#the other is that book series RELIC and it’s real cute | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

brywrites · 4 years

Text

Flight Risk IX

Summary: An answer to the age old CM question, “who’s flying the plane?” And the story of a pilot and a profiler. Part IX: In which a profiler and a pilot try their best not to care, featuring an incredibly tacky hotel.

(Series Masterlist) ( Previous | Next )

----

The case closes. When it’s time to go home, Reid sees her leaning against the wall of the hangar with a book. Their eyes meet. He stops walking, frozen to the ground. And in response, she walks away and disappears into the jet. Neither of them knows what to say. She gives herself over to the sky, he loses himself in paperwork. The jet has never felt so big. Like there are miles between them instead of just mere feet.

Y/N thinks of Peter Pan. “The moment you doubt whether you can fly you cease for ever to be able to do it.” She doesn’t know what they are to each other anymore. Are they still friends? Were they ever at all? Was Arthur right all along? Maybe she simply is made for staying, not with her airplane heart. Hopelessly circling, never quite finding a place to land.

Reid has never had to do this before, to hurt someone in this way. He’s not sure how to reach out to her after putting this distance in place. And so he doesn’t. It doesn’t ease the loneliness. Only Garcia notices the change, when he stops talking about her.

“She told you how she felt, didn’t she?” Penelope asks, her cheerful smile deflating. Reid averts his gaze. The pained look on Garcia’s face mirrors the ache in his chest. “Oh, Reid,” she says. “Do you really still believe that you’re not allowed to be happy?”

“But you looked so happy together,” Yeeqin laments when Y/N tells her what happened. “I just don’t get it.” She and her girlfriend Saoirse offer to key his car, an offer Y/N promptly refuses. They’re both hurting enough as is. And besides, knowing Yeeqin she’d vandalize the wrong car and need someone to bail her out. After the “graffiti incident of 2014,” Y/N has no interest in doing so again.

And so they stay away. Things return to the way they always were – pilots and profilers. Two separate worlds on the same G550 jet. The only exchanges are simply pleasantries or requests from the team to the pilots, but they never come from Reid. Or announcements about takeoff and landing that almost always come from Captain Dobson. On the rare occasions when Y/N’s voice floods into the cabin, he closes his eyes and lets himself imagine that she’s speaking only to him. Sometimes when the agents disembark from the plane, she watches him go from the cockpit window and tries to remember what it was like when they sat so close.

He stops arriving early. She stops reading in the hangar if she’s not on the jet. They both pretend it’s normal. They both pretend it’s possible for them not to care. That it’s easy, that it doesn’t bother them one bit to be apart like this. That it wasn’t better before.

Y/N goes to dinner at Arthur and Malik’s house. Martin and Theresa are there and she runs around the yard with their older children, Carolyn and Benedict, and coos over baby Douglas. They share cocktails and swap stories and it feels so good to be surrounded by her own team, this makeshift family of aviators. She has movie nights in with Yeeqin and goes out with her and Saoirse anytime they invite her along and it’s so nice to be among friends. But then Martin looks at Theresa with all the love in the world and Saoirse falls asleep on Yeeqin’s shoulder in the cab on the way home and it’s acutely apparent to her that something is missing in her life.

Reid distracts himself with work and with books and tells himself that he’s always been just fine this way, with words and obligations instead of laughter over takeout or meetings at coffee shops. But then he discovers Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close in his bottom desk drawer at work, the copy she’d loaned to him and he’d sworn he would remember to give back to her and suddenly he’s trying not to cry in the bullpen and he doesn’t quite know why.

She learns from Arthur, who knew him, that Spencer’s mentor has been killed. And she can see on their next case that he’s hurting. The sadness in his eyes, the exhaustion evident in his slumped posture makes her want to run to him and wrap him in a hug, hold him close like he held her that night on the couch. But she’s not supposed to care about him anymore.

He sees the way she looks back at him as she boards the jet that day, her eyes lingering on him for just a fraction too long, and he thinks that just maybe she’s going to say something to him. But she doesn’t and he’s not sure if he’s relieved or disappointed. Either way, Gideon’s death seems only to prove his theory – the people he loves get hurt.

When they come home from the bombing case in Indianapolis, he’s drained from a week of mourning and a grueling chess match with Rossi. As Reid stands in the hangar searching for his keys in his bag, he hears, “Doctor Reid,” and turns to see Captain Dobson standing a few feet away.

“Yes?” he asks.

The captain opens his mouth, falters, and then says, “I’m sorry for your loss.” The sentiment is confusing, as he already told Reid this as he boarded the plane three days earlier. But perhaps Dobson has forgotten the conversation. So he thanks the captain and continues on his way.

Y/N and Reid seek solace in their friends, in their books, in the places that make them feel safe. And they try so hard to convince their hearts that they don’t feel anything that they wonder if it was ever even real to begin with. And for a little while, they almost believe it.

But then comes Nashville.

---

“Did you see the picture Martin sent of baby Douglas in his pilot’s cap?” Y/N asks.

“I did,” Arthur says. “It was cute.”

“The cutest thing I’ve ever seen!” she insists. “I wish he could bring the kids by for a visit sometime, I’m sure they’d love to check out the jet. Do you remember being a kid and how they’d let you go visit the flight deck and see how a plane worked? And they’d give you those little plastic pilots wings?”

“Relics of a bygone era,” Arthur sighs. “I’m sure I still have a pair of PanAm Junior Pilot wings stashed in a box somewhere.” The millennium ushered in a new vision of aviation security and sharp pins and strangers in the cockpit simply aren’t considered protocol anymore. “How are we looking?”

Y/N glances at the altimeter and airspeed indicators. “Flying at 46,000 feet. Currently at Mach point nine. Should be about one hour and ten minutes to destination.”

“Let the cabin now we’ve reached out cruising altitude, will you?” Arthur asks. Typically it’s her job to shift the jet into cruise while Arthur makes the announcement, but she nods and takes the speaker.

“Good afternoon passengers, this is your co-pilot speaking. We’ve reached our cruising altitude of 46,000 feet. At this time please feel free to resume using electronic devices and move about the cabin. We expect to be landing in Nashville in about an hour. Skies are clear, should be smooth sailing ahead. In-flight refreshments will not be served, but you’re welcome to help yourselves to anything stocked in the galley.”

A part of her wonders if he thinks of her when he hears her voice. Not that it should matter anymore. Before she can lose herself in her own thoughts, Arthur asks, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?”

“Lincoln,” she decides after a moment to think. “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”

Arthur says, “The Terminator,” without missing a beat. The captain is well-versed in cinema, which makes Double Feature one of his favorite in-flight games. The first movie must always be a question, and whoever can come up with the best films in response is declared the winner. Arthur almost always wins, and it’s a challenge to think up films they haven’t already used.

“What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”

“Hannibal.”

“That’s terrible,” Arthur laughs.

“Dude, Where’s My Car?”

“Brokeback Mountain.”

“Oof, that’s gonna be a long and sad trek to retrieve it,” she sighs. “I’m not prepared for that kind of emotional devastation.” But the game does help to take her mind off of what she’s really feeling. She can lose herself in words and not in wishes. They land GEFF gently on the tarmac in Nashville and when they pull around to the hangar, she doesn’t look out the side window. Y/N stares straight ahead at the horizon. The sky fades from deep royal blue to soft pale periwinkle where the distant skyline rises up to meet it and she loves every single shade in between.

Once the team has departed, she and Arthur walk through the cabin tidying up and making note of anything that needs to be cleaned or restocked prior to takeoff. Arthur won Double Feature (“O Brother Where Art Thou?” “Soylent Green.” “Oh, that is incredibly twisted!”) so it’s her turn to clean the bathroom. Fortunately a short flight like this means it’s fairly clean to begin with. She wipes sanitizes the sink and toilet, empties the paper towel bag, makes sure there’s enough soap and toilet paper. Garbage is deposited in the trash can at the back of the hangar and they return to Geff to grab their own go-bags.

“Listen, Y/L/N,” Arthur says as they lock the cockpit door. “About the IRT job.”

“Arthur,” she cuts him off. “I really don’t want to talk about this right now.” When he looks as though he’s about to protest she adds, “Please. I just want to go to hotel and take a nap and watch whatever silly romcom is on pay per view.”

He nods and says nothing more. They catch a rideshare from the airport together and she stares out the window at the buildings and billboards that line the roads. She already knows what she’s going to do about the offer. She made her decision after her conversation with Spencer. The choice was clear. But she doesn’t want to discuss it yet. She’s not ready.

They step into the lobby of the Graduate Hotel and her mouth falls open. It’s hideous. There’s a fuzzy tapestry – a fuzzy tapestry of a woman with a hat against a pink background that appears to be made out of the same material as a shag rug. The lamps at the concierge desk have hot pink floral patterns on them. A neon installation that looks similar to a vintage gas station sign announces vacancies in bright green and red light. The armchairs are blue velvet and the hanging lights look like tulle skirts. There’s too much happening at once.

“This is the ugliest hotel I’ve ever seen,” she says.

“Well the more affordable ones were nearly full – evidently this is a big weekend for admitted students at Vanderbilt – they had to double up all of the rooms for the team. But the Bureau managed to get us a discount here,” Arthur replies as they stand at the desk waiting for someone to check them in.

“I suppose a bunch of special agents wouldn’t blend in well at a place like this,” she admits. Hopefully they solve the case quickly and she’s not stuck here too long. True to her word she spends the first night relaxing in her room. The bathroom is beautiful – black walls with gold accents and a glass shower. The room itself is another story. The carpet is a rainbow of jewel-toned diamonds in a quilt-like pattern. The walls are pink and white striped, a candelabra sits next to a pink television. White curtains with a vibrant floral pattern line the window and form a hanging behind the bed. The bed, mercifully, has the standard white blankets and white pillows, though there is hot pink chevron quilt draped over the end and an eerie portrait of Dolly Parton stares at her from above the headboard. Y/N shudders.

Penelope Garcia calls her that evening. She’s waiting to hear back from the team and could use some virtual company. “I don’t even know if you’d like this place,” Y/N tells her. “It’s so garishly tacky. Like a sorority girl and her antique-collecting grandmother chose items from their storage closet at random.”

“Oh it can’t be that bad,” Garcia says.

“Penelope, I am ever the optimist. I love quirky, whimsical adventures. But this is something else. The Dolly Parton painting keeps staring at me, I swear!”

“Let me look it up.” There is the sound of fingers frantically typing on a keyboard. “Oh come on now, the lobby is way cute! And the patio? I just – oh. Oh my. Oh those rooms. You’re right. That’s bad. That’s very bad.”

“I told you!”

“That went from cute to crikey very quickly,” she agrees. After takeout for dinner and watching Serendipity, Y/N falls asleep under the unnervingly watchful eye of Dolly. The next day is completely free, and she heads out to explore the city. Wherever she ends up, she tries to take advantage of the adventures available to her. Just blocks from the hotel she discovers Nashville’s Parthenon – a full-scale replica of the Greek temple which hides an art museum inside. She wanders the galleries and stands at the entrance staring up at the pillars holding the roof up. What would it be like to visit the real thing? She wonders how many times the IRT has gone to Greece before. Maybe they’ll end up in Athens sometime this year.

Café Coco is the cutest coffee shop she’s seen in any city, and she grabs tea and a scone before returning to Centennial Park. Beneath the barely blossoming trees she sits and reads Dandelion Wine. It’s beautifully written and full of longing. That longing seeps through the pages and she can feel it in her bones. Nostalgia for times past and places far behind and things that cannot be. Everything that Spencer said it would be. As she reads she tries to imagine which lines would have made him smile or elicited a wistful sigh. Are the parts she loves most the same as the parts he loves most?

Her phone buzzes with a text form Arthur to ask if she wants to get lunch together at the hotel bar, and she shoves the book and her longing back in her bag and walks over to meet him.They step from the tacky lobby into a bar that seems remarkably normal. String lights and chandeliers cast an inviting ambient glow over the wooden tables and chairs. Country music is playing over the speakers. But as they she and Arthur move closer towards an open table, she sees it. The stage.

“What is that?” she asks. There’s a bear, a pig, and a fox in a wig atop a stage that says Cross-Eyed Critters. Each holds an instrument. And it’s then that she realizes the music is coming from them. It’s an animatronic band. Their eyes and mouths move as they sing and their fabricated bodies turn and jerk with the beat. “What?” she asks again, completely dumbfounded. “What?”

Arthur too is speechless. Then he shakes his head and says, “It’s nothing a drink or two won’t make more palatable.” She snaps a photo on her phone and texts it to Garcia, who will surely get a kick out of it.

As they sit down, a voice announces a new song over the speakers. A slightly tipsy looking man in a pair of red cowboy boots comes to stand in front of the stage. He has a microphone. The animatronics begin to play the opening notes of a song, and then the man begins to sing. This is not just a bar with an animatronic band, it’s an animatronic karaoke bar. The man in the red boots belts out an uncomfortably off-key version of a Kenny Rogers song –“You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, know when to walk away and know when to run!”– with just a little too much bravado.

“I think I’ll need that drink sooner rather than later,” Arthur admits begrudgingly. She has to laugh. This hotel, it seems is full of surprises. But the captain is right. When she receives a spiked cream soda and Arthur has a glass of bourbon and there’s a plate of tacos between them, it’s easier to tune out the karaoke band. She can just enjoy her drink and the light and the stories of Arthur’s first flights with the BAU that have her nearly in tears from laughing so hard. For someone who maintains such a serious demeanor most of the time, he knows how to tell a joke incredibly well. She’s always appreciated that about him.

“Y/N, there is something I wanted to talk with you about,” Arthur says. His tone changes and she knows the time for joking is over. “We need to discuss the IRT offer.” Before he can continue, her phone rings. She glances at the screen. It’s Penelope. Y/N sends it to voicemail. There will be time to discuss the disconcerting robot band later when she’s back in her room. Right now, she needs to focus on Arthur. She knows where this is going and he’s right. She can’t keep putting this off forever. She has to talk about this, and everything that it means.

“I’ve already made my decision,” she begins to say. But her phone begins to ring again, and her heart drops into her stomach. This isn’t about the picture. This is urgent. Arthur must realize it too. His eyes trail down to her phone and she hesitantly picks it up.

“It’s Garcia,” she tells him, before answering. “Hello?”

“Y/N, oh thank goodness you picked up.” The analyst’s voice is a little higher than usual, a little more strained. “It’s Reid. He’s in the hospital.”

#flight risk #fanfiction #criminal minds fanfiction #spencer reid #spencer reid fanfiction #imagine #reid x reader #spencer reid x reader

181 notes · View notes

recentanimenews · 4 years

Text

From Bakeneko to Bakemonogatari: The Secret History of Catgirls

It’s a question society has asked for ages: what came first, the cat or the girl?

The catgirl is one of the most resilient images in anime today. However, even the term “catgirl” is a little vague. Close your eyes and try to imagine what that word actually means. Did you think of a girl, but with cat ears? Did she have a tail? Does she have a verbal tic? Was she — by some mystical, scientific, or by some other supernatural occurrence — able to transform into an actual cat? If you said yes or no to any of those questions, are we still talking about the same kind of “catgirl”?

The answer is no one really knows. But that hasn’t stopped people from trying to investigate the origins of this immensely popular character type. Does such a thing as "the first catgirl" truly even exist?

Black Hanekawa as she appears in Nekomonogatari

What We Talk About When We Talk About Catgirls

Broadly speaking, characters with animal ears are described as kemonomimi, which literally means animal ears. What about catgirl etymology? As expected, characters with cat ears are described as nekomimi, aka cat ears. The term nekomusume (cat girl or daughter, literally) has also been used, which is also notably the name of the character Neko-Musume from Shigeru Mizuki’s popular 1960s supernatural manga GeGeGe no Kitarō. Ralph F. McCarthy, the first to translate Kitarō in a bilingual edition published by Kodansha in 2002, localized this name as “Catchick.” This is all to say, the invented euphemism “catgirl” is just one of many used to describe the same thing: a cat-like girl who may or may not claw your eyes out with a mischievous smirk.

Mizuki's Neko-Musume is based on the bakeneko, an evil cat spirit who is sometimes able to change between human and feline form. Folklorist Matthew Meyer describes bakeneko as beginning their lives as regular house cats, but later accumulating more human-like traits as they mature. In many stories, they are depicted as lapping up the blood of murder victims, thereby granting them supernatural powers. Of course, they aren’t to be mistaken with nekomata — twin-tailed cat spirits, like Yōkai Watch’s Jibanyan. Much like the rest of Mizuki’s yōkai characters inspired by Japan’s supernatural folklore, Mizuki’s bakeneko are the byproduct of creative license. Neko-Musume doesn’t have cat ears like we might expect them today, but technically she fits the bill for a supernatural entity. Like modern-day big-eyed catgirls, your mileage may vary.

Detail from Utagawa Kuniyoshi's nekozuka print

Utagawa Kuniyoshi, a woodblock artist born in 1798, is well-known for his many cat-centric prints. One of his most renowned projects was a series of prints depicting the 1827 kabuki drama, Traveling Alone to the Fifty-three Stations. In 1852, Kuniyoshi printed a depiction of actor Onoe Kikugorō III as one of the play’s most memorable characters, the nekozuka, a cat monster living in Okazaki assuming the form of a human woman. Kuniyoshi draws this specter with two very noticeable cat ears — a statement that this is a suspicious supernatural entity. This same motif reoccurs in other Kuniyoshi works, noticeably a woodblock triptych depicting the same actor as a cat creature. Again, those notorious ears appear.

Onoe Kikugorō III illustrated by artist Utagawa Kuniyoshi

Is Kuniyoshi’s flair for fantastic flourish the missing link? The secret origin of all catgirls who ever dared meow in the modern age? Well, it’s a little more complicated than that.

Will the Real Catgirls Please Stand Up?

The bakeneko is but just one entry in Japanese folklore’s long love affair with cats. In contemporary media, the concept of a cat-influenced woman is seen in many horror films. In an entry on bakeneko for The Encyclopedia of Japanese Horror Films, scholar Michael Crandol writes: "Bakeneko tales were the single most popular subject of Japanese horror films from the dawn of cinema through the 1960s, with more than sixty such pictures released by 1970.” With films as early as 1938’s The Ghost Cat and The Mysterious Shamisen, to post-war modern classics like 1968’s Kuroneko, the bakeneko sub-genre in Japanese horror is a testament to its ubiquity. Not to mention the allure of mysterious intrigue.

Kaneto Shindo's Kuroneko asks the universal question: will my cat eat me when I die?

From this perspective, the origins of catgirls seem quite hairy. In fact, looking solely through the lens of the traditional bakeneko narrative is extremely limiting. Surely they all aren’t evil women possessed by vengeful spirits? So what else?

In May 2019, independent cartoonist Keiichi Tanaka posted a thread on Twitter asking about the possible origins of the catgirl design proper:

猫耳の元祖って『綿の国星』？人間の顔で頭の上に猫の耳、このデザインってそれ以前にあった？

— はぁとふる倍国土 (@keiichisennsei) May 16, 2019

Among the replies included Osamu Tezuka’s character Hecate, a shape-shifting young witch who transforms into a half-humanoid, half-cat creature from the 1950s manga Princess Knight. Others mention Kuniyoshi’s cat-eared nekozuka woodblock prints, alongside the introduction of the classic Playboy Bunny costume in Japan. At first, it seems like Yumiko Ōshima’s manga Star of Cottonland may be the point of origin, but perhaps it’s not so easy to pin down. Did Tezuka, like so many innovations in early anime and manga, do it first? Are catgirls perhaps an underappreciated relic of the Edō period? What about classic '80s shōjo manga?

Feline magic in Tezuka's Princess Knight

Like many great debates in art history, the conclusion is ambiguous. Some might say Kuniyoshi unintentionally invented “catgirls” in the 19th century. Others may say Tezuka refined the concept, but Ōshima popularized the idea of cat ears on cute girls. If we examine catgirls strictly through the lens of anime and manga, the ambiguity and debate regarding "origins" become less of a fuzzy headache. Rather, we can re-frame the question: What works possibly helped catgirls bloom into the anime and manga-centric phenomenon we know and love today?

Chibi Neko, a cat who believes she is a girl

Ōshima’s Star of Cottonland was serialized in shōjo magazine LaLa from 1978 to 1987. The protagonist, Chibi Neko, is a kitten who views herself as a little girl. Because of this, the story is illustrated from her perspective and depicts her as human, with the caveat of having cat ears. In her 1995 book, Phänomen Manga: Comic-Kultur in Japan, scholar Jaqueline Berndt points to Ōshima being the possible originator of this now massively popular trope. In 1984, Star of Cottonland was adapted into OVA by Mushi Production, the animation studio famously known for adapting many of Tezuka’s major works.

Meanwhile, another OVA debuted in 1984: Bagi, the Monster of Mighty Nature. This was an original production written by Tezuka himself in response to gene recombination research approval by the Japanese government. Most famously, it featured an anthropomorphic feline woman named Bagi, who is undeniably more cat than girl. Bagi attempts to gain vengeance on humanity while simultaneously forging a troubled relationship with the action-hero male protagonist. While the Star of Cottonland OVA saw a limited home release, Bagi was broadcasted via the Nippon Television Network as a TV special.

Twin cyberpunk catgirls from Masamune's Dominion

Star of Cottonland and Bagi couldn’t be more thematically different, nonetheless, they both depend on catgirls for their worldbuilding. Masamune Shirow’s 1985 science-fiction manga, Dominion, follows a similar trend with its portrayal of android catgirls in a gritty cyberpunk setting. Adapted into a 1988 OVA series, Dominion: Tank Police features two puma twins, Anna and Uni, catgirls created as sentient love dolls. With their wild hair and overtly sexualized design, they undoubtedly have more in common with Tezuka’s violent Bagi than Ōshima’s initial cat-eared girls. They are, for lack of a better word, an otaku’s modern catgirl with their feral bloodthirst intact.

A Catgirl for All Seasons

A feature from Kadokawa’s Davinci News’ anime department titled "We Investigated ‘Why Are Nekomimi Girls So Cute’” draws attention to the 2013 Fall anime season. Namely, ear and tail-equipped characters from Outbreak Company and Nekomonogatari. What’s the appeal of animal-eared girls, where did they come from, and why are they so seemingly trendy now? Again, Kuniyoshi’s fearsome kabuki portraits are mentioned, however with an important caveat: Kuniyoshi's cat ears were meant to strike fear, not inspire charm. The same could be said for the post-war boom in bakeneko films and their scream queen actresses. The article’s author even suggests that the prominence of the Playboy Bunny outfit, with its appeal to the uppercrust of society and cute tail, might’ve also added to a flourishing nekomimi cosplay craze. At some point, the strangeness of the concept became secondary to cute novelty.

Koyomi confronts the Sawari Neko possessing Hanekawa

This observation points out an important contemporary trend: ornamental catgirls, aka eyecandy, verus catgirls with a narrative purpose. Peak catgirl is somehow balancing both acts. Characters like Bakemonogatari’s Tsubasa Hanekawa — a high schooler who is possessed by the Sawari Neko spirit — unintentionally create the night-prowling, cat-eared alter-ego named “Black Hanekawa.” Black Hanekawa may perhaps be the modern mash-up of bakeneko tradition and otaku catgirl-ness we've long awaited. She speaks in cat-puns, obviously not human, and is most importantly a fearsome supernatural nuance. But on the flip-side, Black Hanekawa is everything we expect from the otaku’s catgirl: ears on top of her head, an eccentric personality, and a desire to exaggerate those feline quirks whenever possible for cuteness' sake.

ฅ(*ΦωΦ*)ฅ

The modern catgirl’s sensibility is to be a girl first, cat second. While hints of this archetype is seen in Shirow’s 1980s catgirl love androids, early 2000s series like Di Gi Charat and Tokyo Mew Mew have only further pushed this specific everyday flavor of catgirl agenda. Especially considering the infectious prevalence of mascot characters like Dejiko, a chibified catgirl with lucky cat bells on character goods stores across Akihabara. It’s no wonder they’ve effectively lost all their unncanniness. But besides the cultural context — there’s no real reason why cat ears just can’t be cute in themselves.

Dejiko and company promoting a GAMERS character goods store in Akihabara

Nowadays, you don’t have to look very hard to find a cat-eared character. Series like Re:Zero famously feature characters like Felix, whose cat-like qualities are part of the lore. Nintendo series like Fire Emblem have even newly added a “beast” race of animal-eared characters. Not to mention the massive popularity of franchises like Strike Witches and Kemono Friends in recent years, catgirls undoubtedly draw massively passionate fanbases. No matter where they came from, catgirls in all shapes and sizes, clawed, and de-clawed, have never stopped turning heads. The nyapocalypse is here to stay, fur-real.

Do you have a favorite catgirl of all time? Let us knyaow in the comments below!

Blake P. is a weekly columnist for Crunchyroll Features. He thinks Cats (the musical) deserves a proper anime adaptation. His twitter is @_dispossessed. His bylines include Fanbyte, VRV, Unwinnable, and more.

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

9 notes · View notes

missjosie27 · 5 years

Text

Year 2 Part 1- Coming Back

Hey, guys! Year 2 of David Grant’s adventures at Hogwarts have begun! Not really much to say except thank you for your patience and I hope you all enjoy! Any feedback is welcome:)

David Grant stared outside of the window almost precisely three months after his last trip on the Hogwarts express, witnessing . The summer passed slowly, too slow for his own liking, but the time had come to return to the gargantuan institution once more and he could not have been more excited.

To be sure, he had not spoken of his adventures to his parents. Evidently, Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall felt it wasn’t important to inform them of the majority of his misdeed and run ins, something for which he was extremely grateful. His mother was overbearing and cautious as it was, and dad didn’t do much to counteract it. Other than family meals, or an occasional excursion into London to visit relatives, there wasn’t much to report from the Grant household. It also went without saying that he had also not mentioned being on Jacob’s trail. Though they only had one clue at the moment, it was enough and more than ever, David believed he was alive. Before his first year, he wouldn’t have even entertained the possibility. Now, he was determined to find the break through that would lead him to his long lost sibling and the vaults were the key.

His thought process brought him back to earth with Rowan prattling endlessly about his summer within their compartment.

“…she’s such a cute cat. Fuzzclaw is the real brains of the family I always say. Also my parents started growing another kind of wood made for a batch of wands. Ollivander just ordered a whole bunch.”

When David didn’t respond immediately, his friend waved a hand to grab his attention.

“Hello? Earth to David? Are you going to say something? I feel like I’ve been talking for over ten minutes.”

“That’s because you have.”

Rowan appraised him.

“You’re distracted and that usually means you’re thinking about your brother, the vaults, or both.”

“Good guess,” David replied. “Sorry, Rowan, I don’t mean to be rude. But my summer was…forgetful let’s just put it that way. Going back to Hogwarts, I have a lot on my mind.”

“Forgetful? Did anything bad happen?”

“More like it was just incredibly boring,” he shrugged. “Mum had us visit our relatives and my little cousins but I rarely had the opportunity to do, well, anything. The sooner we get back to Hogwarts, the happier I’ll be.”

“Too right. I’ve been running through our coursework this year. It should be slightly busier and more challenging than last year,” Rowan said excitedly. “I hope we get to learn more about giants.”

“If Binns doesn’t put me to sleep first, I’d share that sentiment.”

Laughing, Rowan chucked him a chocolate frog, which David began munching on before the spell could take effect.

“That reminds me, did you find anything more about those Aramaic ciphers?” he said through a mouthful of chocolate. “I couldn’t do much with my mum hovering about all the time.”

“As a matter of fact, I did,” his best friend answered. “I wish I had the book on me right now, but I can show it to you when we get to our dorms. But the basic gist is that the language was used by a sect of wizards back in the early Middle Ages, including Merlin. It’s enchantments and power were apparently greater than that of Latin, even though that’s what most wizards used around the time Hogwarts was founded.”

“That’s interesting,” David said genuinely. “Did it say anything about the vaults?”

Rowan shook his head.

“No, but there’s a lot of interesting history there and what the vaults could have or rather be hiding. Aramaic was also inscribed on ancient relics, including one that King Arthur personally searched for: The Holy Grail.”

David thought back a minute, the name sounding vaguely familiar.

“Hold on, isn’t that part of some muggle fairy tale?”

“It’s more than just a muggle fairy tale, Dave. Remember who advised King Arthur at the Court of Camelot? Merlin, arguably the greatest wizard who ever lived. I’ve read that story a million times and I love the adventures they go on. Especially their quest for the Grail.”

“You keep mentioning some sort of Grail.”

“King Arthur and his knights were Christian, which is the majority muggle religion in Britain,” Rowan explained. “The Grail was an important part of their faith.”

David had to admit, Rowan’s encyclopedic knowledge of these kinds of things came in handy and provided entertaining stories. But he failed to make the connection.

“That sounds brilliant and all, but what does a Christian relic have to do with the cursed vaults?”

“Everything,” Rowan said becoming more excited. “Because the Grail wasn’t some religious piece. It was real and created by Merlin himself! Supposedly it had all sorts of powers, and anyone who drank from it would be granted immortality. As I said, it was probably inscribed with ancient Aramaic like we found on the door. It could be one of the treasures hidden inside the vaults.”

This was all well and good, but believe it or not, the now second year Gryffindor held no interest in the concept of living forever. This ‘Holy Grail’ was actually quite fascinating, but it was not quite enough to go off of in terms of actually finding the vault or his brother.

“The treasure is irrelevant, Rowan,” he said firmly. “We need to discover the location of these stairs first and foremost before doing anything else. Jacob is the number one priority.”

“Of course,” the Indian preteen nodded. “Still, doesn’t mean it’s not fun to think about.”

“You read too much, Rowan.”

“And you don’t read enough,” his best friend chuckled.

David chucked the wrapper at him in jest. He peered around idly curious as to where some of their other friends were.

“Did you see Ben on the train, by the way? He should be sitting with us.”

“I caught a glimpse of him,” Rowan told him. “Last I saw he was talking with Bill Weasley about something.”

Well at least he’s in good hands

David was comforted knowing he was probably among those who would treat him well. While Ben had made great strides the previous year, he still didn’t like the idea of him running into any of the Slytherins on his own. Honing his full potential as a wizard would still take some time.

“Maybe we should say hello-”

At that moment, a crash and a muffled yelp could be heard outside the door. The two boys wasted no time in peeking out of the compartment to see what the ruckus was about, only for a blur of orange to stumble into them.

“Quick, shut the door!”

Only then did David realize that the blur was Charlie Weasley, who was grimacing and grabbing his shoulder.

“Charlie are you alright?”

“Never mind that, is the door shut?”

Rowan double checked that it was secure and gave a thumbs up.

“Good. Merlin, that freaked me out.”

“Slow down,” David said, pulling him up off the seat. “Just what the bloody hell happened?”

“I’m not sure, exactly,” Charlie said, still grabbing his shoulder. “I was just reading an article about Chinese Fireballs as I walked down the hallway. Must not have watched where I was going because I accidentally bumped into this Slytherin girl. Next thing I know, she’s firing hexes at me.”

“What did she hit you with?” Rowan pressed him urgently. “Maybe we should find a nurse.”

Charlie gave a wave of his wand.

“Nah, I’m fine. Worst she did was a stinging hex on my back. Though no doubt she was using deadlier stuff than that.”

“Any idea what she looked like?”

“Yeah, actually I do. Pale girl, recognized her from last year. Black hair covering half her face, a little freckly, with giant boots.”

David and Rowan looked at each other, gaging whether or not they were on the same page.

“Does that ring a bell, David?”

“Somewhat,” he said racking his memories. “She’s a Slytherin in our year. Real quiet, never says anything. I think her name is Ismelda.”

“That’s it,” Rowan confirmed. “I remember overhearing Professor McGonagall talk about her hexing a whole bunch of Gryffindors last year. Said she used spells that someone her age isn’t supposed to know.”

David raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah, somehow I don’t think that’s a coincidence. Sounds like another Death Eater in training to me.”

Charlie shrugged as he grabbed a frog from the pile they had collected.

“Lots of Slytherins are gits, but I can’t imagine all of them are.”

“Trust me, the less of their presence I have to deal with, the better,” David frowned. “One in particular.”

“Merula,” Rowan answered for him. “I’m hoping a summer away from Hogwarts mellowed her out a bit.”

“That’s about as likely as a giant’s ass fitting through a straw.”

Charlie snorted as he laid back down on the seat.

“We’re not even halfway to Hogwarts and you both are carrying on about rubbish we don’t need to worry about just yet. Let’s relax and play some exploding snap or something.”

Charlie had a way of putting things into perspective and in the end David and Rowan acquiesced, putting aside the vaults, Merula and everything else. During the course of the game, they discovered their red headed friend’s desire to try out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, which was not surprising given his natural talent for flying.

“So you have a broom and everything?”

“Yeah,” Charlie said plainly. “But it’s not very good. Mum and Dad really couldn’t really afford a decent one. It’s a cleansweep seven.”

Cleansweeps were serviceable, but it was common knowledge that they couldn’t go as fast as the comet and nimbus series.

“Maybe you’ll get another at some point?” Rowan encouraged. “My family could help make one for you at a discount with one of the better makers.”

“It’s okay, I appreciate that, Rowan,” Charlie said, going pink slightly at the generous offer. “But I’ll make do. It’s the talent after all, not the broom.”

“Well I hope you make it, mate. We can’t be any worse than we were last year. Haven’t had a real team since James Potter was seeker back in the seventies,” David said shaking his head. “The father of the boy who lived himself.”

“He was a legend. If I can be as half as good as him, I’d be more than happy.”

They discussed Quidditch for the better part of the next few hours before the light slowly gave way to dark and the Express was minutes away from pulling into the station.

A knock on their compartment and Bill appeared in the doorway, looking as cool as ever even in his uniform.

“Hey, you all might want to get changed into your robes, we’ll be arriving soon.”

“Time flies when you’re talking about Quidditch,” David yawned, stretching out his arms. “Didn’t even realize it was so dark. Thanks, Bill.”

“No problem. By the way, have any of you seen, Ben?”

That perked up eyebrows.

“We thought he was with you,” David said, a note of anxiety in his voice.

“Wasn’t he sharing a compartment with you earlier?” Charlie asked.

“He was. But then he left, and I haven’t seen him since. I figured he went and found you guys.”

“Well he isn’t here, Bill,” the younger Weasley replied. “Haven’t even caught wind of him.”

An uncomfortable silence followed at the revelation that their friend was missing. Rowan gave a sideways glance to David, who in turn looked at Charlie. It appeared that the mysteries to solve this year had grown by one more.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Bill reassured them. “I’ll keep an eye out for him. In the meantime, make sure you’re in your robes by the time the train pulls in.”

He exited the compartment leaving the three second years in a state of puzzlement. Rowan looked especially anxious.

“Rowan, relax. We’ll find Ben, okay?”

“It’s not that,” he replied, and now he sounded excited. “I mean I’m worried about him of course, but Bill Weasley actually talked to me!”

“He was talking to all of us,” David pointed out, trying not to laugh.

“I know! But still, no one that cool even acknowledges my existence usually!”

Charlie silently rolled his eyes, while David couldn’t help but give a nervous chuckle. Amidst the positive emotions about returning to Hogwarts, the fact that one of his friends was nowhere to be found was an ominous welcome back greeting.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Given that they were no longer first years, this time around they rode the carriages, which were pulled by some kind of invisible horse, into the front entrance of the school as opposed to crossing the lake with Hagrid (the big man still waved his usual massive hand, cheerfully at them). Privately, David was thankful for this step up in seniority, however minor it might be. His sorting the previous year had been quite the spectacle and he was more than content with being among the general crowd this year.

Still, his brother was out there somewhere and he would continue to pursue that avenue. He didn’t care about the vaults as much as he did Jacob. After a tumultuous first year in which he had risked expulsion (and worse), the last thing he wanted to was to incur the ire of Filch or Snape.

Or Merula for that matter…but in that case I have no choice, he mused.

The returning students made their way to the Great Hall, taking their seats at their respective tables. As the crowd continued to shuffle in, David took his seat next to Rowan and Charlie, Jae trailing in behind them.

“Any sign of him?” David asked.

Rowan scanned around, briefly.

“No, not yet. Honestly I’m starting to seriously worry now…”

“Who are you guys referring to?” Jae cut in.

“Ben. You haven’t seen him have you?”

“Yes, actually.”

Rowan eyes nearly popped up out of his glasses.

“What?! Where?!”

“Just now. Two rows down from you actually.”

The two boys quickly turned their heads to find the blond boy sitting in his seek looking perfectly normal, which in itself was a contradiction.

“Psst,” Rowan whispered trying to get his attention. “Ben!”

“Huh? What?”

He angled to see them better.

“Ben, where the hell were you today on the train?”

“I was with Bill,” he said simply.

“Yeah, but where were you before that?” Rowan pressed. “Or after you left his compartment.”

“Around.”

In David’s opinion, there was something off about their friend. Though he otherwise appeared fine, the non chantant way in which he was talking and the half glazed look in his eye was odd to say the least. But before he had a chance to dig further, they were interrupted by the sound of the Great Hall doors swinging open, Professor McGonagall and the new first years in tow.

Though only second years, David already felt like a veteran from a war compared to the fresh, young curious faces that now entered their presence.

“Did we really look that way when we were sorted?” Charlie whispered, evidently thinking of the same thing.

“Nah, no way.”

Soon enough, Professor McGonagall explained the rules to the young students, the hat sung its song, and the sorting was on its way. Unlike last year, however, it seemed to take forever. Time flew when your stomach was empty and the prospect of food salivating. The young Gryffindors tried to cheer their fellow inductees as best they could but by the time the sorting reached the letter ‘R’ most, including the older students were pretty burned out.

“Is it supposed to take this long?” David grumbled.

“Probably how everyone else felt when we were sorted,” Rowan said.

Though it felt like agony, at long last the last of the first years were sorted and up Dumbledore came to the podium, his midnight robes shimmering, his old, but penetrating blue eyes twinkling at them.

“Welcome to all, once more, to a new year at Hogwarts!” he announced. “To our first years, I give my warmest welcome and I’m sure that our returning students can forgive an old man so he may explain a few rules and boundaries,” he said with a wink.

A few quietly groaned, but that was all the protest one would hear. One did not complain openly to the Headmaster when making a speech, even someone as eccentric as Dumbledore.

“First, I would like to reiterate to all that the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds to all students and there will be severe consequences straying its borders. Second, Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to inform you that the list of banned items has been increased to one hundred and thirty six. Anyone wishing to know more may see the visit outside of his office door. For those of you know old enough to try out for your respective house Quidditch teams, Madam Hooch will be posting the dates within the next couple of weeks, so do be on the lookout.”

Dumbledore took a pause, his eyes becoming more searching than twinkling, as though he were gazing into the soul of each student in his presence.

“Lastly, I would like to add one thing, Hogwarts is a place of education and growth. Please, focus on your studies and spend time with your friends, but above all else, be careful as you journey about the castle. If you see anything odd that isn’t the Hogwarts sort of ‘oddity’, do not hesitate to tell a professor. Every year is an interesting one, but something tells me this year holds more surprises than most.”

The smile returned to the centenarian’s face.

“But enough of my ominous warnings and grand proclamations. Enjoy the feast.”

Immediately, food popped out of nowhere and David couldn’t help but grin at Rowan at the reaction of the first years. Only a year ago they had done the same thing at their first feast. Now, it was simply time to enjoy.

“Turkey?” a Gryffindor girl in their year offered.

“Don’t mind if I do,” David thanked her. “I’m starving.”

Rowan, however, gave him a small nudge.

“Dumbledore’s speech was especially cryptic. Do you think it means anything?”

Privately, the now second year never put anything past the Headmaster. The man was something of an enigma, even if he was also brilliant. Last year had taught him that much.

“I’m not too concerned with it, really,” he shrugged. “Let’s just eat. Pass the potatoes, will you?”

And so they feasted, stuffing themselves senseless, drinking gallons of pumpkin juice, laughing the night away with old friends in the hope perhaps that new ones would be made as well. Summer vacations were discussed, Quidditch matches polled, old companions reunited, and Jae even mentioned off handedly he was going to take a first hand look at Filch’s list in order to update his buyers. All in all, it was a night to remember, so much so that amidst the merriment, David forgot about Ben’s odd behavior. However, that was only temporary.

The feast ended and Dumbledore ordered them to bed. Being second years, they no longer were required to hang back and wait for the guidance of a prefect. It was truly amazing what a one year difference could make. There would be no Angelica to lecture them this time, though no doubt she would have her eye on him and his friends this year.

Climbing up the last staircase that led to the Fat Lady, David attempted to make conversation with his muggle born friend.

“Hey, mate. Haven’t had a real chance to say hello yet. How was your summer?” he asked, tapping him on the shoulder.

“Hey, Dave. It was good. Not much to report, though. Took a holiday to Ireland.”

“Sounds fun. Wish I had gone out of the country. Mum won’t let me do much.”

“It was actually nice not to think about magic for a bit,” Ben admitted. “For my parents, this is still pretty new. Takes some getting used to, you know?”

“Yeah.”

David silently appraised him, trying his best not to act suspicious.

He seems perfectly fine. So why do I get the feeling that he’s not?

Instincts aside, he simply let the conversation peter out as they took over the second year dormitories and settled in for the night. But even trying to sleep through Charlie’s snores and Jae’s personal tinkering with an object he claimed off a Hufflepuff, David could not put away the combination of excitement and anxiety that rattled around in his mind.

He was back at Hogwarts, but as Dumbledore had hinted, they were in for more than a few surprises.

#hogwarts mystery #david grant #hphm #hphm mc #rowan khanna #charlie weasley #bill weasley #ben copper #fanfiction #hphm fanfiction

15 notes · View notes

blackcatmanor · 5 years

Text

RWBY V7 Episode 12 Photo Review (Spoilers)

..................WUT

I mean….I can’t really process what happened

So let’s get this part out of the way:

The Good:

Penny and Winter are the true BFFs

Penny becoming more human is endearing to see, and it’s been interesting to see her struggle with understanding emotions against Winter, who also struggles to understand them, in a way. Penny challenging Winter but never abandoning her to join RWBY is nice, and their light conflict is very well done because it shows Penny’s growing humanity struggle against Winter’s much chillier perspective. I really like the dynamic between these two and hope they continue on in the next volume (If Winter dies too this volume I’ll ragequit RWBY), and to be honest it’s become more of a cute bond than Ruby and Penny this volume. Don’t @ me

The fights

Although a lot of the “fights” in this volume were done off screen, when there is fighting this volume it has been extremely good. The camera moves around a lot less so we get a better sense of what is going on, and the moves feel more deliberate to whoever is doing the fighting, such as Ruby and Harriet who dart around a lot, delivering only occasional blows (and Ruby taking more of the blows because she’s not as good as Harriet in hand-to-hand), while Yang and Elm go all-out lady brawl (and it’s nice to see Yang’s semblance again)

Exception: Weiss.

Weiss’ over-reliance on Summoning is making her boring to watch in fights. Seeing the 300 different ways the animators show her spinning around and waving her sword like a magic wand is getting OLD. If you’re going to have her summon all the time, fine, but stop focusing the camera on her. Just show her very distantly in the background waving her sword/wand and focus on how people fight whatever she summons.

The meh:

RWBY vs Ace Ops- welp… I didn’t think the Ace Ops were gonna lose, I thought RWBY would flee and barely get away because the Ace Ops were supposed to be the best of the best. I guess I’m glad they didn’t just go down like total chumps (except Vine- sorry dude), but apparently if you train with the Ace Ops for 6 weeks, you’re as good as them. *Shrug* Who knew? It’s like Fitness Bootcamp- Train with a soldier on an obstacle course once and you’re basically ready to become a member of Seal Team 6, right?

I wish they would have explained this a little more- maybe looping back to the discussion they had in Episode 4 about being friends vs teammates. Maybe RWBY’s personal bond gives them more incentive to win, while the Ace Ops are just going through the motions because it’s just a job to them. Plus I think Elm and Marrow’s inner conflict also maybe helped tipped the sales towards RWBY, perhaps they weren’t trying their hardest, but I wish this was a little more clear

JNPR vs Neo

It’s kind of weird that Neo didn’t incapacitate Oscar, if she was planning to try trapping JNR as well… Or maybe Oscar barely managed to get away? Regardless, Neo had the lamp, so why stick around and wait for more people to show up? The plan was for her to get the lamp FROM Oscar, not necessarily grab Oscar as well. Maybe Neo has her own agenda, which would be cool, but from this episode it looks like she completed her objective but then waited around to fight some more. Maybe getting the lamp was too easy and she likes a challenge...? Who knows (I am saying that a lot for this episode, huh?)

Cinder vs Winter and Penny

This is obviously meh because not much happened, and it’s just set up for the big final fight. With the Ace Ops incap’ed, hopefully RWBY can come in as well to finally fight Cinder directly after dancing around her in V5. I think most of this will go down probably in the Relic room because a grand fight in a cramped hospital room is hard, so I think Cinder will be able to Grimm-snatch the Winter Maiden powers and go down to the relic room, or she will incapacitate whoever does get the powers and drag them there, only to be stopped by RWBY for a big battle. However I don’t think it’ll be Winter Schnee getting the powers since it’ll take too long for the transfer device and they are out of time. I KINDA think now it might be Penny- a girl with an aura/soul- somehow she’ll receive them and it’ll be part of her becoming a real girl (like Pinocchio). Who knows? At this point who gets them is totally up in the air.

The Ugly:

I guess I was right about Tyrian escaping custody again, but it wasn’t because of Salem intervening with Grimm like I thought. It was because Robyn is a terrible person!

Robyn- Please kindly f- off:

I officially HATE Robyn the most. After teetering on a “meh-leaning-towards-general-dislike” feeling, I loathe her now and I hope she gets killed off quickly. She’s a one-dimensional generic hothead character with no personality that is purposely stuck in to create conflict. She is the good guy’s Tyrian- but Tyrian has a reason to be chaotic: He’s an insane zealot. Robyn is just a poorly written idiot.

Robyn just does stupid things that get in everyone’s way all of the time, and actively works to undermine the hero’s at each turn. She prevented the launch of Amity by stealing all the supplies, and now she is going to try and fight in the middle of a cramped ship, risking Tyrian’s escape rather than waiting 5 minutes to duke it out with Clover once Tyrian is safely in jail. The entire time they were squaring off on the ship I kept thinking “Uhm Tyrian’s right there….Tyrian is RIGHT THERE! He’s gonna get out!” Robyn is a liar. She doesn’t care about the people of Mantle, because she’s doing things that could (and did) lead to a serial killer who killed Mantle Citizens escaping.

Not to mention she could have taken Qrow’s advice and talk to Ironwood first! Literally 2 episodes ago you were saying the General had your support and now you’re like “I’LL FIGHT ANYONE, ANYWHERE. Forget talking to people to get the full details and actually following through upon that trust I claimed I had in Ironwood two episodes ago, I’m gonna risk everyone’s lives to fight this out RIGHT here!” She’s the worst!

Confrontation with Qrow and Clover-

This falls under the Ugly because, despite some good dialogue between Clover and Qrow, with Qrow expressing that he feels manipulated while Clover tries to explain his own point of view, every decision made from here on Qrow’s part is inexcusable and totally irrational.

Tyrian joins the fray and inexplicably Qrow agrees to team up with him to take down Clover because THAT can’t possibly fail spectacularly.

Tyrian suggests “putting the kid to bed” but the entire time I knew Tyrian would betray Qrow and go too far with attacking Clover because OF COURSE HE WOULD. But I thought he would sting Clover as a chance to get away, because Qrow would have to focus on getting Clover help. However, what we got was…much, much worse.

Qrow’s questionable decision making

Hey DUMMY- Why not team up with Clover first to neutralize Tyrian again, and then you and Clover can duke it out. Or you and Clover can go talk to James like you wanted to 10 minutes ago!

Oh right…because “You got a score to settle” with Tyrian because this is now a cheesy western where your ego is more important than logic.

I think his bad luck semblance is really just an idiot semblance- like occasionally his semblance makes him do stupid things, leading to horrible outcomes but he mistakenly chalks it up to “bad luck.” It’s also frustrating because this volume they were setting Qrow up to grow into a good character- someone with a lot of anger from the past who learns to cope with it, and learns to accept friendship from others. I guess that’s all over.

So, sadly, Tyrian then murders Clover. It was shocking I will say that...I actually GASPED, and it led to this really cool shot:

But the shock was partly for the wrong reason. Like I said before, I thought Qrow being a dumb-dumb would lead to Clover being injured, sure, but KILLED? Yikes! Qrow’s idiocy leading to Clover being injured would be frustrating, but not unforgivable narratively and he could learn from it. He would learn to not treat his friends as transactional, and automatically write them off when one hint of struggle happens. Qrow’s idiocy in teaming up with a serial killer and getting Clover killed kinda makes Qrow unforgivable in my book. Does CRWBY want me to hate Qrow? I guess so, especially because Clover’s dying scene didn’t exactly stick the landing and alleviate my anger towards Qrow either....

So poor dying Clover is lying there, and a visibly shaken Qrow kneels next to him. So the thought is Qrow is going to realize his horrible mistake, and dive down a pool of self-loathing: tearfully blaming himself, blaming his bad luck, APOLOGIZING, upset about how it’s all his fault, etc. Instead, he delivers (with a straight face) the weirdest line ever about James taking the fall. UHHH- WUT? You teaming up with Tyrian led to this. WHAT IS HAPPENING?!

This sucks. On several levels. Clover’s death was just plain poorly done and a good character was wasted. I really liked Clover. I thought Qrow was going to actually get a break from being shit on this entire series and finally get, at a minimum, a friend that would continue to help him grow and develop as a character, pushing Qrow to see the best in himself and stop continually hating himself. With that cut short, I of course felt super sad and emotional about Clover’s death, even to the point of almost crying.

However, I can’t pretend like a significant part of that isn’t pure frustration anger about how this episode played out. Not only did Clover’s death came about in the dumbest way, but his final words with Qrow were wasted by the weird “James will take the fall” bit.

Qrow should have blamed himself and his semblance (I mean...it actually kinda is his fault, not gonna lie), and Clover could have maybe been the ultimate friend to him, telling Qrow that it happened because Qrow was fighting for what he thought was right, and even though the outcome was horrible he shouldn’t stop fighting for what he believes in…? I dunno….ANYTHING other than “GRRR James will pay”

I can’t help but remember a mere few minutes ago.....

This episode.....woof.

In a long series, you want your hero’s to sometimes lose just to keep it interesting, and to give them something to have to crawl back from. However, what’s interesting is seeing the characters try their best, make reasonable and decent decisions and still suffer a loss, because it makes us want to continue to cheer them on and watch as they make a triumphant comeback. Seeing hero’s simply choke and fail because they make the dumbest, irrational decisions with no logical reason is just frustrating and excruciating to watch, and seeing those moments lead to other characters suffering makes your “hero’s” unlikable.

This argument was made for the V6 climax- that RWBY made a dumb decision and others suffered the consequences, making them “evil” to some hateboner watchers, but I thought this assessment was over dramatic. You have to take things in context, and literally nothing came of RWBY’s decision to steal an airship: the universe was the same as it was before with some filler in the middle. No one was injured or killed, and even the damage to the city was minimal (one roof). Clover, though, is full-on dead and that is entirely Qrow’s fault. I just can’t believe the writers put this down on paper, re-read it, and though- “yea....Someone who totally make the decision to team up with a murderer to subdue their good friend....this is gonna be GREAT.”

But who cares about the story- NEW MERCH DROPPING SOON AMIRITE?!

Ok that was a low blow, but the writing and characters inexplicably took a logical nose dive this episode, after having a lot of thought put into last episode. The characters (especially Qrow, but also Robyn and to a lesser extent Clover) could have made some reasonable and logical decisions and Clover still could have died, which would have had way more impact and made the situation seem way more hopeless. Instead we got Robyn kicking off the shitshow by being just the worst, and Qrow taking the shitshow torch and cranking it up to 11, effectively un-doing all of the development we’ve seen from him this season.

Lastly, even if you are going to have the characters completely fail at making decisions and it leads to a horrible outcome, at least stick the landing and don’t have them go off on some odd tangent about how this is someone else’s fault. *facepalm*

Overall I’d give this episode a very generous 2/10.

The 2 points is because of the decent fight animation and occasionally decent dialogue.

I’m tired...

#rwby v7 #rwby spoilers #rwby vol7 #Robyn Hill #qrow branwen #clover ebi #marrow amin #ruby rose #yang xiao long #blake belladonna #weiss schnee #penny polendina #winter schnee #cinder fall #tyrian callows #rwby salem #oscar pine

19 notes · View notes

bluefire94 · 4 years

Text

Game Ramblings: Why Sonic Spinball is the Worst Classic Era Title, In My Opinion

Time to start a new series here, this time on thoughts I have about various video games: the good, the bad, and the okay.

If one were to ask me what I think is the worst Sonic game from the Classic Era, which I consider to be from the Genesis original to Sonic Jam, I would say that title goes to Sonic Spinball.

Some might find it odd I dislike this spinoff, as it’s not usually brought up when talking about the worst games in the series. It did sell over a million copies during the Genesis’s lifespan, and it usually gets average ratings from reviews. Also, it’s of course not a buggy mess like the infamous Sonic 06 and Sonic Boom Rise of Lyric.

Still, I don’t find it that fun to play, and tone-wise it doesn’t feel like a Sonic game, which I will explain.

To me, Sonic Spinball has a more sinister and mean-spirted tone to it compared to the other Classic Era titles and even those from later eras. Those games tone-wise aren’t usually any darker than Mario games; being a relatively upbeat experience of going on a grand adventure to stop a villain. When they are (like with Shadow the Hedgehog), there’s still a bit of inherent campiness that keeps them from being too dark.

Yet Spinball features more gritty scenery and a more ominous soundtrack when put next to the other titles of the era. It’s also quite jarring for the game to taunt you before losing a life (”READY TO FRY?”), and to include unnerving moments like Sonic appearing to helplessly drown in the demo intro scene, and have bosses straight out of a nightmare.

*I apologize for bad memories brought forth by that screenshot*

In retrospect, Sonic Spinball feels like a relic of the early 90s, when dark and edgy works were considered to be cool for the sake of being dark and edgy. This trend carried through other media targeted towards youth then, from Grunge Rock and Gangsta Rap to grimdark Comic Books. While of course some dark works used their more dour tone to good effect, like some songs from the mentioned genres and some violent video games (which helped with deconstructing the stereotype of video games being “kids stuff”), people then seemed to care more about how edgy a work was than how good it is.

Off the same token, it seems to reflect the trend of taking things that are normally portrayed as cute and friendly, and twisting them into being cynical that was also popular at the time. Ren and Stimpy feels like a good example to me; a goofy looking pair of cartoon characters bringing forth grotesque and sadistic imagery instead of more clean Looney Tunes-type humor.

Thus, I consider Sonic Spinball to be the most dated game in the franchise in terms of its atmosphere.

I do think that I wouldn’t mind the darker tone if the game was at least still fun to play. Unfortunately, it isn’t, as neither a Sonic game or a Pinball game.

Despite Sonic being marketed as “The Fastest Thing Alive” at the time, Spinball feels slow and sluggish, with the pinball physics having a major stiffness to them. It’s quite off-putting, as pinball is generally known for its high speed and fluidity to the physics, much like Sonic. It thus takes a longer time to make ones way around the levels than the other games, which in turn makes it a chore to chug your way to the end. This also applies to the handful of times you’re expected to platform, especially since there’s a one second delay before Sonic jumps up, unlike the other games where jumping happens instantly.

*What looks like something that should be fun, but unfortunately isn’t*

The difficulty is also quite high, as the sluggish physics make it easy to drain and lose a life. It doesn’t help there isn’t any level select code like the main games, meaning Game Over spells starting from square one (or should I say level one?).

In the end, Spinball doesn’t entertain as either type of game. It tries to be a best of both worlds, but ends up failing at being good at either. It makes you wish you were playing just a standalone Sonic game or Pinball game, not a flawed hybrid.

It’s a shame, as the premise is certainly good, and makes sense. Levels in the main games usually have segments akin to being in a pinball machine, by virtue of Sonic curling up as a hedgehog usually does, and when done right would be fun to play and have the standard tone of the series. Honestly, the pinball segments in Casino Park/Bingo Highway in Heroes do the concept much better, and those happen in only one zone.

To their credit, Sega Technical Institute, the in-house team at Sega of America tasked with developing the game, were forced to rush the game to be ready for holiday 1993. Sonic 3′s development was running behind schedule and wouldn’t be ready in time as initially planned. Thus, the game was hastily thrown together to fill the void as Sonic 3 was pushed back to early 1994, and even then only the first half would be released ;the second half, Sonic and Knuckles, would release later that year.

To speed up development time, STI had the game’s coding written in C instead of assembly like other Genesis games. While this did help get the game ready in time, it caused the gameplay to run sluggishly as the Genesis’s CPU was taxed to interpret the C instructions in real time. Also, the music isn’t particularly good, except for Toxic Caves’ music which is quite catchy. A shame, as composer Howard Drossin is very talented, as shown with his music for 1995′s Comix Zone, another STI game (and an underrated game overall).

Perhaps the game only ended up as it did for the old rushed-development time problem that has plagued Sonic games numerous times, as well as other video games even to this day. Still, as flawed as games like Sonic R and Knuckles’ Chaotix are, they at least succeed at having the essence of Sonic games that gives the series appeal. Sonic Spinball succeeds at neither in my book, and thus isn’t a Classic Era title I enjoy going back to.

Hopefully you enjoyed this article, and remember that this is just my opinion. It’s perfectly fine if you like Sonic Spinball and disagree with my points. Next time I think should talk about a game that I consider good to balance out talking about a game I think is flawed.

See you next time!

#sonic #sonic the hedgehog #sonic spinball #reviews #my opinion

0 notes

bojastrology-blog · 7 years

Text

The signs as anime of summer 2017

Aries: Kakegurui

Hyakkaou Private Academy. An institution for the privileged with a very peculiar curriculum. You see, when you’re the sons and daughters of the wealthiest of the wealthy, it’s not athletic prowess or book smarts that keep you ahead. It’s reading your opponent, the art of the deal. What better way to hone those skills than with a rigorous curriculum of gambling? At Hyakkaou Private Academy, the winners live like kings, and the losers are put through the wringer. But when Yumeko Jabami enrolls, she’s gonna teach these kids what a high roller really looks like!

Taurus: Dive!!

The series revolves around the Mizuki Diving Club (MDC), which is on the verge of closing down after having financial troubles. The club’s new coach persuades the club’s parent company to stay open on one condition: that the club sends one of its members to next year’s olympics as part of Japan’s olympic team.

Gemini: Katsugeki! Touken Ranbu

The year is 1863 as the tumultuous samurai era is coming to an end, Japan is split between the pro-shogunate and anti-shogunate factions. The fate of the world is threatened as an army of historical revisionists are sent from the future to alter the course of history. In order to bring these forces down and protect the real history, two sword warriors, spirits who are swords brought to life by Saniwa (sage), rush to Edo. The polite and thoughtful Horikawa Kunihiro and the short tempered yet skillful Izuminokami Kanesada, who served the same master, confront the invading army along with a lively gang of other warriors including Mutsunokami Yoshiyuki, Yagen Toushirou, Tombokiri, and Tsurumaru Kuninaga. As the fate of history lies in these hero’s hands, what meets the blade is yet to be uncovered…

Cancer: Hajimete no Gal

Spring. The “season of love” has arrived and it seems that finding himself a girlfriend was harder than Junichi believed. To break the status quo, Junichi’s friends have forced him into confessing to the gal, Yame Yukana. However, things do not go quite as he expected. A series of “firsts” begins!

Leo: Fate/Apocrypha

The setting is a parallel world to Fate/stay night where the Greater Grail mysteriously disappeared from Fuyuki after the Third Holy Grail War. After many years of silence, around the same time as the Fifth Holy Grail War would have happened, the Yggdmillennia, a family of magi, openly declares their secession from the Mage’s Association, and that they are in possession of the Grail. The Association dispatches fifty magi to retrieve it, and all but one are instantly slaughtered by a mysterious Servant. The one remaining manages to activate the reserve system of the Greater Grail, allowing for the summoning of fourteen Servants in total. In the city of Trifas, two factions will fight for the control of the sacred relic, each of them possessing their own team of seven Servants : the Black Faction whose members are part of Yggdmillennia, protecting the Grail, and the Red Faction whose members were sent by the Mage’s Association, trying to take the Grail back. For an event of this scale, the Grail itself summons its own Servant, the holy Ruler, to oversee the conflict. This marks the start of the Great Holy Grail War.

Virgo: Jikan no Shihaisha

The story centers on “Chronos Rulers,” those who fight the time-eating demons that appear when people wish they could turn back time. The Chronos Rulers fight a time-manipulation battle against these demons.

Libra: Knight’s & Magic

A mecha otaku is reincarnated into another world as Ernesti Echevarria, also known as Eru. In this world, huge humanoid weapons known as Silhouette Knights exist. Dreaming of piloting those robots, Eru and his friends, Archid Olter and Adeltrud Olter, aim to become Knight Runners.

Scorpio: NTR: Netsuzou Trap

Yuma and Hotaru have been friends since childhood, so it’s only natural that when Yuma is nervous about her new boyfriend, she asks Hotaru for advice. But when Hotaru starts coming onto Yuma for what feels like more than just ‘practice,’ what does it mean…? With boyfriends in the foreground but a secret, passionate tryst in the background, will Yuma and Hotaru try to forget what happened between them or have they fallen into a trap of true love and betrayal?

Sagittarius: Ballroom e Youkoso

Fujita has drifted through middle school aimlessly, unable to find friends or anything that can hold his attention. Then, one day, he’s attacked by a gang and saved by a mysterious man. But this isn’t a karate master; it’s a ballroom dance instructor! Reluctantly, Fujita takes a few beginner’s classes, only to find his inspiration… an entrancing, teenage dance prodigy named Shizuku. It’s Fujita’s first step into the high-octane world of competitive dance!

Capricorn: Hina Logi ~from Luck & Logic~

Liones Yelistratova, a pure princess from a small country, enters a school in Hokkaido on a spring day. The school is a specialized educational institution operated by ALCA to train Logicalists, who maintain world peace. Liones enters class S, where she meets many classmates with unique personalities, like Nina. A lively and cute everyday life begins now.

Aquarius: The Reflection Wave One

After THE REFLECTION, some of the people in all parts of the world are discovered with super powers. Some become heroes, and others villains. How did the Reflection happen? What was the cause of it? With many unsolved mysteries, the world is lead into turmoil.

Pisces: Gamers!

This is a story that revolves around certain students and one hobby. Amano Keita is our lonely protagonist who has a passion for gaming and is friends with Uehara Tasuku, who is secretly a fellow gamer and is someone who believes his life is perfect. We also have Karen Tendou, the club president of the video games club and Chiaki Hoshinomori, who constantly bickers with Keita. This is a story filled with a non-stop sequence of comedy scenes and misunderstandings. Our chaotic romantic comedy now begins!

#anime #zodiac #anime zodiac #zodiac signs #anime zodiac signs #astrology #anime astrology #gamers!#the reflection wave one #hina logi: from luck & logic #ballroom e youkoso #ntr netsuzou trap #knight's and magic #jikan no shihaisha #fate/apocrypha #hajimete no gal #katsugeki touken ranbu #dive!!#kakegurui

1K notes · View notes

the-sapphire-general · 7 years

Text

50 Random Facts About Me

1. I know I mentioned this in a previous post I made, but I might as well bring it here. Rouge the Bat is one of my favorite female Sonic character (with Cream being another character I love because bunnies are cute!). I always liked her. She knows what she wants, she's independent, and she's the reason why I gradually became interested in gems in the first place. Too bad I can never get any real ones. XD Too expensive. And contrary to popular (yet misguided belief), she's not oversexualized or objectified. Since when were her assets emphasized? Never. Sure she's sexy, but that's not a bad thing if handled correctly. One, Sega treats her as an individual just like everybody else in the Sonic games, and two, Sonic the Hedgehog is a series for all ages. If you want fan service (hopefully not too much), you won't find any in this franchise.

2. I am very emotional. It's not something I don't usually share because sometimes I can be ashamed of it, but it's true. I'm so emotional, which can range to being rather temperamental (especially if I'm not in a good mood), or being prone to crying when others yell at me. Not always, might I add. It just depends on how much they yell, what the reason is, or who the person is, which can be painful if it's a friend, a family member, or my boyfriend. I hold back my tears often, and not just when others yell at me, because I don't like crying in public. It makes me feel humiliated and it makes me feel that nobody will care if I cry, so I can be rather cold sometimes in real life. Well not cold, but calm and collected, which I am not when I'm emotionally overwhelmed. I've gotten better at controlling my emotions, but I am bound to lose it depending on the circumstances.

3. Most girls wear make-up and get dolled up and stuff, but I don't do that. I don't shop for tons of clothes for hours, and make-up is something I rarely wear, and I mean extremely rare. However, I am not a hardcore tomboy. I do like feminine stuff, so I'm between a girly girl and a tomboy, but being at a clothing store for endless hours and having to dress up all the time annoys and bores me. My family gave up convincing me to do those things because they finally got the message to just let me be myself, and they accepted me for who I am, much to my relief. I don't believe all men focus on looks first, which I can tell is the primary reason appearance is emphasized for women, even if it irritates me due to those beliefs causing my insecurities as I got older. It's also a reason why I loathe beauty pageants. Not all men focus on a woman's looks. My boyfriend didn't. He focused more on my personality. Fun fact: I haven't watched the entire Naruto series since I started it not too long ago, but he compared me to Hinata Hyuuga! From what I've seen in the anime so far, she's cute! :D She reminds me of myself. Damn, I am so shy. lol Anyway, back to the topic. Sure, I do dress up sometimes, but it's not a requirement. It doesn't help that a former friend even forced me to be super girly, and I wound up defying her. That didn't go well, and the friendship ended partly for that reason. She didn't get the message that I can't be changed by pushing me into doing things. Girls come in different shapes and sizes, so just let them be and shut up. lol

4. This is more of a confession than a simple random fact, but as a Crash Bandicoot fan, people probably think I completed the original trilogy 100%. Okay, I hate to admit this, but I never reached 100% completion on all of them. Crash Bandicoot and Cortex Strikes Back yes, but I never reached 100% (or 105%) in Warped. Back then, I was a coward who didn't want to face the challenge so I never bothered to collect everything...until now. In Crash N. Sane Trilogy, I have completed Warped 100%/105% this time. The relics were a pain, especially getting the first batch platinum relics (which I gave up and pursed gold relics), but I did it!

5. A silly fact, but this is one @cellarhapsodos will enjoy reading because she's the friend I should thank for introducing me to one of the latest video game villains in the Final Fantasy franchise. Ardyn Izunia from Final Fantasy 15. It's an amusing story. Months before FF15, I heard of him and saw a few pictures of him online. The main villain wasn't revealed at the time, but I assumed if Ardyn was the one that was claimed to beat all the previous villains before him, I would hate him. lol I know, it's stupid! As a Sephiroth fan, I found it threatening that Square Enix was trying to outdo Sephiroth. I don't give a shit about Kefka, but Sephiroth???? I haven't played a lot of Final Fantasy, so I don't know about the other villains except for their names like Kefka, Seymour, Kuja, Ultimecia, Caius, etc., but that's not the point. I'm such a Sephiroth fangirl! Anyway, fast forward to after FF15 was released, and my friend fell in love with Ardyn. Now that I knew Ardyn was the real villain, I hated him. Yeah, stupid I know, but I didn't like him despite that I didn't play the game. I had plans to buy it to actually play a Final Fantasy game as opposed to how I got into Final Fantasy 7, but I couldn't get it because I couldn't afford it at the time. So a few months passed after its release, but before I actually played it, for some reason Ardyn started to catch my attention. I acted all irritated and stuff, but the growing curiosity grew as time passed. I started to find him attractive, much to my dismay. Being shallow about it, I didn't want to like him because of Sephiroth. But in time, I surrendered to my growing feelings, which rose higher as I played the game and got to know him. I knew a little bit about him before starting it thanks to my friend considering how much she loves him to the point of roleplaying as him. So you can see how my feelings started to grow even before I started the game. His personality captured my attention, and I fell in love hard! Just like with Sephiroth, I couldn't stop thinking about him, and after finishing the game not too long ago, I can call myself an official Ardyn fan. So to sum it up, I hated Ardyn but helplessly fell in love with him. As for Ardyn beating Sephiroth by popularity, I won't like it if he did beat him. I don't even know whether or not he did. Should it even matter? I mean, it doesn't mean Ardyn beat Sephiroth in my book. I won't start hating Sephiroth. I love him too much to let him go. I even noticed that Sephiroth was inspiration for Ardyn. How could I not? The wing on his arm gave it away, they both wear black, and they are both tragic characters. lol So thank you so much @cellarhapsodos for introducing me to this sexy man of no consequence.

6. Speaking of Final Fantasy villains, my boyfriend introduced me to Sephiroth. Love at first sight struck! When I heard his voice for the first time ever, my heart fluttered like crazy. No, it wasn't Lance Bass' take on Sephiroth, and to be honest, I don't like that one. So thank goodness George Newbern took over. Anyway, I fell madly in love with Sephiroth, and did everything I could to get to know him better. I admit I got more than I bargained for, and my boyfriend was right when he told me the exact same thing. He and his friends took note of how he's my polar opposite. Correction, he's my NEAR polar opposite. They fail to see it, but Sephiroth and I do have some things in common. We're calm and collected (when not overwhelmed), intelligent, and quiet. We keep our emotions to ourselves as best as possible, can come off as cold to others, and have a few friends but they are close friends (well, Sephiroth had friends). We're both misunderstood to an extent. Others saw Sephiroth as just a cold and distant man before he became insane, so I can relate. People think I'm cold and distant until they get to know me, and it kind of hurts when they assume that or other things about me. Sephiroth is also an outcast because of what he said in Crisis Core about how he always knew he was different. That hit me hard because I feel like an outcast too, even within my own group of friends. Now he doesn't think that way anymore after the Nibelheim Incident took place. Or does he still think that way but in secret? I don't know. Finally, we were both betrayed by certain people. I was only betrayed by one, but even that managed to feel like tons of people betrayed me, so Sephiroth and I know who our "traitors" are and we hate them. Though in Sephiroth's case, it applies to those who didn't even do anything to him, but whatever. I still can't believe my real-life friends fail to see that we aren't complete polar opposites.. And I think one of them doesn't see me being paired with Sephiroth because he suggested Vincent Valentine would be a better match, which annoyed me. Vincent is pretty cool and he is another crush that I have, but Sephiroth is the fictional Final Fantasy man I love. Opposites attract! :3

7. I HATE matchmaking! This is from a past experience back in high school when my former friend decided to play matchmaker. Unfortunately, she tried to match me up with a guy who was already in a relationship. I was furious, and I wasn't sure whether or not she did it on purpose or that she didn't know, but either way she acted like a bitch when I called her out on it, another reason why our friendship died. I wound up hating matchmaking ever since because I didn't trust anyone to pair me up with someone anymore. And also because I don't enjoy people pairing me up with someone of their choice. I met my boyfriend and chose him on my own. It's my relationship, not theirs.

8. I am a feminist. Regarding this, I wish to get this off my chest. I can't stand how people have twisted feminism. Now I get that everyone has their own definition of feminism and what it means to them, but I don't like some of the things that are said. If a female character falls in love, it's bad. If they like girly stuff, it's bad. If they dress sexy, it's bad. If they get captured, it's bad. Getting captured doesn't have to necessarily be bad. As long as they aren't only known as damsels-in-distress, then they are fine. Okay, I like Princess Peach, but if you play the games besides the ones where she gets captured, she can be pretty cool. I also heard she's amazing in the old Mario comics!

Oh! Speaking of damsels-in-distress, here's this link:

https://www.reddit.com/r/KotakuInAction/comments/2p41oh/did_you_know_the_damsel_in_distress_trope_has_a/

I know this may be debatable, but it got me thinking that tropes can be used correctly and not come off as bad. However, that doesn't mean I'll be making all my female characters damsels-in-distress! lol However, I don’t mind the trope now after watching this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rLfENrnsoQ&index=5&list=PLIYmMkCOWcQf7IN0x7iijVvZ-P5ZIm0xn&t

Anyway, not all female characters have to be absolute badasses who can fight, use weapons, or beat the crap out of enemies with their physical prowess. Whatever happened to writing interesting female characters? A strong female character means a well-written character, not just a woman who is physically strong and able to fight. What, so all female characters have to be physically strong, never get into trouble, not be girly, and never fall in love to be approved? Come on! >_< There's more to a female character than that. Women come in all shapes and sizes, with different personalities, flaws, backstories, and looks, which also includes sexy women. It's okay for a woman to be sexy, just as long as their assets aren't the only focus of their character. And what is wrong with falling in love? Yes, women don't need men to be happy, but what if a woman wants a man? Wanting a man and needing a man are two different things. In addition, what if a woman is NOT heterosexual? Is it still bad for an LGBTQ+ woman to fall in love? Not all female characters are involved in a love story, by the way, but I don't have a problem if love is involved. Romance novels are something that I love so much, for example. *sigh* One of my friends was right about the controversies regarding the dark side of feminism, and I blame the feminazis. I still consider myself a feminist, nevertheless. The point is I am more open when it comes to this sort of thing, but that doesn't mean I don't have limits regarding how women are portrayed. I have my own definition of feminism, so I'll just leave it at that.

9. I am a chocoholic! I just can't resist not having chocolate often, and I eat anything with chocolate more than other types of sweets. Don't get me wrong, I love sweets in general, but anything that contains chocolate is what I will automatically choose to eat. lol Except for Lindt's chili-flavored chocolate. I hate spicy foods, so that's the only kind of chocolatey treat I will not eat.

10. I used to be uncomfortable with doing shippings that involve my fictional crushes. I say "used to be" because it's not the case anymore...sort of. I guess you can say jealousy got in the way, or because I hate the shippings that include my favorite guys, but little by little, I'm warming up to it. For example, in private roleplays, I roleplayed as Sephiroth and he was in a relationship with another female character (won't say her name), and another roleplay was about him being with Ardyn. Yes, Ardyn Izunia! And to be honest, I have fun with those pairings. That doesn't mean I'll do whatever shipping. No way am I ever doing SonAmy! I'm sorry, but picturing myself doing a roleplay of that pairing makes me cringe. It's my least favorite Sonic shipping (next to Sonadow), and I have several more shippings from other games, shows, etc. that I hate as well. I'm taking baby steps, but I'll always have my personal limits regarding shippings. It doesn't mean I'm willing to allow shippings in my character blogs. I might change my mind but who knows.

11. I must confess this. I hate constructive criticism. Back then, I was horrible at taking it, and I have improved a lot over the years, but I still hate constructive criticism today. I know I shouldn't take it personally, but it does hurt. I can't help it. In my poetry class, everyone had to read their poems during workshops where groups of people had to listen and give feedback to each other's poems. At first I was doing okay until one of my poems received a lot of constructive criticism. One specific poem received it the most, and to me it felt like my poem was shot down. The reason it hurt a lot is because that particular poem means a lot to me. They weren't being mean, but it still bothered me. If I had chosen another poem I had for that day, it would have hurt worse because "Angel of Darkness" is even more personal. It's a love poem that I never took to any of the workshops in class. I just couldn't do it. I revised it myself instead because I wanted to make sure it stayed true to my feelings. As for the poem I took to class, my friend reviewed the same poem but I managed to handle her comments better. She was honest, but I took it better than the comments I received in class. I did learn from the feedback, however. I still struggle to not take things like this personally, but I'm trying my best to change that.

12. I was accused of cheating on a test back in elementary school. It was a ridiculous incident! Being the confused and innocent twelve-year-old, I didn't know why the teacher thought I cheated. I know better than to sneak a glance at another student's test, and when I told her I didn't cheat, she didn't listen. Even the other students agreed that I didn't cheat, but she didn't listen to them either. She then told me that she wanted to talk to my parents the next day. I was angry about the false accusation. Not once did I ever cheat my whole life, yet she believed it and even told a few more teachers, humiliating me in the process. I didn't even bother to tell my parents because I didn't do anything. There's a thing called studying. I didn't cheat, I studied for the test. What's weird is on the next day, the teacher wasn't there to ask me if I told my parents she wanted to talk to them. In fact, I never saw her again. I don't know why she did it. Maybe she hated me, I don't know. But it was uncalled for and it hurt.. Damn bitch. Hopefully she got busted over the lie and that's why she never came back. I bet she got fired for it.

13. A few years back, there were a couple of times I wondered what it would be like if I were male instead of female. I was just curious, but someone thought that I was secretly transgender, which annoyed me. It was just curiosity. I never said I wanted to change my gender or felt like I was meant to be born male. I am happy to be a female. Sheesh, people's assumptions vex me.

14. My favorite YouTube channels are Kelly Eden, HorrorStudio1, Cute Mario Bros, AnimeBroMii, JcentsignLProduction, Markiplier, Capitalist, Jacksepticeye, and Nathan Sharp. Kelly is all about cuteness and I just love watching her videos. Plus, she loves Sephiroth too! :D And for CMB and AnimeBroMii, I adore plush videos! I find them entertaining, and I don't care if others find it weird. I find them cute and fun! But SuperMarioLogan is a channel I hate, though. I don't like all plush channels. JcentsignLProduction, Markiplier, Capitalist, and Jacksepticeye make me laugh hard! XD They are hilarious and worth watching to cheer me up! And Nathan...Need I say more??? He is an amazing singer! Oh my gosh, so hot! He also sings for Sephiroth, or "Sephy", in the "Big Bad Bosses" music videos "I'm The Boss" and "Angel".

15. All my life, I've had people who bullied me for no reason. To name one, I once knew a girl in first grade that hated me for no real reason. She was snobbish, vain, and just plain rude. I think she was jealous of me because she only picked on me, or maybe she was a bully to anyone. She stopped suddenly when I told my mom about it, and the bullying never happened again. I get that people can get jealous of others. I get jealous myself, but I won't bully them because of that.

16. Is it weird that I used to be threatened by my boyfriend's gaming skills? When we met, I witnessed how he owned his friends in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. My jealousy grew when I found out he's a master at Sonic games. His friend confirmed that he played all of them. As a Sonic fan, I felt threatened and jealous. Of course, I never thought of myself as a master at Sonic games, but it made me envy him. I had the stupid assumption that I wasn't good enough, but in time I got over it and realized I'm a great gamer regardless of whether or not I perform flawless gaming sessions or ones where I make mistakes and struggle to achieve my goals.

17. My favorite childhood cartoons are Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Yin Yang Yo!, Atomic Betty, Ed, Edd, and Eddy, Samurai Jack (which finally got the proper ending it deserved in May 2017. I'll miss that show.), Jackie Chan Adventures, Xiaolin Showdown, Winx Club (4kids version. Seasons 1-3. Future seasons after that are terrible.), Justice League (and Unlimited), The Powerpuff Girls (original version), Fairly OddParents (only seasons 1-9), and Kim Possible. Now that I think about it, not a lot of cartoons have been good in recent years. But I do enjoy some of the current shows and have a glimmer of hope with a an upcoming one, the DuckTales reboot. I watched several episodes of the original since my brothers grew up watching it, although I never watched the whole series. The series premiere was so cool! Adventure Time and Steven Universe are the best shows on Cartoon Network, and I'm going to miss AT very much when it's over in 2018. I hope SU still lasts a little longer. There's too many unanswered questions and still more to cover! The other current shows I like but have to catch up on are Star vs The Forces of Evil, The Amazing World of Gumball, and The Loud House. I used to watch Regular Show, but I abandoned it because it just didn't seem good to me anymore. I found CJ annoying and she's partially the reason why I stopped. I thought of her as rather abusive in a way. Glad Mordecai never married her. Oh! And I can never forget to include Sonic Boom on my list of shows I currently like and watch. It's my favorite show on CN because hello! I'm a Sonic fan! :D I even have a favorite phrase from an episode: "Faster!! Faster!!! FASTER!!! DO IT!!!"

18. My favorite anime are Sonic X (yeah deal with it, it's been part of my childhood), Black Butler, Pretty Cure, Future Diary, Descendants of Darkness, Devil May Cry, Space Dandy, Kirby: Right Back At Ya!, and Inuyasha. I'll try out new anime and return to Death Note soon because I never finished that one. No, I'm not watching the live-action movie they made. They butchered it far too much, and I'm better off watching something that's worth my time.

19. I like Bubsy Bobcat. Yes, this is a controversial fact, and I'm aware of it. I'm pretty much a new fan. I got his first two games on Steam a long time ago and thanks to the idea of installing Windows on my Mac, I managed to start playing them recently. I can see why people hate it, but I can't seem to hate it myself. Sure I died over twenty times in just the first level, for example, but I still persevere. It's mainly because I'm accepting the challenge in video games, even if there's challenge from beginning to end. Lol However, like everybody else, I HATE Bubsy 3D. And yes, I'm going to buy Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back. Don't try to stop me! XD

20. One of my middle school teachers used to be one of my favorites back in 7th grade. Then it all went downhill when he vanished. I was confused at first until it was discovered that...I honestly can't remember. He was either a pedophile or he owned child pornography. Maybe both since...yeeeeeeah. He went to jail for who knows how long, and the news was all over school. It was a shock! He seemed like a nice guy who wasn't overly strict compared to most of the teachers. It just goes to show that you can't judge a book by its cover. It still shakes me up to this day remembering that.

21. I was accused of being a lesbian several times throughout middle school. Just like with the time someone assumed I was transgender, I was irritated. They simply assumed that just because I didn't date any guys often. One, I'm not a whore. Two, I wasn't that determined to find a guy at the time. And three, guys didn't notice me at all! So when I started longing for romance, it was hard to get attention from a guy. They either turned out to be cruel, homosexual, taken, or uninterested. You have no idea how many times I got friend zoned, and it hurt every single time! :( So yeah. I get sick of stupid assumptions like this. >_< I'm not a lesbian because I'm not always dating. Correction, I'm bisexual. People really need to not jump to conclusions and think for once. I hardly dated at all because guys never noticed me until today. I have a boyfriend now, so I just proved them wrong. And no, just because I'm bisexual doesn't mean I'm confused or will act promiscuous by dating a woman while in my relationship or do threesomes or whatever dumb stereotype that's associated with bisexuality.

22. My top 5 favorite colors are below and they each have their own individual reasons:

5. Red-Violet

Red-Violet is a recent color I grew to love. You can thank Ardyn Izunia for adding his hair color on the list. It's pretty irresistible, and I wish I could dye my hair that color. XD People would start calling me Ardyn!

4. Light Blue

Light blue, a pastel version of the classic blue, is a cute color I adore and it's one of my favorites out of all the thousands of shades of blue.

3. Yellow

Originally my second favorite color, yellow is one that I adore very much, so it's nonetheless on a high rank. The color of happiness and joy, it's pretty obvious how much I love it. :)

2. Black

I was always indifferent to black until I met my boyfriend. He loves black, and surprisingly he got me into black myself. That's why it's highly ranked, and thanks to Sephiroth from FF7, it reached the second spot.

1. Blue

Blue has been my favorite color for nearly 14 years (and still counting), and it will always be my most favorite color. It's mainly because of Sonic the Hedgehog that my original favorite color pink was replaced by blue and because blue is just a great color. :D Blue rules!

23. Besides bunnies, I love all kinds of animals, but my favorite ones are hedgehogs, bats, birds, cats, and chinchillas. I find all of them cute! I always loved them, but bats are a recent addition after my friend and I did a roleplay of an alternate universe where Vincent Valentine can turn into a small, fluffy black bat. I just found Bat Vincent adorable, and so I started to like bats. And one of my FF7 characters wound up having pet bats too.

24. I have a fear of doing anything in front of an audience. Like singing. I like to sing, and not a lot of people know about it, not even my own family because I never sing in public. I did sing for my boyfriend twice, but those were very rare. I always sing in private due to my fear. Stage fright. Even thinking about singing for an audience terrifies me. I'm starting to think this is a phobia because one time I had to read poems for my class, and I was extremely nervous. I was a wreck all morning, even after class was over. My hands were trembling a little, I felt nauseous so I barely ate anything before class, and my heart beat faster once I stood in front of the whole class. Just having everyone watching me made me feel worse, it's a miracle I didn't just dash out of class and head back home. I wanted to run, but I didn't. I honestly can't do anything for an audience because of that. I get nervous, insecure, frightened, and it's just nerve-wracking. Next time I'll just make sure not to do that sort of thing. It's not worth it.

25. Like all Sonic fans, I know about Sonichu. I knew for a long time, but I never actually looked up the comic. Ever. It wasn't until I found it on a YouTube channel called CorruptedGamingShow. Those videos were a roller coaster ride. Unoriginal, unimaginative, inconsistent, downright ridiculous and disturbing, and many other things that the comic is but there's an infinite amount to list, I see why it's notorious in the Sonic fandom. I pretty much watched every single video of the guys reading this comic, and if it wasn't for their commentary, I wouldn't have made it past the first video. Also, I watched the series twice, so either I go back to them because I love the guys who host the channel or I'm secretly a masochist but I just don't know it yet. XD Oh, and I do know about an infamous comic by AkaiDalia. I may have gone through Sonichu twice, but I didn't say I was crazy to go over her content. Her fan art is enough to make me want to get brain bleach. >_<

26. Aside from chocolate, my favorite foods are chicken, ice cream, cheesecake, jelly beans, apples, tacos, and McDonald's Sausage Egg and Cheese McGriddles and Big Breakfasts. And Denny's amazing breakfast dishes! Yeah! As for my favorite beverages, they are HI-C, lemonade, Kool-Aid, Vitamin Water, Powerade, and Gatorade.

27. My favorite video games of all time are Sonic Colors, Sonic Generations, Final Fantasy 7, Final Fantasy 15, Crash N. Sane Trilogy, Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, Kirby Mass Attack, Undertale, Crash Team Racing, Crash Bash, Devil May Cry 4, and Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed. Of course, the list is subject to change as I check out other games, from ones I haven't tried yet to upcoming ones that will be released in the future. :D Like Sonic Forces! I just know it will be a new favorite of mine! My character Sorina will join the resistance. My baby is all grown up! Lol

28. My birthstone is the topaz. Actually November has two. The citrine. :3 I have two birthstones!

29. This is a pretty fun fact. I didn't get into Devil May Cry until a while later after I saw a single copy of the HD Collection of the first three games for PS3. Every time I went to the store, it was just sitting there. I was curious whenever I saw it because of Dante (whom I didn't know by name yet), but I never got the game until I finally bought it after a month. Lol It was worth spending $20! Coincidentally, I discovered my boyfriend likes Devil May Cry as well. We got closer than ever! :D We are at odds because of our favorite characters. I love Dante while he likes Vergil, and finds him more powerful than Dante and blah blah blah. Dante still kicked his butt. Though I can't say the same about me beating my boyfriend when we challenged each other in Marvel vs Capcom. He pulverized me as Vergil!

30. I love Disney movies! Many people do, but I wanted to say that. It's part of my childhood, and I adore Disney princesses. :3 My favorite Disney movies are Mulan, Frozen, and Moana, and my favorite characters are Mulan, Elsa, Anna, Moana (they are the heroines in my favorite movies lol), basically all the Disney Princesses, Gaston, Kronk, and Yzma.

31. Everyone knows me as the kind and sweet woman with a love for anything cute and adorable, has a love for video games, is crazy about men (real or fictional), and is both a girly girl and a tomboy. But even I have my dark side, so if someone dares to provoke me in any way or those I care about in a way I don't like, I assure you they will regret it. If someone tries to mess with me or my friends and family, that idiot is out of here. Treat me with kindness and respect, or don't talk to me at all. lol Okay I got dark for a second! My apologies.

32. Sonic and Sephiroth are my role models since I consider them as my two sides. Sonic represents my kind, selfless, and friendly side as I do my best to put others ahead of myself. And I have a personal desire to become a hero somehow. Sephiroth represents my hidden dark side whenever I am in a very, very bad mood and my temper, and I can be too serious sometimes. And I can be cruel to those I hate, which fortunately are no longer in my life but I still loathe them. lol No I do not hate humanity, so no need to run! Sonic and Sephiroth are two of my favorite characters, and I love them very much.

33. I cosplayed once back in high school. Due to the bad memories that followed that involved my former friend, I don't have pictures, but I cosplayed as Sebastian Michaelis from Black Butler. I never cosplayed again because of her, but if I were to cosplay again, my would-be choices are Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonic the Hedgehog), Sephiroth (FF7), Dante (Devil May Cry), Princess Peach and Princess Rosalina (Mario), Ardyn Izunia (FF15), Nine Asfel (Last Rebellion), Coco Bandicoot (Crash Bandicoot), Kairi and Axel (Kingdom Hearts), Mettaton (Undertale), Yuno Gasai (Future Diary), and L (Death Note).

34. Last Rebellion is one of the games that I like and own, regardless of the poor reviews. I don't love it the way it is exactly, but I do see the potential it could have had if it were handled better. It's a game for the PS3, and I think it's very rare nowadays. I first rented it on GameFly and I admit it's not an excellent game, but I do like some parts of it. I frequently imagine what could have been rather than what actually was, and the game is a bit of a guilty pleasure.

35. Several of my pet peeves include hypocrisy, others accusing me of things that are blatantly false, people mocking Sonic and Sephiroth right in front of my face, people mocking me (who wouldn't tolerate that?), control freaks, and being forced into doing things. The more someone tries to make me, say, dress provocatively, the more I rebel. True story. I was almost forced by others who wanted to give me a makeover. Sorry, but tops that are far too revealing, micro miniskirts, high heel sandals, and fake breasts aren't my thing. I want to be a beautiful woman, not a hooker.

36. My favorite book series that isn't a romance series is "Daughters of the Moon". I read them way back in high school. The series is about four teenage girls named Vanessa, Catty, Serena, and Jimena (Tiana later becomes the fifth girl) as they discover that they are goddesses, Daughters of the Moon, and must fight against evil. I won't say anything else just in case you guys want to check out the series. I honestly recommend it.. I remember how I was deeply immersed throughout all thirteen books. Also, check out the Lunar Chronicles! I finished reading the first book, "Cinder", and it's an amazing twist to Cinderella. The other books in the series include other fairy tale characters that get the Chronicles treatment. Looking forward to reading those!

37. I have a few quirks, one being that I adjust my glasses whenever I'm nervous or timid. Another quirk I have is I like to give my Sonic plushie when I'm alone in my room. Yes, I have a crush on Sonic the Hedgehog! He's been my main crush since I was a kid. >.< Please don't judge me! My next quirk is common, I bite my nails when I'm nervous. Lately I've been improving on that because I want to start painting them.

38. I have several fears/phobias. Besides stage fright, I'm afraid of spiders (or any bug except for butterflies), heights, water (can't swim), sharp objects, and humiliating myself in public. Spiders scare the crap out of me and I can't even hold a sharp item such as a knife without feeling scared that I might accidentally stab myself and others.

39. I'm torn over whether or not I want to have children (but lately I'm leaning more towards not having any after learning more about the process of pregnancy and so on), but IF I were to have kids, I already got names. For a boy, I would choose Dante, and for a girl, Sorina, after my Sonic character. If I had more than one or two, the other names I like are Crystalline, Christopher, Zack, Alister, Jason, Emma, Aria, and Jewel.

40. Getting out of my comfort zone isn't easy for me. Some of my friends are aware of this, and although I am trying my best on this, it's still not easy. I don't try things often because I just don't want to try them or I don't know if I'll like them or I'm just nervous. I did a few times, and I wound up hating Indiana Jones, Lord of the Rings, and soap operas. I would rather get out of my comfort zone at my own pace, and being forced to do things just makes it difficult. I've gotten into trouble with my former friend over this, and she didn't understand that forcing me to try things isn't what friends do. I'm not saying I'm extremely stubborn. I will try things if others recommend them. The keyword is "recommend", as in suggest them but don't drag me into them. I'll give things a chance if I want, which is what I did with LOTR, but in the end watching most of the trilogy was boring. Those who are fans of the books/movies, I'm truly sorry, but it's just not my thing. Not even Harry Potter, which was something I tried out of pure curiosity, and I was bored throughout the entire first movie. So please, let me expand my experiences at my own pace and respect that I may not like certain things. ^^; It isn't fun being forced into doing something, or else I just won't enjoy whatever it is I'm told to try.

41. I almost became a fan of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy. I bought the first book after hearing that it's an erotic romance (and I'm such a kinky woman >//////<). But then I realized the abusive themes going on during the first book. I never finished it, and I got rid of the book after reading the reviews about them, and they gave me more information about the abuse between the two characters. I can't stand abuse, and I hated realizing I wasted over $10 on that kind of book. Fifty Shades of Abuse? No thank you. >.> I'll stick with Debbie Macomber's romance novels. Or any romance novel that has actual well-written romance and not toxic relationships. Basically anything but FSOG and Twilight!42. I'm going to mention Sephiroth again, but believe it or not, he's the one who got me interested in psychology a few years back. It was at a point where I wanted to get inside his head, which I can say must have been a precursor to my eventual desire to create my own Sephiroth blog. :D I took a few psychology classes to learn more about the subject, and Criminal Personalities was my favorite one, mainly because it involved the mention of criminals. We had to do a paper where we had to diagnose a criminal, either a real person or a fictional character, with one of the ten personality disorders to show how much we understood what we covered during class as opposed to actually believing the person/character actually has a disorder. I obviously chose Sephiroth for my paper, and I got an A. An A! I have never felt so happy in my entire life when it comes to this! I never got an A on a paper (I always kept getting B's or C's), so this meant a lot to me. I still have my paper online. If you're curious, I wrote that Sephiroth has the potential to have either Antisocial Personality Disorder or Schizoid Personality Disorder. But due to missing criteria considering how much of his backstory pre-Crisis Core is still vague to an extent, either diagnosis is considered unlikely. So yeah. Sephiroth got me an A! XD I also noticed some people have assumed Sephiroth may or may not have autism, but I don't know. Random fact: Even Sonic is assumed to have ADHD, but again I'm not certain. What do you think? To be honest, even if Sonic and Sephiroth actually have ADHD and autism, respectively, it won't change how I feel about them. I'll still love them. Same with L from Death Note if he's autistic. And any character that's believed to have some type of disorder. Personally, I don't see these headcanons as my own about these characters, but I respect those who do have them.

43. My favorite singers are Selena (may she rest in peace, she died so young ;_;), Bentley Jones, Hilary Duff, Ellie Goulding, and Gackt. Selena is obvious, her music was fantastic! My favorite song of hers is "I Could Fall In Love". Bentley Jones sings several Sonic songs, and my favorite song is "So Much More". Hilary Duff is a childhood singer I just adore, and I went to one of her concerts! My favoite songs from her are "I Am", "Rock This World", and "All About Me". I consider "I Am" to be my theme song. It just seems to fit me. Ellie Goulding is a singer I love, and she sings my most favorite love song of all time, "Love Me Like You Do". Gackt is my first favorite Jpop singer, and oh gosh, his voice is hot! Favorite song: "Vanilla". I would say why, but the translation of the lyrics will explain my reasons better. *blush*

44. My favorite numbers are 1 and 100. Despite my feelings of being an outcast, to me the number 1 means there is only one of me. Everybody is unique and I am beginning to accept that about myself and not feel like I don't fit in anywhere. It's still a long journey, but in time I won't feel like an outcast anymore. As for 100, I just like big numbers, and that one is my favorite of them all.

45. My nickname that my family calls me is Bunny. Another nickname I gave to myself is Jan. I love bunnies, so the first nickname is self-explanatory. lol Jan is short for my name, Janice, and it sounds cool in my opinion.

46. I was once paired up with someone in class as part of an assignment. Each pair had to create a PowerPoint of a band and present it later (and you know presentations give me major anxiety). Unlike everybody else, I didn't get a say on the subject because the stupid teacher didn't talk to me about it. I was absent when the assignment was revealed, and she didn't even talk to me about it and let my partner choose the band, which went against the other pairs that were free to talk about which band to write about and present. It also didn't help that as my freshman year of high school continued, the teacher kept giving me a bad time (even deliberately giving me average to bad grades despite doing very well in class). I have a feeling she hated me or she was racist considering that I stood out from the rest of class. I was bullied countless time by a bunch of jackasses, and the teacher did NOTHING to stop it. Hmph. Bitch.

47. I don't drink soda. No really, I don't like any kind of soda, or any kind of beverage with gas. The gas irritates me, the feeling of the gas in my mouth just annoys me, so I stay away from any fizzy beverages. Although Mountain Dew is an exception after my boyfriend introduced me to a certain kind. But other than that, no soda for me. I'll stick with my Kool-Aid, lemonade, Gatorade, basically any beverage that doesn't have gas.

48. Recently I found out that Phil Hartman died back in 1998. Okay, I never knew him outside of the movie "Jingle All the Way", but I NEVER knew he was murdered by his third wife. Ever. I found out in July when I was on YouTube and watched a video about video game mascots that got canceled for messed up reasons. One of them was Blasto, a character that was voiced by Phil Hartman, whose series never made it past the first game after the tragic death of his voice actor. I know I wondered why he never showed up in movies again, but I didn't expect this. I've watched an entire playthrough of Blasto, and I admit he was a real good actor. It's sad that he died so soon.

49. I've had a YouTube channel for years, and I didn't do much on it until now with my first ever video game playthrough, Final Fantasy 15. It's still technically ongoing due to upcoming DLC and I'm going to do post-game stuff for sure, I swear! >.< I've been busy but it will happen. So yeah, FF15 started it all on my channel and it's fun to play games and upload the videos online. More playthroughs are on the way, so FF15 and Crash N. Sane Trilogy are currently my only ones, the latter also ongoing because I have yet to collect the relics for Crash 1 and 2. I'll do it hopefully in a month. Wish me luck!

50. Finally, the last thing about me is I see Sonic the Hedgehog as my hero. Ever since I was a kid, when I first watched Sonic X, I took an instant liking to him. As time went on, I began to idolize him and to be honest, he's the reason why I managed to endure such tough times growing up. I admired to the point the where I wanted to be more like him, and despite what others have said, I succeeded. I was an entirely different person way back then, and Sonic made me into the woman I am today.

I'll make a post about Sonic and how much he influenced me and so forth because I'm aware that this post you have been reading is long enough! Thank you Kelly for inspiring me to do this! You rock! :D If I make a second part of this sort of thing, I’ll make sure to not add too much. I got pretty passionate on a lot of these.

#50 random facts #random post #it's so long i am sorry lol

1 note · View note

danithebookaholic-blog · 6 years

Text

REVIEWS! - ROMANCE

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

Spring has sprung and Romance is in the air! With this weeks reviews you’ll find the following: some swoony, some funny, and some just short of the mark, but all are romances (in some essence of the word.)

So sit back, and take a look at this week’s romantic line-up:

📚Daphne Dubois’ Only the Beginning (2018 Contemporary Romance) 📚Leddy Harper’s The (Half) Truth (2019 New Adult College Romance) 📚Adriana Locke’s Tumble (2019 Romantic Comedy) 📚Elinor Lipman’s Good Riddance (2019 Women’s Fiction Rom-Com)

From one bookaholic to another, I hope I’ve helped you find your next fix. —Dani

Only the Beginning

By Daphne Dubois

Publication Date: April 25, 2018 Genre: Adult, Women’s Fiction Literature, Contemporary, Romance

Synopsis:

After a heartbreaking betrayal, Melissa Legacy shuns romance. So when her best friend joins the Lovers Oasis website and fears her fiancé will find out, Melissa agrees to meet the anonymous Romeo, prepared to explain her friend’s change of heart—then she sees him.

Failing restaurant entrepreneur, Craig Wheaton hasn’t been home since his mother’s tragic death. Now he’s back to confront his demons and stand beside his brother as best man. Dreading the reunion, he agrees to meet his avatar lover, but at the last moment he reconsiders the arrangement—until he lays eyes on her.

When Craig assumes Melissa is his online consort, she impulsively plays along, resulting in an afternoon of unexpected intimacy. But with Melissa using her friend’s identity and Craig dealing with a family fallout, is a future together impossible, or will they discover that love at first sight is Only the Beginning?

Goodreads

Purchase:

Amazon / B&N / Kobo

Review:

Only the Beginning is a a cute romance that has just about every known romantic plot in it, including an Oh-sorry-to-have-run-into-you-knocking-you-to-the-ground / Love-at-first-sight-but-we-won’t-realize-it-until-the-end meet-cute. But don’t let these common romance novels antics dissuade you from picking Daphne Dubois book up!

While Only the Beginning may have all of those romance plots in it, Dubois did a wonderful job at making them all new and fresh rather than seeming old and dry. The constant change in perspective of the story line helps keep the reader in a constant state of wonder - reading to the breaking point of a change-of-events, only to have the next chapter begin from the other person’s point-of-view, and a few steps back. This constant flip-flop keeps the reader on their toes, transforming the escapades and tricks from the usual mundane to fun and flirty.

Craig and Melissa essentially meet because of an online messaging forum called Lovers’ Oasis. I feel like not many people are are logging into online forums to anonymously chat and hook-up anymore, so I did find to be a bit old and dated. (But then again, maybe that’s because I’m married, and I’m not experiencing this myself. Please tell me if I’m wrong…) But other than that dated feel to the book, I found Only the Beginning to be a pleasurable and easy romantic read that warmed the heart.

Dani's Score out of 5: 🍾🍾🍾🍾

The (Half) Truth

By Leddy Harper

Publication Date: February 19, 2019 Genre: New Adult, Contemporary, College, Romance

Synopsis:

Tatum Alexander is so close to realizing her dream of becoming a sous chef she can taste it, but working at her ex-fiancé’s restaurant with his new girlfriend was never in her career plan. To save face and prove she’s moved on, Tatum cooks up a lie that she’s in a relationship with her best friend’s superhot cousin. There’s just one problem: Jason only recently moved to town, and he has no idea they’re already “dating.”

Jason’s a recovering ladies’ man who shouldn’t be on the menu, but that doesn’t mean he’s immune to Tatum’s quirky charm. Giving her lie a kernel of truth, they decide some no-strings-attached fun between the sheets can’t hurt. But as Tatum’s forced to keep making up stories to cover her original fib, she has a hard time separating what’s real and what’s fake—including her feelings for Jason.

With too many tales spun, Tatum can only watch in horror as her collection of yarns begins to unravel, leaving everyone she cares about feeling betrayed. After so many lies, will it be too late to set the record straight? And more importantly, will she be able to convince Jason there’s truth in their love?

Purchase:

Amazon / B&N / IndieBound

Review:

Leddy Harper’s The (Half) Truth is a great read! It’s fun and quirky, awkward and romantic. By far one of my favorite (fun) romances I’ve read.

Harper has a way with picturing something in her head and making you see it just as clearly in your own mind with her beautiful imagery. Adjectives are great when used in moderation, and Harper shows the curve of a smile, the grass-green sparkle of an eye, and the trail of a finger so perfectly that you can see them; you can feel them.

Tatum Alexander’s extremely awkward way of handling stress gives this love story a breath of fresh air, making all of the serious life lessons something not to stress over but to sigh and laugh at. Add in Jason Watson’s womanizing history and change of heart and you have a recipe for a zesty and flirty rom-com! Fans of the more serious romance novels will enjoy it, too, though, with it’s real life heartache and life-altering decisions. And while it’s not overly done, the sex scenes are quite hot, too!

The (Half) Truth was entertaining and delightful. I found myself staying up until 2 am, and getting up a couple hours earlier just to read before life started. I found ways to squeeze reading it into every crack of my day because I couldn't wait to find out what Tatum would get herself into next and how Jason would help her laugh it off. And I cannot suggest it enough to anyone who needs a little laughter (and spice) added to their life.

Dani's Score out of 5: 🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾

Tumble (A Dogwood Lane #1)

By Adriana Locke

Publication Date: February 26, 2019 Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Humor

Synopsis:

After being burned by her dream job in New York City, sports journalist Neely Kimber suddenly finds herself jobless and paying a long-overdue visit to her hometown in Tennessee. Her plan? Relax, reset, and head back up the corporate ladder. There’s just one unexpected step. Neely’s back in Dogwood Lane for barely a day when she sees the man she ran from nine years ago: the bad boy next door who was her first kiss, her first love, and her first heartbreak.

Devoted single dad Dane Madden knows he hurt Neely in the worst way. He’s got a lot to make up for. And as passionate as their reconnection is, it’s a lot to hope for. Having her back in his arms feels so right. But falling in love all over again with a woman who wants to live a world away is bound to go so wrong.

What’s it going to take for Neely to give him—and Dogwood Lane—just one more chance?

Purchase:

Amazon / B&N

Review:

Adriana' Locke’s Tumble is a cute southern romance with a lot of heart. But Neely Kimber and Dane Madden’s relationship reminded me a lot of Melanie and Jake’s relationship from Reese Witherspoon’s rom-com Sweet Home Alabama though.

While Neely and Dane aren’t husband and wife like Melanie and Jake, you still have a girl form NYC returning to her southern home and falling for her ex all over again. Granted Locke’s story involves a child, while Witherspoon’s did not, the similarities between the two stories felt too close for me to really feel like I was reading something new, and that was disappointing. What was even more disappointing for me was the fact that Tumble was so highly anticipated for the romance community, that I became very excited for it, but was let down in the end.

I won’t say that Locke’s story isn’t good, because it is. She writes extremely well and knows how to tell a story with beautiful imagery. Her characters were deeply developed, and played off of one another very well. Overall, the story of Neely and Dane is a good one, I just wish it would have been a little more unique.

Dani's Score out of 5: 🍾🍾🍾

Good Riddance

By Elinor Lipman

Publication Date: February 5, 2019 Genre: Women’s Fiction, Romance, Humor

Synopsis:

The delightful new romantic comedy from Elinor Lipman, in which one woman’s trash becomes another woman’s treasure, with deliriously entertaining results.

Daphne Maritch doesn't quite know what to make of the heavily annotated high school yearbook she inherits from her mother, who held this relic dear. Too dear. The late June Winter Maritch was the teacher to whom the class of '68 had dedicated its yearbook, and in turn she went on to attend every reunion, scribbling notes and observations after each one—not always charitably—and noting who overstepped boundaries of many kinds.

In a fit of decluttering (the yearbook did not, Daphne concluded, "spark joy"), she discards it when she moves to a small New York City apartment. But when it's found in the recycling bin by a busybody neighbor/documentary filmmaker, the yearbook's mysteries—not to mention her own family's—take on a whole new urgency, and Daphne finds herself entangled in a series of events both poignant and absurd.

Good Riddance is a pitch-perfect, whip-smart new novel from an "enchanting, infinitely witty yet serious, exceptionally intelligent, wholly original, and Austen-like stylist" (Washington Post).

Goodreads

Purchase:

Amazon / B&N / BAM / Kobo / Google Play / IndieBound

Review:

Good Riddance is one of those books that I can see being turned into a movie. Mae Whitman would play the part of Daphne, the MC. Rebel Wilson, the part of crazy-neighbor, Geneva. And Lucas Till would play the role of Jeremy? I don’t know, I’m still questioning the male lead role, but the ladies I could see playing these roles as plain as day, as if the parts were written for them. And seeing how (it seems) that author Elinor Lipman is such a big fan of the TV show Riverdale, I can see why she would want to write something that would maybe, eventually make it to the screen.

SIDE RANT: On the Riverdale note, I, too, am a fan of the show. I both liked and disliked the constant mention of the show and it’s characters, but for the life of me, I couldn’t place “Timmy” at all. So, I’ll admit, I did totally IMDB the show, looking for a “Timmy” which does not exist, but please, if you can figure out who “Timmy” is referring to, because it’s totally going to annoy me until I re-watch every single episode until I find him. Then, maybe, I’ll have Jeremy’s actor nailed down! END SIDE RANT.

However, that being said, I don’t think this novel should be made into a movie in the slightest. While I did find myself LOL-ing several times while reading, I often found myself either bored or annoyed. Daphne was too whiny (not a reflection of Mae Whitman, FYI), and I found the dynamic between Daphne and Geneva, and Daphne and Jeremy to be very out there (both of which usually make a good movie.)

On top of that, the story of “the yearbook” in question never really comes completely to fruition, and I felt that someone like Geneva never would have given up as easily (whether if that is to finish what she started or to just badger Daphne about it.)

Last note to make about this book is that while it is classified as a “romance,” I have a very hard time classifying it as such myself. “Humorous Literature?” Yes. But “Romance?” Definitely not. Yes, there is a love interest/relationship, several actually, but not in the “Literature Romance” sense. So if you’re looking for that, this is not your book. If you’re looking for something to LOL to, then this one will give your your chuckles.

Dani's Score out of 5: 🍾🍾🍾

Pair Them All With: Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc

A fresh, juicy wine with vibrant acidity and plenty of weight and length on the palate. Ripe, tropical fruit flavor with passion fruit, melon, and grapefruit. Classic Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc aromas of lifted citrus, tropical fruit, and crushed herbs. Pairs brilliantly with fresh oysters, asparagus, lobster, or summer salads, and of course these romantic reads!

website / Facebook / Instagram

Have a book you’d like to suggest or one you’d like me to review? Please feel free to leave your comments down below.

1 note · View note