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kanmom51 · 1 year

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What’s interesting is how jimin is taehyungs “soulmate” but Tae never mentions jimin in lives, never really comments on his posts or lives.

Taehyung will mention Jungkook any single chance he gets on posts & live like if he doesn’t he will lose his community.

Jungkook will mention jimin any chance he gets, comments on posts & comments on his lives but rarely Taehyung.

Jimin will rarely mention any of them maybe once in 2-3 lives. Only comments on jks lives, no tae’s. (Only mentioned Tae twice in like 6 lives) (Jungkook once or twice if asked to say he hasn’t seen him/comment about watching his live ect) He mostly talks about suga, Jin, Hobi.

The dynamic is confusing and interesting. It’s like….

Taehyung > Jungkook

Jungkook > Jimin

Jimin > Jin, Suga, Hobi (+ JK)

Jimin hasn’t met up with Taehyung twice now (didn’t wait at the airport, didn’t text or call, randomly posted on weverse instead of just texting Taehyung + didn’t show up to work out with him)

Like is V desperate for JK to appear his best friend but JK seems to only talk about jimin and wanting to hang with him and jimin is mostly spending time with members at hybe & working on stuff. So it’s like what are their dynamics as of now.

I feel like this one is going to be long and wordy and perhaps all over the place. It is what it is. Lol.

Ok, so let's start with your base line @malecsma1a , which to me is wrong when it comes to JM. JM does mention JK. He seeks out comments about him to have a reason to, but also talks about him or listens to his songs or comments on his lives (actively seeking JK out). JM is way more careful than JK, who in an essence doesn't give a flying fuck what people think of him. The only reason JK hasn't done more at this point is because he's respectful of his partners wishes. A partner that at this point in time is not ready to make that move yet. It's their current contracts with the company, it's their looming military service, it's their families, it's the fandom, it's who knows what it is, he's just not ready for that yet.

So JM is cautious and he goes with the easy subjects to talk about, initiating talk about, Jin and Hobi. Suga not so much (unless it was during their promotional period). I'm trying to think when he talked about RM last, and the only thing I can think of is during his Billboard #1 live telling us RM congratulated him. I might be wrong.

Anyway, JM initiates talk about them cause they are easy. Easy subjects, easy connections, just easy. Or, more like safe.

As for JK, ooh he wants to talk about him, he's itching to talk about him. You can see it in this pre-release lives when he seeks out the comments about JK and answers them or he listens to Euphoria and doesn't stop talking about JK. Did you see how happy JM was during his post recording live when JK spammed his comments? It's just that JM needs a reason to be able to talk about JK, cause you know, Jikook are kind of a taboo subject. Brining up JK out of nowhere for JM is a landmine, a ticking bomb, so he's careful. I just wanted to clear that up. If JM doesn't mention JK it's not for lack of wanting to. JK is on his mind just like JM is on JK's.

That's the JM baseline.

Now let's please move on with another baseline statement that you haven't mentioned, one that HAS to be said time and time again.

Not seeing it or hearing it happen, most certainly does not mean it isn't or didn't happen.

That one is lacking in your ask.

It feels like you are making assumptions on relationships based on the very very limited public interaction we are getting from them.

Many a times we hear from the members about messages they have sent each other on their chat group or privately, messages we would have zero knowledge about if not for them telling us about them. How many interactions like that don't they tell us about do you think? I can tell you without any doubt that 99.9% of their interactions with each other are unknown to us. Online and off. And this definitely includes JM and Tae and most obviously JK and JM.

You mention 2 interactions between JM and Tae. The first we wouldn't even know about if not for Tae telling us during his live. The second we wouldn't have know about either if not for JM's cheeky Weverse post and Tae's snappy answer. How many more interactions are there that neither shared with us? We have no way of knowing. As for the airport Weverse interaction, it's obvious that they weren't going to be riding home together, as there were 2 cars waiting for them. So maybe say hi at the airport on the way out or something like that. JM had a skip in his walk, he was excited to get to the car and home (to someone else that was probably just a little more important to him) so he decided not to wait for Tae. Oopsy. These conversations they have on Weverse are for our benefit. They are done for the fans, period. Because again, we all know they have their group chat and each other's phones. Maybe they do it to show all's well between them, because of the buzz about things not being ok, maybe another way of keeping in contact with the fans, Idk.

I digress.

Your bottom line question was about the dynamics. How they have changed? Have they changed?

Vmin

Idk what is going on, if there is something going on, between JM and Tae.

We know about two times they didn't end up getting together. But we know they were planning to, and at the same time we don't know if there are other times they did meet up.

We can also deduct from those two times that they are obviously on speaking terms.

You are right to say that Tae barely mentions JM. He didn't even congratulate him publicly on his solo album nor his Billboard #1, and that is strange for someone that is his supposed soulmate. But this could be something done in agreement with JM. We just don't know. I do not want to make assumptions about the state of their relationship with near to no information. JK is obviously ok with Tae. And dare I say that I don't think he would be so ok with Tae if Tae did something to badly hurt JM? Because even without seeing them in one frame for months now, JK has made it abundantly clear who his no. 1 priority is, and that's JM.

Taekook

JK has clearly gotten closer with Tae since their 2020 issues. It's taken some time, and I do think that JM being less available during his preparations for the album and promotions brought them closer still. But when I say close, it's by no means as close as he is with JM. Dare I also say that the kind of closeness is also different. It's a matehood kind of closeness. It's them being those friends that play online video games together, that go out once in a while with friends, for fun, for company. I really don't think there is more to that friendship. Tae is not someone JK finds solace in. The people he would turn to would be first and utmost JM, then perhaps Hobi and Jin. Tae is fun and games. A good distraction when there was no schedule, when he was off quilter, when JM was gone (in a sense, not really, but also not as available to him as he was used to up until not too long ago).

And we have Tae and his ever so often one sided mention of JK (one sided cause like you said, we barely have the same from JK). Is JK the only member he's in touch with? I doubt it. I have 1001 things going through my head right now as to why Tae is doing this. Sadly, none of them are him being genuine. I'm sorry. I love him, but this thing he's been doing, the one that even the best of ours (and I'm not including myself in that group, cause I was seeing it before and not loving it too much) are starting to question his motives about, it feels wrong. And it's not because of him championing his friendship with JK, which good for them, I'm happy they had each other to fall to when everyone else was super busy. It's the timing, it's the way he does it. Maybe if he wasn't so damn obvious about it, maybe if he was more suave, sophisticated in the way he was doing it. But he's not. I think he needs to take a lesson or two from JK, Mr. JM spoiler king and champion fan and supporter.

So, friends yes. Nothing more nothing less. Oh, and did I talk about what the company might be pushing here? No? Maybe I better not at this point. Maybe I better wait and see how things turn out, cause even if this is what the company wants, the big unknown here is just how much JK will comply.

Jikook

As for Jikook. Those two are as good as ever. Good as gold. They are doing private right now. Here we come to that ever so important baseline you forgot about: not seeing them doesn't mean they aren't there nor does it mean that they are not happening.

Here's one of the times I've talked about what we aren't seeing and why it means absolutely nothing:

I've talked about this multiple times, but this is the one I found on the run.

Remember back in mid 2022, after they went on a very long break, when there was all the talk about Jikook not interacting on SM, not being seen out together? Remember that? "Jikook have broken up" was all over the place (just like it was a second before JM's album release and JK's "have no mistake I love JM" lives) . Including coming from the usual insecure Jikookers that need the two to prove time and time again they are in a relationship (cause that's how life is isn't it? We have to prove to our surroundings that we are together otherwise we aren't?). Anyway, then we had the Seoul concerts, they were more than fine, LV, omg they were on fire, new tattoos included. Got back from LV and again that roller coaster of them not being seen together not interacting was in a loop. Good thing we had our president of the Jikook fan club to post from Washington showing us them out together. Good thing we had the JITB party BTB to show us the talk about them not interacting in the party were bull crap. Once again, seeing that content should have taught us a lesson - not seeing them initially in the clips and photos leaking from the party (well almost not seeing them, cause we did have that clipet (clip + snippet) of them in the corner JK's hand on JM's waist) doesn't mean they weren't doing their thing. You know, in the dark corner JK embracing JM's hand and all... and there was more. Believe me there was so much more that went on in that party that we haven't seen on tape.

Not seeing it doesn't mean it's not happening.

And before Busan, and then after Busan and before JM's album release, see the pattern?

JM and JK they are intimate. We kind of know it, let's not kid anyone. They have been together for years, they are sexually active, they are a long term couple. Yet, we have never seen them even so far as kiss have we? Does that mean they didn't or don't? I don't like talking about this stuff here, cause it's private, it's theirs, and that's why I'm stopping at the very innocent example of kissing, but I'm trying to make a point here. We don't see what they do 99% of the time, and I'd say since the hiatus it's already 99.9% of the time.

And yet, JK in the past few months, since Feb 2023, and even more so since mid March 2023 (his white day live) is telling us everything (in the way that he can at the moment). He's telling us they are still very much ok. He's telling us he knows stuff that we don't, stuff that he wouldn't know if they were not still very close. He's showing us just how much he cares for JM, how much he loves and supports him. He's telling us they are seeing each other, even if we don't know they are.

And JM in one song, in which he included JK, told us (so yes, the song is for us in the essence of him wanting us to know, but the letter is addressed to JK) how deep his feelings are for JK and that they are forever. JK joined him on that one.

They are good.

They are forever.

They both told each other and us that.

Look, I know you miss them. Miss seeing them. Miss seeing their interactions. I do too. So so much. Cause they are just happiness and hope all in one. Seeing their interactions, seeing how much love there is there it's precious and I miss it so much. But I'm not making the mistake, and don't you either, of concluding that not seeing these interactions means they aren't happening. They just aren't showing them to us, in the content that is.

There are a few reasons that come to mind as to why the company is doing this, although sorry but they are just being stupid. The lack of Jikook content at this point is more suspicious than any kind of content they might have had together under official supervision. For two obviously very close people, whatever label you want to attach to them, the lack of official content is screaming "why the fuck aren't they paired together?"

Not to mention the irrevocable fact that they are the two with the most electrifying chemistry. There is a reason that they used to be constantly paired together. They just work.

The company are the ones pushing these units and they have done so since the hiatus. It's Jihope and Yoonmin on the one hand and Taekook on the other.

The rhythm of Korea with BTS was one of the more obvious to see this agenda and the fact that it was JM and Suga chosen to champion Busan, yeah, felt weird to me.

Was there supposed to be chemistry? If there was, I didn't see it.

Side note: Notice how JM is wearing his special necklace in this official content. He doesn't do that. They are styled for these kind of clips. I do think that was a statement. Maybe not one necessarily for us.

In any case, that is one example.

You want another one?

JM's dance practice BTB is another. We wouldn't have seen JK there if not for JM's comment during his live about JK coming to see him practice. That BTB felt rushed and the JK part of it was evidently highly edited. Take what they show us there, less of a minute of JK being there, not even showing us his arrival (which means not showing us JM's reaction to his arrival), and compare it to the edit of Hobi coming to visit JM during the Like Crazy MV shoot. One pairing obviously being highlighted (oh, for months), the other downplayed.

There is more. All in the name of Hybe's end game. Yes, I really don't think this is being done to protect them. And I also don't think this is coming from them. If it was, JK wouldn't have rebelled the way he has against the company. JK's a good boy, he's compliant as a whole, but he is also a non conformist, and has his limits and he is being held back for too long. There are things they want to do and they aren't allowed to, and what we've seen in the past couple of months from them is their form of rebellion. What they are allowing themselves to do at the moment. JK deleting his IG. Make no mistake, that was his big fuck you to the company. His lives, not giving a fuck. Him supporting JM in the way he can being the loudest that he can under the circumstances. JM showing up in JK's comments but not only showing up, openly flirting with him. This was them saying "absolutely nothing has changed between us".

I told you this was going to be unnecessarily long, didn't I?

Well, bottom line is that I don't think the dynamics between JM and JK have changed, they are same old same old.

And to be truthful, I don't think that the dynamics between JK and Tae have changed either. Yes, they are closer in the sense that when JM is away JK is spending more time with Tae (either online or meeting up). They spend more time together but make no mistake, the dynamic is the same as it always was with those two, you could clearly see that in that Feb live when Tae showed up in JK's comments and then they went live on IG.

There are those that don't like me comparing, but I love to compare, cause that's how you know it's different, right?

The silence moments between JK and Tae in that live were outright awkward.

Then take the last time we had Jikook in a live together - JM's birthday back in October 2021, a Jikook masterpiece, lol. Their silences are electrifying.

It's the difference between staying quiet cause you have nothing you really want to or know to say and staying quiet because you want to say everything but are worried it will be too much.

Those dynamics were there before, and they are still there.

Did I forget someone?

Oh yes, Vmin.

Yeah, I have no idea. Those two are keeping us in the dark. Many think there is something weird going on with them. Could be. Could also be that everything is fine and they are just not talking about each other.

#ask

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beautifulpersonpeach · 5 months

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BPP, what do you think will happen to the fandom now that BTS has enlisted? Do you think things will get better or worse from here for the implosion. Me myself I’m not sure what I’m going to do. What else is there for me to do?

***

I think people will do one of three things people usually do when a group they stan enlists:

1. Step back from k-pop entirely. I think of this group of people as the stan ‘purists’. The reality is that for anybody active in fan spaces (basically anybody who has a fan account), k-pop (or that group specifically) is something that takes up space in their lives. The Stan purists generally step away from k-pop to find something unrelated to K-pop to serve as the ‘filler hobby’ for their group. The only successful ‘purist’ transition I’ve seen is someone who used cooking classes -> making restaurant reviews as her filler hobby for k-pop, and now does both now that her group is back together.

2. Migrate to another (or several other) group(s). This is where the majority of ARMYs will self-sort into I think and it’s been happening in noticeable volumes since mid-2021. Someone asked me last week what a group like ENHYPEN needs to take off and I gave an answer that picked out key elements but the thing I deliberately didn’t mention cause… well, is that any group that sees a rapid rise will have a good chunk of ARMYs in their fanbase. That’s the unspoken truth that’s behind the uptake of groups like Stray Kids and Ateez, specifically. Going by my guess, I’d say at least half of Stray Kids’ fandom is either multi-ARMYs or ex-ARMYs and that’s the same story with ATEEZ, TXT, and NewJeans. ENHYPEN, by contrast, hasn’t seen a lot of transfer from ARMYs to their fandom compared to the other mentioned groups. I think there’s a few reasons for that but I also don’t mind it too much seeing as it might have something to do with how much I enjoy myself in Engene spaces lol, but I do think the ‘success’ of a group like ENHYPEN could be limited by that point, relative to the other groups who do have bigger amounts of ARMYs in their fandoms. Anyway for this second point, people can move to other groups while still stanning BTS, they’ll just become multis.

3. Stay committed only to BTS. This is where a lot of people will aim to be but life will happen. Lol. That said, I do not doubt for one second that BigHit intends to keep up the milking, so we’ll be kept very occupied for much of 2024 and 2025. The boys have enlisted in such a way that the upcoming Festa celebrations will coincide with the release of at least one member from military service. We’ll have reality shows, albums, variety content, documentaries, soundtracks, maybe more games and webtoons, a tv-show adaptation… lots of ways to spend money and be entertained. People committed to keeping BTS’s records and making new ones will have their hands very busy because, every. Single. Group. and agency is counting down the clock with ARMYs for when BTS comes back. And they intend to exploit as much of this vacuum to realize massive success for their groups, as is possible. Plus given point #2, they’ll actually have the means (ARMYs) to achieve those targets. Lol. The infighting within the fandom post-implosion will be very nasty. It’s going to be a fun time.

All three options apply to everyone in the fandom: ARMYs, solo stans, shippers, antis, etc. That’s what I think will happen now that BTS has enlisted.

Personally, I intend to continue doing what I’ve been doing, which is stan BTS and support the groups I like however I feel like.

#BTS #kpop #NewJeans #Enhypen #txt #stray kids #Ateez #BTS army #BTS fandom #bts enlistment #bts chapter 2 #fandom behaviour #kpop fandom

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ooops-i-arted · 8 months

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ahsoka still calling anakin a 'good master' after everything he fucking did to her oh my god, ENOUGH!

cowboy hat man won't give it a rest. he wants to throw ahsoka in everything and have her ascend to glorified creator's pet status, but he still can't figure out how to feature her without making her whole worth and existence about anakin. a two year relationship that ended with the master nearly murdering his padawan gets to be highlighted repeatedly, as if it was the most emotionally resonant thing to ever happen to ahsoka and anakin. instead of literally any other relationship that could be explored more.

screw ahsoka's other relationships from the jedi temple or the clones. she can hang out with rebels characters who are reduced to hollow husks of themselves while she has the charisma of a plank. but let's remind everyone how special and awesome she is because anakin was assigned to her for a short time. ahsoka is almost fifty years old now, were the options really that limited? screw respecting anakin's kids who achieved their own legacies and played important roles in the rebellion, defying what he chose to become. luke and leia are barely present in these galactic events and it's rare for their names to be mentioned at all. and who the hell is padme at this point?

ahsoka's writing has been unimpressive for a while now and i haven't cared about her story beyond fandom osmosis. but her show probably isn't even servicing people who actually liked her from tcw anymore, it's about whatever caters to filoni's warped perception of these characters.

Not only is it egregious because we know Anakin is a child murderer, Ahsoka NEVER moves on or comes to terms with it! She just keeps wallowing in it so Filoni can wank off to Anakin licking Ahsoka's butthole. Also: two years. There's no way she's near as speshul to him as Padme (the woman he was in love with for 10+ years and his wife) or Obi-Wan (his Master who was like a brother to him, again for over a decade) or Shmi (his freakin' mother and likely his one point of stability in a chaotic childhood as a slave). Don't even tell me that if Anakin was dropped in the World Between Contrived Time Travel he would save Ahsoka over any of them lmao. Or drop her like a hot potato if he had to choose between Ahsoka and Luke, his son and the last remnant he has of Padme (her son), Obi-Wan (guarded and trained by), Shmi (her grandson) and pretty much the one person he was able to commit an act of true, unselfish love for (killing Palps).

I do feel bad for the fans since I've seen plenty of comments that it's "not her" and that RD's portrayal is just so flat and devoid of smirky smugness/cheekiness/whatever. I personally may hate it but it is part of her character. And you're right, why is it only people she isn't connected to? She barely knew the Rebels crew and mostly as Fulcrum, so a professional relationship, not a friendship. Not to mention Sabine being forced into a Jedi Padawan role despite NEVER showing Force sensitivity or any interest in being a Jedi, and she lived with two of them for years. She had plenty of opportunity to ask Kanan if she wanted to be trained! But nah, we gotta give Ahsoka a Padawan and throw in some forced girl power stuff on the side. (As a former little girl who deeply craved female representation in the male-dominated stories I loved, I can tell you, little girls can tell when it's forced.) (Also Sabine choosing to force herself into a Jedi role out of grief for missing Kanan and Ezra instead of actually being into it or confronting her feelings of loss could've been a really interesting character moment. But nah.)

Side note but I also find it interesting that Rex is barely in this show. Wasn't Rex Ahsoka's clone counterpart? They're very close friends? He's still alive and kicking and could help her out? That would be a really cool relationship to explore? Or did Filoni realize he can't whitewash a real Māori man the way he can animated clones?

(Also I saw this ask before bed and woke up thinking about Mara Jade and Jaina Solo, a female teacher-student relationship that was so badass, and now I want Mara Jade being Rey's teacher and helping her confront her relationship to Palpatine and Rey having the guidance of someone who Gets It, can you imagine. We could've had it alllllllll)

#deeply in my mara jade feelz now lmao #asks #anon #anti ahsoka #anti ahsoka tano #anti filoni

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star2fishmeg · 1 year

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Hi!! I don’t know if you do requests anymore or not but anyway I’ll ask for one for High & low the worst. Fujio and Todoroki love triangle with reader, who alos happens to be Todorokis ex. Basically this is the main idea, maybe they have a fight or something to decide on who gets to have reader. Which happens after Todoroki sees Fujio and reader, being together and hearing people say how they fit with each-other. Thank you for your time. And obviously love your writing!!!

ᴍʀ ʙʀɪɢʜᴛsɪᴅᴇ

Pairing: Hanaoka Fujuo x f!reader, mentions of Todoroki Yosuke x ex!reader

Summary: Focusing on the wrong things in life makes people leave, and Todoroki found that out the hard way. Now he must watch his ex-girlfriend leave the gates with his rival, Fujio Hanaoka; the boy he lost to twice.

Warnings: Todoroki angst, mentions of blood, fighting, fluff

Authors note: Thank you so much for being patient, I’m sincerely sorry it took so long! And thank you for the detailed request, it helped so much with writing (writers block has been awful). This turned out to be more of a Fujio fic but writing has no limits so it’s all good. I hope you enjoy!

Authors note II: I’m kinda experimenting with the presentation of my works atm like the banners for example (especially if I want to branch out who I write for, I like the design different for each fandom) so it’s gonna look a bit inconsistent for a bit, I do apologise. I might switch to writing in 2nd person, but I’ll have to see what people think first :)

Request: above!

Romance is nothing to fear, it’s something that can make one stronger as it brings the heart someone to fight for – a purpose. It brings a sense of reality yet also this loss of senses and rose-tinted glasses. The day y/n l/n rocked up at Oya High one afternoon, flying through the halls like a hurricane all to give Yasushi one hell of a bitch slapping was the day Todoroki felt his chest tighten. Why was she so destructive? Yasushi was supposed to help her clean her garage out but he never showed. Todoroki felt smitten after that, offering up acts of service and freeing Yasushi from his unwillingly made plans (which was him being told that he was going to help y/n with something and him having no excuse to back out).

Their first date was an accidental one. Y/n had just finished patching up Todoroki’s wounds after a scuffle and they ended up watching movies her room. Both fell asleep tucked under a blanket, arms creeping around each other and legs getting tangled, waking up to smiles instead of some awkward atmosphere. Their second date ended up being sat by a river, Yosuke fishing while y/n read her book. She remembered vividly for a while; it was the first time Yosuke spoke of Fujio Hanaoka.

“Murayama thinks I don’t have what it takes to be a leader, what do you think?” he spoke, keeping his eyes on his bait.

Y/n didn’t look up either, “If you’re trying to overpower him, then I agree with him. If you’re trying to lead the full-timers exclusively, then I still agree.” She placed her book face down on the grass, pulling her knees to her chest, “Don’t take this the wrong way, you’re strong, an amazing fighter and intelligent, all good qualities but you’re not exactly charismatic. What’s brought this up?”

“There’s a guy who just transferred, his name’s Fujio Hanaoka. Everyone seems to get along with him so quickly, without force. He wants to be top dog, but he hasn’t asserted his strength. I want to know what he has that I don’t.”

“Charisma, by the sounds of it. Some people don’t have to assert their dominance to have people follow them. All they need to do is help others realise a better way of doing things.” He didn’t reply after that, just continued to fish in silence. It wasn’t much of a date, but they both enjoyed it regardless.

The third date happened later in the year, in the winter. Oya was quieter, and so was the brawling. Yosuke and y/n spent the evening at the local festival, and that was the happiest night of his life. At the time. Eleven at night, by the lake, under the stars. Silence had coated the nearby houses and only the distance music from the festival echoed. Y/n’s hands gripped Yosuke’s for the warmth, and his heart thundered in his chest at her pink cheeks. He was supposed to be strong yet there he was folding over for a girl he met a year ago who slapped Yasushi halfway across the room. He hesitated, eyes flickered from her eyes to her lips, lips to her eyes, eyes to her lips until he was being pulled roughly by his collar down. The kiss was sweet and warm, like honey, easy to melt into. It didn’t last too long, but long enough that when they pulled away, he dove back in for more. That was the most painful day of his life.

Two months ago, y/n l/n waited outside the gates of Oya Highschool, impatiently texting Yosuke Todoroki on his whereabouts and assuming he was busy. Two months ago, y/n and Yosuke sat in an outdoor cinema, talking shit about a film neither of them particularly liked nor found remotely interesting. Two months ago, Yosuke obsessed over surpassing Murayama, instead of focusing on his own life and the people who cared for him, the girl who patched him up every time he got injured. And she left him. Explained that they just weren’t going to work, their goals were too different, ideals incompatible and that he clearly cared more about a reputation and role he was never cut out for in the first place. Two months later, y/n stood outside Oya’s gate, but not for him. Never for him again. Fujio Hanaoka jogged over to her, sweeping off her feet into a bear hug with a grin. He was never late for her, he always left anything early so he wouldn’t be late. Todoroki’s jaw clenched, his breaths becoming deep.

Full-timers briefly glanced out what was left of the window, nonchalantly gossiping to one another watching their leader give his girlfriend a peck on her cheek before making his leave.

“Damn, that Fujio’s so lucky dude. I want someone to look at me the way they look at each other.”

“Y/n super chill too, ‘dunno where she was hidin’ two months ago. I spoke to her the other day, gave me tips on how to keep my hair healthy with all the bleach in it. Now it’s not yellow, in my pretty blond boy era.” Yeah, Todoroki knew all that anyway, they once dated. He knew everything all the guys talked about. He began to believe if people started admiring her just to taunt him, as if it didn’t kept him up at night enough as it was. He was no idiot, he was the strongest among the full-timers, he'd physically beaten Fujio before but time and time again Todoroki kept losing everything he desired to him; control and now a woman who could tolerate his lifestyle. He turned and stormed away, blocking out the sounds of people calling his name, through the halls and out the gate, home. Alone. His norm since she left.

Meanwhile, Fujio sat at the bar of y/n’s family pub, watching his girlfriend attend customers with hearts in his eyes and a childish grin on his lips. His chest swelled around her, always had since the day he met her, which he remembered vividly as if it were a film replaying in his head. It was a Friday afternoon, warm and bright, but y/n stood outside Oya’s gates furiously typing on her phone with tears welling in her pretty eyes. Fujio had just returned from a fight, bruised and bleeding but the pain in his face didn’t hurt as much as the aching in his chest. He sauntered in her direction, gently making his presence know, but as he had opened his mouth to speak, she looked up at him and witnessed a vase of flowers shatter at his feet. His pain was nothing compared to what her eyes were screaming at him. And that was the day the little boy in Fujio grew up and promised he’d make her smile again.

“You alright, ‘jio?” Y/n leant over the bar towards him, eyes smiling directly at him. He never expected that they’d end up like that, he just wanted to help her feel better but before he knew it, he was agreeing to date her, and he was glad she confessed because he still believed that he would’ve fumbled his confession.

He grinned, “With you here, always. Was just thinking about you, is all.”

“Well, aren’t you sweet,” she paused, “I still remember the day we met. I had just called it quits with Todoroki and you had just won a fight. Despite the pain you were in, you made the effort to make sure I felt better. You’re really kind, y’know, unconditionally. I love that about you.”

“I could take a thousand beatings, but I wouldn’t feel a thing if I could see your smile. You heal me.” Y/n flicked his forehead, rolling her eyes but smiling, nevertheless, before attending a customer. Fujio’s phone buzzed on the counter, Todoroki’s name popping up. His thumb hovered over the notification, he always assumed it was more likely that Murayama would fight him than Yosuke ever dropping him a text so casually, he wasn’t even sure how he had his number.

Courtyard, tomorrow. We need to talk.

Fujio shrugged, replying dryly because whatever he wanted was not to end peacefully, they were full-time Oya High student after all. And Fujio knew that he’d added salt to a wound (in which wasn’t really his fault). He never really understood why Todoroki hated him so much, he didn’t really do anything in his eyes, except maybe uniting the full-timers making them follow him and not Todoroki and except maybe date his ex-girlfriend. Aside that, he was nothing but friendly. Y/n walked back over, placing freshly washed glasses back onto the shelves. Oya High students were not easy to manage, but they also weren’t difficult to love either. They weren’t criminals or hooligans; they were largely a group of guys who grew up rough and came together for a place to belong away from the world. They deserved to be loved too.

“You good, hot shot?”

He closed his phone and gave a small smile, “Yeah, just Seiji.”

There are some things in life worth fighting for, worth getting injured over and worth enduring any sort of pain for. It’s a natural human response to fight for what you believe in and for what you love, why would you not? If you truly believe that there isn’t anything in life worth the energy, then you haven’t lived or been given the chance to fully embrace and consume something at full capacity. It’s natural for people to love other people, and for this love to trigger other emotions to protect it, it’s because we are scared to lose something that made us so unbelievably bliss that we’re willing to endure any kind of pain if it meant it would be safe.

Fujio’s steps were lazy when he strolled into the courtyard, hands in his pockets and shoes kicking the dirt. The moment he saw Todoroki brooding alone he had two assumptions running through his head: fight or a series of intellectual metaphors he wouldn’t be able to understand immediately. He hoped it was option one. Todoroki tensed, which wasn’t common for someone like him, but considering the topic of the matter he had every right to be on his guard.

“Yo, ‘Doroki! What’s this about?” Fujio called with a laugh, stopping an appropriate distance away.

“What do you have that I don’t?” He grumbled.

Fujio smiled, raising his eyebrows, and shaking his head, “What? Is this about being leader again-“

“No. It’s about y/n. All I hear is about how perfect you two are and frankly it’s annoying. You found her at her most vulnerable the played the hero. That’s what this is about. What do you have that I clearly don’t?” he spat. Yosuke Todoroki, seething over a girl. What an Oya thing. An unpredictable move on him.

Fujio shook his head and just laughed, practically unable to keep himself stable and wishing Tsukasa were there to enjoy it. “Why don’t you just ask her yourself? No need to be embarrassed that you got dumped, bro. Besides, I never intended to date her, some things just happen.” He pulled his hands out his pockets and balled them into a fist when Todoroki took his glasses off. Now they were getting to the best part, but also the ridiculous part. Fighting over a woman? Sounds like Oya behaviour.

Yosuke took the first lunge, in his usual manner of swinging his fist into the jaw, only to be caught by Fujio and dodged. Meanwhile y/n’s shoes slammed against the concrete up to Oya, cheeks pink and giving her best attempt at controlling her breathing. Upon seeing a notification pop up on Fujio’s location, she had sighed and thought the worst and took off to find him. He wouldn’t have dropped his location if he hadn’t wanted her to know where he was going. And she wouldn’t have dropped everything and made a break for it if she hadn’t known what that location drop meant – a petty scrap, in her eyes, but it meant he wanted collecting.

By the time she rounded the gate, chest heaving and feet sore, Fujio had received a kick nicely enough to wiggle out of it. “Fuck’s sake!” y/n groaned, loud enough for Fujio to pause, face dropping as if he’d been caught doing something unspeakable. Backing away, he placed his bloody hands in his pockets and attempted to pull one of his puppy-like faces at the woman. Todoroki – in his usual manner – scoffed, shaking his fists, and rolling his eyes, slightly stumbling before catching his balance again.

“You two have been insufferable, you know that?” y/n marched towards them, her fists balling. If there was one thing Fujio feared, it was the wrath of a woman, especially one who was let down by the guy who basically just lost to him (he liked to believe that due to Todoroki’s wobbly balance). Standing face to face with him, y/n gently picked the glasses from Todoroki’s pocket and slid them over his nose, straightening his collar. She kept her cold gaze, sighing while he pursed his lips as if he were waiting for something good to happen, like a change of heart, or a confession he’d dreamed about, one which went something like ‘I’m sorry for leaving, I still love you, Yosuke.’

But it never came, she just shook her head lightly, stepping back, “Todoroki, stop it. Leave him alone. You fucked up, take the responsibility for once, it’s why you’ll never be a leader.” She spoke softly, the disappointment laced in her words strangled his throat, stomach dropping at the confirmation that he’d truly lost to Fujio, and it was his fault. He watched her and the other boy walk out the gates and down the street, tears welling in his eyes as his mind swapped out Fujio’s figure for his, replaying the memory again as if he hadn’t thought about it every day. Another loss to Yosuke Todoroki.

H&L harem (if you wanna be tagged in future H&L content, just lemme know :D);

@straysugzhpe @airbendertendou @strxwberrychocolate @rouzuchan @yuken-gf @rinwhore @simpforchuchu

Dedicated to @straysugzhpe who gave me the energy boost to write and post this and the rest of the h&l community and their works, love and support goes out to those who had their work stolen and plagiarised <3

[Masterlist]

[Requests CLOSED]

#high&low #highandlow #high&low x reader #fujio hanaoka x reader #fujio hanaoka #high&low the worst #oya high #high and low the worst x #high&low the worst x #todoroki yosuke x reader #yosuke todoroki

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joyswonderland1108 · 1 year

Text

“You guys have changed”

Hi hello, i’m back again with my “this fandom is shitty” rant.

On today’s live (or yesterday depending on where you live) Joon said this very sentence after reading some comments and what can i say? Surprised? Not the slightest, if anything y’all already know where i stand when it comes to this fandom.

“Yoongi marry me” “I’m X member’s wife” “Touch your nose if *ship* is real” “Speak English”, etc etc..

Let’s talk about each “category” separately.

“Marry me” “I’m X’s wife”

It’s okay to joke once or twice about one thing but when it gets too repetitive.. Why the fuck do these boys even bother coming live if every other comment is “marry me” or “I’m X member’s wife” at least be original? Make it funny? Stop maybe assuming that they even want to get married or even intend on marrying the opposite gender?

I’m going to set the point on my last sentence here. At some point it starts to get a bit too offensive when the boys keep on trying to share things that are personal to them, whether it’s in a direct way or indirect way, just for this fandom to completely misunderstand them or not even bother trying to understand in the first place. It’s bad enough that the boys can’t really say things literally as they are but they still try to get the message out there just for this fandom to completely dismiss it and not give them a chance to be understood, but the fact that they also have to remind them through direct comments that they don’t give one flying fuck about what the boys are trying to share with us, trying to let us understand.

Yoongi didn’t say that "i focus on personality and atmosphere, i don’t have an ideal type and it’s not limited to a girl” Just for your asses to be commenting “I’m Yoongi’s wife”, i bet if one of y’all sickos could’ve thought about switching the heteronormativity in this “joke” at least once despite being a woman yourself and go for a “I’m Yoongi’s husband” that would’ve made him smile for the sole reason that it’s not the same bullshit he sees every single time.

I remember a few days ago i came across a snippet from an SKZ live on tiktok, well it was originally Bangchan’s live and Han decided to join

The way they had fun with that question, the way they just answered it like it was just another monday, the way it didn’t feel annoying, the way it was an open door for them too to crack jokes with stays.. Lemme just tell you beforehand that stays are original and so far from what i noticed their comments are mostly fun they also like to mention memes in the comments to which, i believe usually it’s Bangchan, who actually let’s them know that he DID see this and that, that he did see some edits, etc.. It’s basically a whole conversation in the comments not the same lame ass jokes every single time.

Mentioning other idols in the comments..

And for what? If said idol has NOTHING to do with the members, why even bring up their name? If it wasn’t part of some type of collab, some type of acknowledged outing, or something similar why are we even talking about someone else in the boys lives what are they? A directory service? Mentioning the collab with Charlie Puth to JK is OK, mentioning the collab with Psy to Yoongi is OK, mentioning the collab with Taeyang to Jimin is OK, mentioning the collab with So Yoon to Joon is OK, etc.. but randomly mentioning some idol unprovoked?

I’m going back to a Bangchan live, the very recent one when he was asked if he saw how Jimin mentioned Felix in Pixid

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The question didn’t come out of nowhere, they didn’t just ask him about Jimin and called it a day, they precisely mentioned the part where Jimin mentioned Felix who is Chris’s (Bangchan) fellow bandmate and friend, also can you just see how genuine Chris’s reaction is? The way he was so happy to talk about that, the way he was so excited, the way he was just like you and i. And we did end up getting Felix doing the “Like Crazy” challenge after all

“Speak English”

Well no bitch how about YOU speak Korean for a change? YOU decided to stan a South Korean boy group and for all we know the official language in South Korea isn’t English, they don’t have to speak YOUR language or the language YOU best understand just to soothe your entitlement, if they do speak it from time to time it’s just out of generosity from them that they don’t even have to give to this shitty fandom.

It’s also the fact that they repeatedly keep on telling you that they don’t speak English or their English isn’t really good, that they don’t feel comfortable enough to speak English, but the comments keep on repeating the same bullshit order not even request, not only on every live but on the same live right after they say that they can’t speak English other comments pop up asking the same shit.

YOU go learn Korean, YOU go make the effort, they already make enough effort to give you high quality content, to stay in touch with a much undeserving fandom, to keep this fandom satisfied, you name it, so why on earth are we trying to burden them even more?

“Do this and that if *ship* is real”

No comment really.. It’s like the whole “blink if you’re being held hostage”, why the fuck would anyone with a sane mind think it’s okay to ask any member to do some type of sign to hint at a non-existent romantic relationship and to make it worse it’s sometimes about some very unrealistic pairings too, people they barely even interact with if not at all. Y’all go read some aus or something if that’s all you ever want from the boys.

Members could be talking about something serious, something touching, and the comments are basically just not caring about any of that more focused on getting their fantasy fulfilled. You should know that if the boys want to hint at something they don’t need a comment asking them to do it, if they’re trying to be cryptic or hint at anything it’ll spontaneously come from them, the same way JK decided HIMSELF to hint at “Letter”, it was his own decision, what HE wanted and if they want to hint at a relationship believe me you won’t even need to bother asking, they’ll be dropping the hints themselves and it’s up to attentive Army to notice.

I love how through years Jin, Joon, Yoongi and Tae have set some boundaries with Army, it’s like.. They’re already so fed up with all the toxicity and the entitlement, on the other hand our 3J are just way too fucking kind for this damn fandom, despite all the crappy things this fandom does they still manage to make time for us, manage to interact with us, manage to play a bit with us, jokingly flirt with us, heck Hobi gave us a whole boyfriend pov during his live and i don’t know if Army are actually dense or.. But do they really think it’s meant in a serious way? That JK being flirtatious some times means he wants to hook up with Army? That Jimin being kind enough to reply to silly questions makes him easy enough? Do they seriously not notice how they just genuinely want to make those interactions more fun but Army make everything regrettable.

Gosh i feel like i had much more shit to say about this but i’m already exhausted enough with long posts and my brain isn’t braining. Can this fandom get any shittier?

#I hate this fucking fandom #Youtube

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incarnateirony · 10 months

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From the article you posted it’s a relief to know the unions are aware of the smokescreen the studios are putting out right now. While I can see the unions striking the rest of the year do you think the studios can hold out not making a deal for that long?

For those who haven't read the article, they're talking about this part, which... I've been talking about myself or a while before this,

Honestly the last chunk sums up my thoughts. Even with the inside feelers I have with some studios, I can look at the paperwork and numbers. I can tell you what they SHOULD be doing. They have not been doing that, so far, so I'm saying the same thing Wall Street has been. They truly thought they could scrooge out of this and they've scrooged themselves into a corner that's about to cripple them for years and it looks like they're still trying to double down on scrooging. It's truly just fantastically bad business, assuming their inethical model to yield mass profits would work regardless of reality or conditions.

I do know that if by end of August there's no resolution--which I really don't think there will be--Zaslav at least is gonna panic. The others are trying to echo his tactics late so they might be a month or two behind on the panic themselves. This is also why What Aren't You Watching was geared for September. (And please, goddamn muggles everywhere, do not Well Actually be about this shit, your lack of understanding of legal limits on union official action or the back workings are not something I want to go back over with 100 randos making excuse to keep streaming every time I make an offhanded mention.)

Streamers are already bleeding subscriptions, and the subscriptions are one of their main income flows, so if people turned off demand and cancelled their shit their bottom line goes in the hole in the last month of the quarter, and completely derails their growth. It's a fantasy dream to imagine all shows can be supported/ordered through while simultaneously hurting the studios enough to give the community leverage, the only leverage in continued viewing is larger more famous names being able to leverage-out smaller shows and creatives with lower demand in the crunching market, and it's shooting yourselves in the foot to try to keep their bottom lines up for fear of limited budget to order things, when pre-strike they were reducing orders anyway, and the point is to hurt their bottom line, but the internet decides to kick motherfuckin water uphill.

So. Hard to say. the content addict gremlins of tumblr needing to shoot gifs into their veins are a perfect example of what's enabled this behavior by consumerism, much less their aggressive refusal to understand why WGA won't announce streamer boycott officially on main rather than as an individual to avoid the fuckin lawsuit fallout blowing up their entire thing. It would be a suicide bomb decision to try to end it, when WGA-E guy retires and the guy running on the What Arent You Watching election platform takes over, and would turn it into a pile of endless litigation instead. Which is a viable tactic but only at the right time. So.

Zaslav projections to recover are based on a september return to work date. If not only is the strike still going, but people start bulk closing their services, their Q3 is going to go catastrophically in the toilet, almost beyond repair. Things that will take them literal years to recover from. WGA is playing chess here on a legal/business level and fandom is trying to argue about how to play checkers.

But, like myself and wall street say, just because obviously this is a stupid as shit nonsense pattern of behavior doesn't mean they're going to stop making bad decisions.

Honestly let it burn. We'll make our own.

Personally I think Amazon and Apple are kind of filibustering it for everyone else in AMPTP at this point, like some company union making bad decisions in comparison with two heavyweights leading a charge that will benefit them to collapse older studios, and now the older studios are realizing they're getting fucked but their deals have to fly by Apple and Amazon. Pre-strike Zaslav as the first one to admit Apple and Amazon and the tech giants would eat them if they didn't change how a lot of shit works, so I'm thinking he's gonna be one of the first cracking regardless of his Let Them Starve quote before.

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mountmortar · 3 months

Text

since everyone is talking about other platforms i do want to throw in my two cents about dreamwidth (since not many people are mentioning it as much as bluesky, pillowfort, cohost, etc. and i genuinely love it over there) and say that:

1. it IS, fundamentally, a slower experience than your average social media. if you're someone who already entirely curates your dash here and prefers to (for example) really only see your mutuals' posts when you open up tumblr and not be constantly bombarded by the for-you page or blazed posts, you'd do well on there.

2. things on there ARE mainly text-based. if you want to include an image in your post, you have to link to it from an external source or upload your image to your account and link it from there (there's a 500MB limit for free accounts and 1.5-3GB limit for paid accounts). to the average social media user this may seem insane, but remember that text hosting is cheaper than image hosting and dreamwidth is funded by user donations and the like (and has been doing so since 2009!). ultimately, if you're someone who likes to hop online and read/write about your blorbos, your life, or anything else, dreamwidth may be better suited for you than if you're someone who gets online solely to post art and nothing else. not to say it's impossible to be an artist on there! image hosting services exist for a reason, after all. but it isn't tumblr or twitter or the like.

3. your experience on there is ENTIRELY what you make of it. this one is really important to get across because the amount of people i've seen be like "yeah i went on dreamwidth and posted for a bit but it was so boring with no engagement so i left. it's dead there" is incredibly funny to me. dreamwidth has no algorithm, no "recommended journals" section, no "for you" page, nothing like that. if you just get on there and post and log off then it's literally like if you went on here and marked all your posts as private and then wondered why nobody was engaging with them. you have to actually put effort in to talk to people if you want them to talk to you. that's why there are communities!!!

community that already exists for your fandom hasn't been posted in since 2010? make a new one! there are specific communities dedicated solely to promoting other communities that SO many people on dreamwidth are subscribed to that SOMEONE'S gonna see it and be interested. there are even communities dedicated for people to introduce themselves and find friends, including one that's literally called "addme_fandom" that gets you connected with other people in your fandom! subscribe to their posts (aka "follow" them) and leave nice comments on things you like! that's engagement! but fundamentally YOU have to go out and do all these things. on there, nobody is going to find you unless you make yourself known, and if you don't make yourself known? then yeah, it's "completely dead" over there.

TL;DR: dreamwidth is a slower-paced blogging platform that's mainly text-based and users have to actually talk to each other in order to engage with each other. if you're someone who posts writing in any form and who's getting irritated with modern social media (even if you're someone who just likes posting about your blorbo or complaining at length about things) then you may like it there! but if you don't reach out to people, they're not going to reach out to you, so don't expect anybody to know you're even there if you stay in your own little corner.

#i feel like my tone in this post is coming off as really salty. that isn't my intention at all though #i'm just trying to give people a better idea about what it's like over there. basically YOU HAVE TO TALK TO PEOPLE!!!!!

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pompompurin1028 · 2 years

Note

Can you ramble more about Dazai please? I seem to have become addicted to it

Some notes and disclaimers before I begin: this is about Dazai-sensei rather than bsd Dazai. Yes this is about a bsd centric blog but I'd love to talk about his irl counterpart. Secondly, my opinions are by no means professional, and I have limited knowledge regarding Japanese literature in terms of literary studies. Therefore, I will be for a lot of parts quoting and citing research and papers done by people who are actually in these studies to help me and I will also be adding my own observations and comments as well while also referencing Dazai's works. So if you're interested in the subject, I recommend referring to these papers than what I say. Anyways, these are simply my own opinions that I have gained from reading his works, then reading these papers and contemplating further, and coming to my own conclusions. I have also not read all of his works, this author has around 140 works written in his lifetime from what I have read orz.

Warnings: mentions of suicide, mental institutions, mention of substance abuse

But yes I'd love to ramble more about Dazai! This time, I would love to talk about a topic which I had recently gotten quite interested in regarding Dazai's works and that is regarding his narration. Of course, this is still a topic I am diving into and am looking into but I still think it's something interesting to share.

As most people in the fandom probably already knows regarding No Longer Human, and as many online websites have also shown, this novel is generally regarded as semi-autobiographical and an I-novel. Which is not surprising given some of the similarities of Dazai and his character Yozo Oba. Such as his clowning, which seems also to be part of Dazai's demeanor. As this can almost be felt in a few of his works as seen from his work Cherries:

"I’m the joker in the family. Let me put it this way. All I can do is put a jolly face on the huge amount of anxiety and mental anguish I feel. And no, it’s not only at home that I do this. Whenever I come into contact with people, no matter how depressed I am, no matter how much physical pain I am in, I do my frantic best to create a pleasant mood all around. Then, after parting, I reel with fatigue and think only of money, morality and suicide. And no, it’s not only when I have met with people. This happens when I write as well. It’s when I’m sad that I strive to create stories with a light, jolly air. I mean, here I am trying to give people exactly what they want, and they just don’t see it, coming out with contemptuous things like, ‘Dazai’s lost his edge … he’s lightened up too much … he’s trying to attract readers with facile humour’." [1]

In his work 正義與微笑 (Justice and Smile) we were also met with something similar from his main character, in which in the beginning of the novel, the main character remembers this verse from the Bible, which says "And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." And after reading this verse, the main character seems to come to an enlightenment, which is the central aim of the novel and the inspiration behind its title, "to practice justice through a smile" through becoming an actor[2].

One can even say this clowning can be traced to Dazai-sensei's writing style and the way he acts in his normal life. According to O'Brien, “Dazai seems to have enjoyed playing clown even during his youth... even as a youth, Dazai intended his clowning as an act of service. Sugimori, for example, suggests that Dazai naturally came to feel he owed people (and eventually his readers) a kind of service as the son in a family paternalistic toward its tenants and the neighboring poor” [3] (from what I have read, his aristocratic background may not have helped with this feeling). And “even after Dazai left Kanagi (A/N: Dazai’s hometown I believe) he continued his career as clown — in his writing if not in his behavior. And during his extended residence in Tokyo, it appears that he became more and more familiar with an art that helped him maintain and develop his comic gift. This art — almost unknown to the West — is a traditional type of storytelling and pantomime known as rakugo” [4].

Rakugo, from what I have read about it seems to be a sort of comedy (I don’t know too much about this tradition, forgive me orz). But according to O’brien, “Rakugo storytellers practice their act seated on a cushion before an audience in the “Yose” theater. The storyteller will simultaneously mimic and narrate a comic situation — for example, two old women in a public bathhouse, each of whom insists that the other use the single bar of soap first. Gesturing with his fan and arms and adopting the speech and accent appropriate to his characters, the storyteller develops the situation into a skit. [With] the comedy depend[ing] heavily on punning and rapid-fire speech”[5]. Though Dazai does not seem to go to these theatres regularly, O'Brien quotes Dan Kazuo’s (a friend of Dazai’s who was also a part of the Buraiha) The Story of Dazai Osamu, that “Dazai kept only a small supply of books at home. He read only occasional volumes even of those authors he admired — Ueda Akinari, Saikaku, and Basho especially among Japanese writers. But Dazai collected rakugo texts more thoroughly, including the complete works of the nineteenth-century master Encho, and he read through them with regularity and enthusiasm”[6].

It appears that Ango had also described Dazai’s writing with Rakugo, in which he says in an interview: “I hold his works in high esteem, like rakugo. I think it is the greatest, rakugo, and one should not speak ill of this. Rakugo is enjoyable and amusing. If it is a piece that extends joy eternally, then that merits being called on of the greats. Dazai is one of the greatest rakugo authors, therefore he will have a place in history”[7]. But comedy in Dazai’s work is a another discussion (something I'm also still looking into) and I have already mentioned some of this to you before so let's more on...

Of course, the connections of some events in the novel No Longer Human, and his real life experiences also aid in the view of this novel as a semi-biographical novel. One being his double suicide attempt he had with a woman from a bar, which he not only referenced in his novel, but also referenced in some other works, such as his personal essay(?) Female, or even his work The Flowers of Buffoonery (both of these should be early period works, and interestingly enough Dazai has used the character name Yozo Oba in this work as his main character, I believe this is going to be released in English next year I believe [finally... I’ve been looking for an English version and was so surprised to not see any. I have a version of it translated in my native language but I have not read it yet], fun fact, this work of Dazai’s was actually name dropped in bsd during the Lovecraft fight as one of the code names lol). The Flowers of Buffoonery is basically based on Dazai’s double suicide attempt at Kamakura and the succeeding days spent in recuperation at a nearby hospital[8], the version I had bought in its description wrote that Dazai may have wrote it due to the guilt he felt regarding this event (the woman died while he was saved)[9]. But interestingly enough, something which was not done in No Longer Human, is that Dazai, the author, intrudes into the narrative at certain points.

According to O’Brien, “the manner in which Dazai intrudes to comment within the narrative, however, tends on occasion to emphasize his function as author separate from the work. For example, pretending to an exasperation at his inability to properly develop the plot, Dazai calls The Flowers of Buffoonery “senile” and himself a “third-rate author” (A/N: If I recall, this is probably not the only work he has done that since I remember coming across something similar in his works, but Dazai does take criticism of his works quite seriously). In another passage he conceives of his novel becoming a classic, then labels himself crazy for entertaining such a thought. Dazai begins another of his interruptions purporting to explain the purpose of the intrusions. “I’ll tell everything. In truth, it was just a scheme of mine to thrust this fellow called “I” in between scenes and have him recite things he should have left unsaid. Without letting the reader notice what was afoot, I strove to impart a special nuance to the work with this “I.” I congratulated myself on a grand style hitherto lacking in Japanese letters. But I failed. Why, even this confession of failure I’ve included in my plans. I wanted it in a little later, if possible. And, I think I arranged to say that from the beginning too. Ah … don’t listen to me. Don’t listen to a thing I say.” In a later passage Dazai again declares that involving himself in the work was a mistake. “I’ve said much that should not have been said. Moreover, I’ve a feeling that I’ve overlooked more important matters. This may sound priggish — but, if I pick up this work later, I’ll feel wretched. I’ll tremble in self-disgust even before I finish a page. I’ll close it surely, I don’t even have the heart to read what I’ve done now. Ah, a writer can’t afford to reveal himself. That’s his downfall.” Needless to say, his reader can hardly take Dazai literally. He had already shown that he could destroy manuscripts that did not satisfy him, and if Dazai had in fact despised The Flowers of Buffoonery, the manuscript would have ended up in the backyard fire. Dazai feigns an uncertainty as to how to relate his story until the very end. Recall the final line, which follows immediately Yozo’s contemplation of the sea below: “Then … no … that’s all there is to it.” Dazai, it would appear, is not suggesting that Yozo has transcended his fears. The author, to put it baldly, is unable himself to continue narrating. For he is Yozo, not simply in the sense that he is writing an autobiography of past experience, but, more significantly, in the sense that he as well as Yozo does not know what step to take next”[10] (I just think this is something really interesting, we will also refer to this again later).

Furthermore, the ending of No Longer Human can also be traced back to some of his real life experiences. That would be during the prewar period (still during the early period of Dazai) when Dazai let himself be taken from his pleasant Funabashi home to the Musashino Hospital. Only when he found himself locked alone in a cell did he wake up to the fact that his friends had put him in a mental institution (this was due to Dazai’s addiction and increasing reliance on drugs as his mental health went into increasing decline)... This experience led to Dazai to write a work named “Human Lost” based on this experience, and according to O’Brien, No Longer Human was Dazai feeling moved to write on this event again[11].

In addition to No Longer Human, quite a lot of Dazai’s works (especially in his early period and late period) do not seem to be able to escape from autobiographical experiences. Even his rewrite of Schiller’s The Pledge and the myth Damon and Pythias, Run Melos, also seemed to have suspected to have inspiration from real life experiences of his. It can in fact be seen as anecdote from his experience "from a more turbulent part of Dazai's life is actually similar to the story of the Ancient Greek companions. Just like one of the friends from the legend is taken hostage instead of the other, Dan Kazuo once had to remain at an inn in Atami after Dazai had spent all his money there and promised to return and pay his debts after borrowing from Ibuse. As opposed to the legend, Dazai didn't return for a few days, making Dan pay by himself to be able to leave and search for his friend. He found Dazai at Ibuse's place playing shōgi, too ashamed to ask his mentor for money"[12]. And this had Dazai commenting (translated) "Is it painful to be the person who waits? Or is it more painful to be the person who makes others wait?” and according to my source, Dan believed that the inspiration for the story came from here[13].

Anyways, of course Dazai has distrust for human beings for other reasons, since "Dazai felt he had been disappointed and let down, which affected him greatly. He names many instances of “betrayal” in his life, including his friends putting him into a mental institution and Hatsuyo revealing ‘she was not the pure creature he had thought her’ (A/N: she was Dazai’s first wife, who was a geisha, their relationship is... complicated, they eventually divorced). As he was the betrayed and the betraying one throughout his whole life, Dazai probably could not believe the ideal relationship between two people portrayed in Schiller's ballad could exist"[14] (and I will not further elaborate on the actual story since, again I have rambled on that before to you).

On a side note, I thought it was quite interesting that Bungo to Alchemist decided to have this distrust be related to the betrayal he felt regarding the Akutagawa prize, since Run Melos was a middle period work of Dazai's while the Akutagawa prize incident was something from his early period and I was under the impression that Dazai had given up on the prize during that period due to what I have read (but that is my interpretation of it anyway). Run Melos was written after his marriage to his second wife, in which (at least from Chinese sources I have found) that he wrote to his wife during his marriage that:

「結婚，家庭，我認為都需要努力才能維持。需要嚴肅努力對待，我沒有任何輕浮的意思，即使貧窮，我也一生珍惜。」 [15]

(Translation) "Marriage, family, I think it all takes effort to maintain. It needs to be taken seriously. I have no intention to be frivolous, even if in poverty, I will cherish it all my life."

And in something he wrote after his marriage he writes:

「我想錯了，這場賽跑不是100米短跑，是1000米，5000米，是更加長的馬拉松。」 [16]

(Translation) "I was wrong, this race is not a 100m sprint, it's a 1000m, 5000m, a longer marathon."

There are of course works that seem a lot more autobiographical. Which is aided by, of course his use of 'I', the fact, as Donald Keene had stated that Dazai “returned again and again to incidents in his life, especially those that occured during the period when he was nominally in the French Literature Department of Tokyo University, for his materials for his writings. His descriptions of such incidents has induced some critics to treat him as an ‘I’ novelist”[17]. Of course, some of Dazai’s own comments don’t really help with this image, such as his comment in his middle period work Otogizoshi in which he writes, “I’m a story writer with such feeble imaginative powers that unless I myself have experienced something, I can’t write a line—can’t write a word—about it” [18] (but the question of whether we can take Dazai's words literally is again dubious, but it is quite true that Dazai does rely more on external sources for his sources of inspiration rather than through imagination, such as drawing from his own personal experiences, inspired by writings of others and create his own rewrites and even referencing diaries of others, with permission of course).

The fact that some of his work feels like Dazai 'confessing his sins', or even illustrating his own weaknesses set a very confiding mood, especially in his “personal essays”. This can be seen in works such as Canis Familiaris, in which he describes his persona as deeply afraid and hating of dogs and when one dog in particular followed him home, he couldn’t get rid of it (it’s actually quite comical, even Dazai described it as that), here is an extract to demonstrate:

“Weak-kneed diplomacy. The dog instinctively detected the fear in my heart and lost no time in capitalizing upon it. The next thing I knew, he had brazenly taken up residence. Throughout March, April, May, June, July, and August he has remained at my house, and even now, with autumn in the air, he has not seen fit to leave. I can't tell you how many times this dog has brought me to grief. I just don't know what to do about him. For the sake of convenience, since he's here and won't go away, I've dubbed the beast "Pochi," but in spite of the fact that we've lived in close conjunction for half a year, I do not consider him one of the family. He is, as far as I'm concerned, an outsider. We don't get on well together. There is a decided lack of harmony. Sparks fly as we struggle to come to grips with each other's psychology. And to relax the tension with a warm, spontaneous smile is something neither of us is capable of doing.”[19]

In other works such as Thinking of Zenzo, Fallen Flowers, Cherries etc, there are elements of weakness he will confess to the readers. Besides, weak characters and their weaknesses are quite constant in Dazai’s works, so when met with these things I, as a reader at least, was not quite suprised when met with these elements. Of course, there are also specific elements which cause the reader to assume that these are personal experiences such as referring to other characters that the reader may know to be in contact with him, such as his wife, children or naming specific people, or sometimes just writing down initials which one could easily substitute if one is well aware enough of Dazai’s background. Sometimes, he also refers to events he had written in previous works again, such as Thinking of Zenzo and 市井喧爭 both refer to this one experience Dazai had with buying roses, events like these recounting the past again, or just the fact that he or his chacaters talk about writing with elements of above one may pertain to making these stories feel personal. These elements makes it feel as if Dazai were recounting the past and almost speaking to the reader directly, and the way he creates these stories make it inappropriate to doubt them[20] (I too, for quite some time, took Dazai's narration quite directly because they really do feel personal and I can almost imagine what he writes). I would imagine that, as McCarthy puts it, Dazai uses an "easy... colloquial style" of writing only adds to this feeling[21] (Dazai’s short stories are always really easy to read imo). And these elements as O'Brien writes is believed to be the reason Dazai’s works mainly appeal to a younger audience[22].

But Dazai is by no means "a faithful chronicler of his own life" as Keene puts it, to say his work is entirely confessional is likely not the case[23]. Besides Keene, McCarthy in his essay "After the Silence" also writes that the "brand[ing of] Dazai [as] a relentlessly 'confessional' writer, the ultimate I-novelist, an author who was basically unconcerned with structure and plot, or more or less incapable of creating characters other than semifictional alter egos... is simply unsatisfactory in terms of producing a balanced appraisal of the artist and his art"[24]. O'Brien also comments that “despite their autobiographical inspiration, few if any of Dazai’s works can be called shishosetsu (A/N: I-novels)... Dazai is not a shishosetsu writer, primarily because he does not attempt a minute and sustained recollection and reconstruction of the past... It is questionable whether Dazai had the determination and perseverance to pursue his past in this fashion. Certain of his remarks on how he composed accounts of his past suggest a very different method. Rather than pursue it, Dazai would allow his past to come to him. Like any other person, Dazai retained a vivid memory of certain striking and important events in his past. And these memories — rather than his entire past — tend to serve his need for story material. For this reason, certain episodes occur again and again in different parts of Dazai’s work, creating in some readers an exasperating sense of déjà vu... In the succeeding periods of his career, Dazai frequently used first-person narration. But the first-person narrator in Dazai seldom becomes a wholly reliable one... At times Dazai seems to mix up objective and personal modes of narration as a means of tantalizing his readers”[25].

Though O’Brien in his book raised his fairy tale collection Otogizoshi as the example of having both objective and personal modes. Having read Cherries after reading most of this book, certain areas of the passage have intrigued me regarding its choice of words and narration. These are of course my own observations though, so you need not to take it too seriously. But I think the change of “I”, and “the husband” and “daddy” to describe himself throughout the short story caught my attention.

“Mummy tries her best to keep her head above water, and daddy’s no different. It wasn’t as if he was the most prolific novelist in the world from the outset. He’s a timid little coward to the core of his being, and his words stutter onto the page, making this as plain as day to the public. It pains him so much to write things down that the only thing that saves him is drowning his sorrows in drink. When you drown your sorrows in drink, you can’t remember what it is you were trying to say. You drink because things are tedious and annoying. The people who are always able to express clearly what’s on their mind never get dead drunk like that. (This explains why women don’t drink much.)

I’ve never known an instance when I’ve won an argument. I’m always the loser. I’m overpowered by the strength of my opponents’ conviction, by the scale of their self-assurance. I just clam up. It does dawn on me on reflection that my opponents might be arguing totally out of selfishness and that I may not always be the one in the wrong, but the thought of insisting on a reopening of the verbal hostilities once I’ve given in is pretty dismal, and, besides, these arguments leave a grudge as horrible as a fist fight, so I just laugh it off even though I’m shaking with rage, shut my mouth and, with my head full of all sorts of things, drown myself in drink.

Let me put it straight. I could beat around the bush like this till the cows come home, but the fact is that this story is about an argument between a married couple.

'The vale of tears’.

That’s what lit the fuse. This married couple, as I have already noted, are an exceedingly civilized pair of people who do not indulge in violence or swearing at each other. And yet, this very thing is what courts danger and leads to an explosive situation, the danger when neither says a word because they are both gathering evidence of the other’s faults, the danger that each is playing their cards close to their chest, stealing a look at one card then another, preparing to get the jump on the other and to lay all their cards triumphantly on the table. That’s what’s behind the coy reserve with which they treat each other, if you must know. I’m not sure about the wife, but I do know that this husband is so full of bulldust that you couldn’t beat it all out of him even if you wanted to.”[26]

Of course, one can say that I am overanalyzing this, but I found the choice of words extremely interesting. Though one can perfectly imagine Dazai as “the husband” and his wife as the wife in the story. Dazai inserts this ‘I’ figure into his story to add to the narrative, creating an abstract narration. Though in the beginning he seems to associate the father with the ‘I’ as seen from “We cram ourselves into a three-mat room in the summer for our raucous, chaotic dinners, as daddy... that’s me... wipes the sweat streaming down his face and grouches under his breath”[27]. But soon that “we” turns to “they”, and “my children” changes to “their children”. And yet later at some points the “the father” changes to “I”. Of course, when one reads it as it is, one easily notes that “the father” is the “I” that is Dazai was even called that in the short story, but the fact that he deliberately changed perspectives, and so smoothly none the less just makes me think. It kind of reminds me of the narrative method from The Flowers of Buffoonery, except this short story is a late period work, through this connection we can actually examine some of the similarities between Dazai's early and late period works.

One of the main similarities one would be able to note from these two periods is the autobiographical quality of his works. Which is in contrast to his middle period works where he breaks his former style of writing and instead opts for a loosely confessional style. According to McCarthy, in a letter to Ibuse (Dazai’s mentor) Dazai wrote, "for the time being I don't feel like writing realistic I-stories anymore. I plan to write only fiction, choosing only cheerful topics"[28]. Scholars tend to look down at his middle period works, McCarthy describes that they believe that they are "too light, too sunny, too entertaining to be of any real significance"[29] (I think it isn't quite fair, even know I understand analytically wise No Longer Human and The Setting Sun which are known as his best works do seem to have more literary value. But even the voice during this period is quite still distinctively Dazai’s, you can even sometimes sense those previously known qualities of Dazai within these works including some rewrites. Maybe people almost feel that Dazai feels like a moralist in these works? But when you compare it to the actual inspirations of this work you can see Dazai actually adds moral complexity to the characters. I think putting them next to one another and comparing them is fascinating... Even in his rewrites of fairy tales in Otogizoshi, though I have yet to read the originals, one can definitely sense that it is more than a simplistic good or evil characterization. I mean in the end of the first tale, "The Stolen Wen", Dazai literally wrote: "Most of our children’s stories end with the perpetuators of evil deeds getting what’s coming to them, but this old gentleman did nothing wrong. He tried to perform a dance that, owing to a case of nerves, turned out rather disturbingly weird. Nor was anyone in his family particularly evil. And the same can be said for the sake-loving Ojii-san and his family, and for the Oni of Mount Tsurugi as well. None of them did anything wrong. And yet, although not a single instance of wrongdoing occurs in the story, people end up unhappy. It’s difficult, therefore, to extract from this tale of the stolen wen a moral lesson for daily life. But were an indignant reader to demand to know why, in that case, I even bothered to write the damn thing, I would have no choice but to reply as follows: It’s a tragicomedy of character. At issue here is an undercurrent that winds through the very heart of human existence”[30]. Anyways, I’m going off on a tangent here, I'll come back to this later).

But even during his early and late periods, when reading his works critically, one cannot take Dazai literally, and that his 'I, Dazai' stories as completely truths or semi-autobiographical stories as truths, McCarthy even wrote that one should merely take it as a fictional technique. Even though he often seems to be encouraging us to draw no dividing line between the author and the teller, but according to McCarthy, in a letter to his lifelong supporter and mentor, Ibuse Masuji, dated September 1936 (early period) -just a month or so before he entered the mental hospital-Dazai had written: "I've always intentionally chosen the most shameful and foolish things for my 'works' and my 'actions.' I've done so in order to force myself into a position where I had no choice but to write stories. There's nothing unconscious about it"[31]. Besides, McCarthy also quotes Dazai's rambling preamble to "Haru no Tōzoku" (A Burglar in Spring, 1940) (from the middle period of Dazai's career), which writes:

"One needs to be extremely prudent when bringing a character called "I" into a story. Since olden times, in any country -- although in this country the tendency seems particularly pronounced readers have had the bad habit of believing works of fiction to be revelations of scandals from the author's life, and to put on a superior air as they censure him or smile pityingly...

When writing I-novels, authors generally paint themselves as "good boys." Has there ever been a main character in an autobiographical novel who wasn't a "good boy"? I seem to remember that Akutagawa Ryūnosuke wrote a similar complaint somewhere or other. It was in fact this sort of suspicion that inspired me to describe my "I" as the most vile-natured, the most demonic of all the characters. This struck me as more gallant and pure than trying to garner sympathy by becoming the queer little "good boy." That was my mistake. There are limits to what you can get away with in this world...

I know full well that to set public opinion straight is no easy task. I have nothing to aid me in this task -- no social standing, no authority, no money, nothing. Armed only with a pen, setting down these thoughts one character at a time in my attempt to correct what's gone awry, I'm in a precarious position indeed. What is burned down in an instant requires a hundred years to rebuild. . . .

But isn't this, once again, the author writing about his private life? ... Aren't you contradicting yourself? No, I'm not. We've already entered the world of fiction.

The reader, too, must proceed with caution. To get back on your feet is, as I've just said, not an easy thing to do. The proof is that, in order to write a tale about a burglar, I've had to first set down this long disclaimer. The scathing criticisms, not so much of my work as of my actual life, my personality, my physical constitution, have left me all but defeated, to the point that merely to write a single piece of fiction I have to exercise all these precautions. Blessed is he who can love fiction as fiction. The world does not consist of such perceptive persons alone, however.

I originally intended to make this a plausible-sounding confession, a tale of how I, finding myself in dire need of cash, acted as a burglar. I'm quite sure it would have been a realistic and fascinating story. I put too much care into my fiction, the upshot of which is that people -- even persons whom one would think should know better -- are forever wondering whether what I've written is not, in fact, the truth. Even I myself have at times begun to wonder.... That's what I get for doing nothing but read useless storybooks for the past twenty years. I must preserve, to some extent, the romanticism that has seeped all the way through to the marrow of my bones in that time. But I also have to learn moderation. I have to become, to some extent, more mediocre.

... Were I to get carried away as usual, filling my scandalous account with fine details, who knows but that people might whisper, "Well, I wouldn't put it past him. He may very well have done a bit of burglary in his time" -- again I'd be smearing my own name with mud. When I've become a bit more respectable, when the world's opinion of my character is not as low as it is now, when my reputation is elevated to the point where I can at least report on my private life just as it is, then I shall show you the bold use of a main character named "I" as a model of all sorts of depravity. But I mustn't do that now. Sad to say, but I mustn't.

The story I'm about to tell you is fiction. A burglar broke into my house last night. And that is a lie. It's all a lie. The absurdity of having to make this disclaimer.

I can't help but laugh to myself."[32]

Dazai most likely had to do this because as McCarthy also wrote in his essay, his works are becoming judged by his private life. Perhaps the best example I could give to this is Dazai's first attempt at winning the Akutagawa prize. Where though Dazai’s short story was nominated for the prize, the reason for his defeat was the opinion of one of the judges on his private life, due to his work The Flowers of Buffoonery. From Dazai’s letter to Kawabata Yusabari he wrote:

“In the September issue of Bungei Shunju you wrote of me disparagingly: “… After all, ‘The Flowers of Buffoonery’ is full of the life and the literary views of its author, but it seems to me that there is an unpleasant cloud surrounding the author’s personal life at present, and, regrettably, this prevents his talent from being expressed as it should be.”

Let us not bandy inept lies. When, standing in the front of a bookshop, I read the words you had written, I was deeply aggrieved. From the way you had written, it was quite as if you alone had decided who should and should not receive the Akutagawa Prize. This was not your writing. Without doubt, someone had made you write this. What is more, you were even exerting yourself to make this obvious. … at the end of August, I stood in a bookshop, read a copy of Bungei Shunju, and discovered what you had written: “… an unpleasant cloud surrounding the author’s personal life at present…” etc. etc. To tell the truth, I burned with rage. For many nights I found it hard to sleep on this account.

Is breeding exotic birds and going to see the dance, Mr Kawabata, really such an exemplary lifestyle? I’ll stab him! That is what I thought. The man’s an utter swine, I thought. But then, suddenly, I felt the twisted, hot, passionate love that you bore towards me – a love such as that of Nellie in Dostoyevsky’s The Insulted and the Injured – fill me to my very core. It can’t be! It can’t be! I shook my head in denial. But your love, beneath your affected coldness – violent, deranged, Dostoyevskian love – made my body burn as with fever. And, what’s more, you did not know a thing about it.”[33]

Anyways, in addition to McCarthy’s essay, in Self-Portraits even is Michiko (Dazai’s wife) writes in an essay that "Many of the things Dazai wrote seem to me to have been gross exaggerations or pure inventions that give the impression of being true, but the circumstances of the gathering of Tsugaru artists appear to have been more or less as depicted in "Thinking of Zenzo". ... I remember him coming home by rickshaw that night and telling me how he'd blundered. The part about the rose-seller, too, is about fifty percent the truth as I witnessed it", so it's something to think about when reading Dazai's works[34].

So, even in Dazai’s later novels, for example, The Setting Sun and No Longer Human, one must be careful when examining the narration. Because, I think O’Brien described it really well, that Dazai seemed to be “’dividing’ himself among a number of characters, allowing each of them to represent limited aspects of himself”[35]. I too felt this when reading The Setting Sun for the first time, in which both Naoji and the author in the book reminded me of Dazai, and as time went on, so did Kazuko (slowly I think I have grown to accept that I enjoy The Setting Sun even more than I do No Longer Human, and with my biases, I like to think The Setting Sun is more representative of Dazai’s works). O’Brien also comments that a reader of Dazai’s post-war fiction should always remain vigilant of the stories lenses, for example, how in No Longer Human one must both accept Yozo’s narration of himself and the hostess’ description of Yozo in the epilogue as an “angel” (interesting enough, in different essays about No Longer Human and Chinese translations of the book that had been quoted by people I’ve seen online, the term the hostess uses isn’t merely an angel, she in fact describes Yozo as “he was a good boy. He was like a god”, something interesting to note).

This reading of the work according to O’Brien is derived from the reading of Dazai’s middle period works, where he seems to avoid putting the bulk of his ego into them. However, when reading some of them, I could definitely still sense some of 'Dazai’s' world views in the characters. For example, in Otogizoshi, in the tale Urashima-san Dazai writes:

“Why can’t people get along without criticizing one another?” Urashima shakes his head as he ponders this rudimentary question. “Never have the bush clover blooming on the beach, nor the little crabs who skitter o’er the sand, nor the wild geese resting their wings in yonder cove found fault with me. Would that human beings too were thus! Each individual has his own way of living. Can we not learn to respect one another’s chosen way? One makes every effort to live in a dignified and proper manner, without harming anyone else, yet people will carp and cavil and try to tear one down. It’s most vexing.”[36]

or in “The Sparrow who lost her tongue”:

“Me? Me, well... I was born to tell the truth.”

“But you don’t say anything at all.”

“That’s because the people in this world are all liars. I got sick of talking with them. All they do is lie. And the worst part is that they don’t even realize they’re doing it.”[37]

I think it is also really interesting to note that, like Cherries and The Flowers of Buffoonery, in Otogaizoshi, Dazai, in addition to narrating his version of the fairy tales, also inserts himself into the work as the “I”. At certain points, he even interrupts the narrative to speak on something in the story itself, making the narrative actually really interesting, I feel like some may be annoyed by Dazai for doing so, but I find it quite endearing. It’s nice, its almost familiar and intimate, like he’s not just the author but sitting beside you and telling you the stories. It’s nice, I remember when I got to the A Retelling of the Tales from the Provinces which was in the same volume of the Chinese version I read, I was quite sad to not see Dazai’s “I” in it. Anyways, I think the introduction of the book wrote about it really well that “the pleasure of reading Dazai is as much about getting a feeling of being in touch with the author as it is about being drawn into the world of a story, and in these tales Dazai’s distinctive voice is very much in evidence, reaching out and taking us into his confidence in a warm, intimate tone. Far more often than a conventional storyteller might, he persistently provides his own running commentary on the main events of the tales—sometimes trying to extract a meaning, sometimes wandering off on a tangent that relates more to his own preoccupations than it does to any events in the story”[38], for example:

“Excuse me,” says a small voice at his feet. “Urashima-san?”

This, of course, is our famous and problematic tortoise.

I say “problematic” because, although I don’t wish to appear pedantic, I feel compelled to point out that turtles come in a great number of varieties, and that fresh-water turtles and salt-water turtles are naturally built to different specifications. The turtle we see in paintings of the goddess Benten, stretched out by the side of the pond drying its shell in the sun, is the creature I believe most of us refer to as a tortoise. And it is this same tortoise upon which in picture books we sometimes see Urashima Taro perched, one hand shading his eyes as he peers off toward the distant Dragon Palace. But were a tortoise of this sort to dive into the ocean, it would in fact choke on the salt water and promptly expire. It is usually this type of land tortoise—and not a sea turtle or soft-shelled turtle or hawksbill —that we find, along with a crane, on those ornamental stands that represent the Isle of Eternal Youth. The crane lives a thousand years, it is said, and the tortoise ten thousand, which accounts for their presence on wedding decorations and what have you, and perhaps it’s the auspicious nature of tortoises that causes illustrators of picture books to assume that Urashima-san’s guide too must have been one of these (the Isle of Eternal Youth and the Dragon Palace being similar sorts of places), but one can’t help but think it’s a bit much to ask us to imagine a land tortoise slashing away at the water with its clumsy, clawed feet, struggling toward the bottom of the sea. No, we definitely need something along the lines of a hawksbill turtle, whose wide, fin-like appendages would permit it to glide a bit more gracefully through the deep.[39]

So why is this narration used here? Based on the stuff I have read about Dazai, one of the reasons why is probably because his narrative voice is there to draw the conclusion of the short story. Some of his stories, without his commentary, one wouldn't quite be able to derive much from it. Like The Stolen Wen, as I mentioned earlier, ends with Dazai's commentary about the tragicomedy of character. Since the rewrite of the fairytale on it's own is almost not enough, because readers would question, why did the person who did nothing wrong got a tragic ending? It applies to some other fairytales as well that he told, it is his commentary that amplifies or actually gives meaning to the stories. But this could make it feel as if Dazai dominates the narrative of the story, I saw someone on tumblr talking about how it felt like Dazai was pushing his views of the stories onto them. Secondly, something that an essay reminded me of, is that it allows a familiarity with the readers. It creates a sense that he is inviting the readers to engage in the story, in multiple points of the story, he addresses the readers with "dear reader", and sometimes just talk about oh the reader must be thinking, or I wanted the readers to... The readers themselves almost have to play a part as part of the story. And I think something that is also interesting that one essay writes is that the narrator, one should not think of as Dazai, even though it certainly feels like Dazai. I actually didn't really notice this, before he writes all the fairytale rewrites, he has a prologue/preface, talking about the 'background' of these stories and creates the narrator 'the father'. Not 'I' but 'the father' so the actual narrator, the 'I' within the story collection should be 'the father' and not 'Dazai' even though it certainly feels like him since it talks about the war, a daughter (which one would know is something that is happening during the period when Dazai wrote this story). Of course, it is quite common to associate Dazai's I with himself, but when we look at the deliberate word choice and after understanding all thd above about his narrative, I think it is fair to take this word choice 'the father' (in Chinese translations it was also refered to as 父親 which is father) seriously. This adds a almost dichotomy of reality and fiction to it. And the fact that it invites readers to engage in the 'fictional world' it seems to almost add more depth.

For an easier understanding, we can refer to this chart from the essay Dazai Osamu's Otogizoshi A Structural and Narratological Analysis[40]:

I hadn't quite finished reading the essay yet, but just judging but this part alone it is very fascinating in terms of narrative. Because, one, the majority of the story we interact with the 3rd domain, but Dazai's I-narrator (the father's interruptions) allows us to interact with the 2nd domain, while also inviting the readers to interact with the narrator. As the reader begins to interact with said narrator, they almost become part of the fictional realm Dazai creates, because these stories cannot quite be read alone without the narrator's narration and interruptions. They often add to how we as readers understand the story (and at least 3 of 4 of these stories end with the narrator's additions which further emplify the 3rd domain stories). The fact that Otogizoshi ends without an epilogue further complicates things (it reminds me of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew in terms of structure which I had always found fascinating), I personally like to think Dazai's rewrites which adds moral complexity and a more I guess 'realistic' portrayal of the human condition almost complicates it further in terms of fictionality and reality.

But then you may be asking, Kat you have written a lot about Dazai’s narration (I hadn’t even quite gotten discussing that in his rewrites yet and mainly only focused on his first person perspective narrations... but that’s fine, I hadn’t even gotten there that far yet in research orz) but what does it mean? Honestly, at this point, I am almost tempted to agree with some parts of “Dazai Osamu's Otogizoshi A Structural and Narratological Analysis” (though I am still in the middle of reading it) to an extent that maybe in Dazai’s writings there is a sort of metafiction quality to it, where the author constructs or re-constructs of the concept of "self' in his works. Or maybe it’s like (another essay I recommend reading on the topic) "Art Is Me": Dazai Osamu's Narrative Voice as a Permeable Self” that perhaps “Dazai, undoubtedly to his own personal detriment, invited his readers actively to merge with him, to enter into his mind, as fluids pass through a permeable membrane” (I personally think this is a fascinating argument)[41].

Or maybe, there’s a quality an early period Dazai short story element to it (this part of the story has always intrigued me, I didn’t quite know why), from the section Saburo The Liar from “Romanesque”, which is about a diabolical liar, who even wrote a book called In Lies Lies the Truth, which was about “the fascinating and comical life of a cynical young man named Master Misanthropos, who, when visiting the pleasure quarters, would pass himself off as an actor or a millionaire or a nobleman on a secret outing. So rich in versatility were Misanthropos’s deceptions that the geisha and the male entertainers never doubted for a moment that he was who he said he was. His ruses were indistinguishable from reality, and in the end even Misanthropos himself ceased to doubt that it was all true”[42]. And soon, at the funeral of his father he begins to think that “one lies to seek a bit of relief from a ponderous, suffocating reality, but the liar, like the drinker, gradually comes to need larger and larger doses. The lies become blacker and more complex, and they mesh and rub together until in the end they shine with the luster of truth”[43].

Though a lot of Dazai’s works outwardly seems autobiographical, perhaps it is better than one should take it as fictional, or as McCarthy puts it “whether [a] story is ‘true’ or not, it is a work of fiction nonetheless. Fiction is not opposite of truth. Fiction is a form of art, and art... is a lie that makes us realize the truth”[44] (and you know, this elusiveness of being able to identify the “true Dazai”, though it is not so important in this case one can say, almost reminds me of bsd Dazai, but that is another discussion).

[1] Dazai, Osamu. Cherries. Tr. Roger Pulvers.

[2] 太宰治, 《正義與微笑》, tr. 高詹燦

[3] O'Brien, James A. Dazai Osamu, Twayne Publishers, 1975. Twayne’s World Authors Series 348. Gale Literature: Twayne’s Author Series

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] bsd-bibliophile. “Reporter: what do you think about Dazai?...”. August 13, 2022, https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/bsd-bibliophile/692512807258865664?source=share

[8] O'Brien, James A. Dazai Osamu, Twayne Publishers, 1975. Twayne’s World Authors Series 348. Gale Literature: Twayne’s Author Series

[9] 太宰治, 小丑之花：太宰治《人間失格》創作原點

道化の華, tr 劉子情. https://www.books.com.tw/products/0010721543

[10] O'Brien, James A. Dazai Osamu, Twayne Publishers, 1975. Twayne’s World Authors Series 348. Gale Literature: Twayne’s Author Series

[11] Ibid.

[12] Gantar, Lija. "Ancient Greek Legend in Modern Japanese Literature, 'Run Melos' by Dazai Osamu". University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

[13] 奔跑吧梅洛斯, 百度百科, https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E5%A5%94%E8%B7%91%E5%90%A7%EF%BC%8C%E6%A2%85%E5%8B%92%E6%96%AF/7254876

[14] Gantar, Lija. "Ancient Greek Legend in Modern Japanese Literature, 'Run Melos' by Dazai Osamu". University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

[15] 人間失格之前：帶你走進太宰治內心的罪與罰, 每日頭條, https://kknews.cc/n/zr8x9vg.amp

[16] Ibid.

[17] BSD-Bibliophile, "Dazai returned again and again to...", https://bsd-bibliophile.tumblr.com/post/692040980912848896/dazai-returned-again-and-again-to-incidents-in-his.

[18] Dazai, Osamu, Otogizoshi: The Fairy Tale Book of Dazai Osamu, tr. Ralph McCarthy, accessed via BSD-Bibliophile.

[19] Dazai Osamu, Self Portraits, tr. Ralph McCarthy, accessed via BSD-Bibliophile

[20] O'Brien, James A. Dazai Osamu, Twayne Publishers, 1975. Twayne’s World Authors Series 348. Gale Literature: Twayne’s Author Series

[21] McCarthy, Ralph, "After the Silence", accessed via BSD-Bibliophile.

[22] O'Brien, James A. Dazai Osamu, Twayne Publishers, 1975. Twayne’s World Authors Series 348. Gale Literature: Twayne’s Author Series

[23] BSD-Bibliophile, "Dazai returned again and again to...", https://bsd-bibliophile.tumblr.com/post/692040980912848896/dazai-returned-again-and-again-to-incidents-in-his

[24] McCarthy, Ralph, "After the Silence", accessed via BSD-Bibliophile.

[25] O'Brien, James A. Dazai Osamu, Twayne Publishers, 1975. Twayne’s World Authors Series 348. Gale Literature: Twayne’s Author Series

[26] Dazai, Osamu. “Cherries”, tr. Roger Pulvers, accessed via BSD-Bibliophile.

[27] Ibid.

[28] McCarthy, Ralph, "After the Silence", accessed via BSD-Bibliophile.

[29] Ibid.

[30] Dazai, Osamu, Otogizoshi: The Fairy Tale Book of Dazai Osamu, tr. Ralph McCarthy, accessed via BSD-Bibliophile.

[31] McCarthy, Ralph, "After the Silence", accessed via BSD-Bibliophile.

[32] Ibid.

[33] BSD-Bibliophile . “In the September issue of Bungei Shunju you wrote of me disparagingly...”, https://www.tumblr.com/blog/view/bsd-bibliophile/182073929969?source=share

[34] Dazai, Osamu. Self Portraits, tr. Ralph McCarthy, accessed via BSD- Bibliophile.

[35] O'Brien, James A. Dazai Osamu, Twayne Publishers, 1975. Twayne’s World Authors Series 348. Gale Literature: Twayne’s Author Series

[36] Dazai, Osamu, Otogizoshi: The Fairy Tale Book of Dazai Osamu, tr. Ralph McCarthy, accessed via BSD-Bibliophile.

[37] Ibid.

[38] Ibid.

[39] Ibid.

[40] Nagaike, Kazurni. Dazai Osamu's Otogizoshi A Structural and Narratological Analysis, University of Alberta.

[41] Lyons, Phyllis, “Art Is Me": Dazai Osamu's Narrative Voice as a Permeable Self”, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies , Jun., 1981, Vol. 41, No. 1 (Jun., 1981), pp. 93-110.

[42] Dazai, Osamu, Blue Bamboo, tr. Ralph McCarthy, accessed via BSD-Bibliophile.

[43] Ibid.

[44] McCarthy, Ralph, "After the Silence", accessed via BSD-Bibliophile.

Tag List: @REQUIEM626K @SHADYTEACUP @ALITTLESIMP @GREENSHIRTIMAGINESII @JADEGREENIMMORTALITY @SAKIKOSHI @KENMASBBYGRL @DAZAISUSEDBANDAGES @JESSBEINME15 @MIKASA-STAN-ACCOUNT @MISSROWN @GINSWIFE @TENDER-ROSIEY @SONDER-PARADISE @DARLINQSERENITY @WHOREFORDAZAI @SHAMELESSPASTAWOBBLERLAND @RIRK-KE @DAZAIAIKO @HANEMISO @SEBTOMM @IZUKUS-GF @LAVIDADELAVIE @SWRDEMON @ARIXSUX @BEAUTIFUL-IS-BORING @ATSUCAFE @SIGMAFIED @STORIES-FROM-SAINT-PETERSBURG @THEKAYLAHUB @XO-CUTEPLOSION-XO @SIMPLYASIMPSBLOG @KISARA-16REBLOGS @STRAYDOGSBUNGOU @TITAMAOW @KAUS-QUIETIS @THATDAZAIKIN @YELANWIFEY

Analysis only:

@ODDEYESIGHT

#this had gotten way longer than I expected it to be orz #sorry for the wait #dazai osamu #japanese literature #kat rambles about dazai sensei #asks💌#Tairin <3

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scorpionyx9621 · 2 years

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I am 100% sure comics have always been about both the plot and character and the sexy campy tight suits. Our lady Wonder Woman was not literally created as a pro-bisexual bondage hero for us to forget that both horn doggery and literary captivation are time honored and deeply respected gifts delivered to all fans.

(General TW: Mention of SA)

Oh absolutely. The history of comics in general have been very fascinating in terms of how they came about being but also the fact that these characters are blatant and obvious acts of outright fanservice. I've made it a point in one of my posts that Dick Grayson as Robin has been sexualized since his introduction, literally before my parents were born.

The late and great George Perez who passed away a few months ago is one of the most celebrated artists in all of DC and Marvel Comics. He's the man who designed Thanos, a watershed character that is up there with the likes of Darth Vader in being a villain that defines a generation, was not as widely known for his affinity of drawing characters like Dick Grayson's Robin in heavy bondage. I won't show it here but it's like the 5th result you find when you Google George Perez Robin. But yeah characters like Batman and Superman but especially Robin/Nightwing and Wonder Woman have always been sexualized and it goes back basically to their inception as characters.

It's something that's often discussed but rarely ever settled on is the notion of what acts as simple, fun, campy, tongue-and-cheek fanservice and what is taking it WAY too far. I fully admit I am someone who very much enjoys the Nightwing fan service. However there comes a time when it feels like they are peppering on the sex appeal moreso than actually highlighting the characters themselves. I mean look at the most recent Nightwing variants.

They're literally drawing him like a 50's pinup model. Which there's nothing wrong with! It just shows to highlight that DC Comics knows what kind of character their marketing, and this being a variant cover, this isn't what is widely distributed but instead is given as a limited edition release. DC is well-aware of how the fans see Nightwing. His rogues call him "Pretty Boy" they have fight scenes where Dick takes full advantage of the fact that he is what most consider to be very handsome to his advantage.

Yet at the same time the comics have been very not good when it comes to the issue of consent. I think almost everyone knows what happened between Nightwing and Tarantula in Nightwing #93 in the 1996 run of Nightwing. This fandom rightfully detests Devin Grayson for her writing and her unwillingness to own up to the fact that she had wrote Dick Grayson being SA'd. Yet no one talks about how disturbingly accurate the characterization of Dick was to real victims of SA. Especially male victims of SA. His life collapses before his eyes, he starts drinking heavily, throwing up in public, sleeping in fire escapes, talks to himself and it's hinted he starts losing his grip on reality as a result of his SA.

I am by no means at all attempting to glorify or even justify Devin Grayson's writings. It was wrong in 1996 just like it is wrong now. Yet even when we look back to the 2010's during the Grayson comic run. Dick is still getting his ass smacked by female colleagues and is getting ogled and Dick makes it vocally known that he did not give consent to be touched that way and it's played off for laughs.

As someone who identifies as a man and sees these comics it both frustrates me and leaves me feeling dejected. Male victims of SA are still heavily stigmatized on all ends of the gender identity spectrum. About 1 in 10 SA's that occur involve men but that number is largely inaccurate due to the fact that many men are heavily stigmatized and treated as weak or less than a normal man if they admit that they were put through that situation. When Tarantula SA'd Dick he didn't blame her, he blamed himself. And what does DC do after all of this? They slide it under the rug and pretend it never happened. Lost in the sea of ret-conned events never to be touched upon again. It'd be fine if this was a one-off thing that everyone at DC collectively agreed to bury and never speak of again, only acknowledging it as a mistake, but Dick continues to be the target of being DC's pinup boy and constantly flaunted for his handsome looks and divine ass.

I never want to give Devin Grayson any more credit for the work that she did. She absolutely doesn't deserve it. Yet despite that DC still thinks she's good enough to give her the wheel to write a comic during a pride event and what does she do? Make Damian Wayne borderline homophobic.

If I were given the rights and the ability to write a one-shot under the official license of DC Comics. I would write a series focusing on Dick Grayson dealing with the unresolved trauma of his SA. I would start with a preface addressing what has happened to Nightwing over the past few decades bring to light how he has become a sex symbol over the years, but also bring to the forefront that regardless of sexual or gender identity, sex without verbal consent is r*pe. Regardless of it being Mirage, Tarantula, or the girls at the Academy in Grayson. It was wrong then and it is wrong now. I want to write about Dick's unresolved trauma finally bubbling up to the surface after years of repressing it like it always does, but instead of resorting to violence or drugs and alcohol as is often portrayed in media, Dick reaches out for help. Maybe not from Batman, maybe not from Barbara, maybe not the Titans, but someone meets Dick at his level. They don't see him as the vigilante prince, the sexiest billionaire alive, or Nightwing. They see a man who is struggling and is asking for help and this person does the right thing and gives Dick the help he needs. Dick will admit it was wrong for him to try to bury his trauma, and no amount of punching vigilantes or repressing your feelings makes them go away. You can't fight darkness with more darkness, you have to fight it with light. Imagine how great that would be for a boy, young or old, to see Nightwing, one of the coolest, sexiest heroes in all of comics media, telling them it's okay to open up about their feelings, that even for guys, being touched without your consent isn't manly or something to be proud of, it's wrong, and there's nothing to be ashamed of in seeking out help.

To end this tangent: yes, people are often attracted to both the deep characters and stories of the bat families but also are attracted to the fanservice. Yet at the same time we don't necessarily know what or where is the best place to draw the line when it comes to too much fanservice. We've crossed the bright red line many a time for the sake of a gritty story, but we haven't accepted the consequences that come with not acknowledging the mistakes of the past. It's up to the fans to make that determination.

Also p.s. sorry for hijacking your ask and turning it into a rant about the sexual depictions of Nightwing. I know it's not at all what you asked for. I did it to try to highlight how complicated this topic truly is at the end of the day.

#dick grayson #nightwing #ask jackson #tw sa mention #tw sa #Tw devin grayson #bat family

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seeingteacupsindragons · 2 years

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Hello! I hope you are feeling awesome 😎 i read another ask about Louis and finances on here a while back and I thought about Sherlock hehe. What do you think about Sherly struggling to pay rent in the early chapters ? I’m sure he’s from a well off family (from his father’s side) and he has some inheritance money left over if his parents are in fact deceased? I’m positive his parents didn’t leave him with nothing. Plus Mycroft currently appears well off too. I don’t get how he could not afford to pay Ms. Hudson rent every month. Do you think he was trying to be independent and not rely on his parents money? Ok, thank you, bye!

I am feeling pretty good! Very occupied at the moment, but you caught me in a slower moment this week.

Mycroft and Sherlock have never mentioned whether or not their parents are alive. I find the presumption that they're dead from some people in fandom...odd? Like? We don't know that?

We know, honestly, almost nothing about the Holmes boys' parents except the following:

Sherlock got his accent from his mother's side of the family and seems stubbornly proud of it

Their paternal line has roughly 100 years of government service to the queen.

Their mother was in North Riding in early January for some reason twice seven years apart.

We don't actually know that he's from a well-off family. We don't know much about his family at all, and titles and wealth are not the same thing. He has a Stradivarius, but we don't actually know how or where he got it from.

He also makes a comment in volume five about Mycroft "pretending" to be part of high society—which indicates that they weren't raised as part of it. They're both terribly smart, and the family works for the royal family, but that could have been in many capacities, not necessarily Mycroft's high-ranking position. Hell, they could've been spies who for all appearances were poorer country folk (North Riding is very rural, and Southern England has a lot of Opinions about the classiness and wealth of Northern England—it's not a traditionally wealthy area).

Sherlock is also only 24 when the series. In the Victorian era, that was. Quite young for a well-off man. If his parents are deceased, and if he had much inheritance as the second son (oof, unlikely, given England's strong tradition of primogeniture—it'd have gone to Mycroft), it could very well still be in a trust with limited access for him, or even under Mycroft's control—and he wouldn't ask Mycroft.

Anyway, all of this is to say that I don't actually think he has a lot of family money, although whether or not that's related to his rent delinquency is a whole other question.

#Yuukoku no Moriarty #Moriarty the Patriot

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fillingthescrapbook · 9 months

Text

Let's Talk About: Power Rangers and Listicles

A lot of "geek" and comic book-centric sites like to feature Power Rangers because of nostalgia. It's a topic that gets easy clicks. And they're not hard to produce, especially for websites that heavily feature list-icles. They're easy to read.

And they're also easy to fact check.

That's why I get irrationally angry whenever I come across a Power Ranger list-icle that could've been great with just a quick glance through Wikipedia or the fandom-run Power Rangers Wiki.

Yes, I'm talking about Comic Book Resource's "10 Ways Power Rangers: Cosmic Fury Breaks Tradition."

I get that we want sensationalism. I get that we need bold titles that get people curious. But once you start writing the actual content... How about giving facts instead of hastily-gleaned and just-as-hastily rewritten information?

Like, "It's a Netflix Limited Series" is correct. Why the need to add "Almost every other season of the show has had at least twenty episodes and aired on television. The only other limited series in the franchise's history is Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers in 1996?"

Mighty Morphin' Alien Rangers also aired on television. It is a limited series, but it's not the same as the upcoming Netflix season. Why the need to single it out? Because of the term "Netflix Limited Series?" Then why not just qualify Cosmic Fury as the only series to run solely on a streaming service?

Also, as a Power Ranger fan, I take offense with "Keeping the show to just ten episodes ensures that the show will be able to tell one cohesive story" part of this article. The number of episodes was never the problem with the show's cohesiveness. The RPM season had a massive overhaul midway through the season and it still felt cohesive. The all the Dino Charge and Dino Fury seasons were uneven, yes, but they were still cohesive. And let's not forget how long the older seasons were--and those were cohesive.

If anything, what made most of the recent seasons disappointing were the uninspired transposing of clearly Japanese themes to a US-centric story (Samurai), and the fear of treading more serious matters and continuity (Ninja Steel). When Power Rangers is unafraid, the show slaps hard. Even with fart jokes.

And then we go to this:

Power Rangers have done this before. Aside from the name-checked Power Rangers RPM, the second and third season of the franchise is famous (within fandom) for the amount of original footage they worked in because they didn't want to change the costumes when they ran out of Sentai footage.

Mighty Morphin' Season 2 used the zords of Gosei Sentai Dairanger. The only costume they ported in was Kiba Ranger's, who then became the White Ranger. All the Ranger morphs were original to the series. And then Season 3 had them using most of Ninja Sentai Kakuranger--before eventually realizing they had to give up the original costumes to sell more toys. Which led to the afore-mentioned limited series Mighty Morphin' Alien Rangers, and then Power Rangers Zeo.

Now let's get to:

Now, I wouldn't have had an issue with this part had they cut out the second paragraph completely. Yeah, sure, In Space! ended an era. The Zordon era. But we've had a power upgrade since then. An infamous one at that because of how badly it was done. Yeah, I'm talking about Power Rangers Super Megaforce.

And, lastly:

Why would you say the season is breaking tradition by having a female Red Ranger...and then immediately going "Only two other seasons have featured female Red Rangers...?" I don't even have to dispute the claim. It's already there. Why couldn't they have claimed "A Female Ranger gets promoted to Red" instead?

Now, what do I get from griping about this?

Absolutely nothing.

But a guy's gotta vent. And rather than spout vitriol online at someone who was just doing a job assigned to them, I'm gonna do it here. On my blog. Where people can choose to read it, skip and ignore it, or engage with it.

And now I feel a little bit better.

#let's talk about #power rangers #power rangers cosmic fury #irrational anger at something very trivial #but a bit of research could do wonders guy

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rainbowsky · 3 years

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Is the CP real?

Came across this post on Twitter (I recommend reading the post because it's very interesting), where a c-ent CP fan who has followed multiple couples - many that turned out to be fake and some that later turned out to be real - compiled a list of signs that they've come to believe are good evidence that a CP is real.

Let's break it all down, shall we?

Fake, fan fiction, CPN.

1] Couple doesn't overload with fan service. Won't use lawyers to warn people off the CP.

GG and DD had an opportunity to make a KILLING off their CP (hell, they still do). This is common behavior for fake CPs. They'll have joint endorsements and promote products as a CP. There's a lot of money to be made and I think it's highly likely they've turned down such offers (although I would be totally fine with it if they profited from the CP). Fake CPs will play up the connection while promoting joint endorsements, but GG and DD have never done this.

GG and DD did precious little fan service during Untamed promotions. A bit of goofing around during the Untamed fan meets and interviews, but that's about it.

Despite many lawyer letters and statements denying other ships involving them, GG and DD have never once denied BJYXSZD. Even when it would have been potentially 'in their best interest' to, for example during 22*7 or when BTS hashtags were trending on Weibo, they have never closed the supertopics or denied the ship.

Meanwhile, the instant any hint of a dating rumor with anyone else (and even in one case where DD shut down an article claiming GG and DD broke up), and another where GG shut down the supertopic that was shipping him with WZC, they are quick to put a stop to other dating rumors.

2] Behavior before they became popular is very revealing; after they become popular, much more low key.

GG and DD are very close and flirty (and at times sexually suggestive) in the Untamed BTS, and were caught by paparazzi having dinner together (with DD showing up at the airport the next day in the same clothes he wore the night before), yet after they became popular everything got toned down dramatically, even at fan meets.

3] Candy is not limited by time, never more than a few months without candy.

Candy still incoming on a regular basis, without a rest, despite the fact they haven't been seen interacting in public for a long time.

Some of the bigger recent candies:

DD's name being mentioned in GG's Qingdao snacks video.

GG singing a song from one of DD's favorite singers (Eason Chan) during a recent performance, after a 🔴🟢 rumor said, "One for you, one for him." Fans believe that it was referring to GG singing one song for the fans and one for DD (he also sang Bamboo on the Rocks, a fan favorite, that night).

DD's Versace On The Floor performance.

DD's birthday countdown

DD's birthday message

4] Too many coincidences. Same time period, into same kinds of things.

This fandom is known for its many coincidences. I couldn't possibly list them all, but if you've been around for a while you know what I'm talking about.

DD - the spice intolerant guy - suddenly getting into spicy food when fans believe he was quarantining with GG, and developing a taste for obscure hot pot ingredients that are highly native to Chongqing. GG going from being a Chongqing high spice tolerance guy to having a lower spice tolerance in the months prior to that, after connecting with DD. A good breakdown of some of this can be found here.

GG going from dressing like an artsy college student to dressing like a hip hop skater dude. Both of them repeatedly seen wearing the same brands and even the same clothes, with no acknowledgment from those brands (in other words, not obvious promo for the brand).

DD going from being incredibly cheerful and gremliny during the cloud recordings for DDU when he was in quarantine at home (fans believe he was with GG), to looking really rough and unhappy a week or two later when quarantined separately from GG as 22*7 happened.

Both of them expressing interest in Spongebob, and in One Piece.

The frequent 🔴🟢 rumor confirmations.

The constant kadian from both of them.

Suitcases that look suspiciously like DD's appearing around GG.

The many similarities in the photos and graphics posted on their social media, suggesting they may share designers or GG might do some of the design for both of them.

The ox necklace, the bone necklace.

GG, who used to have a distinctive high pitched cute laugh, starting to laugh like DD more and more since they've known each other.

etc. etc. etc.

There are so many. People who are curious about this can just browse through these Twitter threads, because that's one thing Twitter does well - compile lists of candies.

5] Will pretend not to be familiar.

Add to this GG's constant tendency to hug everyone he knows well, but never publicly hugging DD.

6] There must be at least a few real, confirmed candies. Candies come randomly and can pull you back in even after you've lost interest in the CP.

Here are just a few examples:

The 49 fake candies from the Untamed BTS, which most people thought were ridiculous and farfetched, but were confirmed as the unofficial BTS began being released.

DD saying during a hot pot episode of SDOC3 that 'a friend from a drama he filmed' taught him how to eat hot pot so that it wasn't so burning. Along with this, as I mentioned previously, DD's expressed taste for obscure Chongqing hot pot ingredients, and his increased spice tolerance coinciding with GG's sudden appreciation for lower spice foods. Solos dug through DD's filming history and the only person they could find who was from the region besides GG was Ji Li, who has said in interviews he doesn't like hot pot.

DD's sneakers and ice cream post is a huge 👀 that made a lot of people take notice. Especially given the kadian that accompanied it (20:03 - ai zan - Love Zhan). He faced a lot of backlash for that post as gossip sites were claiming he had come out, and solos were begging him to take it down but he kept it up until he was forced to delete it when he split with Nike earlier this year.

Old Cow Eats Young Grass.

GG designing a racing suit for DD (this was confirmed when they were seen discussing it in the Untamed BTS).

DD's name being mentioned in GG's recent Qingdao snacks video is totally unwashable in my opinion. Clear as day.

There are a few other confirmed things I won't discuss on my blog, but suffice it to say that this one is a yes for me.

7] They have a common friend circle. They are familiar with each other's people.

Including the heads of the entertainment companies they work for.

GG talking with Du Hua (CEO of YueHua - DD's management company) at the 2019 Weibo Awards.

Of course GG and DD are still friends with people from the Untamed cast, but there are also other common friends. Ayunga and Zheng Yunlong, for example. Yixing as well. Huang Zitao.

8] They stop saying they're single. Start recommending people find love.

This is something BXG are often commenting on, because it's fairly dramatic. Prior to the summer of 2019 (when GG visited DDU as DD's guest for the 11th anniversary special), DD was constantly being used as the show's 'single eligible bachelor' in various segments. They would pair him off with women, ask him questions about dating and nudge him to flirt with female guests.

After GG appeared on the show, this immediately stopped, and ever since then the DDU brothers treat DD as a married man, and have completely stopped all the 'single straight guy' stuff.

GG has also been behaving as a married man, answering questions in ways that have raised eyebrows among fans. Probably the most notable was during his brief Qixi Festival interview last year, when he behaved like a married man and wished single people, "Jiayou!" and recommended they find love for next year. Saying "What do I know?" when the interviewer asks him to give people advice on finding someone. Basically acting like he doesn't know what it's like to be single.

youtube

9] If they're in the same city, they both disappear at the same time.

Well, given the recent situation with both of them disappearing in Beijing, I think that this one needs no explaining. When they are both in the same city, they disappear and only update social media when they return to work afterward. This has happened many times over the years.

If it matches all of the above, it can be considered real.

BJYXSZD.

#bjyx #yizhan #bjyxszd #ggdd forever #ggdd signs

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some-stars · 3 years

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so the OTW does not provide an email where you can contact them, only a web form limited to 1000 characters, so I’m going to post the letter I wrote here and link them to it:

I am writing in response to this question and the OTW's response from the 9/29 board meeting minutes:

This might be a little off-topic but I have to satisfy my curiosity. Is the board aware of the continuing public “pressure” being exerted by outside groups who want the OTW to implement changes to Ao3 that could result in unfavorable changes for creators? […] Sure, there’s been a troubling amount of talk (and maybe it’s just all talk) on outside social media sites (It’s Twitter, it’s always Twitter) of groups that want to pressure the OTW to implement censorship guidelines for Ao3. Is that even on your radar?

This is a perennial pressure for the Organization for Transformative Works, but the AO3 was founded to protect inclusivity of content and we remain committed to that mission.

(It can be found here. I have a screenshot if they delete it.)

It is sickening to me that not only did the board not push back on the wildly inaccurate framing of "BIPOC fans criticizing AO3's racism and calling for immediate meaningful action" as "outside groups" calling for "censorship guidelines"--rather than fans who have been reading and posting to AO3 since its inception, which is what they actually are (and also white allies, also longtime AO3 users, with the same criticisms)--not only did the board not correct this false and racist framing, it implicitly endorsed it.

You have made a very clear statement to BIPOC users of AO3: you are not part of our community, you are not one of us, and we don't want you here. This is utterly unacceptable. I used to donate to the OTW every single year, but I haven't since 2019 because of this exact kind of behavior and refusal to take action against racism--but even with the OTW's lengthy track record of failing to address BIPOC fans' needs and concerns about the rampant racist harassment that gets ignored by the abuse team and pro-Nazi/slavery/genocide trolling fic that gets posted with the deliberate intent of making fandom hostile for BIPOC--even despite your long record of alternating total inaction with brief lip service, I was genuinely shocked to see the board actively affirm that it considers BIPOC fans an "outside group." (Not to mention affirming that it sees requests for such things as, say, actually responding to reports of racist harassment, or providing a built-in user blocking tool, as "censorship.")

If the OTW has even the slightest genuine intention of becoming a less racist organization and working to repair the harm it has done and continues to do, it is imperative that everyone in a leadership position read this thread on how to start fixing the internal culture and this thread on how to start meaningfully addressing the concerns of BIPOC users (and again, there are MANY white allies who feel strongly about this, lest you think all white fans side with you, but BIPOC must be centered in every step of the process).

It is imperative that the OTW spend money on hiring consultants trained to lead this kind of work, and on compensating BIPOC fans for their input. It is imperative that the OTW listen and act accordingly to the feedback they receive. It is imperative that any OTW leadership who refuse to take meaningful immediate action against racism in the way that professional consultants and BIPOC fans decide they should be kicked out of the organization before they can do any further harm. Until these things are done, the OTW will remain an actively white supremacist organization that is apparently quite happy to be one.

----

(FYI, I’m white, so if there’s a post responding to these meeting minutes by a BIPOC fan please let me know so I can boost it!)

(And no, I don’t think this is about antishippers/purity police who claim AO3 is a den of pedophilia, because no one outside the puriteen circle seriously thinks the AO3 is in danger of giving in to them. not to mention that antishippers and people criticizing racism are widely conflated, which is a problem in itself.)

#please reblog this if you're inclined bc i want people to know about this

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jjheejz · 3 years

Text

About Internet Water Army in the case

This is an ongoing update about the case from start to development. List of all related posts can be found on this blog's pinned post (link provided at bottom of each post as well).

19 August 2021 update: Added the scale of his success for reference, before bonus below

18 August 2021 update: Added timeline of events, orange title in post, found out the official English term for Immoral Media = Internet Water Army)

Major updates since first draft: Added bonus, added disclaimer, certain info details

Originally posted on 16 August 2021

[The purpose of this post is to provide a perspective as to why the Media is raised/blamed regarding the issue. Especially for international fans, as all the encounters happened on Weibo. Also, those who were on weibo, do read through if you will. So although it's lengthy, do try to read all, at least if not the last two parts].

The Media referred by most, is not the common perception of the Entertainment Industry (celebrities, directors, shows, channels, staff etc), but the dark side of the Entertainment industry: Antis, toxic fans, toxic marketing accounts. They are called Internet Water Army💧.

Toxic Marketing Accounts is one of the things they do, these accounts on Weibo has millions of followers, each of their post likes are in the hundred thousands (buyable) to give credibility to passer-bys. Some use similar names to Official accounts, some use similar logos. Their posts are usually subjective or aims to steer view points of a certain celebrity/movie/show. Before the latest update of this post (18.08.21), I just group them all together and term them as Immoral Media*.

*Below is my original post using my original term because at point of first draft, I did not know the official term (so have changed/added the term from Immoral Media to Internet Water Army in content below but retain the content based off first draft).

If you have chased before celebrities, or just simply passed by an article about certain celebrities, recall how some title that caught your attentions were like. Clickbaits is one of the many things they do. If GZ is your first and you do not have Weibo, then this read(link) is good enough.

Just as the term Immoral Media (Internet Water Army), it’s immoral and unethical, but they exists because they are paid to do so. Who pays them? Entertainment Companies, and maybe other Organisations

Normal Media/Marketing vs Immoral Media/Toxic Marketing/Internet Water Army

When a show or movie comes out, the normal Marketing department will generate outreach and buzz so that people know a show is airing soon/know the show exists etc. Official announcements are not enough, because there isn’t much context (limited content to put up as well) so having some other Marketing accounts do the buzz in a planned period to gain awareness through posts, some articles about the casts, the plot summary, the production details etc is normal. This is Marketing, bigger companies will probably have stronger Marketing departments (aka influence) and can hire more Marketing accounts to generate buzz. Celebrities (aka casts) themselves, are also Marketing point.

Then we have the Internet Water Army/Immoral Media, these are what they mainly do:

Create Fanfiction-rumors: Creating rumors about celebrities to shift audience perception of them. [eg. XX was seen with XX leaving a hotel, XX was drunk on Event Y and did ZZZ to AA, XX is dating BB and has been in a relationship for N years etc]

Honing their brain degrading skills: Come up with titled clickbait headings/ trending topics with negative written contents. For articles, exceptionally out of heading content related to the celebrity. [Refer to Baidu, it’s a winner of these, feel free to Google Translate]

Regressing their common sense and understanding skills: Take everything a celebrity does completely out of context in a negative way and create a topic out of it [eg. XX said AA is a ---, “XX raised his finger, a sign of ---?”, XX pushed BB aggressively on Variety Show Y - A competition variety show, XX is in beef with CC because XX was caught giving CC the eye]

Using their fingers to stir shit and bathe each other in it: Escalate all smallest form of possible tension created by fans/themselves into a huge thing by acting as the fandom's fans/lurk in fandom chat groups, and voicing their disguised opinion to spread tension/exaggerate severity of the issue [eg. XX fans mocked AA - in groupchats: tbh I've never liked AA before, AA just gives off a vibe that I dont like and now this? It just disgusts me even more > Yea, i feel this way too. AA has problems / XX Lurkers expressing views on XX about NN, slowly to NNMHFXW - XX did NNMHGT - I cannot accept NNmHfHw, I'm leaving = multiply by 1000++]

Epitome of a self-deteriorate: Creating something out of nothing and react to that something negatively to gain massive attention/reaction [eg. “XX raised his hand on show Y” - dk what XX fans are thinking, are they literally blind? XX fans are tasteless just like XX hahaha / “XX did community service” - they are acting / “XX breathed” - From the start, i thought XX was NN, but I am so ZZZ that XX breathed. Goodbye fandom, i’m leaving. Those who still want to stay I urge you to rethink your life choices] - if I may add, Xiao Zhan’s fanfiction case as well.

Metaphor - Ability to use bare hands to collect paychecks from the urinal/toilet bowl where their boss/client peed in: Doing all of the above.

Apologies for any term offense, but not apologetic of the term context. This is what they do for a living. Any normal human being who do not like anything, will generally not be interested at anything about it in the first place, so to have some antis/toxic fans knowing certain things and inside jokes/references in their posts questions their goal.

On involved in Internet Water Army/Immoral Media 💧

Fans on weibo during these few months witnessed many of the above on GZ. From rumored girlfriend (spammed with articles) to mean and nasty comments on trending topics, to bouts of insults and fake emotional cryouts by certain fan accounts that GZ's office has to release a number of Lawyer’s letter to them.

Aside from WOH there were also a few other BL adaptation films that were actually released this year but they did not reach exponential success like WOH. BL adaptations are so highly followed by because this is the key to wealth. Literally. Successful BLs like The Untamed and Dao Mu Bi Ji saw the amount of wealth fans are willing to spend on the celebrity as compared to say BG or idols (younger fan groups). This is why when WOH shot up exponentially, Immoral Media start to sweat.

Major anticipated adaptations were supposed to air this year eg. Hao Yi Xing(HYX), Sha Po Lang(SPL) etc but was severely held back due to the stricter change in BL adaptations submitting their scripts for approval regulations (WOH manage to submit earlier before the change). Because of this, most final films were rejected and they have to keep re-editing, by then WOH was already months into reaping tonnes of major brand endorsements, shows/movie casting, variety show appearances etc, something that is seen as too successful in the Immoral Media’s eyes, because they have to create buzz for other celebrities, some are specific celebrity oriented and thus circulate rumors about having endorsement opportunities shifted from celebrity X to GZ (think fanfiction-rumors and shit stirrer) causes tension in celebrity fandoms. - A real event just in July:

The Untamed’s cp fandom is called BJYX which had always been in the Top 1 of Cps for 2 years dropped for awhile to Top 2, over taken by LLD. Both of them had a war and hated each fandom, one fandom is somehow not allowed to like the other fandom even casually after everything broke out because it started out with some BJYX toxics photoshopped GZ on of portraits .

Also another case of which he wore the same costume as WYB did in a previous photoshoot and it became a useless comparison of who wore better, who looks better, degrading the other. (Finger stirring shit).

Now apply all of the above things the Internet Water Army do and we have them earning money, while both fandom reacts and hate each other.

In LLD, our own fans started suspecting each other on who is a spy from BJYX and what not.

The first few months of Internet Water Army saw LLDs mostly mocking them because the average age is 30-40s, they know and see through all of their intentions so nothing was big. They were trumpeting and LLDs didn’t even care, what with all the doing tedious stats was not even important to them.

Over time, as the issues they create became more and more serious LLDs did start to care, reporting Toxic Marketing accounts/toxic fans became a daily task, go vote for GZ at certain polls etc, solo fans, and LLD fans also split apart. Solo fans think cp fans use GZ to furnish their fantasies, and cp fans thinks they are the ones furnishing their dreaming-girls fantasy with (aka my boyfriend).

There was also a period where LLD had a habit of continuously mentioning “we are in the 30-40s so we can see through everything about the media, we are all fans for the first time, we are good at spending money (because of purchase power compared to other fandoms)” it was prevalent for so long it felt odd, ‘chasing celebrities the first time’ in particular sounds more vulnerable as a weakness than a strength / sth to be proud of.

Gradually, more secretive/insider confirmed ‘sweets’ were flying around. Fans advised each other to not circulate, and the mindset of “if you know, you know, dont tell.” (This is a problematic mentality, of which fans will still be curious to know and search for it themselves, but this secretive hook is unhealthy. Over the long term, it becomes hard for existing fans to know a lot of things properly to judge for themselves, especially those who knew and publicly reacted, but blasting those who ask and telling those who know to keep quiet, this did not help some to understand why on certain things, even so for international fans, dont know and dont understand, causing misunderstandings. Yes, certain information should not be shared, so why should you react about it publicly in the first place? - Internet Water Army effect)

The last few months (for example the July fan war) created a tonne of seriousness and anger. A period even broke out with a tonne of ‘insider confirmed sweets’ (which is LLD’s daily dose of happiness), it was hard to tell what was real and what was fake. Trending topics became negative and everyone warned each other not to enter because it will give the trends ‘views’ and trend statistics, in reality entering there is to enter an exhibition by the self-deteriorates, collecting the fandom's traffic data (it's a sure lose for fans each time they enter the topic). Everyone even starts thinking that the trend’s popularity was caused by each other (it's true but it can be bought daily and not caused by fans). There was a raise in the number of fans who were getting emotional because they want to protect but Internet Water Army kept coming and got worse, because fans, tbh, not just GZ fans, every other celebrity’s fans are always fighting with an Army, getting played and plotted in that Army's calendar.

Even so, despite all of these, LLD is actually a fandom Internet Water Army may find the hardest to break because they understand GZ so much, they could tell what are fake news regarding GZ, because among everything above, there are still plenty of logical fans to stop many fans from drifting too far and debunking them. Why? 30-40s are grown up adults.

Why 13.8.21 and the Japan issue is plotted?

First of all, in the political climate of China, there are many political dates in a month that is NO-Entertainment news. Because it’s the honoring of certain important political events. It’s like Remembrance Day, thus the sensitivity is higher. On these days, there are usually no news and even the Internet Water Army zip their pants. This year also marks the 100th year of the Chinese Communist Party(link)

Secondly, he had no work schedule on 13 August 2021. A great full day to focus on any other news (because if he had schedules, everyone will turn their attention to his events, what trumpeting outside is just bird chirps).

Thirdly, when the news broke out, especially about the shrine, the reception was actually quite serious within the fandom so the scale of this might be big but to what extent in reality?

Lastly, 15.8.21 marks the 76th anniversary of the announcement of surrender of Japanese in World War 2(link). Also a day of NO-Entertainment news.

Timeline of events:

13.8.21 - [His rest day, Eve of Chinese Valentine's Day, Japan News broke out] His rest day, no schedules = increased attention about him online. Lowered guard among fans because they are getting ready for tomorrow's Chinese Valentine's sweets = Caught off guard = Huge break out of fans' reactions

14.8.21 - [Chinese Valentine's Day, Eve of the 75th Anniversary of the announcement of Japanese surrender] Keep a wishful and happy demenaor to not destroy the mood, suppressed thoughts about ZZH's Japan news

15.8.21 - [75th Anniversary of the announcement of Japanese surrender, Official announcement of ZZH's boycott and all China social media account ban] NO-Entertainment news day, Solemn day, not allowed to voice anything so the fandom can only wait for tomorrow to start voicing out/debunking but before they can wait out, the boycott and social media ban happened, every official accounts about him was gone overnight, fans had no time to react

17.8.21 - [All official fandom accounts related to ZZH and JunZhe were locked/removed]

Forced to be silent since the day his matter broke out, over the course of official news release with everything taken down in a day because of the Japan correspondence, his accounts banned overnight across the Chinese media and the overnight cancellation, fans could not speak anything about it. Overnight cancellation like this scale happened for the first time in China, leaving no time to react by the fandom, by the time they can, they are silenced.

When the period of events occured within a set of special dates, it’s not coincidence.

Conclusion

Because he was too successful and had many actually honorable past things, and a hard to influence fandom, Internet Water Army view him as a huge threat enough to want to destroy him, because it’s hard to defeat. With a chance they have, they will hold it till the end, bringing up this issue to the Government during this period also shows a sign of how scared they were of him and perhaps his fandom to plot something like this.

Updated on 19 August: Here's a screenshot of assumed calculation on the scale of GZ success for reference while chatting with a fellow fan, assuming GJ also has 27 brands, and there are 1000 brands. Rationale of numbers used: Only big brands can hire big celebrities.

Bonus

Mentioned in the first post, will mention again in case. After the news broke out within 2 days, there was a drop on his weibo followers from 18.9mil to 18.7mil. 200k+ drops, if the politics was such a big national issue, there should at least be a huge drop, even at least a million right? Because weibo is a China-Chinese majority right? Nope, we get a puny 200k drop.

What's funny? The self-deteroriates:

Translation: "Are his fans bought? Why didnt he drop fans? Those people got brainwashed to this point?" / "I've never entered his weibo and today i feel like having a look yet it showed I've followed him. All his fans were bought right? It disgusts me, i immediately unfollowed. This kind of process is worse than WYF..." / "i dropped fans because of him...no...I just reposted 2 posts and I've dropped 4 fans?"

Isn't the tone and regressing brain cells, all too familiar and same?

Added above, will remind again to read this link. It has an even more in-depth knowledge on who are paying them.

So what should we do? Link here