the difference between loving an idealized version of someone and loving someone despite their flaws is very huge huh

i am once again asking for recommendations for manga that are complete. i'll try basically anything, i've read a bunch of different genres, but i do like good fight scenes. favorites include jujutsu kaisen, witch hat atelier, dungeon meshi, chainsaw man, spy family, my hero academia, fullmetal alchemist. i also love some good horror content (huge junji ito fan). i'm not a BIG romance fan, background is totally fine, but i don't think i would like a Romance Manga. interesting female characters is a plus.

Serialized media is so good I love you serialized media. I love you experiencing a story slowly I love you waiting and building excitement and theorizing every week/month between releases. I love you trails of breadcrumbs I love you cliffhangers and mysteries and suspense. I love you looking forward to installments I love you regular release schedules I love you having a story become part of your routine. I love you serialized media.

No effects versus effects comparison for this video.

I sometimes feel like I'm at the point in my life where I can't learn any more new skills, but video editing always loves to prove me wrong. Just about every AMV I post involves trying something I haven't before, and this video is no exception. It's got glitching VHS effects, "expression shakes," eye-reflection zooms, and more—sometimes made without any tutorial to show me the way! Using what I know to apply effects I want to apply has been such a rewarding, powerful experience.

As a viewer, the highlight of the effects work in this video is likely the VHS look (which often involves actual VHS footage! That I... messed up with static recorded from my VCR and other filters to "look more like VHS footage"). But as an editor, my highlight is the amount of masking—the most I've ever done for any AMV thus far.

Two years ago, I never would have imagined putting together such an effects-heavy AMV, and it is beyond neat to me that creating this kind of fanwork is now in my toolbox. Video editing brings me so much joy.

English translation for the song, "Mohan Kaitou" by NormCore, is once again courtesy of blenderfullasarcasm!

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i look at some of u guys talking abt a new show u watched or a new thing u read and im like. holy shit thats a thing u can do. im in awe of u. i spend my time slowly ping-ponging between several interests whose base componants i can never experience because i get scard

"i like you and i blame you for making me feel this way" he said

i still think about it

went to my first con in 4 years on Friday to meet Kaiji Tang and got a Dazai autograph + video recording of him reading to me. He was the sweetest person (as I knew he would be) and interacting with him was lovely, but also at the same time oh boy it sure was an extremely stressful, ugly wake-up call of what it feels like to live in a world now where everyone around you has blissfully moved on from covid and can enjoy things normally and happily, while you'll forever be trapped in a hellscape of perpetual fear 🫠🫠🫠

Looking back on how the One Piece Live Action series is perceived at the moment - especially in regards to how well the actors seems to get along with each other -, I could not help but think once again how EASY it is to fall in love with the idea of shipping main characters with various other characters.

Look, it’s no surprise that I’ve been feeling that way about Digimon for a long time, but it goes for so many franchises out there, anime or not.

And I feel like that can have several factors, depending on how the main character is portrayed. If you asked me about Luffy for example, my personal impression of him is - he is absolutely asexual and I may even go that far as to call him aromantic as well. What makes that interesting to me is that he is still such a great example of a person who attracts people, who also is (somewhat) possessive of others and also devoted, passionate to a degree that is just very... Main character-esque.

Because that is what you usually have - a character who attracts others just by being the way they are: Being caring, being devoted, being self-sacrificing, finding the right words in the right moment. Because they DO have a big heart, they usually embrace other characters the way they are - which doesn’t mean that they don’t clash or don’t have disagreements or fights, nope, not at all.

I feel that way about Luffy, but obviously also about Taichi (OG and reboot) and characters like Usagi. I often joke about how these series should all probably just end in a big polycule, because the devotion, the chemistry, the attraction is definitely THERE. Of course some bonds are stronger than others (and everyone has their preferences in terms of dynamics), but you can tell in all of these cases that the (majority of the) other characters adore the main character. (Including minor/side characters as well.)

To some degree, you may argue that main characters are also written to be kind of self-inserts. They are often idealistic, but they do have their flaws, their faults that make them relatable. But they’re still being loved for how they are. That is also something viewers/readers may crave for in their lives - in addition to the general power fantasy that you witness in these series. In sum: You are a hero, you are powerful, you have strong companions by your side - and you are also loved and adored. What more could you even want?

There are so many more examples out there and I am sure you know a lot of characters where that category of “main character syndrome” applies too.

you know what’s super unfortunate?

you get extremely fixated on a specific character and then the character gets thrown into a fight with one of the main bad guys and now you just sit there going. uh oh uh oh uh oh uh oh uh oh uh oh uh oh

I'm def losing the plot now but like. Picked up PMD2 bc the suggestion of remakes actually deeply infuriated me and I was sooooo fuckibg mad about it until I was like. Oh. I can just. Play PMD2. Like. I can Do That. And I think what I realized picking it up again is like. PMD forces you to take things slowly. It makes you sit with characters. With their feelings. With your own feelings. It reminds you again and again that even the littlest most seemingly mundane moments are so so sooo important. Each moment becomes a cherished memory. Of someone you loved dearly. Someone who loved you. Someone you lost. You knew you would be lost. You did it anyway. You were set on it before, with someone you loved, who loved you, and a mutual understanding you have nothing to lose. Let this fallen husk of a world be undone, unmade. For a tomorrow that you'll never see. For a world you'll never be a part of. You don't know that, now, though. Now that you have everything to lose. Now that someone else is losing you. You chose it again. For a better tomorrow, and now, for a world that welcomed you in with warmth and life. For someone you loved. Who loved you so, so much. For a whole world that loved you, that you loved too.

omg and sorry to gloat about it again but the feeling of being right all along truly is beautiful. i hope everyone who constantly whined abt josefumi being a joestar and how he and kira are cousins feels extremely embarrassed <3

not me sending myself to eeby deeby at 5 am by thinking too hard about chorus

so about the xxxholic posts it just brought back SO many memories like holy shit

i haven’t read the manga in over ten years (about the time it crossed over with TRC and i was super lost, and then it’s when i fell out of manga all together)  and i haven’t been thinking too much about it ever since

and there were reasons i don’t really want to get into bc it’s pretty bleak where i convinced myself that perhaps i completely imagined Watanuki and Doumeki’s chemistry and that i was only shipping them for shallow reasons, so i never really looked back

and the gifsets from the movie just hit me violently in the face and now i have so many memories about the manga and especially the whole Eye arc and i’ve been unable to stop thinking about it ever since like holy shit. holy shit. Like yeah no i didn’t imagine shit it was peak romance over here. Like what the hell. No WONDER i was obsessed with them when i was 16. 

i need to plan a big reread of both xxxholic and TRC at the same time so at least i can vindicate my younger self, but for now i’m just. goodness. Those two. 

And perhaps i should watch the movie bc the aesthetics are on point and the DouWata scenes are making me lose my mind.

DON'T MANIFEST AKUTAGAWA'S FEELINGS BEING UNREQUITED WAGEHGAHTJSHHAJ

But does it count as manifesting if I'm just stating facts 🤔😔😔

lalala