Hello! Just wanted to say I'm a huge fan of the way you draw Wrioney, so very tender and cute 🥺 Your artstyle is overall quite nice to look at as well!

Also, seeing how the dynamic you set up for them in your art is somewhat different to how they interact canonically, I was curious if you could share how you felt ab them after 4.1? Did their "bickering" discourage or inspire you with new, fresh ideas?

hey there! thanks so much for liking my art of them :") it means a lot! and also thanks for wanting to know my opinion of the ship itself and not just the art, too! warms my heart.

short answer: the 4.1 archon quest did leave a bad taste in my mouth, yes, but i got over it and realized wow. i love wrioney so much and i would rather have this than any other cookie cutter "perfect/wholesome" dynamic

long answer/explanation under cut!

first off, pre-4.1 wrioney's setup was just too good for me to pass up and hit all my fav points. cat (chat noir) + dog (cerberus) dynamic??? criminal x prison warden???? wriothesley's tareme eyes to lyney's upturned ones? cute! not to mention i liked how their color palette matched more than the other popular ships. they seemed like they were made for eachother. we also had 0 crumbs for wrio's personality at that point so i assumed he'd be the serious to lyn's playful flirt.

shipping in this game to me has always been a bit on the shallower side, and thats fine! some of these characters never get to "grow" with dynamic character arcs really and remain "static" to have their profiles make sense when you pull for them. they can never be directly antagonistic to the player and have to be "redeemed" in some way. 76++ characters and not all of them get time in the spotlight, either. thats fine too.

that all changed when fontaine came out. and even more when 4.1 did.

wriothesley's personality was a joy. i love morally dubious and fun characters like him, the kinds that dont really fit into a "box" or trope!! genshin's good at making characters like that, just as they are good at the tropey ones. i also didnt mind that he canonically isnt above torturing, too. heck, i mean i love kamisato ayato who is basically what the game sets up as the male version of arlecchino + diluc burning an abyss mage and kazuha's tongue branding comment were one of my favorite moments. i thought wrio being cruel was very much in line for a prison warden. it made sense. what didn't make sense was the way the game needed to show this.

i loved lyney the moment i saw him in the travail trailer. his thing with his family another one of the best things to come out of genshin. fucked up orphans and found family who are villains? actually so good. but because they are what the game wants us to see as "unequivocable villains", they also get... disrespected in the story a lot?

the way i saw it, the game wanted us to see wrio as the "cool/badass hero!!!! wow your grace you're actually so kind for not killing them!!! see guys he just looks cruel and antagonistic but he's actually so morally good!!!also here's like 3 cutscenes of wrio looking cool ^_^" while lyney's treated like an "overemotional kid" really rubbed me off the wrong way. everything else was fine. i just got tired of the game insisting that the fatui are so bad no matter what and the rest are ""good"" when their whole thing in fontaine was doing away with the black and white morality. the devs seek to promote greyness but they cant even write that right?

what wrio did to them truly probably wasnt even the worst lyney and his siblings have been through, i know this for a fact. honestly wrio could have killed freminet and it'd have been like. reasonable for him. but he's a big softie who has a thing for lyney i think which is why he thought a lot about them not coming to physical harm.

but after once again accepting that midhoyo just wastes a lot of potential and reconciling the dynamic of past wrioney i had in mind (also uh. writing a fic of them for closure when i've never done anything of the sort before)... i realized theyre the best thing ever actually

enemies to lovers isnt always my cup of tea, but for context i shipped shuake before this so i feel like that primed me for this genshin ship in a way LMAO.. i actually must thank wrio for showing this new side of lyney, the viciously overprotective of his family side that i thought would never be shown, only alluded to. its mesmerizing.

and the thought that lyney, mr. masks and fake-smiles-that-dont-reach-his-eyes wouldnt bother to keep up pretenses with wriothesley anymore since he coaxed that darker side of him effortlessly? really nice.

even traveler who lyney notoriously charms and flirts with gets the mask immediately after the confrontation at the duke's office, the second lyney recharges with his siblings by his side. the beautiful thing about lyney's character is that he is always fake.

but with the duke? i wouldn't be so sure. maybe his real side, claws and bared teeth, comes to light with him and him only.

and that... goes back to the "character going through dynamic arcs" thing i mentioned in the beginning that genshin lacked. now i may be reaching for crumbs here, but i'm pretty sure this ship is the closest thing we'd get for lyney ever going through a character arc. wrio too. when i say they were "made for eachother" i think i realized that it's because they both have parallel backstories. i wont spoil too much for wrio's stories and voicelines, but it's safe to say wrio also has trouble with trusting others easily. something him and lyney can relate on lol. not to mention the orphan thing... ok i wont say more.

i love that their personalities clash so catastrophically. i love that i can never predict what genshin will do next with them. this all makes shipping them so fun. i have literally never had as much fun with shipping for this game since.... ever! really. as the game evolves, the character writing and by extension their interactions with eachother do too. and i'd say it's an improvement. i'm hopeful for the future :]

@untildarknesscomes

My Reaction to Very Little Nightmares

My First impression based on a very spoily description of the ending that my friend gave :( : Six has a girlfriend who got murdered by her ex.

Chapter 1

Yes, I got spoiled about the ending. So I’ll be naming “The Girl in the Yellow Raincoat” I tried looking for names but it’s just RCG and just no...

I’m naming her as “Ori” which is short for “Origin”. Because of the number system, zero-zero is known as Origin. This is a play of words because it also tells the origin of Six’s raincoat.

Now on to watching.

I’m curious why they drastically changed the artstyle.

I wonder what kind of Boss Ori will face.

Wow, I knew I would see Six in the game but I didn’t think it would be this early.

I know they’re just kids, but imagine a little lesbian getting flustered at seeing a pretty girl and tries to hide her flustered face.

Huh, I think even without the spoilers I can guess that Six isn’t Ori. Their voices are very different.

I’m just saying it right now, playing this game must have been a pain in the ass.

The same thing again? I guess it’s hard to make boss entrances.

Are there comics? Cause I don’t recognize that character.

So this is basically a lesbian game, got it.

Geez, how did you turn into a Nome that fast?

Could have told that Nome you were going to pull that lever first.

This first boss should have been called the Janitor, the one in the first game is like a caretaker or a craftsman.

I’m not sure if this boss guy is blind or just really stupid.

Chapter 2

Butler?

Oh, someone’s taking a shower. I guess this place is a mansion of some kind?

Don’t open the curtains, that’s just rude and can also get you killed considering this world’s logic.

Who the fuck lets a shower running?

Another shoe monster, but this time it’s garbage.

Aww, Six is here. Why is she so obsessed with vents?

So...I was right about the cult thing.

Wait, so the Butler is not only floating but his hands are cuffed?

Oh that’s just mean.

Chapter 3

Pfft, I wonder what Six was thinking when she saw that.

The final boss is a child?

Wait. Those dolls. ARE THOSE ACTUAL CHILDREN?!

Oh so scarf girl didn’t survive.

At least Six survived.

I swear this games has an obsession with bridges as well. Though not as much as the eyes.

Oh no a dead body, anyways why do I hear boss music? Oh shit gotta run.

Oh. No wonder Six never asked for help in the first game, dick move there Ori.

Wow, that final boss really just chopped her limbs off.

And she moves like a spider. I’m somewhat glad that this game isn’t animated like its prequels.

I know it’s a cliff, but that is a bigass cliff there.

Lady, can you not climb down normally?

Aww, Six is still helping Ori even after she left her to die.

You know what the worst part is?

Six looks like she’s around 4 or 5 in this game.

EVERYTHING WRONG WITH: RWBY VOLUME 5 CHAPTER 11

> Just what is that statue even? Is there any reason as to why it's there? Any history behind it? > "You seem to be more than last time." That's a little obvious don't you think Leo? > "Why do you have your weapons with you?" At that moment everyone should be running for their lives. It's that obvious! > Who shot her? Yang isn't in her combat stance, and nobody else has their weapons out. > Wait... Lionheart is a faunus? REALLY?! The most powerful man on remnant is a member of the supposedly horribly oppressed group? How is that even racism in any form? He couldn't have hid that all this time! That totally nullifies any claim of racism in this show at all! HE'S THE HEADMASTER OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST KINGDOM FOR FUCKS SAKE AT LEAST STAY CONSISTENT! > "... and made a choice." Actually it seems like Leo didn't have a choice at all. > All that time everyone said Salem can't be defeated, yet nobody gave any reason why. > Oh you're one to talk Ruby, you only heard about Salem from your intoxicated uncle in a shitty campfire scene. > Cue the motivating speech sequence. > Raven is not pleased > Oh shit, she dropped the bomb! > Fireball shoots out of newly opened portal. Nobody has that reaction time. > Fireball perfectly and directly shoots Ruby, as if Cinder could see through it. What if Raven wanted to escape and got shot instead? > Cue the dramatic music > "Hello boys and girls." Cinder, you had time to think about a dramatic entrance since Volume 3, and that's all you come up with? This isn't even better than Adam's dramatic entrance in Volume 3. > Hazel just comes in as if he magically knew that the cat is out of the bag yet. He could have ruined everything, EVERYTHIIING. > He didn't even look at anybody, and unveiled the great nefarious plan. FFS Hazel it could have just been innocent visitors. > In only two minutes the white fang arrived, took out the overly large supply of bombs and placed bombs everywhere without making a sound? > Also these bombs are way too close to each other. For something of this size, you'd think only one of those could blow up I don't know... an entire train wagon! > Uh, yeah Adam what do you think everyone places these bombs here for. They probably already know Haven is going to fall. > Wow Weiss, you sure are fast. > Wow Qrow, you sure are fast. > Yes Jaune, what is wrong with Cinder? She's been here since episode one and nobody knows anything about her at all. > Why are they taking out their weapons? They have absolutely no reason to. They should really listen to Qrow. > Miles voice acting is really great! Minus one sin - > Weiss and Nora are taking out their weapons too? Why though? None of the bad guys even have their weapons out! FFS LISTEN TO QROW! > Cinder doesn't need her fire powers to deliver burns. > Jaune it's obvious she's trying to provo- oh, there he goes. > Ruby you can instantly break the sound barrier, you don't need to waste ammunition to go fast. > See, Ruby if you used your semblance, you could have gotten past the chain. > Cue the gay subtext > Cinder charges at Jaune, but they magically disappear in the next shot. > We hear Merc's gunboots go off as if he jumped, but in the next shot, he stands exactly where he was before. > "Let's see what the Schnee family name really means." "I'm more than a name!" **mortal combat's "Fight!" can be heard in the distance.** > Hazel can see Oscar sneak up away, clearly Oscar could become a threat, so why doesn't he act on it? > It's been entire 5 minutes, and Ren and Nora are still standing there, wordlessly facing Lionheart. > Really Leo? You know about Salem and magic, but you can't guess that Ozpin can reincarnate and that he is probably behind this child right now? > IT'S TIME TO DDDDD-DUEL! > Seriously now. A child with an ancient spirit inside him fight a man with what might as well be a duel disk? This really is Yugioh. > Why is there a magic circle now? I thought only maidens and Ozpin have magic. > Uh WHAT even is that thing? > Is Oscar's Aura already depleted? Or did he just activate it? Horray Oscar got better with his Aura! > I know they're trying to make Oscar look badass, but why isn't Leo attacking? He's a trained Huntsman against a 14 year old boy! > Leo do you honestly think Salem is going to leave you alone? Once she has the relic she's just going to dispose of you. > Obligatory Yugioh reference. > Isn’t it obvious Oscar? > Meanwhile Weiss is playing The Floor is Lava > This would be a great opportunity to put in a new song for the soundtrack. That only consists of 3 songs. That we last heard before Chapter 1. That was eleven weeks ago. > At this point Weiss should have learned that summoning doesn't work. Weiss, you have a broad repartoire of glyphs, but you choose to use the slowest against the fastest enemy? You can bend time for fucks sake! > Ruby is just casually watching Jaune during a fight. > Instead of hitting Ruby with her blades or doing anything, Emerald just spams bullets. > Ruby can magically deflect all the bullets with the handle of a scythe that's bigger than most humans. > Weiss didn't learn from her mistakes and turns her back to her enemy. Then this happens. > Everyone stop fighting to the death, somebody almost got hurt! > Ruby is in the middle of a fight, but turns around to look at Jaune. > Cinder can fly apparently. > Please ignore the sudden artstyle change, we didn't have the resources to remake the models. > Okay, now Ruby is about to activates her silver eyes, which itself is enough to bring cinder to her knees, but why didn't she know how to do that in the first place? She had all the time to ask Tai, Qrow and even Ozpin himself, but she didn't. It's been almost a year since she knows about the Silver eyes, and that she can basically beat any Grimm and every maiden with just one look, but she doesn't try to control it, because plot. > Come on Jaune, she's on the ground without Aura, but you try to stab her instead of slashing like any sane person would do? You could have finished this god dammit! > Jaune you trained for all this time, and still don't know how to stand properly when using your weapon? Also you could have just taken a step forward instead of falling over like a sac of potatoes. > Why did you drop your weapon? You're trying to survive! > Reusing opening animations > Jaune did you honesly think she'd listen to you when you basically say, don't kill them? > Does this fire spear look familliar? Here's a hint: It's Pyrrha's spear. > Jaune you have more than enough time to get up and throw yourself onto her, or stab her in the back. Instead you just scream NOOOO like somebody who is completely incapacitated. > Reusing Pyrrha's death animation > Weiss didn't make any sound, but yet everyone magically stops fighting to their bloody death for a second, only too look at Weiss being stabbed to death. Like what did you expect? > Apparently Jaune didn't cry, even though we saw him cry for the first time three times already. > Weiss faints, and the spear dissipates. Meanwhile Cinder sees a wounded Weiss that she wanted to kill. If Cinder really wanted to kill Weiss, she could have just burned her this instant, so why does she leave Weiss alive? > Black screen of death. Along with the worst damn cliffhanger RWBY has ever given us. > The CRWBY only knows one way to end an episode. Which is a cliffhanger.

BONUS SINS:

> Whenever one person stops talking, the camera just cuts to another person that starts to talk. For a fight scene this was an awful lot of talking. > Aparently one week isn't enough for Blake to arrive at Haven. And it looks like all the bombs have been set already. Let's see how Miles and Kerry try to save this one. > Nobody believes that Sienna Kahn is dead. Nobody believes Weiss is dead. It seems to me like something with the writing isn't right.

Summer 2017 Anime First Impressions

Well here we are again, four weeks into the season before I finally get around to catching up on the twenty shows I’m keeping track of. Not like anyone reads these anyway. Regarding this season, we can say one thing: at least it isn’t last season. Thus far there’s been nothing super stand out, with a lot of middle-of-the-road shows and a few ones slightly better. Much preferable to the shit show 16 weeks ago. As usual, here’s what I’m watching, with MAL links and original shows marked:

Tsurezure Children (MAL) Starting off, we have a webcomic turned serialized manga turned anime, and for good reason. Tsurezure is a 4-koma romcom focusing on way too many couples in bite-sized happy romance stories. Defined by reaction faces, exclamation points, and yet a surprising amount of exposition, it's a quirky comedy I glad I started reading. One of the main downsides of Tsurezure is that although it has overarching themes, minute-to-minute enjoyment is very much based on the current couple. Personally, I love the Class Prez/Deliquent, Chiaki/Kana, and anything with the Love Master. The problem, then, is that once you find the few you really like, it's kind of a shame you only get so much time with them. A simple art style that matches the manga belies an infectious humor that Toshiya has mastered. This is one short show I wish was longer. Watch this.

Aho Girl (MAL) Continuing the notable increase in half-length shows, we have this half-witted one. Aho Girl, lit. "Clueless Girl," follows Yoshiko, an idiot, and her friends(?), mostly childhood friend Akuru, trying to deal with her idiocy. A suitably odd OP, both in sound and visuals (or relative lack thereof), leads into Yoshiko's introduction through getting a 0 on all her tests. I guess that confirms the title, now doesn't it? Tsukkomis, wild attitude swings, and bananas are the name of this show's game. One thing I love right off the bat is just how blatantly annoyed Akuru gets with Yoshiko's antics. It's not hard to see the "he's supporting her because he does feel something," but that being shelved in favor of faces of disgust is just funny on a very essential level. This show knows exactly what it is, a dumb comedy about a girl being dumb. And yet it's dumb fun all the same.

Isekai Shoukudou (MAL) A somewhat restrained take on the well-worn isekai genre, Shoukudou involves Nekoya, a resataurant that serves fantasy creatures once each week, connecting to "the other world" through the restaurant's front door. Right off the bat, the upbeat OP is coupled with some fantastic visuals. I missed having a food porn show last season, but Shoukudou brings it back in force. Further, throughout each episode the background music keeps pace with events and is a very nice touch to the cool tones of this show. Indeed, this show absolutely exudes cool. The smooth tunes while the last few customers (albeit they being beastmen, wizards, and the like) finishing their orders, Aletta and the Master cleaning tables into the night, it's just so nice. Aletta is the new hire, a demon girl homeless in "the other world" who finds the door to Nekoya by happenstance and promptly gets a job and a new outlook on life. She's real cute. Shoukudou has plenty of the "customer narrates the intricacies of how good the food is" every time a new customer comes in, but it's great all the same. If this show is a slow introduction of new characters to Nekoya for the rest of the run time, I will be more than satisfied. AOTS contender right here. Satisfied with an isekai? What is this season coming to?

Koi to Uso (MAL) Marraige is arranged genetically for happiness at 16, and other love is forbidden. As if there was a premise that lent itself more to a high school romance-drama. I have to say, I am in absolute disbelief that Koi to Uso isn't penned/drawn by the same creator as Scum's Wish. The artstyle and really the whole tone, albeit Koi to Uso being a bit more restrained, I immediately thought it was the same author. Wild. Anyway, we're dropped into a modern Romeo and Juliet, Nejima and Takasaki confess, to each other, just as the government - the external circumstances - are pulling them apart. It's not a new path forward, but I think the latter half of the first episode conveyed the emotions pretty well. The beautiful artstyle helps, and with shaking hands, red cheeks, and streaming tears the ending scene got me into it, despite the expected outcome. ...Is what I was thinking as Nejima fucking fell on top of Ririna (his assigned wife) in the second episode. Why. Why do that? Why have that 6 seconds into the show? At least the girls are cute - Takasaki in a hoodie, shorts and thighhighs was just incredible, but Ririna with her curious eyes and attitude beyond her height, hoo boy - guess I'm rooting for the underdog now. Time to suffer. With Ririna's schemes, Koi to Uso is perfecting anxiety - having something so treasured so close, being trapped by things out of your control, being trapped by things inside yourself - so much anxiety. This show can't go anywhere except emotional turmoil, but if it's already getting emotional responses out of me, I'm going to stay interested. Especially after episode three's ending.

Netsuzou TRap (MAL) Yet another shorter-than-normal show, we have NTR. Yes, that NTR. The "fuck over the caring guy and get off on cheating behind his back" kind of NTR. Just now with lesbians. Even moreso, I dislike Hotaru's archetype so much it just makes me feel bad for Yuma. If you're into that, watch this. If you're not, don't. I don't know why I did. There are better fetishes.

Clione no Akari (MAL) The fourth and last of the short shows, Clione no Akari begins with Takashi and Kyoko trying to help Minori, who is getting bullied. Its muted art style matches this tired premise. I know it's only nine minutes, but the first episode still felt like it dragged on for some reason. Moreover, both Takashi and Kyoko reflect on their weakness and that they want to stand up to the class for Minori, but then in the second episode all of that possible growth just gets passed over. They call out to her after she almost gets splashed by a car, and then Takashi says "After that, Kyoko and I grew so focus on how we could solve Minori's current situation, it was as if it were happening to us." So after they complain about their weak personalities, instead of forcing them to change, they simply get a way to help Minori while not directly standing up to the class. It seems like if it affected them that much you'd see a bit more exposition rather than nothing to "And then, we became super close to her" over the span of fifteen minutes. It might seem like I'm asking for a lot from a 9-minute show, but that's exactly the point - if a show aims to be an engaging drama about making friends and standing up for one another, it needs to have more substance packed into its short timespan, and Clione no Akari does not.

Hajimete no Gal (MAL) And the award for "highest percentage of animation budget used exclusively for cameltoe" goes to... First, make sure you eschew the HorribleSubs release on this one, because the censoring is bad. Not Terra Formars bad, not Shinmai Maou no Testament bad, but it's not great. Now then, this is a very simple decision: you watch for the fanservice, or you don't watch at all. I'm serious when I say the animation goes to Yukana, and to a lesser extent the other girls, because the male characters (even the MC) and everything else looks downright bad. The fanservice, however, is pretty damn nice. Junichi's delusions lead into some steamy scenes that are top tier gyaru action. Other than that, the OP/ED are generic, the other girls are lackluster, and the "comedy" is unfunny. Just skip through the dialogue until you get Yukana being cute, and this'll be somewhat enjoyable.

Gamers! (MAL) A nothing main character spoken to by the cutest girl in school because she's interested in video games and especially his passion for them, despite never talking prior. Wew. Karen, said cutest girl, is attempting to bring back the school's gaming club, where real gamers play games with their gaming friends. These are serious gamers, so serious about their gaming that they forget everything else except the game, like the true gamers they are. Episode one has fantastic lines like "I've been looking for new members who are undeniably true gamers" and "Why did you guys become gamers?," like it's something you have to awaken to. And yet even in spite of this, the glorification of gaming is still going hand-in-hand with the conceptualization of "gamers" as outside normal people. Karen hasn't told anyone about her gaming passion even though she's so popular (and it's foreshadowed she'll lost her widespread respect), and Amano gets the description "Games are his friends." Every character is just entranced with Amano's gaming spirit that they can't help but want to game with him. And just like a good MC, Amano is humble and pessimistic about his own gaming passion, but stands up for the game club and the gamers that make it up. This show feels like an E3 PR rep's ideal anime. The game references themselves aren't half bad, but that's certainly not saving this waste of my time. Guess I'm just not a true gamer.

Made in Abyss (MAL) I was originally off-put by the character designs, but I am glad I finally decided to watch it. A city sits on a massive hole - The Abyss - full of ancient ruins - and our main characters are delvers into the giant void. Importantly, Made in Abyss lets us know right off the bat that it will not be all idyllic landscapes - a close call with a dangerous monster now foreshadows so much better than suddenly changing the show's tone halfway through. Background music and art style both benefit this show greatly - the music rising and falling with he action while the art easily conveys the current state of the landscape - overgrown yet hiding secrets. Riko is a energetic girl at an orphanage guild, known for swiping Relics she finds and generally causing trouble. In the tussle with the monster, she is saved by a robot boy, Reg and promptly takes him back to experiment. Just the first episode sets up tone, characters, and the mystery of the Abyss with precision. The choice of children as main characters is an interesting one, but I almost didn't think twice because the rest of the people in Made in Abyss didn't think anything of it, either. Starting with a premise that has such a clear objective, like the Abyss' bottom, also relatively anchors the show against wild plot swings, which gives me more confidence in the story going forward. All these things combined are making for quite an enjoyable experience, and I can't wait to see where it goes.

Ballroom e Youkoso (MAL) Tatara is our typical despondent teen protag, who through a chance encounter is roped into trying ballroom dancing, and in it sees an opportunity to find himself. I picked this up solely on its premise, because I've never seen an anime about ballroom dancing before. It just seems so far from the typical slate that it caught my eye. This show's unique animation style, credit to Production I.G., has its ups and downs. For the most part, the show looks clean, the lines look great, and the motion is good. On the other hand, the actual dance scenes seem to lose a bit, in favor of dramatic freeze frames or showing the top halves of people rather than their legs moving or other intricate motion. I'm certainly not going to yell at the animators, for a show in which Tatara is won over by simply watching a ballroom dancing DVD, to get the viewers interested the motion, the visceral movements of the dance need to be shown, and more often than not they aren't. Oh, and the necks. Why is everyone's neck so long? Apart from Tatara, behind Sengoku's bombast lies a calculated, seriously powerful personality that is the perfect motivator for Tatara. And I don't know about you guys, but Shizuku is cuter in her practice/casual clothes than in a ballroom dress. Just my taste. Anyway, alongside the stalls in animation, I can't honestly say I like Tatara's VA. To me it just gives off the trying-too-hard-to-be-a-teen vibe too much for me to not notice it every time he speaks. While still enjoyable, these two faults are noticeable the entire time you watch the show. However, if you are interested in the premise, and don't mind animation quirks, then by all means, Welcome to the Ballroom.

[ORIG] Princess Principal (MAL) Alt history, 20th century steampunk London, and spies but also superpowers and made-up minerals, this is Princess Principal. Smooth jazz while a loli-ninja wearing a mushroom hat cuts up 20th century cars? Sure, why not? Cavorite, the aforementioned made-up mineral, allows for temporary control of gravity, allowing the girls to make their first daring escape with a VIP. Also, the girls are spying between the Commonwealth, or the West, and the Empire, or the East. Also the Princess herself is a spy. It's certainly a lot to take in immediately, but this show seems to revel in the craziness - echoing the fast-paced, spontaneous action of the spies themselves. Our main girl Ange lies to get through life, and is soft spoken and terse. The others in her immediate crew range from the authoritative onee-san to the cheerful loli. I personally feel like they could have made a perfectly enjoyable spy thriller with just alternate history and no supernatural element Take Joker Game from a few seasons ago - that even went so far as to be historically accurate in its place names and such, and aside from some same-facing was a wonderfully engaging show. While I do feel the personalities more in these femme fatales, I just don't see the "thriller" part as holding up as much. It's really not bad - I just feel my main gripe here is the overpresence of themes that don't need to be there. Still worth a watch if you don't mind it.

Centaur no Nayami (MAL) Having watched both MonMusu and Demi-chan and consequently becoming an Expert™ on monster girl shows, Centaur no Nayami is most certainly more of the former. I'll say at the very least that guys in school also being monsters is a welcome change, rather than including a harem. Hime, the titular centaur, acts just like her name. Nozomi is our sharp-tongued, tomboyish tsundere, while Kyouko (my favorite) is a terse, blonde tsukkomi. We get a surprising amount of world-building right out of the gate - the world is as it is thanks to a different evolution path, and to avoid the discrimination of the past, "equality" is aggressively and strictly enforced. The seemingly dark background behind the otherwise peppy slice-of-life is definitely off-putting, and seems immediately at odds with the tone. If while walking around town the girls maybe glimpsed an abuse or something similar, the aggressive equality mantra might seem like an understandable government reaction. Seeing nothing of the sort while hearing Kyoko not want to ride Hime because that's discrimination and she might get sent to a "correction facility" is more than a bit unsettling. Production-wise, the show looks and sounds great. Quirky music for quirky circumstances, and the motion of all the characters' different bodies is conveyed convincingly. The A/B Parts splitting the episode is something I haven't seen in quite a while, but I think it lends itself well to the SoL part of the show. Overall, this is a surprisingly endearing slice of life with a higher-than-normal amount of kissing, and I just wish they'd lay off the dramatic background. Worth a watch if you're into monster girls or slice of life more generally.

[ORIG] Action Heroine Cheer Fruits (MAL) Last but not least, we have Action Heroine - Heroines (as in those live-acted hero shows) are now super-popular, and the show follows one town that is way behind the curve on popular heroines. Immediately, I like the art. It seems like not too much more than "generic anime-style," but Diomedia has a way of doing soft lines and expressive faces that just looks great. Now I don't pretend to like hero/heroine-type premises, but even I can see this show's got remarkable heart. Spurred by her sister wanting to see Kamidaio, the current most famous heroine, Mikan, an earnest, caring sister teams up with Akagi, an energetic Kamidaio-super fan to put on a small-scale show, and the rest is history. Their first performance is carried singlehandedly by the effort the two girls put into making Mikan's sister's dream come true. Action Heroine gives off the feel of an idol show (he says, having not seen LoveLive nor Idolm@ster), with a diverse cast of girls all trying to be the best for their fans. While I don't think this show is exactly going to enjoy LoveLive levels of success, as I've said - you can see the heart it has. Some individual moments were also very strange - like a flashback where one girl loses a tennis match because a bug flew in her face, and another girl talks to her imagined anthropomorphizations of model trains. If you're into the nostalgia of hero/heroine shows, this plays right into that. Otherwise, it's a show you can pretty easily avoid.

Akame ga Kill!

Kill All These Words

Alright, heads up right off the bat: there’s some uncomfortable homophobia in this show towards Bulat, one of the male characters introduced early on who pretty clearly has a preference for men. The show treats this as a joke, and it’s a real sore spot. 

Akame ga Kill! (exclamation mark included) is... not what I was expecting. I’d heard it built up as a grimdark murderfest where you never know which character’s going to bite the dust next and it never quite felt as dire as all that. Mostly because all the murderkilling is interspersed with wacky slapstick bits. It’s a mixed bag, really. I like it, sure, but it doesn’t quite gel with me enough that I’m really into it.

Join me for a deep dive and spoilers below.

Akame ga Kill! suffers from a problem I’ve seen a few times in anime, which is that it rubberbands between two tonal extremes. On one hand, there will be scenes of slapstick comedy with chibi character models, and on the other hand are the scenes of violence and cruelty. Like in the first episode where it turns out that the nice rich girl who shelters Tatsumi tortures poor people in her spare time.

Yeah, it’s a sadistic show, or at least feels like it wants you to think it is.

Don’t believe her lies.

Let me first take a step back and give the rundown of some basic stuff. Akame ga Kill! is about Tatsumi, a guy from some podunk village who tries to join the imperial army in the city to get money to send back home. He ends up falling in with Night Raid, an elite group of assassins working for the Revolutionary Army trying to overthrow the corrupt empire. And right there I think the show missed a trick. I was expecting a mid-season twist where it would turn out that the Revolutionary Army was just as corrupt as the current regime and Night Raid would have to deal with that, but for the most part the Revolutionary Army is a non-entity in the show. Outside the final two episodes its presence is limited to a few resistance contacts.

An almost unforgivable oversight is how little attention the show gives to the danger beasts, the monsters that inhabit the land of... wherever Akame ga Kill! takes place. They get very little screentime as the show focuses mostly on Night Raid’s assassination targets. Another missed opportunity, I feel. On the upside, at least the danger beasts get lip service in that each of the Imperial Relics wielded by the tough fighters in the series is made from a legendary danger beast. It would have been nice to, y’know, see these powerful monsters on screen, but one takes what one can get.

The worldbuilding on the whole is pretty weak. The general aesthetic is pretty generic fantasy, but the major characters have some pretty anachronistic outfits and apparently guns are semi-standard issue to the armed forces? It’s a little distracting, but still forgivable because it feels like the background details take a definite back seat to the characters.

And speaking of characters: Esdeath.

Not gonna lie, I did originally get into Akame ga Kill because I wanted to know what Esdeath’s whole deal was.

Esdeath’s relationship with Tatsumi initially made me roll my eyes pretty hard, but it is handled better than I was afraid it would be and at least affects the plot in interesting ways while adding flavor to both characters. My one gripe is really that it should have had more setup instead of Esdeath falling in love at first sight. And it does eventually lead to the most emotionally affecting part of the whole show (more on that later).

Esdeath drawing Tatsumi in that amateurish anime style is one of the best little bits of character I’ve seen in an anime.

Now to get back into the meat of the thing:

Accusing a work of being emotionally manipulative is pointless because yes, every creative work is trying to make you feel something. But problems arise when you can see the strings. Akame ga Kill!’s attempts to make you feel sorry for a character who has just died or is about to die they just become tedious. It’s kind of fun to guess who’s going to get killed off based on what (usually tragic) backstory we see during an episode, but once the show actually starts drawing out the actual death scenes I start losing interest.

This is even more of a problem when the show tries to get us to care about the Jaegers, Esdeath’s team of relic-wielders who try to hunt down Night Raid. It spends a lot of time building up their characters and relationships, but my problem is that they’re the bad guys. They all work for a system that we’ve only seen to be oppressive and corrupt and none of them seem at all interested in bettering it, only protecting the status quo. So in the end I just can’t find it in me to dredge up any real feeling for them beyond wondering when they’ll die and how melodramatic it’ll be. The worst offender here is Seryuu, the Paladin type who’s definitely Lawful... something (let’s not get into D&D alignment quibbling here). She’s constantly talking about Justice while seemingly ignorant of the irony when the ‘justice’ she’s championing is rotten to the core. It might have been nice to see her have a change of heart and join Night Raid but there was never any real hope of that happening.

Seryuu (who’s family name is inexplicably ‘Ubiquitous’), pictured here with her relic Coro in the form of a jacked-as-fuck puppy. 

Now, to be fair in the final few episodes Run does reveal that he joined the Jaegers to try and change the empire from the inside, but he’s also the Jaeger we know the least about so it doesn’t have a whole lot of weight. Plus, he survives so we don’t get to revel in the tragedy of seeing someone with good intentions cut down before they get a chance to effect real change. In a similar vein, Wave feels underused as it takes him to the final few episodes to finally decide to start bucking the system.

There is one death that did get me though, and that’s Tatsumi’s death in the second-to-last episode. It works so well because up to this point the show had been treating Tatsumi like the main character, letting us forget that it’s Akame’s name in the title. Tatsumi’s death also provides a nice emotional payoff to the romance subplot with Esdeath. It’s one of the real high points of the series because how genuinely unexpected it was.

That one moment aside, the thing about Akame ga Kill! is that I’m not sure if it’s making a sincere effort to tug at heartstrings or if the melodramatic deaths are just part of the show’s whole overblown aesthetic. While not tonally consistent with each other, the wacky comedy bits and the girmdark gore bits at least feel like they tie into each other thematically in that they’re both extremes. This also matches the show’s bright, cartoony artstyle. Even the character designs are over-the-top, with the aforementioned anachronistic design elements. Plus the initial members of Night Raid have hints of a sentai team’s color-coding going on. It took me a while to figure out that’s because the show’s leaning into being something of a caricature.

I mean, the fact that the second-to-last battle is against a gigantic mech should clue you in that the show was trying to be over-the-top and not taking itself too seriously the whole time. Something I admit to being kind of slow on the uptake about. Even the main villain, the corrupt Prime Minister Honest is a total cartoon. And I can’t mention the ridiculousness of the show without a special shoutout to Seryuu’s mid-season upgrade where during fights she gets Coro to bite off her robotic arms to replace them with various weapons.

This over-the-topness is even more emphasized with Akame ga Kill! Theater, a series of web shorts that aired on the official website and are supposed to be watched after the corresponding episode of the main series. Each episode of Akame ga Kill! Theater is about a minute and a half and consists solely of chibi slapstick

So where does that leave us?

Well, technically I think that Akame ga Kill! is a good show. The antagonists Night Raid goes up against have interesting and varied abilities, the action scenes range from well done to amazing, the animation is good, and when the music stands out it really stands out. My own lack of enthusiasm for the show comes from I think one part unrealized expectations and two parts finding the melodrama tedious.

Akame ga Kill! is a series that’s worthy of respect, even if it didn’t end up blowing me away.

A happy Esdeath. She is possibly the best-defined character in the show.

Postscript: Akame ga Kill! feels to me like it’s cut from the same cloth as Blood-C. So if for whatever impossible reason you want a show that is 100% Lex-approved and have a limited amount of time, I’d say check that one out instead. 

Respect Fanartists & Fanfiction Writers

Listen, and do so carefully... because this will be said once. 

Fanartists & Fanfiction Writers put a LOT of time, effort, emotion and skill into making things that you enjoy for free, friends. 

Sure, it takes you a minute to stare at artwork that someone spent weeks on; or 15 minutes tops to skim through a fic that may have taken days... so you just see it as something to be consumed, and in a lot of frustrating cases, your RIGHT to have provided.

For one, providing feedback in the form of comments or reviews/asks is always appreciated. That’s awesome and we love it!

Sending ask after ask or Private Message after Private Message demanding they make you something specific... NOT okay.  OR, worse, falsely befriending them in order to get them to make you free art/fiction, is alternatively what the creative side of the fandoms calls ‘a dick move’.

See, here’s the thing... if you are friends with someone, you are there for them. If you friend them with the ulterior motive of getting them to draw you a specific picture, or comic, or write you a highly-detailed fanfiction... then you are being a manipulative drain on their life.

Like, listen... even if someone reblogs a ‘Writing/Art Prompt’ post, you cannot sincerely anticipate they will answer every single request they get. There might be duplicates, the person receiving them may not like one received, they may lose energy or focus, or just be busy with the real world. To harass, to send additional follow-up asks bothering people? Not okay. 

It used to happen more frequently in the past, but it’s rising up again.

Consistent harassment of the creative sides of fandom (encompasses gifmakers, SFM makers, all the types, etc.) just drains the creative batteries worse than a lack of comments/reviews on new art/fiction does.

It puts them under pressure to fulfil your demand, which is not okay. Hell, assholes in certain fandoms used to do CALLOUT posts on artists and writers who didn’t fulfil the requests they demanded. It was ridiculous?

Let’s not go back there.

-

So here’s the thing. 

>You like their artstyle? Yes. <You would like them to draw you something? Oh yes! >Are they doing commissions, or would they be willing to do one? They are open to commissions/Oh, I will politely ask. <They are open to commissions and you can afford what you want? a)Yes (Proceed) b) No. You can save up to commission them later. YOU WILL NOT HARASS THE ARTIST FOR FREE ART (that includes trying manipulative tactics such as making up sob stories, falsely befriending them, and/or claiming you don’t trust internet banking options*). [*If you distrust paypal, or certain sites, you can actually buy preloaded/disposable credit cards (which are basically gift cards), that you can put the required amount on and use to pay. There are alternatives, just ask.]

>>>You can afford it, and what you are asking fits what the artist has said they are comfortable drawing for you? Yes. ~Ask them if they are happy to take this commission and provide the details necessary. ~Accept that it will take time, and effort, don’t hover trying to get them to finish it faster.  ~Do not try to change the deal mid-way through the commission. E.g. if you paid for greyscale, don’t demand colour, or one character but now you want too for the same price, or withhold payment until you get your way. That is a major dick move, and your name will circle through the artistic sphere as ‘difficult’ and ‘untrustworthy’. 

There have been a few notable people out there that have tried to get free art this way, and thought artist-hopping would make sure no one found out. But, buddy, if you know one artist, they know ten more, and it branches out from there... who do you think has the most feedback for creators, but other artists and writers? They will all find out, eventually.

>Not being able to afford it, it not a good excuse to hound the artist to change their prices. Listen, if you’re at the store and can’t afford the new action figure you want... you can’t haggle with the poor storeclerk at the counter (but numerous people have tried that? Is that where you have learned this from?) for a ‘better price’.  You might counter, ‘but the clerk can’t set the price and an artist can’. Listen, lissen here fucko mccoconuts, the artists on tumblr charge an obscenely low pittance for the amazing art they do... like, barely anything.  A coloured sketch? Some artists will do it for five bucks because they’re too goddamn afraid you whiny little bastards won’t agree to anything more; they are downselling their hard-earned artistic abilities.

And fanfiction authors? They have to do it for free because NO ONE pays for writing. Ask, and they will tell you almost all fanfiction commissions fall through, for one reason or another... but mostly the idea is considered absurd.

If you cannot afford it now, then either save, or maybe ask if the artist is open to a payment plan. E.g. If you requested a five-page comic at $60 coloured, by the way an obscenely low price compared to real-world prices, you could ask to pay it in two lots, or something of that nature. It depends on each artist as to whether they are amenable to it. Never assume.

>Not being able to afford it does not mean, ‘befriend the person and try to feed them your headcanons in the hopes of free art’ (nor the old, ‘so my birthday’s coming up... do you think you could make me _____?’).  If that’s the whole reason you have ‘befriended’ them (manipulated them into thinking you are genuinely offering altruistic friendship) then you’re an absolute cactus, mate. A conglomeration of pricks, that is to say. 

You don’t make friends to get things. And if you do, perhaps you need to re-evaluate your priorities, you drongo bastards, people are human beings not vending machines. 

Sometimes, if an artist or writer gets inspired by the stupid headcanons you share at 3am your time and like 9am their time... accidental art or fanfiction happens. It’s spontaneous, fun, a gift based on mutual feedback and conversation. But to anticipate being rewarded simply for your friendship, is wrong.

ESPECIALLY, and I cannot stress this enough, especially if  you try to feed the artist a headcanon... then ceaselessly pester them as to why they haven’t made the fiction/fanart of it yet? Everyday? What the fuck is your problem?

-

>Why is it so expensive? It isn’t. It really fucking isn’t. I’ve covered this. Also, everyone is so damn quick to say “But art is haaaaaard” when told to draw something themselves, because an artist doesn’t want to, but just as fast to question why that artist (who has learned that skill and ceaselessly practised until they have their own artstyle that you like enough to think about commissioning) is charging you MONEY for something you WANT (not NEED).

You will not actually die if you don’t get a pic of your OTP fucking in a jacuzzi, suzy. So just calm ya tiddies and carry on.

>Why won’t you draw my headcanon? Did you commission the artist? No? Then fuck off. They have their own life and ideas... and if you harass them, others who are less polite are going to have something to say about it. Especially the adults who pressure young artists to make them shit all the time... you will be found and shamed you bastards. >Why won’t you write my detailed headcanon? Same as above. But also, aren’t you the person who keeps saying ‘but writing is easy’? How about you write it yourself. One of the many things you will be told to do to yourself if you don’t stop pestering writers.  That goes for bothering writers/artists here, on AO3, ff.net, DeviantArt or any random site they’re affiliated with. 

- - - -

The biggest question is what makes you feel so ENTITLED to their work?

And that’s really what it is. “I want it. Make it for me.”

Oh sure, you can cover it in pretty words, “But we’re friends”, “But I can’t afford it”, “But I’m feeling so down recently, maybe this elaborate 15k OTP headcanon I want you to write will make things better, don’t skimp on the smut! XD” ...it all amounts to, “Hey, you should reward me for liking your art/writing. If I do not get it immediately, without cost, I will pester you either brazenly, or subtly... I may even pretend to be a genuine friend, to get what I want. You owe it to me.”

And, really, from the bottom of the creative community’s hearts, I’d love to just remind each and every person who feels this way... that you are not a good person, at heart, and can fuck right off out past alpha centauri where such disrespect might be considered flattering... because it sure as hell isn’t on earth.

-

Fanartists, Fanfiction writers, put up with this all the time.

It’s the sixteen asks they don’t publish, all demanding things.

It’s the excitement cut short when they thought they had a new fic review, but it’s actually just someone trying to get them to write them something.

It’s the person in your chat always giving headcanons, many you don’t agree with, and then checking in to see if you’ve drawn/written them. Relentlessly.

It’s the Private Messages, dozens of them, requesting you do something specific for someone, something that will require time and effort on your part but not theirs. And the angry messages that follow if you turn down their demands.

It’s the angry ‘callout’ posts from people who you’ve said No to. The people who were told, “I’m not taking requests, but if you would just see my commission post for details...” and were abhorred at the idea of PAYING for ART they WANT????

And more. There is always more, worse, unending, frustrating.

This goddamn barrage hits some more than others. Some acquiesce for the sake of peace, but it will not end if they do; because once someone gets free art, or fiction, they’ll demand again and again and again...

- - - 

And as you can imagine, like a ceaseless cascade of waterfall over a cliff-face, eventually it erodes the joy, the fun, the creativity of your art or writing, or any of the other artistic abilities (e.g. gifsets, photomanips, videos, animations, etc.)

But the reality is, these groups (plus the whole gamete of other creative types out there) are putting time, effort and skill into making something; whether it’s free or a commission, and you need to respect that.

-

So please, be kind to the people who are putting their abilities out there, often entirely free, for the sake of enjoying something they love with the rest of the fandom. Respect them, don’t demand, and remember that a comment on what you enjoyed about their work can mean the world of encouragement.

Thank you.

I was tagged by the sweet @undonesam​ and amazing @kigamin​, thank you <3 

1. Favorite anime?

atm it’s definetly Hunter x Hunter and I can’t think straight about anything else, but in general Fullmetal Alchemist and D. Gray Man are always up there. 

2. Worst anime?

oh my I rarely watch anime if i’m not recommanded to watch them so I managed to avoid a lot of bad stuff. But when I started watching anime I fell on some harem anime like L/ove H/ina that made me deeply uncomfortable.

3. Do you read manga that goes with the anime?

Usually ye, I’m actually more the kind to read than to watch anime. For some mangas (dgm and fma for exemple) it’s actually hard for me to watch the anime adaptations at time ahah. Anyway I usually prefer to read the manga so if I start an anime and like it, I will check the manga, or read the manga first. 

4. Most favorite genres?

lmao I agree with Kigamin, hxh is it’s own genre and this is a good one. Usually I admit I like adventure stuff, I usually easily get into quite light stories that tends to get somewhat darker as it goes by. I like also thinkpieces, the kind of manga that have you push some thinking in general.  I’m really into characters driven stories, especially when you focus on multiple characters. 

otherwise I like light comedies, mostly in the romance or sport genre. 

5. Least favorite genres?

harem, ecchi, loli/shota, all this kind of stuff. I usually get easily turned off if there’s too much fanservice or gross elements.

6. Favorite character?

oh my. At the moment it’s Kurapika. Like ,,, i’m too invested for this shit I love him ways too much. atm he’s all I can think of. 

But Lavi from dgm and Ling/Greed/Greeling from FMA are always quite in the top and considering I’m not as involved in those mangas than in hxh, it’s quite telling that those two remained this high in my favs after all those years. 

7. Least favorite character?

depends if you mean “character that I hate because of their actions”, in which case, Shou Tucker from FMA is a really, really good starting point lmao

or “character I don’t especially like and isn’t that much of a bad person but I just don’t like them” in which case, Nea from DGM. And okay, he’s technically a bad person, but considering how everyone talks about him I get r e a l l y pissy because I just. Can’t stand him lmao. (I’m starting to have the same feeling with Mana D.Campbell too). The problem with those two characters is that /I know/ they’re going to be developped more and I’m looking forward to their development because for now, they’re at the really begining of what’s interesting in their storylines, but considering the hiatus and all (although no blame to Hoshino-sensei), I don’t feel much for them and I’m just kinda hicky to see them everywhere. (especially with how quickly people loved Mana while there’s still a major ignoring of the Earl so far and that I think I’m going to yell if I see one more “it’d be cool of the Earl became Mana again” no, fuck you.)

8. Qualities you like in a character?

Suffering.huuh jk jk, but idk. 

I usually kinda like the fun and/or teasing character with a Tragic BackStory or kinda dark motivations but who gets kinda torn between the happiness they could have, esp thanks to others people, and the duty they put upon themselves? 

It really depends. I love characters that often asks to go a bit deeper to read. I love to analyse characters and see complex characters. But usually if the character is a smart mouth who often teases others characters or try to make them feel better, I tend to love them.

(like, I fell for Kurapika when he was teasing Leorio, he hits about all the others mark, smartmouth, sometimes cheer people up, kinda tragic, complex, following his duty even if it hurts him while he can be happier with his loved ones. A bit the same with Lavi, he’s always teasing, quite a smartmouth, he sometimes cheer people up, he’s really worried for people, but his duty as Bookman holds him back and he’s torn between how he wants to help in the war for his friend and his duty that require him to not have a heart.  Ling is a bit less torn about it all but he’s really all about his duty, he’s a smartmouth too, he really puts people in big situations by teasing them, and he usually know what to say to motivate people (like Greed). That’s kind of the patern I’d see with my favs)

9. Short or long anime?

huuuuh mostly I prefer long stories so usually long, but again, I rather read the manga if the medium is too long, I rarely have the attention span to watch a long anime. (ie why it’s a miracle I watched hxh2011 in 3 weeks.)

10. Anime or manga?

Usually Manga (if it wasn’t obvious by now o(-( ).  Anime often uses Fillers or cut scenes and both makes me hicky when it goes against the canon’s characters development or kinda screw with the timeline of the manga.

And the thing that usually makes me the saddest about it is that also, I love to see the art progression of the mangaka during the manga. Some changes are spectacular and I love to compare the artstyle, and, rightfully so though, an anime usually try to be coherent in their artstyle but  y e. That’s my major grip against the DGM’s anime because the artsyle is either surreal or so beautiful in the manga and the anime doesn’t really manage at either o(-(

11. How do you choose the anime you watch?

Usually it’s intense recommanding from people I trust. A few times it could be because of my tumblr dash (I watched gsnk like that)  but usually I need someone I really trust to insist I should watch said anime. (and I’m legit the worst at that, it’s been 6 years a close friend wanted me to start hxh, 1 year that another close friend insisted as well, I started it last December after all this time, so it’s telling of how bad I am with it).

12. Skip or listen to intros/outro?

Always watch and listen to them. A Good anime is an anime I’m trying to sing along the intros/outros of. Besides you never know which anime could hide easter eggs or bonus in or after those!

13. How do you cope with friends or family don’t like you watching anime?

huuuh friends are chill, they know me and they know I get really invested in stuff, sometimes they laugh a little because I’m really getting in too deep but they actually even sometimes push me to talk about it. I have a friend who started some of the animes I kept talking about because of that, it was sweet.

Parents and family is not really good tho. I kinda want to act like “I don’t care” and all, but my family tends to over-tease me on it all, and it often gets downright racist in arguments, so it makes me especially uncomfortable. I’m someone who often wants to talk about the things that I love and I know I can’t really with my close family, which is why I’m so loud on there. If I mention anime or honestly anything I like (or hell, if we end up accidentally zapping on said stuff on TV and I don’t do anything), I get a two hours long teasing that gets kinda hurtful at times and again, when it comes to anime, with a racist edge to them or a “that’s why everyone is violent” lecture. 

I suppose this blog is my coping of it all I guess? lmao.

14. Do you stop an anime midway if you don’t like it?

Ye. I mean I stopped midway in animes I actually liked but had no energy to pick up and I’m not sure I’ll even pick them up. Hell, I never finished watching say, FMAB or both anime of DGM because I didn’t feel like it. So if there’s an anime I don’t actively like, I’ll drop it. I don’t like forcing myself to watch stuff.

wouhou that was long. 

Anyway I tag @ttachibana, @killuabs, @kimievii, @nadejdaro, @unnoticed-and-necessary, @caruchan- aaand @mariyekos

if you want to ofc :D

Take care!

ah yes. i came up with one too, i guess.

everyone gets to be a variety of the same type of gem here! isn’t that great? all are beryls. but what kind?

deceit gets heliodor because it’s yellow, and marquise cut because it seemed nice.

patton(and logan? not certain if deeper blue counts) is aquamarine.

just checked. logan is apparently, in fact, maxixe.

both roman and virgil are red beryl, because it doesn’t have a fancy name. also, purpley beryl still counts as red in name.

being beryls, why are they not emerald sized*?

1. i can change them later

2: this artstyle doesn’t speak much of style

3: if tiny gems fuse, they become normal sized. granted there are five but whatever.

4: i’m taking the benefit of the doubt given or not here, but we can’t know emerald’s size for sure.

5: it is Important that they are Small.

*emeralds are green beryl.

more details i guess:

yeah i’m making a lotta this up on the fly. but here:

-deceit is an era 2 gem. defective? maybe. he prefers to say simply differently made. whatever the case homeworld would not be a fan if they found out.

-thinking of him having had a pearl who helped him communicate. if that decision ends up made i gotta go with the idea that marquise cuts are pretty rare and a bit more popular. thus achieving a pearl...

-guess what flaw would cause such notice? i’m sure you’ll never get it. (pathological liar.)

-he basically ends up being peridot here, trapped on earth a while, stuck facing these other crazies in love with just another hunk of raw materials.

-where people will get it if you’re different. where all the flaws people have are ‘interesting‘. where being defective doesn’t mean the end.

-that aside, let’s get to the first four beryls?

-they were a team on homeworld. first it was just three, but it wasn’t long before another joined in.

-he was assigned to their squad, actually. i’m thinking of maybe their group was always four, but they lost someone and virgil’s there in that person’s stead.

-how they were lost is to your own imagination.

-in any case! virgil, at the least, has seen some things. and not pleasant ones.

-i’m thinkin maybe he used to be pink’s, though he never got to see her or her colony before the incident.

-not sure exactly what yet. but he too is ‘defective’. homeworld never says what exactly that means. a flaw in their formation? other than physical ‘defects’...

-honestly it’s just their catch-all term for any trait they don’t like. and virgil has anxiety, as one might guess.

-and as originally, nobody gets why he’s so high-strung. they think he’s expecting something bad to happen specifically, and are unhappy that he won’t tell them what. they don’t understand why he keeps shooting down plans, or reacting negatively, or

-yeah. even when they try, it’s really difficult. but eventually, things escalate on a mission to another planet, and he runs off.

-of course they have to find him.

-they come to an agreement after that.

-they talk more after that, when something bothers someone.

-a lot of things bother them honestly. homeworld is like that.

-they have a lot of... debates. like in the series.

-virgil is uncomfortable, and the system accomodates very little. patton is empathetic in a way that is discouraged. logan... well peridot recognized the empire acted illogically. why shouldn’t he? and of course, roman. what room is there for creativity in a dystopia like this? it is the place of bismuths, not beryls. the best he gets is redoing his outfit whenever he’s poofed. which might be why he acts so reckless... many points of view.

-ultimately the conclusion is them coming to the realization their civilization is kind of horrible.

-so they take their ship, and leave, feigning some mission on another world. they are followed, less and less planet to planet, until eventually they find a place nobody will come for them.

-which is where earth makes an appearance. the crystal gems happened, naturally, but have our heroes heard about that? not much, just rumours!  and who can say if that was even this planet(because, no, they did not call earth the same thing we did. stop at once, they’re aliens). but they don’t actually meet the crystal gems. definitely not.

-they land somewhere nowhere near a warp pad. fortunately? unfortunately? shrug.

-they just keep their old ship as a base. they have long since wrecked up anything that could be used to track them earlier while avoiding pursuit.

-but this is still a while after the rebellion. a long while.so their ship has some cooler, new technology in.

-and they’re all beryls, right? putting them somewhere by emerald in rank(i know corundum isn’t very even in rank but stop ‘tis more fun this way). so their ship is fancy, with cool new tech stuff. not as good as show-modern homeworld, because this is still a while in the past(i kind of really need it to be before ancient greece preferably? so maybe something like 4000 years in the past compared to the 6000 between now and the rebellion), but a notch above the rebel gear. they have rooms aboard the ship, similar to the temple.

-where exactly are they? i’ll get back to you on that.

-i mean i could say florida but florida doesn’t exist in su. it’s fine. just... somewhere. maybe mexico-equivalent.

-they do have to deal with corrupted gems sometimes, as those are drawn to magic. i think that’s canonically why the cg have so many issues with ‘em. they tend to just throw them into the sea.

-they don’t live near the sea. but being a gem has perks. such as extraordinary strength.

-if i actually write this, it’s probably gonna be about how future sides join them. that’s the interesting bit i think.

-deceit was kind of... a big fan of their group. he wasn’t on orders when he went to find them. he did not intend to end up on earth. i think it was like... someone higher in authority had a tracker, and noticed he wasn’t where he was supposed to be. and was going to earth. so they terminated him, causing his ship to blow up and land on the moon. which has a warp pad i think. he has an awful time trying to find these people(they are not near a warp pad, and cannot be tracked via actual tracking methods), and then he discovers why people stopped talking about them.

-he came out here for a bunch of lunatic... Earthlings!!!

-Ugh. but he isn’t a technician. his ship is pretty broken, but the earth sides’?

-their ship is still functional. though, he may not know this at first. he may not even realize it’s a ship, just a building.

-but when he does. he becomes their recurring villain!

-then season finale-type deal he succeeds. but while he’s driving back, they’re still talking somewhere on the ship. restrained, but he can hear them.

-i’m not deciding now what they say. but he reconsiders. able to speak more freely than ever. why does he want to go back?

-back to earth they go.

-+1 party member.

-aside from that, they are a bit confused by gem tech they find sometimes while travelling(because they don’t stay in the same place all the time. they’ve been up to things. seeing sights. learning languages.) there are warp pads, some places. gem structures. floating islands. carvings of a spire out at sea.

-what happened here?

-they never really meet the crystal gems. one little coastal city they haven’t been to, why should they? maybe someday.

-they all use he/him because it seemed interesting and different, and because why not?

-they didn’t on homeworld though, or for a while on earth. not gonna change pronouns up there, but

-they also found names, yeah. that happened somehow.

-other dark sides to be introduced can be added after they are known. if circumstances align, i’ll go with the pearl thing after all, and have said pearl seek deceit the fuck out. shrug. or some other noble who knew him, popular as he was, and all. could be a sapphire! you never know.

-everyone’s room on the ship is like their own rooms, as you know them. but a bit different yeah..

-patton’s is full of memorabilia of various things. a large part of which is recordings, shelved and organized chronologically.

-logan’s, he configured to look kind of like an ampitheatre, but smaller. he has some whiteboards, as well, because yeah.

-roman’s is. well i imagine they all can kinda change, but his most noticably so because he does so a lot. and it’s kind of like rose’s room, where he creates things.

-virgil’s is... basically his own room. he’s got posters, naturally, as well as a bed, because he enjoys sleeping frequently.

-sometimes patton tries to cook. it is for the best nobody is affected by food.

-well, much. they can taste a bit. spice

-actually have mobiles in the present day, because as mentioned they travel more, and like the ability to communicate.

-while such things existed on homeworld they were closer to walkie-talkies in terms of distribution, and not being on an official mission upon which they were needed...

-well. who wants to think about homeworld.

-they interact with humans often. they are kind of everywhere, after all.

-i think i want to put them in california. seems right.

-yep california is still a thing in su. florida however is an island now. so not there.

-they may have moved the ship around some before that though.

-yeah i kinda need logan to have been around at the time of ancient greece yeah.

-also roman and the renaissance

-please tell me 4000 years in the past is enough for that.

-they’ve spent a lot of time travelling honestly. but california is the place modern-day.

-oh but. the time deceit comes ‘round? that’s maybe 600 years after they originally arrive. yeah.

-similarly-large time frames for other sides meeting up to follow.