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lazuliquetzal · 10 months

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i want to hear the sports anime manifesto

Okay short version:

My life was a sports anime for a bit, and watching sports anime makes me nostalgic for those days.

Medium version:

The typical shonen sports anime deals with themes of camaraderie, ambition, and the intersections of camaraderie and ambition, which ALWAYS hits me right in the chest.

I'm not an ambitious person by nature, but--you know that one poem floating around on here, the one about the moth that wants nothing more than to fly into the flame, and how it would be nice to feel that kind of all consuming passion? Yeah, that's the feeling I get from sports anime.

And often, for the Team Sports anime, you'll get characters who have nothing in common except that they Love the Same Thing--a friendship/rivalry/(romance) formed on the basis of a shared interest. That's sweet as hell!

And they're super predictable and low stress for me. Very easy to watch! Total popcorn shows. Also I like listening to people infodump about their passions. Someone loved their Sport so much they wrote a whole-ass story about it, so yeah, eat that shit up.

Long version:

The Socioeconomic Inequalities of High School Sports

In high school, I was on a crappy underfunded soccer team (with a healthy dose of sexism) and due to [sports league division reasons] the schools we played against were almost exclusively private schools.

I cannot describe how existential it is to be wearing a hand-me-down formerly white-turned-disgusting-gray uniform that's at least five years old when playing against a team that gets brand new windbreakers every season.

(If you've read AAB, YES this is where my obsession with the windbreakers comes from.)

(Hilariously, the guys team got windbreakers but we didn't.)

(I am not over the fucking windbreakers.)

But anyway, when you're constantly losing to private schools you get this fucking complex about it.

This should come as no surprise but like. People with the time and resources to practice their Thing get good at their Thing.

Playing pick up soccer at the park is practice. Playing rec league soccer is organized, repeated practice.

Playing competitive club soccer is all of that, plus a coach who knows How To Coach and What The Sport Is, plus you get morale-boosting uniforms and the chance to play with and against other skilled players. So you're exposed to a lot more, and thus, you learn a lot more.

Competitive club soccer is also Expensive. Rich kids get good.

There's a reason why the "Powerhouse School" is a thing in sports anime, because it's a thing in real life. People with leisure time and money get to invest in their sports development, and everyone else gets left behind in the dust. It's basically a microcosm of capitalism.

The underdog sports story is (quite tragically) bootstraps propaganda. All you have to do is be really good and work really hard and have A LOT OF PASSION to get good at your sport! The cream rises to the top! This is a meritocracy! Let's ignore all the other factors that go into an individual's development as an athlete!

(My brother got scouted for club soccer as a kid. He actually went to tryouts and got offered a spot and a scholarship and everything, but there's SO many hidden fees after the initial registration. Uniforms, equipment, travel and accommodation, tournaments, plus like, the time sink, so we never signed him up. And equipment-wise, soccer is one of the cheapest sports you can play--just imagine the price for something like baseball or hockey.)

In sports anime, there is no reform. There is no revolution.

But sports anime isn't really about that. It's about the narratives we create when we convince ourselves that we deserve to win.

(You know what I mean. Every billionaire is convinced they're some sort of heroic underdog. The same exact kind of 'working your way up' narrative.)

Sports anime is like, the uncomplicated power fantasy of playing the game. It's a world where you are rewarded for your hard work, because it's narratively satisfying. It's a world where it's safe to want things, because you have the exact same chances as the private school kids.

I used to be an obnoxiously competitive child. Then I got all my competition beaten out of me by 3 straight years of constant losing in my clownagerie of a high school soccer team (affectionate). I am going to admit that experience made me a better person and I would not trade it for anything, but I also had to like, relearn how to want things. And maybe real life is not as equal opportunity as the world of sports anime, but I think it's good to want things.

Of course, the winner-loser dichotomy makes sense in sports because of the inherent nature of competition, but it doesn't make sense in stuff like society and economics because that's like, competing over the right to live. That's where the capitalism metaphor ends,

Does sports anime actually go into the socioeconomic inequalities of sports? No. Of course not. Giant Killing never got a season 2.

But it is something I think about when I write sports anime fic. Even if it's not the point, it influences my characterization. The ego of a prodigy character in a shitty sports program is different from the ego of a prodigy character in a rich kid sports program. I am obligated to my amateur attempts to capture the complexities of the high school sports environment in my fanfiction because I am fucking insane I had a specific high school sports experience and they do say to write what you know.

#MEG I SWEAR TO YOU I WILL READ TANGERINE AT SOME POINT #I have so many thoughts about sports anime which is tragic because sports anime is not that deep #it is never that deep #part of the reason why I got so sucked into Daiya is because of the powerhouse school setting #and the fact that Eijun was so obviously lost because he never had that kind of organized system before #people give Seidou a lot of shit for 'not helping Eijun' enough but genuinely it's because he has NO CLUE how to reach out #I poured so much brainpower into Eijun's backstory in my brain it's embarrassing as hell #*shaking fanfic authors by the shoulders* YEAH THE CUTTHROAT COMPETION SUCKS BUT YOU DONT FIX IT BY SENDING HIM TO A DIFFERENT SCHOOL #I also am the only person who understands Miyuki Kazuya (exaggeration)#everyone gives him shit for the Nabe thing and look. yes he was wrong.#but I was once in that same exact situation and responded exactly the same way #Daiya no Ace is not about friendship #it's about Ambition #and people tend to make Eijun the sweet sentimental sunshine friendship guy #but he has JUST as much cutthroat ambition as Miyuki #that's why they work. that's why they understand each other #there's a whole essay I could write about Misawa but it's basically just chapter 18 of AAB #anyway if you want to watch a sports anime that does the Healthy Ambition and the Friendship Thing in the most wholesome way possible #watch Haikyuu. it really is the perfect sports anime.#shame the fanfic is 99% ship because the sports aspect of it is SUPER sweet #asks #jumpstrike #I'm answering jumpstrike but Tav I hope you see this too #lazuli talks #sports anime

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lesbianjudasiscariot · 8 months

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important aspect of haterism is remembering a hater does not care about you

#like if hater post targets you/something you do just laugh at yourself and move on #you don't need to write a whole paper about how actually its okay to like/do something #it is never that deep #idk i'm not a professional hater but even when i make posts i'm not like actively fuming about it #sometimes yeah posts lean into like full on middle school bully territory but in that case just block em i guess #maybe i'm just to chill for this #but if an inconsequential mean-spirited post actually hurts my feeling i just scroll past it #once again my tags are like 3x the length of the actual post #peace and love #♡

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quaithe · 5 months

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hate when u argue w an insecure person and they start using it as an opportunity to hear your every single thought about them because they are obsessed w how theyre perceived like bro i dont have time for this. get help

#it is never that deep #and they never wanna improve themselves anyway thyre just trying to get you to engage in some sort of self flagellation for them

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pocket-deer-boy · 5 months

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“Umm it’s really obvious you have a fetish for fat people” okay i think that’s fine actually. I would prefer to be open about being attracted to fat people rather than tell other people not to be so openly attracted to fatness, something which people do to me with a strange amount of frequency

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lungthief · 10 months

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listen. i know it's not 2014 anymore and i know it's just a throwaway line and that the russo brothers didnt intend for marvel action blockbuster captain america the winter soldier to become the tragic gay love story that never was but man. having steve say "it's kind of hard to find someone with shared life experience" in a conversation about romantic relationships right before the bucky reveal is so cruel. it's not just about steve and bucky obviously having the shared experience of being "out of time," it's the fact that they've both been stripped of their humanity in opposite directions. steve is a legend, he is an american hero and a national icon before he is a human being the same way that bucky is a weapon and a killing machine before he is a human being. steve knows that anyone who falls in love with him in the 21st century fell in love with captain america first, and that's just not him. but then the one person who knew him first and knew him best and loved him (not captain america, that little guy from brooklyn) so much he died for it is alive, impossibly. and it's a miracle because he's back and it's horrific because he's back under the worst possible circumstances. but to steve, the winter soldier is worth tearing the world apart for because he's always been bucky first. they find each other and suddenly they're human again. and maybe, despite it all, being "out of time" becomes a blessing, because in this century they'd finally be allowed to love each other the way they've always wanted to. like real people do.

like. no. the captain america trilogy isn't about two queer men traumatized and alienated by war and modern life rediscovering and reclaiming their humanity through their love for each other. but. i mean. it couldve been

#like you get why all the fics about those two are insane right. the narrative is just so goddamn compelling #and thats not even getting into the whole thing abt the serum curing steve of every ailment except his love for bucky #which makes him realize it was never an ailment to begin with (despite the commonly held beliefs about homosexuality in the 1940s)#and bucky being *electroshocked* again and again into forgetting steve #like howd you make your gay ass movie that gay and not realize it. its kinda impressive #sorry for the ridiculous stucky retrospective its 4am and i rewatched the winter soldier recently #its not that deep. its not its not its not . but if it was anything other than what it is it could have been. and thats the worst part #shut up riley #marvel #stucky

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mangozic · 1 month

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archivist be upon ye

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wolfythewitch · 27 days

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Okay actual tma sona LMAO. He's just a waterlogged little guy

#art #sketch #tma sona #the vast #the deep sea i love you #my wife #i am self aware enough to knoe i can never be actually intimidating #instead. i will be nice and polite and fling people into the ocean depths #oc art

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urgeforgoing · 9 months

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.

#never been so happy to be single LOL #I’m at my best friends place and she is fighting with her bf because he wants to go to bed #but they have to be at the airport in 2 hours and I’m driving #and I said well I need to stay up or I’ll be too cranky to drive #she’s gonna stay up with me but is mad he won’t so now they’re fighting in the other room LIKEEEEE #it is never that deep

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pencilscratchins · 2 months

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atla renaissance pt 3 calls to me like a siren

#back to my roots #atla #zuko #sokka #toph #avatar the last airbender #avatar #to everyone arguing whether or not it’s accurate to say they do have ODS consider a few things #a) it’s a joke i made while high #b) toph wouldn’t care she would just say shit to piss them off because she’s 12 #c) maybe welcome joy into your life. consider taking even a second of a break from whatever compels you to ruin my desire to post #and just chill. because this is and has never been that deep #art #my art #my fan art #fan art #is this the last thing i ever post on tumblr? who knows #im high and its 2am lets get wild

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anditwentlikethis · 10 months

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“X e Y acabaram, deixei de acreditar no amor” malta bffr 💀

#it is never that deep #e são sempre relações de celebridades que dificilmente são prova de alguma coisa

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vodkatales · 2 years

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For old times sake is actually such a heartbreaking and beautiful sentiment. Like, let’s do it for the love that used to be here. It is reason enough.

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skneees · 1 month

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*cracks him like a glowstick* fish glows

#my art #HES A DEEP DEA FISH HE WOULD BE BIOLUMINESCENT #i have so many thoughts about this you are welcome to send asks and ill elaborate #are they top surgery scars? are they a second pair of gills? the world may never know #jrwi gillion tidestrider #jrwi #just roll with it fanart #just roll with it #jrwi gillion #gillion tidestrider #i like the idea that deep sea tritons glow for communication reasons #like they have their own morse code type thing based on how they flash their biolights

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eclown4hire · 1 month

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aventurine

#my art #hsr #honkai star rail #aventurine #i havent met him yet. but i know hes gonna get me #men i see and i hear very luod warning sirens #warning sirens screaming DO NOT INTERACT. YOU WILL FALL DEEP IN LOVE AND NEVER RECOVER!!!!!!!!!!

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kedreeva · 3 months

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I'm so sorry, I'm absolutely losing it. I went to my neighbor's today to find out what I would need to do to care for their puppy this weekend, and This Fucking Thing appeared ajgldfkjhfg she is a turkey hen. you know, the birds who quite famously look like this

with no feathers on their heads, or very little, mostly along the spine/top of the head... and this gal just rocks up with not only a LITTLE bit of feathering, but almost completely covered. Even her WATTLE had feathers.

I'mc rying

i said, what the hell is going on here? and they were like

her name's Fluffy

#turkeys #turkey #birds #bird #I can't #I wheezed laughing #MA'AM PLS #I have seen some hens with a LITTLE extra feathering #like a thicker mane down the spine #or a little extra around the ear feathers or something #but never like this #this gal heard “bearded hen” and got the SPIRIT all right #look at her little fuckin' eyebrows!!!!#GOD if I wasn't neck deep in peafowl breeding I would take her to breed feathered-headed turkeys #I would just keep picking the ones with the most feathers on their heads until they were plumed

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buttclench-ryugazaki · 5 months

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this whole james somerton thing is really amusing if you, like me, have legitimately never heard of the guy, have never been recommended his videos, and this is your first exposure to him at all. like holy shit did he say that nazis being hot is why americans enlisted during wwii? what the fuck is this smug clown on about and who allowed him to have recording equipment

#todd in the shadows #hbomberguy #i have an extra shield because i generally avoid video essays for the reasons todd and hbomb allude to #that too many present unverifiable info or conjecture or straight up opinions with tone of authority and severity #AND there are people who dub videos 'essays' despite lacking some necessary characteristics that would make them essays #like evidence and a FUCKING THESIS. it's not an essay just because it exceeds 40 minutes!#jenny nicholson does not make essays. she does (very entertaining!) casual deep dives. and she also has never pretended she makes essays #that's on the people who watch her

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thenerdyalien · 10 months

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So I was getting lost in a Merlin Wiki rabbit hole, as one does, and I stumbled across the page for spells. And turns out the writers actually put a lot more thought into it than I initially thought (they're not actually just shouting random words in Old English). But what shocked me the most was learning what Merlin was actually saying to Arthur while he was unconcious in the Poisoned Calice episode. I always thought he was trying to enchant some sort of protection spell to keep Arthur safe while he couldn't be there for him. But turns out he was actually declaring poetry, POETRY to Arthur the whole time!

That's right, Merlin was declaring actual POETRY to Arthur on his deathbed!! I kept seeing the wiki mention verses from a book called Beowulf and I got curious so after a quick Google search, I found out that it's actually one of the most famous epic poems in Old English and I just lost it!! I never thought this episode could get any gayer...

#no i'm not normal about them #i just can't with these two #i didn't lie when i said i was deep in merthur brainrot #ill never get over this show #merthur #merlin #arthur x merlin #bbc merlin #bbc arthur #poetry #beowulf #fic research #what i do for fic purposes #merlin fic #1x04

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