s or Mustafa’s deaths, but in my opinion “there’s no smoke without fire”. Peirce does mention in The Imperial Harem that Hürrem and Safiye were two sultanas least liked by people and I don’t think the assumption that “people hated women in power” explains it all, since sultanas with even more power, like Turhan or Kösem, were much liked.
Hürrem Sultan was a controversial figure that deserves a nuanced, complex portrayal. While MC portrayal has its flaws with respect to the depicton of a historical figure, at least it does show her as a complex person, with both good and bad traits. And as importantly, it does work within the established narrative. Could it have been done better though? Yes.
On a side note,I’m  actually more salty about how Turhan was portrayed in comparison to her historical persona :/, but that’s a topic for a different discussion.
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heartfeltsounds08 · 7 years ago
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touhou 16 thoughts
Gameplay (I play on normal, I have yet to 1cc lmaooooo): -am I insane or is Aya by far the worst/least useful character/shot type. All she has going for her is her bomb. She has no spread and her damage output is awful for that kind of tradeoff. Plus her speed ends up making me too cocky and I slam into even the easiest enemies lol -Marisa actually feels like the best character/shot type this time around (FINALLY goddamn she had been my main/fave up until about SA and then after that I couldn't do diddly with her. Still why don't her lasers penetrate anymore wtf that doesn't make sense) -winter is clearly broken as a subtype, tho its release is kind of dumb -fall is actually better than I thought it was but not as good as winter. better release tho -spring rip. The only release I really find useful though. Fuckin good coz the shot damage output is????? Non existent?????? -wut even is summer I haven't used it once LOL -stage 4 is so hard wtf the enemies get so close to the bottom it scary ;_________; -Naruxx's second card how tf -mid boss satono is garbage I hate criss cross patterns -FUCK EVERYTHING ABOUT MATARA'S LAST SPELL EVERY SINGLE VARIATION. I GET IT THEMATICALLY BUT ALSO FUCK IT HARD. -honestly though it's a ton of fun. I wasnt expecting it to be this fun from the demo for some reason. I'm getting a better first hand impression from HSiFS than I did for LoLK for sure. Late game patterns got more creative I feel, without being too garbage/difficult. Difficulty speaking of which feels about on par, maybe easier than DDC? (Harder than TD.) Music: -from the demo: I immediately loved stage 1 theme and liked Nemuno's theme. Stage 3 theme grew on me, as did the title theme. Aunn's theme is growing on me as well but it feels like it'll be a song I like as is and I won't like arranges of it too much. Eternity's theme and stage 2 theme both felt bland--Eternity's theme didn't have the excitement I want from a stage 1 boss, and in general I never care for stage 2 themes so -GOD FUCKING DAMN THE LATE GAME STAGE THEMES THO. Stage 4 theme is gorgeous ohhhhhh my God. Stage 5 theme is the weakest of the three but there's still a section of it that I really like. Stage 6 theme is so... Idk how to explain. It kind of feels like TD's stage 6 theme, doing something really different, so it's really interesting. I like it a lot. The boss themes.... Ehhhhhhh. Naruxx's theme and psycho twins' theme both feel kind of plain/generic. There is a kind of like crazy/off putting/creepy feel to psycho twins' that I can appreciate but also we had Pierrot of the Star Spangled Banner doing similar shit and better, so. Again like her last spell, Matara's theme works well thematically, as in for her role in the story at that point, but in exchange it's very subdued for a final boss theme. I'm not at extra fucking rip lol. Characters/Story: -Fave from demo was Nemuno. Fave from full game is probably Naruxx (in game she is both Narumi and Naruko, so lol) she's so cute aaaa dem braids y'all. Psycho twins have interesting personalities tho. As does Matara. Tbh Aunn is super annoying lol. Her design is/has the potential to be cute, but I hate hate hate the Remember the New Guy trope (even when I started WaHH Kasen was off putting for this very reason. "ah yes reimu I've known you for forever here take my advice blah blah" nah bitch u gotta work your way up) so having her be like "the shrine doesn't want any of your violent interviews!" like she's been involved with that shit in the past is grating to me. Eternity is another lol!fairy, her design's super cute but I imagine she has no use or potential for future use or importance. Nemuno is similar, she's really cool and I like her character a lot but given the nature of yamanba lol I highly doubt we'll see much of her. -look I may or may not be adding Naruxx to the Marisa harem/shipping her with Marisa don't stop me -MATARA HAS SO MUCH POTENTIAL HOLY SHIT. I'm really curious/excited to see her more, since it seems like she's kind of Yukari 1.5 and also obviously has connections to both Yukari and Kasen. When I first encountered her as Reimu and read their dialog for whatever reason I thought "hey... since Reimu has Yukari as her mentor-like figure... what if Marisa had Matara............" Then I got to Marisa's scenario so lol nope. -Cirno goes to the Land of the Back Door... through her own fucking back... lol yeeee no on gives a shit about my opinions lol sorry for rambling
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exploringfiction · 7 years ago
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Yuri On Ice - Groundbreaking representation or cheap fanservice?
DISCLAIMER! This is all my own opinion. If you disagree with what i say, ignore the post, or better, start a debate with what you think, and I’ll be happy to discuss our points of view.
If you’ve had any sort of internet connection in recent months, you’ve heard of Yuri On Ice, the ice-skating anime that’s taken the internet by storm. The hype grew out of nowhere - Yuri On Ice (YOI) has no manga or light novel source material. The show grew so massive for one reason; at face value, YOI is centred around two male ice skaters who fall in love. Yes, I said at face value, because on further inspection into the anime, the two ‘romantic leads’ never actually confirm their relationship. So why all the fuss?
The premise
Yuri on Ice starts out as the story of Yuri Katsuki (YK), a figure skater with anxiety who majorly messes up his skate in the Grand Prix Final (a skating competition), thus coming last place and losing his self-confidence. So far, so basic shounen sports anime. He goes back to Japan, where *plot twist* his childhood idol Viktor Nikiforov (VN) is chilling in the bath, and says he will be YK’s personal skating instructor. This causes some beef between YK and Yuri Plisetsky (YP), who VN had earlier promised to train. The rest of the story is YK overcoming his anxiety and performing in competitions, and the season ends with him placing second after YP in the Grand Prix. With fanservice.
Why does everyone think it’s gay?
Firstly, YOI started out strong with astronomically high levels of homoerotic fanservice. Like, higher than Free! levels of fanservice. In the first episode alone, VN turns up naked in YK’s home, and makes sexually charged statements, such as asking to ‘sleep’ with YK. The turning point however, from Free! knockoff to ‘hey this might actually be LGBT rep’ was the infamous ‘kiss’ in episode 7. Of course, there is a slight issue with this scene.
We don’t actually see the kiss.
This was chalked up by the fandom to gay censorship by Japanese television, however this is not actually true. M/M kisses have been shown on television multiple times, the most notable examples in recent years being NO.6, Mirai Nikki and Shinsekai Yori. This is when the first alarm bells go off, because this is blatant queerbaiting. The promise of a kiss that is never seen and could be easily put down as a hug is Grade A, perfect queerbaiting. This is furthered in episode 10, where YK and VN exchange rings in a romantic style, yet YK insists that they are good luck charms, and VN jokes that he will only marry YK if he wins the Grand Prix. The relationship remains unconfirmed, although there is a pair skate after the credits on the final episode, although this is also not confirmed as a ‘couple skate’.
But what’s the issue, you ask? The relationship is never explicitly stated, yet you can quite easily infer that it is canon, as most of the fandom has. Well, ask yourself - if the couple in question was straight, would this even be a question? The answer is no. Straight couples in romances almost always make the relationship explicit, whether that be through a direct confession or a kiss on the lips. As YOI stands, it is similar to Free! in that the romance can only be inferred, although it certainly has a lot more ‘proof’ (and less actual plot, if we’re being honest here).
Many members of the fandom would disagree, but I firmly believe that YOI is a queerbait anime, and that YK/VN is not canon.
The pros
As much as YOI may be queerbaiting, it did manage to do some good things.
The soundtrack. The opening was an instant hit among fans, and I personally loved the ending theme.
The scenery shots. Although the skating animation left much to be desired, the slower and more scenery-based shots were beautifully drawn.
The diversity. The other skaters were from a range of countries, including Thailand, Kazakstan, China, and Canada, and the USA was represented by a Latino, which was lovely as we do not usually see these nationalities represented.
The side characters. Not going to lie, I thought some of the side characters were better developed than the two mains, especially JJ, Phichit, Otabek, and YP (does he count as a side character?).
YK didn’t win! Now there’s a deviation from a popular trope.
Georgi Popovich. That is all.
The cons (don’t hate me i beg)
The characterisation of YK and VN. I felt like YK was a bland character, with only the anxiety as a real character quirk. TBH, he felt like a self-insert character for the watcher to project their own personality onto. VN didn’t have much of a personality and seemed to be put there as a saviour character/love interest for YK.
YK’s character design. Just my opinion, but I felt like his design was bland and standard anime protag-ish.
The skating animation. Kind of beating a dead horse here but yeah, it’s iffy. They also reused a lot of sequences and spent waaaay too much time on the competition skates, which got kind of boring after a while.
The plot. It was very stereotypical - protag meets saviour who teaches them shizz and they go on to do GREAT THINGS.
The fanservice. I’m not judging anyone who likes a bit of fanservice (I’m not impartial myself), but to me the fanservice in YOI was creepy and left a bad taste in my mouth. However that’s just how I felt, so don’t feel bad if you enjoyed it. Better in anime than real life eh?
So why is it so popular?
If you’ve come this far, and have never seen YOI, you may be wondering, ‘but how did this mediocre show come so far?’ YOI has enjoyed insane popularity - it crashed Crunchyroll and Tumblr when the final episode aired, and it took the Crunchyroll awards by storm, taking home first place in every category it was nominated in (it was decided by popular vote). Some people (me) would even call it the biggest anime since Attack on Titan, due to the amount of non-’otaku’ viewers - that is, people who do not usually watch anime.
My theory is this. Despite YOI being a pretty mediocre show, the creators know their target audience incredibly well. The teenage girl. What do teenage girls, especially those who like anime, tend to be into? Gay boys.
Usually shows aimed at this demographic go one of two ways. The way of Free!  where there is plenty of fanservice, and lots of homoerotic tension, but nothing is ever canon, or goes as far as creating a believable but not canon romance. Or the way of Diabolik lovers, where there is a reverse harem situation, with the girl’s personality so bland that the audience can project their own personality onto her and ‘live’ the romance through a proxy. Maybe with some sexual tension between the boys for laughs (and shippers)
So what did YOI do? It combined the two. It took a bland protagonist, and mixed it with a very heavily implied gay romance, and stuffed it into a plot about ice skating. It then added moderate fanservice, but nothing too strong that would force it into a sort of reverse-ecchi genre. Combine this with a couple of moments that will convince the fans that the relationship is real (and to add interest to the show), and you have the perfect anime for teenage girls.
And it paid off. Sales of YOI Blu-rays and merch are extremely high, and the fanbase is massive enough to call it a total success. I admire YOI to be honest for knowing their target demographic so darn well. To be honest, I think the reason they didn’t make YK/VN canon was to avoid any potential homophobic backlash, but if they had made it explicit I think the show would be just as, if not more popular. And despite not being a canon romance, YOI has indeed sparked a larger discussion about LGBT representation in media, and the fandom has certainly shown showrunners that gay couples = big money. Hopefully, more anime, and indeed Western, directors, will notice the success of YOI and use it to create shows with legitimate LGBT leads and romances. And if you are a fan of YOI, don’t worry! Just because I dislike the show does not mean you are wrong or bad for loving it, canon couple or not. That’s the great thing about opinion!
Who knows, maybe after all the positive feedback, VN/YK will become canon in season 2?
TL;DR: Yuri On Ice is certainly a queerbait in my opinion, due to Viktor and Yuri not being a canon couple. However, the show has still opened up a valuable dialogue about LGBT rep in media, and has shown that a show with a leading gay ‘romance’ can be just as successful as one with a straight couple.
Thank you for reading!
- H
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