no y'all don't understand how much i fucking adore taryon darrington, like maybe nobody loves him as much as me. he just loves vox machina so fucking much even when he's a little bit of a dick about it. like the way that from the start he thinks keyleth is so cool and capable and powerful and obviously that's kind of a joke from sam because keyleth is a bit of a mess (affectionate) but also it's so sweet when tary sees keyleth like jump off a boat and he decides that if their fearless leader is doing it then of course he must too. and the deep, genuine love he has for doty as his first and, for a long time, only friend and how hurt he is when he dies and, even though he can rebuild him, it wouldn't be the same. and while it's always funny when tary brings up his father because sam is funny, it's also so goddamn heartbreaking how scared tary is to go home and feel like he's failed his father again. and the scene where tary tells the group about lawrence and that he couldn't possibly have a future with him because all the adventurers in stories go home to beautiful maidens not older men is just so fucking real and while it's a little funny (because once again: sam), the way the group fucking melts and assures him that none of that is true and comforts him. not to mention his friendship with vex and how much they come to love and respect each other even when tary is being such a little shit. and the way that he immediately finds a kinship in percy and clearly considers him his friend so quickly even when percy is being standoffish and falls a little in love with him even while knowing he won't do anything about it because he loves vex and percy too much. and just the development of his relationship with the whole group who he never really understands are hesitant around him at first because of how much they have their own personal shit that has nothing to do with him but they end up opening up to him and loving him so dearly. shit this ended up being a lot of rambling about tary, i just love him so much, he's one of my favourite cr characters and i never see enough love for him. when i bought a bunch of keychains from an artist at avcon and the first one i asked for was the tary they looked so surprised and happy and said "nobody ever gets taryon" and i just. guys. he means so much to me and i'm not at the end of him being with vox machina but i'm getting close and as much as i love scanlan i'm going to be so sad when he leaves <3

Some MORE Thoughts…

—I’ve actually had the hankering to do some art again after like a month, haha ^^ Taking a month hiatus from creating to refill my creative well has done me some wonders, because now I feel a lot more inspired and ready to write and draw!

—An idea that I’ve had for the last couple of days was including Dragon Tales into SRBA. My childhood lives! I love how at this point, the remastered SRBA is kinda becoming the MCU, lol—after all, I kinda have it set that the Super Readers would meet WordGirl and the characters from Santiago of the Seas, so why the heck not XD That means I’m gonna have to go back and fix the timeline again to include this.

—And in case anybody was wondering what other shows would be featured in this AU, it’s currently Santiago of the Seas, WordGirl, Dragon Tales and (possibly) Arthur. The later I put in brackets because I’m not sure how it’d work yet ^^;

—I am still working on that KonoSuba/Star Fox story, but most of it is just brainstorming fifty million ideas. I do have some cool ideas for a potential sequel starring either Slippy or Beltino. Why? Well, I wanted to challenge myself writing a character that I eventually grew to appreciate—as I wrote in the original post, Fox and Falco would fit in with KonoSuba perfectly, but it’s too obvious a choice. Putting in a happy-go-lucky mechanic with no sense of flying in a world like KonoSuba’s would be hilarious—or a mild-mannered scientist like Beltino. All I know is that either one of them would end up in Kazuma’s party, and Slippy and Aqua would butt heads because of her hatred for toads, LOL.

—2024 is not being kind to Love Livers thus far. I still think the whole “Love Live disappears but Revue Starlight is eternal” meme compilation is hilarious, though. Power creep and insane rates will not stop this game, I swear. Oh, and speaking of Revue Starlight, it’s been loving me again?? I’ve had better luck getting the 5-stars recently than I have had getting the birthday cards the last few years?! Which is good news for me, because my Wind, Moon and Space teams SUCK and I needed some better cards in order to prep for both Star Arena matches and future Trophy Roads.

—Kinda hopped back onto my Multo/Zeeter mood again, so I’ve been working on Love Language in between working on that StarFox/KonoSuba idea. I’m trying out a new writing routine, and hopefully, I can finish the first chapter sometime this year!

—Speaking of them, I was rereading my notes for that Revue Starlight inspired AU and I need to write out a post yelling about that. I literally have like six to seven pages of notes!

—Started Atelier Resleriana and it’s kinda cute! I’ve heard of the Atelier series, but never got a chance to play any of the games. But I’m liking it so far.

—Racing to get to the next few chapters of HI3rd. I’m kinda stoked for Part 2!

—And since I also got hit with the mood for it a few days ago, I’m going to be doing some in-depth notes about the Cerulean Avenger story, namely regarding the characters and what all to expect. The reason for that? It relates to the art I’m going to drop after making this post! 😁

If you were to recommend your top Fence fanfics, which ones are they and why?

(my answer became unnecessarily long, skip to the end for the one rec I do actually have)

So, this is slightly embarrassing, but. But. But. But. Not sure if you know or not but I also write fanfics for Fence. My problem is that I'm one of those fabled long fic writers and the one fic I have up goes up to 164k words. A little beast, to say the least. Took me a little over a year to write it, pretty proud of it still :')

Now. When I write for a fandom, I do not read in said fandom. That is solely to keep myself from stealing anybodys ideas by accident. You know how dreams work? Surely. You process all the information you've gathered (actively or passively) during the day and they come together in some weird short films or some strange blockbuster which you'll think was extremely alien in the morning, but on some level it of course made sense. It's your head after all.

To get back to the initial point, when I write, I don't read other people's work in that fandom, because when I brainstorm at the start of the writing process and put it all down, I have this outline, I know where I'm going, I know where I'll end up, but there's evething in between. Which, on a long fic that spans at least 130k when I start going, is a lot. And since I really don't wanna steal by accident and jumble in ideas that weren't mine, I don't read other people's fics. Different fandoms? Sure. Not Fence [the respective fandom] tho.

NOW since I'm writing these beasts, they take a while. I posted the other one in August 2022, started the year before (ergo, no fence reading during that time already) and I started my current project in--

August 2022. So yeah. I haven't read any fence fanfics since roughly three years. But I recently got over a very bad writers block and should be finished in maybe three months. Not making promises here tho don't hold me to this lol

TALKING ABOUT PROMISES - thinking back to any fics I DO remember (and since I write so much myself it's honestly just other long Fics that manage to stick in my useless sponge of a brain) is Promised Things from @applesandbannas747 (I can't get the link to work I'm so sorry, but you'll find it if you search the Fence fandom by word count over 100k on ao3, that's how I always did it) and it's one of the only fics EVER where I went back after an amount of time had passed to reread it. I think there's only one other fic that managed to make me do that, so respect to the tagged author.

Sorry I couldn't give you more than that. If anybody even bothered to read this far - I'm very much open to all fic recommendations that came out during the last 3 years lmao. Give me half a year and hopefully not another random writing idea in the shower and I should be finally able to read some good fan content soon

(please muse, fuck off. It's been years now. Visit people that need you more than I do)

hello readers!! i know it’s been about a year (oh my god????) since i’ve updated any of my series (rainfall, glass), and i just want to let you know that i definitely HAVENT forgotten about them!!

i’ve been going through some things for the last year that have taken a pretty big chunk of my life, and to be completely honest, i haven’t had the time not effort nor motivation to write. but now i do!!

no promises, but i’m going to try my best to get both the rainfall series and the glass series finished within the next month, and have the next updates posted as soon as possible.

again, im really sorry for how long i’ve been away. i honestly don’t even know if these stories still have any appeal to anyone, but nevertheless, i’ll post them. sorry to leave you all hanging for a year lol.

also, if the writing style seems a little different in the new parts, or if there’s a couple continuity errors/plot holes, please let me know!! i’m gonna reread the series to hopefully remember my intentions, but i didn’t write down full plot lines for every story, so there might be a few things i’ve forgotten that don’t make sense when compared to the rest of the series.

thank you for sticking around!! writing is my passion, and your comments really do mean the world.

all my love, all the time,

ellie xx

it’s been a while since i’ve reread the earlier chapters but i remember being a little surprised at harry not asking about james’ monsters being very feminine. i feel like his characterization would have made him raise some questions, though it does feel like the writing was always on the edge of that line of questioning. just thought i’d put this out here; not as a criticism or hate btw! just a lil random thought i had haha

helloooo!! :3c!! thank you so much for sending me this ask!! i will do my best to hopefully give you a clear answer!! LOL

i want to say that, first and foremost of all, i DO actually welcome any criticisms and critique while i'm working GOOMT!! -- so long as they are legitimate.

now it has to also be said too that (as i've written in the author's notes of the first chapter in December of 2022), those earlier chapters are very much a product of casual writing at a time where i wasn't sure where GOOMT was going to go or how long it would take me to write, or what sort of intricacies were going to be involved with the plot. i AM working on rewriting those earlier chapters, tho getting around to finishing or posting any of them is going to take A Good Long While, LOL.

but in answer to your question, the base reason is that it never occurred to Harry to ask.

the first time a monster appears is in Chapter 5: Stop Stopping, wherein a NEW monster is introduced to Silent Hill (or rather South Vale, in particular). this monster is one of my own creation and serves its own purpose, and is NOT a monster found canonically in the Silent Hill franchise.

Harry DOES ask about the monsters, and James stresses that the monster they saw wasn't "his" (James's) monster, and that from his understanding of them, the monsters are created out of Silent Hill tapping into the subconscious. they talk about that a lot, really, and Harry STILL doesn't understand it and is trying to wrap his head around it, lol. (and bless his heart 🥺🙏💖)

now the SECOND monster (technically) that appears in GOOMT is in in Chapter 10: The Pocket Travel Guide To Silent Hill. here a CANONICAL Silent Hill 2 monster makes its appearance, which is the Lying Figure. here Harry does reflect on it and how odd and oddly sexual it is, and is disgusted by it; but when he asks James if he's ever seen it before, James evades questioning and the subject is dropped. (and i also do not think Harry read the Lying Figure as something “feminine”, and saw it as more “masculine” instead.)

now it's also important to remember that James's South Vale monsters have all but gone out for a cigarette break and never returned; and it's been that way for A While, and the Lying Figure is the first CANONICAL monster that Harry has seen thus far (tho the Mannequin figures do finally show up, tho not until Chapter 43: BOGO 2/$4.) ergo, Harry has not had the opportunity to actually SEE any of James's monsters outside the ones that've already been represented - which also means that they have NOT encountered any of the SH2 nurses. (yet.) (ooooohhh~ LOL.)

again, James tells Harry that the new monster girls seen around are products of HIS (Harry's) subconscious and that he himself (James) has nothing to do with them, tho Harry does challenge him on that in a later chapter (Chapter 54: Why Can't You Just Tell Me?).

but that said, the reason why Harry isn't questioning the largely female monster population is because of the Order. Harry understands the Order is a matriarchal religion and, considering what he's learned about it and the whole ordeal with Alessa and his first visitation into Silent Hill (1), in combination with all this time he's had to process and research the Order itself, he's come to accept (or reason to himself) that the female monsters are DUE to the fact that the Order is matriarchal, and that it only makes sense to him that the monsters are going to be mostly female.

there is a lot of symbolism intertwined within the new monsters i've introduced in GOOMT, and i believe Harry understands (or assumes) that a lot of them have to represent Alessa in some way; and seeing how James insists that the new monsters are a product of Silent Hill tapping into Harry's psyche, Harry's then brought to the conclusion that they are because of the turmoil over Alessa and/or Cheryl, and how he failed to save either of them. these are only his own perceptions, of course -- but also because of those perceptions, it is why he's seen or had no reason to question at all why they're female.

and again, Harry hasn't seen the scope of James's original monsters outside of the Lying Figure and the Mannequins - and even THEN, James has never confirmed the Mannequins to be "his" monsters in the first place.

so i hope that answers your question alright!! LOL. thank you again for sending me this ask as i was HAPPY to answer it, and if you have any more questions, please lmk!! i appreciate u taking the time to ask and i hope i did well in answering it :3c!!

cheers, mate!! stay healthy and safe out there, MWAH 💖💖💖🥺🙏💖💖🥺🙏

I really must be dying or something because I wanted to go through your blog since it's been a hot minute (a couple weeks??) since I forreal read through all the posts (I was voting on the polls and keeping up with the divorce(s?)/custody battles that seemed to be happening though) so I read through all the stuff for OLD so far (lol old) and now my eyes are literally stingy and tired???? What happened to my summer endurance?? I'm about to pass out and it's only like 11pm here 😭

I'm looking forward to all the new smaus you have planned though! I finished SRN before but idk what happened my brain actually doesn't remember the last couple chapters since I think some wild stuff probably was happening at work when I read them (I didn't even have time to comment back then), so I'll probs binge reread everything I missed this weekend (hopefully). But I've been gone so long and everything moves so fast now, I feel so out of the loop 😩

This is like that one time in college when I hadn't been sleeping at my dorm for like weeks since I basically became the extra roommate at my best friend's dorm instead, and then one night I came back to get something and my roommate was having a party in our tiny room with a bunch of other people from our dorm and absolutely nobody knew who I was lmao (I found out a couple years later that people considered me the dorm cryptid; many believed I existed but people rarely saw me). Also, another morning I came back to my dorm and my roommate was nowhere to be found but there was some naked dude just waking up in her bed that wasn't her boyfriend and we both looked at each other baffled, and I think he wanted to be less awkward and introduce himself to me but instead he just asked if he should leave. And I was just like "nah it's fine," got the things I needed and peaced out, and he just went back to sleep?? Except maybe I'm the naked not-boyfriend waking up in your blog confused. Idk if that analogy made any sense.

Anyways I hope you're doing good! I know you haven't been sleeping like you should 😒 but maybe my exhausted ass can sleep more for the both of us...

-👻✌️

Welcome back G!

Oh yeah, there's been... a lot. The custody battles and divorces are most of my content now I fear, lol. You're summer endurance is officially gone.

The last couple of chapters of srn were also a bit traumatic so there's that. If you reread it, I hope you had fun!

You're a naked not-boyfriend cryptid now and honestly makes sense.

I hope you're doing good as well and the school year is treating you well so far! I know, I'm working on the sleep thing, I promise! but yes, sleep more for the both of us!

Rambling March Updates

A little bit of a fun update for this month and moving forward, since I’ve been feeling a shift in how I approach my creative work (and well, everything else too) and I feel like organizing my thoughts somewhere. It’s technically the 2nd of March, but after a mini vacation post half-marathon, I definitely feel like it’s a valid bookend to semi start at. I’m in my usual “time to overhaul my life and plans” mood so it’s fitting for that as well, like a spring cleaning for the mind!

Writing Updates:

I’m about halfway through my celebration oneshot, which is a Bellarke AU based on the winning tropes from my survey that I ran during my follower celebration. So in a sense it’s a collaborative fic which is pretty fun! I’m liking it so far, though I do feel a bit rusty writing the Bellarke again after taking a bit of a break.

If you somehow missed my excessive reblogs, I finished my longest fic ever last month (hence another writing break)! It was for Stranger Things/Hellcheer (Eddie x Chrissy) and ended up clocking in at just under 80k words. Pretty astounding and I haven’t really processed how long it is. I feel like I need to reread it just to bask in the accomplishment and to also remember what I wrote lol.

Organizing the new month means updating my word count calendar, and with it I’ll probably spend some time reworking some outlining and WIP plans. I still like most of my WIPs that are unfinished, though one or two might get axed and abandoned. But the ones I want to finish deserve a polishing up and fixed outlines so I feel more confident getting back into them! And of course, organizing some new fic ideas I have and seeing if I can prep myself into making them shorter, easier projects for the main reason I’m about to share!

The biggest reason I want to spend time narrowing down my approach and what I want to write in terms of fanfic is that I’ve finally confirmed to myself that I want to write my own original novel. The idea started bouncing around in my head and I tried to ignore. Thought about it a little longer, told my husband about it, and he enthusiastically insisted that I legitimately consider writing it. And now I can’t stop thinking about it, so I’m going to give it a go! I can’t let myself think about any goals beyond writing it, but I am excited to see how that goal can fit and how I can push myself with it and hopefully actually write it. 

Design/Visual Creative Updates:

I do want to eventually finish my Stranger Things episode gif sets. I find them incredibly relaxing to make and a nice little visual stimulation break! 

More episode posters such as this one are also something on the back burner. Mainly because I’m also considering expanding my efforts in an online shop and I think it would be cool to include them! A part of that is organizing the categories of work I want to do, as well as the very tedious element of figuring out a name for the shop so that I feel comfortable sharing it across platforms. Hopefully updates on that will come down the line by the summer!

In non-fandom thoughts, I desperately need to update my graphic design portfolio and take new headshots. It’s driving me bananas at how much I’ve stalled on that so that needs to be a priority 

I’m determined to learn how to book bind this year and turn my own fics into physical copies (also a nice tie in for my own potential novel). We’ll see how that goes––it’ll be added to my long list of physical creative projects I want to get into this year!

I’ve negotiated my current contract to being a four day work week, so I’m excited to see my schedule start to form in a way that I can maximize my time and work on more personal projects!

However all of this comes on the back of that my husband and I are officially looking to move to a new state and city! Which means there’s a buzzing amount of stress just consistently in my mind right now, which will most definitely multiple over time as we actually have to complete the process. That means I’ll probably put a lot of this all on pause later this month and into April, but I also think that moving to a bit of a slower paced lifestyle is also going to be really good for both of our goals moving forward. Very exciting and very scary at the same time as we look to start a new chapter in our lives!

Onward to updating Notion and hopefully getting some good work in today! Happy almost spring!

i've had multiple life events i've wanted to ramble about here this month because you guys deserve updates (especially my longtime friends) but i got deep into my unfinished movie reviews and i've been holding off on other long posting while i worked on that.

i got stuck on a review for disenchanted last november, and even though i went ahead and let myself (against my nature) finish reviewing other movies i watched in 2022 and posted those reviews out of order when they were done, i simultaneously also took on a massive editing project and big holiday projects all while december had more family in residence than usual and was my first holiday season after kinnie died. then january brought covid...and it's just been A Year.

but after some really hard work this month, i've finally finished my reviews! including the dreaded one for disenchanted, lol, which ended up being 5000 words long, so you might understand my struggle there.

now, after a quick reread for typos, i can finally post the few reviews i still had outstanding from 2022, and cross them off my watchlist. then i can post my updated watchlist for 2023--and i know it's a bit ridiculous to do so almost 10 months into the year? but all i care about is that i've finally unburied myself from one of the outstanding projects i've been trying to finish since november.

then, once my 2023 movie list is posted, i have more than a dozen movie reviews from this year to post! they're all done too, it just didn't make any sense to me to try and post them when i hadn't moved on to this year yet.

so, i have a lot of posts incoming. i think i'm gonna post them once an hour, so they hopefully won't be overwhelming anybody's dash. i just wanted to give a heads up and explain all that because i imagine otherwise it could be kind of confusing to start seeing me talk about watching movies last year, and having reviews show up one after the other. :)

what i will & won’t write

tw for mentions of sensitive topics! some parts are 18+!

this is written out in long form, sorry, i should’ve just done bullet points but i’m only realizing this now.

here are some of my boundaries for what i will and won’t be writing!

i’ll start off with what i will write.

so, obviously i’ll write for the characters in the masterlist type thing (i’ll make a post with a few links for my info, this’ll be going into it) i have up.

i’m up to writing angst, smut, fluff, platonic relationships, romance, and familial relationships. if i left out anything don’t be afraid to ask!

i’ll write about pregnancy, marriage, breakups, dates, anything like that.

i will write yandere stuff, but only if it’s requested. however i will say right now i am not confident in my ability to do that! i’m okay with writing about stalking and perhaps (briefly mentioned) murder within these yandere fanfics. once again, i’m not confident in my ability to, and i’m not well-versed in yandere stuff. (nor do i condone those acts irl)

i’ll write about death, whether it be of a character or the reader.

i’ll write about reader/characters having a mental illness/disorder, but only if i know the illness/disorder well enough! a list of ones i’m comfortable writing would be anxiety (social, general, etc), depression, DID/OSDD (iffy), restrictive eating disorders, ADHD, and autism. if you headcanon a character i write for having any of these, feel free to request i write something about it and i’ll most likely do it! same goes for if you’d like to request something about reader having one of them and a character’s responses to it. (“responses” may be the wrong term, sorry, hopefully you get what i mean lol)

as for smut, i have a long list of kinks i will do. i’ll usually do the more “common” ones, like choking, begging, sub/dom dynamic, spanking, spit play, cum play/eating, bondage, etc. again, if you’re unsure of if i’ll do it or not, please ask. as for the uncommon kinks.. i’ll write feet. yeah. i said it. i’ll do feet. i’ll also do knife play and pegging. i can’t think of many else but as i said feel free to ask lol.

onto things i will not write.

i will not write incest. that includes step-relationships. kaeluc is a big no no for me. don’t even think about it.

i won’t write beastiality.

i won’t write pedophilia. anyone over 18 with anyone under 18 is not something i’ll write. i’m also uncomfortable with extreme age gaps, like 18-20 with someone 30+. if you’re going to request an age gap fic, please specify the age gap and you’ll see if i will or won’t do it.

if you’re going to request a ship between two characters, please don’t let it fall under incest, pedophilia, beastiality, or anything of the sort. i also will not do immoral ships, for example, gojo x megumi or megumi x sukuna. not only is megumi a minor, but gojo is like megumi’s father. as for megumi x sukuna, i wish i didn’t have to say this, but just because yuji is also a minor, doesn’t mean sukuna is. that is a thousands upon thousands of years old man/curse. if you ship them, please do not interact with me.

i won’t write about prostitution. it’s never really been my thing and makes me uncomfortable to read or write.

i will not write about miscarriages. i feel they’re too heavy for fanfiction. (however i will mention abortion. i won’t write it either though!)

i won’t write about gang members.

i will not write about rape. the only time i will mention that is if reader/a character has trauma surrounding it, but i will not write out the act or any details of it. i will write comfort for it if that makes sense? like a character comforting/being comforted by reader if that happened to them.

i will not write sexual assault/harassment, pretty much just reread the above as for why and what i won’t/will do with it.

i won’t do brainwashing.

i won’t do anything involving bugs. especially spiders.

as for kinks, i won’t do heavy bdsm, ddlg, age play, scat, and more. if you absolutely want to i’ll write piss, but i’ll most likely decline. not unless i really see your vision.

that’s all i can think of for now, thank you! again, absolutely any questions? just ask! i’d love to answer.

Hi love, I saw that you were looking for inspo for Physics. I don't remember you promising another part to it because when I read part 5 way back it felt pretty concluded to me for a college story. So if you want to write something, maybe think of it as an extra that way you're not confined to continuing a set storyline. You can place the character two years into dating or three months into it. That was my first idea but my second, I looked up the song you're using for inspo and though I've never heard it I read the lyrics and I had sort of an angsty idea. It's mostly to do with the lyrics "I got too good at fighting chemicals, And dodging arrows I was asking for" and "Love is not an easy thing to admit". Now I don't know how they relate to the song but those lines grabbed my attention. What if you started the story in the middle of a fight that they're having? It's not a bad fight in terms of yelling and being angry with each other but they're both hurting. Maybe the reader and Harry are out somewhere but she's talking to one group and he's elsewhere in the party. And someone asks the reader about her relationship with Harry but she still feels so insecure about him being with her and how that's perceived that she downplays their relationship. And Harry just happens to hear it though the reader isn't aware. It hurts him because he really cares about her (idk whenever you set this they even shared 'I love yous' and such) but he realizes that she has been very lowkey about their relationship whenever they're with other people. I don't know if that makes sense. Anyways, eventually, they talk about it and both make good points for the way that they feel and that's why it's not a fight. There is no right or wrong here. So they feel in limbo and don't even know if they're still a couple. But using the "Love is not an easy thing to admit" line they meet in the middle and patch things up. She's finally honest about why she feels so scared of their relationship or however, you want to do it.

You don't have to take any of this but hopefully, something I've said here sparks something in your brilliant mind. If you ever want more suggestions let me know. I'm always re-reading your stuff anyway so I'm up to date. LOL 😉

Also really hoping to see that commitment idea. There's something so real about their story. And I agree with your anon their first time is gonna be quite something. 😏

Also, what is this new story "DING"? Have you already talked about its possible plot?

I hope this week is kind to you. Take care of yourself, you're too amazing not to be. -🌼

AHHHHH Hi!

This is definitely something to think about! I appreciate your thought that it seemed wrapped up. I thought so too, but I'm a slave to this site and I love to be a people pleaser. I'm happy to do a check-in though! It's not to sound negative. I LOVE writing stuff people want to see and I loved my little physics couple. I never expected them to be very exciting tbh

What you suggested is EXACTLY what I was looking for! I would love an angsty little piece to write about. I've been in angsty mood.

I'M CRYING THAT YOU REREAD MY STUFF 😭😭😭 SO MUCH SO THAT YOU HAVE ENOUGH TO COMMENT ON IT AND COME UP WITH BRILLIANT IDEAS!

You will definitely be seeing the Committed idea 😉 I'm looking forward to writing it 🤭

I've been very stingy about the details of Ding. I'm not sure it's come up much at all. I'm still fine tuning the first part before I share the post. I wanted to write one more piece and that's Physics before I share the main page for Ding. I think you'll like it. 😉

💕 I hope YOU have an amazing week! This is the nicest message and I'm so grateful you took the time to write it. I'm really excited to have a new friend to chat with! I hope you feel like coming back to chat again soon! 💕

xoxo

okay posting my thoughts IMMEDIATELY after having finished the finale:

-lance reddick 💔 hope whatever's next is treating you well. killer performance

-i think the show really would have benefited from longer episodes and maybe more eps too..... they really had to rush through things imo and i wish we could have gotten more downtime with the trio to see their personalities and relationships more. and also like camp in general, when they cut back to percy training w luke it was kinda jarring, like when did they even have time for that

-i really wish they had kept the dimension of annabeth having a crush on luke & showed us their relationship more. she struggles w his betrayal throughout the whole series and the reveal in the finale just felt kinda underwhelming. also i think it's so realistic and relatable to have a crush on a guy like that lol and it just overall adds more flavour in gen but also to her dynamic w percy

-in gen i feel like the show was already foreshadowing percabeth hard and i wish they had not lol. but i was worried they would do that so i may have just read what i thought i was gonna see into it.

-this ties back to pacing/short and limited # of eps, but it's just interesting to see how they tried to take it from book to episodic tv show. the second last few eps i think didn't come off as well/weren't as satisfying as episodes. just interesting to think about the structure an ep calls for and how/where it was a bit incompatible with the story. idk

-i did really like it. the guy who plays poseidon is so hot so gotta watch black sails i guess lol. i need to rewatch to better articulate the things i liked i think. looking forward to watching the making of lol.

-minor thing but wish they had eaten the food at times lol. i know there are very good reasons why they rarely do this in shows in general but i feel it just added to the sense of detachment from the characters that i had.... like idk, eating can just be so personal lol but also they're on this long quest and strapped for cash the entire time, they should be scarfing! they were in the book! minor but it distracted me a bit. and i think also speaks to the lack of downtime/pacing etc thing. i just feel we didn't get to really know the characters well. i think all my thoughts tie back to this really.

-concluding point : it took me so long to get used to seeing them be babies lol, i guess in my mind i tend to always think of them as my age. it's been so long since i read any of the books so i guess i was closer to their age back then esp during the sequel series, so i mostly remember having known them back then i guess? was just odd, they're literal babies!! but i got used to it. looking forward to (hopefully if they get renewed i guess) seeing more of this version of them. may have to reread the books but i may be looking for something i can never get back lol

-glad we saw so much of sally, and her relationship w percy and its complexities. they really focused on parenthood lol

-hopefully if they get renewed they can do longer and more eps. idk tho you really can't trust these platforms. it's sad bc the show could've been really great if they'd had more time to work with. it was good but you can feel the crunch for time imo

-like it's a tv show.... the whole thing is getting more time w the characters (yes the entire thing of all tv shows)..... i just keep thinking, how different is this to the movie exactly. ya it's more faithful the book but what else? it's been eons since i last sawthe movie lol but idk im just thinking.

-really need to rewatch to marinate more on they did end up saying/doing

-okay good night

-wish we had gotten more grover also lol but this ties back to everything i already mentioned

Reading the Harbinger reader brainrot has brought back my own brainrot specifically about Diluc and Kaeya.

Basically the reader is a retired harbinger who turned in their resignation due to reasons they don't want to speak of but they have to constantly remind people that they're retired because everyone assumes they're going to cause trouble when they just want to eat and sleep. They catch the attention of the knights and Diluc after moving to Mondstadt for their retirement. Then some more issues with the Fatui pop up involving delusions and the reader gets dragged into it (literally at some point) complaining the entire time because God fucking dammit they just want to enjoy their meal in peace you fucking assholes! Let them sleep!!!!

I haven't been following you for long but what I enjoy most is your writing. It might be hard to believe but your writing is pretty damn good and I always find myself coming back to reread your stuff (specifically about Rubedo) although I don't really understand the people who simp for Scaramouche (too smol for my liking lol) you do you, I ain't gonna say anything when I simp for an attempted serial killer (Rubedo)

I also just relate to your current issue with burnout. I don't know if burnout is the right word but I've been in that state for years now. It's been forever since I properly wrote smth and even then I never like them because I lose motivation easily and it looks like shit (to me) though the reason it's been so long is probably because I have been diagnosed with depression.

Other than that you just seem like a fun person to chat with and be around irl, the kind of friend I'd share a sense of humor with and such. It's easy to tell just from the way your write your posts.

Again, hope you feel better soon from this burnout! There's no need to rush things as Zhongli would say as long as you don't push it, I'm sure your burnout will end soon!

🐈‍⬛-anon hopefully I'm using the right emoji

i do relate to your harbinger reader can’t lie, I have had days where all I would like to do is sleep and have some peace and quiet but-

well life isn’t as kind as i’d like it to be lmfao

Nice idea, maybe develop it a little more and I’m sure you could honestly make a series out of it, I understand feeling like everything you come up with is shit honestly. But then I remember I’m a harsh critic on myself, I’m probably nastier than any reader to myself about my own work. I realised that yesterday when I wrote something I finally thought was good enough, but then I reread my old stuff and yes, although my writing has improved imo, there was still some good ideas there, and I didn’t let them flourish too much because I thought they were bad. I kind of regret it now.

So my advice, don’t listen to yourself that much. I’m sure what you’re thinking about or your writing itself isn’t shit. There’s always room for improvement, but you have to take the first step to make that improvement. Practice makes perfect my friend :,)

But thank you, I’m glad you see me that way !! We probably do have some similarities, but only time will tell about that

Ah, I can’t not listen to the ex-geo archon ): I shouldn’t rush, you are right indeed Zhongli <3

I hope you feel better soon too, my friend. If you haven’t already, I hope you receive treatment soon. I’m currently going through that stage now. You’ll have bad days, you’ll have good, just don’t give up <3

As I mentioned a while back, I finally finished writing the Heroes Rising fic, so I don’t currently have any ongoing writing projects. That’s why I finally got around to playing Pokemon Shield, but something else also came to mind that I could do.

I suddenly found myself thinking that I hadn’t gone back and reread TABF in a while to check it for errors. I think I’ve done it twice since finishing the fic, but it’s probably been at least a year since the last time I did it.

Anyway, I was like “Hey, why not?” I always like to have my fics grammatically correct and all that haha

Little did I know that I would be doing far more than that lol

I’m not gonna lie. When I was reading that first chapter, I was cringing cause of all the syntax errors. It was a hot mess lol

Once I read that first chapter, I knew I had to reread the whole fic cause I was afraid there were even more errors 😂

Seriously, how did I not notice this during my other readthroughs? I wanna go back and shake my past self smh

I just wanna take this time to thank y’all for reading and liking my fic despite its many faults. Y’all are the true MVPs 😂

The other reason I made this post is because I wanted to let y’all know about the new and improved TABF in case y’all wanna check out the changes, which aren’t just grammar/syntax changes.

I have actually inserted new content into some of the chapters, but I won’t say which ones since I want it to be a surprise XD

However, I will say I made some changes to how Mineta is handled in one chapter. So there’s a completely new scene focused on him that has been added.

The reason I decided to make that change was because of how some people reacted to Fortune punishing Mineta for crimes he technically hadn’t committed which in turn made her look bad and hypocritical since she got upset when Stain tried to kill Iida for something he hadn’t actually done.

Honestly, I wrote the whole Mineta situation intending for it to be comical. I didn’t think people would read that much into it because I just wanted to provide readers, who hate how he never gets stopped in canon, an opportunity to give him his just desserts. It was meant to be pure self-indulgence for everyone reading.

If I had known that this would negatively reflect on Fortune, I wouldn’t have gone that route. That’s why I have Fortune make this comparison which leads to her talking to Mineta about her actions.

Another thing I addressed was the UA traitor situation since there were questions that I never addressed in the fic that I really should have. I intended for those questions to be simply handled in the background without Fortune’s knowledge, but it really made no sense for her not to question things, so that’s what I did.

But don’t worry, the traitor isn’t revealed or anything like that. I just had questions addressed that really should’ve been brought up by Fortune at some point.

All this time, I’ve always intended to have the traitor exist in TABF. I just wanted to be subtle about it cause I didn’t know all the details. Now, I realize I was way too subtle, so I made the necessary changes lol

Aside from that, I’ve also changed Thirteen’s pronouns to match canon like I mentioned in a previous post.

Hopefully, y’all enjoy the new and improved TABF, which is my Christmas present to y’all! Merry Christmas! XD

Hi, I love After Sunset and have reread it multiple times lol. I wanted to ask if you had any particular method to writing Azula for the fic? I usually don't like the more off the rails depictions of her in fiction but something about the way you write her is viscerally enjoyable to me.

*shows up 3 months later with no hesitation bc getting this ask made me vibrate out of existence with excitement* hello :)

the timing for this ask couldn't have been any better - it genuinely made me so unbelievably happy to read? this exact topic is one of the main things i was (am?) worried about in after sunset, specifically that i wasn't doing it right. i've been nervous since the very beginning that i was writing azula in ways that was difficult to read but fuck this is such a fantastic question and i'm so excited to answer it - this is going to be.... a really really long answer. i definitely got a little (a lot) carried away. sorry in advance lmao

(also it never fails to make me emotional when i hear that people are still rereading) (i might've cried a lil) (just a bit) (i can't believe people haven't forgotten about this fic) (to everyone who has stuck around: i love you more than anything)

for context, i put like..... a lot of thought into how i was going to go about writing azula. like i have pages and pages of notes analyzing her so i could write her character properly and do her justice - i still think i could've done a better job, but it was important to me that i at least do my best. my main thing when i was writing azula was keeping in mind that she is a 14 year old, a child, one who has been the victim of an extreme amount of abuse and emotional manipulation. i posted a response to a comment under chapter 15 back in january that asked for writing advice regarding azula that i think sums up my thoughts fairly well if you want to take a look at it. azula is a traumatized teenager first and foremost; she's not going to accept help easily or trust anyone easily, and i planned her arc out in a way that has multiple ups and downs. it really does get worse before it gets better, and if i end up writing more for this fic, i can promise that the worst has yet to come. we're nowhere near the height of azula's arc yet, and i don't even mean that in a dramatic breakdown sort of way. this has been part 234978 of me wishing that i could skip ahead in my own fic so i could post the scenes that were written months before we even reached the search......... kill me

and i said this in my comment: progress isn't possible unless the person who needs to heal is willing to heal. force doesn't work, coercion doesn't work - it has to be a decision that the person in question makes in order for them to actually take steps forward. healing isn't linear. neither is progress. that's the most important thing to keep in mind.

azula's breakdowns were definitely the most emotionally taxing parts about writing her. i personally tend to avoid reading fics that show azula's breakdowns to the extent that i wrote them for some reason? and i was very hesitant to write it myself, so i was really really careful in how i approached it. i didn't want to take things too far, but i also knew that i had to push the boundaries of what i tackled a lot more than i already was. i needed to show how bad she was getting, not just tell it, and i needed to justify the reason behind each moment of her behavior. not sure if i did it right, but i tried.

(as a side note, i wrote a lot of this fic during a time in which things were uhhhh not so great mentally for me, so azula and zuko are written in a way that is very very close to my heart. that could also have something to do with the way scenes are written, so i thought it was worth mentioning.)

azula is an incredibly calculated individual. her breakdowns, by contrast, show her doing things out of pure instinct, doing what she "wants" to do rather than what she's put a lot of thought into doing. and that fascinated me to no end when i was reading the comics; i thought the authors' approach was really interesting despite some of the less favorable aspects of her portrayal. in other words: catharsis!!!!! i wrote those scenes to be cathartic to azula specifically!!!!! not for the reader, not for me as the writer: for azula, the character, and what that meant for her in the scene and the moment - especially within a larger context. and it was so so so fucking emotionally draining to write, but that's what it was. i did my best to ramp up the emotional intensity to the max, and i also tried to make sure that every single thing that azula said or did had that element of reasoning behind it. because yeah, she's not thinking everything through like she would if she wasn't in full breakdown mode, but she's still azula. and azula doesn't do anything without reason, even if those reasons are superficial and weird and vaguely questionable. i tried to make sure that nothing azula did or said was without motive, and i'm not quite sure if i managed to pull it off, but hey, that was my goal.

hopefully all of that makes sense? i'm not quite sure if it does or not but i could genuinely talk about this fic for hours. i might be writing other things now, and i might be mortified by the absolutely horrible writing of the earlier chapters, but i will still talk forever about literally anything with this fic. that's a threat and a promise.

i reread some comments and looked through my inbox bc of this ask and now i'm emotional lmao wow i miss this fic and you all sm. also specifically to anon: i hope this answered your question! and if you wanted clarification on anything, feel free to shoot me another ask - i know a few things here are probably a little confusing lmao i was rambling a lot out of excitement. and thank you again for the ask!!

anyways. love yall <3

All right, so now that I finally digested the final a little I have some random messy thoughts about Fruits Basket 2019. It got really long lol, but this has been stuck in my head for a while so I needed to get it out!

Honestly, it was a very good adaptation and I’m still in awe I was able able to see the whole manga animated. Fruits Basket is pretty important to me, as I read it for the first time when I was around twelve and it was definitely one of the series that impacted me the most — the way it tackles themes of cycle of abuse, loneliness, grief and moving forward still feel very special to me even now (I briefly wrote a post about it months ago after rereading the manga), so of course I was delighted upon hearing the reboot announced and for the most part, it didn’t disappoint. I’d never truly thought I’d be able to see characters like Rin or Machi actually move on screen in my lifetime so in a way it still feel surreal lmao (RIP to Komaki though). It was really refreshing to revisit the story in that way, especially given amusingly enough I am myself in the middle of some big changes in my life where I have to leave things behind so it felt sort of... well, I won’t say empowering per se, but quite encouraging and satisfying to watch Furuba, and especially its final, at this timing, in a way. It wasn’t perfect, there are certainly a lot of flawed directive choices that I question and unfortunately quite some important cut contents — but even at its lowest it stayed all in all good. I’m genuinely a bit stunned there are people who thinks the entire thing is worthless or a failure, because man, I have seen what a bad anime adaptation looks like, and Fruits Basket 2019 definitely isn’t one. Natsuki Takaya herself was clearly very invested and satisfied in that adaptation — I mean, just the fact she drew arts for every single episodes or for the season 3 ending really shows that I think. And while there’s a part of me who will always have a soft spot for the 2001 anime, there’s no contest that the 2019 one is the superior one and more representative of the original manga as a whole.

I believe some people really don’t realize how... uncommon it is to get such a consistently good-looking and complete anime adaptation for a shojo manga? Shojo really aren’t lucky in that prospect usually; they rarely get animated, and when they do they’re usually very bland or outright bad, or they get one short season of like 13 episodes that never receive any follow-ups — even shojo considered like classics tend to get poor treatment, unless they’re Sailor Moon of course or a long-running magical girls franchise like Precure (and even then we could have a discussion about the way Sailor Moon’s treated compared to say Dragon Ball for example, but that’s another topic entirely). So yeah it is quite awesome we were able to get this kind of anime adaptation that covers the full manga with good quality from start to finish, and I am so, so glad it exists and that it managed to revive and makes the series so popular again. (Hopefully its success means we’ll be able to get more good anime adaptation of shojo manga from now on!)

But yeah, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t problems with it and I also understand why some of the manga fans had issues. We were kind of hyped with the fact this would be a complete adaptation and in the end we only got a... sort-of-complete one lol. The art and animation stayed fine during the run (there certainly were some episodes that were uhhh, lacking in that sense, but that’s just how it is sometimes with productions and budget), but I admit I was a bit letdown regarding the direction, where it often seemed… a bit uncreative or heavy-handed. There was some very beautiful and smart shots here and there, but on the whole I really had an issue with the adaptation failing to actually take more ambitious decisions on its visual aspect, especially compared to the pretty pannelling of the manga — and when it did take these decisions it just was… kind of obnoxious and in-your-face, like the show is trying to hold the watcher’s hand (with unnecessary things like Kyo’s father record player derailing or the whole big ropes symbolizing the curse that often slapped you all over the screen, which usually just made me want to roll my eyes because of how annoying it felt.) Multiple people also pointed out the overdramatization of some scenes like the Kyo and Tohru’s confrontation at the end of season 1 or Akito and Ren’s fight which was, indeed, not very good and a weird choice. Fruits Basket is already a pretty dramatic show and these scenes are already intense, there was no need for such over-the-top theatrical display of emotions that only made them comes off as comedic. I’m probably nitpicking here but it also bothered me some characters’ expressions didn’t feel properly retranscribed (Shigure especially, whose characterization depends a lot on that, really suffered from this), or that odd habit of making some big panorama plans instead of focusing on the faces and bodies, which particularly sucks during emotional scenes (like the backgrounds were pretty I guess, but that’s not what was important here lmao).

Also that might be just a personal thing, but can I point out that the openings were pretty disappointing to me... They're not bad, but they all looked so... bland. The songs are fine but the rest feel so uninspired and it's kind of sad... I dunno, I wasn't asking for much but I just think they could've done more than just scrolling each character looking vaguely melancholic or making them walk randomly one after another :/ The endings have at least pretty illustrations and I'm okay with them (I liked what they did with Kyoko’s photo in season 3 too), but the OPs kind of feel as if they ran out of budget and ideas for them or something. I kind of feel the same with the OST as well, where they’re generally fine but were a bit lackluster, and sometimes… they were kind of played at bad times? I remember the Rin episode in season 2 were the music felt a bit out of place and took me out of the immersion, which is a shame cause it was otherwise a pretty good episode. But that might just be a me-thing here lol. The voice actors were awesome though! (The Japanese ones, at least, I didn’t watch any other dubs). I’ve said it before but special kudos to Maaya Sakamoto cause damn she’s so perfect as Akito, and Shimazaki as Yuki and Toyosaki as Rin truly delivered too. I didn’t know Manaka Iwami at all but I was really impressed by her Tohru, especially in season 3 — she really was good at capturing her character’s subtle emotional turmoils (I think she makes a better Tohru than Yui Horie too, although I admit I missed Horie a little lol.)

Anyway, on the topic of lack of ambition, that might be an unpopular opinion but there’s also the fact that I’m sad they didn’t actually... try to change or add more original scenes. By which I mean, obviously we had some changes, but not ones that were really interesting (when they’re not actively detrimental to the story). For example, I was really hoping that we’d be able to get at least one original episode focused on Ritsu (and Mitsuru too why not) in season 2 or 3, or on Kagura or Kisa; I dunno, it would’ve been a good occasion to give something more to the characters that got sidelined in the original manga, or add some moments that would’ve been nice to develop like about Akito post-cliff confrontation, but we never got that. And well, that makes sense now that we know they seemingly had an episode restriction (at least on season 3), but, yeah, that’s still a shame. Honestly in the end Ritsu’s character made even less sense in the anime, because like, it was nice they tried to adapt his introduction episode so that it feels less “you have to adapt to gender norms to feel better about yourself,” (the gender non-confirmity is definitely one of the bits that aged the less well in FB) but then they still made him cut off his hair and give his feminine clothes to Kagura at the end so why lol. (And speaking of his episode introduction, I dislike that they cut off his conversation with Tohru after the suicide attempt, not only for Ritsu but also for Tohru cause it is one of the small instances bringing up her issues that is set up early on and that is crucial to her, but I’ll come back to this later.)

And now about the biggest problem to me being, the cut content and episodes rearangement. So, just so we’re clear, I definitely don’t think an anime adaptation needs to be a page-by-page adaptation of the manga to be good. Every decent adaptation needs to have changes, and the ones that tries to just follow the source material without any heart often tend to get pretty bad. So changes are good! Cut content are needed sometimes. But in Furuba 19, it really... wasn’t the case.

And the most unfortunate thing being that the one suffering the most from this is the show’s main character herself, Tohru.

So, obviously other characters also got done dirty by this; Yuki and Machi’s relationship was so incredibly shifted in the background and rushed it’s almost funny. I’m one of the people who thinks that, while I do think they’re cute, I definitely agree on the fact their relationship was a bit underdeveloped in the manga — and that Machi’s character especially suffered as a result by being a bit reduced to just "Yuki’s love interest" when she was a character with so much more to offer (and as a whole I also tend to agree with the fact that Yuki probably didn’t need a romance at all and that his arc is more meaningful while focusing on his platonic relationships, but that’s another topic entirely) — but man, if the manga already underdevelopped them, then ohhh boy, the anime just completely dropped the ball. It feels very odd because to me it seemed like season 2 was taking their time with setting them up, so if they knew they had only 13 episodes for season 3 then they should’ve started the changes there; instead we got 1 nice Yuki/Machi/Kakeru episode, and then it’s like "Yep, they’re in love, just trust me." (It does makes me wonder if season 3 wasn’t originally supposed to be longer but then got restrained because of budget or covid or something…) Kakeru also very much suffered because of them cutting off his girlfriend and his complicated relationship with Tohru… Now, to be honest, I’ve always found the Kakeru/Komaki/Tohru subplot pretty... contrived and useless, and Komaki’s not so much a character more than a device for Kakeru’s development, but it does have some good moments relevant to the story’s themes (I like the ‘‘you can’t play suffering olympics with people’s pain’’morale) and it is important to his character (and Komaki is cute, I admit), so it was still sad they shafted it entirely. (Also I kind of like the tense relationship between Tohru and Kakeru. The fact they both seem to not appreciate each other even afterwards feel sort of refreshing even if it’s never explored unfortunately orz.) I was still surprised they didn’t actually try to make a Komaki cameo at the end? Cause I think it would’ve fitted and Kakeru’s girlfriend had already been mentioned in season 2 but... for some reason they... didn’t. (Mayyybe we’ll get an OAV like with Kyoko and Katsuya? Who knows.)

One scene that was skipped/rearranged that I’m very bitter over is the whole Tohru/Kagura confrontation and Kagura/Rin scene — it might not seem like much, but the moment of Tohru refusing to forgive Kagura is very important, and I was pretty annoyed they turned Rin’s trauma response to Kagura’s violence and her subsequent apology/hug to a gag, it legit felt tasteless. The Tohrin scene they removed at the very end too was frustating; it was great they managed to fit in the "Rin doesn’t want to forgive Akito" bit at least (I was afraid they’d cut it off entirely), but it was so essential for her to say to Tohru, not to Haru and Momiji (plus the way they put it in felt very random and awkwardly placed there, when they were initially talking about Tohru before orz). OH AND the Akito/Hana friendship too! Yeah I know it’s not a Big deal but I absolutely love the little glimpses of their friendship and it’s very important to me so I’m disappointed over them not including the ‘Ah-chan’ scene… (It was kind of weird that the show sort-of implied Hana and Kazuma got together too cause that’s… not the vibe at all from the manga… oh well.)

Most people I’ve seen generally only bring up season 3 regarding the cuts/rearangement because it’s the most obvious and the biggest offender, but I personally think there were already problems with season 2 and 1. At first glance I didn’t have much issue with some of the rearrangement, because early Furuba can indeed be pretty episodic, but thinking back on it as a whole I think it might’ve been better to leave some stuff, like Hana and Uo’s episodes for example, to season 2 (I do wonder if they did this specifically so the reboot would offer original content and differ from 2001 early on...) and cut off other not-so-important things from S1 & S2 — because as a result season 2 kind of suffer a bit by being The Yuki Season, which, for as much as I love Yuki, did end up being a bit annoying and made his development feel less natural and gradual, as well as the fact it sidelined the other characters a little and left them with not much conclusion in its final. So this added to how much they ended up cutting in season 3, it makes the show as a whole feels really unequal. I think they did overall a good job in season 3 with what they had, and they really nailed some of the dramatic and Kyoru moments (the sheets scene, cliff confrontation and post-hospital confession were practically perfect), but it is a shame that it ended up as an extremely marathoned emotional roller-caster rather than a more well-paced watch that we would’ve had if it had been 20 or so episodes. (I know others argued that season 3 was what it was because there wasn’t enough content left to cover for 22 or 24 episodes, but I disagree and even if there weren’t, it would’ve been the perfect occasion to add original episodes then. But I think it was more of a budget and Covid issue personally.)

But anyway, all of this isn’t actually what I’m the most annoyed with (and YES that’s a already a lot lmao), those are stuff I can live with, but like I said earlier the most problematic is what they cut off from Tohru’s character. And that indeed includes her parents’ backstory.

So, just so I get this out of the way; yes, I do understand why people were relieved to not see Kyoko and Katsuya’s relationship play out on screen, and yes the age gap and teacher-student thing is creepy and I do kind of wish it hadn’t been written that way. (Though I was a bit amused by people who thought we didn’t get the backstory because of the questionable age gap when, uh... you know I very much doubt the anime industry has an issue with that. Like, to start with, we wouldn’t have had Uo and Kureno’s romance if that was the case (even if Uo and Kureno is less problematic, it’s still the same basis of a underage high school girl/20+ adult man relationship), and second there was a literal romcom anime about a high school girl and an adult man that was broadcasted at the same time as Furuba season 3 lmao. So nah, it wasn’t there the problem to them, it was just time and episode restriction, which was pretty much confirmed with the announcement of the OAV focused on them.)

So, Kyoko and Katsuya is definitely Problematic and I agree on their relationship being uncomfortable; however, I’m a bit baffled that people were literally cheering on not having that part in the show, because it is... it is not just like a small bit of family trivia, it is Extremely important and actively essential to Tohru’s character and Fruits Basket’s themes and narrative as a whole. It’s very important to understand Kyoko’s character, of course; to humanize her and finally present her as a very flawed person and not just the idealized mother that Tohru project upon her, and it is extremely important simply to understand Tohru herself as well; to understand where her way of thinking, her trauma and attitude stems from, and this in a way that just isn’t possible to see with the little fragments of that flashback we got or the bits of Kyo and Kyoko’s interactions.

See, Tohru’s character is principally constructed around two things; her grief over her mother and her almost-pathological selflesness and people-pleaser needs that comes from her abandonment issues and loneliness, and her arc is very much about letting go of both of these things and finally moving forward and letting her life change. There’s this perception of Tohru I see sometimes that she’s not a very interesting character especially compared to others like Yuki or Kyo, or that she ‘‘stays the same kindhearted, naive girl from start to finish,’’ and while I deeply disagree with this I know where it comes from. The thing with Tohru is that she is firstly an extremely emotionally repressed character, and so a lot of her depth and development is made through small, gradual details scattered throughout the manga. It’s done in such a way that except for some obvious scenes those small, apparently insignificant moments are easy to miss or disregarded, and unfortunately it is a lot of these details that the 2019 anime cut, or rearanged in a way that feel less impactful or makes less sense; such as, like I pointed out earlier, her conversation with Ritsu after his suicide attempt. As I’ve seen others point out, this result in altering Tohru’s portrayal and rendering her character mostly about her romance, undercutting and downplaying all of her small, subtle character moments and developments, and miss a bit the second part of the story where the narrative actively challenge the ‘savior/therapist/mom’ that other characters and Tohru herself projected upon her.

And as a result it also means undermining things like her parallel and relationship to Akito, which idealistically should’ve been slowly built up throughout the last season but because of how rushed season 3 was in the end felt a little flat. (Akito’s character in general had some issues also because of the unequal pacing and rearranged scenes, though admittedly I think this was also an issue present in the original manga.) Kyo’s character and his romance with Tohru is the one element that managed to get out of this mostly unscathed (although Kyo also does suffer a bit from it), but because of what was removed from Tohru’s character it still inevitably impacted them by making their characters as individuals lacking. It’s not like it is a complete failure, mind you; I think the anime at least did a decent job at showing Tohru is Not Okay even at the beginning in season 1 (they certainly did a better job at it than the 2001 one lol) and managed to roughly portray her issues well enough overall, but it is just… lacking in the subtlety and nuances that, to me, makes her character and writing really special and unique.

(This post explains what I’ve tried to say here in a much more eloquent and better way that I ever could, and this all put into perspective what I basically love so much about Tohru and Fruits Basket in general.)

And, you know, it would’ve been sad but comprehensible with any other character, but here we’re talking about the story’s literal protagonist, which is why it is the part of the adaptation that makes me feel the most bitter. Tohru and her story is truly amazing and well-written, the thing I was looking forward to the most with this reboot — and while I do understand the episode restriction and I do believe they still did their best with what they had — her arc still deserved to receive a full proper adaptation, not a kind-of-half one.

So, yes, I am at least glad they’ll adapt Kyoko and Katsuya’s story in OAV, but the fact that it will never be included in the actual main narrative is still actively detrimental to it, and it will never have the same effect that if it had been played out before the Kyoru sheets scene where it should’ve been. (I hope they also won’t cut the fact that their story is narrated by Kyo, because that is also a very important detail for both Kyo and the story, but I have the feeling they will…)

Welp, that was quite a long, messy rambling. Not sure if anyone will actually read all of it but if you did then congrats lol. I feel in the end I’ve been really harsh and negative with the reboot… I do love it a lot! If someone asked me I would wholeheartedly recommend it (though I guess I would still argue to read the manga first if you really want to experience the story in all its nuances). I think they truly did an impressive job — even with season 3, which a lot of its episodes were beautifully done and did make me tear up a few times lol. I’m just sad it couldn’t actually offer a better, more nuanced delivery of the story’s depths and of one of my favorite manga protagonists that means a lot to me. But that’s an adaptation that so many fans wanted for years and I’m happy and grateful it’s here cause Fruits Basket deserved at least that much!

hello hello its been a few days but i, the dream nonsie, am back! (also my name actually means "dream" irl 👀) personally, i think a silveny flavored popsicle would be cinnamon-y as u said, but also... sparkly? in a way? not- not like actual glitter, thats disgusting, but.. when u eat it it just *feels* magical. not sure if im making sense lol ^^ aww, glad my crazy dream made you happy! :D ask word limit is getting close so imma continue in another ask if thats okay with you! <3 1/?

hello!! welcome back--i gotta admit I was not expecting this, but it's so nice of you and I really appreciate it <33. I hope you don't mind me compiling this all into one post, that way it's just a little more organized. you're entirely welcome to send as many asks as you want, so don't worry about continuing in others! I don't mind at all!

1. oo that's a really cool name meaning!! I always think it's interesting to hear what other people's name mean, or they meanings they've chosen to associate with them (as some have more that one). Quil doesn't really have a meaning, so I love hearing others'!! The only thing I miss about my dead name is the meaning, tbh, because it was pretty !!

also, I can totally imagine the cinnamon/sparkly popsicle. when you say that I immediately think of sparkling water for some reason, like it's not a taste it's a feeling. you put it in your mouth and it's an experience. you're wild dream was probably the highlight of my day!! something about it just stood out and I kept coming back to think about it. long silveny popsicles can do that to you, i guess

2. oopsie! my bad! when someone says writing I usually just default to the wings au, because that's the writing most people know me for. but!! i'm glad you like all the analyses I've done! I don't think they'll be stopping anytime soon--it's like everytime I answer an ask I get two more, which means there will be a steady stream of them for the forseable future. I really enjoy doing them, so I love hearing that people enjoy reading them! they're mostly just me rambling until I find a pattern or connection to latch onto, and then I build from there. and depending on the ask I might grab a book from my shelf to reference something if needed

also: thank you! The wings au is a pretty big project I've wanted to take on for a while, so it's absolutely thrilling to see people interact with it and talk about it--even if they haven't read it. There's absolutely no pressure on you to read it, just so you know! Honestly sometimes baffles me that I've gotten fanart and so many asks and comments on it, enough so that people who haven't read it still know what it is. like?? my wings au?? silly little idea I had all because of one stray thought one day?

as for writing it while taking college classes: yes! that's what I've been doing! I think i've had a combined total of like three weeks of break since January (i don't get summer), but aside from that i've had four or five classes while writing the au. Actually was taking an A&P class (which are notoriously difficult, even more so on summer schedule) this summer while working on it, which was wild. But a lot of the excited comments and theories and general interaction helped motivate me to keep going.

3. it's not dissapointing at all! I don't expect for anyone to read it, it's not something you have to do in order to interact with me and the stuff on my blog. it's just something I happen to be doing so if you like it you're welcome to engage with it! I actually don't read fanfic very often either, which may be surprising as I write it. Occasionally I binge a bunch of fics in a certain ship when I'm in the mood, but that's only once every few months. Ships just don't hold huge appeal for me, so I don't find a lot of fic that interests me. Also wow! mine was one of the first you've heard of?? that's a huge accomplishment to me, thank you! Where did you hear about it? I honestly don't know where people find my au, so I'm curious.

speaking of reading fanfic, Nattie's (theunmappedstar) fic is one of the few I've read! I haven't talked to them in a while, but they're very accomplished and it's an honor to be considered alongside them in terms of writing!

as for committing to mine, feel free to take your time! no rush! it's always going to be there! although I will say it does just keep getting longer, so be prepared for that. I update every two weeks on sunday, so you've got time. if you do read it, I'd love to hear your thoughts. truly, comments and just hearing what people think are the best motivation. it also enriches the story! I never know what's going to stick out to people or what they'll remember, so hearing from people gives me ideas for scenes in the future! I have a general idea of where this au is heading, but a lot of the details have been impacted by theories and comments. You absolutely don't have to though, just if you'd like I'd love to hear

4. thank you so much <33. I'd love to get back more into traditional art, as i've been focusing on digital recently. I just love how watercolors look! I actually have a few art requests from an embarrasingly long time ago (April) that I'd like to do in a traditional style. I also just haven't posted as much art recently, so I'd love to get back into that. Coloring and lighting were mostly me just winging it, trying to imagine a few colors that would look nice next to each other and then just going for it. Also, i cant even count how many times I would accidentally switch up the light source in in the middle of a piece. I actually took an art class a few semesters ago, so I have leftover supplies from that I could use for some keeper pieces! I've had a few ideas, so hopefully your encouragement can help me get back into that <33

the writer and artist thing: thank you!! both writing and art are interests of mine, so it's so cool to get recognized for both!! I remember when I started posting art I was doing it as a "I'll do this for now until I get to the writing" thing and then i accidentally became fairly well-known as an fanartist and i was just there like wait a minute this wasn't supposed to happen. But I love it!! I love doing fanart and I'd love to do more. But I also love writing! i have some ideas for aus and other one shots I'd like to do when the wings au is done, not that I'm trying to hurry that along. I thoroughly enjoy working on the wings au, and i'm not in any rush to get through it.

and don't worry, you have nothing to apologize for!! i'm glad you feel comfortable talking to me! You don't need to be concise or anything, you're welcome to take up as much space and use as many words as you'd like. I think it'd be a little hypocritical if i didn't believe that, considering how long my responses to the asks i get are (partially why they sometimes take a bit to answer). it was very much so a fun read!! I really appreciate you and wasn't even sure how to respond to everything in a way that conveyed that. I absolutely blown away by how genuine and sweet you are

i really loved this ask, and I've reread it several times because it's just so kind. thank you so much <33