something i love about spy family is that its a very funny manga, but it isn't afraid to be serious and talk about serious things (and its also really good at transitioning between the two)

Tatsuya Endo has an amazing grasp of balance. There are a lot of posts going around about how Spy x Family goes from something as heavy as "war makes monsters of us all" to something as silly as "Anya finds Loid's tourist fashion choices lame" and it somehow works.

It's one of the things that made me fall in love with the story from the second if not the very first episode of the anime. It dares to be realistic about how war impacts humans and how it takes them into a path they wouldn't normally take, but at its core it's a story filled with humor and love and connection, because this is how humans are supposed to live like. I mean, not to break it down to a "live laugh love" moral, but at the end of the day it does prioritize people living happily together and in peace. Even the "enemy" is shown in a sympathetic light from time to time.

And the humor and silliness attributes to that. It makes the story light-hearted despite the heavy issues it tackles. It would be hard to find hope in a story that focuses only on those heavy issues, if its vibe was constant grittiness and violence and dark themes. Not that there's anything wrong with stories with such themes; but you wouldn't usually watch such a story and expect to feel full of hope afterwards, nor expect it to have the humor that SxF has.

What is amazing is how Endo manages the balance of it all. How he works in the silliness amidst an environment of a cold war, of hardened spies and assassins, because it would be very easy to veer right into tone-deaf cheesy territory that gives you (unintentional) emotional whiplash. I think it's due to how the characters are only slightly exaggerated versions of something you'd see in real life. Anya behaves as any five-year-old would, where her focus is to work in protection of peace, make sure the family won't break apart, and above all, have fun. Yor's view of the world has been impacted by how long she's worked as an assassin, but her "naivete" is mostly her tendency to see good in everyone, even the "bastards" she's sent to kill. Twilight keeps telling himself everything he does is "for the mission" but he's only human and can't help bonding with his family even if he doesn't realize it.

The characters may behave in an exaggerated way from time to time, but they're not caricatures. The humor and ridiculousness (affectionate) in their actions are based on real human traits and behaviours we can see in real life. The want to have fun, the tendency to see the good in people, the desire to love. Endo simply takes those and has three people whose special traits clash with those three mentioned traits. Anya grew up as a science experiment in a lab where she wasn't allowed to have fun, so now that she has people who care for her emotional growth she goes all out with fun activities. Yor was forced into the choice of becoming an assassin, having to be told "This person is BadTM so you play judge jury and executioner", but with Yuri being her motivation (and later on the Forgers too) she managed to keep her kind heart. Occasionally she can't control her monstrous strength and may also consider killing people who inconvenience her and then go like "Yo wtf chill maybe". Twilight became a spy and distanced himself from human connections, but now that his job brought him into the position of staying long term with a kid and a wife and a dog, his desire for such a connection is rearing its persistent head. And so you get a Professional Master SpyTM playing "Rescue Princess Anya from the Evil Clutches of Count Scruffy Head".

It's the contrast that makes the humor of it all, and in such a way that it never takes only one character's side. I think that also adds to the "flexibility" of the story. It's easier to connect to a story when there's multiple sides explained and understood by the audience; and I mean, the only thing the story looks to be trying to "convince" you of is that humans live best when they live in peace and surrounded by people they love, and that's an undeniable fact of human nature. The characters can and do make mistakes but they're shown to be able to grow from them, and even someone radicalized and extremist like Yuri has understandable motives and a very human nature - just one that was taken advantage of by people in power.

Overall yeah, I think it's how focused on the characters' humanity the story is that it makes the balance between humor and heavy issues work. Again, though it can be exaggerated at times, it's not a caricature or slapstick, just for the sake of making the audience laugh. There's a depth and a genuine reaching out for the audience's emotions and understanding.

(Anime only fan here, don't spoil me for the manga 😁)

british goth

(i have no idea why u seem british)

goth is accurate but honestly i wish you just called me a slur

and for added context, they say this while i regularly put on a scottish voice for my dragon man in the d&d campaign they run btw

may the week treat you with kindness and warmth

Aw thank you! Hope you have a good week too ;-; <3

Gratitudes Combo Post! I shall be bulk replying to nice messages that people have sent me here in an attempt to minimize clutter! I hope this works for you all as well!

@roodllle I'm very very glad the system works for you!!

For those that weren't here at the start, I actually did initially have set polls up to be daily, but after a bit of poking at it, I was able to figure out how to make polls weekly and still keep things moving on at a good pace! It seems people have enjoyed that a lot more so I'm very glad I put the work in to make the switch!!

I found the reblogs important too, just cause I know how fast things can disappear on the dashboard, and how hard it can be to remember what events are going on, especially if stuff if happening on a daily basis! Plus I talk to a lot of people in very different time zones, so my morning is definitely someone else's midnight.

(Many more below the cut!!)

@pileofrats It is indeed a full time job gjfisjgfi but if I wasn't willing to do such things For Science, then what kind of scientist would I be? :D (It says Science twice on my diploma, not that you need a degree to be a scientist, but just to show that I am dedicated.)

@vampiredeliverylady I have indeed been thanked, but it's very nice to hear it every time!! Thank you for taking the time to write such a nice message and it's wonderful to hear that this tournament is making a positive impact for you !!!!

@samuwhal Thank you so much! I'm very glad you're enjoying it and hope you keep having fun!

Thank you! I hope you have a wonderful day (and I hope all of your interceding days have been wonderful too) as well! I'll admit I maybe wasn't thinking about how much work 1000+ Pokemon would be when I started, but I'm dedicated to seeing this through! (And they've added new ones since I've started!! I'm going to have to go back in and work those in after I'm done here. </3)

Thank you!!! 💙💙💙

I am !! Sometimes it gets a little stressful, but at the end of the day, I'm very lucky and very happy to be here!

Thank you!! I definitely gotta keep it organized, because I absolutely would lose stuff if I didn't ahaha, so it works out for everyone! (And if I am occasionally secretly hoping that sometimes people are finding about this tournament from individual Pokemon tags that they're browsing, well, let's keep that a secret between us ;D)

And needless to say, I am also very lucky to have you all here with me :D !! A tournament is not a tournament without all of you participating and hyping up your favorites!

Thank you so much!! It really means a lot!! 😊

@taintedhallows you know it!! :D 💪💪💪

@commieorcs Thank you!! I hope you're having fun participating! :D

@indiana-grace Thank you! They're definitely a huge help to me too because I absolutely would vote differently if I couldn't look them in their little eyes before casting my own votes hahaha. My hope is that it also makes it more newbie friendly as well, since I know not everyone voting is familiar with all of them!

Thank YOU!

gjiofsjgf I'm glad it's working out then!! I too am often too busy to pay attention to other polls I'll admit. Often times the only thing I do on Tumblr in a day is work on this tournament lol

Ok, I think that's a wrap! I shall now clear these asks out of my inbox, but one more collective thank you to all of you and everyone who has said nice things!! It's very very sweet and kind of you all and has given me a lot of energy and motivation to keep pushing forward with this!

Sorry for taking so long to answer some of these!! I know I wanted to avoid clutter, but I could've made smaller grouped response posts and answered these collectively sooner!

15 questions for 15 friends!

I'm very late but thanks @scooby-doo-creepymechclown and @possibilistfanfiction for tagging me!

Were you named after anyone? Nope, I picked my name just because I like it.

When was the last time you cried? Yesterday because I was rereading my WN angst fic lol.

Do you have kids? No, and I don't plan to. I can barely take care of myself most days, much less a child.

What sports have you played/do you play? Did cross country running, cross country skiing, lacrosse, and track in high school. I still work out but I don't really have any sports as an adult. I'd like to get back into skiing, but it's expensive and time-consuming.

Do you use sarcasm? Frequently lol.

First thing you notice about people? Which pronouns they use for me and if they hesitate trying to guess.

What is your eye color? Blue.

Scary movies or happy endings? Happy endings!

Any talents? Writing and Excel spreadsheets.

Where were you born? US Midwest.

What are your hobbies? Writing, video games, latch hook, making bead bracelets, harassing my cat.

Do you have any pets? A cat named Sebastian!

How tall are you? 5'7"

Favorite subject in school? English in high school and Gender Studies in college.

Dream Job? Part time writer, part time something not-writing-related and I never have to work more than 30 hours a week total.

@perks-of-quirks, @commieorcs, @peanutworm, @mechromancin, @peanutbutterpanda3, @penvision @itscappyj @itchyouchyz @whatwordsmiss @words-come-slowly @kendrene @b0lu0mi @lesbiansandpuns if you feel like it indulging in some tumblr nostalgia lol.

Headed back over to the poison pool in Ashina depths to check out the secret @commieorcs had mentioned was there, first thing to note was that the number/placement of the Cannoneers was different, and their encampments seem to be in disarray, so already something clearly had changed in this area.

Then going past the place Shirahagi was guarding, I find this!

So they've been attacked by something! I wonder what would-

... no.

No. How is he still alive??? I watched it turn to dust!!! (alright yep confirmed dust doesn't mean anything I'm even more suspicious that Lady Butterfly and Owl aren't actually dead now gosh darn it)

Two of them?!?!?

I've been betrayed.

rules: 🎧🎵 when you get this, you have to put in 5 songs you actually listen to at the moment. Then tag 5-10 followers to do the same 🎵🎧

tagged by @ossifer-bones! ngl this made me completely forget every song I've ever listened to for the past month

Supernatural by Barns Courtney

(if) you are the ocean (then) I would like to drown by VIOLET NIGHT

sleep by The Haunting

Roadkill by VIAL

Vampire Smile by Kyla La Grange

and just because I tagged you doesn't mean you have to do it if you don't want to!

@godkingsanointed @hundinfaust @scrollstrash @casestudyofvanitas @commieorcs

@commieorcs and I watched episode six of The Sandman and we're /wrecks/

how are your dnd children

AW! Thank you for inquiring about them!! Oh my gosh, the only ones active right now are Tiller and Sandra, and let me tell you, they are having WILDLY different times. (It's been a little bit since we last played each campaign but this is pretty much the sitch)

Tiller: Currently, Tiller and her party were eaten and trapped inside a giant sea dragon deity, and are sailing down its esophagus, where the water is all acid. They're looking to rescue Tiller's lost crew that she used to sail with, who are believed to also be trapped in this sea dragon, but it's honestly a big guess on if they're dead or alive. You should also keep in mind that Tiller is a water spirit, and was actually brought into the world by this very sea dragon, so this is pretty much the first time Tiller's meeting her mom(?). Additionally, Tiller is also cursed with an anti-magic illness that is slowly draining her stats by the day and she will die soon if we don't fix it. Also, this disease has managed to spread magically across any water spirits who are related, so the sea dragon mom is also dying, along with all of Tiller's water spirit siblings, and it's a little bit Tiller's fault because she went and got cursed in the first place and she feels really bad about it!!!! So it's a race against the clock to break the curse from inside the sea dragon and save Tiller's life, along with the lives of her dragon mom and her siblings. AND TO ADD ANOTHER LAYER.... one of Tiller's crewmates (a gunman named Selim) just tried to murder her last session (however she was quickly saved by her captain). SO OVERALL..... Tiller is honestly very distressed and sad and angry and frightened by a lot of different things HGSDKGDSKGSDKGLSDG but hey at least she's got a girlfriend Sandra: Sandra is having a fantastic time. She's on vacation. She's touring a beautiful little fantasy town and getting into hijinks with her new friends. She's currently on a date with a hot barkeep named Nat, they went to watch a wrestling match, and now Both Of Them Are Also Fighting In The Wrestling Match. She gets to gossip about all sorts of shit and buy cute clothes in the market and visit cute bakeries and perform in concerts. She's simply thriving.

i hope your day is as good as you are gay

Thank you king/qween and any other title in between

ur disco elysium posts are A+

THANK U!!! 🥰 i’m genuinely having such a fuckin blast, i’m so glad others are enjoying the ridiculousness too!!!

i’m excited for you to see the next season of sxf, it has some really good angst :)

I know a few things about what it will be about, and I can't tell you how excited I already am! It will probably take a LOT of waiting but oh well 🥲 I mean, I saw some spoilers from it as early as November of LAST YEAR and I've been waiting for it SINCE. I know it will be well worth the wait!

That said, it's one of my favourite things, seeing people await my reactions to future stuff in the anime! Since I have to keep away from the fandom to avoid spoilers, it makes me feel very included to know people think of me even if I'm way far behind ❤️

I hope you have a nice day/night!

"once again i am forced to kin kermit the frog" is the second funniest thing ever (the first is my wife)

SHGKLDSSD HA!!! I’m glad my tags can spread the laughter around!! I’m just typing my little reactions to things into tumblr dot com and calling it comedy lol

damn, 'made for u'? more like 'made me cry'

its the only reason im in this business 

hell yea fellow canadian!

Yeyeye!

caramel is such a perfect name for an appletun!!!!!!!

Ahh I thought it was a silly name at first! But thanks ^^