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jokobub · 10 months

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The Great Thing About HNKNA Being An Otome Game

I had an epiphany a few months ago. I’ve talked before about how many pitfalls HNKNA experiences by nature of it being a dating simulator, and how a lot of the cooler parts of the story and lore are overshadowed by the core romance mechanic and how I’m not a big fan of it, blah blah. But I’ve also seen way too many modern Alice in Wonderland adaptations as a result of my ridiculously long-term Kuni no Alice hyperfixation, and allow me to say that there is one thing that it nails that nothing else can even come close to touching— Alice herself!

The Kuni no Alice series brings about what I think is the best modern interpretation of Alice I’ve yet to see in any media I’ve consumed. She’s quick-witted and brings the attitude, but she cares. Her reactions are realistically absurd and there are few moments throughout everything where she feels out of character or unrelatable. And I think the otome genre is crucial to why that is.

By nature, dating simulators don’t have strong protagonists. They’re supposed to be a blank canvas for the player to project onto to achieve their goals. Am I calling Alice flat? No, quite the opposite. Her story is set in a Victorian-inspired fantasy land with lots of guns and danger and a strict social structure, but it’s intended for a modern audience, and when connection with your protagonist is the key to connection with your story, a modern audience means a modern Alice.

The modern Alice is one of the hardest characters to write.

In most instances of an adapted, cool, edgy Alice in Wonderland, the most insufferable character on screen is, in fact, Alice. This is true of the Disney films, SyFy’s Alice special, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, etc. More often than not, Alice Kingsleigh, Hamilton, whatever you want to call her, is a young adult frustrated by life in an oppressive society who will only accept her if she acts in a hyper-specific way, usually at the risk of being institutionalized should she fail to comply. She argues with her parents, who want her to get married, and all of this turns her into a spiteful girl who is always on the defensive.

It’s insufferable to watch.

The character of Alice is too often portrayed as relentlessly mean, but under the guise of empowerment. The audience is tired of weak-willed women, so the director hunches Alice’s dress up passed her ankles and gives her a sword, an attitude, and an ugly man to kiss without her parents’ involvement. Biologically engineered to shatter every well-known gender role established in Victorian England and basically nothing else, movies and TV deliver their “strong female protagonists” in the form of a curt, unchangingly rude version of Alice whose words and actions are supposed to be justified by her circumstances. And god, does it fucking suck!

You can't connect to this Alice, this armed and ready, sharp-tongued, "curiouser and curiouser" Alice who lives in a world that practically clears a narratively untouchable path to every foot she plans to step on. Personally, it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. The misunderstood to confused, to disgruntled, to aggressive pipeline is overplayed to the point where the Alice of any and all modern interpretations has become, essentially, the same character, forced to loop the same 6 emotional plot points from now into eternity, no matter how many coats of science fiction you put over it.

(Yes, there is a part of me that understands this comes from the fact that Alice is most often written by money-hungry, corporate studios, led primarily by men, who do not understand feminine audiences, or how they want to see themselves represented in media. I get that. And Alice Liddell is not safe from that. But consider: she's my babygirl.)

Am I saying the character of Alice can't be mean, can't say fuck, can't have a sword? Of course not!!!! Give women swords!!! But I am saying that every time a director phones it in with that "Oh, I know that book" budget and gives a British blondie trust issues, a prophecy, and a quirked up, top hat-wearing sidekick to have unfulfilling sexual tension with, i lose my wings AND my marbles.

Enter: our Alice Liddell.

What do we have with her, really? Well, the protagonist of a mid-shelf otome game, which has sequels out the wazoo, a movie and 2 stage play runs, but still somehow only enough translated media to fill a single Barnes and Noble shopping basket about halfway. Thanks QuinRose.

But for real.

Alice Liddell is written, from the ground up, as an otome protagonist. As such, there are narrative must-haves that she can't shake. She needs to be relatable to the modern young adult, even if she's supposed to reflect the Victorian female experience. This would usually be the Achilles Heel of an adapted protagonist: you, the player, get to watch in horror as your favorite whimsical Main Girl is watered down into a bowl of nothing soup for the sake of projection and selling more copies of a game with eye candy catboys and toxicity glorification.

HOWEVER,

(stay seated girlies don't go yet)

This necessary mundanity that is baked into Alice's character, inseparable from her very being as the taste of weed in a brownie, is what singlehandedly saves this adaptation and makes her objectively the best. Unlike in a lot of cinematic adaptations, she's not meant to be the (failed) vehicle of a "deeper narrative" about the strength and roles of women in society. She doesn't exist for any higher purpose, she isn't the chosen one who will declare "Damn The Man" and force the world to listen.

Alice is a girl doing everything she can. She's experienced profound loss. She's self-deprecating. Snarky. She's been through break ups, gotten even with bullies, cuddled with her cat on a Sunday, everything that doesn't matter. The crux of her character is that she's been burned by life and love, yet she can't truly give up on them. Hers is a story of healing, of adaptation and getting back up when life kicks the shit out of you. No matter how sharply she speaks, Kuni no Alice's Alice almost always acts from a place of concern and love for others. She crucially never wields a weapon, reacting to the violence of Wonderland with that extremely jaded "holy fucking shit, what the fuck?" energy that I think any of us would bring to the table, given the circumstances. She's not her community's """lunatic,""" she's not sailing the high seas sideways, she's not on drugs, or destiny's favorite, or anything like that. She's new in town! She's sick of these people! She just wants to go home and read!

She's you. She's me. She's a clusterfuck of a damaged girl, trying to sort out what matters, find her passion and move forward without letting her past stray too far from memory. She's someone whose self-importance and perception by others is foreign to her. She wants to matter, wants not to be left alone by the people she loves, but god forbid she ever admit it.

QuinRose gives us Alice Liddell, suffering failgirl, not Alice Liddell, conceptual landmark, and that was the best possible route anyone could have taken with this character. Alice is the main character, but she is not a hero, and that's a fucking genius move.

thanks for coming to my ted talk. i love u alice.

#hnkna #heart no kuni no alice #alice in the country of hearts #wonderful wonder world #kazh.txt #ndposting #alice in wonderland #sorry had to milk all the tags i could #i'm the world's biggest alice stan #if i kinned i would kin her #shes me #im her #my baby #spade no kuni no alice #snkna

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jokobub · 1 year

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The bots aren’t even trying anymore there’s no more “Virginia 🐔 27 🚭 beef stroganoff extraordinaire 🏓” now it’s all untitled and boring, put the work in Tammy damn you

#kazh.txt #tumblr bots

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jokobub · 10 months

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“Why do you change your blog name so much” look. Look me in my eyes. Loo— HEY. LOOK AT ME. I’m holding you by the face, look. Hi. My blog title? That’s temporary. That’s whatever song I’m feeling, whatever the mood is, I don’t even remember what it was before I changed it 10 minutes ago. My NAME? Also temporary. Changed it. Changed it again. Got fed up. Changed the spelling. People barely call me that. People call me six other things. Doesn’t matter. All temporary. What’s important?

Jokobub.

Jokobub is eternal.

#kazh.txt #can you tell I took my meds today #and I’m waiting for my friends to get sick of me lmao #I physically can’t stfu #anyway #yeah no #as long as I’m jokobub to u ppl #joke of bub #jokobub now and forever #I cooked #you love Jokobub #I love jokobub #Jokobub cannot die

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jokobub · 10 months

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Probably the most gender-affirming experience I regularly have rn is how many names I have. I get called my birth name. I get called Kazh. I get called my streamer name, and I got people in my life that’ll look me in the face and call me Jokobub. Or Bub. It’s really fucking awesome. That’s why I don’t like to answer people who say “well what would you prefer?” Because the answer is

Well

Yeah.

I know people are trying to be considerate in this growing world of ours, but for me? Whatever you can think of. Whatever I am to you. Call me that, that’s my name.

#kazh.txt #kazh is prideposting #and when people make shit up??#that makes my DAY #idk why #I’m a man of many names #and i wouldn’t have it any other way

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jokobub · 2 years

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cw// plague stuff

This is kind of embarrassing to ask, but um. Does anyone have any tips for mask-wearing for people with sensory sensitivities? I’m neurodivergent, and over the last several months I’ve been doing a lot of staying home or just social distancing after mask mandates were lifted.

But lately, even though school is out and that’s not a concern anymore, my hours at work have bumped up and my job has me in a lot of people’s houses. I need to start wearing them again, but at some point during the later days of the bigger outbreaks, my brain has just been reacting more and more viscerally to having the mask touching my face and my ears and my nose and whatnot.

I’ve heard breathing slower can do a number in solving the sensation of shortness of breath, but does anyone have any advice for sensory problems when wearing masks?

Thanks in advance ;-;

#kazh.txt #mask mandates #neurodivergent #adhd #sensory overload #help help help

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jokobub · 1 year

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Gonna draw Sans and Reigen and Cecil and Carlos on a double date just to shut yall up. Why are we pitting kings against each other? They would be vaguely disappointed in you guys. >:(

#kazh.txt #tumblr sexyman #tumblr sexyrematch #/j

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jokobub · 2 years

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This user wants to play a video game but has scrolled and scrolled and there’s nothing to freaking play and they don’t want to buy anything new because UGH that’s so much ENERGY to start a brand new adventure and urgagxjsnajbfjaichsbrbfjsib frustration frustration frustration

#kazh.txt #text #kaz is yelling #adhd #executive dysfunction #neurodivergent

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jokobub · 2 years

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Tumblr wizards I have some merch ideas for you

Holographic logo stickers

Design that is just. The logo. Idk I don’t like the script fonts.

Bus design

Tumblr University

Scary ass pikachu man

Halloween collection but only sold in months that are not October

White apparel with messy red stripe. Something something it’s called color theory

Sky color gradient apparel

Sexyman design

I’d genuinely support Tumblr financially thru merch but a lot of it doesn’t interest me right now

#tumblr #hellsite #kazh.txt #tumblr shop #tumblr merch #feel free to reply with more ideas

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jokobub · 2 years

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Tumblr thank you for acknowledging that yes, my gender does ebb and flow and occasionally does indeed wade heavily into something more masculine.

However…

I do not have a meat twinkie. Stop advertising to me like I do.

#we live in a society #lgbtq #nb #non binary #kazh.txt #kazh is prideposting #i don’t have balls either tumblr thanks for not asking

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jokobub · 2 years

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The worst part about being a content creator is that my habits of just kinda vanishing in a sour little pit once every few weeks doesn’t go away so every now and again I just re-materialize like I wasn’t just gone for 2+ weeks and ignoring all my friends wanting to play games with me and stuff like “haha hey, depression? Naw, couldn’t be me”

Pic unrelated I just like Moe Can Change, yes MyRoid’s name is Fortnite

#text #kazh.txt #moe can change #this is my last week of the semester so don’t worry #im actually fine I just need to make it 5 more days

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jokobub · 2 years

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🎶brushin my teeth🎶at 1am🎶even tho the mint taste makes me scream🎶because I am🎶a good nd kid🎶and my last 2 brain cells need to be a good team🎶

#neurodivergent #nd #adhd #mint yucky #kazh.txt

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jokobub · 8 months

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FUCK I completely forgot I bought earplugs the other day and I could’ve DEFINITELY worn them to the super fucking overstimulating event I went to today DAMN!!!! Agagxhavdj hell and fuck

#kazh.txt #ndposting

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jokobub · 8 months

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