#new girl! or rather. 2017 girl actually. | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

professoruber · 2 months

Text

Flamebird Analysis: The odd treatment of Bette Kane and her history/experience

Batwoman (2011-2016) #1

Okay so first of all, Kate; rude much?

Second of all... was Flamebird's costume really that impractical? Especaially when compared to Kate's costume.

While admittedly Flamebird's original costume was not exactly the height of practicality...

(Although she still seemed quite capable of holding her own in it)

Beast Boy (2000) #2

However she later does in fact get a more practical outfit which she also kickass ass in.

Beast Boy (2000) #4

And we do know that its Flamebird's second (more practical-looking costume) which Kate burns, as Bette ends up suiting up in her aforementioned spare after Kate fires her...

Batwoman (2011-2016) #3

While I am admittedly not an expert on combat outfits; Flamebird's second costume to me seems like it walks a good line between aesthetic and practicality. It has plenty of flair and style to it, but also appears quite flexible and overall not really too drastically different from Kate's Batwoman costume in this regard (rather hypocritical of Kate to say "you need a uniform" while she wears a long wig for no apparent reason apart from style).

If anything...

The "uniform" which Kate gives Bette kinda strikes me as being less practical for the situation compared to the Flamebird costume which she burned. Like Bette's mask seems to be just a piece of fabric tied around her face, which certainly feels like it should be looser and not be as sleek and flexible as the Flamebird costume.

Building off this, from what I've seen and looked over so far, the treatment of Bette kinda feels like it has a weird... juxtaposition at times between what's getting told and what's being shown, I guess.

Like on one hand...

It's shown by both Bette's comments here and the existence of her old Flamebird costumes that she has been experience vigilante for sometime. Longer than Kate I think, if I'm understanding the timeline all correctly.

There seems to be this odd case of both having Kate and the narrative treat Bette as an inexperienced rookie... while also having Bette and the narrative establish Bette as having been a Teen Titan, who has fought Deathstroke and presumably has years of experience.

Even Kate's codename for Bette indicates a rookie status...

However despite the references to Bette's past career and capabilities, and Bette's protests of being more capable than Kate gives her credit for, and Kate also immediately feeling quite shitty at how harsh she was when firing Bette...

The narrative still, from what I understand, kinda vindicates Kate entirely by having Bette get brutalised to the point of falling into a coma immediately after she defies Kate by heading out as Flamebird after getting fired... so I guess Kate was right? I don't know.

Like I said, I just find all of this quite of a weird portrayal. I've been curious about Bette lately on account of her being the original Batgirl (or rather, Bat-Girl), which is a very iconic mantle to the general "Bat-Mythos" even if Bette herself is far less remembered.

I guess one thing I find especially strange is how this is from the first issues of Batwoman 2011... meaning that this was right at the start of the whole New 52 Reboot stuff and so they could've presumably just retconned Bette's experience to make her an actual rookie sidekick instead of this weird half-measure where they both establish her past experience as canon while also otherwise ignoring it.

There's other stuff which I could go over; such as Bette's coma, her stint as Hawkfire, her enrolling in West Point... all of which probably has room for more detailed specific analysis by someone more familiar with both Bette and also the Batwoman comics (I've only fairly recently started looking into this stuff out of curiosity as I work my way through learning more comic history).

So I'll skip to a more recent appearance by Bette in 2017...

Detective Comics (1937—Present) #967

This whole exchange feels once again like Kate ignoring Bette's history, experience and capabilities. Especially the whole "pass second year in the top 99th percentile of your class and maybe I'll put in a good word with you to Batman" thing. No one else needed be top of their class at West Point, or attend West Point at all, to be a superhero. And it just seems strange to have Bette getting forced down that specific road.

Like; going by publication history, Bette was considered part of the original Teen Titans team due to debuting in the 1960s-1970s period. In fact she joined the team before the likes of Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire and Cyborg (at least in terms of publication anyway).

While I'm not entirely certain how her current age placement in the roster, they did still at least establish her as being a Teen Titan who fought Deathstroke and so presumably in the same generation as Nightwing (even if possibly a bit younger) and other core members. The from what I understand the Titans are currently considered senior and experienced enough to be the current "top team" of the hero scene in canon.

So all together this adds up to, as I keep saying, a strange contrast between Bette's stated/implied history and how she gets treated by the narrative.

DC's Legion of Bloom (2023) #1

Last year Bette did make a return as Flamebird (not Hawkfire). Which could mean one of two things...

Kate finally acknowledged Bette as ready/worthy/experienced enough to go out on her own

Bette went screw it and decided she didn't need Bette's permission

Honestly kinda hopping the later cause it brings to mind a bit of the Beast Boy comic which I quite liked...

Beast Boy (2000) #3

Better gets a very stern reprimand from Nightwing (some she admires), and is told she's not cut out for this world and quits. This comes after she's spent most of her appearance in this run being kinda a comedic relief in the form of her repeated failures to bail Beast Boy outta jail (since she's never posted bail before and didn't know how)

But after this..?

Beast Boy (2000) #4

She comes back, with a new (more practical-looking, as I discussed before) costume and beats up several bad guys to help out Gar (who in turn really appreciates her arrival and assistance).

Batwoman (2011) #3

Making this post I've noticed an interesting similarity and contrast between Beast Boy and Batwoman comics in regards to Bette. Both times, Bette gets very sternly reprimanded and told she's not cut out to be a hero and ordered not to be one by someone she admires/values the opinion of.

Both times she defies them and goes out anyway, putting on the same costume both times in fact.

But while the Beast Boy comic portrays her as competent and capable, even having her involvement appreciated by Gar...

Meanwhile in Batwoman?

Batwoman (2011-2016) #4

Bette's defiance almost immediately ends with her horribly injured, and in turn accidentally helps the DEO work out Batwoman's identity.

Two events regarding the same character which that character reacts to in a similar manner but one ends with her vindicated and the other... very much not.

DC's Legion of Bloom (2023) #1

Moving back to Bette's recent appearance in DC's Legion of Bloom. West Point is 4-years in total, and when we last saw Bette she was on her second year at the latest. So with the nature of comic book time, I find it unlikely she'd already graduated.

Her return to Flamebird could also have something to do with Infinite Frontier (I don't fully understand how it works, but apparently everything's canon now again sort of?) re-canonising Bette's competence? That sounds like kinda an amusing thought tbh; multiverse shenanigans happen and Bette wakes up one morning feeling suddenly competent again. Good for her.

Anyway I hope this is a good sign for Bette's character. Even if she's unlikely to be a major player, would still be nice for her appearance to at least depict her as capable. Plus as I said, comic book time means if she does actually stick to West Point, then she'd unlikely to be graduating (and get allowed to be a vigilante) anytime soon. So at that point you might as well just let her go be rich and play tennis since its not like that's a route to her actually doing anything.

Bette seems pretty neat from what I've seen of her, so I wish her the best. Even if Legion of Bloom continues the running joke of her trying and failing to recreate Titans West.

36 notes · View notes

xuqijie · 1 year

Text

# chapter 27 — dick heart <3

you were attempting to purchase cheese rings from the vending machine when you felt someone towering over your bent self.

“unnie.”

oh. your heart skipped a beat. whipping your head around, kang haerin stood behind you, eyes glimmering as she sent you a smile filled with uncertainty.

“hi haerin, what’s up?” behind your nonchalant façade, your heart was racing a mile and you could basically feel your cheeks heating up every second haerin’s eyes lingered on you.

haerin gulped. “do you want to spend lunch with us?” you widened your eyes in shock. kang haerin? asking you to lunch? with her friends?

“oh,” your voice almost cracked, “yeah. sure. uhm, who are the ‘us’ in question?” you silently prayed for it not to be inclusive of yeonjun. the boy had brought up some horrible memories from 2017 that you’d rather not revisit and you wouldn’t exactly like it if he mentioned 2017 you in front of haerin.

“i think mostly the girls and maybe beomgyu. i’m not sure if yeonjun’s gonna join,” haerin said carefully, observing your reaction when she mentioned yeonjun’s name. her smile fell when you brightened up, not knowing you were actually focusing on the possibility of yeonjun being absent.

you retrieved your cheese rings from the vending machine and glanced at haerin, butterflies in your stomach fluttering when she sent you a small grin.

“can my friends join too?” you asked awkwardly, not wanting to ditch your friends for haerin.

after contemplating, haerin finally nodded. if she wanted to become close to you, she should befriend your friends too.

masterlist | next

TAGLIST ; @lizseos @yumtooki @elyds @chaersly @babycubchae @somsomishy @fav9yu @gojosrug @oshyci @ahnneyong @sserajeans @lcv3lies @cutieseo @txtbrainrot @azinwo @archerheejin @luvkait @daniellemyluv @sserafimez @cathaerin @certainyouthpeanut @foxsunoo @cfvgbhndun-new-blog @hyukasverse @kyuupidwrites @dmndtears @jisooftme

#hc smau #newjeans smau #haerin x reader #kang haerin x reader

183 notes · View notes

suzuran777 · 30 days

Text

BLVN review: Paradise (PIL/SLASH)

Paradise is an 18+ BL visual novel developed by PIL/SLASH, who some might recognize for previous titles such as Shingakkou -noli me tangere-. The scenario writer is Kyuuyouzawa Lychee, who has previously worked on CAGE OPEN and CAGE CLOSE. The Japanese version of Paradise was originally released in 2017, but this month it's also getting an English release by JAST BLUE, which you can pre-order here! As usual the review will be mostly spoiler-free so I definitely recommend to buy the game yourself too!

Story Protagonist Azuma works at a local convenience store and his life is anything but eventful. He barely earns enough to pay his bills and also has no real ambitions. To his surprise, he suddenly receives a lottery ticket and wins a 6-day trip to Togajima Island. Hoping he would meet some cute girls during his trip, he's disappointed to find out the only other participants are also men. Soon Azuma realizes that this was not the luxurious trip he was hoping for...

Main characters

Azuma The protagonist of the game. His life is rather tedious and he doesn't really have any ambitions or dreams for the future, so he works at a convenience store and earns just enough money to survive. Voiced by Irakusa Netoru who's known for voicing Seiji in Room No.9 and of course Eiden in NU: carnival.

Mitsugi Architectural designer. Although he looks like the lone wolf type, he's a person with a lot of common sense. Despite that though, he gets angry surprisingly fast. Voiced by Ichijou Hikaru.

Matsuda Salesman. A responsible person who's good at taking care of others. If there's conflict, he takes a step back to analyze the situation and to choose the most logical solution. Looks older than he really is (he's 27). Voiced by Tetrapot Noboru.

Takara University student. He's very friendly and innocent looking. He's often teased by those around him because of his exaggerated reactions. Voiced by Yumachi Kakeru.

Hongo Tour guide. He's soft spoken and tries his best to be polite to everyone. Has a strong sense of responsibility. Voiced by Shinomori Hibiki.

Shimada Freelance photographer who joined the tour to take photos. Always carries his camera with him to take pictures whenever he feels like it. Voiced by Kishiri Tooru.

General info This game has three main routes (Mitsugi, Matsuda and Takara) but Hongo and Shimada do have their own endings as well and appear quite often in every route. There are also four other characters on the island (Kido, Uchimura and two unnamed guys). I actually wasn't sure if there was a recommended route order for this game, but I'd personally recommend Mitsugi > Matsuda > Takara. Though you can start with Matsuda's route too I don't think it affects the story much. I used a guide to get all the endings which you can find here, but you can also enable "easy mode" in the game which kind of guides you to the route you want to play. Usually, the bad ends were pretty easy to get too.

Just like some of PIL/SLASH's other games, this game does have horror themes and some of the CGs are a bit graphic, so be aware of that! If you're familiar with their other games I think you'll be fine, but I figured I'd give some kind of warning.

Let's start with a short summary of the common route! Azuma's dreams of travelling to a luxurious resort are already crushed when he's about to board the ship and realizes the island is uninhabited. Furthermore, he also learns that they will be staying in wooden cabins and have to cook their own food. Nevertheless, he tries to make the best out of the situation and actually ends up enjoying the first day together with his new friends. This positive mood doesn't last long however, as the ship that was supposed to deliver them fresh food every day stops showing up. Not only that, but they also lose communication with the outside world, as Hongo, who's the tour guide, is not able to contact anyone on the mainland.

At first the group tries to stay calm, hopeful that help might arrive soon. Aware that food shortages will be one of the first problems they will run into, they split up into different groups to look for ways to find food on the island. This proves to be quite difficult, as Matsuda comments that the currents around the island are unusual and the fish don't seem to be biting. The others don't have much luck either, as there aren't many edible plants or mushrooms on the island.

While exploring the island, they discover an abandoned village which most likely been abandoned since the Meiji period. Weirdly enough it doesn't seem like the former inhabitants took their belongings with them, almost as if they had to suddenly leave in a hurry. Another strange thing the group notices is that the storehouse has a jail cell in the basement, as if people had been imprisoned there in the past. Mitsugi mentions that this is not unusual for houses that were built during this time period, but it does make you wonder why people would need this on an island, and Azuma thinks the same.

Moving on to each route, I played Mitsugi's route first because I liked his character design. He's an architectural designer who came to the island for some work-related reasons, and at first he has no interest in talking to Azuma. This pisses Azuma off so he immediately tries to start a fight with Mitsugi. This kind of continues for at least a few days, but it was really funny to see their interactions. I was curious to see how their relationship would develop in this route. I think his route is a good one to start with because it doesn't really explain the full story about what's going on in the island, but I think it gives the player some interesting hints about what might happen in the other routes. I also recommend playing the bad ends, as you can also get Hongou's ending in Mitsugi's route.

The next route I played was Matsuda, who works as an salesman/office worker and traveled to the island for a well-deserved vacation. I wasn't sure what to think of him at first because he just seemed like a nice guy who liked fishing, so some parts of his route surprised me a little...! You can also get Shimada's ending in this route.

After finishing the first two routes, I played Takara's route. He's a student who similar to Azuma, also won the ticket for this trip. I think this route is locked (?) and for the right reasons because if you play it first it will spoil the entire game. In this route you finally learn more about the island. I can't really say more because it would spoil the ending, but definitely play the game until the very end so you can find out yourself!

Final impressions First of all, one thing I really liked is how the game really has no boring moments. I think my favorite character is still Mitsugi, but Azuma is such a funny protagonist and I always think it's fun how PIL/SLASH combines elements like horror and humor. I think I said something similar when I reviewed Dystopia no Ou, but these games always have such fun characters. I also liked the illustrations drawn by Kotomi Youji, the CGs are really nice and detailed.

Now I wouldn't say it's the most serious game ever, but honestly I think it doesn't need to be. This is one of these games in which I enjoyed the interactions between the characters the most. If you're a fan of BL games with dark themes I think it's definitely worth it to give this one a try! As usual, PIL/SLASH made sure to add some pretty dark and disturbing bad ends to this game, so I definitely recommend playing those too if you're into that. The dark themes are however also present in the routes that lead to the good endings, so if you're not comfortable with noncon scenes for example, this game might not be for you.

I played the trial version of the Japanese version years ago, but I had a good time playing the game in English this time and finishing all of the endings. Other than some minor typos and the game showing me hints when I wasn't using easy mode (I'm not sure if this also happens in the Japanese version) the English version was enjoyable to play. The game is also only 20 USD which is quite a good deal, since the Japanese versions tend to be more expensive.

Lastly, if you're looking for more content after finishing the game, Paradise actually also has two sequels, -MUSUBI- which is basically a fandisc that continues the story, and -KIWAME-, which is more of a re-telling of the first game's story. Apparently Takara's brother shows up in these games as a new character. Right now they are only available in Japanese though, so be aware of that!

#paradise #pilslash #blvnreview #blreview #jastblue #visualnovel

13 notes · View notes

likeadaydreamorafever · 7 months

Text

Mischa Barton: ‘The trauma doesn’t just go away overnight’

The OC made her one of the most famous stars of the Noughties. Now 37, and with a new role in Neighbours, she’s back — and this time it’s on her own terms.

There was a time, not so long ago — the Noughties — when we hunted young women until they went mad. A pack of men with cameras followed them, stalked them, waited outside their homes to take their photograph, so that people could devour their lives and their changing teenage bodies, and watch their rising panic as they cracked under the pressure we were putting them under.

“It was all very Hunger Games,” says Mischa Barton, 37, sitting in a hotel room in central London, hair blow-dried, coffee poured, legs crossed. The British-American actress was 17 when she was cast in the teenage TV drama The OC, catapulting her to worldwide fame and making her Karl Lagerfeld’s “face of a generation” — an It girl in an era of size-zero bodies, up-skirt shots and gossip blogs.

Barton was — reluctantly — a paparazzi favourite. She was beautiful, cool and sceney, with a trail of rock star boyfriends and wild child friends. She suffered as a consequence of rather than in spite of the fame. She was arrested for drink driving, spent time in rehab and was detained in a psychiatric hospital. In 2017 a video of her, incoherent, rambling and distressed, was sold to the gossip site TMZ, peddled as proof of her going off the rails. Her drink had actually been spiked with a date rape drug. That same year an ex-boyfriend tried to sell a video — filmed without her knowledge — of her having sex and being naked in her own home.

“You can go to therapy every day for the rest of your life,” she says, “but there’s just a certain amount of trauma [from] all that I went through, particularly in my early twenties, that just doesn’t go away overnight.”

Today her life is a little quieter — the paparazzi don’t yet know where her new home is in Los Angeles (though the sound of cameras can trigger a panic attack, part of her enduring post-traumatic stress disorder). The OC is coming up to its 20th anniversary, with a new generation of Gen Z fans going wild for the Y2K vibe. She has had a stint on Dancing with the Stars and the reality TV show The Hills: New Beginnings, as well as parts in horror films, indie films and now the resurrected teatime soap Neighbours.

Barton was, and still is, a valuable commodity. “They first wanted me to do an arc on Neighbours when I was in my twenties,” she says, dressed smartly in a blazer, A-line dress and preppy jacquard pumps. I’ve just finished watching the new season, I tell her. “Oh wow,” she says in her mid-Atlantic drawl, “have you actually been watching it?” Sure, I continue, it was nostalgic. “Oh wow,” she says again, flatly. “Yeah. I haven’t seen any of it.” Barton still has the cool-girl energy that drew so many people in: arch, a little judgmental, but fun. She is the popular girl at the party.

The “final” episode of Neighbours was broadcast on Channel 5 last July, after 37 years and 8,903 episodes featuring alumni including Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan and Margot Robbie. A group of heartbroken fans campaigned for its return and four months later Amazon Prime signed a deal with the production company. The reboot features old favourites Susan, Carl and Harold, as well Barton’s new character, Reece Sinclair, the expensively dressed American hotel proprietor who is having an affair with the bellboy.

Barton spent two months filming in Melbourne, cramming lines for 5am call times. “They work crazy hard [on soaps],” she says. “Really, it was gruelling. You’re lucky to get a second take.” She did, however, rewrite some of her script. “They don’t let everybody change their lines” — she lowers her voice — “trust me. The other kids were like, oh, can I do that? And [the writers] were like, no.” She cackles. “Say your lines as scripted!”

The actress will always be known for The OC, in which she played Marissa Cooper, a rich, blonde Californian who was troubled and glamorous — and who every teenage girl was desperate to be. The first series, which aired in 2003, pulled in an average of 9.7 million viewers per episode in America and was a hit on Channel 4, and she won two Teen Choice awards.

“I don’t think I was fully prepared for that level of fame,” she says. “Because it has never been something that I have sought out. I really would much rather be anonymous.”

Still a teenager, Barton was lauded for her looks and treated, she says, as much older than her years. “You do look back and you were 18 dating 34-year-olds,” she continues. “With hindsight you’re like, yeah, that was weird.” An interview with Harpers & Queen has recently resurfaced in which Barton, 19 at the time, says she was told by her publicist to sleep with Leonardo DiCaprio, who was 30, “for the sake of your career”.

She left The OC after three series — she says she was bullied on set and exhausted by 18-hour days for each 24-episode series — asking the writers to kill off Marissa as brutally as they could. She died lying in the road, dripping in fake blood, her crashed car up in flames.

In the following years Barton became a familiar face on the LA nightlife scene, all smoky eyeliner and faded band T-shirts, photographed with Nicole Richie, Lindsay Lohan and Amy Winehouse, while dating the Kooks’ frontman Luke Pritchard, the American rocker Cisco Adler and the Roughs’ guitarist Taylor Locke. “I definitely got to tour with some cool bands,” she says, still a little thrilled by the whole thing. “I mean, I was obsessed. But I don’t know if I could date a guy in a band any more. It just sounds exhausting and dirty.” The paparazzi attention was certainly not “healthy” for romantic relationships. “Everything is just so heightened,” she says. “You depend on the person so much more, you think you’re that much more in love because they’re your grip on some sort of normalcy.”

In the gossip blogs she was considered fair game. She was criticised for losing a stone in a year, then criticised for being “bloated Barton”, with the celebrity blogger Perez Hilton often the leader of the pack. “Nothing I did was good enough,” she says today. “It was the peak of cruelty about young women’s bodies. It was wild.”

Could she leave the house without being followed by photographers? “No,” she says immediately. “I couldn’t. [The paparazzi] were doing all kinds of crazy stuff to me.” She says they tracked her car, tried to climb over the walls of her house, paid off restaurants and bought mobile phones for homeless people so they could tip them off. “I was stalked,” she says. “I did go a little bit nuts at [one] point. I just felt really helpless.”

Then there was an arrest (2007, driving under the influence, without a valid licence and possessing cannabis), rehab (court ordered) and psychiatric hospital. She said she was “depressed and overworked”, and then, she claims, pumped full of prescription drugs by her “team” to keep her working. People have got kinder about mental health, though, she says. “That’s one of the better things about society these days — people are more willing to talk about having had depression or anxiety, or it’s not so taboo.”

But it was her legal battle against her ex-boyfriend that was “one of the worst and most gruelling experiences of my life”, she says. In 2017 Jon Zacharias tried to auction off illicit videos of her to the internet’s highest bidder.

After a years-long legal battle she won the case to prevent him from doing so. “It’s shocking to realise that there is that type of darkness in the world,” she says. “And you wonder what you’ve done to attract it.”

Mischa Anne Barton was born in Hammersmith in west London, the middle of three girls, her mother a producer and photographer, her father a foreign exchange broker. She went to St Paul’s Girls’ Preparatory School before the family moved to New York when Barton was six.

She was a bookish, shy child who found respite in acting. She had her first modelling job at eight and her first professional stage role the same year. By 11 she was in Italian Vogue. By 13 she was the lead in the movie Lawn Dogs, which had dark undertones of child molestation, followed by Pups, a crime drama. “Even from a young age I was sexualised,” she wrote in Harper’s Bazaar in 2021.

After her big break in The OC she starred as the “hot girl” in various music videos (Noel Gallagher, James Blunt, Enrique Iglesias) and became the face of Chanel, Calvin Klein, Monsoon Accessorise, Neutrogena, Herbal Essences and Keds.

“I was definitely told ‘sign here’ many, many times over,” she says. “I’ve gotten a lot better with legalese. Now I will read a contract front to back.”

Do people think she made more money than she has? “Oh, I know they do.” Today you can watch The OC on Amazon Prime, Hulu and ITV. “But I say to my friends, ‘Oh cool, I just got a direct deposit for $1.50.’ And they’re like, ‘What’s that?’ And I’m like, ‘Residuals.’ ”

She pushed herself into indie films and cerebral plays, which she loved, and then appeared on the rebooted reality show The Hills, which “wasn’t for me”, she says. “It’s the fame-chasing and the posing stuff that I don’t like. I found them to be very alieny.” She says the producers tried to make out that the original cast of The Hills had hung out with the cast of The OC in the Noughties, “but that was not the case. I never saw them around. I mean, it was a completely different world, a different type of celebrity.” She looks up from pouring herself another coffee. “You know what I mean.”

Today Barton lives between New York and LA. She is steady and grown-up, but still with a streak of flightiness. Her spontaneity “is a problem”, she says. She travelled around Indonesia alone over the summer, then France, then the UK, where she has been staying with her older sister, a barrister, in Kensington.

“I’m happy being single at the moment,” she says. “Because it comes up, the whole thing of ‘Do you wanna settle down and have kids?’ I am a weirdly traditional, conventional person when it comes to stuff like that, more so than people think. But it really depends on the person you’re with.”

In the past few years there has certainly been a collective reckoning regarding our behaviour towards young, famous women of that era. But does that regret mean anything to the women who suffered through it?

Recently the FBI knocked on Barton’s door, saying they were “working on a case” and wanted to play her a series of tapes. She listened to her conversations with people from years ago, which were recorded covertly. “Who knows who was doing it?” she says. “But I was almost grateful to know that they [the FBI] were going to such lengths, otherwise you feel crazy and paranoid.”

She has also had direct apologies. In 2019 Perez Hilton told her, on The Hills: “If I could go back in time and do things differently, I would.” Barton was largely unmoved. “This bullying you did for so long to so many young girls, I find it hard to let go,” she replied. “I can’t really accept the apology entirely.”

I bring up Hilton today and she rolls her eyes. “I don’t listen to anything he says because he’s so crazy,” she says. “You can see how sorry people feel for what they did to people like Britney [Spears] then. Everyone now is like, ‘I can’t believe we did that to those poor women.’” She pauses. “People feel so entitled to you and your body and your image. It’s a strange feeling. It’s strange.”

Video included in the article:

youtube

#mischa barton #marissa cooper #the oc #theoc

32 notes · View notes

paintbrushnebula · 17 days

Text

I'm researching some stuff about apothecaries and the history of the pharmacy, trying to find inspiration wherever. Chuck Jones always said to just read whatever you can to find ideas for your fiction making and stuff, so I'm just getting in on reading a bunch of history so I can come up with something to write

It's because I've been thinking about what life post-tower must've been like for Rapunzel. She's fresh off the heels of an abusive environment, now finding herself in a completely different place that she's unfamiliar with. She's only had a few hours to vibe with Corona's people, and that was when they didn't know she was the lost princess with magical healing powers. So here she is, having returned to them at last. And I find this idea interesting: what if many of them were kinda... disappointed? I don't know if I've expressed this idea before that I think Corona would really have to prove itself as an actually good environment for Rapunzel to grow in, and I think the answer would really be no, at first. There'll probably be this superficial way that the citizens of Corona all will see her. Imagine if Rapunzel had been sort of deified by the people in those 18 years? Imagine what that kidnapping had looked like to the average citizen? Your king and queen gives birth to a young girl who is now your princess, and oh my goodness! The princess has the power to heal the sick and injured! It's a literal miracle! The kingdom rejoices. Frederic and Arianna probably assume that they're celebrating the Queen's recovery and Rapunzel's birth, but it's more than that for some. They're celebrating their miracle. Plagues and illness and suffering and death will be no more. Then before a single soul can see this healing power, that miracle gets stolen from them. The kingdom is sent into despair. All the sick who were given the hope of being healed are now left to suffer fate's design. Plagues will come and death is here to stay.

In those 18 years, I bet there was a lot of praying for the lost princess to return, but not for her to be reunited with her family safe and sound, but for her to heal them and their own families. That hope for her return builds in the people's hearts, to the point where Rapunzel is now something of a messianic figure rather than a literal abducted child.

So now that miracle finally returns, except... it's not a miracle anymore. It's just a girl. And the kingdom's last hope that once grew from her head was now short and wilted (those aren't my words, I just feel like a particularly disgruntled Coronan would say that about Rapunzel).

Now imagine how that makes Rapunzel feel? That the kingdom shes supposed to call home is pretty much objectifying her similarly to how she's used to? And when you've only known one way of earning love your whole life, you're gonna stick to what you're used to if no one helps you actually learn different. Only now, Rapunzel can't offer herself the same way she did with Gothel, because she doesn't have her hair anymore. Now she has no way to give people what they want.

hnggggggg I gotta write this story someday

where was I? Oh yeah! So the apothecary thing. Yeah I was reading this article by Rachel Ewing for Penn Medicine, https://www.pennmedicine.org/news/news-blog/2017/may/then-and-now-the-healing-power-of-an-urban-garden. One of the lines in the second paragraph says "The plants themselves were therapies to be eaten or brewed into tea." What's being discussed is the history of herbs and plants being used for medicinal purposes, and that line in particular made my jaw drop for a moment because it made me think of Rapunzel, and how her being objectified by people into something of a medicine, or in the context of Tangled; a healing flower, rather than a person, is something she'll have to break past even after she's left Gothel's captivity.

#tangled #brushneb says stuff #tangled the series #Rapunzel #rapunzels tangled adventure #disney rapunzel #tangled rapunzel #Disney

9 notes · View notes

tzyuki · 1 year

Text

[이주연] LOST IN TRANSLATION ꒰ L.JY x F!READER

IN WHICH ✶ — Everyone thought that after LOVLUSION’s disbandment Suzuki Y/n would have returned back to Japan and debut there but the public was shocked at her disappearance. They were even more shocked to hear that two years later she’d be joining a new subunit of group ETERNAL under SOS (sea of stars) ENT. The public was lost for words at how she was able to rebrand herself in those two years, debuting with a sharp and cold look rather than her cute and angelic look back then in LOVLUSION.

THE BOYZ IN DA HOUSE 🥶 | profile two.

• THE BOYZ is a South Korean boy band formed and managed by IST Entertainment. The group debuted on December 6, 2017, with the lead single “Boy” from their debut EP The First.

﹙★﹚DESCRIPTIONS…

lee juyeon ; has had an interest in y/n ever since he seen her trip on the carpet of the company building. They had trained for a little while together before Juyeon was preparing for his debut. After that the two rarely saw each other. The last time the two had an actual conversation for more than a minute face to face was the day Y/n was set to leave for GIRLVERSE filming.

lee sangyeon ; literally the father of everyone. thinks juyeon is as delulu as jake stan’s, juyeon will cry if he doesn’t get a daily y/n photo and sangyeon is the one he goes too about it.

bae jacob ; thee biggest luvlusion stan. he was there since the girlverse days 🤞🏽. yelled uncontrollably when he found out lovlusions disbandment was announced.

kim younghoon ; best friends w/ tu and prim from eternal youth, they r thee acting trio. he was so devastated when they left korea to go film in thailand for a couple months.

lee jaehyun (hyunjae) ; bffs with y/n, experiences all her delulu stages with her. fully believes in taehyun birthing y/n since the two resemble each other.

moon kevin ; shaking ass is his personality, him and y/n shake ass to beyoncé and nct songs. if you start playing firetruck by nct 127 at night in the mirror y/n and kevin will appear behind you twerking.

choi chanhee (new) ; hes still wondering when chanel will make him an ambassador. he reps chanel everywhere, everyday, and every-night.

ji changmin (q) ; the cutest ever. he could fit in someone’s pocket if he really really really wanted to try. he adores y/n and misses when the two would have late night talks in the practice room.

ju haknyeon ; thinks everyone is mother. jokes about how SOS ENT finds the most talented and gorgeous people ever. will go to all lengths to defend his fav girl tu tontawan 🫡.

kim sunwoo ; doesn’t know how he lives another day everytime haknyeon fanboys over tu. litersly the worst menace to exist. will never and won’t ever stop clowing y/n about her predebut side quests.

sohn eric ; the sweetest and energetic boy you’ll ever meet. constantly reminds everyone he loves them!

m.list — previous profile — next profile

taglist (open) 𓏸 ͘ ࣭⸰ @yujuyioh @jangwonie @cwsana @luvyrin @amara-mars @ineedaherosavemeenow @mintydayeon @love-4-keum @kpopx-xlover @abdiitcryy @beepjeongie @ox1-lovesick @ja4hyvn @shinsou-rii @winkura @astrae4 @ilovewonyo @hafsa-hoofsa-heefs @nyujjan @garbageandhot @ifearjwn @seesaweun @wtfhyuck @rreynca @luveuly @tnyhees @lcv3lies

#the boyz smau #the boyz scenarios #the boyz x reader #the boyz fluff #juyeon fic #juyeon smau #juyeon x reader #juyeon scenarios

54 notes · View notes

wlwcatalogue · 2 years

Text

Yuri Anime Masterlist (as of Oct 2022)

(For those not familiar with the term "yuri" (百合), it is used to refer to anime, manga, light novels etc. which focus on the close relationships - often romantic - between female characters. However, as it is considered a genre in itself, the term is both looser and more restrictive than one might expect, e.g. a work concerned with platonic and not particularly intense relationships between female characters may still be considered "yuri" if it fits the genre tropes and/or if it is marketed as such.)

One day I thought it'd be good to have a masterlist of yuri anime which included commentary on the show, to give people a better idea of what might appeal to them (or what to be wary of). "It'll be easy," I thought. "There aren't that many specifically yuri anime out there," I thought.

Turns out, 22 series may not be a lot if you're looking at all the anime out there, but it certainly doesn't feel that way if you have to write a proper entry for each one. Here it is, a list of all the anime which are specifically marketed as being yuri (i.e. labelled as such on Anime News Network), with commentary, in no particular order.

Edit: Added links to the corresponding Anime News Network and MyAnimeList pages!

At-a-glance list:

Revolutionary Girl Utena (39 episodes + 1 movie, 1997)

Bloom into You (13 episodes, 2018)

Maria-sama ga Miteru (39 episodes, 2004)

Kase-san (58-minute OVA, 2018)

Aoi Hana (11 episodes, 2009)

Otherside Picnic (12 episodes, 2021)

Simoun (26 episodes, 2006)

Yuri Kuma Arashi (12 episodes, 2015)

Akuma no Riddle (12 episodes, 2014)

Citrus (12 episodes, 2018)

NTR: Netsuzou Trap (12 10-minute episodes, 2017)

Adachi to Shimamura (12 episodes, 2020)

Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san (12 5-minute episodes, 2014)

Sasameki Koto (13 episodes, 2009)

Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl (12 episodes, 2006)

The Executioner and Her Way of Life (12 episodes, 2022)

If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die (12 episodes, 2020)

Kannazuki no Miko (12 episodes, 2004)

Strawberry Panic (26 episodes, 2006)

Fragtime (60-minute OVA, 2019)

Sakura Trick (12 episodes, 2014)

Bonus: Yuri is My Job! (upcoming anime)

Details under the cut!

1. Revolutionary Girl Utena (39 episodes + 1 movie, 1997) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

Okay, so this series was not actually marketed as being yuri, but it’s far too ubiquitous for me not to put it in this section. When she was a child, Tenjou Utena (Kawakami Tomoko) was saved by a passerby prince, so she decided that she too wanted to become a prince as an adult. Fast forward to high school, and she hasn’t forgotten that conviction: Utena gets sucked into a series of duels while trying to protect her best friend’s honour. After winning the first duel, she becomes ‘engaged’ to the eccentric “Rose Bride” Himemiya Anthy (Fuchizaki Yuriko), and the two start living together in the same dormitory.

First things first: there are a million content warnings for this series, including implied rape, sexual assault, incest, and homophobia. Although the issues are handled well (in my opinion), it does go to very dark places, so those wanting a light, fun anime to unwind to should look elsewhere. Second, this series is very much a psychological drama utilising the episodic duels as a way of hone in on Utena’s opponents and their stories, so Utena and Anthy’s relationship – though important – is definitely not the focus of the anime. Third, the TV series is limited to hinting at the romantic relationship between Utena and Anthy, not to mention that they spend most of the series being little more than acquaintances rather than actual friends. The movie Adolescence (which can be taken as a retelling or sequel, depending on your perspective) is much more explicit on this front, but also suffers from a significantly shorter runtime and a much more opaque approach to storytelling.

That being said! If you’re okay with all of the above, this series is pretty much a must-watch. The simplistic premise belies a much more complex and nuanced story about gender roles, sexuality, and human relationships and remains one of the smartest anime ever made, over twenty years on.

2. Bloom into You (13 episodes, 2018) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

Probably one of the slickest-looking yuri anime out there, Bloom into You is a beautiful, polished adaptation of a manga of the same name by Nakatani Nio. Main character Koito Yuu (Kanemoto Hisako), who hasn’t experienced romantic love before, thinks student council senior Nanami Touko (Kotobuki Minako) is the same way until Touko suddenly confesses to her. The story follows the two girls’ trials and tribulations after that confession, and in particular how Yuu grows into her romantic feelings for Touko. The story can be messy at times but it’s got plenty of heart, and I really really love the other explicitly queer side characters – they’re so good that this series is worth watching even if you don’t click with the main couple IMO.

3. Maria-sama ga Miteru (39 episodes, 2004) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

A list of yuri works would be incomplete without mentioning this genre-defining juggernaut of a series created by light novel author Konno Oyuki, which is responsible for reviving the Class S genre and ensuring that yuri was for a long time – and to a large extent still is – associated with genteel all-female schools and girls calling their older targets of affection “onee-sama”. It starts with the elegant and aloof Ogasawara Sachiko (Itou Miki) inviting the main character Fukuzawa Yumi (Ueda Kana), an ordinary junior from the year below, to become her “petite sœur” (“little sister”, essentially a mentee), but branches out into more of a slice-of-life ensemble piece looking at Yumi and her friends and the various “sœur” pairs of the prestigious Lilian Girls’ Academy. Due to the “sœur” system, there is a whole fleet of F/F ships to pick from, but do note that only one character out of the very large cast is overtly queer.

Personally, I found the anime a bit dull, but the light novels and drama CDs were much more to my taste. Either way, anyone with an interest in the history of yuri as a genre should definitely check this series out in one way or another.

4. Kase-san and Morning Glories (58-minute OVA, 2018) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

The popular manga by Takashima Hiromi has sadly never received the full anime treatment, but at the very least there’s an OVA which adapts part of the story. The OVA starts with two high school sweethearts having recently entered into a relationship together, but Yamada Yui (Takahashi Minami), the timid one of the pair, is plagued with doubts over her relationship with the sporty Kase Tomoka (the eponymous “Kase-san”; Sakura Ayane). Famous for being teeth-rottingly sweet.

5. Aoi Hana (11 episodes, 2009) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

Despite the somewhat misleading OP, Aoi Hana is a character-focused slice of life show about lesbian high schooler Manjoume Fumi (Takabe Ai), her crush on the prince-like Sugimoto Yasuko (Ishimatsu Chiemi), and her coming out to her childhood best friend and first love Okudaira Akira (Gibu Yuko). You might be wary as this anime is an adaptation of a series by queen of messy LGBTQ-related manga Shimura Takako, but the story ends before it gets into the real melodrama, leaving viewers with an open but hopeful conclusion. The gentle pastels of the anime also look very nice IMO, it’s a great fit for Shimura’s art.

6. Otherside Picnic (12 episodes, 2021) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

Adapted from the ongoing light novel series by Miyazawa Iori, Otherside Picnic opens with college student (in a yuri anime! I know!) Kamikoshi Sorawo (Hanamori Yumiri) poking around in the supernatural “Otherside” and nearly being killed by a monster for her efforts. Her rescuer is the gun-toting Nishina Toriko (Kayano Ai), a young woman who happens to attend the same university. Since Sorawo is deeply interested in urban myths and Internet creepypasta, she decides to team up with Toriko, who is trying to search her friend who went missing in the Otherside. Otherside Picnic draws on existing Japanese urban myths and the Russian SF novel Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, but is also, though nobody seems to mention it, very much influenced by certain parts of the massive Touhou franchise – specifically the exploits of Renko and Merry (Sorawo in particular is strongly reminiscent of Renko). Although the anime doesn’t adapt enough to get to the explicitly romantic aspects of their relationship and has been criticized for undermining the horror elements with cheap CG, it has been praised for its college-age leads (though you wouldn’t know that from the character designs) and genre fiction focus, which are unusual in yuri.

7. Simoun (26 episodes, 2006) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

In the original SF anime Simoun, viewers are introduced to the nation of Simulacrum, which is embroiled in a bitter war against two other nations. On the front lines of this conflict are the main characters, a group of under-seventeens who pair up to pilot Simulacrum’s mecha (the titular “Simoun”). It’s a bit of an interesting case because although it is known and marketed as a yuri anime, for the duration of the series, the majority of the cast are not known to be female – the pilots come from a species where they are born monogender (although the designs skew feminine, similar to the Asari in Mass Effect) and pick their preferred gender at the age of seventeen (honestly, this sounds like a very sensible system). Don’t worry though, since sources say that a bunch of the endgame pairs do end up being F/F. Actually I’ve never watched this anime before as it’s known to be fanservice-heavy, but it does sound rather intriguing on paper.

8. Yuri Kuma Arashi (12 episodes, 2015) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

Directed by Ikuhara Kunihiko of Sailor Moon and Utena fame and with character designs by prolific out yuri mangaka Morishima Akiko, Yuri Kuma Arashi is a surreal tale set in a world where bears can take on human form and are feared and reviled by the human population, who have constructed the “Wall of Severance” to keep them out. Amidst this, main character Tsubaki Kureha (Yamane Nozomi) is a bear-hating human who finds out that two of her classmates – Yurishiro Ginko (Arakawa Miho) and Yurigasaki Lulu (Ikuta Yoshiko) – are actually bears in disguise. The anime is generally well-received, with critics praising its handling of homophobia, prejudice, and exclusion, but I personally felt that the series suffered from its length (it was by far the shortest of Ikuhara’s outings at the time) and heavy use of imagery and symbolism in place of character-building and narrative construction, so YMMV. Please also be warned of that there’s some rather gratuitous fanservice, especially in the first few episodes. The three-volume manga of the same name by Morishima Akiko was good though – it uses the same premise but takes it in a very different direction!

9. Akuma no Riddle (12 episodes, 2014) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

A rare case of a yuri anime which manages to cover the entirety of the series it was based on, Akuma no Riddle is an adaptation of the manga written by Kouga Yun and drawn by Minakata Sunao. Assassin-in-training Azuma Tokaku (Suwa Ayaka) is exceedingly skilled but suffers from a career-ruining mental block: she can’t ever bring herself to land the killing blow, no matter how much she wants to. Tokaku is given the chance to prove herself by entering a girls’ school battle royale where she is to compete with other young assassins to kill a certain target – the bafflingly ordinary-seeming Ichinose Haru (Kanemoto Hisako). On an impulse, the otherwise cold Tokaku swears to protect Haru from the others, and becomes her bodyguard. As with Maria-sama ga Miteru, the series comes with a lot of pre-packaged F/F pairs for your shipping pleasure, but only one pair is overtly romantic. (Also, I was very unlucky and latched onto a pair which happens to feature the only character who has a male love interest… RIP.) The story needed a bit more space to breathe IMO, but others have enjoyed it for the action, fun premise, and for being one of the few yuri anime that isn’t yet another high school coming-of-age romance.

10. Citrus (12 episodes, 2018) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

An adaptation of the hit manga by Saburouta, Citrus focuses on the tumultuous relationship between rule-breaking gyaru Aihara Yuzu (Taketatsu Ayana) and uptight student council president Aihara Mei (Tsuda Minami) – who, it turns out, is Yuzu’s new stepsister. It is controversial for its frequent depictions of non-consensual kissing and other physical contact, and for the generally melodramatic, titillating approach taken to the relationship between the two leads, but some queer women really love this series and I’m not here to police, so here it is.

11. NTR: Netsuzou Trap (12 10-minute episodes, 2017) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

One of the most infamous yuri series out there, this is an adaptation of the manga by Kodama Naoko. It’s essentially a daytime soap opera dressed up as a high school drama: Okazaki Yuma (Kakuma Ai) and Mizushina Hotaru (Igarashi Hitomi) are childhood friends who both have boyfriends but end up messing around with each other. There’s cheating, abusive boyfriends, toxic relationships, and melodrama galore – very rare for yuri anime. If you enjoy soap operas this might be just the thing, although there’s probably more fanservice than normal.

12. Adachi to Shimamura (12 episodes, 2020) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

Quiet slice-of-life series “Adachi and Shimamura” is an adaptation of an ongoing light novel series by Iruma Hitoma. The story depicts the everyday life of high school student Adachi Sakura (Kitou Akari) and her friend Shimamura Hougetsu (Itou Miku), who she has feelings for. Adachi’s feelings towards Shimamura are overtly romantic, but be warned that their relationship is more open-ended than in the light novels due to only the first few volumes being adapted. Received praise for its atmosphere-building, but this is tempered by there being a lot of fanservice throughout.

13. Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san (12 5-minute episodes, 2014) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

A series of vignettes adapted from the yonkoma (4-panel) manga by Kuzushiro, Inugami-san and Nekoyama-san is about the relationship between the dog-like cat-lover Inugami Yachiyo (Uesaka Sumire) and cat-like dog-lover Nekoyama Suzu (Toyama Nao). I haven’t seen it myself, but judging by the reception, it’s a good pick for those looking for a quick, fluffy watch.

14. Sasameki Koto (13 episodes, 2009) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

This adaptation of Ikeda Takashi’s manga follows high school student Murasame Sumika (Takagaki Ayahi), who has a crush on her female best friend Kazama Ushio (Takamoto Megumi). The twist is that she knows Ushio is into girls… so what’s the problem? Well, unfortunately for Sumika, Ushio can’t stop going on about how she likes very cute, “feminine” girls, and Sumika just doesn’t fit that type. And on a meta level, time is Sumika’s worst enemy, because this is another case of the main couple not getting together by the end of the anime due to the limited runtime. The series’ scope extends beyond the romantic storyline, however, and touches upon homophobia and queer media (okay, yuri doujin). On the downside, a lot of the humour is dated, and a cross-dressing character is dealt with in a poor manner.

15. Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl (12 episodes, 2006) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

Part of the 2006 yuri anime boom, Kashimashi is based on the manga by Akahori Satoru. The story starts with young boy Osaragi Hazumu (Ueda Kana) having a rather confusing day: after being rejected by his female classmate Kamiizumi Yasuna (Horie Yui), he is killed in a freak UFO accident, and then resurrected – albeit in a female body. The anime shows the gradual process of Hazumu coming to terms with the new body and becoming mixed up in a gentle love triangle with Yasuna and female childhood friend Kurusu Tomari (Tamura Yukari). Apparently it’s quite sweet despite the decidedly mid-2000’s premise.

16. The Executioner and Her Way of Life (12 episodes, 2022) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

A twist on the usual isekai formula by light novel author Sato Mato, Executioner is centred on Menou (Saeki Iori), the eponymous Executioner tasked with eliminating with magically-gifted people from another world, i.e. isekai protagonists. One day, a routine job goes awry when Menou discovers that her target – a Japanese schoolgirl named Tokitou Akari (Kahara Moe) – has the ability to control time and thereby reverse her own death. Unwilling to let a person with such dangerous powers roam free, Menou joins Akari on a journey through the country, albeit one that ends before anything much happens – the anime adapts only the first two volumes of the ongoing light novel series. Also, somewhat surprisingly given the premise, the show is apparently an ensemble piece which focuses more on its world-building and action-packed plot, although Menou and Akari’s growing closeness does get some screen-time.

17. If My Favorite Pop Idol Made It to the Budokan, I Would Die (12 episodes, 2020) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

One of only three series on this list which do not mention school at all (the others being Simoun and The Executioner and Her Way of Life, to my knowledge), OshiBudo is an adaptation of the ongoing manga by Hirao Auri where protagonist Eripiyo (Fairouz Ai) overworks herself at part-time jobs in the name of supporting her fave Ichii Maina (Tachibana Hina), the least popular member of already-unpopular local idol group ChamJam. Despite the uncomfortable implications of the initial setup, the anime dodges the most obvious pitfalls as Maina’s relationship with Eripiyo is strictly that of idol and (overzealous) fan even until the end, and there’s actually more of a focus on Eripiyo bonding with her idol fan friends (sadly all male). Obviously there is only subtext in this show, and not anything heavily hinted at that, but it’s not a bad thing in this case.

18. Kannazuki no Miko (12 episodes, 2004) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

Ah, Kannazuki no Miko, adaptation of a manga by Kaishaku. Famed as a yuri classic, nobody told me that it was actually a mecha anime (!) with a third, male protagonist (!!) in which one half of the F/F couple we’re supposed to be rooting for rapes the other and the story just glosses over it (!!! - rage). And it’s a pity, because the premise is solidly of the mecha genre and therefore refreshingly different to the usual yuri fare! An ancient evil looms over Japan as the Orochi mecha pilots begin to awaken, forcing main character Kurusugawa Himeko (Shitaya Noriko) and her classmate and friend Himemiya Chikane (Kawasumi Ayako) to work together as the sun and moon priestesses to seal the threat away. Unfortunately, in practice, it’s mainly Himeko’s male childhood friend Oogami Souma (Majima Junji) doing the fighting, and the anime spends more time building up a budding (straight) romance between Himeko and Souma before the sudden pivot in the last few episodes – a pivot which is difficult to be happy about due to the sexual assault. Watch if you’re interested but be warned that it definitely has the problems of mid-2000’s yuri and then some.

19. Strawberry Panic (26 episodes, 2006) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

An adaptation of the light novels by Kimino Sakurako, apparently this is basically Maria-sama ga Miteru done in a moe style and with fanservice. I don’t have any more to say as I haven’t watched it and the summaries don’t clarify much beyond it being a slice-of-life character drama set at a girl’s school (possibly multiple girl’s schools).

20. Fragtime (60-minute OVA, 2019) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

Fragtime adapts the manga by Sato about Moritani Misuzu (Itou Miku), a girl who can stop time for three minutes every day, and Murakami Haruka (Miyamoto Yume), a classmate who isn’t affected by Misuzu’s power. Audiences seem split between those who appreciated it as a slightly supernatural-driven coming-of-age romance and those who found it superficial and male-gazey (there is a very juvenile obsession with underwear).

21. Sakura Trick (12 episodes, 2014) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

This adaptation of a yonkoma manga by Tachi follows best friends Takayama Haruka (Tomatsu Haruka) and Sonoda Yuu (Iguchi Yuka) who, worried about drifting apart due to a change in the classroom seating, fall into a kissing-focused friends-with-benefits arrangement. Some find it sweet, others find it male-gazey, it’s a tale as old as time when it comes to yuri.

Bonus: Yuri is My Job! (upcoming anime) - Anime News Network | MyAnimeList

The recently-announced anime will adapt Miman’s ongoing manga about Shirasagi Hime (Ogura Yui), a high school student who gets pressured into working at a yuri-themed café where the waitstaff pretend to be students at a girl’s school who are in ambiguously gay relationships with each other. Hime is paired up with Ayanokouji Mitsuki (Uesaka Sumire), who plays the perfect onee-sama when working but hates Hime’s guts behind the scenes. Part human drama – like many a yuri series before it, the manga delves into the various characters inhabiting the café rather than just Hime and Mitsuki – and part metatextual riffing on the yuri genre, this should be one to look out for.

218 notes · View notes

tobiasdrake · 7 months

Text

Danganronpa V3 is so meta that they actually buried an important piece of the story expectations in marketing. This, I think, was probably a mistake.

It's important to note going into V3 that this was marketed as a step away from Danganronpa continuity. We were told up-front that V3 is its own setting. Hope's Peak, the Tragedy, Junko Enoshima, all of that isn't a thing here. It is not a factor in this story. We're wiping the slate clean and starting over fresh.

So if you start up the game trying to figure out how Ultimate Academy and the Monokubs and all that is supposed to connect with everything that came before, you're wrong. It's not. You were meant to go in with fresh eyes, expecting a brand new story told in a familiar way, with no obligations to past plot points. Like a new Final Fantasy entry.

...

The problem with that is, V3 does not exist at a specific point in time. It doesn't actually say this in the game itself; That's just the idea that was being built up as the game was approaching release. As the game has aged, this key piece of marketing has been lost.

You're supposed to go in expecting a brand new continuity with no connection to past games. This is the setup to be shocked and confused when the game later pretends that it lied, that we're still in Danganronpa continuity, as setup for a later rug-pull when we're really, truly not.

But that only works if you were following the hype train in 2017. If you're playing the game for the first time in 2023, perhaps as part of the Danganronpa Decadence package released for Switch, you probably won't know that you're not supposed to try to connect this game to any past installments or figure out how the continuity between them works.

The natural assumption, when you start playing Danganronpa V3, is to assume that it's a direct sequel to Danganronpa, Danganronpa 2, Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls, Danganronpa 3, etc. The result of that assumption, then, is for the "Nope, DR is just fiction" twist to feel like the sharp left turn into WTF, rather than the "Yep, we actually WERE in Danganronpa continuity this whole time!" twist.

I do wonder how that switch in dynamic has affected the game's reception. Do people who missed the hype train and got the context of these reveals backwards like the game more or less than people who were there on launch day?

#danganronpa #danganronpa v3 #revisiting drv3

25 notes · View notes

milflewis · 9 months

Note

who is sinead o’connor?

wasn’t going to answer this lol bc i’ve actually found myself feeling more about her passing than i thought i would? so apologies if this comes off a bit weird i am in a v strange place rn. btw. she converted to islam a few years ago and changed her name to shuhada sadaqat. tho she still performed under sinéad o’connor! she was an irish singer from the late eighties and was v talented. would ten out of ten recommend her music! but to me and a lot of ppl she was so much more than that.

the first time i saw a woman angry on tv it was shuhada sadaqat. it was a replaying of this video and the news station was taking the piss out of her. i was eight and i remember my grandad waking up from his nap and rolling his eyes at the screen and saying she should’ve kept her mouth shut. that he used to think she was smth worth looking at. and changing the channel to the sunday match.

she was So Angry and so so unapologetic about it. the ripping up of the pope’s picture in this video and declaring that we should fight the real enemy. was her way of talking about the systemic sex abuse that children have faced at the hands of the church for decades and how no one is properly talking about it. keep in mind this was BEFORE there was any serious investigations being done or it was being discussed openly in the media. it was not smth that was being acknowledged and any priests that were being caught were being treated as a ‘bad apple’ rather than part of a system of institutionalised abuse. she was nearly completely ostracised and blackballed. she was labelled batshit crazy and difficult and a shrew etc. you know the story. it’s always the same.

she never took it back. i remember one time where she was asked did she regret ruining her career bc the career that she could’ve had v much did get fucked by what she did and she said that it fucked up the career that ppl (her agents and etc) wanted for her. not the one that SHE wanted. that has always stuck with me.

sadaqat was also a survivor of the magdalene laundries. having been sent there for shoplifting i believe? at 18. which are a whole other story but were basically these places set up in ireland by the church and sanctioned by the government where unwed and pregnant/misbehaving and or had mental health issues girls and young women were sent to work (launder clothes and sheets etc) until they gave birth and then the child was taken from them and given up for adoption or were declared fit to return to society. there were v few records kept of who went where. a lot of children and women didn’t make it due to the conditions they were living in (corporal punishment was also not an uncommon practise used). a mass grave of nearly 800 bodies was found here in Tuam in 2017 (i think?) which caused a national scandal that has been handled and is still being handled so v fucking poorly it’s depressing. the church has yet to apologise or take proper ownership for this. neither has our government. who had at best allowed it to happen and at worst encouraged it. for context. shuhada tore up this picture in 1992. the last laundry was closed in 1996.

she spoke out about how abortion was dealt and not dealt with in this country. how we were sending people away to england to have them instead of legalising it here. an irish solution to an irish problem. she told her story about how she had them to try to normalise and create a discussion decades before it was allowed and brought into practise here.

she talked about things. this. to me. was one of the biggest things she ever did. she spoke! she refused to ignore and let it go! which in this country is pretty fucking rare rn. let alone back then. this is who she is and so much more. if you’re interested to learn more about her i would highly recommend looking her up! (she did a podcast episode with blindboy that i haven’t listened to yet but i’ve heard v good things about!) she was a pretty fucking cool person

#i didn’t have any heroes growing up and she wasn’t one of them even if i was going to have them but i think she came close?#idk . like i said. she was the first woman who i ever say being angry. that meant smth i think #shuhada sadaqat #sinéad o’connor #tw child abuse #anon tag #niamh.asks

47 notes · View notes

kissofsena · 4 months

Text

FANDOM BREAKDOWN : SENA STANS EDITION

within the atiny fandom, some atiny that bias the female member have claimed the sub-fandom name "sailor-pies". many of these fans either bias sena, or are solo stans within the fandom. the name "sailor-pies" come from a combo of the words “sailor” and “pies” with sailor from sena’s favorite anime sailor moon and pies from the snack moon pies.

NICKNAMES : not my sailor guardians

EMOJI : 🥮 (moonpie)

FAN DEMOGRAPHIC

AGE RANGE : many of sena’s fans are older than her, especially when she was in cupid’s rejects. nowadays there’s kind of a mix of ages with some fans now being around sena’s age or younger. however there is still a good percentage of fans that are older than her.

GENDER : as of 2023, around 60% of atiny that stan sena identify as female. this the highest that it’s been since before she left cupid’s rejects. 25% of atiny that stan sena identity as male which is the lowest it’s been since 2017. when sena first debuted she had a majority of male fans — which is what kq wanted, but as ateez got popular the want for that by the company went down. there’s also around a 15% of atiny that stan sena that identify as “other” which leaves it pretty ambiguous. within recently years (since 2020) sena has gained popularity among the lgbtq+ community especially in south korea.

REGION : sena is most popular in east asia, north america, oceania, and europe. her largest fanbases are found in korea, japan, thailand, america, italy, austraila, and new zealand.

FAN REPUTATION

FRIENDLY : many star-pies have shown numerous times to be friendly with other atiny and fandoms. the only real exception is wooyoung stans. many sena stans are also rather outgoing and the first ones to help new atiny learn about the group and such. so if you want to learn about sena and ateez, star-pies are your go to on that topic.

POSSESSIVE : this trait mainly comes from fans thinking that the other members of ateez are trying to take sena away from them. they don’t want sena and the guys to be acting friendly with each other for any reason. they also don’t like seeing her possible interacting with other male idols for the same reason. fans with this trait claim to have sena’s best intentions, but we all know that they don’t actually mean that. of course as expected quite a few saesangs of sena have this trait.

PROTECTIVE : this trait is the opposite of the previous one in the sense that fans who are protective only want what is best for sena. they don’t want a repeat of sour grapes and cupid’s rejects. star-pies / atiny with this trait are quick to defend sena and her place in ateez saying that ateez wouldn’t be ateez without all nine of them.

HUMORUS : star-pies are hilarious and are great at catching screenshots of sena’s reactions during videos. they are also not below clowning sena or one of the boys when they do something silly. 9 times out of 10 a star-pie is gonna have a meme face of sena as their pfp or an edit of her with a clown face.

FAN FAVORITES

ANTHEMS : nobody knows, halazia, cyberpunk, the ring, guerrilla, the real, wave, deja vu, new world, take me home

FAVORITE ALBUMS : the world ep. fin: will ( ateez ) zero: fever epilogue ( ateez ) zero: fever, pt.3 ( ateez ) treasure epilogue: action to answer ( ateez ) treasure ep.fin: all to answer ( ateez ) treasure ep.3: one to all ( ateez )

FAVORITE ERAS : crazy form, bouncy, the real, answer, wonderland, wave / illusion

FAVORITE TITLE TRACKS : halazia, the real, deja vu, wave, answer, wonderland, pirate king

FAVORITE B SIDES : nobody knows, this world, cyberpunk, horizon, take me home, aurora, promise

FAVORITE COVERS : u - go - girl ( hyori ) boy with luv ( bts ) leave the door open ( bruno mars ) stay ( kid laroi & justin bieber ) speechless ( aladdin ) step ( kara )

FAN TRIVIA

star-pies have a strong feud with wooyoung stans and often get into fights with them on social media. they started feuding around 2019 when videos of sena and wooyoung from a fansign “arguing” with each other was circulating on twitter.

most star-pies have been fans since sena's cupid's rejects days that came over when she debuted in ateez. this is also where a lot of her solo stans come from.

a lot of star-pies actually hated ateez’s concept for sena when they first debuted, saying it didn’t fit the idol at all; however, opinion on this as a majority has seemed to change after inception came out. this is mainly from cupid’s rejects stans not wanting to let go of the past.

there’s actually a group of star-pies who are stay-at-moms and have been dubbed “star-moms”. these fans first gain attention within the fandom after a group of moms showed up to support some of sena’s solo work in 2021. this caused atiny and netizens to dub sena as the “nation’s daughter-in-law” because of how she has quite a few mom stans.

a lot of sena stans that are also multi-stans are notably mainly girl group stans. this probably adds to the fact that sena is only female in the group and girl group stans only check ateez out because of sena.

a bad joke that went around in the early days of ateez was atiny calling sena “oppa” because jongho had accidentally did it. however, like most jokes this was taken to far and sena had asked fans to not call her that and even cried once at a fansign because of it. since then most fans have listened to sena; there are still some who do it thinking they are “friends” or “close” to the idol.

#[ fandom ]#ateez added member #ateez addition #ateez ninth member #idol au #kpop addition #kpop female addition #kpop oc #kpop female oc

11 notes · View notes

heartbeatbookclub · 3 months

Note

I absolutely adore all of your analysis so far, they are so indepth and it feels like you’re able to explain stuff that I’m only able to vaguely think in an abstract sense when it comes to ddlc and dhdhdj so so good

I do wanna say that for you mc analysis, there’s one thing missing. I’m someone who got into ddlc cause of plus so I have hyperfixated on all the lore. While the employees imply that Monika made MC, I don’t think that’s actually true based on what we know about Monika. If she could make a whole character then why couldn’t she make herself a route? Heck in one of her act 3 convos, she can barely change the music before saying “well I just break everything anyway”.

So I believe based on other emails, that it was Ive Laster who made MC since they were the one who wanted to make ddlc a game. In the first meeting notes, we are told that Ive tends to ramble a lot. But in the next one when MC is mentioned in a meeting, they are silent. Another thing is that in one of the ddlc plus trailers, ive is the name of the MC.

It could be said that Ive based it on the stuff in the control group, but the control group was made AFTER the main vm (That’s not how a science experiment should work but ya know, I don’t think they are smart). So really the control group is based on main game first. Honestly so much of the issue of the plus lore is how it’s so convoluted to get, but reading it all on the wiki helped me alot.

Plus seemed to add a new sense of horror to the og, the horror of knowledge that one plagued Monika is now plaguing the player as we have all this information but can do nothing to help them. I think the idea of MC being made by someone else adds this new layer to him along with this new layer of horror. But that’s more just my own thoughts on it that I thought you may find interesting along with all the lore from above.

Anyway, I hope you have a good day! Your post are great and I’ll make sure to keep up with coil more!

aw, thanks anon! i often find it difficult to find the exact way to explain what i'm thinking when i do analysis like i have on this blog, so i'm glad i can at least help to put it into words for other people who have even more trouble with it than i do.

as for the rest of your statement...i think you make a compelling point. full disclaimer; a lot of my knowledge on what's presented in + outside of the full text of the side stories is secondhand, and when talking about the original game, i think it's important to keep in mind that my reference for most of this is my playthrough with my friends back in like...2017-18ish a little after the game came out...? aheh, i won't lie, though i am rather obsessive in the course of scouring information i remember via the wiki/elsewhere to verify i'm not just making it up, putting off my replay of the og game has not been helpful for me.

i think it's very much up in the air as to how much influence that Monika actually has over the game, which is something i talked about in my analysis of Natsuki in the Side Stories. in my opinion, what + demonstrates more than anything is that in whatever she DID do in the main game, she mostly worked with material that was already there to make things easier on her. one of the things i based that claim on was the reference of the Protagonist in the Side Stories, but it's not a necessary claim, and in fact, i think you do make a good point in how it's unlikely that she'd be able to do this (at the very least, by herself) based on what's been shown of her ability in the game.

i think, in regards to your comment on the reference to MC in the Side Stories, it's important to consider the wider conceit of DDLC--i have a deeper analysis i'm tinkering around with on terms of it as an exploration of fiction vs the concept within the "universe", but that's another story--namely, all of the girls aren't (or at least, are heavily implied not to be) just static fictional characters following a pre-written script, they're genuine artificial intelligence!

this is part of what i meant when i said that the Side Stories demonstrate the raw character of each of the girls independently of any 4th wall shenanigans--within the world of Doki Doki Literature Club, they're essentially just people living in the confines of a computer, and therefore have essential, largely immutable character traits which exist within some fundamental essence of what makes them who they are. i think there are a shitload of really, really terrifying things this opens the door to if you really think about its nature (independently of DDLC, i've personally had longform discussions with a friend about the morality and potential horrors which would exist within a similar universe concept, and it's somewhat ubiquitous in a lot of sci-fi universes), but like i said, that's a different discussion entirely!

what i'm trying to suggest here is that it's likely that Sayori's relationship to the Protagonist is something inherent to her character, so it doesn't necessarily have to be something gleaned entirely from the Side Stories.

of course, this is all post hoc reasoning with what we're given! occam's razor suggests that it's actually just likely that (given that DDLC was written and released a long while prior to the Side Stories) they didn't necessarily plan every part of this from the outset, so some things just naturally seem to fit together a little weirdly, with little details added here and there just for flavor! i think that given the nature of the entire thing (and how Dan Salvato has talked about DDLC and the statements he's given with about in universe details in the past), it's unlikely that every single element of this was planned out from the word go.

this might be a bit of a controversial opinion, but there's a lot about how + handles the lore of ddlc that i didn't really like, just because it adds a whole new layer of lore and context, which soured a lot of my impressions, because the original game really flourished in its simplicity. that said, with all that's been given in the Side Stories and the deeper layers to the actual horror which are now visible in the original game, i think it pretty well makes up for it!

awa, i didn't plan for this to become an entire essay in itself...but i do appreciate this kind of thing! i really like digging deep into what's explicitly provided in canon to get a deeper understanding of the characters and universe as it's actually been shown, so any encouragement and correspondence related to either my analysis or my opinions in general are welcome! honestly, i'm also welcome to read others' analysis like this, because i like to see when people read deep into it like i do! typically it ends up reshaping how i see the entire thing, and it sorta just makes my heart happy to get people thinking about this stuff!

i think, as a last thought, if MC is actually conscious in any way similar to the other girls (which I think is a definite possibility, given his ability to respond in contexts impacted by Monika's manipulation, even if barebones), it actually makes him a very interesting character in his simplicity. i know that Dan Salvato doesn't see him as one, but i think it'd make for an interesting study in a fanfic or something.

i hope you also have a good day anon (even though it's 2 am here as i'm writing this...) and you BETTER KEEP UP W/IT I PUT MY HEART N SOUUL INTO THAT BABY (/lh /hj i'm just glad other people are liking it, even if it's just silent kudos :))

#coil is still on the backburner but i have been doing some work on actually finishing it after not touching it for like a week and a half #i'll elaborate more on why it's a bit of a struggle to write it when i actually upload the last part but needless to say i will finish it #anyway ily guys it's fun to talk to people who are as passionate about this stuff as me #i kinda feel like making a discord server for mutual discussion of this stuff would be fun #but i also know like 2 people would join it or too MANY people would join it #as a happy medium i think keeping my askbox (specifically anons lmao) & dms is a good option #asks #ddlc #doki doki literature club #musings

8 notes · View notes

evelhak · 9 months

Text

📚

Since some people have evidently found my books through Tumblr despite of me not being very active on the Finnish side of it, I thought: why shouldn't I post about my books? It doesn't matter they are not available in English (yet, anyway) because I would be curious enough to read about stuff my mutuals do even if I couldn't read the actual material.

So, I plan to make a post about every book I write, do cover art for, or am otherwise involved with. Best case scenario is someone finds something new to read, worst case scenario is someone is bored.

This time, I'll introduce you to my debut novel:

☁️ Unitytöt ☁️

(dream girls)

Published: 2021 by Nysalor

Genre: New Adult, Fantasy, Slice of Life, LGBT+

Certainly not the first book that I wrote but this is my first published novel and my first cover project. ✨ I wrote this book in 2017 when I was about to graduate university, trying to juggle a full-time job as a mail carrier, nearly daily ballet training and writing both my original work and fanfiction which I also started doing the same year. The schedule turned out to be too much for my autistic brain and physical conditions. Regardless, I'm so happy I wrote this book!

It's a story about a technically bodiless creature, Venna, and a human, Aiju. Venna's species lives in people's heads or musical instruments because they need music to live. Venna is an outcast, and has been living in a wind chime to avoid people and their overwhelming array of feelings, which Venna's kind experiences directly in the human brain they are living in. Circumstances force Venna to move into the head of a young woman, Aiju, who is starting her studies at a temple (=a magic university). Unlike Venna's previous humans, Aiju can hear and feel Venna and is curious for, rather than scared of a new friend in her head. Aiju is also able to control and create elaborate dreamworlds where she and Venna can meet in their own separate forms. The two begin to live their life together, studying, enjoying music, maybe even falling in love when an older student is intrigued by Aiju's peculiar behaviour. It's a story about sharing a body and partially a mind, about merging, sense of self, neurodiversity and particularly sensitivity, and also abuse and healing. It's a slow love story, a fantastical exploration of the subconscious, a fantasy focused on characters and dreams that also touches on the larger context of the universe and existence.

I wrote this book because I had read many body sharing stories and was dissatisfied with the lack of portrayal of the ordinary every day experiences that would come with it, as well as I was with the ease with which body shifting creatures always seem to adapt to their new circumstances. I wanted to see more of the reality. I wrote this book because I had briefly introduced and later edited out a music eating demon in another fantasy story of mine, who possessed a girl and made her dance in a tavern until she fainted. I was curious what a story about a similar but gentle creature would be like. I wrote this book because themes of merging and separating your sense of self were relevant to me and I wanted to explore them through a fantastical world but also reality based concepts.

I was so much more nervous about the cover project than I was about actually publishing the story. I had zero experience apart from my personal cover doodles, no graphic design studies, and had only recently started learning Photoshop. Thankfully I'm still pretty happy with the cover, although there are technical details I would do differently. The most glaringly obvious one is the ginormous bar code. It was hard to tell how big it would actually look and my publisher had warned me not to make it too small, so I overdid it. My publisher is small so there are no resources to make test copies of the books, and it's due to the smallness of my publisher that I even had the opportunity to design the cover myself despite having no experience, just some visual skills.

I still like the cover art itself, the only problem which I did suspect back then too, is that in an attempt to make the cover dreamlike, it turned out a bit like children's literature. I was the only one who was worried about it, but in some libraries people have clearly thought this is aimed at 12-year-olds. I'm sure some of them would enjoy this, but it's a bit off. A lot of people have told me not to underestimate children, but it's not that I'm doing that, I'm simply aware that this book is not written in a way nor does it contain themes or life events that are relevant to very young people. It's a very psychological story and its issues are the most relevant to people in their late teens and early twenties. It's not that there's anything in this book that a 12-year-old couldn't handle, it's just going to be boring for most of them because it would be a lot to ask from a child's attention span to be interested in stuff they can't relate to for 400 pages. Even if many 12-year-olds still like to read about characters older than them, characters they can look up to, this book is written with people in mind who can relate to 20-year-olds. Of course there are exceptions. I probably would have loved this book as a 12-year-old. But I'm sure 90% of my peers would not have cared enough to finish it.

The cover seems to have done some of its job well too, because I know some people (adults) bought this book because they thought the cover was pretty, so that's good at least. Most of the feedback I've received has been really positive, the book seems to have found some of the readers it was clearly meant for. Some relevant criticism has also come my way and I believe I've learned some things since writing this book. The only really negative review I came across so far contained so many factual errors that it seemed the reviewer had been too busy to actually process the book. From that perspective it seems like the cover has also worked well enough to draw mostly the intended people towards the book.

The most memorable experience in its publication process was probably how it was chosen for an interview at the biggest national book fair by high school presentation/communication students who hold interviews on one of the stages there every year. It was such a good interview because the two students interviewing me clearly loved the book, related to it, and were excited to talk about it with me, and asked really thoughtful questions. I couldn't imagine a better first interview as an author. It was also the day the book officially came out. It was also my first time at that book fair (I don't often visit the capital) and I was the first author from my publisher to land an interview there, so I was really very nervous at first. I was unfortunately a COVID debut author so this was the only place I was able to present my book physically that year, which obviously affected its already marginal distribution. But it was such a lovely event for me that it is the more memorable for it.

I wish this book would find more readers who love dreamy, character driven and fairytale-esque fantasy. It's not without plot, mystery, or danger, but it's definitely not the best pick for someone who needs an epic, fast paced and world-shaking chain of events from their reading experience. This is for the other sensitive dreamers out there who just love to drown in characters, experiences and subtle magic, and would rather stop to contemplate it than to rush forward at all times.

#eve's books #cover art #unitytöt #finnish books #nysalor #author life

27 notes · View notes

veronicaleighauthor · 6 months

Text

The Heroine After My Own Heart

For awhile now, I have wanted to write a post on Jo March and the whole Should She Have Married Laurie, or Was She Right in Marrying Friedrich Bhaer? We all have different opinions and mine actually varies depending on the source. If I’m reading the book, I kind of wish Jo had remained single as Alcott originally intended. If I’m watching the 1994 or 2019 adaptations, I’m Team Bhaer all the way. If I’m watching the 2017 adaptation, I’m Team Laurie. I’ve come to realize I have nothing really new or enlightening to say on the subject of Jo’s romantic prospects or marriage. I also realized the whole Laurie versus Bhaer doesn’t even matter. In the end, what’s important is that I’m Team Jo and I should be grateful Alcott created such a fantastic heroine. Is she hetero, part of the LGBT community, Asexual? Who knows? She’s open for interpretation – and I love that. There’s no single way to view her because Jo defied societal norms from beginning to end.

This post will rather be about my love for Jo, how I was introduced to her, and the impact she’s made on my life.

I was fourteen and I had agreed to help with a church yard sale and I did. It wasn’t super busy, so I wandered about and stumbled upon a VHS copy of “Little Women” 1994 for sale. Louisa May Alcott‘s autobiographical account of her life with her three sisters in Concord, Massachusetts in the 1860s. With their father fighting in the American Civil War, sisters Jo, Meg, Amy and Beth are at home with their mother, a very outspoken woman for her time. The story tells of how the sisters grow up, find love, and find their place in the world. Intrigued by the cover and the description on the back, I bought it. When I watched it, Jo March became The Heroine After My Own Heart. I had been writing seriously for three years and was astonished that I had yet to be published (I was convinced I was going to be a best-selling author before I was out of my teens, lol!). Throughout the movie, Jo’s single-minded ambition to be a writer and published and make money, resonated with me. I wanted that. I wanted to write myself into money.

I went to my Home Away From Home, BooksAMillion, and bought a copy of “Little Women.” The movie was different from the book in many ways, but it captured its spirit. I devoured the book, a couple of series connected to it, written by modern authors. I bought the soundtrack, other books by and about Alcott, and watched other adaptations. Jo – tomboyish, odd, comical, bookish, klutzy, weird Jo – was my literary idol. She was one of the first literary She’s not like other girls. I mimicked Jo in many ways, adopted her beliefs, borrowed from her story for my juvenilia, and wanted to be her more than anything. I was much shyer than Jo and didn’t really struggle with a bad temper, but Jo made it okay for me to embrace my own interests and weirdness. Others may not understand, others may laugh, others may criticize – but there’s nothing wrong with being different.

Years passed and I met other literary heroines who I fell in love with…but Jo was still The Heroine After My Own Heart. I return to her time and time again, for inspiration and hope for my own brilliant literary career. Unfortunately for me, it took a little longer to figure out my writing niche, than it took Jo. I’m getting there. I’ve also accepted that I’m shy and an introvert and I don’t have to mimic my favorite heroine. My personality, beliefs, mannerisms, quirks, etc are fine. One of Jo’s best qualities is that she always remained true to herself, and we should too.

So, check out “Little Women” 1994, I’m sure you’ll fall in love with it.

youtube

Until next time.

#little women 1994 #little women #period drama #louisa may alcott #jo march #Youtube

11 notes · View notes

joelslegalwhre · 1 year

Text

Little piece of bliss

pairing ⁀➷ frank adler x ofc

word count ⁀➷ 970+

summary ⁀➷ where Lillie finds her happiness in Frank and Mary

warnings ⁀➷ talk about finding happiness, probably just fluff, they talk about god at the end, mention of alcoholics (tell me if I missed a warning please)

a/n ⁀➷ I wrote this about two or even three years ago... so i'm sorry if this meh but tbh i don't want to change anything either (maybe i'll do a new version some day) After watching „Gifted" I got the idea to write this „short story", I didn't take into account any temporal things like Mary's age.

rights to whoever made this gif

They always tell you that you will find happiness.

Someday, one day, you will find it.

But I didn't find my happiness. It found me.

I wasn't looking for it, quite the opposite, I was done with it, I had agreed never to find it. I was ready to live my life without "happiness".

As terrible as it may sound, I had resigned myself to it. It was just the way it was.

At least that's what thought.

But anyone can be wrong sometimes, right?

It was June 16th 2017. My car was packed with all my belongings. The move was spontaneous, but never had I regretted it. It was a small thing that had made me do it. It was something so unimportant that it had not been or wouldn't ever be understandable to others.

It was a feeling, one that told me I was home now.

A place near Tampa, Florida. Small and beautiful, just as I had always wanted it to be.

The ocean was calming. Some days it was gentle and still and other days it was like a raging storm. One could think that the sea imitated our moods.

I lived in a bungalow among many others. It was so different, so new and it felt right. My life was simple and my heart was happy.

The days were the same, had a good rhythm and yet were never boring.

One day I met a little girl. I was going to hang up my laundry on the sunny side of the house to dry, when I tripped over a stone at the edge of the path between the bungalows and my laundry spread all over the ground. I had just been about to pick them up when a small hand handed me a shirt that was lying on the grass.

"Hi, I'm Mary." she said with the sweetest smile. Mary couldn't have been older than eight years old and yet she seemed much older to me. She told me that she lived in the house right next to me.

At that point, I had only lived there for a few weeks.

Mary told me that she lived with her uncle and was already going to university because she was gifted. We had made ourselves comfortable on the patch of grass next to the little path and the words just bubbled out of her. Mary looked so happy and joyful as she told me all the crazy stories she had already experienced in her short life.

She told me that she and her uncle had been watching me when I moved in. I had to giggle at the thought because I had seen them peeking through the window and it had been a really cute sight. She had her head propped up on his and I could see her talking energetically to him.

When Mary had left, she also left behind a cheerfulness that filled me throughout the whole day.

I saw her uncle often at the small bar in town. It wasn’t any hangout for old alcoholics; the bar had a certain charm. Everything was full of decorations and colorful lights. There were all kinds of pictures and all kinds of people.

But he was just sitting there at the bar with a beer in his hand.

He looked so utterly complete, as weird as that may sound. And even though his shirts always had a slight trace of oil, he looked attractive and not shabby. Maybe it was just those light oil marks that made him so interesting to me.

I had never been an extrovert. I prefer to be to myself rather than in a huge crowd. That's why I never approached him. Not because he was always surrounded by people, actually the opposite was the case, he always sat alone on the same bar stool. But the way he sat there gave off a quiet aura and I didn't dare to break into it.

Until one day, Mary had knocked on my door holding the hand of a very attractive guy, with light traces of oil on his shirt.

He had a crooked smile on his lips and looked a little insecure.

"Frank wants to ask you something." she had said, grinning at me and giving her uncle a warning look. „Yeah?" i smiled at her and then her uncle.

That had been the beginning of something beautiful.

When I think back to the time when I thought I was down on my luck, I have to smile. Happiness has found me. And it came with such force of which I could never have dreamed of. I did not find happiness. But happiness found me.

And in my case, it came in the person of a drop-dead cute, gifted little girl and her incredibly attractive, adorable uncle to find me.

If you ever doubt that you have lost happiness, always remember: It has not forgotten you, it is just waiting for the right moment. And when that time comes, you will be fully taken by it.

❁❁❁

"Lillie? Is there a God?" she asked softly. Mary, Frank and I were snuggled up in a blanket on the beach, looking out into the setting summer sun.

I lifted my head from Frank's shoulder and looked down at her. "What do you think?" I asked her.

"I don't know." she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"You don't have to know. You have to feel it. If you can feel it in your heart, then he exists.“ I said, opening my arm for her, „Everyone has to decide that for themselves."

She snuggled into my arm, and I gently stroked her blonde hair. Frank's strong arm was wrapped around my shoulder as he kissed my hair.

"I think he brought us together. Like a family." she whispered looking up to me and Frank.

My little piece of bliss.

༄ Don't copy, translate or republish any of my works on any app or other platform please. I only post my work on Tumblr and Wattpad.

Reposts are always appreciated, they really make my day🧡

#e writes #frank adler #frank adler x reader #frank adler x female!reader #frank adler x ofc #frank adler x you #gifted #mary adler #mckenna grace #chris evans #chris evans x reader #chris evans x female reader #chris evans x ofc #fluff #joelslegalwhre's masterlist

143 notes · View notes