#this isn't even a complaint i'm just kinda thrown off

[honeysuckle-fic-creator]

so like was no one going to tell me Sam Riegel as Alphinaud sounds so punchable

[arcplaysgames]

This is a small complaint but I wish the game provided some subtitles for the text on the screen. I feel like I'm going to miss context on some things that would have been obvious if I could tell what things were saying.

Anyway, I think we have secured our mandatory Buddy Guy party member. In a bit he says his name is Ryuji, so I'm gonna just call him that. While walking down a creepy alleyway to get to school, they find a big imposing castle instead.

And rather than, idk, turning around and assuming they took the wrong way, these idiots go inside to ask around.

Not to be harsh but y'all deserve what's about to happen.

Captured and thrown into another goddamn motherfucking jail cell, why is Reverie's life just moving from literal jail cell to metaphorical jail cell and back again. Gee, Atlus, are you trying to tell me something? Trying to build a motif here?

So the interesting thing to me is that Ryuji literally referred to Kamoshida as the king of a castle. Might be a coincidence, might be foreshadowing. I'm gonna keep an eye out for any convenient moments like that with later dungeons.

So far, this game feels like a pond full of red herrings.

Shadow Kamoshida is ready to straight up murder Ryuji, so it's time to get our Persona on.

ALRIGHT THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN ABOUT. We went from the edgelord-but-thematically-resonant evokers to the completely pedestrian "oh imma crush a card"

to TEARING A BLOODY MASK INTO THE FACE

Give me some FUCKING drama, thank you! Also, Reverie is goaded into doing this by his persona, taunting him about sitting by helplessly, and did he regret helping that woman? Is he a punk-ass wimp? Is he gonna sit aside like a punk-ass wimp?

NAH. TEAR YOUR FACE OFF. Excellent.

okay our first persona looks a bit like a vaudevillian, but this is an improvement from The God Of Salarymen so

After a tutorial fight, we lock up ARGH PUT THAT AWAY!!!

bruh why the fuck you barefoot and pantless in the dungeon of your castle, isn't that cold? put on something, jesus.

oh shit we already got the mascot character. well, you're not as cute as Teddie, but Teddie wound up being literally one of my favorite characters in P4G so I have high hopes already.

all persona protagonists are cat people, fucking excellent.

oh okay not a cat. what appellation would you prefer?

THE NOT-CAT HAS A PERSONA

THE NOT-CAT HAS THE PERSONA ZORRO

SURE OKAY

After another tutorial fight, Morgana The Not-A-Cat-Thanks tells me to use some items to increase my HP and what is this. what is this menu. oh my god.

I wanna call it "maximalist" but that term doesn't even seem adequate enough, what the fuck is beyond maximalism? Fuck me. It's not just the stark colors, it's not just the overuse of fonts, it's not just the way everything kinda bounces and jiggles, it's not just the hard contrasts and color inversions.

covers eyes with a hand

okay moving on, Morgana helps Reverie and Ryoji-- GODDAMMIT that is the fourth time I have made that typo. Ryuji, Morgana helps them escape the castle but claims to have unfinished business and remains themself.

Already, I am eyeing Ryuji and taking stock. He seems like a nice dude but not very quick on the update. Most of his lines so far are going "what is this, what is happening, someone esplain pls" where Junpei and Yosuke would be trying to hazard a few guesses about wtf is happening. Try to keep up, Ryuji, there's a lot of game to come and we need someone to puzzle through mechanics.

thanks, Siri.

We're out of the weird castle, but the worst thing ever has happened: we're late for our first day of school.

I mean, Sae, I would assume it was because the violations. "Here is some of the horrible things he did, anyway, why'd you attack him" like come on, you're a detective or prosecutor or something right.

anyway after the mandatory transfer student intro, YO WHAT IS UP WITH THIS KID? WHY IS A KID WHO IS CLEARLY INJURED JUST SITTING HERE? WHY ARE THEY "WELL-BEHAVED"

what the fuck is with this school, do they employ corporal punishment and this kid accidentally dropped his pencil during quiet time, what the fuck

okay it's late, goodnight. i'm going to sleep and dream of a place where people aren't jerks. it's called Iwatodai.

[itstimetodrew]

Can we get more NWH Goblin thoughts?

Can you?? CAN YOU???

yeah I always want to talk about him :)

I guess I will just...expand on my feelings of why I do and don't like him in the movie lol

SO!! I think there's a big difference between a choice being "out of character" versus a choice just being a different path for a character. I think his character makes sense, it's just less compelling to me personally. The conflict for him in the new movie is cool because it's about him (Normie hehe) realizing he doesn't have any say in this partnership. It's gone too far but he can't stop it. The thing he thought would help him gain control has instead taken it from him. Sad!

The downside to that though is now the movie just takes a black-and-white approach to 'Norman is good and the Goblin is bad' which is just...idk it's boring for me, sorry. Like I don't disagree with the themes that everyone deserves help, and even if you offer help that doesn't mean they will accept it or go along with what you think is right for them. But this is also where the complaints pop up from people who think this movie is too sympathetic about a power-hungry guy who makes his money off supplying weapons to the military and like...they aren't wrong lol

And while I like that whole 'out of control' aspect, him not having any personal stakes isn't as interesting. Like okay sure, he wants power, but why here? The MCU world is so much larger, he's a small fish in a big pond now instead of a big fish in the small pond that his original world is. Like I guess to try and fix it a bit you could have Norman/Goblin trying to get home because he wants to bring that tech back to his world where he'd get an even stronger foothold with it. Could further complicate the conflict of some villains wanting to go back while others want to stay...idk

And the family aspect isn't there either. A lot of OG Norman/Goblin's fixation on Peter/Spider-Man is out of misplaced paternal feelings be he has an actual son right there that he's ignoring lmao. I think one issue with the handling of multiverse stuff in these movies is they try to take a shortcut of 'well they're enemies because they're Spider-Man and the Green Goblin' but I need more! They just kinda keep the theme of Goblin trying to be an influence on New Peter without that underlying relationship to explain why it would even matter to him. I won't discount the justification of 'it doesn't have to make sense, he's being irrational' because sure, I do love a 'because I want to' self-sabotaging villain, but it's still a pretty half-assed excuse 😭

On that note, another drawback I see with the trend of franchises bringing back old characters is that they have to straddle a line of reminding viewers of The Thing Before but not being SO prominent they overshadow The Thing Now (imo this also happened with Pokemon at the end rip). It usually leaves the targeted fans coming back for nostalgia still unsatisfied anyway. Some reference is thrown out, or there's a hint of some interesting new take on an old idea, but that isn't what they're trying to market right now so it's not pursued. I'm still annoyed we got a fight scene of OG Spider-Man vs Green Goblin to the filming stage but by the final movie it's cut and they don't exchange a single word. 😒 The defense I usually see is 'that would be too much fanservice, move on from those characters' as if this isn't Fanservice: We Know You Can't Move on From These Characters - The Movie smh (and we had time for that stupid meme line AGH!)

OKAY now I'm complaining too much uhhh more good things lol I like his new little junk food habit. That's cute! :3 This would have killed in 2013...memes of this dude with little donuts and burritos everywhere...I want to see this self-important man asking high schoolers to explain what a crunchwrap supreme is and then making himself sick after downing 4 back-to-back. AND THE DILF SHIP!!! Yeah. Yeah that was an excellent development. I love their dynamic of 'SHUT UP I HATE YOU I HOPE YOU DIE AGAIN 🤬' vs 'huh??🥺..I thought we were friends...😢💔' swapping sides. It made me write like 30 years of lore in my head for them... 😔 (<- me, burdened and crazed with copious old man yaoi thoughts and lore for comic book movies)

Long story short he's gonna be the same case as my other favorite characters. Wish he was getting new material. Except I don't wish that because I don't think it would be very good. But I miss him so much. I will instead find satisfaction making stories in my mind and pouring over the bits of characterization I have from decades ago...my one true skill, my passion!! 💪

[ace-frog]

Okay so this is just copying down me ranting about Aikatsu cuz it has taken over my mind recently-

Within the beginning of the original series, brands were pretty important to the point Ichigo climbed a whole ass mountain just for a dress for, if I'm remembering correctly just an audition, and later on in the series Yurika was pretty down in the dumps and restored her sense of like self worth by earning her new dress for her performance

In the later seasons from what I've seen, which is the original and stars cuz I haven't gotten around to friends, planet or parade, they do still include sembalnces of the brands from time to time

However Stars is, seemingly at least, seen as the best season and/or the fan fav other than the OG. But I have my gripes with it and it ties into the whole brand importance/special one thing

And it's with two things: the Planet Wings and Yume's Specialness

First off the Planet Wings

I really didn't enjoy how these wings were seen as oh so special by everyone in the show when they had a crossover episode during the very arc with the original trio. In the original series the designer of the brand was the one who decided whether or not a coord would contain wings but like point is that they weren't special in the way Stars made them special

Rather it was a sign that the idol in question had proved themselves to that designer and had deserved to wear that specific coord and it just had made it feel so much more personal and so much more deserved in my opinion

Which why I feel like the writers had just looked at the Constellation Coords in one of the previous arcs and decided the what if instead of designers who worked hard af to create those coords we just make it magical~

I'm sorry but WHY?!?! I get that they couldn't just repeat things from the original series except they kinda can?? Like having to earn your dresses from the main person leading the brand or designing a brand of your own can be pretty intereting?? It was interesting when they did that?

Like it was such a huge part of them being idols and yet it was basically swept away except for some minor parts. Also like some thing but it's pretty cool to think about how if the show didn't just focus on the main cast we could've seen more idols wearing the same brands and who knows see some competing for the same coord? Like hell maybe it has happened because the idea isn't exactly new

But there was nothing like that from what I've remembered and I think that's just a shame

Now onto my next complaint: the whole idol aura/Yume"s specialness

AURAS WERE NEVER SPECIAL!!! They were just a measure of an idol growth or potential. The whole flashy rainbow thing Yume had was just a no from me. I'm pretty certain that at some point one of the girls from the original cast had rainbows but it wasn't seen as special

The only one who ever had that was Mizuki and that was early on in the series. Also the reason why it was considered special was because she had the same aura outside of her performances and showed how advanced of an idol she was and how good she was in general. Like that was a whole episode that we had?

Also the whole "Yume was a better singer/performer/idol". I'm sorry but that doesn't translate well when we only have visual clues that don't even make much sense to prove that

I'm certain this is just a lot of personal biases and preferences speaking but like idk it just made the original series so much more enjoyable

AND TO ADD ON BECUZ YES IM VERY SALTY

Shion deserved better!! And if you don't remember her well guess what?

THE SHOW BARELY DID EITHER? Like I am forever salty that Star Anis never included Shion from what I remembered. I found her so cool and we rarely saw things like her acting career and it felt like she was just thrown into Powa Purin Power just to complete another trio with Sakura and Otome. And the reason we were given for that was because "she wanted to focus on her acting"

Listen that is valid and all but have we ever considered ya know that being in a unit group with some of the most and the most popular idol would boost your chances even more?

Kanzaki Mizuki was literally the Starlight Quuen and current top idol from that point??

Maybe I just don't know how that industry works but it seems to me that if you are popular enough you'd probs get casted even if you weren't that qualified for a role. And guess what she would be qualified!!! Because she was like a prodigy or something and she still busted her ass off to improve her and her skills!!!

JUSTICE FOR SHION!!!

[pangtasias-atelier]

7 Contracts

Warning: This story contains fetish content, specifically male weight gain.

So I've been playing Ob/ey M/e! recently and I love the cast. Even if the game is pretty standard oto/me fare.

Did not feel like describing 7 characters appearance, especially since this was a sour of the moment thing that I'm not sure if I'll continue so here's an an image of what they look like lol.

Left to Right

Lucifer, Mammon, Leviathan, Satan, Asmodeus, Beezlebub, Belphegor.

Wg is kinda just there but not much. This was more of a silly thing

_______________

"So, any plans on fixing this?" Satan grabs his stomach, the fresh layer of pudge slotting itself in between his hands, and shakes it. "Cause last I checked, and last you checked, and last everyone else checked, that human had no ability to take advantage of our pacts," Satan vehemently spits out the last word, teeth clenching. He stares at Lucifer who merely continues to sit at his desk.

Lucifer puts his pen down, the metal utensil clacking against the wood. "I don't know how to fix this, Satan," Lucifer impassively stares back at Satan, his shoulders sagging. Lucifer puts up his hand as Satan goes to speak. "And no, I will not go to Lord Diavolo concerning this matter. Drop the issue," Lucifer the eldest and strongest, Satan bites his cheek.

"Doesn't matter if you go to Diavolo!" A new voice sounding through, Asmodeus cheerfully walks inside. Smiling, his skimpy crop top shows the noticeable bulge of his stomach, his booty shorts rising up on his ass. "The dumb human is too busy with stupid Mammon," Asmodeus puffs out his cheeks. "So I decided to see what other interesting things were happening,"

Lucifer stands up, glaring down at Asmodeus; Satan moves to the side, no longer in the way of a sudden tackle or blast of energy. "Asmodeus, explain. And quickly please,"

"Well, Diavolo made you make a pact with the human in exchange for forgetting about the whole matter of treason," Satan's eyes widen from Asmodeus' words.

"Of course, Lord Diavolo was kind enough to lighten-"

"Diavolo can discern the truth. He knew this was going to happen," Satan holds his head with his hand, staring at the floor.

"Lord Diavolo would never do such a thing!" Lucifer shouts, eyes on Satan now.

"I guess you're right," Asmodeus shrugs. "But!" He puts up a sausage finger. "We'll never know unless we ask Di-"

Satan preemptively turns around, barely flinching when he hears the crunch of the wall.

Lucifer holding Asmodeus' wrists, he pins him to the wall, a sizeable portion dented. "You are expressly forbidden to do such a thing," Asmodeus grins up at Lucifer. "Am I clear, Asmodeus,"

"Clearer than a sunny day!" Lucifer lets go of Asmodeus. "I'm sure we're all fine without any help, none of us are complaining~," Asmodeus winks at them.

"I've been complaining!" Satan denies.

"You only started once the human got bored with you," Asmodeus only slightly weaker than Satan, he dodged out of the punch thrown his way. "That's the way the cookie crumbles, sadly," Asmodeus frowns, pushing his bangs out of his eyes. "Us three don't exactly personify the best trait for what the human is doing to us," Asmodeus sighs as he rests his hand on his cheek, his other hand on his gut.

"Lucifer is pride, so it's no wonder he's still as slim as ever," Asmodeus ignores the spike of energy that surges behind him from Lucifer's glare. "You're wrath; which isn't bad but it's not good. But me! I'm lust! The human should be putty in my hands. It's not fair," Lamenting his cruel fate, Asmodeus melodramatically puts his arm to his forehead. Asmodeus turns from a hand placed on his shoulder

"Asmodeus, get out of my room," Lucifer commands, irritated. "Satan, you as well,"

"He's probably mad cause I pointed out how little time the human has spent with him," Asmodeus 'whispers' to Satan, Asmodeus barely bothering to lower his voice.

"He did form a pact last," Satan retorts back, the two grinning as they scamper out of Lucifer's room.

The door slammed shut behind them, the two look at each other.

"Well, I'm going back to the human!" Asmodeus announces, about to scamper off again before Satan grabs him by the wrist.

"I'm going too," Satan looks the other way, blushing. "And shut up, so what if I was jealous? So is everyone else in this damn house,"

"Glad you could finally admit it," Asmodeus gloats before rushing off.

Satan growls. Childish behavior expected of Asmodeus, he can't really share in his idiotic antics. Letting Asmodeus reach the human first, he follows him.

The human unaware of the two approaching demons, he simply keeps feeding Mammon.

Currently lying down, Mammon rests his head on the human's lap with his eyes closed. Gargantuan gut rising far above him, it spreads out far, his shirt too small to contain it. His pants busted at the seams, bits of his boxers are visible, Mammon's fatty thighs seeping through the tears.

Mammon lazily lifts up an arm, the effort taxing at his size, and pats his stomach. "It's great to see you appreciate how wonderful I am!" Mammon gloats, the occurrence often now. "The handsomest, smartest, intelligentest of us, I, the great Mammon," Leaving his mouth open, he closes it as the human lowers the grape vine.

"Boooring," Popping through the open door, Asmodeus frowns at the sight.

"I was thinking pathetic," Satan adds, snickering. "Stupid Mammon doesn't even know it's most handsome and most intelligent,"

"Hey!" Flailing, Mammon struggles to bring himself up, out of breath. His gut wobbles in the air as he remains stuck on his back like a turtle. "A little help here," He whimpers, lightly sweating.

Satan and Asmodeus ignore Mammon; instead, they keep their attention focused on the human who smiles at Mammon.

"You, you gotta be stronger than that!" The human's hands holding Mammon's he tugs to help him up. Mammon's gut in the way, he gives up. "Too tired, I need more food," He whines.

"Talking about nothing but food is Beezlebub's shtick," Satan rolls his eyes at Mammon's helpless state.

"He is the demon of greed; guess he went from being greedy for money to being greedy for food," Asmodeus giggles, hand brought to his lips. Walking up to Mammon, Asmodeus leans on him, digging his elbows into his stomach. "Good thing you're so dumb and left yourself helpless, cause we're taking the human for ourselves,"

"Get off of me!" Mammon continues flailing. "And like hell you will!"

"We will," Satan smiles, placing a hand on the human.

"It's supposed to be my turn," Waddling through, Leviathan struggles with the doorway, his hips getting themselves stuck. "And if you take away my turn…" Leviathan bares his teeth at them, shaking as he clenches his fists. Breaking himself free, he stands right in front of the door, blocking their means of escape. Obese, his body is pear shaped, his thighs clashing against each other as his bell shaped stomach sags halfway to his knees. In lounge-wear, his sweatpants cling to and accentuate his wide hips; his sweatshirt rests somewhat loosely on his body.

"Now Levi, just cause you're the demon of envy," Asmodeus backs away, hands up. "There's no need to be upset, besides, it was all Satan's idea!" Asmodeus hides behind Mammon.

"Hey! I'm not some inanimate object to do whatever you want!"

"Unless it's the human," Satan quips, smiling as Mammon gets red.

"He should be happy that I even offer to spend time with him, if-"

"Shut up!" Angered from hearing them talk about the human, Leviathan takes a step forward.

Satan pushes the human to Leviathan, hiding behind Mammon as well.

"What are-" Mammon ends up silenced as Satan and Asmodeus roll him over and help him stand up.

"You're stronger than Leviathan, so do something about him!" Asmodeus pushes Mammon, Mammon not even budging.

Leviathan meanwhile happily smiles at the human, his prize obtained. "I hope those brutes didn't dirty you in any way. I'd be no worse than stupid Mammon if they did,"

"That's not possible," Satan and Asmodeus reply, Leviathan agreeing.

"Do you want me to help or not?" Mammon sighing, he rests his hands on his knees. "I think I need to lie down…"

Asmodeus and Satan busy making sure Mammon doesn't quit on them, Leviathan ignores them.

"Let's go, you owe me a handmade bento just like in episode 7 of-" Leviathan bumped into, he glares behind him, tugging the human closer to himself.

"You're all too loud," Belphegor yawns, his doughy arms sagging as he lazily lifts them. Fat, he moobs bounce as he makes his way to Mammon's bed and lies down on it. Simply wearing boxers, modesty unimportant, his nearly nude body jiggles as he makes himself comfortable.

"The human is here, where's the food?" Beezlebub shows up after Belphegor, munching on pizza. Beezlebub's metabolism working against him, he remains chunky, his paunch of a stomach resting snugly in his shirt.

"Great, like we really needed sloth and gluttony here," Asmodeus murmurs to himself, talking about Belphegor and Beezlebub respectively.

"Too many people here…" Leviathan groans, clenching his teeth.

Everyone chiming in with their own complaints, the room ends up in chaos. No one paying attention, none of them notice the human chanting under his breath.

A black puff of smoke appearing catches all six of their attention. Lucifer summoned, he scoffs at seeing all of them.

"Are you all so pathetic that I need to fix your mistakes?" Lucifer grinds his teeth as their whining continues. "If you intend to act like children, then like children I'll treat you," Lucifer shouts, his voice booming throughout the room.

Everyone now quiet, they wait for him to speak.

"Everyone will get one day of the week with the human," He stomps his foot as the volume picks up. "No complaints,"

"And to end you're bickering for today, the human shall accompany me for tonight," Poofing away, Lucifer takes the human with him.

The two now alone, Lucifer lets go of them. "Don't believe that I'll prostrate myself before you like the rest of them," Heading back to his desk, paperwork from Lord Diavolo more important, Lucifer ignores the human as they leave.

Too focused on paperwork, it feels as if the human returns in mere seconds, a platter of decadent sweets in their hand.

Lucifer eyes them as they leave the platter on Lucifer's desk before leaving. Checking them for magic, he finds nothing. Sniffing a muffin, he glances to make sure no one else is in the room. Taking a small bite, he closes his eyes as the sweet chocolate melts in his mouth. Nibbling the rest of it as he continues his work, the platter ends up empty far too soon.

The day already near its end, having to wait a week to try more of the human's food sounds like an ordeal.

[tomyo]

The 10 year change of JK and Anime style

My latest watch in my quarantine marathon has been KyouSougigi, a 2011 anime that's bombastic and quirky. The world was so hyperactive, I thought it was a gainax (the trigger part) project.

But as the main character Koto had pulled out her weapon decorated with two big plush mascot straps, I was suddenly catapulted into a hyperstate of nostalgia. I never thought a phone strap would be nostalgic.

I'd like to pause a minute just to show off my beloved phone that I used at that time:

Granted, I didn't use these accessories yet. I desperately wanted anime phone straps since 2005 but bizarrely I didn't get one until 2011 when my pucho included a small dragonfruit character who didn't make it very long. However, in 2012, I was a new city living college student with no limitations and I. Went. Ham. Fake food, squishy bread, and stuffed plush, I had it all. My phone was now properly twice it's weight in charms. I was living to the then dream of every JK Gal wannabe.

The world changes so unexpectedly in only 7 or 8 years.

Life does, that's not a boomer complaint. But the 180 in Japanase High Schoolers is something I don't think an 18 year old me would have considered. The image I had grown alongside was that of was short skirts, bleached hair, tons of accessories, bright colors, cardigans, long statement nails and as previously talked about, excessively decorated (flip) phones. Excessive is a good word for it. Even though the looming influence of smartphones phased away the strap loop, bags were still prime keychain holders and decoden phone cases where a trending style. Things did change with tech changes but this had been a general look for nearly 15 years. And yet, here we are now.

First of all I'd like to point out there's very few High School centric anime out right now. Especially not many in the last 3 years (albeit I refreshed myself by skimming Crunchyroll). This isn't so much that anime doesn't use high school age protagonists going into high school, but that school has little in effect of the story. The only notable example of HS anime in 2020 have been Fruits Basket, A Certain Scientific Railgun, Kaguya-Sama, and Eikouken, the first two happen to also be visually cemented in previous eras. So let's look at the other two as well as BNHA since it technically is also a school anime. Character design isn't uniform but it's pretty subdued. In all three of these, nearly every character wears their uniform to dress code standard. Out of the whole BHN cast, Bakugo is the only one to wear his uniform differently, aside from that I'd only consider Denki and Kirashina to have flashy hair. Now this isn't to say that characters don't personalize themselves but rarely is it in focal ways. Style seems to has been delagated to exclusively footwear, backpacks, and sometimes headwear. Again, no one really does a flashy design for hair. There isn't a lot of curling or dyed hair (even if it's colorful, it may still be their natural hair color) and styling is kept to simple ponytails. Every so often a character my wear an alternative pair of shoes or tights instead of knee highs but the only really expression is their backpacks. In some ways that's funny because it was previously one of the uniform elements. The school standard duffle seems to have been replaced by stylish bags, something that could be overlooked depending on how often they're worn (not that often).

If I had to describe how high school life is portrayed now, it's mature. Minimalism is, well, a big thing. When I see JK life, it tends to have a clean look, class president like almost, the appeal seems to be a contrast in the white of the blouse against a dark blue or black. Shows don't seem to want to break a jewelish natural pallette. Also track, track seems really big right now in high school stories, don't ask me why. I think another part of this is that the shoujo norm of light hearted stories focused on fashion and boyfriends seems to now be more about bittersweet dramas. The full blown pastel romantic comedy has a lot of niche focus, wotakei for example. Where naming all the 'I'm a high school girl with one major quirk and this is my wild romance with my boyfriend with wacky hijinks and extreme reactions' shows would be hard to do during the era I was in high school, it's hard to think of many now.

In a similar way, I feel the atmosphere of animation has evolved. Let me start by saying anime is gorgeous now. Backgrounds are paintings, sakuga is everywhere and it's been so long since wispy hair detail meant garrish lines. That being said, my one boomer comment is maybe that it's too good. The statement that "Anime looks amazing but also seems to always be in the same style." could be applied to both ends of the 2010s. Kyoto animation had been the studio, popularizing school girls doing cute things, their style of moe character design, and a style of referential that had to be seen (this also was something brought to further focus by makoto shinkai). Anime almost seemed to suddenly elevate with more carefully drawn backgrounds and honed use of lighting effects. After effects in the digital of anime used to go absolutely unused or where extremely forefront. You can really feel the differences in series like Toradora, Gurren Laggan, Anohana. They were just so polished. Unfortunately, we kept trying to polish. Every major series sans shonen has gone deep into polish but it's removed a lot of the edges in the process. Fruits Basket had a distinctive style that was kept through to it's first anime but is completely gone in the remake for something that's more generic.

I'm applying some tunnel vision to this but anime has veered more mature and graceful. Like the inverse of the JK girl from the flashy gal look to the mature and uniform, anime has flipped from bombastic and expressive to gorgeous but retrained. It wasn't just the plush straps that was so nostalgic in Kyousougiga (remember when this was the whole point?) But the cartoonish designs and secure personality of the characters. It's hard to fully put my finger fully on what it is but that loud personality doesn't seem to be around much anymore. The spectrum seems stuck to very distinct flavours of Deep Introspection or Comedic Dumbassery in terms of personality. The majority of the former can almost be stressful, the character is almost always troubled by the state of their situation. The early 2010s almost felt unburdened in their burdens. For instance, Koto is trapped in a magical world, all she wants is to get home and the world is kinda hostile to her. Even still, she is smiling, goofing, and even has a friendly relationship with her foes. It's a 'This sucks!' not as much as 'This isn't good..'. Studio Trigger, the part of Gainax that popularized that rouge-ish goofy cast has been somewhat of the only one to keep that up. Even then they lost that energy a little bit with Kiznaiver and Darling in the Franxx. Of course, this is also all processed through my experience now as an adult who has a lot more concerns. The taste of nostalgia is so sweet, I can almost feel youth flow back into me at the sight of a feature phone. Even as I try to finish this long detour from my anime watch, the urge to recapture that feeling of being 17 is a powerful drug. Its a mixture of a lot of senses, the feeling of wearing my mock school uniform and using a big purse like a school duffle, learning pixiv, becoming a little more stylish but still keeping an eye on Japanese fashion, becoming a little more independent and active in my interests, and the untroubled comfort of my desires. It's funny that 17, a defining year in my life, happens to be the same year this came out. All in that year, I took piano classes, learned how to use a DSLR camera, started to cosplay, and began to learn Japanese. It was the year I stopped being an outcast without trying to be someone, the year I saw my first concert, the year I learned about Boba and BB cream, the year I was really infatuated with this guy but probably also my female friend, the year I became to determined to get dual citizenship (goodbye to that chance), the year I started on tumblr, it was just a year that I knew who I wanted to be. I've actually come near around to that feeling again recently so I won't let the nostalgia haunt me too much. But man, I'm really for late 00s fashion to come back. I want the cute accessories back, the cheesy photos you'd take and share for fun, and for thrown together looks.