#they adapted them in a realistic and thoughtful manner imo

[natandacat]

Claudia talking to Louis while he's having sex with Lestat is still making me insane. How to better represent the complete absence of appropriate boundaries in rue royale. We all laugh at claudia' "two blood fat cocks" comment in s2 but in s1 she was fully having a conversation about how to kill lestat while he was balls deep in Louis. It's just another example of how enmeshed she is in Louis' sexual life despite his efforts to fulfill his protective roll at first (he's righteously upset at Lestat for first crossing that line by bringing her to the cruising spot to hunt and therefore being directly responsible for her sexual awakening).

Claudia's accusatory "which one of you is gonna fuck me" is not just a provocation, it's a sobbering and factually true assessment of her situation. The only times she explores sexuality outside of Louis' relationships (first with Lestat then with Armand), she is severely punished (first emotionally by lestat for Charlie's death then lethally by armand and the coven for the making of Madeleine). In her inability to make a companion or to control herself with humans, she fully depends on Louis for either direct sexual connection (talking to him while he's having sex with lestat or witnessing his fantasies of armand) or for the making of a sexual companion that she can safely engage with sexually (we see that she fears her lack of control around Madeleine's menstruation).

Incestuous dynamics truly are a product of isolation and lack of oversight that plague the nuclear family especially when they are as marginalized as the rue royale (a mixed race vampiric queer family) and later on claudia and louis as a single unit (codependent trauma bonded parent/child duo).

L'enfer c'est les autres, I'd even add l'enfer c'est la famille

[mist-the-wannabe-linguist]

Watched the How to Train Your Dragon live action back to back with the original movie, here are my thoughts

(Warning, there is a lot of them)

Its better than the other adaptations but it isn't good as a movie imo The "dragons have been a problem in the entire world so we gathered all the best warriors and took the fight closer to their nest" is just. weird and imo defeats the point of the original where it was about both vikings and dragons just trying to survive. Not to mention the movie kinda contradicts itself, as Hiccup in the intro says "we have a problem with pests, while elsewhere they have mosquitoes or rats, we have dragons" and only a couple minutes later we learn that dragons are a problem everywhere in the world?

The main characters are very unlikable. Snotlout was the best of the kid characters, the others were more like a blander version of themselves. Astrid, rather than being disinterested in the antics of all the other kids and being much more mature and laser-focused on protecting her village, is now the leader of the bullies and therefore a bully herself, not just to Hiccup but on the other kids as well. Hiccup himself lacks the sarcasm and theatrical mannerisms (which is clearly a coping mechanism against the lack of respect he receives) but with the same lines spoken without that tone he comes off as whiny and entitled.

Another issue is that no one admits to their mistakes. In the "ok I will let you train in the dragonslayer arena), in LA they try to expand the argument and go more in depth, they have Hiccup talk more about his lack of confidence which tbh came off rather whiny, but the bigger issue was that Stoick was visibly listening and concerned for Hiccup and trying to boost his confidence. In the original the point of the argument was to show that Stoick is not listening to Hiccup at all, he's just acting based on what Gobber told him, because he doesn't respect Hiccup. At the end of Romantic Flight, Astrid doesn't say "alright, I admit, this is amazing. he (Toothless) is amazing." There is a moment of peaceful silence and only after that she reminds Hiccup he still needs to kill a dragon in a concerned manner. In the new one, in a rather condescending manner she says "alright you proved your point but that changes nothing about the fact we are at war and you have to kill a dragon, and keeps on arguing with Hiccup, once again trying to prove him right and come out on top. During the battle with the Red Death, after saving Hiccup and Toothless out of the water, Stoick doesn't apologize for everything (not only motivated by his treatment of Hiccup but also the massive loses they visibly suffered in the battle which led to an extremely clear realization of his mistakes not just as a father but as a chief), he merely says "I was just trying to protect you". (and with Hiccup replying "I know, and now I'm returning the favor" it pretty much just kills the theme of father-son conflict completely)

To return to Astrid for a moment, her behavior in the movie would be somewhat improved if the unnecessary subplot of Snotlout's daddy issues (I know he has them canonically in the series but here it didn't work, as he wasn't trying all that hard in the arena to impress his father) was given to Astrid instead, with her bullying and her need to be right at any cost was the result of her parents being the same way (which could add an extra layer of bonding between her and Hiccup with them both having problems with their parents)

The costumes in the movie all felt kinda cheap, the addition of a hood to Hiccup's tunic made him look much too modern and out of place, while the other viking characters (most notably the kids) had costumes in a more cartoonish style, which however just made them look cheap and unfitting for the otherwise realistic vibe they were trying to go for.

The dragons were decent, I liked the Monstrous Nightmare's more regal elegant vibe though I greatly missed the lizardlike slitheriness of the original, and the iridescence on the Nadder was awesome. Toothless however, I'm extremely unsatisfied with. His body is too short and his legs too long which takes away from his aerodynamic sleekness and makes him look awkward. His face is too much like his design in the third movie, his eyes are too close together so certain expressions make him too human and sink him into the uncanny valley. His wing shape was changed from a realistic falcon- or plane-like shape in the original to something more resembling the dragons in Game Of Thrones (which again defeats the point of Toothless being perfectly evolved for flight and speed). His movements are too gummy, his tail flails around as if it was boneless, even in flight where it's meant to be rigid and visibly serve like a plane's rudder. Overall he entirely lacks the rigidity and the tiny extra movements of the wings that show Toothless reacting to the wind currents and adjusting his flight accordingly in the original. One big example - in the original, in the New Tail scene, where Hiccup is on the tail and pulls the prosthetic to steer Toothless back to the forest hollow, we clearly see that the movement of the tail progressively makes the whole dragon move. This effect was lost in the LA due to how unrealistically fluid Toothless was.

(Another case was during Downed Dragon where Toothless crashes into the rock while he tries to fly, in the LA it looks more like he was flung by something else like a Skyrim ragdoll. And then during his attempts at flight in the hollow he for whatever reason flaps his wings out of sync which defeats the point of him being an excellent flyer and only struggling due to the damage to his tail)

Flight overall was a massive issue for me in the movie especially since it's meant to be a big part of the selling point. In the original you could clearly see the sheer amount of research that went into the flight physics and how Toothless would behave against the wind currents (you can even see his prosthetic tailfin flutter about in a different manner than his real one) and all of this is lost in the LA, again because the model was just too fluid

The lighting ruined some of the scenes, namely the one where Hiccup shoots Toothless down at the beginning. In the original, the sky is pitch black, making Toothless completely invisible, necessitating Hiccup shooting at the precise moment where Toothless flies around the burning catapult, which completely falls apart in the new one because we can very clearly see Toothless against the sky. Because the night was also so bright, all the other dragons were also too visible, taking away from them being this unseen danger only visible in firelight or when they fall to the ground. Another case is during Downed Dragon where the atmospheric fog that made Toothless look like a living shadow and added to his fear factor is entirely gone and replaced by bright sunlight. Lighting in the original had a purpose which in many scenes was now gone.

The editing and scene cuts were literally driving me insane. The most offensive example was Romantic Flight. In the original we are treated to a more scenic shot of Toothless which switches to a close-up of Astrid's terrified and progressively more awestruck face as the camera slowly zooms out onto Toothless and into a wide scenic shot of them flying through the sky. In LA there is instead an awkwardly long scenic shot of Toothless flying over the mountains, then it cuts to a close-up Astrid for about half a second (I was barely able to process what I'm looking at before it cut away again) and into another distant scenic shot.

For the entirety of the movie the camera lingered on some scenes for too long or cut away too quickly. You did not have a clear beginning of movement carry over through a scene cut into the next. During Forbidden Friendship when Hiccup tries to walk through Toothless's drawing, in the original the camera moves around with him, consistently spinning about to emphasize the chaotic movement Hiccup finds himself in. In the LA, it spins with him, then cuts to a more distant still shot of him and Toothless which rips you out of the dynamicness of the scene and then cuts back to a close-up of Hiccup and moves about once again. During Test Drive there was way too much camera shake and movement for the first half which greatly weakened the hectic feeling of the second half as they fly through the rocks because there is barely any change to how the camera moves in comparison

The entire movie overall greatly suffered from ignoring "less is more". Some dialogues were drawn out and explanations were inserted where just the expressions and body language of characters would have had more weight. Toothless moved too much and was too fluid. Certain behaviors of some characters were emphasized to a point where they came off as odd. The camera focused on the dragons too much, especially with Toothless, which again led to awkward scene cuts. Overall, the movie felt as if it refused to have a quiet scene where nothing happens, or have even just one extra second inbetween the actions of characters to give them weight. I often felt like I'm being held by the hand and told things I could easily figure out on my own

Gerard Butler had visibly a great time playing Stoick, I liked the sheep at the beginning being instead a fake sheep to set off an alarm at the beginning, and dandelions making dragons sneeze rather than grass being like catnip to them made more sense (EDIT: apparently the grass was meant to be dragon nip tho I never realized because in the first movie it just looked like grass. if they paid attention to their own lore they could've simply fixed this issue from the first movie rather than replacing it). I liked Toothless straight up smacking Hookfang in the face to make him back away into the cage, that was neat. But overall I strongly did not enjoy the movie. The minor flaws kept on piling up and up and the clearly visible effort put into the original was thoroughly lacking. There were glaring filmmaking issues in editing (oh and I haven't mentioned that I never registered a moment where the music was in sync with what was happening onscreen)

Oh and they removed the scene with the Terrible Terrors where Hiccup learns that dragons aren't fireproof on the inside which lets him defeat the Red Death. I've seen a behind the scenes explanation that they felt it added unnecessary runtime to the movie which is just disappointing that they removed an important scene in favor of unnecessarily padding out much less significant ones

I am not rating the movie in relation to other live action adaptations of other movies, the fact that this is considered the best one in the recent trend is in itself deeply sad and makes me concerned for the future of filmmaking as a whole As an adaptation of the original, it merely emphasized what was great about the first movie by being deeply lacking in contrast

[theonethatwatchesalotofshows]

Ranking every Teen Drama I have ever watched

(Updated)

The Secret Life of the American Teenager

+ young Shailene Woodley and Molly Ringwald I guess

- everything else. Even Shailene Woodley's and Molly Ringwald's performances weren't that great because the writing is just oh so bad. The background music is bland and repetative and it sounds like out of some teenager's YouTube chanel. The plotlines are ridiculous and convoluted, which isn't neccessarily such a bad thing, because it is a teen drama show after all, the problem is the show seems to take itself too seriously. Other entries on this list also have ridiculously convoluted plotlines, but I'm ranking them highed because they don't take themselves too seriously and don't claim to be realistic like this show does. Seriously, from the title it suggests like this was going to be a real, uncensored look into high school but it's the furthest thing from it. Not to mention how problematic it is- God forbid someone suggests that a 14-year-old pregnant girl gets an abortion or gives the baby up for adoption without being seen as a terrible and despicable person.

Otp: Marc Molina x a job somewhere far, far away from these kids

Notps: every single pairing on this show

Best moment: literally none

Weirdest moment: "I'm such a whore!" "Well, you're my whore." What were the writers thinking??? Was this supposed to be romantic??

We Children From Zoo Station

+the aesthetic, the casting of Christiane, Detlef and Axel

-this was such a letdown. Honestly I was so hyped for it after seeing the trailer since I've read the book and didn't particularly like the movie- I feel like it's hard to fit all of Christiane's story into 90 minutes. That's why I was so excited about this show. Christiane's story covers so much, so it's easier to make it into a TV show when you don't want to ommit anything and butcher the story. But they somehow managed to do it anyway. They changed so much for no reason and completely erased Christiane's childhood trauma, which was important in the book. Now, I know you can say that it's just a loose adaptation, so it doesn't have to follow the book word for word. But I feel like if you already decided to tell her- a real person's story- you should at least do it authentically. Imo they shouldn't have tried to make the setting vague. It worked with Sex Education because the story of Sex Education is timeless. However, Christiane's story is not timeless. It's a true story set in the 1970s. If they were making a new show from scratch, I would have liked it. But this is an already existing story and they’re supposed to be just retelling it. My last issue is a nit pick but I wish the actresses playing Stella and Babsi were reversed. It just would've fit better.

Otps: all those kids x sobriety

Notp: Christiane x Detlef

Best moment: Christiane's first time in Sound was pretty true to the book

Weirdest moment: when Detlef became a gigolo because he needed money for his dog. Who tf thought of that?

Pretty Little Liars

+ makeup, style, the theme song, the drama and mystery that always kept me guessing, the cliffhangers at the end of each episode that made it so addictive, Emily's coming out story, Hanna and Spencer had some good lines

- the mishandling of some serious issues (namely eating disorders), romantization of student-teacher relationship, the timeline not making much sense, these writers seem to put more thought into the characters' outfits than the storylines

Otps: Emily x Maya, Hanna x Caleb

Notp: Ezria

Best moment: Hanna and Caleb in the shower (the sexual tension was cuttable with a knife)

Weirdest moments: Aria asking Ezra out in the middle of a make-up test (it was supposed to be cute but it was just cringy), Spencer trying to block A's text messages on a laptop, in the middle of a park (what? Spencer, you were supposed to be the smart one!)

One Tree Hill

+ Brooke, the theme song, Chad Michael Murray

- the casual drinking and driving (I mean seriously these kids play a drinking game at a party and then casually hop into a car and drive home??), too much basketball and cheerleading (that's not a bad thing per se but I just don't really care about neither of these things), it just seems too stereotypical and kinda bland?? I couldn't really get into it

Otp: Naley

Notp: Peyton x Nathan

Best moment: Naley by the dock

Weirdest moment: "I guess I'm just a riddle, wrapped in a mystery inside a bitch." It's not really a bad moment but a cringy line. I guess the writers though they were being clever but it just sounded bad.

Dawson's Creek

+ the clothes, the 90s aesthetic, the 90s soundtrack, many movie references, Pacey is a sweetheart, Jen is a feminist icon, dealing with mental health issues through Andie (it's rare to see in shows as old as this)

- the slutshaming of Jen really hasn't aged well, the storyline of Pacey being statury raped by his much older teacher was mishandled (it was either treated as scandalous, cool or in Andie’s case somehow shameful), same goes for Jen’s backstory- it was mentioned she was raped at 12 by an older man and then never brought up again, Dawson is the most unlikable protagonist ever and his friendship/relationship with Joey is codependent and possessive, the dialogue is sometimes pretentious and unrealistic, the timeline doesn't really add up- I can never tell what time of the year it's supposed to be, because it looks like it's always fall for some reason. And how did they sophomore year have two homecomings?

Otps: Pacey x Andie, Pacey x Joey (yes, both at the same time)

Notp: Dawson x Joey

Best moments: Jen helping Joey when that jerk was spreading rumours about her and then Jen and Joey locking Abby in the closet together (I love it when they stick together instead of tearing each other down), Pacey and Joey bickering

Weirdest moments: when Joey was upset because Dawson didn’t want to tell her how often he “walks his dog”, when Jen was about to have a treesome at a party and Dawson walked into the room and carried her out despite her kicking and screaming

Glee

+ funny, Sue Sylvester's iconic, great covers and a way to find new songs, the performances are aesthetically pleasing, lgbtq+ representation, tackling of serious issues, coming out story, a father who’s accepting of his son’s sexuality right away despite not really understanding it (it’s so rare to see, that’s why it’s so refreshing), the plotlines are ridiculous but at least the show doesn't take itself too seriously

-as I already said the 1st season was great but after that it just seemed like the writers made up a checklist of hard issues they should tackle and tried to tackle every single one of them while covering every single song and it just fell flat. Prime example- Quinn ending up in a wheelchair getting into a car crash to warn us from drinking and driving, singing I’m Still Standing and then suddenly being able to walk normally after. a few episodes Rachel and Finn got almost all songs, while other characters were criminally underrated and underused (Tina, Quinn, Mercedes). The teachers are questionable to put it mildly. Cringy moments- Finn singing You're Having My Baby to Quinn in front of her parents when it wasn't even his baby! Also no one except of Kurt looks like they could be in high school. And why are these cheerleaders wearing their uniforms 24/7??

Otps: Brittana, Sam x Quinn, Tina x Artie (unpopular opinion, I know), Mr Schue x unemployment

Notp: Quinn x Finn

Best moments: Quinn giving birth to Bohemian Rhapsody

Weirdest moment: Rachel's gross and painfully awkward crush on Mr Schue, Mr Schue joining the Glee club on the stage for a performance of Toxic and girls in the audience cat calling him (Ewww)

Euphoria

+ Zendaya's and Jacob Elordi's performances, tackling of serious issues such as drug addiction and overdose, anxiety and depression, abusive relationships and abortion in a better manner than most (if not all) teen dramas, the aesthetics, makeup and wardrobe, the musical number in the finale, the special episodes giving us insight into the characters' psychology, toxic relationships not being romanticized (which is sadly rare), teenagers sounding like actual real life teens (no "I reject reality" crap)

- lack of comic relief (why so serious all the time), sexualization of teen characters (I know this is something many teen dramas are guilty of but it's the most evident here), too much nudity (I know some of you are going to come at me with: "But it's realistic!" So what? It is realitic that teenagers get naked when they go into shower but does it mean we have to see it?? It seems to me like this show is trying too hard to be "boundary pushing" at times and ends up being scandalous just for the sake of being scandalous), these characters just aren't believable as high school juniors to me (they sound like high schoolers but they certainly don’t act, look or dress that way). There's no reason this show couldn't have been set in college.

Otps: Rue x sobriety, Nate x prison

Notps: Nate x Maddy, Cassie x McKay

Best moments: "You did this to me!" and the musical number in the season 1 finale

Weirdest moment: the fact that Maddy lost her virginity at 14 to a 40-year-old man being mentioned so casually because apparently she was "totally in control". Excuse me what??

Skins

+ style and makeup- each character has a signature trademark (Sid and his beanie, Effy's eyeliner, Cassie's soft eyeshadow), their British accents, I'm pretty sure this is the only teen drama that follows multiple classes, teenage characters being played by actual teen actors, the characters looking like average people you meet in high school and not as if they just walked off the runway, dealing with serious issues such as drug abuse, eating disorder, parental abandonment etc (yes, some people claim the show romanticized it, but I disagree. It's not the show that romanticized it- it's the fans. The show tried to portray the dangers of drugs as well as possible. Think about it- every time characters used drugs it ended in a disaster. In the pilot they thought that Cassie overdosed and ended up crashing a car while rushing into the hospital. In later season Effy hit her friend in the head with a rock because she was having a bad trip. That's not romanticizing drugs.), Effy is iconic and honestly the first episode was enough to get me hooked

- every single teacher being a creep and having a thing for a student at some point, the show can get too dark and unncessarily dramatic at times. Did that many people have to die? Did Chris's death really have to be this graphic? Timeline doesn't really add up- are 8 episodes supposed to cover the whole year? It would've made more sense if there were more episodes in a season.

Otps: Chris x Jal, Emily x Naomi

Notps: Sid x Michelle

Best moment: ooh baby it's a wild world

Weirdest moment: Chris's graphic death

The OC

+ more grounded in reality than many others on this list, the theme song, the love stories, Seth and Summer are funny, the friendships are believable and the whole group has great chemistry

- too many unneccessary fights, Luke is the worst, everyone is way too casual about drunk driving, these parents are WAAAY too chill (I know this can be said about many teen dramas but it's the most obvious here. How did the Roberts and the Coopers let two 16-year-old girls go to Mexico alone?? With no supervision?? What?)

Otps: Seth x Summer, Ryan x Marissa

Notp: Luke x Marissa

Best moments: the “oh no, there’s only one bed” in the Mexico episode, Seth and Summer's first kiss and that kiss at the yacht, Ryan and Marissa's first date by the pool

Weirdest moment: these parents letting their teenage kids go to Mexico alone. It's irresponsible when they're 16 but apparently they let them go there and party every year. What?

Gossip Girl

+ every episode having a clever title, the style, the makeup, the 00s soundtrack, the glamour of it all (it feels like reading a very gossipy magazine!), all the scandals, this show never pretends to portray the realitic teenage experience so it can pretty much be as far-fetched as it wants to and you can’t question it, it gives you a chance to live the fantasy of being super rich, living with a penthouse, riding a limo to school and going to parties in New York City every night

- the final reveal doesn't make any sense, just like with PLL these writers seemed to have put more thought into the outfits and makeup than into the plotlines, romantization of a toxic relationship, having every two straight characters date or hook up at some point, which just felt forced, mishandling of serious issues (Blair's eating disorder, Eric's suicide attempt and Serena and Jenny's sexual assault from the pilot being brought up when it's convenient but not really dealt with and brushed off at other times), sexualization of teen characters

Otps: Dan x Blair, Serena x Nate

Notps: Chuck x Blair

Best moments: the Thanksgiving flashbacks, Blair and Serena running around New York and taking selfies in stolen dresses, Nate and Serena’s first time (although it was better in the books) and then their kiss at the white party, the sheer scandal of "I killed someone", Dan giving Blair a plastic tiara to make her feel like a princess

Weirdest moments: Chuck's father returning from the death and then dying again, by yeeting himself off the roof

Freaks and Geeks

+ probably the most realistic teen drama there is, the characters dress the way I can see actual teens dressing, funny, but also heatbreaking at times, probably the only teen show that included an intersex character, the characters being a little stereotypical but self-aware at least, young James Franco and Jason Segel

- the bullying being a bit too much at times and it's a bit unrealistic that the teachers would do literally nothing about it, too short- I will never understand why this got cancelled

Otps: Daniel x Kim, Lindsay x Nick, Amy x Ken

Notps: Sam x Cindy

Best moments: Sam breaking down at the end of Garage Door, Daniel and Kim getting back together in the rain

Weirdest moment: Cindy doing a 180 and becoming super mean when she started dating Sam.

Gilmore Girls

+ so many movie, literary and music references, the quotable lines (what a great way to learn about new movies, books and bands! It’s so unique for a TV show to make you smarter), the witty banter, the comfort of the first few seasons (it really feels like wrapping a warm blanket around yourself while holding a hot cup of coffee, I can’t explain why, but it’s such a comfort show), the quirky small town with many unique festivals, many entertaining and snappy fights where everyone has a point, characters dealing with real world problems (seriously, how often do you see a storyline about termites? Or a teenager with zit cream on a teen drama show?), this is also one of the few shows where teenagers are shown to have rules and restrictions and curfews (finally some kids growing up with strict parents representation) and doing homework and studying and not just partying and drinking and having sex all the time and that’s so refreshing

- but while it is refreshing to see teenagers waiting to have sex and not doing it behind every corner, the show is kind of sex negative. Every single time a (female) character loses her virginity it ends in a disaster. Even when she loses it after she’s married! It doesn’t make any sense, unless the writers just really hated women. Also slutshaming (”I got the good kid!”) ewww. The money and budget doesn’t make much sense on the show either and the girls seem immune to calories. I know some people might come at me for this with: “But it’s just a show!” but I think it’s harmful to show beautiful, thin women eat nothing but tons of junkfood all the time and never excersize and then fatshame people who do excersize but aren’t fortunate enough to be blessed with amazing Gilmore genes, and then throw around tactless references to eating disorders.

Otps: Lane x Dave, Jess x Rory

Notps: Lane x Zach, Rory x Dean, Lorelai x Christopher

Best moments: Then She Appeared, Rory’s valedictorian speech, Lorelai’s graduation

Weirdest moment: Lorelai and Christopher getting married in Paris at 4am. That’s not how it works in Europe. Do Americans think every single Europian country works like Las Vegas, where you can just get married whenever you decide??

[sagemoderocklee]

What do you think Is the most important thing to do to not write OOC when writing fanfiction?

Oh boy, that’s a tough one. 

The first and most important thing to not writing OoC: the source material is your best friend. It doesn’t matter how good, bad, or ugly the source material is. It will be your best friend in figuring out who a character is. Sometimes, the source material fucks up real bad, of course. Sometimes the source material’s biases are ugly and gross–like the misogyny that Kishimoto exhibits in his writing. Sometimes we can look at the source and say “I like this, but that. That’s awful.” But before we can throw things out for our own purposes, we have to have a grasp on the source and how these characters behave in the source. Going back and revisiting the source is important. Even if it’s just looking at a characters wikia page. The source is your friend. Trust the source. Cherry pick later. 

Now, I think with writing fanfiction there’s a few things that you need to have a solid grasp on once we move past the source, because that’s going to shape a lot of how you write the characters: 

is this a canon or AU setting? if canon, is it canon divergent? if AU, what sort of AU? because a high school AU is very different from a post-apocalyptic AU

who’s perspective are you writing from? 

what’s the story you’re trying to tell and does it make sense for this/these character(s)? 

For example, if I was going to write a canon divergent (1) fic wherein Gaara (2) decided not to be Kazekage anymore(3)–well, I’d put the breaks on right then and there because Gaara would never choose to step down as Kazekage. It’s a defining aspect of his character–like no shade to anyone who might wanna roll with that concept, but ultimately being the Kazekage is a hugely defining aspect of his character and his journey. 

But let’s say I don’t care because I have a great idea and I think I can pull it off (and watch my dumbass literally come up with an idea for ANOTHER goddamn fic because I am That Bitch.) Well, I have a rather out of character plot line, so now I have to ask myself one of the most important questions: WHY 

Why does [character] do [x]? 

Motivation is key. 

If you’ve looked over the source enough and are feeling confident enough, you can figure out how to make sense of something that might not make sense. Understanding what motivates someone is vital to having a consistent character and pulling off something that should be OoC. 

And motivation is layered. Why a character responds the way they do can come from any number of factors whether it’s their past, their beliefs, a facet of who they are, or manipulation from outside forces.

Gaara relinquishing his title as Kazekage is so far out of left field, but if you know the character well, you can find a reason for him to give this up: outside manipulation would be what I would settle on, personally. He would only step down if he was outmaneuvered and it was in the best interest of his people. Despite the fact that Suna and its people do not deserve him and never will, imo, he loves his village. He has built his life and himself around living for others, loving others, etc. Even if someone presented him with the cold hard facts–which he already knows–and put him through therapy, and said “hey! stop being an assimilation gay! this village and its people wanted you dead when you were an infant for something that was done TO you!” it wouldn’t matter. He’s going to dig his heels in because he believes in love, because he’s an idealist, because he wants to change the world for the better, because he wants to change himself for the better. Gaara has woven being the Kazekage into the fabric of his being, so the stakes need to be incredibly high for him to give it up. 

A few other questions to ask yourself when looking over source material: 

how does this character talk?

what’s their body language usually like? 

facial expressions? 

(if it’s present) thought process? 

what outside forces might influence them and how do they react to those outside forces? 

Sometimes a character’s voice might not be super specific or easy to describe, and in that case it’s going to present a bigger challenge, but for example–and I’m just assuming you’re into Naruto because you sent me this ask, so I hope that these character examples are working for you!–Kankurou: he drawls. He doesn’t talk the way other characters do. He has a very particular speech tic, and that needs to come through in writing him. When I write him, I usually use more contractions and cut off the ‘g’ at the end of certain ‘-ing’ words. He also uses ‘ya’ more than any other character I write. He also curses a lot. His speech is super casual, which juxtaposed against Lee, who is very formal and never uses contractions, is very obvious in dialogue. When you have a chunk of rapid fire dialogue, having a distinct voice for each character is good and will really help make it clear who’s talking. Plus, sometimes the way people talk can extend to how they hold themselves–Kankurou is relaxed, kind devil-may-care. He leans on things a lot, ruffles Gaara’s hair a lot, gives people nicknames. The way he talks is a reflection of who he is. 

For characters who don’t have super distinct speech tics, it’s a little more challenging, but the question “would they actually say this?” can be helpful if you’re comfortable enough with that character. 

For instance, Gaara is not a big chatter box. He’s very straight to the point. If he wants to say something, it’s important but he’s gonna find an efficient way to say it. He’s not going to stumble over words or repeat himself. He knows what he has to say, he says it, that’s it. An example of concise speech for Gaara would be something like: (to his assistant who already knows his schedule and knows he has a meeting) “What time is my meeting?” vs “I have a meeting with the council today. What time is it?” 

Not the best example because it’s–oh boy, 1:30am and i’ve had a long day. But you get the point. For Gaara, he’s not going to over complicate what he’s saying. If he’s struggling to find words, then it’s because whatever he’s dealing with is a big deal and affecting him emotionally. Having that grasp on a character’s voice, having an understanding of how they’d realistically react also gives you the chance to show the reader instead of tell the reader what’s going on. 

For me, getting comfortable with characters is honestly one of the most important things. And getting even more comfortable with them outside of the source. Know the source, then build on top of that. Practice writing little things with the character. Practice by having them write a letter. The more you practice, the more comfortable with each character’s voice you’ll be. Same with mannerisms, facial expressions, thought processes, etc. 

And again, it always boils down to a few things: Does this make sense for this character? What’s motivating them? How do they react to things? 

Thought processes, emotional world, etc. It’s all important. 

And having the answer to these questions will help you no matter if you’re writing an AU or not. If you understand a character to the core, then you can adapt them to any setting. You can find the important parts that make the character and keep them, you can adapt defining moments in their lives, and get rid of the rest. A character with trauma based on living in a militaristic world that encourages and normalizes child soldiers can be a regular high school student or a barista at that cute corner cafe--if you know the character well. 

Anyways, having a grasp on characters is really important, but it takes a lot of time and work and a lot of checking and rechecking the source material and above all lots of practice. Hope that helps! 

[suudonym]

Every anime/manga rec so far have been great! I'm hooked on Made in Abyss rn. If its possible what are some of your other anime/manga recs?

I’m glad you’re enjoying it!! I for one am all but literally bouncing in my seat because tomorrow is friday and friday is made in abyss and I am looking forward to it

other recommendations, hmmmmm let’s see what I can come up wiiith

(genres are gonna be all over the place, sorry about that)

among anime that I eagerly looked forward to new episodes of, I’d recommend re: zero first and foremost. it’s a “normal guy ends up in an alternate fantasy world” story but it does the trope SO MUCH BETTER than the trope usually gets done. there were already like five episodes out by the time I finally gave it a try and boooyy am I glad I did because it’s just a phenomenal story, very painful, top marks from the pain-loving me

if it’s anime that I looked forward to, then I can’t not mention natsume yuujinchou. the sixth season aired last season with new episodes on tuesdays and as early as thursday I’d be like “TUESDAY IS COMING IT’S ALMOST TIME FOR NATSUME.” natsume is what I call a warm and soft anime - it just feels good to watch it. that said it is six seasons long and it’s episodic with pretty much no overarching plot (though there is some subtle and natural character development that’s just HEARTWARMING) so a lot of people find it too boring but if you don’t mind the episodic nature then it’s so… so good

speaking of warm I also greatly enjoyed amaama to inazuma and udon no kuni no kiniro kemari / poco’s udon world. I say them in the same breath because they have a LOT of similarities: yuuichi nakamura (voice of karamatsu) plays a mild-mannered guy awkwardly bumbling his way through single fatherhood to a young child. the thing that makes them very clearly different stories is that in the former the child is the main character’s four-ish-year-old daughter, his wife recently deceased, and in the latter the child is a three-ish-year-old magical shapeshifting tanuki. for amaama to inazuma there’s also an ongoing manga which I would almost be inclined to recommend over the anime (the art works a lot better imo) if not for the fact that the little girl in the anime is voiced by an actual little girl and it’s so endearing

if you like osomatsu san (and if you’re engaging with my blog it feels safe to assume that that’s the case) then I recommend handa-kun for it’s extremely relatable protagonist and general hilarity. if misunderstandings as a tool for humor is up your alley then handa-kun is the alley itself. hardly anybody watched that show and to this day I cannot understand why. (actually it’s probably because it was a prequel to the similarly underrated barakamon which I also wholeheartedly endorse. there are a few references to it in handa-kun so on one hand if you’re interested in watching barakamon it may be better to watch it first for the sake of those references but on the other hand handa-kun has a very different tone from barakamon so it may feel a bit weird watching it after barakamon unless you leave a gap in between)

another criminally underrated one is alice to zouroku. my god did I enjoy that one, it’s a found-family story featuring a young girl with extremely limited worldly experience and a grouchy old man with a heart of gold (ngl I based the explosive engineer in tata on this guy after the first episode because I was so deeply intrigued by the unusual character archetype). it goes through a few shifts in genre and leaves a looot of loose ends but imo it is SO WORTH IT for the really wonderful themes along the way

so that’s what I can come up with for recent anime, and for older/less recent anime the first thing that comes to mind is definitely steins;gate, which is pretty highly acclaimed so I’d be surprised if you’re not already familiar with it. BUT, what gets talked about much less is robotics;notes, which I also very much enjoyed. as you can tell from the semi-colon it’s by the same author as steins;gate (and I THINK, I might be wrong but I THINK it’s also the author of re: zero?) and there are parts that stick out very vividly in my mind, so vividly that I also distinctly remember sitting in the school cafe talking about these parts to a friend because holy shit

I also will never miss an opportunity to scream to the sky about hyouka because MY GOD I loved hyouka and it was so beautiful and so interesting and yes it’s kind of slow and quiet but it’s a highschool slice-of-life pseudo-mystery with a focus on characters and character development so of course it’s gonna be a bit slow and quiet. also the main character is voiced by yuuichi nakamura so, y’know, lil bonus there for those who are as deeply attached to karamatsu as I am

and! tales of the abyss. play the game if you can (it’s for ps2 and has a 3ds port) but if you can’t then the anime, while not necessarily what you might call pretty or well-animated, is an admirably faithful adaptation for being limited to two cours. the protagonist is one of the most deeply human characters with some of the most realistic and thoughtful character development I’ve seen out of anything ever and I will never stop recommending it, but do play the game first if it’s within your ability because it is, naturally, much more thorough in its storytelling and also is very rewarding by nature of being a game

back to anime that’s just anime (and boy is it anime), I’ll always enthusiastically endorse shirobako, the quintessential anime about anime, specially about anime production. I’ve heard that it was supposed to have four cours but due to scheduling conflicts it was cut down to just two and I will never know peace knowing that I could have had twice as much shirobako as what I got

and now that I’ve been through aaaaaall that how about some MANGA

there’s three right off the bat that I very very VERY highly recommend but I’ll do em one at a time for the same of organization. first, I’ve said it before and I’m still waving my arms in the general direction of the promised neverland if you’re not already reading it. if you’re more of an anime watcher than a manga reader you just wait a while and I have no doubt in my mind that an anime announcement will spring up

next, I’ve actually been wanting to recommend this one for a really long time: dungeon meshi. it’s sorta like d&d meets shokugeki no souma - a party of penniless dungeon crawlers crawl through a dungeon trying to save the main character’s sister, and because they’re penniless they cook and eat monsters. it’s CRIMINALLY funny and extremely well-illustrated and the plot has been seriously heating up lately and there aren’t nearly enough people reading this manga

and third is to you the immortal / to your eternity / fumetsu no anata he (not sure which is the more accurate translation of the title). a strange immortal rock has the power to take on the form of things that have a big impact on it, and by experiencing bigger and bigger impacts the entity gains a sense of identity and purpose, plus a whole bunch of forms that he can shift between at will. it’s by the same author who did koe no katachi (which I also highly recommend, both the movie and the manga are really really great - though the manga covers much more than the movie)

I would also recommend yotsuba& / yotsuba to but I don’t want people to think I have a type (I do have a type, it’s family themes. lay them sweet sweet family themes on me). I’m honestly really surprised that this one’s still never gotten an anime. a soft and fluffy story about a single dad raising his extremely energetic small daughter

there’s probably a loooot more, especially manga, but I have completely run out of energy and that’s a pretty extensive-feeling list as it is so I’m gonna leave it as it is for now. hope something in here piques your interest!