I recently moved into an appartment for the very first time. So many New Things. So let's cut to the chase: what's the procedure when your doormat has been stolen?? Call the cops?!?

I miss my babies so damn much already. 😥

not romantic not platonic but a secret third thing [what would happen between earth and the moon if the earth stopped spinning as illustrated by xkcd randall munroe]

I truly feel like The Boy and The Heron is Miyazaki’s apology letter to his son Goro.

Not in a “your my precious son and I love you so much, here a movie to make you for my failures” kind of way

but in a “I’ve built this incredible empire and legacy that’s given magic to millions of people, and in that time you’ve lived in that same world, and so naturally it’s expected that you’d take it over in my place, but I know that you’ll never succeed me or that you’ll be able to recreate the magic. This magical world will die with me, this company will die with me, and that’s okay. You don’t have to be me.”

風の谷のナウシカ (Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind), 1984

天空の城ラピュタ (Castle in the Sky), 1986

となりのトトロ (My Neighbor Totoro), 1988

千と千尋の神隠し (Spirited Away), 2001

ハウルの動く城 (Howl's Moving Castle), 2004

崖の上のポニョ (Ponyo), 2008

風立ちぬ (The Wind Rises), 2013

君たちはどう生きるか (The Boy and the Heron), 2023

the infamous 'last sighting of a barbary lion in the wild' photo taken by marcelin flandrin (1925) haunts me to my core. there's something so achingly poetic about it.

Learning that fans hated Applejack and called her "boring" is crazyyy to me because I genuinely, unironically believe AJ's the most complex character in the main six.

Backstory-wise, she was born into a family of famers/blue collar workers who helped found the town she lives in. She grew up a habitual liar until she had the bad habit traumatized outta her. She lost both her parents and was orphaned at a young age, having to step up as her baby sister's mother figure. She's the only person in the main gang who's experienced this level of loss and grief (A Royal Problem reveals that AJ dreams about memories of being held by her parents as a baby). She moved to Manhattan to live with her wealthy family members, only to realize she'll never fit in or be accepted, even amongst her own family. The earlier seasons imply she and her family had money problems too (In The Ticket Master, AJ wants to go to the gala to earn money to buy new farm equipment and afford hip surgery for her grandma).

Personality-wise, she's a total people-pleaser/steamroller (with an occasional savior complex) who places her self worth on her independence and usefulness for other people, causing her to become a complete workaholic. In Applebuck Season, AJ stops taking care of herself because of her obsessive responsibilities for others and becomes completely dysfunctional. In Apple Family Reunion, AJ has a tearful breakdown because in she thinks she dishonored her family and tarnished her reputation as a potential leader –– an expectation and anxiety that's directly tied to her deceased parents, as shown in the episode's ending scene. In The Last Roundup, AJ abandons her family and friends out of shame because believes she failed them by not earning 1st place in a rodeo competition. She completely spirals emotionally when she isn't able to fulfill her duties toward others. Her need to be the best manifests in intense pride and competitiveness when others challenge her. And when her pride's broken, she cowers and physically hides herself.

Moreover, it's strongly implied that AJ has a deep-seated anger. The comics explore her ranting outbursts more. EQG also obviously has AJ yelling at and insulting Rarity in a jealous fit just to hurt her feelings (with a line that I could write a whole dissection on). And I'm certain I read in a post somewhere that in a Gameloft event, AJ's negative traits are listed as anger.

Subtextually, a lot of these flaws and anxieties can be (retroactively) linked to her parents' death, forcing her to grow up too quickly to become the adult/caregiver of the family (especially after her big brother becomes semiverbal). Notice how throughout the series, she's constantly acting as the "mom friend" of the group (despite everything, she manages to be the most emotionally mature of the bunch). Notice how AJ'll switch to a quieter, calmer tone when her friends are panicking and use soothing prompts and questions to talk them through their emotions/problems; something she'd definitely pick up while raising a child. Same with her stoicism and reluctance at crying or releasing emotions (something Pinkie explicitly points out). She also had a childhood relationship with Rara (which, if you were to give a queer reading, could easy be interpreted as her first 'aha' crush), who eventually left her life. (Interestingly enough, AJ also has an angry outburst with Rara for the same exact reasons as with EQG Rarity; jealous, upset that someone else is using and changing her). It's not hard to imagine an AJ with separation anxiety stemming from her mother and childhood friend/crush leaving. I'm also not above reading into AJ's relationship with her little sister (Y'all ever think about how AB never got to know her parents, even though she shares her father's colors and her mother's curly hair?).

AJ's stubbornness is a symptom of growing up too quickly as well. Who else to play with your baby sister when your brother goes nonverbal (not to discount Big Mac's role in raising AB)? Who else to wake up in the middle of the night to care for your crying baby sister when your grandma needs her rest? When you need to be 100% all the time for your family, you tend to become hard-stuck with a sense of moral superiority. You know what's best because you have to be your best because if you're aren't your best, then everything'll inevitably fall apart and it'll be your fault. And if you don't know what's best –– if you've been wrong the whole time –– that means you haven't been your best, which means you've failed the people who rely on you, which means you can't fulfill your role in the family/society, which makes you worthless . We've seen time and time again how this compulsive need to be right for the sake of others becomes self-destructive (Apple Family Reunion, Sound of Silence, all competitions against RD). We've seen in The Last Roundup how, when no longer at her best, AJ would rather remove herself from her community than confront them because she no longer feels of use to them.

But I guess it is kinda weird that AJ has "masculine" traits and isn't interested in men at all. It's totally justified that an aggressively straight, misogynistic male fandom would characterize her as a "boring background character." /s

At the time of writing this, it's 4:46AM.

Room clutter in studio ghibli films.

Ghibli x Zelda collection, available for print!

my favorite triplets eheh,,

geno is eldest, fresh is middle, error is youngest

SPIRITED AWAY (2000) HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE (2004)

sad: falling out of a hyperfixation

tragic: watching your beloved friends and mutuals fall out of the hyperfixation while you're still in it

my best friend/fiancé and i have been together for over 20 years, we both love Studio Ghibli and i wanted to make a few pieces to celebrate our upcoming queer platonic wedding 💕 (she’s pan/polyam and cis, i’m aro/ace and nonbinary)

if you’d like to donate and help two queer brown babes celebrate their special day, check out our gofundme  update: the gofundme was fully funded and we had an incredible wedding! thank you so much to everyone that made our special day possible!!!

patreon * twitch * shop  

Ghibli men and women in Bulgarian headdress 🇧🇬 This is the third, and last part—continuation to this post. The last two illustrations are based on the Ghibli movie 'Only Yesterday'. In the scene when the protagonist, Taeko, picks safflower, the Bulgarian song 'Malka Moma Dvori Mete' plays in the background. In my interpretation, she's picking rose petals in the Bulgarian Rose Valley. 🌹

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