Things I spend hours creating whether it's gifs or fanfic etc and I literally etch a piece of my soul into: 🤡5 notes 1 reblog 4 likes / 2 kudos🤡

Things I spend five minutes on eg shitty gifs that go too fast (for me Crowley) are dark as fuck like that terrible GOT episode and literally basic af ie just a dialogue scene no song lyrics or html edit to make the post look pretty: ✨2500 notes ✨

Crowley dying in s3

I wasn't sure how to start this meta. I've had this theory with possible (big possible) evidence sitting around for ages and I just didn't know what to do with the information.

After I'd already had this information, I only seen a hand full of others talk about it, but none have touched on it in the same way as the things I've found in my research.

So let's get on with it. For reference I'm going to tag @nightingalecottage and their lovely post here. I really recommend reading it. This theory only saw the light of day because of their post and I told them I would tag them with my meta since it lends a lot to it. And I promised myself that I would finish this for them.

Now for the meat and potatoes. I'll break it all down about how I found this information and how it might lend some theory about possible plot to s3.

This got really long so I put a cut.

-Silly narrator voice-

The facts were these.

To start I was doing research for a fic I'm working on and the details don't matter much but I'd planned to make my 'human' crowley a barrister. I was googling famous barristers for inspiration.

This lead me to wikipedia naturally as you do. And as I was looking over the list I saw this.

After seeing this name on the list of barristers in popular culture I had a mini freakout. Mainly because two things NG is a huge fan of Charles Dickens and A Tale of Two Cities is on the bookclub reading list. And I kept thinking why did this seem familiar and this is why.

A Tale of Two Cities is on the list of books that they recommend we read or were found in s2. So after I stopped freaking out I immediately went to the wiki page for this character. I wasn't too familiar with this book so I wanted to know more. As I was now super invested and intrigued. And found this.

Sydney Carton

I couldn't help be blown away by the similarities here between Sydney Carton and a certain depressed snake demon from s2. Morosely asking Shax on a bench in the first episode "What's the point of it all?"

For some context, in the novel Sydney Carton and his later best friend Charles Darnay share a striking semblance and are easily mistaken for each other. This is how Sydney is then able to make the switch with Darnay in the end saving his life.

This brings to mind of the lore that we know that Crowley and Aziraphale were once long ago one character and split into two. Also with the ideal casting choice that Terry Pratchett wanted one actor to play both roles. That would have been really interesting and funny. Also this plays into our favorite duo MS and DT having not worked together before because they were up for the same roles.

Let's move on to

Charles Darnay

Darnay resents his uncle's views much how Aziraphale resents certain aspects of heaven, but is never able to act on very much.

The note about Darnay being tutor of French made me chuckle considering what we know about Aziraphale being terrible at French. With that whole scene centered around it in s2.

Ok so we all are well versed and familiar with the famous Bastille scene. We all know the one and its clear the inspiration here for it comes from A Tale of Two Cities possibly.

Side note Darnay and Carton are both in love with Lucie here, but I posit that in the case of Good omens, Aziraphale is possibly both Darnay and Lucie. Making him the best friend and love intrest.

Lucie Manette

And finally why does any of this matter and what does this have to do with Crowley maybe dying in s3 you ask?

The one important detail in all of this is that at the end of the novel Carton heroically sacrificed himself to save his best friend and for the women he loves. He feels it gave him purpose and felt as if his life finally had meaning.

Two things here. The scene in which Carton swaps places with Darnay being able to pass as him well enough to save his life. Is very reminiscent of our Body Swap from s1. As well as the idea that in s3 this could also happen, but in the sense that Crowley does it to save Aziraphale's life. I clearly have no idea how s3 will play out.

Now I'm not saying that s3 will be as dramatic as all of this. It is still a comedy at its core. As others have touched on in meta and in nightingalecottage's post there are many little hints that point to the similarities and the idea that Crowley maybe doomed by the narrative. In a way, I personally don't think that Crowley's hypothetical death will be permanent. I just do not see that happening at all. A temporary death I could definitely see and it could also serve to show how much Crowley truly means to Aziraphale. The shock of it would maybe be similar to how Crowley thought he lost Aziraphale in s1 and could be a parallel.

In the end this is all speculation and theory. Either way the idea of it all makes me vibrate and I needed to finally share this with someone else. They wouldn't have recommended this book if there wasn't some sort of meaning here right? And its entirely possible I'm looking in the wrong direction.

Overall there are many parallels and similarities here between A Tale of Two Cities and certain parts of Good Omens, I'm sure I may have missed some and I just wanted to end this now before it gets too long. If you made it this far and have any other theories or something you want to add on to this please feel free to tag me. I release this into the void.

I didn’t mean to fall in love with you

Chapter Three.

Book: Queen B - Choices (Universe)

Pairing:  Poppy Min-Sinclair x Trans!Male MC (Beck Hughes)

Genre: Canon re-write (Because I can)

Rating: Anyone can read it, really

I´ll be posting this one over here because Tumblr, for some reason, thinks my secondary blog is a bot...

This is me trying to write by and for the Trans community, specially FTM community, meaning, trans guys, but I actually took the liberty to use They/them pronouns for everyone out there who´s interested (Also, the name Beck was the most neutral one I could find, trying to use the cannon Bea Hughes)

Now, about the PAIRING... I will be using choices style, kinda, because I want to give you choice at some point. If you have any comment, PLEASE BE RESPECTFULL and patient with me. This is also my first english fanfic and english is not my mother language, so... i’m sorry fo the grammar errors

CHAPTERS

The beginning

Chapter one 

Chapter two

ONE-SHOTS

Just a dance (Zoey x MC)

—————————————————————— 

A truce.

That’s what she said she wanted and for a moment, all their fears disappeared.

“I really hate to admit this, but I personally asked for you to be my partner on this project. I'm familiar with your music, and I actually wanted to work with you.”

She also said. Beck didn't know how to feel, really. Poppy Min-Sinclair heard their songs, or, at least, she saw their videos.

And she liked them.

Or not? They never knew with her. She has been acting pretty weird these days. Giving them a “compliment”, smiling at them, asking for Beck to be project partners…

Open up with them.

That was beyond weird.

Beck couldn't stop thinking about what they saw back at the “Alpha-Zeta deluxe cabin” or whatever it’s called. Poppy really looked hurt… sad… like…

Like she has feelings.

“I don’t know, Beck. I don’t think is a good idea letting you guard down.” Zoey said, playing with their hair, both of them resting on the couch, Beck’s head laying on her thighs.

“Yeah, I get it. But…” Beck took a moment, remembering the sadness in her voice, the betrayal in her eyes… Did she really care about Chloe? “I wish you had been there to see it, Zo. It was so real my head exploded… Like... She was really hurt.”

“Babe, I know what you’re trying to say. And I believe you that she was in pain. But you have to remember she's still Poppy. And even if she’s a… uhm… human who feels, it doesn't mean she's not a bitch.”

Beck stood up, sitting properly while scratching their neck.

“Yeah, I know that.” They replied. Zoey had a point they couldn’t forget. From all people, Beck understood what it felt like to be judge by a cover, but as Megamind's Roxanne said once: Checking the content was what matters, and the inside of Poppy´s book was not so good.

The time on the wall clock pointed it was the moment to go, it was Saturday and Poppy and Beck agreed to meet her in front of an Animal Rescue from downtown around noon. He didn't want to be late, after all, Poppy was capable of start the project without them and argue that they didn't show up.

“Anyway, I have to go now. The sooner we end this, the better.” Beck put on their shoes and leather jacket, ready to impress thanks to Zoey fashion sense.

“I want you far~ away from trouble, Beck Hughes. Do you hear me?” The protector side of Zoey appeared and, again, they were confused by it.

Zoey always had that effect on Beck, she could warm their chest, sculpt a smile on their face. Honestly, after all these years in a toxic environment, bullying and harm, having Zoey´s concern on them was something new, something welcomed, something that made them happy.  Laugh a little if Beck thought about it closely.

“I can take care of myself.” They said. After all of those fake friends, after all of the pain they went through, it was still hard to trust completely.  However… Beck looked at Zoey, the only one who Beck felt relaxed with. Their best friend, the first one to treat them as what they were even after knowing the truth. Beck didn’t miss Farmsville at all. “See ya later, beautiful.”

“I´ll be waiting right here”

~~X~~

They won’t ever admit it, but after they heard Poppy saying that the project was in the Downtown Animal Rescue Beck was excited. Puppies, kitty cats, animals! Beck love them greatly, wholeheartedly. They were their weakness; their adoration was so much so Beck considered seriously taking the vet path almost all their life, if having not found music, their story would´ve been completely different right now. That´s why they couldn’t refrain themselves of stopping at each enclosure to coo over the animals, losing all sense of self-respect over them. Especially after a pup ugly, dummy looking like showed up with the most adorable face they ever seen.

“Oh boy, you’re so ugly I luv ya Tushie-face! Who’s a precious ugly-boy? Uhm? Who’s a precious ugly-boy~” The little pug barked happily, enjoying the attention. “You’re perfect! You’re…”

“… nice to see so many new additions.” Beck heard, stopping them at the moment. Beck was sure it was Poppy, but she sounded… “I guess that means a lot of these little guys are being adopted?” … different. Again.

“Yes, Ms. Min-Sinclair.” A young voice answered, without fear, with respect. A good kind of respect. “We have a ten percent higher adoption rate than last year” Uhh, that sounded good. For some random reason, Beck showed the thumbs up to the ugly pug, flashing him a stupid smile at which the pup moved his tail as if he understand what it meant and agreed.

But then… Poppy laughed.

A real laugh. A nice, non-threatening, actually kind of cute laugh. So honest that they felt terrible attracted to it.

“No… Oh, no, no, no… No. Don't you even think about…”

As if their body was its own person, Beck rounded the corner, wanted so badly to see how a laughter so sincere looked like in Poppy´s face, like some weird kind of siren song they had to see with their own eyes. Instead, Beck saw her talking to one of the shelter’s employees, hugging and stroking a bichon frise puppy´s tummy softly, lovingly. Their heart stopped just a second, running wild immediately after.

“God… she’s so…”

“DON´T!” And they slapped their self. Hard. Beck deserved it. They couldn't… they won’t… They refused to…

The sound where so loud it called the attention of both Poppy and the other guy, while Beck felt the stinging and burning on his now red cheek. Ok, maybe~ they didn't have to do that, actually, the expression on Poppy´s face the moment she saw them, a sour, angry one, was the only thing they needed to feel normal again towards her.

“You're late” Why, hello to you too.

“I´m sorry, it's just that I was playing with Tushie face and…”

“Tushie face?” Beck couldn’t tell if she was amused or making fun of how stupid they were. “That´s how you pet-name?” Poppy added, raising an eyebrow. Beck shrugged.

“If you have a tushie face, then you are a tushie face. Simple as that” Based on Poppy's smirk, they should’ve stay quiet.

“Uhm… Alright, tushie face.” Damn it! “Come with me.” She then gave them a wink, smiling as if they both had now a new secret, before walking toward the back of the kennels.

Fuck.

“So… how do you knew about this place?” Beck asked, very willing to replace the topic to literally anything.

“If you must know, my parents bought me this shelter when I was eight.”

“What?”

“Really? Why?”

“I wanted a dog. Mommy and Daddy didn't want pets in the house… Et, voila”

Beck looked around, the place had now a new light after what they just learned. All this place was Poppy's, just because her parents didn’t approve animals at home. Unintentionally, Beck chuckled, feeling Poppy’s gaze on them almost immediately.

“What’s so funny?” She asked, irritated.

“We’re really very different but the same at once” They said. “Ever since I was a kid, my parents taught me to work with every single farm animal. Cleaning them, feed them, love them… I even helped bring life into this world.” Beck told her, twisting their lips. “I had a lot of different pets back at home. So do you right here. You see?”

“You’re forgetting about the fact the whole point of a place like this isn't for the animals to stay forever…” She said, vulnerable. Beck did actually get that, the hollow feeling that comes after something like that.

“Well… at least they’re not dinner”

Surprisingly, that comment made her chuckle just a little and Beck felt so good to be the one to take away that fragile expression in Poppy’s face. She was definitely more beautiful when she was happy. When she was laughing.

“You are right, that's even worse.”

They both looked at each other for a moment, some complicity in their own way, as if they both shared something, a sentiment that almost nobody felt, both understood each other, at least in one little but significant thing: They both learned very young what it's like to love innocently and truly, to have an unconditional companion, just to lose it to the “greater purpose” again and again. Both learned to never get really attached to anyone.

“But whatever, it gets the humanitarians off our back.” Just as if the conversation never happened, Poppy went back to the factory mode. “Which is why we’re really here. I’m fully aware of your popularity in YouTube, especially after your little performance, so hopefully this project we’re doing will get some good press for us to get the adoption rate it to, at least, 20 percent this year.”

“So this is why you wanted to work with me…” Beck didn't know why, but a little part of themselves felt disappointed… what was them expecting anyway?

Soon they both reach the back of the room, and while Poppy walked in as if it was completely routine, Beck had to stop for a second. A whole crew was already set up, cameras, microphones, lights, everything. A lot of cute pups and cats of all ages were also there looking adorable, sure they were the real stars of all this, but Beck couldn't help but feeling intimidated.

However, it was Poppy’s attitude the one thing that took all Beck’s attention though all the day.

She was kind, professional, caring… making sure of one thing above it all: to have the best commercial of all times for an animal shelter. The way she treated the employees, the animals, people around her… it was like a completely different side of her they never seen before. Poppy even, against all odds, treated Beck as what they were: her project partner. Giving them a fair share of lines, taking care of capturing their best angle, how happy they looked between all those cute little animals. Directing Beck to make sure every detail was perfect, being polite and respectful while doing so.

She was acting as a selfless but powerful leader, and Beck couldn’t take her eyes off of her the whole time. She even managed to convince them to adopt that tushi faced puppy, pointed out that they both had choose each other right at the moment they meet.

“Just look at the way he's watching you!” She said playfully. “You two are really connected.”

“Do you really think so?” Beck asked, playing with the pup. They really wanted to take the little guy home, be able to give him a good life, having another friend in their life. One not farm related at least. Beck felt Poppy coming closer, resting her hand on Beck's shoulder while watching little tushi face with a soft smile.

“I know so. But the real question is: what do you think?”

And now, Beck had a dog named Pepes.

~~X~~

Once they knew every detail was taken care of, and the adoption paperwork were all right, Poppy, Beck and little Pepes walked out the shelter. Personally, they felt drained out, because although they were used to cameras, it was always under their own terms and time, their own edition, their own personal rhythm, but after that day, Beck was seriously considering the idea of being backstage musician, unlike Poppy, who actually looked as fresh as a cucumber.

“Damn, Pops. I have to admit it: you were awesome there.” They said, Pepes barking enthusiastic, agreeing.

“Were you expecting something less?” She said, some mischievous sparkle in her eyes Beck couldn't quite place. “Now, take me to lunch.”

“I'm sorry? Why would I do that?”

“Because…” She started to say, sassiness taking over her. “… I acted, arranged, produce and direct a fully perfect commercial to our project while you just played around with puppies and looked cute. The very least you can do is buy me lunch. I'm starving.”

“Oh, so you think I'm cute?” Beck flirted. It was impossible to let it pass by.

“Like it was a secret” Poppy smirked.

“… What?”

“I’m not blind, Hughes. You are actually very good-looking. It´s not a secret.” Beck was shocked, did they really just heard a compliment from the one Poppy Min-Sinclair that wasn’t commercial related? They looked at her, expecting some irony or double meaning, maybe some hint of a trap, but no…  She was being completely sincere. Beck snorted, it was cool they guessed.

“Now, that's a compliment.” Poppy rolled her eyes evidently, pretending to be irked, but that little smile on her lips proved to be the opposite.

“Hello? My lunch?” Beck laughed, how can she be so rude and yet so cute at the same time? Maybe she wasn't so bad after all.

Maybe.

“Whatever you want, bossy-ass”

----

Next

BtT Light Novel Club, Chapter 20 (Part 1): Tearmoon Empire, Vol. 1

Oh boy are you all in for a treat this time around. Our discussion on Tearmoon Empire, Vol. 1 was so huge, I decided that, for the first time in Light Novel Club history, we will have a two-part discussion! The second part will go up tomorrow, but for now, I hope you enjoy this first part of our discussion. After all, if we had so much to talk about that we needed to split it between two posts, you can bet that this was a really good novel.

And if you’re just joining us and wondering what this book is about, here is the official volume synopsis from J-Novel Club:

Surrounded by the hate-filled gazes of her people, the selfish princess of the fallen Tearmoon Empire, Mia, takes one last look at the bleeding sun before the guillotine blade falls…

Only to wake back up as a twelve-year-old! With time rewound and a second chance at life dropped into her lap, she sets out to right the countless wrongs that plague the ailing Empire. Corrupt governance? Check. Border troubles? Check. Natural calamities and economic strife? Check.

My, seems like a lot of work.

Hard work and Mia don’t mix, so she seeks out the aid of others, starting with her loyal maid, Anne, and the brilliant minister, Ludwig. Together, they strive day and night to restore the Empire. Little by little, their tireless efforts begin to change the course of history, pushing the whole of the continent toward a new future.

And why did the selfish princess have a change of heart, you ask? Simple—she didn’t. She’s just terrified of the guillotine. They hurt like hell, and Mia hates pain more than work.

Lazy, selfish, and a complete coward, the ill-equipped princess of the Tearmoon Empire, armed with memories of her past life and a diary from the future, tries to avoid dying at the guillotine again and changes the very course of history in the process!

Joining our discussion this time are Jeskai Angel and Gaharet. Let’s begin!

1. What are your overall impressions of the novel?

Jeskai Angel: I already went on record making an awesome ’80s pun and saying that reading this volume was a life-changing experience. That’s something I can say of very few books, let alone light novels. And as I reread the volume for this discussion, my high esteem for this book felt validated. It’s extremely funny, makes excellent use of its historical inspiration, has a whole posse of heartwarming characters, and raises deeper issues to ponder.

Gaheret: The story grew from the beginning, where the schematic nature of the Empire in comparison to France and the blindness of the narrator -which Jeskai had point out in his article- were harder to swallow, and things felt too convenient. After all, it is not as if by behaving good, or trying to, the outcomes will always be good. But around the time she visited the church, I started to identify a lot with Mia. Like her, I´ve always trying to live in a world by deduction, taking examples and lessons from books and teachings and trying to apply then to deduce the outcomes or at least knowing what the right path was. As I didn´t always understand what I was reading, this led sometimes to absurd results, sometimes to a comedy of errors, and sometimes to good results whose goodness I perceive only in time, including exaggerated or erroneous views of people about me. In that sense, Mia was quite like me.

By the time she encountered Abel, I started to feel truly moved. The role of an inspiring woman in the life of a young man cannot be underestimated, and it helped me in the same way Mia helped Abel. I felt very identified with his good-for-nothing opinion of himself, and I was glad to see him trying his best. He may be my favorite character in the book.

The battle against his brother with Mia watching was the best point for me.

Concerning the central comedy of errors of the book, the one concerning Mia´s self-interest in contrast with both what the characters think of her and what the narrator thinks of her, I think that ultimately, maturity and virtue for us sinners are an effort to humbly “grow into the mission”, even grow into the character.

The Empire felt more convincing in time. I came to like the prejudice against agriculture, the causes of the plague, the diplomacy, the Ministeries and the various issues concerning the future economic crisis. As for now, I´m really interested. I wonder how it will all turn out.

The Academy felt too Japanese high school at first (at least don´t call them clubs or student council! And hot baths! And lunchboxes called such are just unforgivable!), but both the dance and the fencing tournament felt very convincing, with complex power dynamics. By the end, I wanted more of all the characters: the merchants, the petty nobles, the Duchess of the realm Jeskai aptly describes as a sort of Papal States, and the servants too. And more so, I want to see how Prince Abel ends up.

Jeskai Angel: Japanese high school equivalents in fantasy worlds are so ubiquitous that I just kind of take them for granted now. But I agree that some aspects of the setup felt out of place.

“things felt too convenient. After all, it is not as if by behaving good, or trying to, the outcomes will always be good.”

Ooh, ooh, yes! This introduces something I was hoping we’d talk about! (Don’t worry, I’ll get back to question 2 eventually.) At one point in the story, the narrator says of Mia that “After thoroughly experiencing the kind of suffering she’d inflicted on others, she came to understand an essential truth: you reap what you sow.” Later, the narrator expands on this:

“After three years of dungeon life, Mia had come to understand an essential truth, or rather, she thought she had. What she didn’t know was that she only understood half of it. You reap what you sow. Those words do indeed ring true, but the scythe cares not for the nature of the grain. Should you sow the seeds of malice, then malice shall be your harvest. But should you sow the seeds of kindness…Just as how bullying will be repaid in kind, so will acts of benevolence.”

Now, that’s great, but what does it mean? The metaphor of sowing and reaping is all over the Bible. There’s the vivid image of judgment in Hosea 8.7: “For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind.” In 2 Corinthians 9.6 there’s a pretty general statement of this principle: “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” And perhaps most important of all, Galatians 6:7-8 says: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”

The biblical concept of sowing and reaping is strongly oriented toward the resurrection and judgment. God doesn’t guarantee us good things in this life. The scriptures show there’s limited correlation between doing good/evil and experiencing good/bad things, but it’s far from ironclad. If anything, the Bible points the other way, saying we should NOT expect this life to work out so conveniently. The scriptures abound with good people who face undeserved suffering – Jesus above all others! Likewise, the Bible depicts many wicked people seemingly getting away with their sins in this life. God promises us that he’ll sort it all out someday. Until then, we must endure in hope.

But this sowing-and-reaping talk can also bring to mind the concept of karma, which from what I understand originates in Asian religions but today seems more like a global pop culture concept. (That is, most people have heard of karma, but don’t necessarily understand every nuance of, say, the Buddhist definition of the term.) Leaving aside the more technical meanings used by world religions, in popular use, it seems to me that karma evokes an expectation of prompt, earthly correlation between doing good/bad and experiencing good/bad. While not exactly biblical, this is a view we find in the Bible: its leading purveyors are Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, the so-called “friends” of Job. They carry on about how the fact that Job suffers is proof that he is evil, and that as soon as he stops being evil, everything will be good again. Job is a…complex book, but one point that is absolutely unambiguous is that Job’s friends were wrong. The suffering Job endured was not some cosmic payback for some wicked deed, and the good things Job enjoyed before and after suffering were not contingent solely on Job living righteously.

The novel is somewhat ambiguous, but in the context of a Japanese novel, it seems likely that the author’s conception of sowing and reaping reflects the idea of karma, rather than focusing on God settling everything in eternity. But the fact that different worldviews can use very similar language is exactly what makes it so interesting to consider what’s going on in this story.

stardf29: First of all: this novel is absolutely hilarious. The way all of Mia’s actions get reinterpreted as her being some genius saint is great, and while normally misunderstandings in stories can be annoying because of how they slow down plot progression, here it’s used to move forward the story (and in very funny ways) so I really enjoy that. The snarky narrator adds to all of the amusement, of course.

Beyond that, this story has a fascinating cast of characters, some solid worldbuilding, and a whole lot of charm to it. I’ll definitely be getting into the specifics that I liked as the discussion goes forward.

Regarding “sowing and reaping”: So, out of curiosity, I actually went ahead and asked the translator of the novel on the JNC forums for what the original Japanese was, to see if it was just a localization with a familiar English phrase or some kind of common Japanese saying that might have actually originated from the Bible (in Japanese). (It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen this; the phrase “the scales fell from my eyes” is a common Japanese phrase and does indeed reflect the corresponding event of Paul’s conversion in Acts.)

In this case, it looks like the original Japanese is just a sentence saying “the seeds you planted have to be harvested by you as well”, rather than a common saying. That said, I did look up Galatians 6 in Japanese and it seems the verse in question also has a similar sentence (from my very limited Japanese knowledge), so maybe it has managed to find its way into more common Japanese knowledge somehow, or maybe the author looked up the verse or something. Hard to say for sure without having access to the raw texts, but it’s definitely something interesting.

2. What do you think of the characters?

Ludwig

Jeskai Angel: Ludwig is a great nod to historical civil servants like Turgot and Calonne who served the French monarchy in the days before the French Revolution. As a character, he’s admirable because he’s so incredibly faithful. In the original timeline, despite having little reason to care for Mia or the royal family, he strenuously attempted to stave off disaster. And even after revolutionaries took over, he kept trying to save Mia. She lost everything, was abandoned by almost everyone, but he continued to care up the way up through the day of her execution. None of this brought him any benefit, yet he persisted.

One of the major issues in Mia’s life is her inadequate upbringing: she seems to receive no parental love or guidance, is terribly spoiled by those around her, and has no real friends. It’s no wonder she turned out dysfunctional. But Ludwig is one of the rare exceptions. When he greets her by rebuking her for how much it costs to feed her, as well as on other occasions, it makes Ludwig one of the few people in Mia’s life who tries to teach her any sort of discipline. His mentor-like role highlights the void left by her uninvolved parent(s). It’s a mark of how Ludwig cares that he actually makes the effort to teach her. As an aside, the tomato-chef is another (albeit much more minor) example of this: he’s one of the few adults who cares about Mia enough to provide even a sliver of discipline in her life.

At one point in the original timeline, Ludwig tells Mia, “You’d better take a good, hard look at yourself and reflect on your mistakes, Your Highness.” Whether or not she had those words in mind, that’s exactly what she does in her reset life, and lot of it is thanks to Ludwig. Mia didn’t fully appreciate Ludwig’s lectures in her previous life — but she did LISTEN to them, and retained that knowledge! The narrator makes of point of insisting that Mia is as ignorant ever, that she’s merely parroting things OG Ludwig said. Bah, humbug! Have you ever graded student essays? I have. Even just repeating back the things a professor or textbook said is impossible for a student who never actually understood the material. A clueless dolt who didn’t grasp a complicated lecture about economics and taxation wouldn’t be able to regurgitate it in any kind of intelligible fashion – especially not years later. Ludwig is brilliant and, despite his cantankerous appearance, impressively patient as he teaches Mia, while Mia is a quite a bit sharper than the narrator gives her credit for. Yes, she got everything she knows from OG Ludwig, but all the best students owe a great debt to their teachers. She deserves credit for understanding and remembering Ludwig’s teaching well enough to apply in her reset life.

stardf29: Ludwig is an interesting case because, in the original timeline, it seems like he had every reason to dislike Mia, and yet made every effort to try to save her regardless. Maybe he saw Mia as an unfortunate spoiled brat who simply never got the proper upbringing to know any better, or maybe he figured that, as selfish as Mia might have been, executing her would only make things worse for the country. Whatever the case, his willingness to see a different side to things and remain loyal to Mia gets repaid in the current timeline with Mia saving him from being banished to the boonies and getting an advance on his future knowledge courtesy of Mia.

And yes, Mia gets credit for actually remembering all of that knowledge that past-Ludwig gave her. And she even gives him just the tiniest bit of credit in her diary entries towards the end of the volume. (She sounds almost tsundere-like with her whole “it was really just the tiniest little bit, okay?”)

Gaheret: Well, I thought that was because of Imperial ethos of loyalty and pietas. Even the sovereign you don´t especially like, you try to love and support with your best efforts.

Smug Mia is more adorable than she has any right to be.

Anne

Jeskai Angel: Okey-day, first, I want to point out that “Mia” shares all its letter with “Marie,” while “Anne” shares all its letters with “Antoinette.” I commend the author’s cleverness.

Anne is great. Her faithfulness to Mia is incredible, and her loving service becomes a major element in Mia’s own transformation (which interestingly comes back around as Mia influences Anne in the second timeline). When Mia recognizes Anne and seizes the opportunity to reward OG Anne’s service, it’s a hugely effective way to show that Mia has changed. “Why do you still devote yourself to me?” Mia asked the day she died.

OG Anne was remarkably Christ-like as she served Mia despite deriving no benefit from doing so. Feet aren’t mentioned specifically, but when the story notes Anne even washes Mia in prison, I couldn’t help but think of the foot-washing at the Last Supper. In answer to Mia’s query, Anne says “I just couldn’t leave you alone.” The brief but vivid portrait of Anne’s love for Mia is at the heart of how the story sells us on the idea that Mia has changed. Some of Mia’s last words before her first death are to beg Anne for forgiveness for how she treated the maid, how she regrets being unable to act on the gratitude she now feels. It’s wonderfully satisfying when Mia gets the chance to say, “Now… I can finally repay you for your loyalty.” Notably, Mia is thoughtful enough to not only promote Anne, but also ensure she doesn’t face harassment from coworkers. In the bath scene later, Mia scrub Anne’s back, reflecting how the “foot-washing” lesson OG Anne taught her has taken root.

Later, there’s a neat echo of the conversation in the prison flashback. “Um, have I done something for Your Highness before?” Anne wonders. “No, and you need not. I know you to be deeply loyal, and I am repaying you for your devotion. That is all.” OG Anne has changed Mia for the better, and it’s beautiful.

Gaheret: Anne and Ludwig, the faithful servants who stayed when everything crumbled, are admirable just by that fact, and Mia is right to recognize their loyalty and put her trust in them. Yet, it seems to me that this has had the unintended side effect of depriving them of knowing Mia´s character -which is not so bad as the narrator makes it to be-, and thus, of a relationship like they had last time. I find it kind of sad: Mia still needs Ludwig´s clear judgement and Anne´s kindness to correct her blind spots. But now, like an Ami Kawashima of sorts, she can only do it by remembering what they said and did in the past, because they do not know her blind spots anymore. And as a result, Mia is terrified and alone, and she cannot but come to feel like a fraud. I always had people to open up to. She doesn´t, not one. Worse, when she knows that they are loyal enough to love her and commit to her despite her flaws.

stardf29: I don’t have much to add here that hasn’t already been said, but yes, I absolutely love how loving Anne was in the previous timeline to a Mia that was otherwise almost universally hated. And that was at least a major influence on Mia in the current timeline being kinder herself… which leads her to making that timeline’s Anne her retainer and friend… which in turn has her supporting Mia faithfully in this timeline, even behind the scenes. There’s a very beautiful (and amusing) poetry to this circle of kindness here.

Abel

Gaharet: Concerning Prince Abel, I enjoyed a lot seeing him grow from prodigal second son to a man wishing to be an able rival to Prince Sion, and his transformation from that point on felt believable. I think it adds points to the story that she primarily approached him at first due to strategic reasons: literary conventions aside, that was how it was done. A virtuous noblewoman would try to choose well between the options which were strategically good (if she could even do that much) and then try to love and inspire the man, as Mia did. I like how there is evil in his character and his barely avoided destiny remain with him in a way, and also that he has no idea of how to behave in front of Mia. I think he will be a good, loyal support for her in times of need.

Jeskai Angel: While Mia has a positive effect on many characters, arguably the one who changes the most due to her influence is Abel. The story introduces us to current Abel in a way that really helped make his multiple possible futures believable. One can totally see how current Abel could have given up on life and settled for being a shallow playboy. But in the new timeline, his efforts to grow, inspired by Mia, are also believable. I feel like he’s actually an extremely fitting match for Mia. Prince Mary Poppins, I mean, Sion, is and always has been practically perfect in every way. But both Mia and Abel are people with serious flaws who met sad ends in Mia’s first life. And now, in Mia’s second lease on life, Mia and Abel are getting second chances to do better – together. It’s super sweet and poetic and I’m so rooting for them to get a happy ending together!

Involving Abel but pertaining more to Mia, the entire fact that Mia pursues a relationship with Abel is a huge sign of Mia’s newfound humility. In her first list, she thought herself entitled to the most prestigious boy in her class. It signifies how much he’s changed that in her second life she cultivates a relationship a mere second prince from a minor kingdom. Even with pragmatic, guillotine avoidance motivations, Mia had to set aside her pride, change her priorities, to even consider Abel.

stardf29: First of all, the name Abel is strangely fitting in various ways: note that his brother is named “Gain”, which is very close to “Cain”. Almost makes me wonder if the name choice was intentional (along with the sowing/reaping reference, maybe the author knows their Bible quite a bit).

Anyway, yeah, Abel definitely changes a lot when Mia shows interest in him and encourages him to not give up on bettering himself. Putting her motivations aside (and here they’re not even all that “selfish”; she’s actually considering what’s best for her country as well as whatever country’s prince she decides to marry), she sees Abel not for his current shortcomings, but as a person with the potential to grow and change. That’s a very gracious, God-like approach here, and its impact on Abel’s life is huge. Seeing how he takes inspiration from her in the swordsmanship tournament is great.

And on Mia’s part, she’s definitely not completely immune to Abel, either, as we can see from the part where she notices how hard he has trained for the tournament and tells him she wants him to win. This is actually quite a sweet romance, all things considered.

That said, there is an interesting bit of irony here. Mia originally chose Abel because he was a second prince and not very likely to become king… but now, one can argue that Abel is more suited to becoming king than his brother. Could Mia’s plan backfire on her in this way? That might be an interesting obstacle for her to work around…

Jeskai Angel: Since “ka” and “ga” use the same character in hiragana / katakana, isn’t the spelling of Gain / Kain / Cain not merely close but practically the same?

This gets me thinking. If Gain’s hatred of and jealously toward Abel take him down the path of his namesake, he could easily turn into a major antagonist for Mia in her second life. In the new timeline, Gain is arguably the most overtly wicked named character. The bullies go unnamed. Sion is…flawed…but while OG Sion was horrible, Sion of the new timeline hasn’t really done anything wrong yet. Assuming that Mia is going to face some kind of major antagonist, it seems like it’ll be either Sion (based on what we know of him from Mia’s first life) or Gain (based on his name and the fact that he’s the nastiest character Mia has met in this timeline).

Ooh. Now I kind of want / don’t want a scenario where Gain as antagonist captures & tortures Mia (or, rather, tries). I don’t want Mia to suffer, but there could be an awesome scene where Gain tries to torture her, an unphased Mia thinks to herself “This is nothing compared to the torture I faced in my first life,” & then Gain has a complete meltdown when he can’t get a response from her, let alone break her.

stardf29: Heh, that would be pretty amusing. Though if the story does go down that path, I hope that Gain ultimately reforms after all of that, maybe after he misinterprets Mia’s indifference as showing some kind of unconditional love to him or something.

Other Characters (besides Mia)

Jeskai Angel: Regarding Sion, “Sunkland” is a pretty amusing play on “England.” I appreciate his thoughts about how leaders “must always take pride in their integrity and hold themselves to a standard such that they might be examples to their subjects.” It’s painfully relevant as we suffer through a presidential election in America this year. I also like Sion’s pithy observation, “When witnessing the oppression of the powerless, anger was the correct response.” I’ve wrestled a lot over the years with the appropriate place for anger in a Christian’s life, and I think Sion is right on target.

Tiona isn’t in focus as much as some of the other characters, so while she’s a solid character who has an important role in the story, she didn’t really leave a strong impression on me. I look forward to her and Mia getting closer when Mia goes for the visit we’re promised.

I did find it amusing how, because OG Sion and OG Tiona literally presided over her execution in the previous timeline, Mia just assumes Sion and Tiona already hate her guts and are eager to kill her, before she’s even met them in this life. It’s a curious blindspot: she thinks she can change her fate, but doesn’t consider that she might change Sion and Tiona’s opinion of her along the way. However, the fact that Mia has no serious desire to take revenge on Sion and Tiona also reflects Mia’s capacity to forgive (or hints that she’s developing such an ability).

Keithwood mostly serves as a foil to the other characters. He’s our source of insight into Sion, and the one sane person who keeps the lunchbox fiasco from going completely off the rails. Keithwood is also one of the more perceptive observers of Mia. He comes surprisingly close to the truth when he ponders whether Mia is a saint, schemer, or seductress. Other characters tend to lean heavily toward the saintly view, while the narrator insists Mia’s is a schemer. So although Mia is hardly a seductress in any meaningful sense, Keithwood is right to consider that there might be ways to understand Mia besides just the extremes of “saint” or “schemer.” Mia, like all of us, is a strange mixture of good and ill, and Keithwood comes closer than anyone else to grasping that reality.

Gaheret: Prince Sion, on the other hand, is the kind of character I despise. Virtuous, yes, but harsh with others. The kind of man who (original timeline) approaches an imperial princess in disgrace during the crisis of her Empire just to say “I despise you”. The kind of person who consents a young woman to be bullied by the mob and in suffering for three years, even being force-fed those tomatoes just because they discover that she hates them to the point of vomiting, then executes her just because she is the symbol of the old régime. The sort of pretty boy who turns down a vain girl in a painful way, because she is vain and deserves a lesson. And worse, he does all that with peace of mind, because she is bad and stupid, and he is not. Let´s just say that I found the way Mia gave him the cold shoulder wise and prudent: it is best to keep him at distance. The narrator says that Prince Abel and Prince Sion will meet each other in battle. So be it.

I liked Tiona, on the other hand. She was a victim, called a “saint” by the Revolution, and she had endured a lot. I´m glad Mia had to establish a friendship with her, even if she was reluctant at first. As Jeskai says, we still not know the most important things about her. In whose side of the Revolution will she be, now that Mia is not involved in her bullying, but is a friend and a defender? She clearly still likes Sion in this version of the story, but this time he seems not to notice her, what happened in the original timeline? Though they came visit Mia together.

Concerning the minor characters, I would have liked more emphasis on Chloe and her merchant background, and we do not hear much about the character of Tiona´s maiden. Balthezar, Ludwig´s friend, and the noblewoman from the agriculture background look like promising characters. And lastly, duchess Rafina, a future ruler and priestess, the moral inspiration of the Academy, who is said to be the spiritual inspiration and a force silently backing the revolution, strikes me as a terrifying figure, almost in the same way as Sion. The novel depicts her as kind and just, but I see her always judging from above, and subtly making moves through her influence. I could totally understand Mia´s anxiety when she has to explain to her how she has dealt with the offending nobles. There is a “Church” which is mentioned when dealing with the plague: if Rafina is its head (as the Papal states analogy would suggest), this would be something entirely different from the French Revolution.

Oh, I almost forgot Keithwood. And yet, he is the one closer to the truth: as the “wise servants” that abound in literature, in a somewhat Shakespearian position in which he can see above the tale, he is not blinded by his position and can observe. He is deeply committed to Prince Sion, who we know will battle against the Empire, and almost unbelievably wise for his years (I say “almost” because I have known some young people who are indeed wise). Yet, he is clever and just, and even if he doesn´t see through Mia, he knows something to be off. If someone realizes what is happening, it will surely be him. And his moral character seems solid, without the threatening aura of Rafina and Sion.

Jeskai Angel: Okey-day, I agree with Gaheret. Great points. While I do like the quotes I mentioned earlier, Gaheret‘s commentary helped me realize that I’ve been just kind of lumping Sion and Tiona together as the two ringleaders of Mia’s death, when really I should have been looking more closely at them as separate characters. Sion really is a self-righteous Pharisee with no real reasons to like him ever presented. On the other hand, Tiona is a hardworking, long-suffering victim, and while that doesn’t necessarily justify executing Mia, it certainly makes Tiona more sympathetic. She has valid grievances, even if we may disapprove of how she deals with them. Also, it seems relevant that we never actually see OG Tiona acting cruelly toward Mia the way OG Sion did.

Mia’s efforts to befriend Rafina in the previous timeline are truly pitiful. She never had real friends, was never taught how friendship works, and thus tried her hardest and got nothing but scorn. That’s not all Mia’s fault: it’s the result of a sad upbringing. You can tell Mia is scarred by her past failures to make a friend; in the new timeline, she just dreads Rafina, knowing her as someone impossible to please. As someone who spent many years of childhood and adulthood painfully struggling (and often failing) to make friends, Mia’s plight is super sad and super relatable.

On the topic of Sion / Rafina in particular, one aspect of the story I appreciated was the unfair judgments Mia faced in her first life. OG Rafina held Mia responsible for the harassment of Tiona, even though Mia had nothing to do with it. OG Sion went out of his way to be mean to Mia, despite the fact that even if she was annoying, she never really did anything to harm him. It’s actually a nice reflection of the IRL French Revolution. Now, the revolution was a complex phenomenon with multiple causes, but one factor was corruption among the ruling class, some which was real, but some of which was just perceived. For example, Louis XV was a notorious womanizer whose behavior tarnished the image of the French monarchy. His grandson Louis XVI was, as far as I can tell, a faithful family man, but the perception of corruption weakened the monarchy. Similarly, Marie is arguably most famous for responding, when the people had no bread, “Let them eat cake.” Except that she totally never said that. However, the French royals came to have this frivolous image that provides a context where Marie’s fictitious callous words sound plausible.

stardf29: There’s definitely something curious about how Tiona ended up becoming one of the starters of the revolution in the original timeline. If you ask me, Tiona seems a bit too nice to have started a revolution just because she was bullied by Mia. Something else probably happened (beyond her kidnapping, which only really served to endear her to OG Sion) that drove her over the edge. It’s definitely something curious that I hope we learn more about.

Now, Sion… yeah, something about him rubs me the wrong way. He does seem like a Pharisee who prioritizes “justice” (or what he thinks that is) over grace, and on top of that he just has that smugness to him that makes me hope he gets taken down a peg. So far, that hasn’t quite happened yet, but there are some cracks starting to show, and I’m looking forward to seeing how Mia interacts with him later on.

Keithwood is a character that seems to be somewhat common in these medieval settings: the knight that is a close friend of a prince such that he is able to speak more frankly to him, without as much regard to position. He’s a good foil to Sion, and just a good guy overall, especially with helping the girls out with making the sandwiches.

As for Rafina: Score one for Tearmoon Empire for actually having a sympathetic religious authority figure of sorts. Though it does feel like, had that meeting with Mia not happen, she would have very well turned out to be the sort of judgmental, graceless religious figure that we normally associate with fantasy religious figures, as the past timeline shows. However, Mia’s examples of grace (however unintentional) shows her a different way of doing things, and she becomes a friend rather than an enemy. I definitely hope to see more of her in the future.

Mia

Gaheret: As I said, I felt very identified with Mia. I’m familiar with jerk thoughts which go unnoticed, the transformation was fun and her role as a sainctly queen oddly reminded me of people like Blanche of Castille, Marguerite of France or Katherine of Aragon and her daughter Mary Tudor. She may be aided by special, comic Providence, but I count that as a plus. I like that her transformation is mostly outward, and the inner changes are slow: that is realistic. All women confronting powerful foes, searching for allies, trying to do good and trying to operate in a world of nobility, interests and threats of different sorts, like Mia. I´m invested in her relationship with Prince Abel: whatever the narrator thinks, there are signs that she is inspired by him, as he is by her.

Jeskai Angel: Mia is amazing. She reminds me a little of Bakarina, though she’s quite a bit more practical and realistic in her efforts to avoid impending doom. I empathize with Mia on a personal level in multiple ways, but she’s a great protagonist for many reasons. Thanks to the colliding perspectives of the narrator, various other characters, and Mia’s actual words and deeds, Mia comes across as a delightfully complex human being. She’s not the dolt that the narrator claims, and also not the genius other characters think she is. She’s not as petty and selfish as the narrator says, but she’s also not the purely virtuous saint some of the other characters mistake her for. And so on. Nobody – not Anne, not Abel, not the narrator – has a complete grasp of Mia’s character. Just as IRL humans, past and present, are quite complex.

Mia’s story is full of wonderful moments that could only happen because Mia really did live through the revolution of the original timeline. A great example is the story at the end of the volume where she eats the stale cookies, joyfully reminisces about the time she ate them in prison, then hears they are years old and immediately jumps to thinking about how her country could benefit from this food preservation expertise. Mia didn’t have a bad dream, nor a vision of the future. She lived this other life before dying on the guillotine and being reborn at twelve years old. For a twenty-year-old woman, she isn’t especially mature, but that’s fair, given her background. She grew up spoiled, friendless, lacking parental love and guidance, and spent the last three years of her life in a dungeon. None of that can be blamed on her.

But that’s not even the really good part. Before dying at twenty, Mia learned virtues like gratitude and compassion. These lessons came too late to save her in the first timeline, but she retained those qualities when she traveled back in time. It wasn’t inevitable that Mia learned such lessons: she could have used her suffering to become obstinate, bitter, angry, repaying hatred with hatred. She could have fallen into despair. But she allowed the suffering to refine her, help her grow. The fact that Mia is capable of realizing she was a terrible person in the past indicates a strong level of introspection.

Mia is at the center of a whole web of reverberating positive influences. Mia herself changed thanks to Anne’s kindness and Ludwig’s lectures…and also thanks to the hatred and derision of Sion, Rafina, and the revolutionary mob. There’s a sense in which everything different in the new timeline ultimately originates with Mia’s own different choices, caused by the lessons she learned in her first life. She makes a positive difference in the lives of Anne, Ludwig, the people of the slum, Elise, Tiona, Abel, Chloe, etc. Sometimes this even comes back around, as when Mia’s influence on Anne raises the maid’s expectations of her mistress, helping give Mia the extra push she needs to step up and help Tiona. Iron sharpens iron, indeed. Watching the ripples of Mia’s influence brings to mind the Vulcan proverb “One man can summon the future” (Star Trek: Enterprise, season 4, “United”). Mia’s story is an inspiring display of how one person can make a difference for good. I am totally cheeing for her in whatever future adventures she faces.

Another cool side to Mia’s character is how her “really 20 yrs old” nature is portrayed. The narrator rightly notes that the circumstances her first life “somewhat crippled her mental maturity in certain aspects,” but she also gets some great moments where her age experience from her first life shines through. My favorite is when Abel’s brother tries to act threatening and Mia’s reaction is basically “LOL, Senator Little Boy, you’re no Jack Kennedy revolutionary mob.” Her disdain is so complete that even as we repeatedly see her make extra effort to get to know people and remember their names, she doesn’t bother with the name of Abel’s brother.

stardf29: Honestly, I don’t know what to say here that hasn’t been said by others, so I’ll just say that, on top of all of that, she’s just really fun overall. She has a strange but effective sense of practicality (might as well sell this expensive hairpin so it can’t be stolen by brutish revolutionaries), while also being prone to moments of silliness (the horse-shaped sandwich). Even her more selfish and petty moments are more cute than malicious, like a kid trying to get what she wants while being aware that certain actions can hurt her later on. So yeah, she’s a really great character, well-developed while also being straight-up entertaining in and of herself.

Horses love Mia, too. Or at least they like to sneeze on her.

3. What are your thoughts about the narrator?

Jeskai Angel: I already wrote an entire essay about the narrator of this story, so I don’t know what to add, but just be aware that the narrator has such a distinctive voice as to qualify him as a major character in his own right, despite having no direct involvement in the events he narrates.

I’ve ragged on the narrator quite a lot (including an entire separate post!), and I do think he’s often at least partially wrong about Mia and the other characters within the story. But he has some good points.

Although the narrator stands outside the main story, he joins Ludwig one of the only voices who legitimately critiques Mia. Mr. Narrator often goes too far in his attacks on Mia and the others, but there are also nuggets of truth in what he says. I also appreciate the author’s choice to make the narrator so over the top in his view of Mia. A more deadpan narration would have given the impression that readers ought to believe everything he says. But this narrator is ridiculous enough to imply that readers shouldn’t blindly accept everything he says. My favorite example is a comment he makes after “explaining” the ”real” reason Mia said what she did while standing up for Tiona. He tears apart Mia’s “true” motivations, paints her negatively…and then admits, “Now, all of this might seem supremely counterintuitive.”

As already noted, this book is incredibly funny, and lot of that hinges on the narrator. Also, this book had some of the funniest chapter titles I’ve ever seen, and I like to imagine the narrator came up with them all.

The narrator also gets to make some profound points, with no snark, no Rube Goldberg-esque convoluted explanations, just sharp observations. After Mia awakens following her death, she tries to convince herself it was just a childish nightmare. But as Mr. Narrator incisively notes, “…she didn’t realize one, very simple, fact: real children don’t think of their nightmares as childish.” In the big picture, this is one of many moments that help confirm Mia really lived & died in the other timeline, that she didn’t just have a weird dream or vision. But it shows that the narrator has some genuine insight into Mia and human nature more generally. I also loved a moment before the tournament as Mia and Abel talk: “After some meticulous calculating, she looked to Abel… ‘I await your victory, Prince Abel.’ …And let slip her true thoughts.” This statement helps us understand Mia’s true feelings; she might sometimes try to be a schemer, but she’s not actually devious and dishonest enough to pull it off. But this the narrator’s commentary; we have him to thank for this insight. So, yes, the narrator goes to nonsensical lengths to criticize Mia and almost everyone else, and should be called out, but I’ve concluded that his snark sometimes overshadows his perceptiveness.

Oh, another thing I liked about the narrator is his occasional flash-forward moments, where he says “This was the moment that changed so-and-so’s life,” or “Thirty years from now this turned out to be super important,” or whatever. Leaving aside the fact that he knows about multiple timelines, they are fun interjections that contribute to the feeling that one is reading history (and yes, I mean that in a good way, LOL).

Gaheret: The derisive narrator was certainly fun, if sometimes excessive. It was almost like revisionism. In a way, it felt as if a more mature but excessively self-conscious Mia (who else would have known all that?) had found the biography of Anne´s sister excessive, and had wanted to tone things down, sometimes exaggerating in the other direction. I´m not a fan of the detailed flash-forwards: Firstly, because they already have the alternate timeline to convey that kind of information, secondly, because that sort of thing should be done vaguely, and it not always is. I liked one: “a destined battle among men”, as Uraraka would say. But, for example, the hagiography I just mentioned means that the Empire, at least the general public, never learns the true character of her Empress. As this is one of the main points she is working towards, I would prefer not to know if she achieves it beforehand. And I would have liked more intrigue and uncertainty concerning the transformation of Prince Abel. It would have made all the rivalry more uncertain, and we wouldn´t know for sure that he and not Sion is the love interest. That said, the author cares about his characters, and it shows, and I have come to like the worldbuilding, and also the different aspects in which the crisis of the Empire develops, and I liked the novel a lot.

Jeskai Angel: Ah, but therein lies the whole question. What IS Mia’s true character? The story gives us conflicting perspectives: the narrator’s claims, the opinions of other characters, and even the reader’s own interpretation of Mia’s actual words and actions. To say that Elise’s biography doesn’t capture Mia’s “true character” is to assume a certain interpretation of Mia that may or may not be correct. Though, in fairness, a biography written by a monarch’s paid retainer is naturally suspect.

This has prompted me to realize that thinking as a historian has led me to privilege to the opinions of the other characters (Anne, Ludwig, Elise, Tiona, Abel, Keithwood, etc.) above the narrator. When I research history, I give the most weight to contemporary primary sources, that is, accounts written close to the time of the topic by people with firsthand knowledge of the topic. As I read Tearmoon Empire, I am interpreting the perspectives of the other characters as primary sources. What Ludwig or Keithwood or whoever thinks of Mia at a particular moment is an eyewitness account direct from the time of the events. So though I don’t think the views of Mia held by Anne, Abel, et al. are to be uncritically accepted, they deserve great weight. Elise’s biography is also a primary source, but is much more suspect, being written years later and coming from a person with a vested interest (though it still could have much truth to it).

If Elise’s biography is hagiographic, the narrator seems more polemical in tone. And both tones are reasons to take care and read with a critical eye. The narrator comes across as an entirely distinct voice separate from the main story and characters. He speaks as an outside observer from some later point in time. While clearly not a normal scholar (he knows about the different timelines!), I’m inclined to see the narrator as the equivalent of a historian of some later generation. Thus I regard the narrator’s voice as a secondary source. He’s not an eyewitness, and he’s (probably?) not a contemporary of Mia and company.

Whatever the case, this leads to an issue of plausibility. The narrator’s views may be well founded on thorough research, but as a historian, I’m going to give more weight to the contemporary impressions of eyewitnesses than to a later writer’s claims. This is especially the case when the two interpretations diverge greatly. What is more likely? That numerous people with firsthand knowledge of Mia all constantly misinterpreted everything she said and did? Or that a scholar in a later generation is pushing an unduly harsh view of a past monarch? As more and more characters form positive opinions of Mia, I grow more doubtful that they are all just deluded like the narrator claims. It seems to me far more plausible that the narrator is being too harsh than that all Mia’s contemporaries so greatly misunderstood her.

On this topic, one point I find fascinating is that narrator doesn’t accuse Mia of deception. In all the situations where other people interpret what Mia said or did as benevolent, clever, or otherwise positive, the narrator NEVER suggests Mia was deliberately leading anyone on or cultivating a false image. Instead, the narrator just insists, over and over, that despite appearances, Mia really intended something different and all the other characters are just weak in the head. Again, I ask: is that plausible? More plausible than trusting the eyewitnesses’ immediate firsthand thoughts?

tl;dr My background as a historian influenced how I read this book, and incline me to trust the other characters more than when the narrator speaks distinctively in his own voice (though I believe both should be read critically). As a result, my view of Mia tends to be closer to (though not as extreme as) the perspectives of the other characters.

stardf29: I definitely like this sort of questioning about who exactly the narrator is. Personally, I like the idea that the narrator is Mia, several years older and looking back on this period in life and feeling super-embarrassed that her actions of self-preservation got blown out of proportion. However, she can’t ruin her image as the Great Sage for reasons, so she just wrote a more private account to relieve her own embarrassment or something. It’s interesting to think of because, first-person stories aside, we rarely think of who exactly is narrating a story, so for the narrator to have their own clear voice and personality, it invites this sort of speculation.

Jeskai Angel: Mmm… Interesting alternative theory of Older Mia as the narrator.

Yeah, narrators are usually either first-person with a distinct identity as a character within the story, or omniscient impersonal third-person with no distinct identity. It’s much less common to find stories featuring a third-person narrator that has its own voice and personality.

I know all we have at the moment is the first volume of the series, but with what we know from reading it, do you think the series will eventually identify the narrator more fully? Do you want it do so? Or would you prefer that he/she remain ambiguous? On related note, do you think the series will, and do you want the series to, ever address how/why Mia traveled back in time? Or is that better left a mystery in your opinion?

I think the narrator definitely has potential for further development, whether or not we actually definitively learn his/her identity. Like, learning the narrator’s identity might be cool (depends a lot on who it is / how it’s revealed). But we could also see the narrator’s views of Mia and/or other characters change over the course of future volumes, which could be quite interesting.

Gaheret: The diary is interesting, and now I´m thinking that it may be the source of the narrator. That or Mia herself. As you have said in your article, this narration feels a bit like self-derision sometimes. As for Mia´s true character, I think it´s half what she was, half what she is becoming, but it does not lessen her to be sometimes self-conscious, or bratty, or just fearful, or saved by luck. She has a more strong, impulsive personality that she shows. It´s only natural, and the good things she does are good even so. Even by the narrator´s account, she is working hard, trying to repare her debts with loyalty and gratitude and sincerely falling in love.

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And that’s the first part of our discussion! As you can see, we already had a lot of discussion already, and we still have more to talk about, so join us tomorrow for Part 2 as we go even further into this light novel!

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(Links to buy Tearmoon Empire, Vol. 1: Amazon / Other links )

and about your friends,, even if it’s a long story, i’m here to hear you always 💕✨ —🍩

Okeyy this is very long but hear is the story:

So I had this friend/Best friend I will call her Sunny okey. So Sunny & I know each other 6 years now. In primary school I was more of a loner and she was one of the more popular kids but every time her “Best friends” hurt her I comforted her. So then after both of us entered the 7th grade we weren´t in the same class but we became really good friends/ Best friends since we had the same interest (Except Kpop - she hated it) & same humor. So the last years we were the best of the best friends & it was all perfect despite some normal problems but we never fought. It started last year in September when both of us didn´t really have enough time to meet up that we drifted a little apart but everything was still okey. 

Okey so my school is a bilingual school, means that we have groups/classes that have all lessons only in our mother tongue (German) but their is also the bilingual part were the classes have half of their lessons in spanish. Me & Sunny are on the bilingual parte so when we end the High school we will have two diplomas the german and the spanish one.

So Sunny started to hang out more with some people from the non bilingual part & there wasn´t any problems I also have some friends that are in other classes but at some point Sunny started to ignore me. So we just started to ignore each other & that´s why I wrote a letter for her birthday that we should start to talk again. It ended up in her ignoring it. So the atmosphere was really tense & some other friends talked to her. Then she came to me one day and told me she thought I didn´t like her anymore since we didn´t talk. We both apologized to each other without any sense & everything was “Okey” but it wasn´t. 

It started to get really hard for me. I´m one of the top students so I had a lot of stress with school & we didn´t really talk even though we apologized to each other. So I started to ask her if she has time, if we can do something together, how she´s doing and if everything is alright. She told me we can do something in the vacations since she is busy and I totally understood. Then she told me in the vacations her grandma from Mexico is here & she can´t meet up. I know her parents so I understood the situation. But it´s really hard to ask her if she has time, than she says now bcs of her grandma but on her Instagram story I see how she´s ice skating with other Friends. I felt so dumb from feeling hurt by this since this is so inmature but it feels so bad. We started to ignore each other again and again and I always forced myself to try to save this friendship but it was so hard since literally nothing came from her. UHHHH fuck I´m literally crying right now.

It´s just so hard beside of school. It just really hurts that I tried so hard to stay friends with her & to see that she didn´t even give a fuck about it. And I couldn´t even say how bad I felt. I´m always the happy one, the funny one who hypes everyone. But I´m so shy in reallife and it was just so not me to cry so I just acted like everything was alright and that it didn´t bother me.

I just got so tired of always being the one who gives her best to make everything work out but nobody else cares. Until a friend of mine told her she should talk to me. Obviously she came after some time, telling me that it was hard for her and she tried to distant herself from everyone obviously not everyone. So we talked and talked and then everything was okey again, besides no it wasn´t. We met up the weekend after this and it seemed so nice to talk again to her, we catched up I told her everything and wtf now she likes kpop, I thought wtf. After years of making fun of it she is the biggest kpop fan. Obviously only BTS is Kpop for her. 

Okey now it´s getting fucked up. I have a girl in my class, lets call her Maddy. So Maddy didn´t really feel well since start of the new year and the Monday after I talked to Sunny she told me she wanted to talk to me. Maddy told me she´s pregnant. Fuck yeah more problems! The good thing is her parents support her & she thought about abortion but she looked at the pros and cons and now she´s going to keep it. So the father, lest call him Mike is super duper dumb. He started to ignore her and whilst they were still together he started to fuck with an 8th grader. A FUCKING 8TH GRADER. Also his parents told Maddy if she doesn´t abort they won´t support her. So Maddy was really hurt she wanted to stay together with him but it obviously didn´t work out so at some point she finally put everything together and broke up with him. There is much more drama of this but I wont explain all of this it´s just too much. 

OKEY. So me & Sunny and some other friends knew about Maddys pregnancy. Maddy told us that she still needs some time before she tells it to our class and that´s obvious. One day two boys from my class, only I & Sunny have contact to them from those who knew about Maddys pregnancy came to me and told me that they know that Maddy is pregnant.

UHHH THIS IS SO DUMB. Literally the only person who was able to tell them was Sunny. It´s not only the fact that she told them about it, its also that she took Maddy the chance away to prepare for the whole class and school to know that she´s pregnant. Sunny took Maddy the chance away to tell everyone what´s happening when she´s ready.

So I went to her. And I tried so hard not to cry. I told Sunny. Please. Please just to save our friendship don´t lie to me. Don´t lie to me and tell me if you told them or if you didn´t. I won´t be angry but just please be honest.

She said she didn´t. Obviously. She asked me why I´m thinking this and I just told her I don´t know but I just wanted to ask her why she´s lying right into my face. Sunny told me she´s gonna talk to them so they won´t tell anyone else and a friend of mine heard her talking to one of them in the corridors. She yelled at him, asked him why he told me that he knew. It was so horrible, I started to cry silently in art class as she came back into class and she told me its okey. It wasn´t her and I can think what I want to. 

I felt so fucking weak for not telling her that its her fault. So I just nodded and told her it´s okey. The next day a friend from the non bilingual part told me that a friend of Sunny told her that Maddy is pregnant. I just couldn´t understand. She is the only one who could have told her since nobody else except of her talks to this girl and why do you tell this someone who didn´t even talk once to Maddy. We went out in the last class, making photos in special art class and since I had the class with her I asked her if we could talk for a short moment. 

I was so sick of everything. I´m always so good with friends but I can be very cold so I just asked her why she told it this one girl. She looked at me confused and I told her I´m tired of her lying to me. She started to cry asking me why I thought so about her. At some point she just walked away, crying. AND OBVIOUSLY EVERYTHING WAS MY FAULT. Everyone asked her, omg why are you crying, Sera about what did you talk. I´m always the bad one at the end just because once in my life I tell her how I fucking feel about her. THATS SO HILARIOUS. I try to solve this, I have so much stress and then I do even more jut to save our memories. And she did nothing, like I wouldn´t get hurt by this just because I don´t like to cry in front of everyone. 

So, we started to ignore each other again. And the last week before our vacations I told her I want to talk to her after the class. I always think everything through but this was so spontaneously, I was shocked at myself for asking her. So after class we stood in the school corridor. School already ended for me but she still had one hour. 

I have this habit to bite on my lip when I´m nervous and I started to bleed a little because I tried so hard not to cry. I finally started to talk. I asked her if it still makes sense to her. Our friendship. Because I feel so hurt fighting for this. I´m the only one trying, the only one who´s really hurt and I just can´t anymore. I started to cry so hard. Some other friends were there and they got really shocked since they´ve never seen me cry. Well, I told her that its just really hard and that literally nothing comes from her and that it´s okey. People drift apart I just never thought it would happen to each other. I told her that I don´t even know anymore if I´m fighting for her and our friendship or just because of our memories since we´ve been together through so much. At some point it was so hard to talk. I just cried so hard, and my under lip bled so much. I asked her if it wouldn´t be better if we stop being friends because its only hurting me and I don´t want to be selfish but I just can´t anymore. I don´t know why I thought she would say something like no. Im so naive. She just apologized silently. And I stopped talking. I wanted to scream at her, telling her that it´s all her fault and that she hurt me so bad. I wanted her to feel as bad as I did. But I didn´t. I felt so bad for thinking about hurting her. She just told me she has to go to her last class and I told her yeah I have to get going too. I just felt horrible but good because I finally didn´t have to worry about it. I got fast out of school, crying. A friend called me, asking me if everything is okey. I told her that I´m feeling better, I really did. She told me Sunny ran up to the bathroom and locked herself up crying. Well, I don´t even know what to do know. 

I think its so funny that I´m so strong but then I´m so weak crying over something like this. I feel better now. It´s just hard. I met up with some friends in the park in the vacations and she was also there but just for a short minute before going away with some friends of her “because she didn´t feel well”. Turns out they just sat away just to not sit with us but texted one of my good friends she should come to them. THIS IS SO INMATURE. I extra told my friend no I don´t care if she´s with us. I´m okey now and it´s not like I hate her or anything. But then she acts like she doesn´t feel good just to go. UHHH THIS IS SO STUPID. I shouldn´t even care about this.

Well I´m doing good now. It´s just a lot but I´m feeling way better now.  I forgot to ask you how your exam went

benizakura movie before i forget it!

(which like. forgetting it isnt gonna be a problem. but while its fresh in my mind ya feel)

-first of all the in general stuff! ive never seen the old “no more” trailer, it was surprising! im used to the one w the cola head and popcorn head people lol (my favorite is prolly the one from the live action movie where katsura does a cosplay of the “no more” camera guy)

-the intro was really funny! signature “that one picture of the outside of the house as they all say weird stuff” scene, and the payoff at the end was hilarious also! id seen part of the ending scene in eng before but it was funny to notice the differences/translation? (like sakamoto saying gintoki like kentucky in reference to in the jp version calling him kintoki, katsura saying prolly a copyrighted thing in the jp version and it being censored, but in the eng version he just swears). i like the part where everyone from kabukicho breaks down the door and starts fighting in the movie set also

-i think the scenes to add in the other popular characters were nice! and gave kinda like an insight of “hey btw what was that person doing during the storyline”. the main squad are all awesome, hilarious, and heartwarming, and tbh i teared up at part but ill get to that later.

-ok. but let me say from the start i am ve-ry lov nizou. this movie was fuckin ridiculous oh my gosh. like. after the funny yorozuya shenanigans it cuts to the first scene. that fucking smile. that big toothy smile. that voice. holy shit fuck oh my gosh. i realized that when i see nizou in the movie theater i kinda sorta forget to breathe lol.

top nizou moments

-that smile at the beginning

-every time his face changes w the animation. im like “is this the real life” and it is wonderful.

-like every scene? really

-just fuckin walking off losing an arm like “ey. rude.” hes literally the black knight from monty python theyre prolly penpals. also the scene where the patrol? whoever? is chasing him as he runs away. me: i am looking politely

-that pouting scene where he has the bandage. that room got a glow up! its like a regular room in the manga and anime but in the movie its got like pretty panels and everything! i also noticed that sensei and matako have socks in that scene but i didnt see if nizou does. does nizou is wear socks. or does he not wear them like jotaro hecking kujo. i need to know for my minute worldbuilding headcanon nonsense

-the way they show his eyes in this. like oh my gosh i could stare at those for hours. and how he only opens his eyes when hes really fuckin pissed.

-that famous shirtless scene. uh. the other one. where hes in like that dark room n in pain n stuff.

-not nizou but every time another character would be like “fuckin okada-san again that man has no chill” im like -smug cat face but with blush emoji-

-the “yeah bois” scene was good too (thats the eng dub tho) where he heckin meet the spy finishes the guys sentence as he kills him. dude.

-the parts where theyre explaining how benizakura works so they have it like in. grey with blue or pink lines? very nice.

-the part towards the end where katsura is like “his body is screaming in pain” and it does that grey color thing again. my heart ow

-the scene where he slices through a ship. holy fuckin shit. so intense. i like when he has that little weird horse motorcycle thing. blessed. but the part where he cant control it anymore oh my gosh

-the last part where hes like consumed with it? hes so fuckin big oh my gosh. and like. sharp teeth for days.

-that last scene. oh my gosh. it always fuckin destroys me. where the tentacles (mostly) evaporate from his body and he just collapses

-the flashback scene of course is wonderful

-and also let me mention the part at the beginning with the streetlight and the moths. im like “awyeah bois its nizou time!” but then he appears on screen and im like “i forgot to breathe”

anyway tldr im going to buy this movie if i find it on dvd anywhere and endlessly binge watch it bc i love it

Understanding the way the British Speak English

Spoken English is in a constant state of change. For this reason, you may find that idioms you learned in class are no longer used by most Brits in their everyday conversations. If you use outdated idioms, it can have funny and embarrassing results as locals may find you’re English rather strange or eccentric.

Therefore, it is important to listen to as much modern English speech as possible and to get feedback from a British friend or teacher to find out what is “in” and what is “out”. Below are a couple of examples of traditional idioms and their modern conversational English equivalents:

A piece of cake – As this now sounds like an old-fashioned cliché, most Brits would use the expression

“No probs!” (No problem) instead. Note that the “-s” on the end must be used even though “No Problem!” uses the singular form of the noun.

Cost an arm and a leg – Brits are more likely to use colloquial equivalents like: “Cost a bomb” (a lot of Money, too much) or “Rip-off” (not worth the money paid, a cheat). E.g. “That old car cost a bomb!

What a rip-off!”

Brits still love to use expressions connected with the notion of “fairness”, which is an important part of the national mindset. E.g. “Fair’s fair”, “In all fairness (to him/her)”, “Fair enough”, etc.

Comparative expressions like “Sooner or later” and “More or less” also remain popular in English conversation.

The use of slang in conversational English

British slang is mostly region-specific, although there are terms that are in general use throughout much of the UK. If you spend long enough communicating with Brits from a certain area of the country, you will acquire local slang words and expressions as they are an unavoidable part of modern English Conversations. The way that slang is used (or avoided) is situation-specific, so if you do decide to learn it, you will also need to know when and where it is appropriate.

The problem of pronunciation and connected speech

Another major barrier to understanding English conversation is its delivery. Brits often speak quickly, use non-standard forms (see above) and are likely to have at least some regional features.

The strength of the person’s regional features usually depends on their social class; the stronger the accent/dialect, the lower the speaker’s social class status. Where accent relates to differences in pronunciation alone, dialect refers to both pronunciation and content (grammar, vocabulary, etc.). When Brits speak quickly, they use connected speech and short forms (contractions like “can’t”, etc.), which can also make it more difficult to understand conversational English.

Tips for improving your conversational English

The key to gain confidence in speaking   and being able to understand native conversation is regular practice and greater contact with the language. If you live in the UK, there are plenty of opportunities to go out and engage with the language spoken in your local area. However, if you are studying English in your home country, you are unlikely to have Brits queuing up on your doorstep for a chat! Where geography may be a barrier, the internet provides 24/7 access to all kinds of interesting native English material – from YouTube videos to podcasts, live radio and Google Hangouts. Watching video content on a regular basis can greatly improve your understanding of conversational English and expand your knowledge of popular vocabulary used in the language today. If you would like more structured training, then you could also look for online courses by natives   to provide weekly conversation practice and enhance your existing skills.

What makes native English conversation different?

When non-native speakers use English, they often sound overly formal in everyday conversation because of their tendency to use standard forms or “the language of textbooks”. In contrast, when Brits use their mother tongue, they bring together a combination of colloquial English, regional forms (including accent and dialect), slang, connected speech, knowledge of UK culture and other elements associated with their “native language instinct”. Trying to understand this type of conversational English, which is often delivered at speed and with frequent changes of topic, is no easy task if you are learning English as a second language. However, English conversation practice and regular exposure to real British speech can help you speak in a more natural way.

How to kick off a conversation in “real” English

Contrary to the popular classroom stereotype, when Brits meet each other, they don’t start the conversation with the phrase “How do you do?”. This is an outdated expression, which is now confined to formal business introductions and the English aristocracy. Moreover, the simple “Hello!” has been largely replaced by the friendlier and less formal, “Hi!” The vast majority of Brits now favor informal regional greetings over those you will know from your English textbooks.

Here are several examples of common British expressions used when meeting/greeting friends and starting conversations in the UK:

“Alright, mate!” – Common responses might be: “Alright!”, “Hiya!”, “(*Nod*) you good?”

“Hiya!” – A colloquial version of “Hi!”, perhaps more common among women than men

“How’s it going?” – Usually followed by a short answer like: “Yeah, good thanks. You?” or “Not bad, Cheers.”

“How goes (it)?” – A shorter form of the above. There are also funny forms like: “How’s tricks?”

“What (’ve) you been up to?” – An informal way of asking what someone has been doing since you last met. Common responses might be: “Oh, nothing much. You?” or “Had a couple (of pints) down the pub last night.”

Brits will not expect non-natives to know colloquial expressions like these, so you may raise a few eyebrows if you use them. If you spend time in the UK, you will hear greetings like these on a daily basis, everywhere you go.

The wider vocabulary of English conversation

Where written English tends to make use of standard forms, be well-structured and remain on topic, informal English conversation is the opposite – non-standard, spontaneous and chaotic. The speed at which spoken English is delivered can also cause problems for non-native speakers of the language, but perhaps one of the most important barriers to understanding is the vocabulary of conversational English, which often differs dramatically from that taught in English classrooms.

Colloquial expressions vs. standard forms

It is common in everyday English conversations for Brits to favor informal and colloquial language over their Standard English equivalents. Here are several examples of popular conversational words and expressions in British English:

Cheers – This word has multiple meanings, but most non-natives will only be familiar with one – i.e.

What Brits say when they drink alcohol (simple toast). In fact, this word is used more frequently in English conversation to mean: “thanks” or “goodbye”. E.g. when you get off the bus you can thank the driver by saying: “Cheers mate!”

Nice one! – Often used instead of “Well done!” to add more emphasis and emotion in conversational English. Other alternative expressions include: “Nice work!”, “You little blinder!”, “You’re a star!”. In American English, the equivalent would be: “Good job!”

Knackered – Another example of a word that adds greater emphasis when used in English conversation.

This word means “very tired” or “exhausted” and can be strengthened further, as in: “Totally knackered!” or “Completely knackered!”

Gutted – This common UK expression means “Extremely disappointed” and is often used by Brits when talking about football teams losing in important matches, failures at work, girlfriends going off with other guys, etc. E.g. “We lost 5-0 to Arsenal the other day. I was absolutely gutted, mate!”

Dodgy – If something or someone is described as “dodgy”, it means it is: faulty, wrong in some way, possibly illegal or suspicious, not “on the level”, unfair, false, etc. E.g. “Don’t trust John! He’s a bit of a dodgy bloke.” (suspicious/criminal), “Watch yourself in that pub, mate. It can be a dodgy on a Friday night.” (Meaning that you may get into trouble – beaten up, etc.), “My phone’s gone a bit dodgy. Can I borrow your old one?” (Faulty, not working properly, “on the blink”).

Bird/Bloke – These popular colloquial terms are used to mean “Woman/girl” and “Man/guy” respectively. “Bird” is similar to the American word “Chick” and would not be used in the presence of the woman being discussed. In contrast, the word “Bloke” is not perceived as rude.

Phrasal verbs vs. formal terms

Conversational English in the UK has a tendency to use phrasal verbs over their formal equivalents. This    often poses difficulties for non-native speakers as phrasal verbs are notoriously tricky to learn and are usually avoided as much as possible by those studying the language. Sounding natural in English conversation means getting to grips with phrasal verbs – both in terms of understanding and usage. Here are some examples of common phrasal verbs used in modern British speech:

Nip/pop out – This expression means “Go out for a short time”. E.g. “I’m just nipping out for 5 minutes.

Can you take a message if anyone calls?” or “I’m popping (out) to the shop. Do you need anything?”

Turn up – Often used instead of “Arrive” or “Appear expectedly”. E.g. “We hadn’t seen Emma all morning, but then she just turned up.” or “Don’t worry about your (lost) keys. They’ll turn up.”

Pick up – A phrasal verb meaning “Collect” (on foot/physically or in a vehicle). E.g. “Give me a shout (call) when you want me to pick you up from work.” An alternative would be: “Give somebody a lift” (in a car).

Run out (of) – A common expression used in English conversation to mean: not have any remaining/left, be out of something (a product), use up. E.g. “We’ve run out of milk, so you’ll have to have your coffee black. That ok?”

Head off (up/down) – Brits often use phrases like “I’m (going/heading) off down the pub” or “You off up to Scotland next week?” This can be confusing because there is not necessarily any slope or gradient involved in the perception of whether the destination is up or down in relation to the speaker. As a rule,

Brits say “up north” and “down south”, but when going to the pub it is more usual to say “down” than “up” (unless the pub is specifically located at the top of a hill).

Popular expressions vs. outdated idioms

Spoken English is in a constant state of change. For this reason, you may find that the idioms you learned in class are no longer used by most Brits in their everyday conversations. If you use outdated idioms, it can have funny and embarrassing results as locals may find you’re English rather strange or eccentric.  Therefore, it is important to listen to as much modern English speech as possible and to get feedback from a British friend or teacher to find out what is “in” and what is “out”. Below are a couple of examples of traditional idioms and their modern conversational English equivalents:

A piece of cake – As this now sounds like an old-fashioned cliché, most Brits would use the expression

“No probs!” (No problem) instead. Note that the “-s” on the end must be used even though “No problem!” uses the singular form of the noun.

Cost an arm and a leg – Brits are more likely to use colloquial equivalents like: “Cost a bomb” (a lot of money, too much) or “Rip-off” (not worth the money paid, a cheat). E.g. “That old car cost a bomb! What a rip-off!”

Brits still love to use expressions connected with the notion of “fairness”, which is an important part of the national mindset. E.g. “Fair’s fair”, “In all fairness (to him/her)”, “Fair enough”, “Fair play”, etc.

Comparative expressions like “Sooner or later” and “More or less” also remain popular in English conversation.

The use of slang in conversational English

British slang is mostly region-specific, although there are terms that are in general use throughout much of the UK. If you spend long enough communicating with Brits from a certain area of the country, you will acquire local slang words and expressions as they are an unavoidable part of modern English conversations. The way that slang is used (or avoided) is situation-specific, so if you do decide to learn it, you will also need to know when and where it is appropriate.

The problem of pronunciation and connected speech

Another major barrier to understanding English conversation is its delivery. Brits often speak quickly, use non-standard forms (see above) and are likely to have at least some regional accent and dialect features.

The strength of the person’s regional features usually depends on their social class; the stronger the accent/dialect, the lower the speaker’s social class status. Where accent relates to differences in pronunciation alone, dialect refers to both pronunciation and content (grammar, vocabulary, etc.). When Brits speak quickly, they use connected speech and short forms (contractions like “can’t”, etc.), which can also make it more difficult to understand conversational English.

so, yoi creator appreciation day went down earlier and... i didn’t manage to tag all the people i wanted to. not by a long shot. i’ve met so many wonderful and amazing people in this fandom, and the idea of calling out how awesome my friends are has been in my mind for a while now, so: 

@iceprinceofbelair adrian. you might not remember this, but really early on my days in the vwc chat, you helped me out. a lot. i was in a bad place then, it was the start of summer and suddenly i couldn't do anything but think, and you helped me out talked to me gave me options and encouraged my plans. thank you, truly, thank you. not only that but i just noticed you have fics too?? what??? i’m checking them out as soon as i’m done with this. 

@where-his-towel-is omg, you guys. ellen is everything. you helped me out so so much when i was just starting with my superhero fic, i was barely 5k in and yet you cared enough in my idea and actually liked it and you became my beta, and more importantly, a friend. a wonderful beta, with a quick mind and amazing skills, an even more amazing friend with such creative ideas who always supports me and the best wifey ever<333 thank you <3333

@yoyoplisetsky cary, holy shit, i can’t stress this enough, you’ve always been there when i feel unvalidated or unimportant or whatever. that time when you hacked lily’s account particularly stands out right now, but you’ve always been such a beacon of positivity in my fandom life, so thank you <333

@queenofaburiedkingdom lily!! the ultimate admin. no one tops you. no one tops anocily. you’ve always been there for me, always participated in stupid drama with me and doc, always been such a wonderful and amazingly positive person who’s always ready to be positive. thank you <333

@reddyonice red’s always been there!!! red’s always been there for me to bond with, to share my sorrows with, red always gets me no matter what and you’re so so kind and thoughtful and also an amazing writer and ahem gorgeous as heCKITY HECK UHMMM??? you might need to tone down how cool you are. just for the rest of us <3333

@kasumi-chou kas!! has who deserves it all, such a worthy and wonderful person who’s talented and hard working and has given so much to the fandom and honestly kinda needs a break!! you’re always there as big sis, a shoulder i can lean on, so thank <333

@rayrayswimusic ray ray was possibly the first friend i made on the vwc. i barely knew anyone there i was terrified being surrounded by all of these amazingly talented people with actual purposes in the fandom, and i remember talking with ray ray during my first few days there, such a sweet person who was always kind, so thank you. thank you for talking to me <333

@katsukifatale mac!! mac’s so full of positivity (references: immmm positivelyyoi??) and put up with all of our mistakes in the yurionicebigbang, can’t believe what a calm and patient person they are!! amazing <333

@roseus-jaeger rose wow... rose is always there in the chat, i just see rose pop up all the time. answering his messages on #general is like second nature by now. wouldn’t be vwc without rose, i don't even know if i can call you my friend because you’re undeniably The Cool One, but it’s so nice seeing you on the chat<333

@silencedfalcon NOC. HOLY SHIT. holy shit, not you guys. doc is The Popular. honestly how tf did i end up her friend???? hmm no one knows. in so many servers, knows so many people, she’s like the fandom black market, always has blackmail, always has the best and most amazingly refreshing angst and au ideas, i can't even believe. so glad you’re my friend doc, seeing your messages every morning brightens my whole day<33333

@sinkingorswimming dommi, ok wow, what do i say about dommi? um, first of all, her fic, cause I'm a taker bLEW MY MIND ALRIGHT? best version of a inside look at canon, everything feels so real and her writing is gorgeous. we’ve talked sometimes in vwc, not too much but you deserve to be here because you complimented my eyeliner once which, is honestly all i care about in life so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

@n3rdlif343va SAM!! ok, listen, sam, you made my day a WHOLE LOT better during one of my horrible times. i’d been hating my writing for ages and then sam goes “oh yeah you wrote that fic so i *had* to read that one” ummMMM I DIED OK THAT S TOP LEVEL TIER OF COMPLIMENTS I DONT THNK I’LL EVER BE ABLE TO REPAY YOU IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM, THANK YOU <333

@fallsintograce grace is wonderful. grace is amazingly strong and such a fighter. you’re going through a rough time, and you deserve better, so much better. it’s always so lovely seeing you pop up in the sws, i’m so glad i met you, take care and thank you <333

@domokunrainbowkinz DOMO!!!! domo, holy shit you guys, doom has some of the very best writing i was so amazed from the first time i read her harry potter au, i knew that she would be a wonderful wonderful person and you are!!! i’m always so happy to talk to you <333

@red-heather chloe’s always talking about her au in the chat its so so amazing seeing everyone pitch in trying to help her out with picking designs from photos and listening to what she has planned, a wonderful person in the chat who i’’m super glad to see all the time <333

@phoenixrei MEG!!! meg ok we haven't talked in FOREVER but meg was one of the people i was really close to at the beginning of the vwc, always there to talk about her au (WHICH IS GORGEOUS BTW UMMM WHO ARE YOU IF YOU HAVENT READ IT CHECK HER AO3 @ FullmetalChords PLEASE LORD SHES WRITTEN THE MOST AMAZING ACE!YUURI YOU COULD EVER IMAGINE) and always there when i ask her dumb questions about video editing software, I'm so glad to call you my friend <3333

@teekettle ok i can't tag her wtf anyway i LOVE seeing you in the group chat such an amazing presence here, always helpful with fic info always super nice and kind, i helped her out with a fic idea once and it was BOMB ANGST like it was amazing angst, a wonderful person over all!!! <333

@dramaticmari MARI!!!!! mari we bonded right from the start, you were such a positive and lovely person so helpful and a wonderfully talented artist who didn't fail to make me feel so welcome in this new chat filled with cool people, thank you so much for being a friend, for listening to me, for everything <3333

@krizariel kris has... kris has been there for me. A LOT. even today ifs omg i wouldn’t have been able to do the admin form correctly without you and sasu!!! not to mention what a lovely supportive and uplifting message you left in my inbox when i felt bad about myself. you’re such a positive influence, I'm glad you're my friend <3333

@iced-sass SASU ok literally the only other person within my timezone rip, you're always a wonderful friend who’s there to talk to, to share a laugh with, you never fail to be a talented wonderful human being who’s also hilarious um??? thats how we met i legit complimented you on a joke you said that doc showed me and thats how i got onto the sws, so really thank you so so much for bringing all these new friends and opportunities into my life <33333

@katsuki-skates bas, wow, bas or bass, whatever, is always there to listen, ever present on the vc and no matter what will support you and be super kind and lovely, i can't believe I'm friends with such a wonderful and amazing person. fun fact: i’ve been following you for forever and i kid you not i’ve been low-key stanning you for a good chunk of time. i was slightly terrified when i figured out your tumblr because i loved you so much. <33333

@thehibiscusthief sara, i barely know you, but for the whole short time i;ve known you i have also been low-key standing you. UHM ANOTHER DANCER WHOS APPARENTLY GOING PROFESSIONAL HOLY SHIT AHHHH i’m so so glad you’re going to a dance school, and you’ll definitely be accepted because you’re a talented wonderful person who’s not only a great dancer but also a great writer!!! um what!!!

extra shout outs to people who’s tumblr idk:

kuma, who is the meme dealer of the sis chat. i think we can all agree that kuma’s fucking hilarious, no matter what you might say puma, you're funny as hell and own that please

anna!!! who idrk that well atm, but i always see you on the sws and you're always a hilarious person, i’d say you and kuma are tormenting us with two trucks but i enjoy your humor so much that it would be a lie <333

sammie!!! sammie pls, sammie’s always been such ana amazing person to talk to, a bomb music taste, such a funny and wonderful person I'm so glad i see you in the chat<333

Top 10 Liverpool chants and songs of all time. via /r/LiverpoolFC

Top 10 Liverpool chants and songs of all time.

Now in this completely unbiased post about songs that most of us haven't sung inside the ground, I`m going to arbitrary assign numbers to chants and songs that you as a Liverpool fan should know by heart.I have spoken to many football fans and collected data mostly from the expert knowledge of my roommate who supports Barcelona and my grandfather who stopped watching footy after 1994 (thanks Italy and you ponytail having cunt).

THE GREATEST SONG TO EVER GRACE A FOOTBALL PITCH

You'll Never Walk Alone

This show tune of the musical Carousel was taken by Bill Shankly as the last song that played before the start of a game and after the song went down in the charts our supporters continued to sing if before and after a game.The fans sang "You’ll Never Walk Alone" at Wembley during the 1965 FA Cup Final win over Leeds, commentator Kenneth Wolstenholme dubbed to the song as “Liverpool’s signature tune”.Later Celtic,Dortmund,Mainz 05 and many others took inspiration from us and picked up the song as their anthem... the bastards.

10.We`re by far the greatest team ...

This one is a classic in spite of the fact that most english speaking clubs have used this one at least the lyrics were true for us for a long time.Now there are many chants that are just the name of the club, belted by the Kop in various speeds and tunes but i like this one more than the other simpler chants.

9.We all dream of a team of Carragher`s ...

And number one is Carragher. Now tell me if there`s anything more Scouse than a Beatles song turn into a Liverpool chant about a lad who mistakenly supported both clubs in the city (nobody give a shit about you Tranmere.).Now this one seems weird to sing now but in the rare occasion that all of our center back get injured throw a pair of boots at Jaime and he may provide a serviceable job at the back or you know score the occasional own goal.

8.Various players and staff..

Now since I named the post top 10 and gave myself very few numbers to work with were going to pretend that a) Im funny and b) were all ok about these songs sharing a spot

Torres Bounce

Luis Garcia

Luis Suarez

Carry McAllister

Colin Pascoe

Daniel Sturridge

Kolo "the lord and savior" Tore

And a personal favorite of our better times in the last 20 years

We got the best midfield in the world

7.A bit of Banter

Now here comes the "bantz" as the youth call it these days.We have our fair share of chants and song about the bitters, the scum and from recent years even some rentboys were lucky enough to be remember in a song.Now i could put this description of Manchester,this comment made by their red nosed manager or even this recent fact check we give to Chelsea, but there`s a song thats very dear to my heart. My question is very simple, Who The Fuck Are Man United?

6.Poetry in motion

I love this song its simple, easy to remember and sing. It describes something we have been, we are and we will continue to strive for terms of football style(Except Rafa he seemed more of a haiku guy).Now there is this recorded version which sounds god awful but i have to put in here.Oh the 80s

5. A Liverbird upon my chest

As many rival fans will tell you we like our history very much and to be fair they`re right and there isnt a better song to sing about our glory years than this one.A great epic describing our many victories over the blues,the cups we have and the legendary figures in the club like Shankly and Dalglish. Now a days this song isnt heard much in Anfield, maybe because of its length or the fact that most of our supporters find it difficult to start and end properly you can hear it in local pubs and before the upcoming Mersyside derby.

4.Captain Fantastic

Arguably the greatest player to wear a red shirt,Stevie has 3 songs that were very popular from 2006-2011 and after that just 1 of them stuck around eventualy one of them made a return in his final game.

The one that stuck was Steven Gerrard, Gerrard.He`ll pass the ball 40 yards..

The one that made a return was Steven Gerrard is our captain.../second verse version/

And in my unbiased opinion this song was always the best for our number 8.You`re just to good to be true

3.They said our days are numbered..

If you're like me and love a good redemption story a la rocky 4 you know this one by heart.The story goes we took the tune from our little trip to Rome in 84 and it stuck around.Shankly build a football team that shook the Spion Kop, we`ve conquered all of Europe and were never gonna stop

2.Fields of Anfield road

This may be the oldest chant in the list that can still be heard regularly in Anfield.It`s an adaptation to the old Celtic tune The Fields of Athenry but since they took YNWA we can have this one at least.Around the late 00s a second verse was written for the recorded version in memory of the Hillsborough disaster which makes the song quite somber to be honest but that verse has never been sung by liverpool supporters in any ground.

Recorded version by John Power

1.Let me tell you the story of a poor boy

Now this song has been around since the 60s and in 1982 after rush scored 4 it got a makeover. It can be heard in Anfield but rarely at its proper speed and with all the words intact.Weirdly there are several recorded versions of the song but i cant seem to find a clip of YouTube in which the beginning isn't missing when fans sing it.There were two some what famous debates about the lyrics the first was is the first line "Let me tell you the story of a poor boy" or "Can I tell you the story of a poor boy" and the second is the sun "Lybian" or "Arabian".Tommy refers to the "British Tommy" a popular nickname during WW1 and WW2. Rangers claim we stole in from them since the tune we sing it in is close to their song "The Sash" but they can fuck right off.

Can I tell you the story of a poor boy

Without the first verse

A recent version

And several recorded artist give it a go 1 2 3

Submitted March 30, 2017 at 07:49PM by nextgentactics via reddit http://ift.tt/2mTI8LE

The Good, the Bad, and the Morally Ambiguous

In so much of media, a distinct line has been draw between what is objectively good and objectively bad. In most cases this rather simple view served as a way to instill virtue on the youth as they grew up and later became apart of the "adult world". However, when that person, who grew up watching this type of content, begins to mature they begin to realize how flawed this simplistic world view is. With the world being something not as clearcut, or black and white, the actual spectrum of what is moral gets lost when focusing solely on what is definitively good or evil. There has always been this thick cloud of ambiguousness that gets ignored, or never even seen, because people want moral choices to fit in those two nice boxes.

As this anime season comes to an end, I do want to highlight two anime that have focused on the topic of moral ambiguity in their own ways. The more popular show this season was Death Parade, who had several people confused on what the finally fate of these two being judged by the arbiter Decim. And the other being Junketsu no Maria, or Maria the Virgin Witch, where a lot of the struggle is between three "sides", the people, their god, and witches. Most of the hardship has this feeling of questioning authority when their value deviate from your own, or just following status quo to save your skin. Junketsu no Maria does get a bit more in-depth in that subject, but I do what to start with Death Parade and the matter of judging humans objectively as an arbiter.

Objectively Subjective

When the pilot for Death Parade came out from the "2012 Young Animator Training Project" named Death Billiards, my initial thoughts were about the nature of humans as they fight with their lives at stake. It was in fact about that, but there was a bit more that I didn't really see until that concept was expanded on in Death Parade. From the start, and maybe to the middle, most people would have thought of the old man -- that being in Death Billiards -- as someone who was the "good person", but with some hints toward the end it might have made you question that judgement from earlier.

Having that foundation of unclear motives, from the people being judged, it made a nice point to lift off of this idea of whether or not you can judge a person objectively. And right from the first episode of Death Parade, you get reintroduced to that feeling, even if it wasn't as clear that that was what they were going until a few more episodes in. In the ultimatum of being reincarnated or going to the void, viewers almost instinctual think that one party is going to be good and the other evil. When it is clear that both parties aren't "evil" in any way -- for example the Death Bowling episode -- it suddenly shakes that assumed notion of there being two opposing sides.

On the other end we could have people that were clearly evil, but that wouldn't really prove much of a point. The interesting thing that Death Parade did was have two people who didn't seem bad at all and slowly worked in things that most people would consider vile without context, like murdering someone, but with context it doesn't seem as bad but its still morally gray. And this is where the objectivity of anything really flies out the window and things need to be judge with a bit more nuance. Can we really judge a persons actions if we are pushing them toward that evil we want to see? Is that true objectivity if we know these arbiters have the goal of seeing humans in a dark light?

When it comes to judging people, we can only really gauge intent through actions rather than what they are actual thinking. Putting people in a box of either good or evil isn't the best course action because people cast shadows, no matter how well they live their life. If we continue to weight someone's merit simple on the shadow they cast, we will never really get to the person casting that shadow and no real judgement is made. And that is the flimsiness of "objective morality", sure we as people can come to some common consensus but that is not true objectivity -- and never will.

Of course there are some moral systems that claim objectivity, and I obviously disagree as I've stated above, but funny enough there is an anime that gets in the foggy nature of these type of "morality by authority" philosophies. Like mentioned in the introduction, this anime is named Junketsu no Maria and I am going to jump into the individual versus authoritative principles that Junketsu no Maria covers.

Might Makes Right

Considering the main character Maria is a witch in a time of war and peril, I was pretty sure there would be some push back from regular humans. And with references to Christianity, there was no doubt that she would be labeled a heretic since she uses magic not ordained by their god. However, the thing that took me by surprise was both Maria and the god of Christianity had their own opposing styles of interfering with humans. And the humans had interpretations of the word of god via the church and it's priest.

Maria was someone that didn't like the war going on between the France and Great Britain, so most of the time she would interrupt and stop battles by using her magic. It was clear that a lot of the townspeople being drafted for the war also didn't like the war that was going on, so it would seem like Maria was doing them a service. Unfortunately, with some influence coming from higher ups, this includes the church, there was a push toward getting an unfavorable view toward Maria. And this is where I see a lot of conflict going on between individually held values, or morals, compared to a moral system coming from an authoritative entity.

Pretty much every person has their own set of values, even if they follow an authority based morality; however, some believe that you can only get any morals from an objective moral authority. As I said in the last section, I don't think there is an objective moral code, but we as humans can come to some conscience and always improve on ineffective or error prone laws through discussion. Without discussion we end up with this "might makes right" philosophy. A lot of times people go with what they find immoral, in that type of philosophy simply because of fear. With that being said, this was the main struggle between the groups in Junketsu no Maria -- that being Maria, the witches in general, the church, and village people.

It is of value to have some structure in a moderately big group of people, but real morality gets lost if people start blindly following the leader. Individual thought is as important, if not more important, as the group in power because it takes people without power to know when they are being ruled unfairly. And "fairness" is what is so complex, as well as crucial, about the topic of morality in the first place.

Concluding

Whether or not someone believe that morality is objective, subjective, authoritative, or democratic, there is one thing for certain is that it is complex. There is no reason to shy away from complexity and that is what makes mediums that dive into these types of subjects that much more fascinating. It opens up the conversation to those that consume that type of media and form nuance thoughts about many of its aspects.

Of course I'm sure there are quite a handful of anime that cover this no-so clear cut view on morality, but these are this two this season that I wanted to write about. I hope to see more coming out about moral ambiguity expressed in different ways, so the topic can reach more people in the long run.

Originally posted 2015-03-29 on the now shutdown sekijitsu.com

Eddsworld: At World's End Chapter 4

True Colors - (Chapter 4) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "He then said "hey Matt! I don't hate you?" and then I said "yay, I'm popular!", before he add on to say "no I mean just" only for me to interrupt him by saying "popular!". It was quite comical yet hilarious that it should've been recorded" said Matt as Tony was laughing at his story. "Yeah Matt we know, because we were there" said Tom. "Oh come on Tom, it was pretty funny" said Edd. "Oh hey Edd, can I talk to you for a quick minute?" asked Tom. "Uh sure thing" said Edd. Both Edd and Tom went into another room where they can talk privately without anyone hearing them. "Uh Edd, have you seen anything suspicious lately?" asked Tom. "Suspicious? What do you mean?" asked Edd. "I mean that ever since Matt brought Tony to the apartment, he's been acting kinda off" said Tom. "What? Tom, I know we just met Tony, but I think you're overreacting a little" said Edd. "Overreacting!? How can I be overreacting? When Tony sat down on the couch with me, he sounded a little bit weird" said Tom. "What did he even say to you?" asked Edd. "Nothing really, he just asked me where we used to live which would be, 27 Durdam Lane. Don't you find that kinda strange?" asked Tom. "No, he was just wondering because he probably lives a couple of doors down on the same street as us" said Edd. "Yeah maybe, but just how he asked me and replied after I told him just really rubbed me the wrong the way" said Tom. "Listen Tom, I know you don't seem very welcoming towards Tony but please, you need to let go on what you're thinking" said Edd before leaving the room. "Edd's right, maybe I am overreacting. I need a walk" said Tom. ~Meanwhile~ "Ah excellent, you brought the uranium that I asked you to get" said a scientist. "Yes we did. We've stolen a lot of crates filled with it at the Red Army base" said Yamiyo. "Red Army you say? Hmm, I swear I've heard that name before" said the scientist. "You do? What do you know about them?" asked Yamiyo. "Oh many things" said the scientist. "Commander Yamiyo, the Black Leader wants me to inform you that he is holding a meeting and he expects you to be there" said a soldier. "Tell him that I'll be on my way" said Yamiyo as the soldier saluted to her. ~At The Meeting~ "Alright soldiers, it's time for our annual meeting or should I say....uhh....I really don't have another name for zhis actually, but zhat's not zhe point. Zhe reason vhy I called you all here iz because recently ve drained about half zhe earth's elements und by elements I mean zhe ones on zhe periodic table" said Tony while showing the Black Army a periodic table on a large screen. "Sir....I know that you want to drain the earth of its resources through a couple of special drills, but what are you going to use those stolen elements on?" asked the scientist. "Oh zhat's simple. I'm going to use zhose elements for....uhh...on...vell somezhing, but I don't know vhat. Oh! Zhat reminds me, all of jou in zhis room probably have some good ideas. Vhy not jou share it all out? Come on, speak up. Don't be afraid, zhere aren't any vrong answers" said Tony as he was sitting up. The soldiers of the Black Army only stood in silence as their leader grows tired of waiting and decided to do something differently. "Jou know vhat....I'm just gonna call on someone randomly. Starting vith jou....Wilson" said Tony while pointing at the soldier with a name tag that reads "Wilson". "Uhh....me? Oh....uhh....maybe we can use those elements to create a big pink, well purple, elephant and use to....uhh... step on things" said Wilson nervously. "Hmm......SEND HIM TO ZHE REHAB CHAMBERS!!!" yelled Tony as a guard took Wilson out of the room. "No, no, no, wait! I was just kidding!" begged Wilson while getting dragged away. "Anyone else? How about jou George?" asked Tony. "Uhh...I suggest that we should create a giant ham sandwich" said George. "Do jou mean a posion giant ham sandwich or.....multiple normal sized ham sandwiches zhat contain posion in zhem?" asked Tony who seemed interested in the idea a little. "Oh heavens no, not poison!.... I mean an actual ham sandwich. I'm starting to get really hungry" said George who was rubbing his stomach a bit. As soon as George said this the rest of the soldiers nodded their heads to this and some even pulled out plates or silverware. "Grr.........LOCK HIM UP IN ZHE TORTURE CHAMBERS NOW!!!" yelled Tony as a different guard started dragging George out of the room in a similar fashion as Wilson. "Come on people zhink! Vorld domination....or vell global invasion....doesn't come bursting zhrough zhe doors! Zhere has to be somezhing zhat ve can do zhat involves a vhole lot of chaos und destruction" said Tony while relaxing into his chair, more like throne. As Tony stared at his soldiers up high from where he sits, he didn't notice that one of his soldiers came forward. The soldier was more than just a decoy to get a quick death on the battlefield but they're loyal to their leader. This soldier was the general of the troops. "Huh...? General, vhat are jou doing?" asked Tony who leaned forward to see what his general was doing. "My leader, I have an idea that I could propose to you" said the general while kneeling down at his leader. "Ooooo....I'm starting to get.....interested. Please do tell" said Tony. The general then pulls out a card before placing it into a machine just as a large holographic projection was shown. The hologram showed the earth, but actually the earth's molten core, its crest, and its mantle which sparked Tony's interests. "Holy moly! Iz zhat zhe earth's molten core?" asked Tony who seemed excited. "Yes sir, it is. I was thinking that we should drain all of the earth's ocean water along with using a very powerful drill that can drain the lava that flows in its core" said the general. "Oooo......zhat's a good idea. Vait...I have an even better idea. Once ve drained zhe earth of its elements, ocean vater, environmental resources, und of course its energy from its molten core, ve can.....oh yeah! Oh man, oh man, oh man" said Tony while quickly getting off of his throne and going over to his general. "So...are you thinking on what I'm thinking sir?" asked the general. "Jou sure bet I am! Ve can use all of zhese great und powerful zhings, so ve can go into outer space und block out zhe sun. But first since ve vill be draining all of zhe resources, it vill soon veaken zhe earth's ozone layer vhich in turn, ve can use the sun's energy as a source to destroy zhe earth" said Tony who was liking the idea while laughing evilly. "Bingo, you got it right" said the general with a smile on his face. "General....nein...I should be calling jou by jour first name. Uhh...Zack, vhat a great idea. Oh sweet momma, jou're zhe bomb! Vhy can't zhe rest of jou be like Zack vhen it comes to stuff like zhis? Anyvay....Zack, show me zhe plan step by step" said Tony. Zack didn't say anything or do anything but only stood there for a couple of minutes. "Zack, I gave you an order und uhh...jou should probably do it by now" said Tony who was trying to keep his cool. Again, Zack just stood there not saying a single word but only to be staring off into space. "Uhh...excuse me, I gave jou a direct order, so vhy aren't jou doing it? Vhat iz zhe matter vith jou? Vhy aren't jou listening to me? Zack, Zack...oh mein gott....I know zhat jou can hear me, but at least do somezhing" said Tony who was starting lose his temper. Zack continued to just stand and before he knew it he felt both of Tony's hand grabbing into his shoulder making him look right into his eyes. "Listen to me very closely. I gave jou an order und jou should respect zhat order. I recruited jou into zhe Black Army und I can demote jou from general und discharge jou. So vhat's it going to be?" asked Tony seemed a bit pissed off. *Flashback* Edd: oh Zack, I'm glad that we can meet up with each other. I heard so many great things about you Zack: *smiles* oh really? Well that's great to hear Edd: *smiles* I'm sure that you, me, and Matt can all be friends clever till the day we die or if the earth gets blown up by a solar flare from the sun Zack: I hope so too and...I hope that doesn't happen Edd: hey Zack, can you do me a favor? I just want you to pay attention, pay attention, pay- *Flashback Ends* "Pay attention to vhat I'm telling jou to do!!!" yelled Tony who was shaking Zack which got Zack out of his thoughts. "I know what I must do" said Zack. "Huh..? Oh vell...don't just stand zhere, tell us vhat it iz zhen" said Tony while letting go of Zack. "First thing we do is....this" said Zack while pressing a button on the projector. The hologram then displays warning symbol before switching it over to a deletion screen which showed a percentage starting from 0% before going up fast to 50%. "Vait....NEIN!!!! Oh gott, vait!!! Stop zhe deletion, STOP ZHE DELETION!!!" yelled Tony who was watching the deletion bar progress up to higher numbers. Tony then sees the percentage going up to over 80% before frantically rushing over to the projector and began hitting the pause button over and over hoping to stop the deletion. "OH GOTT VHY!? Come on, come on, come on! Just stop already, please! I'm begging jou!" yelled Tony while continuing to press the pause button. Despite all of his efforts to stop the deletion, the percentage bar manages to get up to a full 100% before automatically deleting the flies thus getting rid of the plans. After the deletion progress was finished, Zack takes out the card and puts it into his pocket before slowly making his leave. Upon almost reaching the door, Zack was suddenly stopped in his tracks by a mixture of both lightning and fire that was blasted towards him which he manages to dodge. "Where do you think you're going? Do you really think that I'm going to let you escape after what you done?" growled the Black Leader as Zack stared in horror. "Uhh....yes" said Zack while smiling nervously before unexpectedly getting a swift uppercut from his own leader thus mocking him out cold. "Oh I'm so sorry, I'm afraid I can't let you do that Zack. How dare you betray me like that and delete my plans for world domination! I'm so going to wipe your memories of being in the Black Army clean....but...that'll be a waste of my time so forget it. I'm afraid that I'll have no choice but to discharge you and kick you out of my own base. I can't wait to see your face once I steal the sun's energy and use it to took over the world!" said the Black Leader before laughing. Soon two different guards picked up Zack and carried him outside the base before throwing him off a cliff. However Zack got lucky and managed to get saved by large piles of snow below. ~Meanwhile~ "Sir, we got the message that you wrote sent. It should be arriving to the Black Army base soon" said Paul. "Ah excellent. I can't wait to see the Black Leader's reaction to me asking them for an alliance. I hope they will yes" said Tord. "Our top leading investigators on battle tactics found it! They managed to search through the entire planet earth just to find the location of the Black Army base" said Patryck who came into the room. "Gentlemen, I believe we can move on to the next phase. We're meeting the Black Army and make sure to get those welcoming plants and boxes of chocolate ready, because we're going to need them" said Tord. "Yes sir" said both Paul and Patryck in unison while saluting. ~Back With Tony~ After collecting data from today's meeting, the Black Leader- I mean Tony decided to relax after nearly two hours of listening to his advisors. "Gosh, zhat meeting took forever to get zhrough. I zhought zhat it vould never end" said Tony while taking off his helmet before placing it onto a pedestal. Tony then went over to a couch and sat down while grabbing a remote this turning on a large wide flat screen tv. "Man, zhere's nothing on. Can't a guy like me get some, jou know, entertainment or not? Zhere's gotta be somezhing on" said Tony while flipping through the channels till he stopped at a news channel. "Oh look zhe same old, same old. Oh vait... zhis iz breaking news" said Tony while sitting up. A reporter was seen standing in the middle of a town that seems to be in chaos, due to so much rapid gun fire. "I'm reporting live on the screen to bring you that a mysterious group is attacking this innocent little town. Many reporters stated the group is, indeed, the-" "Boring! Vho cares about zhe news anyvay? Next" said Tony while changing the channel to something. Eventually after a few minutes of going through channels, something caught Tony's attention. "Ah heck ya! Now, zhis iz vhat I call entertainment" said Tony while smiling as he watched Attack of the Zombie Pirates From Hell 1. When watching his desired need for entertainment, Tony didn't notice a paper airplane flying through an open and came towards him. Tony sees the airplane and catches it with his hands before unfolding it. It turns out that paper airplane was actually a letter. Tony looks at in wonder and in curiosity. Dear Black Leader, Would you like to rule the world with me? (Multiple choices below, please check one box) [ ] Yes [ ] Maybe [ ] Absolutely [ ] Sure "Uhh.... v-vho- vho vrote zhis?" asked Tony while looking up from the paper in confusion. Before he could say anything else another paper airplane came to him. Tony unfolds the second airplane and read what it said. My apologies, Black Leader. I forgot to introduce myself, I'm the Red Leader, the leader and commander of the Red Army. You may be wondering why I'm writing to you. That's because, I heard many stories about how strong your Black Army is and I wanted to know if it was true or not. It turns out that it is. So, you will be willing to team up with me? I'll be waiting for your answer With best regards, Red Leader R.L "Red Army huh? Zhey sound like a bunch of losers but mostly dorks" said Tony before getting up and putting his helmet back on his head. "Sir we just gotten a report saying that Red Army found our base and are coming. What are your orders?" asked a soldier. "I vant all forces to come as one. Ve're going to zhe the Red Army halfvay. Zhose are jour orders" said Tony. The soldier nods their head and salutes to Tony before leaving. "Hehehe....watch out Red Leader, because I zhe Black Leader vill be vaiting for jou. Oh......zhis iz going to be.....FUN" said Tony as a visor suddenly covers his face while replacing his voice with a mechanical voice.

Until very recently, it felt like romantic comedies — at least the big-budget Hollywood kind — finally might have died. The culprits blamed for the genre’s decline ranged from the death of mid-budget movies to the genre’s reputation for being “unserious” to, uh, Katherine Heigl.

But this summer, it’s come roaring back, specifically thanks to three movies that made waves with audiences: the big-screen hit Crazy Rich Asians, and the Netflix sensations Set It Up and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before. All three hew to romantic comedy conventions but with a twist, and suddenly it feels like rom-coms may be back after all.

Vox’s culture writers love a good romantic comedy. So to celebrate the burgeoning rom-com renaissance, we sat down to discuss the limits and possibilities of the genre, the hang-ups that hold it back, how rom-coms can be more inclusive, and what (and who) we’d like to see in rom-coms in the future.

Alissa Wilkinson: Some of the most beloved films of all time are rom-coms, but the label is often used as shorthand for “unimportant,” “fluffy,” and “inconsequential.” There are a few reasons for that, one of which is that rom-coms are seen as geared toward a female audience, and films for women have often been considered less important or less substantial than “prestige” films. Couple that with the lasting sense, in some quarters, that comedies just aren’t as worthy of serious consideration as dramas and you end up with rom-coms being sidelined.

Yet I believe, and I think you all do too, that there’s a lot of value to rom-coms, and a reason they endure as one of the oldest and most beloved forms of storytelling. What, in your view, do rom-coms do well? What makes them have so much staying power?

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan in You’ve Got Mail. Warner Bros.

Constance Grady: I think any defense of rom-coms has to begin with the idea that it can be enjoyable and worthwhile to watch two attractive people trade banter, face complications, and eventually fall in love, and there is nothing wrong with that. That basic plot template is not inherently less valuable than the one about the sad, mean man who is really good at something and so has no excuse but to be terrible to the people around him, or the one about the people who fight in a war and are very brave. The fact that we treat rom-coms as frothy nonsense for dumb people stems from the fact that romantic comedies are generally marketed to women, whom our culture does not like — not from the genre’s inherent value.

At their very best, romantic comedies are sheer joy. They are about forging human connections and people changing each other for the better — all of which is complex stuff that is worthy of sustained aesthetic attention — and they approach their subject matter with glee.

I was reminded of that fact when watching Set It Up and To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, two of the best rom-coms of the summer and the result of Netflix’s decision to try to fill the long-ignored rom-com market niche. Romantic comedies are about happiness! It’s a joyous experience to watch Set It Up’s Charlie and Harper accidentally fall into a slow dance and then painstakingly drag a pizza up a New York fire escape. It’s a joyous experience to watch To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’s Peter Kazinsky bashfully splash water at Lara Jean because he can’t quite bring himself to tell her he likes her.

This is a genre that’s about delivering joy to the audience, and what is wrong with that?

Genevieve Koski: It’s also a genre whose success is heavily dependent on charisma, which is the sort of cinematic juju that’s tough both to define and to replicate. Note, charisma is not the same thing as chemistry — I’d argue that a lot of the most successful rom-coms of the past 30 years or so feature leads with chemistry that’s lukewarm at best. But at least one half of your romantic duo, and ideally both halves, need to possess that tricky balance of relatable and aspirational qualities that makes it possible to engage with and care about characters whose narratives are usually, but not always, defined by contrivance. (See: the notorious “meet-cute.”)

Rom-com nonbelievers love to roll their eyes at this kind of narrative, characterizing it as cheesy or clichéd while willfully ignoring the fact that this type of storytelling has been around since the days of Shakespeare’s comedies. But with the right character(s), played by the right actor(s), those contrivances become a path to the sort of joyful human connection Constance is talking about. You need to care about the characters; even if you don’t necessarily like them, you need to be invested in them, and by extension their journey. And while that starts on the page, with the writing, it’s ultimately dependent on the people who bring those characters to life onscreen.

Ugh, as if! Paramount Pictures

So when we talk about the rom-com drought (and possible resurgence), for me one of the biggest issues at the heart of the trend is, as Vox’s own Todd VanDerWerff put it, many actresses’ reticence to do rom-coms. This is all tied up with a lot of other issues facing the genre, like the perceived lack of prestige that you note, Alissa — and which I definitely want to come back to, since some of the most beloved and respected films of the 1940s and ’50s are rom-coms, directed by legendary directors and featuring some of the biggest movie stars in history!

Somewhere along the way, they took on negative (and, yes, gendered) baggage, thus limiting the pool of actors who are both capable of and willing to bring life to this kind of story. The fact that this baggage has denied us the Rachel McAdams-led rom-com wave we all need and deserve is a grievous wrong that must be righted.

Aja Romano: I think another significant factor in the denigration of the rom-com is that they are built so heavily on tropes; their predictability is a huge part of their appeal, but like every other genre that relies heavily on genre tropes, the rom-com has been treated contemptuously by “serious” creators and authors for decades.

The mainstreaming of geek culture has gradually granted legitimacy to all the other heavily trope-based genres — comics, fantasy, sci-fi, video game narratives, horror — because they appealed to men, and male nerds have been ascendant. Yet trope-heavy genres dominated by women, which are mainly rom-com, erotic romance, and young adult at this point, have continued to struggle to gain any kind of cultural legitimacy.

I think it’s significant that a lot of the most critically successful recent films in this vein (Silver Linings Playbook, Young Adult, Lady Bird, Eighth Grade) generally attempt to layer a rom-com structure onto another kind of narrative — the teen comedy or the family dramedy. It suggests to me that Hollywood is most interested in giving these tropes attention when they’re approached ironically or at angles.

That makes the recent immediate success of Netflix’s rom-coms, as well as Crazy Rich Asians, an ebullient reminder that the audience for these tropes is mighty and vocal, and they know what they want and are very interested in owning it, being positive about it, and having it delivered unto them. I see Jupiter Ascending as a significant precursor here: Female fans lost their minds over that movie precisely because it was so open and unabashed about embracing its romance tropes and catering to viewers’ desire for self-indulgent id-fantasy — which, of course, was the very same reason it was critically trashed.

This also plays into the huge dominance of fanfiction culture’s sincere embrace of tropes, where fans are very upfront about wanting endless repetitions of coffee-shop meet-cutes and high school teen romances and office rom-coms, and there’s no high/low cultural divide, or any shame attached to loving these tropes. There’s a huge overlap between these transformative fans and the audiences turning out in droves for To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and Crazy Rich Asians, and that is, I hope, a sign that the female-dominated side of geek culture is finally starting to make inroads toward the cultural mainstream, and that its desire for these kinds of stories is starting to become more widely understood and accepted.

Todd VanDerWerff: Allow me to say a few words in favor of my beloved television, where the romantic comedy has migrated in these recent years of trial. You’re the Worst has had its rough patches, but whenever it turns its eyes toward being a straightforward rom-com with an acerbic point of view, it’s aces. Similarly, Jane the Virgin has had, like, 17 different rom-coms stuffed into its candy-colored confines, and that’s only a slight exaggeration. And Crazy Ex-Girlfriend deconstructs rom-com tropes better than almost anybody else.

You’re the Worst is one of TV’s most acerbic — and funniest — comedies. FX

But there’s also something to the idea that the best format for a romantic comedy is a movie, because you get to have the happy ending climax of the lovers walking blissfully into the sunset without any of the complications that follow, which TV inevitably has to get into. You also get to see attractive people enacting those tropes, which gives film a boost over novels in this regard. (At least for me. I’ll take the controversial stance of saying that I like pretty people.)

I wouldn’t say that the rom-com completely disappeared in the past 10 years, so much as its many tropes got submerged into different movies. Judd Apatow’s entire oeuvre is based on transplanting rom-com tropes into movies aimed more explicitly at the guy-heavy raunch-com audience. (I like a lot of his films too! I’ll even stan for Funny People, which I realize isn’t his most popular title.)

And a lot of the very perfunctory romantic subplots in superhero movies feel ripped directly from the rom-com playbook. Like, it’s really easy to imagine a version of Iron Man that’s just Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow falling in love, with him occasionally flying off to fight evil. That’s how much fun it is to watch them banter.

But I look at rom-coms and see something similar to what happened to horror, where the genre got laden down with a bunch of relatively unpleasant movies in the mid-2000s, which turned off a more general audience, and it went into hiding. But where horror has experienced a resurgence, thanks to the rise of a whole new indie horror aesthetic and the relentless work of horror super-producer Jason Blum, rom-coms are still searching for their next big launchpad. My hope is that the rom-coms of summer 2018 are that launchpad, but I’ve been burned before.

My question has always been why some Jason Blum wannabe doesn’t just make a deal with a studio to make a bunch of cheap ($5 million and under) romantic comedies, just as Blum did with Universal and horror. But my fear is that for a variety of reasons — including the genre’s perceived appeal only to women, and the fact that its dependence on strong actors means studios have to pay those actors more, which adds up quickly — this is unlikely to happen.

That leaves Netflix. And while I love some of its movies, a lot of its rom-coms are kind of reprehensible. And a bad rom-com too often isn’t just a bad movie; it’s also propping up some pretty toxic worldviews. So I want to believe in Netflix as a savior, but I have my doubts.

Will Netflix save the romantic comedy with films like Set It Up? Netflix

Alissa: What we’ve been saying, in many ways, is that what makes a rom-com great has a lot to do with who is in it and how it uses (and sometimes messes with) the tropes of the genre, many of which have been around for centuries. The rom-com is surprisingly durable, and as Genevieve pointed out, some of the most respected films of the 1940s and ’50s are rom-coms — it’s just that they’ve attained such canonical status that people talk about them as “classics,” not “rom-coms.” (As if “classic” can be a genre anyhow, but I digress.)

That does lead us down an interesting path, though: If the story and the stars are a lot of what makes great rom-coms work, and Hollywood is feinting toward more inclusive casting and storytelling, how will rom-coms evolve going forward? The rom-coms marketed at the “mainstream” audience have often starred white actors portraying straight characters. Is that going to change? And are there films, maybe some that have flown under the radar for some moviegoers, that have already challenged those rom-com conventions?

Constance: For my money, part of what makes this year’s rom-com revival so exciting — and what gives me hope that it will have some sort of enduring effect on the industry — is the kind of stars it’s making.

We’ve talked a little already about how vital the charisma of a star is to making a rom-com work, but the reverse is true as well. The rom-com and its stars are in a symbiotic relationship: The right stars will make a romantic comedy sing, and the right romantic comedy can jump-start its stars’ careers. Because when you watch a really good romantic comedy, you fall a little bit in love with the actors involved. You want them to succeed. You might even be willing to go to a different movie just to see them again.

Landing the leading role in a good romantic comedy can transform a working actor into a household name. And right now, the stars that the rom-com revival is making aren’t just white people.

One of the biggest narratives of the summer has been that with movies like To All the Boys and Crazy Rich Asians, Hollywood is finally letting Asian people fall in love. It’s hard to say for sure if this is a blip or a genuine sea change (way back when The Joy Luck Club came out in 1993, the narrative was that Hollywood was finally telling stories about Asian people, and then no one made another Asian ensemble film for 25 years), but while this moment lasts, it’s putting incredibly talented and previously overlooked actors into the spotlight.

Constance Wu has been killing it on Fresh Off the Boat for five seasons, but after Crazy Rich Asians, now she’s a movie star. Lana Condor has spent years languishing in action movies, not even daring to hope that she could get placed in a romantic comedy, and now she’s the face of one of the buzziest hits on Netflix.

For as long as Hollywood continues to make romantic comedies that center on marginalized people — and there’s no way of knowing for sure how long that moment will last — it’s going to keep giving actors from marginalized communities the chance to make audiences fall completely in love with them. And that means there’s a shot that they’ll become genuine stars.

Aja: I think, too, that we’re seeing a renewed awareness that you don’t necessarily have to subvert rom-com tropes to create fun and enjoyable stories that people respond to — you can just have fun retelling them again and again, because so much of the validation does come from watching charismatic actors carry the storyline.

And that makes the rom-com a really fruitful space, I think, for marginalized communities of actors and creators who’ve traditionally been barred from telling stories like these, because now there’s nothing stopping anyone from remaking It Happened One Night or Bringing Up Baby with a whole new ensemble. There’s every indication that the audience will be there — for instance, look how successful K-dramas, with their shameless embrace of rom-com tropes and their tendency to retell well-known storylines, have been, both overseas and in the US.

Zoe Kazan and Kumail Nanjiani starred in The Big Sick in 2017. Amazon Studios

I also want to mention Love, Simon and perhaps even Moonlight and Call Me by Your Name here, because while those latter two aren’t rom-coms, and Love, Simon might be arguably more of a teen comedy than a rom-com, they collectively indicate an emerging positive space for queer romance. It pains me endlessly to realize that the last queer rom-com I can remember making a mainstream splash is 2005’s Imagine Me & You — which is also one of the few really pure, trope-a-licious queer rom-coms.

That film capped a decade starting in the mid-’90s when indie queer rom-coms (Jeffrey, Trick, The Opposite of Sex, But I’m a Cheerleader, Big Eden, Touch of Pink, the long-rumored original cut of Bend It Like Beckham the world deserved, sigh) were pretty easy to find but often deeply flawed, tinged with understandable sadness and sociopolitical edge, and more than a little weird. We are overdue for a queer romance renaissance in which the gays just get to have fun and fall in love without having to undergo a social reckoning.

That’s a huge part of why Love, Simon is so important — and I’m hopeful the love and support queer romances have been getting lately will open the field for more mainstreamed queer and genderqueer rom-coms that allow queer people to participate in universal love stories. In other words, I want to see queer and genderqueer remakes of His Girl Friday and The Women, let’s do this, Hollywood!

Todd: It’s also exciting because this is really one of the first times in Hollywood history where you can just make a rom-com around LGBTQ themes, aimed at a large audience, that doesn’t need to be explicitly about the larger experience of being LGBTQ.

Even 10 years ago, there was at least a minor expectation that these stories needed to be filtered through a cis/hetero lens, and they always contained a certain element of, like, “being gay, explained.” There’s less of that now. A movie like Love, Simon can just exist, can just be thoroughly adequate. That’s revolutionary in its own way, but we’re rapidly approaching a point where it won’t feel revolutionary, which is even more impressive.

Love, Simon garnered mixed reviews, but that’s part of why it’s important. 20th Century Fox

But I think the larger point I’m nodding toward here is cultural specificity. There’s far less need to indulge in explaining things to the audience over and over again, out of fear that not everybody will “get it.” The mahjong scene in Crazy Rich Asians simply flies by, trusting you to get the emotional impact of what happens even if you can’t explain all the machinations within the game itself. It works because we’ve all freaked out about pleasing the parents of someone we really care about.

Similarly, The Big Sick trades on a conflict rooted in incredible cultural specificity — the main character’s desire to choose his romantic partner, rather than his parents getting a say in the process — that broadens out to a more universal consideration of the way family can make it harder to fall in love.

This means a lot of the old rom-com tropes feel ripe for exploration again. And thus, I hope more actors try their hand at the genre. Which performers would you like to see appear in a romantic comedy? I’d love Michael B. Jordan to get a shot at one after seeing the romantic scenes in Creed. I suspect we’d all fall in love with him.

Genevieve: I’m going to table that question for just a moment, Todd, because this is probably a good place to acknowledge that the past 20 years or so have seen their fair share of black romantic comedies, very few of which have been able to break out of that unfortunately niche distinction but have collectively established a roster of black actors with a proven history of carrying a rom-com.

Taye Diggs, Gabrielle Union, Sanaa Lathan, and Queen Latifah have all had multiple go-rounds in a subgenre that has produced a handful of “surprise” box office successes in the past decade or so, some of which trade in exactly the sort of cultural specificity Todd is describing.

I’m thinking of 2011’s Jumping the Broom, which “overperformed” in its debut and went on make back five times its production budget; 2012’s Think Like a Man, a cameo-festooned adaptation of a Steve Harvey book that took in $33 million its opening weekend — that’s right around what Crazy Rich Asians pulled in — and produced a 2014 sequel that opened nearly as big; and 2013’s The Best Man Holiday, a sequel to Malcolm Lee’s beloved 1999 film The Best Man, whose $30 million-plus opening weekend debut “trounced all expectations.”

The box office performance of The Best Man Holiday in particular started a dialogue about the assumptions around these films that lead to these “surprise” big openings, assumptions that combine misconceptions about the rom-com with misconceptions about black films: that mainstream audiences don’t show up to black films, and that, as one studio executive told Brown Sugar screenwriter Michael Elliot, “Love does not really resonate with black people. Comedy does.”

Think Like a Man was a big box office hit in 2012. Screen Gems

What exactly am I getting at here? I’m honestly not entirely sure, and I don’t want to suggest I’m some sort of expert on black romantic comedies — I’ll guiltily admit that I haven’t seen most of the films I just mentioned, though I am quite aware of how they are often misperceived by the industry, and of how my ignorance of them contributes to those misperceptions.

But I think if we’re talking about the broad assumptions surrounding romantic comedies, and if we’re talking about more inclusive storytelling, and if we’re talking about bankable romantic leads who aren’t white, and if we’re talking about whether romantic comedies can succeed at the box office, we can’t not talk about the lack of consideration that’s been afforded to black romantic comedies over the years by the broader film community.

When Vulture published its 2015 list of the best rom-coms since When Harry Met Sally, a list that included no films with black or LGBTQ leads, it did so with the admission of its own “blind spots,” conceding in its intro that “there are movies this list needs.”

All that said, there has not been, to my knowledge, a financially successful black rom-com film since 2014’s Think Like a Man Too, which came out almost five years ago at this point. (Diggs co-stars in Set It Up, but he’s more of a romantic antagonist there, and I don’t think anyone would dare categorize it as a black rom-com.) If we are indeed in the midst of a rom-com renaissance, I hope those looking to revive the genre remember the legacy-within-a-legacy of the black rom-com, if for nothing else than to help correct what might be the mainstream rom-com’s biggest, most shameful blind spot.

Anyway, please cast GuGu Mbatha-Raw, of Beyond the Lights and Black Mirror’s “San Junipero,” in a romantic comedy, thank you.

Alissa: Speaking of dictums aimed at Hollywood! Suppose a studio executive approaches you at a cocktail party and says that they think the rom-com is about to have a resurgence, and wants your best piece of advice for making a great one.

What do you say?

Constance: I’m going to take my inspiration from To All the Boys and get really earnest here: I think the most important thing for a romantic comedy to have is emotional honesty.

Part of what killed the romantic comedy in the mid-’00s was that the biggest studio rom-coms, your How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days or your Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, were getting increasingly slick and smarmy and cynical. They followed the formula of a rom-com on a surface level — aspirational jobs, fancy clothes, beautiful people — but they were made with a palpable contempt for both their characters and the people who enjoy watching romantic comedies. These movies didn’t care about their characters or why they should fall in love; they were just putting them through the motions. And watching them didn’t feel escapist and joyous and fun. It felt gross and slimy.

That’s part of why it’s felt so refreshing and exciting that this year’s best romantic comedies are suffused with sincere affection for the genre and for their characters. It’s because we can feel that these movies love their characters that we’re able to fall in love with them too, and that love is something that can’t be faked. It has to come from a place of honest respect and affection.

Crazy Rich Asians loves its characters, so we do too. Warner Bros.

Todd: I would double up on Constance’s suggestion: Sincerity is key. If you don’t believe in the love story, then there’s no good reason to tell it.

But I would also encourage this imaginary exec to continue exploring the ways that falling in love can feel universal, even when rooted in very specific experiences. A film I didn’t talk about earlier was Azazel Jacobs’s The Lovers, which is maybe a little too dark to be a classic rom-com but definitely has the trappings of one. What I liked about that movie was how it rooted its rom-com shenanigans in the very specific milieu of a long-lasting marriage, between two people exiting middle age for their elderly years who are just pretty sick of each other. It gave what could have been a tired story an extra boost of dramatic stakes, and that was all it took.

But really, so long as Matthew McConaughey is nowhere near this rom-com renaissance, we’re doing something right. Sorry, Matthew. Love your smarm, but not in this genre.

Aja: My suggestion is probably why I don’t wind up getting invited to many cocktail parties: I’d tell them to read more fanfic. Because in fanfiction, especially queer fanfiction, writers tend to simultaneously embrace and explode rom-com tropes. They do that by treating them extremely seriously and with that much-coveted sincerity, but also by centering them within very self-aware lived experiences, making conscious choices about how to either subvert the tropes they’re working with or reframe social issues in order to shamelessly leverage those tropes to create even more shameless fantasy.

Fanfiction is all about cultivating a fantasy version of reality where challenging romances can thrive, but fanfiction also never lets us forget that its creators are driven to build that fantasy version of reality because the real one sucks. I’m reminded of the 2009 sci-fi romance Timer, which is explicitly about that fantasy/reality divide. It’s not a happy movie, but it inadvertently created a massively popular recent fanfiction trope, because people who write romances have increasingly used the genre and its tropes to thwart socially imposed norms that tell us what love should be and look like.

I believe the way to keep this genre resurgence going is to keep writing it within that framework — by embracing romantic fantasy as a powerful palliative and social remedy. Tension between fantasy and reality makes romance stories more passionate, and the more people we have telling these stories, the more diverse and fascinating real-world experiences we can draw on as we create new fantasies for everyone to enjoy.

Genevieve: I’m going to second all of this, but conclude with some cold pragmatism that might seem to undermine what we’ve been talking about. Just bear with me, because studio execs in particular need to hear this: Please don’t think of rom-coms as potential blockbusters.

So much of Hollywood’s modern movie model is built on the quest for big openings and big international box office tallies, and those are not expectations that this genre is in a position to meet. The latter is particularly tough for a genre built on two things — comedy and romance tropes — that don’t easily translate between cultures (give or take the occasional cross-cultural property like Crazy Rich Asians).

I worry that a studio exec who’s deeply internalized this model might hear the words “rom-com resurgence” and be tempted to throw millions at these movies, paying through the nose for bankable international stars and big-name directors with the expectation of a return on investment that is unlikely to happen.

As previously mentioned by Todd, the recent indie/Blumhouse horror revival is the model to follow here: Think small but distinctive, cheap but memorable. Invest in lesser-known talents with a passion for the genre who are eager to bring something new to it while respecting its roots. At the very least, you’re likely to get a good return on investment; if you play your cards right, you might even get some prestige shine in the deal.

The rom-com could and should be a strong part of a studio’s portfolio, but overinvesting in a genre that tends toward the small and the intimate by design is a recipe for a resurgence that’s DOA. As I think we’ve proven with this discussion, there’s plenty of enthusiasm out there for the genre; if Hollywood wants to capture that enthusiasm, it needs to let the rom-com succeed on its own terms.

Original Source -> Why romantic comedies matter

via The Conservative Brief