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dragonrajafanfiction · 3 years

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Chizuru Town (Part 1)

In the game you wake up on the beach in Chizuru with NO IDEA how you got there.

I have a little fun with it. Enjoy!

“MC!”

The children’s voices were happy and oddly squeaky. They draw you out of unconsciousness. Your body feels a bit cold, and you shiver.

“MC!” They keep calling you. You’re lying face up but their hands are pressed against your back. They keep pushing you from below.

You take a breath and feel the cold shock of water up your nose. The choking sensation makes you want to bolt upright but something is holding you up on the surface of the water. You catch a glimpse of silver grey, rubbery skin. A thin slit in that skin opens and sprays a mist with a sharp whoosh. The children’s voices are replaced by the squealing and whistling of dolphins.

Dolphins! Their sharp pointed fins are cutting through the water. You can see their bright eyes turn to look up at you. The way their mouths curve in their snouts gives them a smile. But they were powerful, insistent creatures. The moment you tried to swim on your own, they pushed you out of the water again.

The salt water in your mouth, the frigid breeze against your sun warmed skin told you this wasn’t a dream. You’d heard stories of dolphins rescuing people before, but you’d never actually thought you’d get to experience being carried on these muscular bodies.

There were more surrounding you. Their sparkling backs broke the surface, no doubt watching. One eventually peeled off and another replaced them and you realized they were taking turns carrying you along. The sun was about halfway across the sky now and you could see the sparkling white sand of a small beach. The beach was only a few yards wide before it hit the seawall. You could climb up the seawall by what looked like stairs that led to a main street.

You gather your arms about yourself. What little clothing had survived the ghost tooth dragon vipers was torn away by the water and water-born debris. You were completely naked. You already were in the country illegally. You couldn’t imagine what would happen if you just showed up completely exposed like this. But how would you get any clothing?

The dolphins didn’t care about this at all. They pressed forward. If they knew anything about humans, it was that humans belonged on land and, for whatever reason, they had made it their mission to get you to the land as soon as possible. They pushed you with their snouts so hard you thought you might bruise and swam so quickly, you formed a wake in the water. You were already weak from fatigue and dehydration. There was no way you could fight them.

So you are pushed like a buoy towards the shore. When the water got too shallow the dolphins were forced to turn back or risk beaching themselves. Still, they swam a close distance away. Your body was shaking at a steady constant rate and the warm sand was irresistible. You lay down and sigh.

After a bit of rest, you pick a shadier spot against the wall, out of the sun and hopefully out of the prying eyes of people walking by. The dolphins follow you, spy hopping and watching. This was all so surreal.

You were supposed to be dead.

Again.

When you were younger, you read a book about a world where there was almost no difference between heaven, hell, and the living world. People died and woke up again to a place they found familiar and only vaguely strange. The book was deliberately unsettling, meant to blur the line between reality and dreams. The protagonist wasn’t sure if he was still alive, in heaven, or in hell, and the reader was not to know either until the end.

You’re feeling this way now. You thought you had died in the Arctic ocean, only to be thrown into a chaotic dragonslaying academy. Now you thought you died, only to wake up to a school of dolphins after nearly getting eaten by a dragon.

How are you alive after all that has happened? Maybe you weren’t alive. Maybe this was hell and you were suffering multiple deaths. The dolphins chattered brightly ahead of you, but now their sounds seemed more like they were mocking you, naked, on the sand alone, alive again with no friends.

There was no sign of Lu Mingfei, Chu Zihang or Caesar Gattuso. Were they saved by dolphins too? Or left to drown and be eaten? Was God only with you and not with them? Your mind starts to form an idea. You can test out this theory. Worst case scenario was that you died for real and you’d long since gotten over that fear.

You stand up and brush the sand off your bare bottom. You would take your time to rest and hide out until night fell and then use the dark to your advantage.

Fatigue made you sleep longer than you wanted. Darkness has truly fallen when you wake up, stiff and achy. A greyish mat of sand has stuck to your whole body. You look back towards the ocean, but the dolphins are gone. You waddle out on wobbly legs and wash the sand away. After so much time in the water, the feel of it on your skin was suddenly abhorrent and you would be happy if you never spent another day in the ocean as long as you lived.

The theory that you’re actually dead and none of this was real was again challenged by how hard it was to make it up the stairs. You were so exhausted, starving and dehydrated that you swayed. You’d give anything for a bowl of hot ramen, served up fresh with a bit of egg floating on top.

You heard a voice cry out. A young couple was out for a stroll and had spotted you. You must look like a monster, hair long and matted and no clothes at all. Sure enough, they back away moaning with trembling voices before turning to run off, screaming something you can’t understand. Further up towards the street, you see bright lights. The smell of vendors cooking street food makes your stomach rumble. You couldn’t be out in the open, but maybe if you got close enough, you could dumpster dive and find some clothes. You sneak behind the back of the nearest building, a stucco box with a small front yard. The young man of the couple returns with a few other people. He’s speaking breathlessly, pointing towards the ocean. Poor guy. No doubt he thought he’d seen some ghost girl come from the ocean. This is probably something that would traumatize him for life.

You hear a small noise next to you. A little black cat is pawing at you. You could barely see it in the shadows. It didn’t care that you weren’t wearing clothes. Its fur was soft and warm and its purrs were comforting. You run your hand over its head and ears and it crawls into your lap. You would have liked to own a cat someday. You always liked them. They were funny and cute and very affectionate like this one. When you raise your eyes, your heart leaps. There are clothes hanging on a clothesline from a house not too far away!

You scramble quickly towards it, careful not to step on anything that might make noise. You check every gap to make sure that no one can see you. Then as soon as you reach the clothing, you carefully yank it off the line. It was just one of the local school uniforms. The white button down top was a bit small, but the wine-colored skirt fits you just fine around the waist. You were only a bit older than Renata when she died so this was probably the outfit of a highschool student.

Your eyes fall on the back door of the house. That’s right, Japanese don’t wear shoes in the house. These shoes were laid out neatly on the rack. You glance around and carefully approach, snatching what you hope will fit you. They’re just the right size, much to your shock. This surprise is enough to send a jolt of happiness through you. Now clothed, you return to the cat and pick it up in your arms and walk out on the street. The first thing you saw was a sign that said, Chizuru.

Before arriving in Japan, Norma, the school AI had told you about a place called Chizuru being a safe haven and to find an Internet Cafe there if you ever got into trouble. The hairs rose on the back of your arms. How could this be possible that dolphins not only save your life, but take you directly to the place that you needed to be? You sang the song that said ‘God is with you’ but it was supposed to be a metaphor right?

You approach a man on the street who looks at you with a stunned expression. “I… excuse…”

Before you can ask anything, he shakes his head again and again and flees from you. “Wait! I need…”

You try again, this time of one of the vendors, an old craggy-faced man who stares at you with a black expression until you give up.

Burned, you just decide to wander around until you see something that looks like an internet cafe. It wouldn’t be in a neighborhood. More likely closer to the city center, on a main street. You head that way, away from the beach and the houses. The city center seems much quieter than you would expect it to be. You stop.

A group of people are standing on the street, five men in black leather jackets displaying flaming Oni masks. One had a wild looking tall mohawk dyed red. His black jeans reached down to black leather boots studded with silver spikes. It was as if the black dragon that tried to eat you had turned human and walked on land.

He turned his head and spotted you. It was too late to hide. His eyes ran up and down the length of you and he grinned, and made a slow whistling noise. You may have been raised in an orphanage but you weren’t that naive to not know what that smile meant. You’d seen it before on some of the staff who liked to take advantage of the older girls there.

So you didn’t need to know the vulgar words coming out of their mouth. You set the kitten down on a nearby trash can and pat it on the head, quietly telling it to stay in Russian. The cat obliged, and started to clean its paws.

In the orphanage, you were taught hand to hand basics until you were strong enough to actually use it in a fight. The trainings were very light against each other and you weren’t allowed to cause injury, but there was no gender splitting. You were only hybrids. Whether you were male or female, it didn’t matter so long as you had dragonblood in your veins.

Because of your background, you didn’t show the same innocent fear that these men may have been accustomed to from someone your age, in that clothing. You stared them straight in the eyes, your arms at your side, not moving forward or back. This nonchalant attitude made them stand there in brief bewilderment. The one with the mohawk was clearly the bolder of the five and he shouted something at you that you don’t understand. You just shake your head.

“I need to find the Internet Café…” You make a gesture with your hands to pantomime typing at a computer. They started to laugh, elbowing each other and nodding. You sigh. You’re so tired and it showed on your face.

Your lack of Japanese and your weary expression was an invitation to attack and they approached you now.

In the orphanage, no one would approach you like this in such a joking manner. Especially not on the training grounds. The Mohawk’s hands were relaxed. He was confident. He wasn’t watching your hands ball into fists as tight as stones and he wasn’t watching the sudden shift in your feet as you moved into a sturdy stance. He reached out with his hand to your elbow. So he was unable to block or dodge your fist that struck him like lightning.

He didn’t just feel pain or stagger back. The man felt flat to his side, straight to the pavement, and he didn’t get up. The eyes of his four friends followed him down with a stunned feeling. You knew that feeling. Like they suddenly found themselves in a fantasy world where a high school girl in a school uniform could knock out a gangster with a single hit?

Maybe this was a fantasy world and you were a fantasy high schooler. After all, you were carrying a cat!

They all turned to you in unison and you attacked the next one, levering back on one leg and slamming him with a kick to the solar plexus. He staggered back, wheezing, curling in on himself, once or twice..

The next one now had the wherewithal to produce a switchblade. He swung it wildly at where your heart should have been, but the blouse was a bit open where it was too tight and he caught a glimpse of the fact that you’re not wearing anything underneath. Your hand caught his wrist and you pulled hard, driving your knee directly into his crotch.

His grip on the knife released as he slowly sank to the ground and you swiped it easily. You give it a toss and catch it by the handle. Now the smile is on your face and there’s no pleasure in it as you stare down the final two gangsters.

One gives up and turns to run, arms pinwheeling comically as his oni mask jacket flapped in the breeze created by his own flight.

The last one was backing away, stumbling over his feet, crawling back upright. And when he does get up, you see something in his hand, shiny and black.

A gun. You hadn’t seen one in a while and you stopped. You couldn’t do anything about this. He just needed to pull the trigger and you were gone. But this was a world where you couldn’t die… right?

A man in a white shirt and black slacks leaped out from behind a car and a bright metal arc gave off sparks as it neatly cut the gun in half. Chu Zihang’s sword then rested its edge on the man’s throat

The man stared at his severed gun in silence a moment before he noticed the blade.

“Senpai!” You joyfully run forward and wrap your arms around Zihang.

Zihang looks bewildered, unsure of what to do. His free hand hovers over your shoulder… head… and then he settles on patting you on the back.

The man at his mercy is trembling in terror at the discovery that this warrior girl in a school uniform somehow has a ‘Senpai’ at all. His companions are already staggering away, one of them limping and bowlegged as he flees.

Chu Zihang raised his hand and rubbed his thumb and fingers together in the universal sign for ‘money’. You stick his tongue out at him.

The man was quick to oblige, tossing him his wallet. Chu Zihang lowered his sword. After examining the contents, he picked out a few bills and handed the man his wallet back but he was already running away.

“Were you just going to let him shoot you?” He asked.

You opened your mouth. “Yes… but!” You raise a finger to halt objections. “I knew something would happen to keep me from dying!”

Chu Zihang shook his head slowly. “Where’s Lu Mingfei and Caesar?”

Your expression sobers. “I don’t know. I was looking for the Internet Cafe…”

He walks over to a vending machine and puts in the money to buy you something to eat. You return to where the cat is resting on the trash can. “What a good kitty!” You whisper, ,gathering it up in your arms.

“You shouldn’t keep that.” The Machine is pouring out noodles with soup broth base. Your stomach rumbles and the cat meows.

“Is there something for Kitty?” You ask.

Chu Zihang sighs again. The man gave the whole wallet, after all. Chu Zihang orders some dried squid for the cat.

In a few moments both you and Kitty are sitting against the building. You’re so hungry that you scald your mouth on the soup, but you don't care. Chu Zihang is silent, still standing guard and watching. With your hunger sated, you look up at him. “You’re the team lead right?”

“Only if I find out Caesar is dead.”

“You think he’s alive? Do you want me to call you boss?”

“No.”

“Okay boss.”

You look up at him and he’s scowling at you, not in the mood for your jokes, or your kitten. “How did you survive?”

“You’re not going to believe this. A pod of dolphins brought me all the way here.”

Much to your surprise he believes you. “That’s true. The dolphins here are very friendly to the locals. In fact there was a story I read about that...”

There was a sudden cacophony of roaring engines. Chu Zihang grabs you and together you duck behind the parked cars. Motorcycles, dozens of them, are all roaring off in one direction, their lights streaming towards a single destination. Among them were vans filled with people with automatic weapons. Right after that, all the lights go out in Chizuru. From the tallest building, to the smallest house, even the lights illuminating the advertisements go dark.

Chu Zihang sighed deep in his chest. “I have a bad feeling Caesar is that way.”

#Dragon Raja

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carmichealroyals · 3 years

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CHARACTER INSPIRATION // C H A L L E N G E

Rules: Write up a blurb or make a visual collage of the people or characters (from books, TV shows, movies, etc.) that inspired your OC, either visually, personality wise, or just a general vibe.

I was tagged by this by so many lovely pals -- @thelockwoodroyals, @wa-royal-tea AND @ourwillowcreekroyals !!! I only feel bad that it took me so long but I wanted it to be as perfect as it could be while taking time to fiddle with Photoshop more (thank you @royaldevilliers for answering my silly questions). Below the cut are the descriptions for the personality types and tropes for each of the main three kids of this next generation!

Not sure who’s done this yet, so if you see this and you want to do it, this is me telling you to do it!

CHARLOTTE:

The Protagonist: Protagonists are natural-born leaders, full of passion and charisma. Forming around two percent of the population, they are oftentimes our politicians, our coaches and our teachers, reaching out and inspiring others to achieve and to do good in the world. With a natural confidence that begets influence, Protagonists take a great deal of pride and joy in guiding others to work together to improve themselves and their community.

Spirited Young Lady: She is the girl who bends the rules just a little. Oh, she can dance a country dance or pour tea with the best of them, but she may also be a good walker or horseback rider. She may be the most intelligent girl in the story, and she is almost certainly the wittiest and the most outspoken, sometimes earning her the title of spitfire. She may be talented in more practical ways, as well: if given the opportunity, she may turn out to be a wise investor, and she may harbor talent for music, writing, or art that goes beyond drawing room entertainment and might become a means of financial independence if necessary. In rare cases, she may even solve a murder. Though she occasionally runs into some trouble, especially if she fails to obey the powers that be, she usually comes through in the end.

Deadpan Snarker: A character prone to gnomic, sarcastic, sometimes bitter, occasionally whimsical asides.The Deadpan Snarker exists to deflate pomposity, point out the unlikelihood of certain plans, and deliver funny lines. Typically the most cynical supporting character. In most cases, it is implied that the snarker would make a good leader, strategist, or consultant given their ability to instantly see the flaws in a constructed plan. More often than not, their innate snarkiness is the only thing preventing the other characters from comprehending this for themselves.

Politically Active Princess: The Politically Active Princess is a princess that takes active interest in and plays an active role in politics. Naive courtiers and commoners alike might view her only as a figurehead, but in truth, she discreetly uses her position and guile in order to achieve her ends. Skilled in diplomacy, she will usually attempt to solve conflicts via conversation or bargaining, rather than combat. Her defining trait is her involvement in politics or diplomatic matters, without letting herself serve only as a bargaining chip.

Inspired by: Mia Thermopolis (The Princess Diaries); Lorelai Gilmore (Gilmore Girls); Vex’ahlia (Critical Role); Jenny Lee (Call the Midwife)

PETER:

The Architect: It can be lonely at the top. As one of the rarest personality types – and one of the most capable – Architects (INTJs) know this all too well. Rational and quick-witted, Architects may struggle to find people who can keep up with their nonstop analysis of everything around them.

The Dog Bites Back: Unlike the Bastard Understudy and The Starscream, this character attacks as a crime of opportunity. There is no danger that he will take over the villain's place in the grand scheme of things. There is, however, a possibility that he will menace the others as a True Final Boss. The backstabber often ends up dead, but this is usually not Redemption Equals Death because their motive is not noble. Innocent victims who turn on the villain typically do it only for revenge, while evil victims prove that they were fine with all of the Big Bad's crimes except the one committed against them.

Middle Child Syndrome: Everyone loves the oldest child because the parents can rely on them, they watch out for their siblings, and they're so confidently attractive. The Youngest Child Wins because they're the "baby". But what does that leave the one in the middle? That's essentially the definition of Middle Child Syndrome, in which a child automatically may become The Unfavorite or the rebellious Black Sheep, specifically because they are the easiest child to overlook. They're not old enough to be given the responsibilities and privileges of the oldest, and the youngest child took their spot as the spoiled and doted-on "baby" of the family. This tends to be more of an issue when there are three children rather than four or more. Oftentimes in media, the middle child ends up becoming more of the Deadpan Snarker or the quirky one for this reason.

The Un-Favorite: Where there's an Alpha wolf, there's got to be a Beta. When there is a first banana, there is a second banana. This is the person in the family who can't get a break. For example, this is the child who's the big let-down to their parents, the daughter that was supposed to be a son (or vice-versa), the child the parents had by accident when they'd already decided they didn't need another mouth to feed, the adoptive, foster, or stepchild that came before the parents had a biological child, the illegitimate child conceived by infidelity on the part of one of the parents (if not even worse). But all in all, this is basically the kid who is always getting the short-end of the stick. In some extreme cases, this may cause Rich Sibling, Poor Sibling, especially if one sibling is forced into service to the other. A regular line that may be entailed with this is a variant of, "Honestly, [name], why can't you be more like [favorite's name]?"

Inspired by: Edith Crawley (Downton Abbey); Fiyero (Wicked: The Musical); Logan Huntzberger (Gilmore Girls); Rafael Solano (Jane the Virgin)

PEGGY:

The Mediator: Idealistic and empathetic, Mediators long for deep, soulful relationships, and they feel called to help others. But because this personality type makes up such a small portion of the population, Mediators may sometimes feel lonely or invisible, adrift in a world that doesn’t seem to appreciate the traits that make them unique.

The Baby of the Bunch: Being the youngest of your group typically comes with some perks and challenges. On one side you're probably the cutest, have a pass to act immature, people like taking care of you, and you can embrace your fun side, knowing that the elders are there to handle the serious stuff. And if there's anything you're naïve about, you have plenty of others to give you the realest unfiltered advice without the generational gap and detachment that your parents or the Old Master have. On the other end, sometimes people don't take you seriously. There you're kinda stuck because no matter how old you get, you'll always be "the baby" in their eyes.

Indifferent Beauty: A character who is attractive, aware of their effect on other people, but doesn't care or at least doesn't value their physical attractiveness over their other traits. Often, this character is a consummate professional who is well aware of the fact that they could use their "assets" to get what they want by other means, but feels that it would be unprofessional or beneath their dignity, and is instead focused on proving that they can compete purely on skill, often to the exclusion of romantic opportunities. While such characters are not averse to dressing in sexy outfits, they don't plan on relying on or even exploiting their sex appeal - but the camera will often do that for them. Other characters' indifference is not due to regarding relying on appearance to be beneath their dignity, but rather that they consider it to be unimportant.

Spoiled Sweet: The Spoiled Sweet character is a naive, spoiled, rich or comfortably upper-class or upper-middle-class girl, who has everything they could ever want, but instead of being mean, she is as nice as can be to everyone. While still spoiled, slightly naive, perhaps shallow, maybe even a bit selfish at times, when it comes right down to it, she is a loyal friend and doesn't use her money or popularity as an excuse to treat everyone like garbage — though the trope Rich in Dollars, Poor in Sense is in play, especially since a particularly common sticking point is that characters of this type often believe their friends and other loved ones deserve to live just as well as they do.

Inspired by: Rory Gilmore (Gilmore Girls); Beth March (Little Women); Pike Trickfoot (Critical Role); Peggy Schuyler (Hamilton: An American Musical)

#sim: princess charlotte #sim: prince peter #sim: princess margaret

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travllingbunny · 5 years

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The 100 6x07 Nevermind

Season 6 of The 100 has been fantastic so far, and 6x07 is not just the best episode of the season so far, but also one of my favorite ever episodes of the show. Nevermind is, in many ways, a dream come true for me: this is exactly what I was hoping for at least since the promos for the show started promising the theme of characters “facing their demons”. At the time, I couldn’t have guessed that it would be about Clarke battling a centuries old woman who has taken over her body after her parents had decided to bodysnatch Clarke in order to bring their daughter back, but I was hoping for trippy, mind-bending, character-based storylines. Most of all, one focused on Clarke Griffin, the main character and hero of the show (oddly enough, this needs to be pointed out, since there are fans who keep forgetting it), her psyche, her traumas and emotional issues and character development.

After the wonderful last scene of 6x06 and the promos for this episode, my expectations were really high, and they were met. There was a little bit of fear that the whole “which characters will make a cameo”, “who will be mentioned how many times” thing would distract from Clarke’s character exploration, but that was not the case. This episode was almost entirely (except for the last scene) set in Clarke’s and Josephine’s mind space rather than the real world. The walk down the memory lane that the drawings we saw on Clarke’s mind-wall was there, but it was, above all, a great character study of the show’s protagonist, a battle of wills between the hero and the villain, and it had some big revelations – for the audience or for the characters. It had brilliant dialogue and acting, and was emotional, dark, intense and even funny at times (mostly thanks to Josephine, who is evil and detestable but also incredibly funny and charismatic).

And what particularly made me happy is that it addressed some long-standing questions of morality that the show had been ambiguous about. The show’s moral complexity/greyness has long bordered on moral relativism, and allowed (mis)interpretations in the fandom, to the effect that “There are no good guys, the protagonists are as bad as the villains, therefore it’s all the same and it doesn’t matter if someone does bad things, since everyone does it”. The unfortunate motto “for my people” has been overused and abused by many morally ambiguous or straight-up villainous characters on the show, to justify their own actions (the classic “who are you to talk, when you killed all the Mountain Men! Therefore I get to do whatever I want ‘for my people’’ – as if doing the only thing that could have stopped the evil society of technological vampires/overlords from killing and cannibalizing all your loved ones, is the same as killing people with no remorse to get power). By season 5, Clarke herself seemed to start buying into that view. Josephine Lightbourne again try to use that against Clarke in this episode, and nearly made her give up. This time, however, Clarke and the show both finally said “f*ck you” to that worldview.

One of the reasons why Josephine is such a great villain is that she is both a parallel and a striking contrast to Clarke. On the surface, they seem similar – their looks, background, family. When we first saw her in the flashback in 6x02, the similarities were obvious – another intelligent, capable, beautiful blonde girl with loving parents (Russell, in both versions, even matches the same physical type as Jake), a princess from a privileged background. But Josephine is everything that Clarke-haters (in and out of the show) claim Clarke to be, but that Clarke most definitely is not: selfish, narcissistic, with a god complex, remorseless, sociopathic, completely ruthless, pampered, classist, treating people as disposable. A start contrast to Clarke’s compassionate, caring, self-sacrificing nature.

Various thoughts about this episode in bullet points under the cut.

One of the many contrasts between Clarke and Josephine is the disorganized, beautiful way that different memories fill Clarke’s mind space, as drawings all over the walls of her room, unlike Josephine’s highly structured, organized mind. Just like “Monty”, I also like Clarke’s better.

I’m overall very happy with how this episode included references to various people and events from Clarke’s past, through a combination of drawings, flashbacks, mentions and objects. Most important people in Clarke’s life were referenced – both dead ones like Jake, Finn, Lexa, Jasper, Monty, and living ones like Bellamy and Madi (not so many mentions of Abby, but that’s because she’s both alive and, unlike so many others, not a source of guilt for Clarke).

The only exception is arguably Wells, and it’s really unlucky that the planned appearance by Eli Goree didn’t work out. We still got a confirmation of his importance in Clarke’s life (which should be big – he was her best friend since childhood and died tragically, even if he didn’t last long on the show) through several drawings (and the Chinese version of the idiom “A friend in need is a friend indeed” under one of them), and, more importantly, a close-up of one of them. Let’s be honest, the drawings are generally little more than a cool Easter egg for the fans, if the show doesn’t focus on them through close-ups and flashbacks or mentions – something that the general audience would notice.

I love the way that Clarke’s outfit and hairstyle kept changing depending on which memory or part of her mind space she was in at any given moment. For instance, she started as Ark Clarke from the Pilot, then turned into Eden Clarke when she visited her safe space of the life there with Madi for those 6 years – which was far from perfect (what with being isolated from everyone else, without any adult with her, without other friends or any chance of love or sex life, and waiting for Bellamy to come back and talking to him without answer to keep sane), but was still the most peaceful time she’s known. Except maybe for her childhood, which she did spend in a not-happy space (life on the Ark was difficult, if not for her, then for so many others who were less privileged, and we know Clarke was aware of that), but she had a happy family life, so it makes sense that her father is the first person she would see in her mind-space. Jake and Eden stood for safety and family life and peace, which Clarke thought she got when she briefly believed she had really died – before Jake (aka her own mind) told her it wasn’t true. It’s the sign of her being upset – the rain and storm outside that happened due to her mood – that alerted her to the fact she was still alive.

Every character, other than Josephine, who appeared in Clarke’s mind space was, of course, an embodiment of a part of her.

Although I’m not sure about ALIE, whose code may have remained there, and who delivered information that Clarke may not have already known. It was the one cameo in this episode that really surprised me (since the rest had been revealed or guessed on social media). She was there for the big revelation that the neural mesh from the time Clarke was in the City of Light is what ended up saving her. This made this episode’s link to 3x13 Nevermore even stronger. (Funny that the erased memory of ALIE!Raven is what gave rise to that awful amnesia theory. Glad that this has been shut down now.) I guess this means that I was wrong about other hosts being savable, and that Delilah is gone forever? A big part of why I wanted it to be true, apart from liking Delilah, was to give the Earthkru more incentive to fight the Primes. But we have been given a lot of other reasons why they should make the decision to so that.

ALIE also had a conversation with Clarke about the nature of life and humanity, which, however, could be just Clarke talking to herself. Clarke has been tempted to run away from pain, she’s even tempted to run from it by accepting death in this episode, but she’s still insisting that pain is a necessary part of life and that there’s no joy without it. At the core, Clarke is not someone who gives up.

The revelation that the darkest and most painful memories are those that aren’t even on the wall and that Clarke keeps hidden, explained some things, such as why there were no drawings on the mind-wall of such huge moments as Jake’s death or Finn’s death (Clarke’s trauma from this was a subject of an entire episode – one of my favorites, 2x09, Remember Me)... However, while I don’t want to criticize the prop department, who did an incredible job drawing those pictures from scenes, they did make an error - one of the drawings of Lexa is actually from the scene of her right after being shot, which doesn’t really fit (her death is one of the “darkest place” hidden memories) – though you wouldn’t know that by just looking at the picture and not knowing the scene.

I’m glad that Josephine called out Clarke on child abuse, and that the drawing of Madi in pain in the shock collar was so prominent on the wall. Season 5 had Clarke at her lowest point, and that was certainly, IMO, one of the worst things she’s done.

We know (from 6x04) that Clarke’s biggest regret is leaving Bellamy in Polis in season 5, and this episode confirmed that this weighs so heavy on Clarke’s heart that she can’t even face Bellamy in her mind space (which fits with the fact that the darkest and most traumatic moments are those she did not put on the wall). She is afraid that he hasn’t really forgiven her in his heart, and that he can’t, because she can’t forgive herself. Even if Bellamy is alive and well, Clarke’s feelings for him make her betrayal of him unforgivable in her own eyes (even though, at the time she did it, she had been heartbroken and furious because she felt he had betrayed her). Octavia, or rather Blodreina, was the right embodiment of her guilt in a weird way, since she was the danger that Clarke left Bellamy to, the one who threw him into the pit in the first place (kind of like Jaha was the embodiment of Bellamy’s guilt over the culling in 1x08). She reminded Clarke of some of her other sins, those that involved Clarke being ready to sacrifice Octavia (while trying to protect Bellamy) – letting the bomb drop on the people in Tondc, stealing the bunker in season 4, but she was there mostly to talk about Bellamy, because the relationship between Clarke and Octavia has always mostly revolved around their respective relationships with him. Even in her own mind, Clarke is still deflecting when confronted with her feelings for Bellamy (“I care about both of you”, just like she said “I care about all of them” when called out on her feelings for Bellamy by Lexa in 2x14). Octavia is also the embodiment of the unwillingness to forgive, so her refusal to fight for Clarke makes sense.

Not that Clarke needed any help to kick Josephine’s arse. It was satisfying to see, but expected. Josephine is an actual pampered princess who’s never had to fight for anything, while Clarke has been fighting and surviving in adverse circumstances for 7 years.

Maya’s appearance made perfect sense, but she was the most OOC character of all the “mind space” characters – maybe because Clarke didn’t get to know her that well, but mostly because she was the embodiment of Clarke’s guilt over the innocent deaths she’s caused. Maya was a good person, someone who helped them against her own people because it was the right thing to do, and because she knew what the Mountain Men were doing was wrong. She is also linked in Clarke’s mind with her feelings of guilt over Jasper – Clarke didn’t know Maya well, but Jasper was one of her closest friends, and Clarke feels deeply guilty for indirectly causing his downward spiral that ended with his suicid4. I was happy to see him referenced so much in this episode – through “Maya”, the case Clarke found in 5x01, and his goggles that she found there, which all played a big role in this episode. The accusations that “Maya” (Clarke herself) made sounded a lot like the repertoire of Clarke-haters: that she likes being a savior, has a god complex, has killed more people than she’s saved, is no better than the Primes… This is a confirmation that Clarke herself has agonized over all of these things. But it’s not what the real Maya would have said – the real Maya died acknowledging the responsibility all of the Mountain Men had for the evil things their society was doing, saying “None of us is innocent”. When Clarke made her “Maya” character be helpful against Josephine, it was the closest thing to what the real Maya had been like.

Clarke’s darkest place, the most painful and traumatic memories she has, are the deaths of Finn and Lexa, the only two people she has had romantic relationships with – relationships that were both extremely brief and tragic, and ended with deaths that traumatized Clarke a lot and made her feel guilty – even though she doesn’t really have, IMO, objective reasons to feel responsible for either of them, it’s not hard to see why she would feel, on the emotional, irrational level, that she is the one causing people to die. (The show and especially the fandom have tended to ignore one of these relationships post-season 2 and to over-focus on the other, so I was pleasantly surprised that they were both acknowledged in a similar way for their role in Clarke’s development and emotional traumas – with the visual references with Lexa’s throne and the pole Finn was tied to and the knife Clarke used to mercy kill him, combined with the flashback of Finn’s death, a different flashback of Lexa seen before, and Josephine’s indirect mention of her death – which was probably the most elegant solution, since I don’t think the show would ever dare replay the footage of her death for fear of more backlash.)

It’s certainly no coincidence that this dark place that’s about Clarke’s traumas of her tragic romantic life is the place where Josephine breaks Clarke by convincing her that Bellamy has given up on her and that he and everyone are better off with her dead. Josephine didn’t technically lie – she told her he took her death hard but in the end made the rational choice of agreeing to the deal with her murderers. But, by showing her an out-of-context memory of Bellamy taking the deal, she showed her a skewed version of the truth. Clarke didn’t see Bellamy’s grieving, despair and anger, and didn’t realize that Bellamy saying that she would do the same was out of admiration for her, as a leader who’s not just smart but also selfless and caring. She probably took it as another sign he sees her as a monster, doesn’t care that much about her and is better off without her, because it fed into her own insecurities.

Josephine: “Have you considered sacrificing yourself?” Bitch, watch the season 4 finale. She didn’t just consider it, she did it.

I loved the fact that the case Clarke used to hide the important memory was Jasper’s case, that it contained Jasper’s goggles alongside Jake’s video, and that the lock password was “102”. More confirmation of the importance of the initial Delinquents community from season 1 in Clarke’s life and the show. “You forgot Bellamy and Raven” may be my favorite line from this episode.

Monty’s return (which the show tried to hide by not putting Chris Larkin’s name in the credits until the end credits, but it revealed it through not cutting enough of one of the promo pics) was not a complete surprise, thanks to the detective work of some of the fans, but was still my favorite part of the episode. Monty was most in-character, because Clarke knew him so well, and it makes perfect sense that he was the voice of Clarker’s reason and moral compass, which is what made her change her mind after having given up and given Josephine the victory. (You want a great platonic friendships between a man and a woman on The 100? Here it is!)

The ‘Monty” part of Clarke’s mind fought back, against all the BS – the “bear it so they don’t have to”, “for my people” mottos and moral relativism and Josephine’s half-truths) and reaffirmed Clarke’s resilience and will to live, and reminded her that what it all comes down to is not just saving your people, but doing the right thing. After Monty told them to be good guys and be happy. Both of these messages are what Clarke had to remember. As I’ve been pointing out, doing better is not just standing by and not killing people. It’s also actively fighting against evil. They are not being good guys if they let the Primes murder, bodysnatch, oppress, brainwash and sacrifice the people from their community, just because it doesn’t affect them. As “Monty” (Clarke) pointed out, it’s not doing better if you let the Primes murder people to live forever.

Clarke’s trip through Josephine’s memories (of being killed by Kaylee, and of killing Isaac and sacrificing a baby) helped her fully realize that Josephine is truly evil and needs to be stopped. Really, if killing babies is not enough to make you classify someone as true evil on a whole different level, what can?

Josephine tried to pull the “for my people” motto with Issac, but she was full of s*hit. She only does things for herself and maybe a few other people (not even all the Primes, since she murdered four of them). We learned that Children of Gabriel are literally the children that the Primes tried to sacrifice to the trees and that Isaac saved and brought to Gabriel. We also got another confirmation of the cruel caste system of Sanctum, where “nulls” (people who are not Nightblood gene carriers) are treated as lower life forms, and routinely sacrificed, and that Josephine would rather kill them all, if she was allowed to by her father. Not that having the NB gene is so good, as it means your child may end up as a host, and obviously, the “honor” of being a Nightblood means you get bodysnatched at the age of 21.

When Isaac said “if only we were allowed to be more than your janitors and guards”, it felt like it was the writers’ way of reminding us of the class system on the Ark, where Bellamy was a janitor and a guard-in-training. It’s also another reminder of how different Clarke and Josephine are – Josephine would have considered someone like Bellamy expendable and useless, whereas Clarke quickly showed in season 1 she valued people based on their personal qualities rather than their origin or class.

It was cool to see a flashback to the time before the apocalypse, complete with references to Diyoza and Becca, but this memory was my least favorite part of the episode. I guess I just wasn’t that interested in Josephine’s traumatic memories, since I don’t think they’re enough to explain her sociopathic nature. On second thought, you could say that this guy was her Finn, and that her response to that trauma was completely different from Clarke’s – genuinely shutting herself down to any compassion or remorse.

I love the fact that what saved the day was the fact that Clarke and Bellamy were both good students of Earth skills (taught by Pike!) and that they are, once again, so well attuned to each other that they can communicate this way. Or the fact that Bellamy was watching JC so carefully, even though it must have hurt him emotionally to look at her, that he noticed her movements and read them correctly.

Nice to see Miller back, but did he have to be so… not-bright? In any case, it’s great to see Bellamy as determined to save Clarke, as he was despondent in the last episode. This is maybe the first time that Clarke really needs saving, but a huge and crucial part of that rescue was Clarke deciding that she wants to live.

Rating: 10/10

#the 100 #the 100 season 6 #the 100 6x07 #nevermind #clarke griffin #josephine lightbourne #bellamy blake #monty green #jasper jordan #maya vie #jake griffin #wells jaha #octavia blake #madi griffin

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venus-says · 4 years

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Aikatsu on Parade! Episode 10

The sheer power that emanates from this picture is incredible. Also Yoko Hikasa, lots of Yoko Hikasa.

I had my hopes low for this episode seeing how unpleased I was with how last week's episode went, but I think all shows I cover were united this week in order to make me a less hateful human being and following the trend, this episode was pretty awesome.

I have only two, maybe three, complaints to make this week, which is something very hard for Aikatsu seeing how harsh I'm with this series for some reason.

The first thing I don't like is the thing that follows my weekly trend. If we HAD TO have three performances in this episode couldn't we've got a single Love MeTear performance followed by either a performance by Hime or Alicia (maybe even a collab of both of them)? Nothing against Nice na to Meet you and Karen's song about Go!Pri but c'mon, if we had no way over the three performances quota I'd rather if we had a chance to see all the top idols performing on an episode. But oh well, that's not really a big deal this time.

My other problem, funny enough, relates to one of my problems with Star Twinkle this week being how abrupt, sudden, and a bit disconnected this felt from the main story-line. How did LMT meet Elza and Mizuki? If I stretch I can see they knowing Mizuki since LMT spent a period in the OGkatsu world, but what about Elza and Hime? How did that happen? Speaking of Elza, it seems like they really don't know if they want to make her a full bitch or just someone with a strong personality yet because she's back to her "softer" side from the Stars' finale here rather than the total bitch she was last episode.

But none of that really matters because this was THE episode to massage the fans who like the senpais/rivals more than the actual protagonists, aka me.

There was no moment in this episode that didn't get me squeaking like a 14 years old in line to see a concert by their favorite artist. Mirai, as easygoing and as fun as ever. Karen, sounding such as a real mom talking about her students and being just lovely. Hime was being a complete princess. It was fun as hell seeing Hibiki and Elza doing the same scenes together and I wish I was a bug in the recording booth to see Yoko Hikasa dubbing this episode and going back-and-forth between the two of them. Alicia sadly got the shaft here and didn't do a lot. But damn Mizuki... ah, Mizuki I love you so much.

I was completely sure this was going to be just a fan-service episode that wouldn't have anything on it, but the writers of this show are kinda smart sometimes and they made a huge throwback to the OG series and out of nowhere Mizuki was able to give Raki a lesson about not relying on luck alone to achieve your goals. Now, I don't know if this is going to stick since Raki is always fluctuating and is hard to pinpoint if she's really learning anything from these experiences, or if she just pretends to listen for a couple of days before she deletes the info of her brain and gets back to her usual self, or if she just has a very short attention span and should see a doctor before she gets in trouble, but it was still nice to see Mizuki passing her knowledge to the new generation. I'm still confused if they went back to Starlight and had the talk or if Karen has an exact replica of the Mizuki spot on her house, but that's not important.

I really like the idea of the New World Fest, and I think that's what was on everyone's wishlist for on Parade and I'm particularly very excited about it. But I have two concerns: 1, this seems more like a season finale event; and 2, they say the climax will be on Christmas which means this will probably last only two episodes. Now, I fully understand that this is probably happening now since Mizuki's VA is going to the UK to study next year so it would be harder for her to record bigger appearances on a later moment of the season, but I can't deny that it worries me a little. BTW, Minako worked with Yoko on Symphogear before and that's another studio recording I'd love to be a bug to watch (I know Maria and Saint-Germain didn't have that many interactions, but still. LET ME DREAM).

The highlight of the episode was definitely the Take Me Higher performance and there's only one word to describe all my feeling for this live: OOF! Seriously, that made me so happy, I can't even put it on words. I know some people didn't like the Mizuki, Elza, Hibiki version, I know people had problems with the effects and everything, but I really loved it to death and I almost cried during the first time I watched it. Yes, a lot of people have problems with the sexy idols, especially the ones on a "senpai/legend" role, I have my fair share of them too, but I love my purple girls, and a Mizuki x Elza X Hibiki collab was the thing I wanted the most out of this show, and it was pretty decent so I'm more than happy with it. Yes, the coords don't match but who cares? Mizuki's LPR is GORGEOUS, Hibiki's coord is my favorite JLR, Elza's top looks awkward but it fits with the rest of her outfit, so everything is kay here. Yeah, Mizuki's voice is a bit overpowering, but it was also in the original version so... what's your point? Am I being way too biased and sounding a bit aggressive here? Definitely. Do I care? No. I love this performance and I'll stand by it till my death. (I really love when Yoko hits hard in the "dakishimete" part, it doesn't fit what she previously did for Hibiki in her songs but it's gorgeous. Also, nothing against Risa but I wish she had done Elza's parts as well just to get more of that)

The preview for next week promises beautiful drawings and some exciting comebacks and collaborations. I really wish we get to see a Seira x Rola stage, but I know is unlikely, probably the only new stage we'll get will be Akari and Yume's duet and all other performances for the fest will be reused lives from past seasons, but Akari x Mirai's Identity got me hopeful that they can throw some curveballs and make surprise stages for us so fingers crossed for this one.

These were my thoughts on Aikatsu, sorry if I went a bit overboard. XD Let me know what you think in the comments below, and I'll see you all next time. Bye-bye~

P.S.: After this shot now my headcanon is that Tamaki was promoted to be the headmistress of Star Harmony and nothing can make me change my mind.

#Aikatsu on Parade!#aikatsu

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cure-candy · 4 years

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Sweet! Dreaming Precure

Hi! My name is Ellie and I am creating a Precure fan series. I discovered Precure over the summer and was instantly drawn to the colorful optimism that the show presents. I recently thought of the idea of making my closest friends and me into Cures! This started off as a powerpoint presentation with ideas, names, reference pictures, and small bios. I’m not an artist, otherwise, I would have just drawn them. But when talking to a friend about this, she suggested that I turn it into a school project where I can learn to draw and animate a show. I immediately took this to the independent study teacher and signed up. So now, here I am! This blog may become part of my final project even! I’m going to talk about what I know so far, and put it below the cut!

Basics

Sweet! Dreaming Precure has the typical dream theme. Following your dreams no matter what, because that’s just what inspires me. Other themes are creativity, self-expression, and candy! There are 6 main characters: Cal, Elle, Amira, Lizzie, Sabrina, and Hannah. (Sweet! Dreaming Precure will be in English, located in the town where my friends and I live, simply because it’s what we all know best.)

Characters

Please note that I do not know some of the finer details just yet, or have drawings for these characters.

Cal/Cure Aria - Cal is non-binary/agender. The bubbly, outgoing, cheery protagonist! Loves to visit the candy store and share candy with their friends! Civilian wear, they dress pretty casual, somewhat edgy. Often wears a headband and sometimes even a cat ear headband! Hair is short, straight and light brown. Cal is an actor! They love being in musicals and singing and dancing on stage! Cure Aria - The Pink Cure!!! Hair turns bright magenta and grows a bit longer too. Two little pigtails? Undecided. But definitely a feminine outfit. Fancy ruffle skirt, pretty lace things, and pink!

Elle/Cure Candy - Elle is happy and extroverted but also a crybaby and very pouty. Elle is a dancer! She loves ballet the most. She works at the candy store and loves to hang out with the kiddos that come by. She loves kids! Her civilian wear is very pastel and soft. She wears cute sneakers and skirts and little hair barrettes! She has dark brown curly hair, that she wears in two pigtails! She has bangs too! Cure Candy - The Yellow Cure! Hair turns yellow, like a pastel yellow and grows longer but sticks with the pigtail & bangs look. She gets a kind of ballet tutu/bubble skirt and bubble sleeves. Lots of tulle accents in pink. Pink hints and candy bows! Ballet slipper shoes!

The Cure Candy & Cure Crystal friendship. Elle and Amira have been best friends since 2nd grade and are basically inseparable. So naturally, they kinda have a duo transformation. That’s just the thing. Their outfits aren’t too too matchy but that’s alright. They’re kind of opposites so it doesn’t make sense for them to be perfectly matching all the time.

Amira/Cure Crystal - Amira is quiet, friendly, artistic and rather introverted. She loves art! She’s really good at all art forms and loves to make art for her friends. She looooves her little Civilian wear, she wears loose, flowy clothes usually, sometimes cuffed jeans and converse. Glasses. Amira wears a hijab in the civilian and Cure form because she is Muslim. Cure Crystal - The Blue Cure! Still has her hijab! Angelic vibes, very flowy, soft and pretty. Light blue, tulle accents.

Lizzie/Cure Flower - Lizzie is pretty serious on the outside, caring, quiet and friendly. Secretly, she is very sassy and sarcastic. She loves baking! Long, light brown hair, always kept up in a messy bun. Sweaters and turtlenecks, flowy dresses. Floral!!! Cure Flower - The Green Cure! Hair turns a light green and one very long braid with flowers! Flowy, off the shoulders and elegant. Kinda floral, nature-ish themed.

Sabrina/Cure Mystery - Grumpy, defensive and very protective of her friends! She has a real soft spot for Elle. Sabrina is a singer/songwriter! She plays the guitar! She also enjoys fashion and dressing up! Civilian wear, she dresses very edgy, pop-punk. With skirts and combat boots! Black straight hair with bangs, kinda long? But not too long. She has a cat, named Kay, who is friends with Lucky. Cure Mystery - The Purple Cure! Hair turns galaxy and grows out longer and curlier. Purple dress with black tulle accents. Dramatic and long. Edgy and mysterious.

Hannah/Cure Alchemy - Hannah is the 6th ranger. Moves in town midway through the season. She is sassy, serious, funny and memey. Hannah likes photography/filmmaking. Hannah’s biggest passion though is science. She wants to be a scientist and make a change in the world. Androgynous style. Wears button-ups often, usually flannels or hawaiian shirts. Hair is similar to Cal’s but light blonde and straighter. Cure Alchemy - The Red Cure! Hair grows longer and the tips are dyed black. She has a shorts/skirt look going on. Pretty androgynous style still. Epic boots. Red with dark red tulle accents.

The Lore (ig)

Candyland is the world of Princess Emily and her lover, Prince Aaron. When Queen Nightmare and her workers attacked, Princess Emily used up the last of her power to send her away, damage her health close to death and to send her prince and her cat fairy, Lucky, to earth to find the legendary Precure who can save Candyland.

Queen Nightmare. She wanted to make it big, make people proud. But she failed and people laughed her off stage for because they didn’t like her idea. She decided from that day on she would make sure that no one could express themselves, so no one can get hurt. No one can reach their dreams because no one has dreams. Her henchmen are as follows:

James: The edgy one, angsty, funny. James so far is the only villain with a backstory. I won’t say it here as for spoilers but let’s just say, he lost someone close to him. Eventually, the Cures will befriend him and convince him that he doesn’t need to destroy the world’s dreams.

Alice: Genius one, smart ideas but backfires. Wholesome. She uses magic to lure the Cures into traps but it fails.

Nina: The one with history with the fairy/prince/princess, hates them

One aspect of Precure series that I love to see is a Cure Hangout! So here ya go!

Elle’s candy store!!! Her boss (turns out her boss is Prince Aaron) doesn’t care that all her friends are over all the time, they all get along great with kids for the most part and can help out! They all talk about things, the mysteries of Candyland, Princess Emily, and everything. The kids sometimes overhear and they play it off as a make-believe story. Prince Aaron also overhears and discovers their identities.

Random ideas for the series

- Sabrina is difficult to get to join the team. She doesn’t want to do something like that with people, she’s kind of secretive and is worried about letting people in. Elle is the key to getting her, she has a real soft spot for Elle.

- Lucky and Kay get along well. Lucky decides that she likes Kay and does some magic and now Kay is able to talk. Sabrina is shocked but not overly upset. Kay is spunky, sassy and adorable. Lucky is more serious. The two of them make up the mascots.

- An episode where Elle’s sister, Gale, will have an episode where she finds out about Elle’s powers and steals them. She becomes Cure Calculous. Everyone is shocked and Cure Calculous has to fight with them for a little bit. Elle is upset with her sister and Gale learns that being a magical girl is harder than she thought. She gives Elle her powers back. Lucky though, isn’t satisfied. Lucky wipes Gale’s memory of her sister being a magical girl.

- Gale is a 5th-grade genius. She is very smart, has read War and Peace and is on the high school Mathletes team.

- An episode where everyone has a crisis about college. The girls are seniors now and realize that when they all go to their own colleges, they won’t be able to fight as a team anymore or see each other. This divides them for a little bit but eventually, in the midst of a fight, the remember that their friendship is stronger than distance and they become stronger.

- Each girl will have an episode near the end where they overcome a personal struggle and unlock a special power that ends up being the pieces to the puzzle to defeating Queen Nightmare.

#sweet!dreamingprecure #precure fanseries

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drshojo · 6 years

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Confessions of a Shortcake Cake Lover

Hiya everybody! Its been awhile huh? Sorry about that, I had a ton of commissions this month- For those that don’t know I work freelance as an artist on top of my regular 9-5 job so things can get craaaaazy!

BUT WE’RE BACK! Back to talk about Shortcake Cake! Which is, in fact, at this very moment at least, my favorite shojo of all time! Shortcake cake has the best protagonist. Shortcake cake has the perfect will they won't they love triangle. Shortcake cake has well developed male leads. Shortcake cake reminds me I'm not straight

And viz media published a review and it sucked and you can tell the person isn't a shojo enthusiast and BY THE NINE DIVINES IM HERE TO SHOUT THE PRAISE SHORTCAKE CAKE DESERVES!

BECAUSE THAT’S RIGHT IT GOT AN OFFICIAL ENGLISH TANKOBON SO ITS TIME TO CELEBRATE BEING ABLE TO HOLD THIS MANGA IN MY HANDS!

For Talos’s sake all the art on this blog is just pictures of Ten, the protagonist from this series!

Now lets talk about me being gay for Ten

AH-HEM

MOVEING ALONG, I’m not ashamed to admit I picked up this series solely because I like Tens design. She's cute, cat-like and kind of looks like Hatsune Miku in my favorite Pinocchio-P song Nobody Makes Sense.

(Right?!)

As far as personality goes, Ten does not disappoint. She's thoughtful, practical, inexperienced in love but by no means does that obliviousness come off as stupid.

AND MARA’S SAKE TOO MANY TIMES WE HAVE THE DIZY PROTAGONIST AS A DEVICE TO ARBITRARILY DRAW OUT THE PLOT WHEN EVERYTHING WOULD HAVE BEEN SOLVED IF SHE THOUGHT HUH THIS GUY KISSED ME AND WE ALWAYS HANG OUT MABY I SHOULD ASK “CHUNTS UP WITH THAT?”

Ten says what she means all the time. She's the smart best friend character that you always wish was the main. I can pinpoint the exact moment Ten became my shojo protagonist hero.

Its right here at the end of volume one

(This outfit ten is wearing does +100 damage and leaves your Pokémon infatuated)

Your average clueless inexperienced heroine would pretend to be asleep. She would ponder the meaning of one dudes' words for days and come up with no answer at all! But not our ten. Our Ten gets right to the point. Now that doesn’t mean Ten is infallible. She gets confused and worries about love later in the series but only when it makes sense to do so because the actual situations call for it. Shortcake cake masterfully depicts the feelings many shojos fail to capture realistically. At what moment does one fall in love? Why do we like the people we do? How should we act around that person? It’s the realism of the characters that really draws you in to Shortcake Cakes lack of plot.

Oh ya the plot! There's not a whole lot to it. Cliffnotes version is - A girl lives into a boarding house with two cute guys and some other people whom you can immediately tell the author does not care about.

The long version is that Ten has a long commute to school so she moves into a boarding house that is closer to school with two cute guys and some other people whom you can immediately tell the author does not care about.

You might think I'm being harsh on the other housemates BUT LOOK AT HER BEST FRIENDS/HOUSEMATES EYES

HELLO EXPOSITION SALLY. COULD YOU REALLY NOT GIVE HER PROPER EYES THAT CAN EXPRESS PROPER EMOTIONS. I IMMEDIATELY KNOW YOU ARE NOT GOING TO BE PLOT RELEVANT. THIS IS MY ONE CRITICISM OF SHORTCAKE CAKE. It really doesn't value anyone other than the main three.

Now let's get to the meat of what makes Shortcake cake not just good but fantastic.

It’s a little something that shojos almost never do for some reason

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT FOR MALE CHARACTERS

A LOVE TRIANGLE THAT DEVELOPS ORGANICALLY AND BELIEVABLY.

For black haired boy A there's the “too friendly with girls” Riku. Riku is the type of male lead that I normally hate. He’s too flirty, and all that happiness is just gonna be a façade for some major hangups. But this is where shortcake cake works its magic. We get to hear a lot of Rikus thoughts outside of what he says to Ten. We get to see when he feels awkward, when he second guesses what he says to cute girl. (like us all hahah) He’s believable! We know what he worries about! And thus, we know he's a good guy even as Ten is trying to figure him out. Shortcake cake gives Riku a chance to shine so we can care about him just as much as we care about Ten.

And for not black haired boy b there is the gorgeous book loving Chiaki!

Chiaki is the secret ditzy heroine of Shortcake Cake. He’s confused about his feelings a lot of the time I feel. Sometimes says quotes from books when he's not sure what to say because he's a cute dork like that. And he has a Shonen-esque pre-occupation with friendship.

Chiaki knows he's falling for Ten but he also knows Riku is his friend. Dare I say it? Riku is his nakama. There's an alternate universe script of shortcake cake that’s a yaoi I stg. Riku is so devoted to supporting Rikus love that’s its hilarious. He is the Kaoru to Rikus Hikaru (we still remember ouran high-school host club right?). But this boy is also a natural smooth talker. He has some genuinely great moments with ten that really leave you guessing who she might go for. He’s gorgeous and he cares so much about the people around him that you can’t help but really like him. 10/10 shojo boy. Might be bisexual. In a perfect world this series would be about an OT3 instead of an OTP This is why I love this series. It gives you a love triangle where they guys have a strong relationship that gets developed outside the girl- and all three stand as such strong characters the love triangle tension actually works.

The other thing about shortcake cake is that I like Ten so much that I would be perfectly happy with whatever ending because she's the one I'm rooting for- but the author had to go and make both boys so damn likeable that I can't pick a side! The characters carry the story and I don’t want to spoil it because there are some truly wonderful romantic moments and love triangle hilarity. It makes me want to be at that damn boarding house.

Also this doesn't need to be said because ya’ll have eyes but the art is GEORGEIOUS. The use of pretty designs, contrast and geometric shapes is stunning.

Anyways in conclusion Shortcake cake is everything a shojo should be. It makes you want to be in love. It's funny and gives you that heart squeezing feeling. It treats its characters as real people and lets us see how people could fall for one another. Despite some trope bending It is a shojo through and though. If That’s not your thing, shortcake cake isn't going to change your mind. But, if a good shojo is what you live for, JOIN ME ON THIS JOURNEY THAT STILL DOSNT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH CAKE!

Until next time,

Ciao!

Dr. Shojo

#shortcakecake #Shortcake cake #Short cake cake #riku #chiaki #ten #shojo #dr shojo #suu morishita #morishita #shojo beat #love triangle #manga #down to earth #riku x ten #riku x chiaki #ot3 #chiakixten #tenxriku

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chariflare · 4 years

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end of work week so No Brain Energy for a “full post” so here’s just like. a brain dump of stuff i liked and disliked about 7 deadly sins (s1). pretty spoiler-y

dislikes (so that we end the post on the most tasty part of the meal)

they give melio.das a flaw of “repeated sexual offender” with the same level of gravitas and plot-irrelevance that ya authors make their self-insert protagonists “clumsy” (i.e. it’s written as a “flaw” but doesn’t affect the plot and is often used for ““comedic effect””). unlike clumsiness though, repeatedly groping women should get a person arrested. thanks

elizabeth is still a damsel

jericho. not the feminist take that the author thinks she is. awful

ultimately the cool female villains turn out to be not that strong or important, and also get love interest’d with members of the main heroic cast (& both’s motives depend on a man)

depending on how her character arc ends up diane’s obsession with wishing she wasn’t a giant is kinda uncomfortable

i don’t mind that elaine looks young-ish but i find it uncomfortable that she has an anime kid voice to top it all off (in jp...?)

gil.thunder’s side-switch wasn’t appropriately established and his og character sucks. years of acting as a moustache-twirling bishie villain don’t appear to have affected his psyche in a meaningful way, and it’s impossible to come away knowing what he’s supposed to act like now

final villains of the first arc are BORING (i think they get more characterisation after they come back to life lmao)

usual shonen bullshit that is both a draw to the show and also makes threat levels kind of ridiculous and non-existent after a certain point (getting bogged down in endless fights, people coming back to life, refusal to acknowledge that maybe their society’s awful power structures are the problem, rapidly changing definition of “the most powerful villain EVER”, etc.)... all encompassed in one pig death fakeout

the weird fatphobic king thing

tiddy outfits. (though i don’t mind didane’s actually?)

more generalised misogyny

the most important hetero ships this season are mediocre

if you know king arthur shit you will know that everyone’s loosely based off of characters from arthurian myth. if you don’t know you will be so pissed when king arthur the 16yo sports anime character shows up to be like “YOUR NEXT ARC IS HERE”

holy SHIT the second opening song is so bad. it’s so bad y’all (the the first op for comparison)

likes

all the characters are adult colleagues (above everything else) and they act like it. (they’re... kind of found family nakama but there’s a bit more there.) they’re all unique, respected, practiced masters of their craft from the beginning of the story

gula & jericho for the when they were threatening were REALLY cool. i am so psyched at the thought of a random minor young female villain who is so badass & dedicated to the evil cause she’s willing to enter a near-death state to chase some random losers into hell. gula’s outfit slaps

(cw: suicide) ban is a really neat character. he’s like... an interpretation of a “vampire curse”. he was never really happy before he achieved immortality (seeking it only because ”if you live long enough, something good might happen to you eventually, i guess”), and getting it (by accident) only made him Worse - more self-destructive and more isolated from the people around him. he often can’t bring himself to care about much of anything, other people don’t care about him, and ultimately his existence is so fucked up and he’s laden with so much guilt that he doesn’t care about himself either. but he’s also a fun guy! incredibly powerful! will help you beat up your abusive dad! probably bi! also he has his tits out at all times and who am i to say no 2 that

personality: part of the reason that he’s isolated from other people (and othered) is his social class... but a main part of it is how his childhood kind of, created his personality. he doesn’t really connect to social norms (or laws), has niche interests, and has a “weird”, disconnected personality (again, made way worse by living 100 years past his lifetime). that being said, he’s not emotionally unintelligent, has interests outside of fighting, and is ultimately a good person

(maybe don’t read this one if you’re interested in watching? it’s all spoilers) Depression: ban willingly runs head-first into danger not just bc it’s a valid fighting technique for someone who can’t die but bc he’s... too ready to give up. but this reveal is only interesting bc it comes after like. a period of getting along with the group, being friends and having fun. ultimately hanging out with them hasn’t solved his problems - it’s just made him able to put them aside for a little while... until his trauma gets brought up, at which point he’s willing to take the first hint of an easy exit, despite how unlikely it is that it’d achieve his supposed goal, if it just lets him relieve himself of his guilt and existential suffering by letting him believe for just one second that he can fix all of the things that he “broke” with his own death (note: killing melio.das would have broken his heart and probably have been suicide by proxy). (this causes a lot of trouble and is not framed as positive, but it’s also not framed as all his fault. and he has to deal with the consequences of this? he realises in retrospect that it was an incredibly unsound idea? and lEAVES THE GROUP BC HE REALISES HE HAS TO TAKE A BREAK???)

comparing ban to a traditional vampire arc: unlike with vampires (who are often an allegory for a group of people, e.g. rich people or oppressed groups) there’s only one ban. and therefore instead of having a group with the same trauma he just suffers alone

meaningful conflict between the main characters. i don’t think i’ve ever really gotten this in a shonen show? there’s a LOT of unresolved trauma. the characters still work together bc they’re Adults... but it’s simmering

ban <-> meli: meli is the only person besides elaine who ever really understood ban... but that doesn’t mean that ban’s ok, now (in fact, the resentment about only being understood by one person kind of makes him... worse). (e: meli also has connections to the rare fantasy creature which started ban’s life hell). ban has too much damage to the point that he becomes a liability

ban <-> king: resolved early, but still good. king is convinced that ban is the cause of all of his suffering partly bc he’s too jealous to admit that smo else got close to his sister when he couldn’t; ban has enough guilt that he just Takes It. even afterwards their personalities are kind of incompatible so it’s fun to see them hang out

meli <-> (king <-> diane): relationship drama but it’s not a frustrating bc it’s relevant to each character’s flaws and Baggage (and the plot doesn’t bother to pretend that diane will end up with melio). king has a lot of guilt over accidentally (?) ghosting his family and SOME of it’s valid (but not all). king is jealous of meli for being the target of diane’s affection but also kind of lowkey thinks he doesn’t deserve her bc of the pain he’s caused her

meli <-> elizabeth <-> diane: diane KNOWS she’s not going to be in a relationship with meli but she still desperately holds onto hope. diane’s fears about being unlovable feed into her lack of self esteem as an oppressed (or at minimum, villanized) minority

elizabeth (the princess) is firmly a member of the team and her determination and character improvement is taken seriously. she DOES get badass moments BEFORE she’s revealed to be a reincarnated angel child or whatever

diane (the only female member of the 7 sins who has a big role this season) is consistently taken seriously (by the writers & other characters)

elizabeth & diane get to INTERACT!! and BE FRIENDS!!

i love elaine. first show i’ve seen that (unintentionally? & through fantasy tropes??) nails Older Sister Disease, i.e. the oldest female sibling being left to deal with all the family business, emotional and physical baggage, while all the male/younger siblings just fuck off. caring for your family members but also lowkey resenting them. they don’t invalidate her feelings even after relieving king of a little of the responsibility for her suffering. (i liked the romance prequel manga a lot - i p much only picked up the anime bc i bought into the romance b/w her and ban)

(despite everything) meli.odas acts like a proper leader for his squad. he takes his responsibilities seriously and treats his colleagues as his equals

ngl the twist with gowther disguising himself and his protagonist hair as a disposable marked-for-death npc was really funny

aesthetic is unique and distinct from the overdone isekai dnd fantasy that’s popular atm

the first ed song by flow & granr.odeo cheers me up every time

the feeling of going on an adventure with your buddies. it’s fun!

#pfssws #tl;dr the character relationships are interesting?#in smth like bleach or naruto there's either very little conflict b/w the protagonists OR there's a lot of dramatic heel-turning #but in this it's more like everyone's always on the same side but they have interconnected histories and traumas

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shuttershocky · 7 years

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Character Opinion: Tamamo No Mae (Fate/Extra)

I just realized I haven’t written some good old Type-Moon meta in a while, but I think I’ve found a topic I really wanted to write about.

Hi I’m Shuttershocky, and I’m here to convince you that Fate/Extra’s Tamamo No Mae was the best thing to happen to the Nasuverse since Shiki Ryougi killed a building.

I’ll admit, Tamamo wasn’t exactly my first choice of servant when I started Extra. All I knew of her was that she was a fan-favorite, fanservicey character well liked for her cheerful personality and ample bosom. A ready-made waifu complete with a ditzy personality and an obsession with getting a husband (but whether that husband is male or not is no concern of hers) was not something that sounded very appealing, since I usually dislike Manic Pixie Dream Girl characters in my media, and certainly don’t like ones dressed as furries. But then she was also the hardest servant to use, thus, liking challenge, I thought I’d have to tolerate what would be an annoying servant.

And then I was proven wrong. Dead wrong. Tamamo was a lovesick ditz, a weak fighter, obsessed with becoming a wife and being seen as helpful and adorable true, but she was also a character with a good amount of depth whose nuances were done so subtly (a lot of it hidden through her own actions) that she often walked a fine line between flat fanservice and having an actual character, deftly balancing herself on the right side.

See the thing is, Tamamo wants to be seen as a mere waifu. She’s acts sickly sweet and adorable, constantly flirting with and complimenting Hakuno like so

She even constantly agrees with and validates anything Hakuno says or does, to the point where she’s less of a servant and more of yes-man, to the point where Hakuno occasionally gets annoyed with her. She sometimes oversteps her bounds and becomes overbearing, and her need to always agree and validate her master tends to oppose constructive criticism that helps Hakuno grow as a person and a master (which the game is, thankfully, aware of. Hakuno’s inner narration often shows Hakuno is aware of Tamamo being a kiss-ass.)

So how does Tamamo differ from all the bland waifus this trope is filled to the brim with? Well, she has a tendency to slip.

For someone who’s supposedly a lovable airhead, she sure doesn’t like the insinuation that she’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. It soon becomes clear that Tamamo is very touchy with criticism coming from Hakuno, quickly getting angry if her flightiness and poor fighting skills are pointed out. She would much rather receive compliments on how cute and helpful she is, occasionally even directly asking Hakuno to compliment her after battles. She also clams up as soon as the subject of conversation draws close to her real identity, claiming that its so other masters cannot read Hakuno’s mind, before later admitting its because she’s worried that Hakuno would no longer like her if they were aware of her true name.

As the player proceeds through the game, we get the picture of a character who, for some reason, has become obsessed with making her master’s image of her perfect, to the point where she can be caught contradicting herself. She wants to be seen as a cute ditz in one moment, but a crafty fox with a sophisticated vocabulary that will have you reaching for a thesaurus in the next. Her master is perfect and makes no mistakes, but don’t worry about that mistake that almost got us killed master, Caster always loves you. She’s a slender, small, weak girl who needs a big and strong master to support her, but don’t worry about the enemy master, because Tamamo is invincible, the strongest on earth!

At some points, she completely forgets she’s supposed to be putting on an act for Hakuno and instead makes it very clear that she is indeed only acting.

So why? Why is she so taken with the idea of being seen as the perfect wife?

Her answer is that she just wants someone to love and devote herself to. A weak otaku-bait answer that almost wrecks the amount of work put into her character...

...at first glance.

When the pair have their backs against the wall, Caster reveals her true name. She is Tamamo-No-Mae, the original fox spirit of Japan and once a beloved courtesan and adviser to the Emperor. Her true nature as a fox spirit revealed by a fortune-teller, she was chased by the Emperor’s army and slaughtered screaming on a grassy plain far from home.

Suddenly the player (through Hakuno) is invited to view her in a different light. Tamamo had no idea why she was chased away and killed mercilessly. Perhaps she blamed herself. Perhaps her overly eager efforts are her trying to make up for what she did wrong, for whatever she did wrong. Even if its obvious to everyone that she in fact, did no wrong.

Still, this would not explain her nearly inhuman form of ass-kissing. There is after all, a difference between sucking up hard and straight up risking your life to do so. It often comes off as awkward, yet another Nasu-ism fans have long since learned to mentally filter, and then we find out Tamamo-No-Mae is not a heroic spirit, but a god. Specifically, an aspect of Amaterasu who became curious at the sight of people worshiping her, proclaiming they loved her. Attempting to learn more about what this “love” is, she descended to earth as Tamamo-No-Mae, and died at the hands of those who claimed to love her.

With that last piece, the picture becomes all too tragic. It wasn’t ass-kissing, it was worship. It’s all she knows, and thus its what she thinks she must do in order to show and receive affection. Her mania over her master’s image of her? She was put to death the last time simply because her true self with her ears and tail did not match the emperor’s image of her. The little slips she makes in her act and her sensitivity to criticism? She is a god, who is far older, wiser, and more powerful than any mortal soul. And yet, she gave herself a weakened body in an attempt to understand the love that was beyond the reach of divine beings, for it was the invention of mortal, fragile lives.

Just imagine; she’s been trying to navigate all that on her own, without access to most of her incredible powers and wisdom, while simultaneously trying to keep her hopeless master alive in a brutal war. And because she’s so afraid of the reputation she carries with her true name, she shuts out the only person who can help her, the person she claims she love more than anything else in the world, Hakuno.

And the Pièce De Résistance? Throughout all this, behind all the deception and comedy she brings to every scene, the game still builds a real, true relationship between her and Hakuno. Sometimes her words of encouragement end up lacking the tinge of a suck-up, instead being imbued with an air of honesty. Despite the lies she puts out and the airs she puts on, her heart was always in the right place and she truly cares.

At the finale, when both Tamamo and Hakuno face the empty void, they face it hand in hand, having both reconciled Tamamo’s insecurities of her past existence and Hakuno’s lack of a current one, with Tamamo promising to stay right by Hakuno’s side until the very end.

It would be an understatement to say I found her characterization extremely impressive, especially since it involved walking such a tight line between real depth and waifu trash that a slight mistake (a common sight in Nasu’s works) could push her over the edge and ruin her character, but I think Tamamo was pulled off marvelously. Her motivations are clear, her behavior and methods all understandable and in-character, and, most of all, her characterization was brave.

What do I mean by that? Well Nasu is no stranger to writing strong female characters, but a lot of them are not traditionally feminine (is this the right word? Someone correct me if it isn’t) in their outward traits or behavior, such as the rude, crude Shiki Ryougi or the stone cold Saber. Tamamo on the other hand, is very outwardly feminine. She likes cooking and cute things and hot guys (and sometimes hot girls), she’s not a particularly capable fighter when every strong female character(tm) in fiction is apparently a black belt in 10 different combat arts, she really, really, really wants to be married off and be a housewife and thinks being a hero with demigod powers is a drag.

And she makes it work.

Tamamo also ticks off every box in the checklist for making a terribly flat manic pixie dream girl heroine. She’s unfocused but cute, revolves around the protagonist, is unbelievably kind and sweet but also reliant on the protagonist to get through the day. She’s also quite fond of sex, sometimes laying on the double entrende for Hakuno, sometimes telling them to straight up ravish her this instant (though they never agree to keep the ratings 15+, and, to my pleasant surprise, never show Tamamo in any compromising/sexy poses or anything. )

And she makes it work.

Tamamo defies the conventions of strong female characters (to be fair, anime in general does this way, WAY better than mainstream Hollywood), and that’s fucking great. Women can and should be allowed to be like that, to be whatever they feel like, and deserve to be seen as every bit as badass and valid as the sexless killbots and hypercompetent adventurers that dominate the discussion. And she does all this while being a side-splittingly funny character and a genuinely experienced, confident, quick-witted servant, whose tactical know-how and ability to get under her opponents’ skin proved a great help in winning the war.

So when I see that the majority of the fanbase know her for her sexy outfits, squeaky voice, and comedic scenes, I can’t help but feel a little annoyed at the thought that they might be missing out on who I think is one of Nasu’s best written characters.

The ironic thing of course being that Tamamo herself would prefer it that way.

#Tamamo No Mae #Fate/Extra #type moon #character opinion #Fate

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toranoya · 5 years

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ABOUT: YUKI, Jaden (YGO GX)

“Growing up means you have to be prepared to accept all consequences.”

Jaden Yuki, known as Judai Yuki in the Japanese version, is the protagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, as well as the reincarnation of The Supreme King. At the end of the third season, he fused his soul with Yubel, his favorite card from childhood, with the use of "Super Polymerization" to purge her from the influence of The Light of Destruction. He is headstrong, optimistic, fun loving, and a talented Duelist who loves Dueling as much as he cares for his friends.

He attended Duel Academy and was put in the Slifer Red Dorm, the dorm with the least privileges, due to his poor grades in the entrance exam. As time goes on, he becomes the academy's best Duelist and saves the world and the academy from many threats such as the evil Kagemaru, The Light of Destruction possessed Sartorius, the deranged and manipulative Yubel, and finally the malicious spirit Nightshroud. After three years, he graduates from Duel Academy and pursues his own journey to improve himself.

PROFILE

Age: 15-17 (end of series)

Height: 165 cm (5.4 feet)

Weight: 55 kg (121 lbs)

Eyes: Brown

Hair: Brown

Orientation: Undecided, but…*hc*

Appearance

Jaden's usual outfit consists of the standard Slifer Red uniform, unbuttoned, and a black shirt underneath. In the fourth season, the normal Slifer Red white pants were replaced by dark jeans. A Deck box is strapped above his waistline, largely hidden beneath the lower rim of his jacket.

Voice/Mannerisms

In the Japanese version, Jaden rarely uses honorifics, and his speech pattern

could be considered rude as a result, similar to Joey Wheeler's.

In the dub, Jaden has several catchphrases associated with him. He begins almost every Duel with the phrase "Get your game on!" and ends almost every Duel he wins by saying "That's game!" He also occasionally uses the phrase "Here goes something" when drawing in a desperate situation. Jaden tends to speak in stereotypical '90s slang, calling people "bro" and advising opponents to "chill." He is also noted for saying "A Duel's not over 'till the last card is played!" which is likely Jaden's way of expressing his belief in the Heart of the Cards.

In both the English and Japanese versions, Jaden will wink and point two fingers at a defeated opponent. In the dub, whenever Jaden wins a Duel, he says "That's game.”

Personality

Jaden is friendly, optimistic, laid-back, enthusiastic, kind, confident, funny

, and very passionate about Dueling. Jaden loves Dueling and believes that all problems can ultimately be solved through it. He keeps going no matter how hard things get or how hopeless it seems, with a few exceptions (though it doesn't take much encouragement for him to start fighting again), although he does sometimes doubt himself. He always shows respect towards his opponents, with a few exceptions, even complimenting them during a Duel.

Jaden shows little interest in areas outside of Dueling, which extends to his classes. When he chooses to attend them, he generally falls asleep. Despite his low grades, he is still regarded as one of Duel Academy's best Duelists. However, this attitude eventually shows itself as one of his greatest flaws, and causes him to be targeted by Mr. Stein. He shows a lack of knowledge in areas outside of Dueling, even showing in one instance that is unaware of what the term "fiancee" means, and forgetting that the holographic water will not drown him in another.

Jaden also seems ignorant of the dislike that other individuals have for him, as despite the obvious tension between the two, he considers himself to be good friends with Chazz Princeton. His carefree attitude and lack of thought get him into trouble occasionally, such as when he handed the Satellite Keys to Sartorius and still expected the latter to Duel him before using them. He occasionally shows signs of intellect, such as determining that Titan's Shadow Game was a fake, and figuring out that both Brier and Beauregard were the Duel Giant on another occasion.

One of Jaden's common traits is that he tends to make jokes or puns, even in some situations where it is not appropriate. Most of the jokes he makes are Duel-related but on a few occasions, he does make jokes at someone's expense. For example, he called Crowler "Cyclops" when the latter got struck in the eye with a tennis ball. Another example is when Jaden Duels The Society of Light controlled Alexis and she tells him to "Throw in the game" to which the former replies "The only thing I throw in is the towel on laundry day."

Jaden has a close bond with his cards, to the point where he has no problem with an opponent insulting him, but is angered when they insult his cards.

Headcannon:

-Favorite foods: Fried shrimp, Golden Eggwich, Fermented soybeans, though he’ll eat pretty much anything as if he were starving.

-Prior to DA, his club sport was track, which is why he is alright with running everywhere.

-Often speaks informally, almost to the point of being rude in Japanese terms.

-Has shown little interest in the affections of women and so far he feels more comfortable around other guys.

-Doesn’t really understand love yet, so he’s confused by his heart beating faster and other body reactions when he has feelings for someone.

-In the events after the Bonds movie, Jaden reflected that he found Yugi’s violet eyes beautiful and also liked Yusei’s hair and cheek marks, finding them striking.

-Loves to travel and sight-see, such as his backpack trip in Europe in the Bonds movie.

-Jaden tries to see the best in everyone and will never give up on a friend.

-When not at school, Jaden lives with his parents who own a bakery. As such he’s pretty talented at making bread when he has to.

-AU: Ancient Egypt: Jaden, known as Jyuudai, was a poor son of a baker and peasant at the same time Atem was Pharaoh.

#rp #info #non i11 #muse-jaden #about jaden #headcannon-jaden

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venus-says · 5 years

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Symphogear GX Episodes 01-04

Keep on fighting, until your life meets its end.

The third part of the Symphogear marathon is here! And boy I almost missed today because today was way more busy thanSundayday was supposed to be.

Sadly because of that my plan of watching 5 episodes today wasn’t possible, but we sill have 4 episodes to go through regardless of that so LET’S GO!

Seilien coffin Airgetlám tron

So, Episode 1 starts great, the excitement I had watching Hibiki, Tsubasa and Chirs trying to save the spaceship was exactly the same I had when I watched for the first time. Like they destroyed part of a fucking mountain, it doesn’t get any cooler that that. XD

I also like the moments that show the aftermath of last season, they didn’t give us all the information just in this episode, but it’s fine I rather doing this way than having thousands of flashback montages filled with boring exposition. Though I feel like we’re missing a little something here because the break from the school to Chirs’ house (that is a very good looking place, I'd love to live there) was a little abrupt.

But you know what? Nothing of that matters because we got probably the best live scene from this show EVER after it. Yes, the drawing in some parts is kinda wonky, BUT WHO CARES??? Everything else is so magnificent. Their outfits, their hairstyle, the song is incredible and OMG THAT STAGE, the way everything works in there is just “WOW”. If I was a singer, I would use all of my money to make a stadium near the sea or a lake just to make that opening part with the sunset in the background. Gorgeous, just gorgeous.

Regarding the villains, I think the alchemists are cool, I love the concept of the Autoscorers and is a good change of pace having “likable” villains after having to cope with Ver for 12 episodes.

One last thing about this one, I like how they already shone a light on Hibiki and her issues with her dad right at the beginning because from what II remember fatherly figures are a great deal this time around.

In general, great way to start a season.

Episode 2 keeps in the same line as the first one and is also a great episode, maybe not as good as the last, but still great.

Here we have more of the aftermath of last season, which again I like how things are spread out, this time being more focused on the ex-FIS girls, mainly Maria and her agreement to keep doing idol activities while on custody to keep the past events in control under the blanket, which is very interesting because it creates personal conflicts to them this season.

Like I mentioned in a couple of paragraphs before, we already have conflicts around dads showing up, Carol is in pain because of the mission her father has left while Hibiki is in pain because her father never left her anything. Again symphogear bringing villains who are parallels to their protagonists. I like this pattern.

But I think the stronger point of this episode was the cliffhanger at the end, at first when they showed noise I was disappointed because you know noises a third time, is kinda boring. But they gave an old monster a new twist and it worked very well, that cliffhanger fulfill it’s purpose and I had to watch the next one right away.

Episode 3 slows down the thing a little bit.

Sadly the cliffhanger from the last episode kinda goes to waste since the action gets cut off before things get even more serious, but regardless the feel of “we’re screwed” still remains now that two of the relics are damaged, and Kirika and Shirabe conversation while saving Chirs somehow makes things even gloomier.

This I believe is one of the reasons why Hibiki starts doubting herself like never before and this culminates in the end when Gungnir stops reacting to Hibiki. She’s way too self-conscious and she loses the will, the resolve to fight because she doesn’t wanna hurt people and so Gungnir rejects her. Or at least this is what I believe happened. I personally don’t understand why is Hibiki being so reluctant now since she looked to be okay with it at the end of the last season, but it is a new conflict so I’m okay with it, we’re only 3 episodes in and we already have seeds to blossom in various characters’ arks and I really appreciate this

One last thing before going to the last episode of this batch, what the hell was the point of that beef stroganoff song???????? Gosh, that was cringy.

Wrapping things up with Episode 4,

This episode starts great, I love the way Hibiki’s friend gets them “out” of that situation, it was both smart and funny as hell.

The highlight is, of course, Hibiki but I have a lot of issues here. First, the way she freaked out when Maria was able to use Hibiki’s Gungnir. I expected, from the mindset that Hibiki had been lately, she would give up on Gungnir saying that she doesn’t feel like she’s worthy. But she gets very possessive like a kid who doesn’t want to land their toys, and what tickles me more is that she says Gungnir was gifted to her to protect people and protect only, implying that at the moment Maria was hurting someone when in reality she was protecting both Hibiki and her friends so... this makes me scratch my head.

I wish we could’ve gone for a little longer without Hibiki being able to transform, but I guess they need to introduce the Ignite Modules soon since this was the new gimmick they wanted to push out so, not a big deal but are these little things that when added together make this the worse episode of the pack.

But in summary, GX has a beginning that’s way stronger than what G had going on for it and I’m hyped to rewatch the rest of this season..

#Senki Zesshou Symphogear GX #Symphogear GX #symphogear

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