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medea10 · 3 years

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Medea’s Worst Year of All-Time Anime/Game Superlative

Nobody saw this year coming…except for maybe Barbara Walters! Who could have predicted that this year would bless us with Australia burning, the entire west coast of the U.S. set on fire, stupid people setting fires because they wanted to reveal a baby’s gender, murder hornets, Ruth Bader Ginsburg dying, an almost war with Iran, serial killer mascots arrested, policemen killing unarmed black folks for having a counterfit $20, policemen killing unarmed black folks for breaking up a fight, policemen killing black folks for holding sandwiches, policemen killing unarmed black folks for fucking sleeping, a wide variety of “Karens” coming out of the woodworks, the end of Bojack, the end of Steven Universe, the end of Empire, and a pandemic so huge it’s killed the economy, canceled fun, and given the U.S. president the dumb-fuck idea of injecting bleach to kill the virus!?

SERIOUSLY, WHO COULD HAVE PREDICTED ALL OF THIS WAS GOING TO FALL IN OUR LAPS LIKE HOT COFFEE ON THE CROTCH?!

At least there was anime this year.

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At least there was SOME anime this year.

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Biden won the election and Vickeblanca came out with Black Catcher this year.

Hey internet, it’s Medea here to give you her trashy opinion on this years anime and games that she’s watched or played. Because for some reason, my loser-ass loves to do out-dated as fuck memes! I shouldn’t complain, this shit brings a lot of attention to my page every year when I do this. Yes, 2020 was a complete dumpster fire so large that Domestic Girlfriend is crying foul. Many of us had to go on lockdown and ended up binge-watching the entire 957+ episodes of One Piece. I did no such thing. I am one of those “essential workers” so I didn’t hunker down for 9 months straight. But when I was home, I was watching anime. Actually, I would have done that even without the pandemic. I’m an introvert and find the human race to be deplorable.

You all know how this goes. I go over the best this year had to offer me. I had to search really hard to find the good in this year, especially in the anime world. Many things had to be put on hiatus or were delayed to a later date. Just a reminder, I don’t discriminate in what year the anime or game came out. If something came out in the happier times of 2007, that anime or game counts! Let’s get at it!

First Fandom of 2020: Interspecies Reviewers

Did anyone expect a fan-favorite of 2020 was going to be a hentai? Did anyone have on their batshit 2020 bingo card that a hentai was going to grab everybody’s attention? At the beginning of the year, my mind was set on the Railgun sequel and Eizoken. It wasn’t until licensors, streaming sites, and TV stations in Japan dropped this series that I started to pay attention. And got immediately hooked! It’s about three men going to different brothels and reviewing their time with the ladies. And these ladies are of different species! So with every bang comes possible enlightenment, new kinks, or a night of having your dick sucked off more than humanly possible. This anime blew away all of my skepticism and first impressions right out the window. Maybe it’s because I’m a degenerate and am often curious about sexual content, but this was a guilty pleasure of mine this year.

Favorite Main Character of 2020: Moroha from Yashahime

I know the majority of this story is going to revolve around Towa and Setsuna, but can we please focus a little more energy on the spunky, quarter-demon girl?! I know they’re pitting Moroha as the comic relief, but I’m hopeful that she’s going to surprise us one day. We fans of InuYasha would spend the past decade and some change wondering what InuYasha and Kagome’s daughter would be like. This year, we got our answer with Moroha. She’s got this wild side to her, probably due to the fact that she’s spent her entire life on her own. And while she’s silly at times, she can get down to business in a pinch. She has her father’s sense of smell. She has a sword. She’s able to shoot sacred arrows much like her mother. And to top it all off, she has this special rouge that if she puts it on, she’s able to unleash that ¼ demon power inside her and become Beniyasha! Yeah, I know the power only lasts a minute, she’s only 14, give her a break! I will gladly go through another week scratching my head at the confusion this story gives me if I get to see one more second of Moroha and her crazy antics or her bad-ass slaying.

Favorite Villain of 2020: The Devil Believers from Black Clover

This was one hell of a year for Black Clover. It would have been an easy choice to pick the devil and possible super devil that appeared during the elf fight. But I’d like to give a nod to the filler arc villains. And you can’t blame this group for wanting the power of the devil. They’re literally the bottom-rung of the Clover Kingdom and ones with little to no power or mana. So I can agree with why they would want the power of the devil. For one thing, they’d have more power. And for another thing, they’d be able to exact revenge on those who have wronged them. On some occasions I agree with exacting revenge and when it comes to the nobles and some characters in Black Clover, some folks do deserve death. I mean, have you met the king of the Clover Kingdom? Plus, this town and many other poorer towns get looked over by the kingdom. Peasant uprise! Anyways, I thought these people were really crafty in their crimes. I mean, they were able to knock Asta out on his ass with specially made poisons. I was actually hooked to this story of Black Clover (despite it being a filler arc). I know we’ll never see them again as they have been exiled, but it did have me semi-rooting for them.

Favorite Video Game Character of 2020: Honey from Pokemon – Sword & Shield (Expansion Pass)

Sorry Raymond from Animal Crossing!

Honey is the saucy wife of Mustard…I did not expect that to come out the way it did, but here we are! She has one hell of a team you can fight once a day. She looks out for her husband, the dojo, and the students of the dojo like they were her own children by providing food, drinks, and others. However that does come at a price as you do have to give up a sizable chunk of your watts that you collect in raid dens. I’m sure a bunch of MILF chasers were more than happy enough to give her all their hard-earned watts just so they can have their one-on-one moment on the beach with Honey.

What won me over was when that one guy from a rival dojo bad-mouthed her husband’s dojo and she…I think she kicked this guy’s ass herself. I don’t think she used any of her pokemon. Game Freak won’t show it, but we all know she kicked this guy’s ass to a point where he’s begging for mercy.

Honey, for the win!

Favorite Game of 2020: Animal Crossing New Horizons

This game was just Zen for me. I know the release of this game came with some controversy like Gamestop saying it’s an essential business and will remain open for people to get their copies of the game. Hell, I was one of those assholes in line waiting to get a copy on March 20th. Did I predict that a pandemic was going to rage out of control when I got a prepay copy of this for Christmas 2019? NO! I only predict political things, not deadly pandemics! The good news, we social distanced, didn’t catch the covid and got the game.

Anyways, this game has been a non-stop calming and fun ride. I can even forgive their botch-up of Bunny Day. They even have events for holidays I never thought they would ever touch. I mean, does anybody know when Museum Day is? Probably not until Animal Crossing had an event for it! I’ve been able to let my freak-flag fly with designing my island. And this goes way beyond New Leaf for the 3DS. I can make a sign post with the words “Fuck Trump” on it and post it in my yard. I can dig up trees and plant them elsewhere. I can poop in a toilet. I can craft furniture and put my own design on it. My furniture can have Tracey Sketchit’s beautiful mug on it. I can sit on Tracey Sketchit’s face. I am a sick fuck and I don’t care. I can give Raymond and Bob maid outfits. Magical time in my game! My hopes for next year…I don’t know, get the Festivale furniture, get Papi and Olivia to join my island, maybe visit Danny Trejo’s island, who knows, sky’s da limit!

Favorite Het Couple of 2020: Nasa and Tsukasa Yuzaki from Tonikawa

This is one of the most unorthodox marriages I’ve ever seen. But in this 90 Day Fiance world we’re living in, I shouldn’t pass judgement on these two getting married in episode one and not knowing much about each other. Nasa meets Tsukasa as he was about to be plowed by a truck. Tsukasa saves his life. Nasa says she’s beautiful. Tsukasa says she’ll be his girlfriend if they get married. He agrees. She disappears. Four years later, Tsukasa appears in front of Nasa’s front door with a marriage registration form. Congratulations buddy, you’ve got yourself a waifu! In some way, this felt like watching Yamato and Takeo from My Love Story. I was fascinated with them progressing through their relationship. The only difference is that Yamato and Takeo took the old-fashioned route. This couple did everything ass-backwards in terms of having a relationship. But I couldn’t take my eyes off Nasa and Tsukasa’s relationship during each episode. I find them cute.

Favorite Yuri Couple of 2020: Karin Asaka x Emma Verde from Love Live Nijigasaki High School Idol Club

AAAAAAAAAH! I’M IN IDOL HELL AGAIN! Yeah, no kidding! I came this close to putting Miu x Nicole from that abomination 22/7. But thank God for Love Live! There’s no telling if any of the girls from the Love Live franchise are confirmed to be lesbians. But fuck it, all of them attend all-girl schools, no males exist anywhere, and Sunshine gave us Kanan x Mari! Yeah, you know Kanan and Mari is canon as fuck, don’t at me. So naturally, I found more third-years to ship in the new Love Live series. Now I know I should have put up Ai x Rina or Ayumu x Yuu. Especially the latter due to recent events! But Emma x Karin is my OTP.

Now Emma is an exchange student from Switzerland and in coming to Nijigasaki, she first meets Karin and they became instant friends. When Emma said she wants to become an idol, Karin helped her quite a bit. Even though Karin had no interest in being an idol as her modeling career is starting up, Karin would occasionally help Emma out. And surprise, surprise, Karin ends up fascinated with the idol world and Emma helps her come to the light to be herself there. Okay, I’m totally reading this in some fragmented way, but I’m currently playing Love Live School Idol Festival All Stars and the app game has a lot more stuff involving stuff the anime has yet to talk about. Confirmed or not, Karin x Emma for the win!

Favorite Yaoi Couple of 2020: Eiji Okumura x Ash Lynx from Banana Fish

It took me a while to get here, but I finally made it to 2018’s overlooked gem. Forgive me for not being fully caught up, but from what I’m watching at the moment, I’m sticking to my guns and supporting the hell out of this. I mean, I could have mentioned The Titan’s Bride here…but fuck no, I ain’t goin’ down that mess! Ash has gone through a lot, I mean a helluva lot in his past. His cute boy looks have made him a target on the streets of New York, with mafia dons, and with prison inmates. But dude can kill if you mess with him. Then you have Eiji, who is just a literal example of a “pure cinnamon roll (until episode 8)”. These two are as opposite as you can possibly get. Ash is from New York and Eiji is from Japan. Ash likes hot dogs with everything on it. Eiji likes grilled fish and natto. Ash spent the majority of his life killing on the streets. Eiji was a track superstar. You get my meaning. But when we got these two together it’s quite adorable. Ash is really able to change when he’s around Eiji. Ash isn’t some heartless killer on the street about to kill a thug with prosthetic fingers. When he’s with Eiji, he’s a joker that can easily get scared of pumpkins. And even in later episodes, you got these two acting like a husband and wife.

Fandom That You Didn’t Expect to Get Into: Les Miserables – A Girl Named Cosette

Let me explain a little something. Les Mis! I have never seen the play, watched the movie, or read the novel prior to picking up this anime. Not a single one of those! And that’s a bit of a head-scratcher when you realize I was a bit of a musical theater nut in my teenage years. But one thing I do like is when Japan does an anime based on plays or historical events (like Romeo x Juliet or Rose of Versailles). The second I popped in Les Miserables the anime, I wanted to binge watch the whole 52 episode series. It is by no means a perfect adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel. Several key players end up surviving all the way up to the end of the story! But because this was my very first viewing of anything Les Mis, I took to the story of Cosette and was eager to see what was going to happen next in her tale. Unlike the movies and play, Cosette was the main focus of the story besides Jean Valjean and Javert. And thanks to watching the unfortunate stories of Cosette, Jean Valjean, the Thenadiers, Javert, Marius, and the rest, I thought it was time to watch the OTHER adaptations to Les Mis.

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Russell Crowe sucks.

Fandom That Made An Unexpected Comeback: Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni

Higurashi or When They Cry is one of my favorite fandoms of all time! So naturally when we heard that it was making a comeback, I was excited. It was also very odd that Higurashi was given this sequel or reboot. Ahem! There’s another franchise that needs a face-lift. Umineko still deserves a better treatment. Plus, now that this series was out of the faulty hands of Studio Deen, Higurashi will get the special care it deserves. Believe it or not, it wasn’t just the anime that made a comeback for me, but the manga as well. Since 2009, I’ve read several volumes (out of order) and would every now and then come back to read the story. Back to the anime, this reboot or sequel…you know what, I’m gonna call it a “rebooqual”! This rebooqual sucked me back to the town of Hinamizawa and all the murders. Every week, I find myself comparing the current episode to one from the 2006 version. But then the fourth episode of each arc seems to catch me off guard.

Where are they going with this story and these twist endings to our favorite arcs? I did not expect Rena to turn a simple attempted murder into the end of School Days! I didn’t expect Rika to die in the most disgusting fashion they could think of. Could someone kill Teppei fucking Hojo? I will pay ¥5000 for someone to do that job. So yeah, because I know how much of this plays out and who does what, I’m usually watching and reading while making wise-ass remarks. But I still have fun with it.

Fandom That Inspired the Most Crack: Konosuba

In a year where I caught up with the popular Isekais like Shield Hero and Re:Zero, I found the wacky misadventures of Kazuma Satou to be amusing as all get-out. From the first 5 minutes, I found myself laughing at Kazuma’s misfortune. Seriously, how the fuck do you mistake a tractor for a car, have a heart attack, piss yourself, and fucking die in the first couple minutes to the series? You can only get away with this shit in gag animes! But it’s not just Kazuma’s dumbass, there’s a mage who only does explosions, but loses all her energy after one blow-up. Then there’s a busty, blonde who gets turned on by getting hurt and can’t strike anything with her sword. Anime’s biggest masochist or Cheryl Tunt incarnate, I haven’t decided which one to believe! Then you have this loud, crazy goddess chick named Aqua. She’s also useless about 86% of the time! Watching their unfortunate missions is all the crack that I need to get through this year. Seriously, Darkness is just all kinds of fucked up, but we love her.

Last Fandom of 2020: Yashahime

That’s right, the InuYasha sequel gets top spot here! Even though week after week I find myself asking more questions than when the episode started, I’m still hooked. If you’re like me, you watched and fell in love with the series InuYasha. So if they’re doing a sequel, you’re expecting to see all of your favorite characters from the prequel like InuYasha, Kagome, Miroku, Sango, Sesshomaru, Koga, Rin, and the rest. Actually, no! Quite the opposite! We’ve got Sesshomaru’s daughters, but no Sesshomaru. Rin is sleeping in a tree we think! We’ve got InuYasha and Kagome’s daughter, but they’re M.I.A. None of the girls even know a thing about their birth parents.

Now are these new characters a catch like the ones from the previous series? Some are! The three main girls, yes! Especially Moroha! I’ve already praised her name earlier in the superlative. Towa and Setsuna do take on some personality traits from their parents. Setsuna is definitely serious like Sesshomaru and Towa sometimes has a carefree yet loyal aura to her like Rin. I know I’m always skeptical when a series gives us a sequel featuring the offspring of the main characters. Especially when you’ve got some lame examples like Boruto and Eureka Seven AO (I might retract my diss on Boruto later)! As each week gives us a new episode, we’re unraveling new clues into a lot of things involving our old favorite characters, as well as the new ones. So I have high hopes for Yashahime for the time being!

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burnouts3s3 · 5 years

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Bloom Into You, a Blu-ray review

(Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit unprofessional blog post written by an unprofessional blog poster. All purported facts and statement are little more than the subjective, biased opinion of said blog poster. In other words, don’t take anything I say too seriously.) Just the facts 'Cause you're in a Hurry! Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP): 69.98 USD How much I paid: 45.99 USD , the pre-order price Animation Studio: TROYCA Licensed and Localized by: Sentai Filmworks Audio: Japanese Audio with Subtitles and English Dub available. English Cast: Tia Ballard as Yuu Koito, Luci Christian as Touko Nanami, Shanae’a Moore as Sayaka Saeki, Amber Lee Connors as Akari Hyuga, Brittney Karbowski as Koyomi Kano, Patricia Duran as Riko Hakozaki and Samantha Stevens as Miyako Kodama. Number of Episodes: 13 Episodes Length per Episode: 25 Minutes on average. 21 Without Intro and Ending song. Number of Discs: 2 Blu-ray discs Episodes per Disc: Episodes 1 through 9 on the 1st Blu-ray Disc. Episodes 10 through 13 on the 2nd Blu-ray disc. Does this come a digital voucher to redeem?: No. This only has the Blu-ray discs. Are there plans for a DVD release: Not as of the writing of this review. Also on: HiDive, Sentai Streamwork’s Streaming Service. Bonus Features: Clean Opening Animation, Clean Closing Animation and two Japanese Promos. Notable Localization Changes: For the most part, Bloom Into You sticks as close to the original Japanese script as possible. Which Edition are you reviewing: The Standard Edition, that comes with just the Blu-rays. What does the other Edition come with: The Premium Box Set comes with a Special Book, Storyboard Book, Original Scriptbooklet, 6 art cards and Rei’s receipe for cheesecake. (Yes, really). It is priced at 149.98 USD. My Personal Biases: I’ve seen Kannazuki no Miko, Strawberry Panic, Maria Watches Over Us, Kase-san and Morning Glories, Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl, Simoun, Citrus, Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Yurikuma Arashi, Sweet Blue Flowers, Whispered Words and others. To say I’ve been waiting for something like Bloom Into You would be an understatement. My Verdict: Not only does Bloom Into You stand amongst the pinnacles of Yuri anime, it outshines some regular romance shows in the process. Yuu and Touko feel like fully fleshed out characters instead of the usual stock types and gives ample amount of time to not only developing the main girls but the rest of the cast as well. My hopes is that the success of this show will spawn a 2nd season. Buy it! A/N: SPOILERS for this show and other Shoujo-ai shows below. Bloom Into You a Bluray review

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I honestly think many newcomers to the Shoujo Ai genre don’t know how good they have it nowadays. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating. Before the 1-2-3 Punch of Strawberry Panic, Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl and Simoun in 2006, Kannazuki no Miko was considered the pinnacle of Yuri Anime. But in 2018, Yuri anime seemed to make a comeback in full force with the 1-2-3 punches of Kase-san and Morning Glories, Bloom Into You and, yes, Citrus. The three adaptations of manga titles managed to be an oasis in the desert after titles such as Simoun failed to find an audience, Sweet Blue Flowers ending on a cliffhanger and Whispered Words bombed so hard, it was rumored to have killed the Yuri anime genre for years. Even titles after that such as Yurikuma Arashi and Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid didn’t manage to find a larger audience other than the converted niches they were aiming for. But then, Bloom Into You came onto the scene and became a revolution, for both longtime fans of the genre and newcomers. Bloom Into You didn’t just manage to be a critical success, but also managed to be a commercial juggernaut, spawning a stage play, multiple light novels and having numerous books of its manga sold. Freshman high schooler Yuu Koito has always loved shojou manga, so she is aware of what she ought to be feeling if she were to receive a love confession. But when a junior high classmate confesses his feelings for her, she somehow does not feel anything. She delays her response, and ends up entering high school, still unsure of how to respond to those type of feelings. While there, she happens to see the student council president, Touko Nanami, elegantly turning down a confession. Yuu is inspired to ask her for advice. She finds out that Nanami has never accepted a confession because none of them has ever made her feel anything in particular. The two bond over their similarities. Nanami realizes that she could be falling in love with Yuu, so she suddenly confesses her feelings to her. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the upperclassman and lowerclassman (or the Senpai and Kouhai) relationship. We’ve seen countless pairings with Sachiko and Yumi or Shizuma and Nagisa or Amane and Hikari or Utena and Anthy or Asuka Rei and Nanako or… you get the idea. (I watch a lot of Shoujo ai). Even when it’s established both girls are of the same age such as Kannazuki no Miko’s Chikane Himemiya and Himeko Kurusugawa or Kase Tomoka and Yui Yamada, there’s a notable class difference between the popular girl and the unpopular girl. But Touko and Yuu take all those past pairings and put them to shame. Yuu actually does feel like a fully fleshed out human being with her own agency and thoughts (a far cry from the naïve Himeko Kurusugawa and Nagisa Aoi). Yuu isn’t sure if she’ll ever be in a relationship and we’re treated to her inner monologue of whether she is capable of loving Touko the same way Touko loves her. At the same time, the more we see Touko, the more the outer exterior falls apart. Interior voice-over is said to be a lazy storytelling technique in fiction, but Yagakimi uses it to explore the very real and unsure feelings of Yuu. Yes, the trope of ‘the popular girl isn’t perfect after all’ trope has been done to death with Chikane, Shizuma, Shizuru, Asuka and others, but Touko feels particularly tragic as she’s locked in arrested development. Touko’s been trying to live in the footsteps of her deceased sister who was also Student Council president, only to find out that her sister wasn’t the image she always had in her head. It’s up to Yuu to find a way to save Touko from herself. Also, no one rapes or tries to rape each other. So, you know, progress! Also a breath of fresh air are the additions of other queer characters such as an older lesbian couple living together and Sayaka Saeki, Touko’s classmate who also harbors romantic feelings for Touko. Sayaka has been a fan favorite in the franchise and even has a Light Novel adapted after her. (Though spoilers indicate she’s to join the ranks of ‘lesbian best friend who is friendzoned by love interest’ alongside Strawberry Panic’s Tamao Suzumi and Yaya Nanto, Hajimete no Gal’s Ranko Honjou and Cardcaptor Sakura’s Tomoyo Daidouji). Sentai Filmworks did the localization of the show and for the most part, it has been a very solid translation to little or no changes. Luci Christian (who’s voiced Honey-sempai in Ouran High School Host Club and other lesbian characters such as Himiko from Shattered Angels) really brings a lot of range to the character. But Tia Ballard (who performed Teruhashi from the Disastrous Life of Saiki K, Marron in Dragon Ball Super and Lady Rain from Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid) manages to wring out real depth through Yuu. Her performance is subtle, slow and has enough energy to make it feel real. Rounding out the cast are familiar voice performers. Amber Lee Connors (who voiced Mei Aihara in Citrus) is nice to hear and Brittney Karbowski turns in a surprisingly toned down character, a far cry from some of her more energetic performances. JAPANESE AUDIO WITH SUBTITLES IS ALSO AVAILABLE. CAVEAT: Through Shoujo-ai’s vast, incredible and at times, problematic, history, we’ve seen milestones and steps being placed into BiY’s direction. Slowly but surely, the path was being placed as every woman love woman anime placed its mark to getting here. From the tragedies in the past, to the slice of life shows to the shows pandering to titillation, Bloom Into You is not only an accomplishment in its own right, but a climax to every other shoujo-ai show out there. My only hope is that we get the much deserved 2nd season and adapt the rest of the wonderful manga. Verdict: Full Price!

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#bloom into you #bloom into yuu #yuu koito #sayaka saeki #touko nanami #sentai filmworks #tia ballard #luci christian #lgbt #shoujo ai #yuri

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ladyloveandjustice · 5 years

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Fall 2018 Anime Overview: Bloom into You

Yuu Koito is a girl who’s troubled by the fact she’s never felt the romantic passion she sees so often in shoujo manga and other media. She’s thrown for a loop when the seemingly level-headed and mature student council president, Touko Nanami, suddenly confesses her love for her. Yuu finds out Touko’s calm facade hides a much more complicated person than she could ever imagine.

If you’re someone on the lookout for yuri that tells a sincere and heartfelt queer narrative rather reveling in fetishization and fanservice, Bloom into You is absolutely a series you should check out. If you’re someone on the lookout for a beautifully directed, complex emotional drama that really delves into the struggle with identity and relationships teenagers experience growing up, this is absolutely a series you should check out. If you’re just on the lookout for good anime, this is still. absolutely. a series you should check out.

Bloom into You has a bit of a slow start and builds its narrative brick by brick, but if you’re anything like me or most of the people I know who’ve watched this, it will have hooked with your heart in its clutches by the end.

Part of why I think this series is something special has to do with how it engages so honestly with wlw (women-loving-women) experiences. It acknowledges the obstacles and prejudices wlw face, but also represents that there’s a larger community and wlw can offer each other support and solidarity. It directly confronts the “this is a phase, you’ll grow out of it and want to be with a man” rhetoric, an attitude that is common in real life and also a nasty pervasive under/overtone within some yuri, and shows this attitude is both harmful and wrong.

The anime shows adult wlw living together, in a healthy, lovely relationship, and it specifically shows a teenage lesbian looking at that and realizing she’s not alone. It shows adult wlw supporting and advising the younger generation, letting them know that they can be true to themselves. It’s such a rare treat and so important to seeing a piece of media portraying the solidarity and mentorship between younger and older wlw and it was so powerful to see that character start on her journey of self acceptance.

The queer coming-of-age story ties in well with the central theme of this anime, which is the instability and uncertainty of teenage identity and how that impacts relationships. These are kids who don’t understand themselves, scare themselves, hate themselves, and that stops them from being authentic and honest in their relationships. The theme is there from the very beginning with Yuu, who is uncertain and frustrated about her lack of romantic inclinations.

Yuu is almost definitely not meant to be asexual, at least not aro-ace, something I as an ace personally grokked from the start and was fine with. The show has it right in the title, Yuu is a “late bloomer” and part of her confusion almost certainly stems from repression. This is a valid and important narrative, and one I actually really relate to as a wlw asexual person.

Realizing I was a lesbian was especially difficult for me because I had like, no sexual drive, and it made me feel very alone. I see a lot of that in Yuu’s narrative, whether she’s meant to be homoromantic ace or not (probably not, but I’ll interpret her as one for as long as I can), her story really resonates me and it’s really cathartic and special to just see things like “it’s lonely when everything is centered around romance and sex but that’s something you don’t get, but that doesn’t mean anything’s wrong with you, just explore your feelings and see where they take you and that might be towards other girls” expressed in a narrative. I wonder if I would have realized I liked girls sooner watching this series. It’s very possible.

There is actually a legit aromantic asexual character in this story, who is both very honest and content with having no interest in romance or sex. This character has a discussion with Yuu and his experiences are actually contrasted with Yuu’s to show they aren’t quite the same. That was a pleasant surprise.

I do have issues with how him much “liking to watch” and kinda pry into real life romances was emphasized though. If it had been kept to “I really do enjoy romantic stories despite being not feeling it myself” that would have been fine, but this character being a little voyueristic (he doesn’t go so far as to spy on anyone, though, don’t worry) just gives this kind of weird underlying implication that how aro-aces fill the “void” of not being into romance themselves, and that’s..not true. I mean, there probably are ace people who do enjoy watching the drama of real life relationships unfold, but since he’s the ONLY rep we’re given in the story it doesn’t really do justice to the fact a lot of ace people really AREN’T into that. He’s a fine character otherwise, and I do appreciate the show making an effort to show people who don’t experience romantic feelings exist and are fine, it’s just a niggling little nitpick I have.

The exploration of identity goes beyond romance and queerness. Touko is shown to be someone who has a very deliberately constructed “perfect and poised” persona, but her real self is both complicated and damaged and that makes her relationship with Yuu very complicated too. She’s perfectly okay with Yuu not loving her back and almost seems to relish it. It’s VERY screwed up, but the show fully engages with that and does a wonderful job exploring how MESSY teenagers trying to figure themselves out are. Its character drama at its finest.

As screwed up as Touko is, the show has her learning to respect Yuu’s boundaries and get her consent on stuff. She does things without asking early in the show, but apologizes when she does and changes her approach as the series goes on. When Yuu says no, she always backs off. Later in the series she declares she will ask Yuu every time before she kisses her and Yuu eventually says she doesn’t have to anymore. It feels like a very real depiction of teenagers figuring out how to navigate consent and boundaries- making mistakes, but learning from them.

Relationships can be a bumpy ride, and this certainly isn’t a depiction of a perfect, healthy relationship- but it is an extremely interesting one, with two very conflicted characters who have in no way figured themselves out. And they’re getting better, bit by bit, and have to potential to BECOME a healthy relationship. Or maybe they’ll find other girls. Anything could happen, but I have confidence the story will handle it with grace based on what I’ve seen of it so far.

By the way, in addition to the Yuu, Touko and the adult wlw, we have another complex young wlw trying to navigate her feelings and its great seeing her journey too. She’s amazing and I want only the best for her.

(Oh, and one of these ladies is bi! Though ymmv on how well the introduction of that is handled).

On top of its sharp character writing and well-done drama, the show is also generally very pretty and wonderfully directed. The use of setting and framing and color to emphasize the character drama is top notch. Check out the gorgeous opening to get a taste of what the show can do.

I’m very glad I watched Bloom into You and I know I’ll be picking up the manga while waiting impatiently for a second season. The ending of the season feels a little unsatisfying and abrupt in light of the ongoing nature of the storyline, but that’s common in anime like this. But I really do want more. I can’t wait to see these characters continue to blossom and grow.

#bloom into you #yagate kimi ni naru #yuu koito #koito yuu #touko nanami #nanami touko #sayaka saeki #yuri #anime #anime overview #fall 2018 anime

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hoodlessmads · 5 years

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Bloom Into You Chapter 40 Immediate Thoughts

It was exactly what was promised and exactly what I needed. What WE ALL needed. The only remote complaint I have is that Nakatani-sensei didn’t show the kiss at the end.

But alas, left to the imagination, it was still cute. I suppose. *deadpan look at camera*

Not only was it exactly as promised (or rather, as suggested by the last few pages of chapter 39), but it was exactly what I expected, in the best possible way. This somehow calls to mind that amazing Mr. Plinkett review of The Last Jedi. Can you imagine if Rian Johnson wrote chapter 40 of Bloom Into You? Subverting all of our expectations? (No shade, I jest, I like TLJ.)

Anyway, Nakatani-sensei is as in touch with her own characters as I feel I am in touch with them, thank the gods (or in this case the lesbian goddesses). Yuu and Touko bust ass to get to the student council room, both desperate to see each other. Yuu acknowledges to herself that she is still in love with Touko. Kokoro no ichi ga wakatta yo, as the song goes. But when she gets to that empty room, the adrenaline of the message and the run slips away and she’s left in darkness and solitude, and all of her doubts and apprehension come rushing back immediately. What does Nanami-senpai even want to talk about, anyway? Does Yuu dare to hope? What if what she has to say just breaks her heart all over again? Yuu finds herself waiting and thinking there’s no way Nanami-senpai would run as fast to get here as she did.

Except she totally does, of course. Touko arrives out of breath, sees Yuu’s mistrustful reaction and cuts straight to the chase with a returned love confession. Yuu’s reaction to Touko openly returning her feelings is just confusion at first. Maybe she’s desensitized to Touko saying, “I love you,” even now. Touko just goes on to calmly explain exactly what she means. And Yuu calmly listens. Asks clarifying questions. Works through her own hesitations, her lingering mistrust of the concept of “love.”

The implacable way that Yuu processes her own emotions is always one of the most interesting things to watch. Which is why when she finally, finally cries, it’s so god damn moving. Never in this entire series have we seen this girl cry. Ever. After all the shit she’s been through with Touko, where she’s had plenty of reason to cry, she never did. She locked it away inside. When she gets her heart broken by Touko, Yuu doesn’t cry because she can’t process the pain of it. She describes it as though her heart has gone off somewhere without her. It’s only at the end of the last chapter that she finally allows herself to feel. She’s always struck me as someone who’s quite similar to myself in this way; she refuses to let herself be vulnerable, she heavily dissociates herself from painful emotions and traumatic experiences, and on the flip side she hasn’t been able to find much passion in anything either. She strikes me as the type of person who has rarely cried, maybe in her whole life. So when she cries here, just like fucking lets go and sobs for the first time, finally, I’m dead.

And on the flip side, there’s Touko, who has managed to finally find some peace in her life after the play—but that’s not the instant end of her problems, and that is so important. She’s been living with this unbearably heavy burden for seven years. She’s been living with this pain for so long. It’s not just magically gone. When she holds Yuu’s hands and tells her that she wants to be loved, Yuu even notices this. Her hands are shaking because she’s still scared, in spite of everything. She’s terrified and yet she still pushes forward, because she knows that this is a good thing, and that this is what she wants in her heart. And that’s what I like about her. And when Yuu has her own do-over confession and starts crying, Touko wholeheartedly accepts her and her feelings, she’s there to hold her, not just because she knows how hard it’s been on Yuu bottling it in, but because she’s learning to embrace her own happiness at hearing those words. For herself. These characters are just such good people. So pure.

And don’t even get me started on how fucking cute the scene afterward is! Murder me!

This whole chapter is just one giant long…talk? Like? Characters? Talking to one another? Amazing.

Yuu HUGS her and CRIES and says, “Suki desu. Suki. Daisuki.” “I love you, I love you, I love you so much.” She said it THREE times!!! Not counting the first time!!! DAISUKI, dude!!! I’m dying!!!

Touko KISSES her TEARS. We got a “Geez” up in here!!! We got a “Senpai” and fucking FOREHEAD TOUCH up in here. We got a height difference Yuu-initiated OFF PANEL KISS UP IN HERE. I’m LITERAL MUSH.

What’s going to happen next?! Is the rest of the student council going to leap out of the bushes, yell “SURPRISE! CONGRATULATIONS!” and embarrass everyone? Are the two of them going to take things back to someone’s room and finally satisfy the UST? CUDDLING???

No, in all seriousness, I’m expecting some kind of brief timeskip to at least the next day after they’ve said goodbye for the night and then neither of them can even sleep because they’re so excited and cute, and then…I’m really not sure. Chapter 40 was purportedly the first chapter of Volume 8, which will be the last volume. Last volumes typically have bloated lengths to wrap up series, but not necessarily. So we could have anywhere from four to six chapters left before the end. What’s next for these lovely characters as we hurtle towards the resolution?

My heart really wants this series to remain as grounded as it has always been. Now that Yuu and Touko appear to have resolved their personal issues within their relationship, there is still…you know…the whole gay thing. Two girls in a romantic relationship in a Japanese high school setting is no small matter to gloss over, unfortunately. I want to see them slowly decide how they want to open up to others around them about it, or if they just decide to be up front from the get-go. I want to see Akari and Koyomi and Natsuki find out and see how they react, how inevitably supportive they will be, how fucking cute their friendship with Yuu is, how happy they will be for her. I want to see how Touko’s and Yuu’s families will react, the good reactions and the bad ones. I want to watch Rei physically turn into a pile of mush, just like I did, when she finds out that her hunch was correct and her baby sister has a girlfriend. I want to see the entire school somehow find out via word-of-mouth but ironically no one cares because everyone already thought Touko and Sayaka were lesbians anyway and the only unforeseen factor was Yuu. (And as reactions to the play proved, most people in their school are surprisingly accepting and non-judgmental and it’s precious.) None of this has to be that extensive or dramatic or take up that much time—just a bit of attention would be a nice touch and be incredibly satisfying.

I could watch Yuu and Touko being cute as fuck in a relationship literally all damn week. I’m so excited to watch Yuu finally be able to communicate what she wants from the relationship, to be allowed to show affection, to be as lovey-dovey as she wants. I’m excited to see Touko adjust to that and continue with her process of learning to accept that affection.

I could watch them learn and grow and encounter obstacles together for days, but we have limited time here unfortunately (this ain’t no 30 volume Kimi ni Todoke) and that means we have to trim the fat and focus on the real important stuff that needs to get resolved: HER NAME IS SAYAKA AND SHE DESERVES A GIRLFRIEND.

Sayaka is the UNSUNG HERO of this story. Would chapter 40 have EVEN happened if Sayaka hadn’t had the balls to confess to Touko the way she did and help Touko reach her own emotional catharsis? Sayaka is a selfless and kind soul who is OUT THERE doing the MOST for others. She is precious and her heart has been broken too many god damn times and she deserves better. She just does. This girl deserves a break and in the time the manga has left, my sincerest wish is that she gets one. I want to see her get a happy ending and a girlfriend who is head over heels for her and vice versa. More even than any Yuu/Touko stuff.

That’s my rant. I mostly wrote it the night of the chapter coming out at like 3 am so my feelings were a lot. I don’t even know. I feel like there’s so much more to be said, so much more you could analyze. Like the incredible, INCREDIBLE panel where Touko grabs Yuu’s hand and you can see their silhouettes in the glass, mirroring the exact position they were in last spring in the student council room when it all began. Can you even wait to see that shit adapted for the anime? The kinds of beautiful shit they can do with this scene? And the fucking godly Michiru Oshima soundtrack? I sure can’t. Nakatani’s art, her composition, her use of parallelism…it’s simply gorgeous on every level. But anyway, right now, I’m just gonna post this so I can get it off my chest.

My heart has been fulfilled and I can now survive until May 27th. But I also can’t wait still. :P

#bloom into you #yagate kimi ni naru #i love this series #can you tell?

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asheternal · 5 years

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your inbox needs happy um- recomend some yuris since you seem to be into bloom into you lately

I actually haven’t seen many yuri anime due to the period of time where it was mostly fanservice crap oops but I’ll try!

(If one you personally like isn’t on here, it’s because probably it has- incest, is blatant male gaze, pedophilic content or I simply forgot/didn’t hear about it. Or it’s like.. love live or something which is sort of yuri in my heart but not sure if it’s full on yuri BY THE ANIME ALONE. The manga gets pretty gay I know and there’s canon duets in game.)

Kashimashi, Girl Meets Girl:

This was one of my first big things that helped me come out of the closet when I was younger. My aunt picked it up for me at some point in 2009 because “it looked like you” and well..

Kashimashi is probably one of the few early trans friendly manga out there even if it’s not the best in comparison to modern stuff. The protagonist starts as a guy who doesn’t really care if he’s male or female (but thinks about it) and is hit by a SPACESHIP. Alien shenanigans happen and she’s given a new body- a female body. She learns that she feels better as a girl and has romance with two girls in her life- one who knew (and crushed on) her since childhood and her prior crush.

It’s really cute and it also has a canon asexual character if that’s a bonus for you! I know a few trans ladies/folks who really like it.

The anime takes a different path from the manga but only really for who the protagonist ends up with! It’s worth seeing both.

I’d recommend Strawberry Panic since it was my first big yuri experience but in hindsight it’s kind of bad. It’s there and hella gay but has issues. If you want to see what us 2000s yuri fans got into, I do recommend watching it just for the history of it.

YuruYuri/ Kill Me Baby!:

Both are 4koma sorta things from what I remember. I prefer KMB! due to the dynamic so I’ll focus on that one:

Not outright yuri, but heavily implied- it’s basically shenanigans between a genki girl and her introverted ACTUALLY AN ASSASSIN (girl)friend. The ending is a BOP too!

Kase-San:

GOD I HOPE IT GETS A FULL ANIME BUT THE OVA IS GOOD.

Wholesome outgoing popular tomboy gets with the quiet but not too quiet girl. It’s not really a serious plot but it’s adorably done!

Flip Flappers (I still need to finish this, if it’s actually bad please tell me and I’ll remove this bit):

Is everyone on drugs or something. It’s gay but... seriously. EVERYONE WRITING THIS WAS LITERALLY ON DRUGS I THINK.

Madoka:

It’s super gay but also super depressing but I’m an old lady and still love it despite it’s issues. Also can’t wait for Rebellion part 2.

I still need to watch Dragon Maid but I heard there’s issues (tm)

Bloom Into You:

One of my newest favorite anime/manga of all time. It takes what would be a very stereotypical yuri plot and turns it on its head in the first episode, only getting better as it goes on. Touko and Yuu are flawed but amazing to see develop and progress as the anime/manga goes on.

Also there’s an asexual character who happens to be a dude, yeah this yuri takes place in a co-ed school and the guys aren’t totally annoying/decent people.

Not to mention they also show an adult lesbian couple which has a cute dynamic/backstory.

I seriously say no matter who you are or what sexuality you may be- watch/read this anime. It gets characterizations so well and writes its story so well it’s worth seeing even if you’re not into romance.

#Anonymous

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curestardust · 5 years

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if you want: slice-of-life / some really sweet romance without much drama / insight into manga creation and getting serialised / mostly realistic characters

Bakuman came out in 2011, around the time I actually started watching some anime on the internet and created my MAL. The premise itself was interesting to me even back then but the main reason I remember being excited about this is because it was created by the duo behind Death Note. Well, I sure am glad I only just watched this now.

Why? Because I’m almost completely sure that I would’ve expected something vaguely similiar to Death Note. Not the same, obviously, the premise was just too different but Bakuman has basically 0 similiarities to their first work besides the artstyle but even that is a bit different.

Bakuman follows 2 high school boys, Takagi and Mashiro, as they try to make their dream of being mangakas a reality. They’re unique as they work as a duo, much like the creators themselves. This also creates an interesting situation where the viewer might wonder what is complete fiction and what is something that actually happened to the mangakas themselves.

The anime dives heavily into the subject, manga creation. Almost the entirety of the anime is taking up by the boys coming up with stories, drawing, submitting their work for critisism and then waiting on the result by the editing department. This is tricky, and even I worried that the anime was going to lose steam after the first 2 mangas were finished but it didn’t. The pair starts out almost completely from the bottom and we see them improve and achieve victories step by step, making every new creation feel somewhat fresh and unique.

The first half of Bakuman mostly just has our main duo and their love interests. It’s very...shoujo-ey which I really wasn’t expecting. The romance is a bit cliché and overtly dramatic for my tastes but most slice-of-life fans enjoy that kinda stuff so I won’t say much more. To me, it was the latter half of the anime where it really picked up as we’re introduced to multiple rival mangakas who have the same dream as our main characters. All of the characters feel unique and their interactions and dynamics are refreshing to watch.

Bakuman does have some drawbacks. After their first manga, we don’t get much insight into the works Takagi and Mashiro make later on which I thought was a missed opportunity. The female characters all feel a bit weak compared to the male ones and could’ve been expanded upon much more. There’re many time jumps but we don’t really know about it just when the charcters drop info about how much time has passed in conversations which was a bit confusing. Later on they do start showing the dates on the screen but I wished they started doing that earlier. The music if fine but felt a bit too energetic and wild for the things we were seeing on screen.

Bakuman is a fine anime for slice-of-life lovers who’re interested in the world of mangakas. Don’t get discouraged by my score. As much as I had good time with Bakuman, SOL just really isn’t my genre so this is the best I can give. [7/10] (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

if you want: CGDCT (Cute Girls Doing Cute Things) / Slice-of-Life / raging lesbians (but they’re babies so it’s cute) / human obsessed with vampire dynamic

"Ms. vampire who lives in my neighborhood.” is a very cute CGDCT SOL with a shitton of yuri “subtext”.

Our set-up is that Akari wonders into a forest at night, in search of a haunted “dollhouse” her classmate told her about. There, she meets Sophie out on her daily stroll and she introduces herself as a vampire. Akari is fucking HYPED and immediately attaches herself to Sophie and then moves in with her. From then on we see the cast going about their mundane daily lives with the vampire aspect mixed in to make something interesting.

So, why did I put the subtext in quotiation marks? Well, our main cast consists of 2 vampires, Ellie and Sophie, and 2 humans, Akari and Hinata. Yuu and Sakuya, the 2 humans classmates and friends show up at times as well. And they’re all. lesbians. Harold!

Akari is completely smitten by Sophie and her doll-like complexion and is just absolutely in love with her. Hinata, Akari’s childhood friend, is in soft baby lesbian love with her best friend, constantly fantasizing about Akari’s attention towards her. Ellie, Sophie’s long time vampire friend, cannot stop talking about “young healthy looking maidens” and how much she wants to suck their blood. And when it comes to our 2 background characters, Sakuya is really in love with Yuu and keeps blushing around her when she says SoFt things. The only person who seemingly doesn’t care about all the lesbian nonesense going on is Sophie as she is just trying to be a Big Weeb in peace but even her has some soft moments.

So usually we’d be smacking a huge Shoujo Ai tag on this but alas it remains subtext as the recipients of the affection are oblivious to it and so there’s nothing to bring this from “girls love as fanservice” to “actual girls love”. Which is a shame imo but if you don’t go in expecting anything serious in that department you’ll be fine.

The art isn’t anything incredible but remains consistent and well-drawn throughout the whole thing. The music didn’t leave any lasting impression but it’s typical for this genre. If you like CGDCT and SOL and don’t mind some girls being smitten by other girls, you’ll enjoy this a lot! While I found the characters charming and loveable, again, SOL isn’t my genre so I had some trouble not falling asleep during episodes. But if you like this kind of stuff, I 100% recommend! [6/10] (x)

Recommend: HELL Yeah! | Yes | Eh??? | Nope | This anime killed my parents

#dusty reviews #Bakuman.#Bakuman #Bakuman. season 1 #Bakuman season 1 #Bakuman. s01 #Bakuman s01 #Bakuman. s1 #Bakuman s1 #Tonari no Kyuuketsuki san #Ms. vampire who lives in my neighborhood.#Ms vampire who lives in my neighborhood.#Ms. vampire who lives in my neighborhood #Ms vampire who lives in my neighborhood #third review turning out to be longer than i anticipated so only posting these

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longroadstonowhere · 5 years

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welp

i was debating to myself whether i wanted to dive into the manga for bloom into you or just keep an eye out for the next season of the anime, but that anime ending is evil and i dunno if i could wait for like months or however long it would be to get more of the story

(by evil i mean incredibly sweet and charming and leaving so many plot hooks dangling that i can’t help but want to see what comes next)

anyway, i have a lot of feelings about bloom into you - key amongst them being ‘i can’t believe i’m actually watching an anime with a demisexual lesbian protagonist’ (follow below the cut for long rambly thought trains full of spoilers for both bloom into you and strawberry panic - although if you haven’t seen strawberry panic by this point in life there’s probably no reason to)

gods, if this anime had existed a decade ago it would have blown my mind for so many reasons, but i think the scene with maki where he’s imagining himself as sitting in a movie theater, watching other people’s lives? that would have absolutely changed my life, because that’s exactly how i’ve settled into my identity now - i can’t truly rule out the possibility of being sexually or romantically attracted to people, but i so prefer to just be a spectator to other people’s lives and i can’t imagine becoming a part of anything like a love story myself

honestly, the conversation between him and yuu during the sports festival was so emotionally satisfying for me because they’re just two high school kids who don’t personally grok the drive for love that everyone around them seems obsessed with, and they get to connect with each other in that way, and then maki realizes ‘she’s like me, but not exactly’ because he’s aro ace and she’s demisexual and it’s just..... it’s really fucking good and i cannot believe that scene exists in the world and i love it so much

gods

anyway

i love how nanami and saeki embody the crucial differences between ‘useless lesbian’ and ‘baby gay’ (respectively of course), like they are both so great and so dumb, i love them both a lot, especially how saeki’s.... not perfect in her crush? like she gets jealous when nanami’s spending time with yuu and she gets smug when it looks like she’s getting closer to nanami again, she’s just good and i love her

i feel like i’m comparing her to tomoko from cardcaptor sakura and tamao from strawberry panic because that is basically the archetype she’s encompassing - the girl who’s truly in love with her best friend that is in love with someone else - but where tomoko and tamao were generally gracious about not having that relationship, saeki’s feelings are so real, in like bad ways sometimes because that’s what emotions do but also she does truly love nanami and wants nanami’s happiness (it’s just that nobody knows what nanami’s happiness really looks like, especially nanami)

speaking of nanami not knowing happiness, dear gods is this whole play thing just literally her working through her trauma - this is actually where i keep coming back to the strawberry panic comparisons, funnily enough, because in both shows the sempai love interest is dealing with the past death of someone they loved very deeply, and part of the show is them working through that trauma

but like, in strawberry panic it took like a good third of the show to find out that the sempai’s first girlfriend had died, whereas here it was, what, the second or third episode where we learn about her sister’s death? and it’s also not like ‘hey, my sister died and i’m just generically sad about it’, it actually traumatized her and she’s reacting in ways that are honestly really scary (which is part of why i feel like i need to continue the story now because i want her to continue working through what she’s just starting to see now and i want her to be happy, truly happy, whatever that means for her)

it’s really just the slow burn shoujo ai story of my dreams and i’m so happy it exists

other, less substantial thoughts: i fricking love the cafe manager and the teacher so so so so much, they have such a good relationship and it gets demonstrated in just these beautiful small moments that don’t overshadow the students’ stories, and i love how the cafe manager and saeki got to tease each other while nanami was completely oblivious about it, and how riko-sensei is bisexual and the hilarious conversation that’s part of because they love each other and it’s good, so good, love this show, love them

also i love how the cafe manager is like ‘i have adopted this baby gay and i am evidently going to learn all about the high school lesbian drama because they have chosen my cafe as their home away from home.... excellent’ and riko-sensei is just so despairing at how her students are coming to her girlfriend’s cafe all the time now

doujima is hilarious and i appreciate how he has no idea what is happening at any point, token straight boy as comic relief is great

honestly just all the non-main characters are good and fun, i love that yuu has friends outside of the lesbian drama circle she’s falling into, and her family dynamic is just interesting enough to feel real without needing to be the center of attention (and it contrasts so well with nanami’s family situation, where we’ve only seen her with her family twice and yet it’s obviously so tense because of her sister’s death, and they care about her but she sees their care as an attack because she thinks she needs this coping mechanism to have a reason to live and uuuuuggggggghhhhhhhh i love her)

just, man, i’m almost sad that all i’ve seen on tumblr thus far were a couple of scenes with saeki because the show is a thousand times more than the clips i’ve seen (which really says more about the show because those clips were absolutely incredible, it’s just that they’re not even the tip of the iceberg really)

basically bloom into you hits me right in the extremely personal feels and i’m so glad it exists

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applicarobo · 6 years

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Applica’s Winter 2018 In Anime

Another anime season over (for me), and since I've reached a point in my life over the last two years or so where I started watching anime as it came out, I think I'm now qualified enough to start writing about these things. I hope, at least. Kind of wish I started doing these things earlier, but what can you do.

So, without further ado, here is my Winter 2018 in anime.

Ms. Koizumi Loves Ramen Noodles

Recommended if you like: Anime where food is the focus and the characters aren't, Ramen.

I figure it may be best for me to start with the things I enjoyed the least, and move forwards from there. So, as you'll notice, Ra-Ra-Ra-Ramen Daisuki Koizumi-San is the first on the list. It's a simple anime about a girl named Koizumi-san(sic), who eats Ramen multiple times on the daily, and introduces many of her fellow classmates to various types and styles of ramen. In truth, it's actually an anime about ramen, not about Koizumi herself.

And, were that the only thing that mattered, this anime would've done a great job. It serves to be heavily educational about ramen, it's history, and most importantly, how many different varieties of it there actually are and how different those varieties are from each other. The depiction of the ramen is very high quality, and should be considered the draw of the show.

The problem is, that alone is boring. And it therefore relies on its characters to keep things interesting, unfortunately. Koizumi is plain, and prefers to keep away from others (in orderto continue enjoying ramen). As a result, she's rather one dimensional as a character. The anime's main character, if it has one aside from ramen, is actually Yuu, a plucky, short-haired, lesbian. Normally, I'd applaud such a character, but of course she relies heavily enough on yandere tropes to be a consistent stalker of Koizumi, but endlessly positive enough to not be dangerous to anyone. This means she's less of a character, and more of a device to have her end up following Koizumi into a ramen shop, having Koizumi sigh as she sits down next to her, informing her uneducated mind about how good this ramen is.

And that's it. That's mainly how every segment of the show works. Yuu follows Koizumi to a ramen shop, Koizumi sighs and wishes she'd go away as they both order ramen, and then they talk about the ramen for a few minutes. There's a few other characters, a few other ways that scenes play out, but none of them are interesting enough to talk about.

Some solace can at least be taken from the fact that the little ditty they play between segments of the show is very, very catchy. In addition to that, both the opening and ending themes of the show are wildly good jams. The ED especially incorporates both ramen puns and parodies of popular Japanese ramen commercials that I normally wouldn't get. It's so good that I don't even mind the fact that I enjoy a song who's title is LOVE MEN HOLIC.

Speaking of jam openings and endings, though, that was pretty much the case this whole season, for me. Nothing I watched really had anything I really wanted to skip, ever, at the very least. Although some openings certainly were better than others. And next is...

Kokkoku

Recommended if you like: Seeing where ideas can go as long as you're okay with them not panning out, every single episode of Paranoia Agent.

That OP. That sweet, sweet OP. A complete banger, and no doubt about it. The ED is great, too, if you ignore half of the visuals.

Yeah, I'm calling Kokkoku out. I'm not expecting you to be a bastion of pureness, Kokkoku, but whoever just storyboarded random fanservice images of the two lead female characters into your show 's ED just needs to be... demoted, or something. However that works. It's especially odd because the show itself doesn't really have any of that, specifically. (It does however contain a couple of instances of villainous gang members joking about sexual assault, which is never really a welcome thing to hear even if it is coming from villains.) The rest of that ED is fine, though, with the music being nice and the images of the characters that look like still images, only to have the characters move while the rest of the scenery stays frozen around them. Did I mention this is an anime about time being frozen? I should probably go over the scenario.

It opens on a family, of which the only members you need to pay attention to are Juri, her grandfather, her father, her brother and her young nephew. Juri and her grandfather complain about how useless the brother and father are while the brother and nephew get kidnapped on their way home. Grandpa gets a ransom call demanding money in a short period of time, and then he whips out his secret magic time stone, freezing time for everyone except himself, his son, and Juri, as they go off to rescue their family members, leaving the kidnappers none the wiser.

Except that the kidnappers planned for this and froze time at the exact same time, joining the family members in the frozen world known as Stasis, hoping to wipe them out and steal their magic time stone from them. In the middle of Stasis are some magical time monsters that only show up when someone wants to kill someone who is frozen in time. Except they really only become a minor footnote, and for the most part the conflict revolves around the family and the kidnappers. Oh, and some of the people on both sides also get magical powers they can only use when time is stopped.

The problem is that I hardly find this conflict interesting. For most of the twelve episodes, the Stasis thing really only exists to create an environment in which these parties can fight without incurring normal societal penalties, and with a method for them to show off some cool visual scenarios (many of which involve liquids). There's only a couple moments where the fact that time is stopped leads them to invoke creative solutions as a result of this, and most of the other things about time being stopped revolve around arbitrary rules or limitations of the Stasis environment.

Most of the characters are decently written and likable, at least. The five members of the Yukawa family, as well as a few other people who are wrapped up in Stasis, are fun and interesting enough to carry the plot of the show where it would've otherwise failed for me. That, along with the occasional visual spectacle. The conflict, and the central villain, are really just kind of awful. Awful in the "badly written" sort of way, and I do feel that the central villain's writing is bad enough to drag down the show's likability at least a full octave. It's that bad.

I will, however, give an enormous shout out to the show's final episode, which offered a new scenario of conflict (although one which had "been coming" for a few episodes before it.) For me, it was far and away the series' most memorable episode, and really left things on a good note. It's... hard to explain without spoiling it, but simple enough that I think someone could actually just drop in on the final episode of the series, understand enough of what is going on to enjoy it, and then finish the series (of one episode) satisfied. In fact, if you do show interest in a story about the world being frozen in time, I personally recommend that's what you do, because that one episode is actually very good.

Hakumei and Mikochi

Recommended if you like: Girls' Last Tour, Yuru Camp△, Mushishi???

And from an anime about a tense invisible conflict happening in a small span of time, we move to an anime about some generally regular things happening in a very small world. A tiny little life, as you'd say.

Hakumei and Mikochi is an anime about the aforementioned girls, who came to live together in small society for reasons we don't actually know. (I'm going to imagine that they're probably gay, but, that's not really the focus here. [although it does joke about them being a couple a couple of times and neither of them actually denies it haha im gay]). When I say "in small society," I mean that neither of these girls are particularly out of the ordinary in their world despite being shorter than the length of my hand. That's really the only major difference between our world and theirs, aside from a scaling back of technology and the fact that animals talk. Yeah, several of the side characters are animals.

Still, despite the fact that this is a comfy slice of life taking place in an otherwise normal world there are a number of fantastical things that can happen. While one episode may focus on the two of them taking a train to a fishing trip or spending a day on the town, another has them meeting with an equally small scientist who is in the business of animating the bones of dead creatures, or helping resolve a lawless gang dispute that involves the kidnapping of their friend. And despite these differences, each episode remains highly serene and comfortably lovable.

Whereas I feel Kokkoku rarely made the most of its setting (interjecting to contrast here that Hakumei and Mikochi might have the most forgettable OP of what I watched this season, unfortunately), Hakumei and Mikochi makes the most of it. The two live in a tree, (for a while, which, they don't even realise there are neighbourly animals living in the branches), eat entire meals that would normally be a morsel for us, make unique interactions with animals, or use small materials in completely new ways. Each episode is calm, comforting, and full of love, and I really wish I could be there.

Yuru Camp△

Recommended if you like: Non Non Biyori, K-On!, being warm, girls

But... There's still more comfort to be had. If Hakumei and Mikochi made a handful of people want to live in their tiny world, Yuru Camp△ (triangle will now be exempted from the rest of this article, you've done your work, sorry △ purists) made a whole ton of people really, really want to go camping right now. I suppose that's largely because it's a much more achievable goal, but it's also in no small part because Yuru Camp was exceedingly popular this season.

And I'm glad it is, too, because it certainly deserves it. I described it after only a couple episodes as "The best Manga Time Kirara anime since K-On!" (and yes, that includes Yuyushiki) and I'm glad that I was correct. I'm sort of feeling like I don't need to write a plot summary mainly because everyone should know what it is by now, but I'll take a crack at it anyway.

Rin, a quiet girl who loves camping alone, is doing so one day when she meets a girl sleeping outdoors near the bathroom. Nadeshiko, a boisterous, joyful and carefree girl, biked all the way out here, and since she fell asleep it's getting too dark to bike back home. Rin, not knowing what to do, lets her hang out at her campsite while she waits for her sister to arrive, and feeds her one of her noodle cups.

Nadeshiko is so taken by the experience that she joins a camping club at her school, and is also excited to find that Rin is also at the school, though not in the club. Over the course of the anime, Rin learns to make more friends and enjoy the things that her chance meeting with Nadeshiko has brought to her life. Such as Nadeshiko.

And that's it! But it's not really the plot, but the comfort that makes the show as good as it is. Aside from the beautiful scenery, the Jackson 5 "I Want You Back"-esque OP, and the extremely enticing depiction of camping, the relaxing atmosphere and constant comfort that the characters enjoy is really the draw. It's really hard to describe it with words, but the viewers can just share in Rin's calm, comforting bliss as she spends time both alone and with others. What could be more enjoyable than that?

A Place Further Than The Universe

Recommended if you like: Life.

And yet, while it's good when animes are just purely comforting, sometimes you need to remember how real things can be before we can enjoy those other moments. Enter Antarctica.

Antarctica is a girl named Shirase at Mari's school who is obsessed with going to Antarctica and therefore a bunch of people who go to Mari's school have nicknamed her that. When Mari decides that she wants to do something amazing with her life, she runs into Shirase, who has a million yen and half a plan to board a research boat on its way to the continent in order to meet her missing mother. The two attempt to execute their plan, and, thanks to a stroke of luck, join with another two girls as part of the research team who will board that same vessel.

The real story is in those ups and downs, the really real emotions of our main characters and some of those around them. It is somewhat worth noting that despite being a show about girls who plan to go to Antarctica for various reasons, and they move closer and closer to their goal each episode, it's more about the people on the journey than the journey itself.

Most of the episodes are about them as individuals, talking about the problems in their lives and finding ways to accept them. These problems are more often than not heartbreaking, and I'll just say this right now: I cried hard at least three times because of this show. Maybe more.

And yet, for every dip, there is a resurfacing, and as sad as the show can get, the uplifting moments rise above the rest and really, really, make you feel love, and make you feel alive. And that's why I think A Place Further than the Universe is undoubtedly the best anime I've watched this season.

That should cover everything I watched this season, I think.

Right?

Pop Team Epic

Recommended if you like: Hell, video game references, nonsense, antihumour, art

Does this really count? I don't know if this anime counts in this list. I probably liked it more than Kokkoku, at the very least, and that one wasn't that bad. Still, it's so... Insanely hard to define Pop Team Epic. It's a bit show, I guess? Like, it's jokes. But it isn't even traditional jokes. It's just nonsense that's funny because it is and that's all you can really say about it. Sure, there's pop culture references, they're abundant. Sure, there's slapstick moments and parodies. Lots. But that's not even the meat of the show.

The majority of the jokes are simply because of the pure nonsense that happens, most noticeably in the (completely unchecked by the central production office) “Bobunemimimmi” segments where the characters are parodies of themselves and the jokes are sometimes completely nothing and yet are still funny. One of the most quotable bits from the show among my friends has been "Eisai Haramasukoi" which is literally just nonsense words. It means nothing. But it's so fun to say.

The bits in this show can be so obscurely humourous that sometimes just an unexpected change in the production value or the medium itself can qualify as a joke, often impressively so. Sometimes the joke isn't even a segment, but rather, how that segment even came to be placed in the show in the first place. The show airs the same half-length segments twice a week, but with different voice actors each airing and each week. Sometimes, the second airing changes some of the jokes, and sometimes it doesn't. Somehow, it tricked me into watching the same episode twice each week, and yet it never got boring. Pop Team Epic is a work of art that's sometimes so horribly ugly that it's hard to define it as so, and yet, it is. It just is.

It's definitely still not better than going to Antarctica, though.

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franeridart · 7 years

Note

I don't know if I like what the manga is doing with the eri story wise right now. Like, after the new chapter, if eri's quirk ends up doing what I think it does, it will probably be a huge loss for the manga story wise. (I love mirio and nighteye, but in this situation, to get them back this way, would probably feel like a huge cop out)

Ah, can’t say you find me on your side on this, anon - generally I’m a positive person! And I like bnha because it’s a positive story! So, yeah, if Eri’s gonna fix it and avoid deaths and permanent damages all around I’m not gonna mind it one bit. I understand your position on this tho, and I’m pretty sure you’re not alone on it. I guess it’s about what you’re looking for in a story, and what the point the story means to bring across is to begin with - you say that having an all around positive outcome to this arc is gonna be a loss for the manga, but bnha isn’t snk. It’s not Tokyo Ghoul, or D.Gray-man, or any other story made to drive across the point that life is sad and sad things happen and you just gotta deal with it as best as you can. The general point of HeroAca, since the very beginning, is that luck exists! Things can turn out for the best! Look at it, our protagonist didn’t even have a quirk and now he’s got the best one out there. Literally became the successor to the greatest hero alive without doing anything aside from being a nice guy

I mean. I get why you’d wish for a... more real story, I guess. I get that you might like the angst and the realness of life being shitty and bad things happening and all that jazz. But that’s never been bnha’s point? Since the very start? Deku’s whole arc is turning into a fight to show you that you should never lose hope and that even set futures can still be rewritten - and, about that, there’s also how big part of this arc is still about Nighteye and what he saw in All Might’s future, and about Deku wanting to prove that he doesn’t have to die, so a girl that can literally rewind said future to make it go some other way? That’s exactly what you need to counter Nighteye’s quirk. Deku might talk about twisting fate all he wants, but considering how Nighteye’s quirk works and how precise and definitive it is, without something that can make what Nighteye saw happen just to bring it back and change it there was no way Deku could have done much.

As I said, I get why you’d be disappointed in the possibility of a total fix-it, but as far as bnha’s plot goes I don’t think the story’s gonna lose anything with simply keeping up the positive-to-a-naive-point look on life it has always had, if that’s what it decides to do. You might end up finding the story less good then you’d been expecting, but that’s because you were seeing bnha as a genre it has never even tried to be. This is still a story in which at some point holding hands saved the day, after all haha

Anon said:you always thanks horikoshi for your life but seriously, thank you, for my life

sob you’re so sweet oh my GOD ;O; thank you so much, I’m so so happy you’re liking my stuff!!!

Anon said:YOUR LATEST KIRIBAKU COMIC KILLED ME AND I THANK YOU FOR THAT YOU TALENTED HUMAN BEING

WAAAHHHHHHHH I’M GLAD YOU LIKED IT OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!

Anon said:Would you ever draw anything nsfw or at least a little bit steamy?? I would love to see some of that in you style

That’s actually answered in my faq! But yeah to keep it short the answer is nope, I try to keep my blogs as sfw as I can manage! Also why would you want to see that sorta thing in my style omfg hahaha I feel like it would just end up looking wrong lmao

Anon said:im legit crying over this kiribaku comic 😭😭😭 bless you

I’m super happy you liked it but please don’t cry omfg !!!!*hands you tissues*

Anon said:......LISTen!! !! ! I LOVE U SO MUCH!!! !! ! and thank u for the super quality content b l e s s u p! ! !!!

AAAAHHHHH I LOVE U TOO THANK YOU SO MUCH !!!!!!!

Anon said:I rambled about it and I'm still blown away by it but that comic made my day so so so so so much I feel blessed. I was so excited when I saw how much there was and all of it!!! Was so good!!!! The art was consistently amazing and gosh u blow me away ur so good!!! I know it must've taken a lot and doing all that and SO WELL in 3 days??? I rlly appreciate the effort u put in and I wanted to let you know I think it was incredible C: I hope ur having as lovely as a day as that comic made mine

I’m gonna legit start sobbing, thank you so so so so much ;O; it did take a whole damn lot of work, but with how nice you’re being I feel like it was 100% worth it!!!

Anon said:your comic totally made my saturday, kiri is so cuuute wtf?? and baku so hella pretty? i mean, the way you draw him?? i cant rlly explain it but thank you for this beauty on my dashboard. i have all those warm mushy feelings when i see your stuff

Thank you!!!! and I’m happy I could make you feel the mushy feels hahaha feeling mushy mush is good I’m always glad when I’m told I managed to convey that !!!!

Anon said:your comics were so cute and so well drawn!! your art always puts a smile on my face :)

And your nice words put a smile on mine so now we’re both smiling and happy!!!!!! I love that!!!!!! :D

Anon said:bless you and thank you for the kiribaku content, you're making my day every time dude

You’re all!!!! so kind!!!!!!! aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! thank you

Anon said:dRAW KIRISHIMA'S BLACK HAIR SPIKY OMG

That’s actually a nice idea, but can I maybe ask you to come around again with a “please” and “could you”? I’m sure you didn’t mean anything bad by it and I love the enthusiasm, but I prefer it when people are being polite when asking for stuff out of me

Anon said:Okay, how bout this? Bakushima Skyrim AU. This might be a little too close to the fantasy AU but hear me out. So Bakugoi Katsuki is a Breton Spellsword who is commanded by his lord (Aizawa) to go help the Empire with the Stormcloak Rebellion, he is then sent to Helgen by General Tullius to investigate its sudden communication silence. He then meets Kirishima (Eric the Slayer) at Rorikstead who is immediately fascinated by him, they end up traveling together and discover that Bakugo is dragonborn

I mean!!! That sounds like an incredible concept!!! But I’ve never played skyrim in my life before and I could barely manage to follow this ask all the way through, so I’m probably not the best person to suggest this to haha

Anon said:is momo your first option for our lil rocker lesbian or is it mina?

What a question! And one I don’t have a proper answer to, actually - I like both of them equally but for completely different reasons? MomoJirou is the type of ship I sorta see as more or less canon, like, they’re pretty damn obvious aren’t they? And they’re besties! And the aesthetics work so well! So generally I’m like, if I gotta pick one person for Jirou, basing the decision solely on canon stuff, I’m gonna pick Momo. They’re soft and warm too, have sort of a coffee-shop-AU feel to them, I love it

On the other hand Jirou and Mina don’t really have a significant relationship in canon yet - they’re friends and chill together now and again, but haven’t really interacted much in a proper way for me to say “yes, I can see it, this is a ship with some serious foundation” like I can with Momo. But. I understand this ship in a way I can’t seem to manage with MomoJirou. What Jirou would love in Mina and what Mina would love in Jirou, why they’d love each other, how they’d spend their time together and what the general feel of their story would be - the mood of it and the reasons behind it, I understand them, and I can’t seem to manage to do that with Momo yet.

So the actual answer is, if it’s about which of the two gives me more of a “this might actually be canon” feel, then it’s Momo. I do believe they love each other and their relationship is lovely. But if it’s about which of the two I have more fun thinking about, then Mina. It’s two very different ships with very different moods, after all haha

Anon said:your latest warm up my heart!!! man i love how you draw izuku and eri and mirio and well all of them but you dont often draw izuku especially congrats i never want to look away from it

I’M GLAD YOU LIKED THAT ONE I’m actually weirdly proud of how that Izuku came out since usually I can barely manage to make him look like himself, so!!!! thank you!!!!!!

Anon said:Fran, hi! I saw some drawings of you (like, YOU) and I got under the impression that you're really tall??? Would you mind telling us your height? If it's too weird and it gets you uncomfortable, please, just ignore!

I decieved you, anon lmao I’m ~160cm, more or less like my girl Mina! Still the tallest girl in my family, but a small bean none the less in the grand scheme of things haha

Anon said:EVERY AU WHERE ALMA LIVES AND IS TOGETHER WITH YUU BEING HAPPY AND LOVED IS A VERY VERY GOOD AU!!! 💕

WHAT A CONSTANT ETERNAL MOOD THO

Anon said:Looking at your art reminds me that there still are good things to look forward to. Thank you.

This is such a soft ask??? Oh my god???? Thank you so much for the kind feeling!!!

Anon said:you did!! A background on the momojirou!! And I LOVE IT!!

I’M HAPPY YOU LIKED IT!!!!! It’s just flowers, tho haha

Anon said:Your art is so nice to look at, it's really soft and pretty and looking at it makes me really happy!! I fell in love with your style the moment I saw it. Thank you for making such lovely art and posting it here, I really appreciate getting to see it ♡♡♡

;O; thank you so much oh my god!!!! I still feel like it’s sort of all over the place, but this ask makes me feel so much better about it aaah!!!!!!

Anon said:minajirou!! i never thought about so thank you fran bcause its so cute!! and soft!! and bright!! my best girls yess

THEY’RE GOOD AREN’T THEY bright beautiful ladies they make me so happy hahaha

Anon said:Your blog has changed my life for the better. thank you

I’m sure that’s an exaggeration omfg but I’m happy I can make you happy!!!

Anon said:Gosh Fran, I just wait for Kirishima with his hair down to be animated. Thank god you indulge us with your doodles of his fluffy hair down while we wait! On another note... I love how you add some random details in your drawings (like Kiri's tag sticking out lol).

THANK YOU for noticing even the small things like that hahaha some details like that are more for my personal amusement than anything else, but it’s nice to know some people pick up on them too hahaha

#fran answers #taking a break from drawing today to let my hands rest #and my back too #sometimes i should think about this sorta stuff as well #........................#then again tomorrow and the day after i won't be able to draw as well so #maybe i'll indulge a bit later #who knows #!!#anonymous

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reconditarmonia · 5 years

Text

Dear Prime Time Player

Hello, lovely writer!

I’m reconditarmonia here and on AO3 (and have been since LJ days, but my LJ is locked down and I only have a DW to see locked things). I have anon messaging off, but mods should be able to contact me if you have any questions.

Aubrey-Maturin | Discworld | Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun | Legend of Korra | Team Fortress 2

General likes:

– Relationships that aren’t built on romance or attraction. They can be romantic or sexual as well, but my favorite ships are all ones where it would still be interesting or compelling if the romantic component never materialized.

– Loyalty kink! Trust, affectionate or loving use of titles, gestures of loyalty, replacing one's situational or ethical judgment with someone else's, risking oneself (physically or otherwise) for someone else, not doing so on their orders. Can be commander-subordinate or comrades-in-arms.

– Heists, or other stories where there’s a lot of planning and then we see how the plan goes.

– Femslash, complicated or intense relationships between women, and female-centric gen. Women doing “male” stuff (possibly while crossdressing).

– Stories whose emotional climax or resolution isn’t the sex scene, if there is one.

– Uniforms/costumes/clothing.

– Stories, history, and performance. What gets told and how, what doesn’t get told or written down, behavior in a society where everyone’s consuming media and aware of its tropes, how people create their personas and script their own lines.

General DNW: rape/dubcon, torture, other creative gore; unrequested AUs, including “same setting, different rules” AUs such as soulmates/soulbonds; PWP; food sex; embarrassment; focus on pregnancy; Christmas/Christian themes.

A note: I'm generally fine with "/" ships where the fic doesn't contain a kiss, overt declaration of love, etc. I'll trust that you wrote it with shippy intent and don't expect you to force in something that wouldn't fit the story.

—

Fandom: Aubrey-Maturin Series

Ship(s): Clarissa Oakes & Diana Villiers & Sophie Aubrey, Diana Villiers & None, Clarissa Oakes/Diana Villiers

I'm finding myself most excited to read about the women in Aubrey-Maturin. I've always liked Diana, and I'm interested in stuff like, how can I say this, the female household that they're living in when Jack and Stephen are at sea, Diana's longing for and seizure upon any kind of freedom she can find and whether or not she thinks the persona everyone knows is "her", Clarissa's way of seeing and moving in the world. I'd love to read something where any of these combinations (or solo) have something to make choices about and show their strengths and desires. Espionage-related adventures or other small-scale casefic, encountering men in society that Clarissa knows from her previous life, dealing with a problem as a family/household? Diana learning her way around Boston or Sweden, or picking up new extreme sports? AU where women can be in the Navy and we get to see what they'd be like as sailors or officers??? (I'd prefer that we see them at a point where they are not at odds over romantic issues with men.) If writing Clarissa/Diana specifically, I'd love something of their POVs/voices on the idea of lesbianism, if that makes sense, but I also am perennially into the ways that f/f couples could live together in history without occasioning comment (they're raising a child together because they're such good friends and one is a widow while the other's husband is always away, of course).

—

Fandom: Discworld

Ship(s): Magda "Tonker" Halter/Maladict/Tilda "Lofty" Tewt, Magda "Tonker" Halter/Polly Perks/Tilda "Lofty" Tewt, Mildred Froc/Alice "Wazzer" Goom, Polly Perks & Samuel Vimes, Jack Jackrum & Polly "Ozzer" Perks, Maladict/Polly Perks

Tonker/Lofty/Mal or Tonker/Lofty/Polly - These just seemed like ships that would be interesting to see - I guess I imagine them as being short-term given Tonker and Lofty’s one true love, but I’d be interested in seeing why Tonker and Lofty might let someone else in, why Mal or Polly might accept, and how that’d play out. Probably post-canon? How does it come about, if Tonker and Lofty have retired (to be criminals/freedom-fighters, or did they just rob the one bank to get enough to retire on and burn down the one place as personal revenge?) while Mal and Polly are still in the army?

Polly & Jackrum or Polly & Vimes - Just more of Polly and her mentor/s! I love that Monstrous Regiment is about a woman who joins the army in response to an immediate crisis but comes to learn that she’s a cunning bastard and that being a sergeant is what she’s good at. More of Polly learning from Jackrum (or deciding to do things differently, having things to teach) would be great. (She hasn’t heard nearly all Jackrum’s stories - or, even in retirement, there must be some adventure they could have, or something could come up around Jackrum’s big secret, or the book of blackmail.) So would Polly finding a new mentor in Vimes, learning how things work in Ankh-Morpork (as big city - how does she react to all the cultural differences? - or as a power structure where the rules of getting stuff done might be different than in Borogravia) or across periodic meetings when he’s in Borogravia. What are they cynical about, what do they believe in?

Froc/Wazzer - Something with Froc and her loyal secretary/aide, who now has a place in the world, could be really sweet. Wazzer has a connection to the Duchess that could be really meaningful to Froc, but she's also her own person with her own experiences that I'm sure Froc will learn to appreciate, and vice versa.

Mal/Polly - I will always be happy to receive more of this ship. I'm all about the post-canon loyalty kink for them, the different strengths or sacrifices they have at their disposal for each other (Polly’s practicality and cunning, Mal’s intimidating coolness and/or potential berserker rage that Polly might even have to leash in). Polly sends Mal on a dangerous mission; Mal goes off-leash rescuing Polly, or Polly has to bring that potential berserker rage to heel; something about the post-canon rank difference on top of the class difference (Mal is wealthy and cultured and typical commission material and yet is a corporal under Sergeant Perks’s command)...I love high sexual tension in a military context, but also love mutual pining whether from near (if they continue serving in the same regiment, essentially together all the time and unable to act on it) or from far (what if the job separated them - LDR, epistolary?).

I request this fandom constantly, as well as some of the loyalty kink stuff I'm talking about, so I've got more in my "dear author letters" tag.

Fandom-Specific DNW/Exception: gender headcanons, identity musing, or non-canonical pronouns. “He” or “she” for Jackrum are both fine, but I would not want to read the character making a big deal about gender identity or pronouns. Also, er, PWP would probably be fine for the Tonker/Lofty/* ships, although I’m still interested more in the character dynamics than in what would be hot. If writing Mal, please no vampire romance tropes (such as turning or immortality) as focus.

—

Fandom: Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun

Ship(s): Hori Masayuki & Kashima Yuu

I love how ride-or-die obsessed with each other these two are. The bit where Kashima leaves Hori women's clothing in his locker and he's deeply frustrated but also awed by her ability to put an outfit together! How into acting opposite each other and especially dueling each other they get! The coda to the bull scene! I'd be into a story about them acting in a play together or him directing her in a play - working together to create something awesome and intense that shows off both their abilities - or something where they (as per canon) are either intentionally or unintentionally in a tropey situation that may or may not correspond to their gender. Especially (I think, for these two) a trope from a dramatic non-slice-of-life genre. Future fic could also be fun, where they're adults who are still creative collaborators and/or each other's biggest fans in a professional or personal capacity. (Would future!Hori and/or future!Kashima have a girlfriend or wife? Kashima's "ALL THREE OF US WILL HANG" re: Hori's potential future wife is practically memetic in my house.)

I've requested this fandom before, so feel free to check out previous letters in my "dear author letters" tag. (I see from a previous letter that I suggested "give them magical powers" as a potential exception to my unrequested-AUs DNW!)

Fandom-Specific DNW: I would strongly prefer that Kashima's feelings about Hori not be written as overtly romantic or sexual. I think they're probably the most important people to each other, but I don't see her that way. (I'm amused by the possibility of Hori crushing on guy!Kashima, but ultimately, "&" rather than "/".)

—

Fandom: Legend of Korra

Ship(s): Korra & Kuvira, Korra & Zaheer, Lin Beifong/Mako

One thing I enjoyed about seasons 3 and 4 of Korra was the writing team's attempt to write villains who were sincerely committed ideologues with valid points, even if they became evil in pursuit of their goals, and to figure out how Korra could relate to those villains as the Avatar and as the person that she is. I loved how Korra needed to seek help from Zaheer because as an anarchist he truly opposed what Kuvira was doing and wanted to help Korra, and how she was able to empathize with Kuvira at the end of s4 because the two have some big personality similarities. How might they continue to work together or influence each other after the end of s4? I don't need a redemption arc if that's not what you're interested in writing - Zaheer and Kuvira can absolutely continue to believe that their ideals were correct and even that not all of their methods were wrong - but I would be interested in reading about Korra getting more mental/spiritual tutoring from her enemy Zaheer and deciding how much of that she wants to integrate into her practice, seeking Kuvira's advice on how to handle ongoing developments in the Earth Kingdom as it transitions to a republic, sparring or practicing bending with Kuvira, Spirit World meditation adventures with Zaheer... (I haven't read the comics, so you can either take or leave comics canon.)

Or, write me some Lin/Mako! I like that in Mako, Lin finds a mentee who is as cynical and stoic and prickly as she is, with lots of mutual respect for each other's police work. I'd be super into loyaltykink dynamics (whether plotty crimesolving casefic or not - and maybe, like, "of course my feelings for my older mentor/younger protégé are just professional respect and devotion to my team/to the cause of policing" type thing) and/or putting them into scenarios that are Not Dates because they're at the fancy restaurant to bodyguard the candidates, they're undercover, they're just getting takeout because they're working late on a case... They're both terrible at having and expressing emotions so this can only go great. Oh, and absolutely feel free to acknowledge the age difference; Lin deserves a boy toy after everything she's been through, right?

—

Fandom: Team Fortress 2

Ship(s): Administrator/Miss Pauling, Miss Pauling & Spy

Admin/Pauling is a ship that desperately needs some loyaltykink. Pauling has had MULTIPLE speeches in the comics about her devotion to Helen - I especially love the one to Gray Mann. ("Stop her? Why would I stop her? I've worked for her my whole life. I've lied for her. Framed people for her. Killed people for her. Do you think I'd do all that if I didn't know what she is? What she's capable of? Do you think I'm some kind of stupid pawn here? I know exactly what she could do with that kind of power, and I'll be right there with her when she does it.") I would love to get a fic that gets into Pauling's loyalty to Helen and willingness to be the one getting her hands dirty on Helen's behalf, into Helen's appreciation for what Pauling can do and decisions about how to direct all that competence while keeping her safe enough; how far they'd go or what they'd do for each other. Expanding something in their backstory, maybe something alluded to in that speech? Something in the present/future now that Helen is revivified and hot? (Helen trusting Pauling to inherit everything and become the boss herself?)

Alternately, I'm very fond of what we see of Miss Pauling's friendship with the Spy, given that she seems to see him as one of the only competent/sane people she has to work with and vice versa. Per the Tough Break update they go to wine tastings together and he's tried to teach her to play piano; I would love more of their friendship, whether on the job (she's more in the know than he is, but he also seems to see her as a mentee, and they both love guns) or at leisure (wingmanning each other to pick up women, going to the opera or something?) Would also be cool with Femspy.

Fandom-Specific DNW: Please stick to Miss Pauling's canon lesbian orientation if the subject comes up.

#dear author letters #patrick o'brian #monstrous regiment #gsnk #tf2 #avatar

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afreakingdork · 5 years

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Review: Ms. Vampire who lives in my neighborhood.

“ The modern-day vampire comedy centers on high school girl Amano, who was saved from a strange incident by a vampire girl named Sophie Twilight, and has been interested in her ever since. Akari arrives at her house uninvited and the two start to live together. Although a vampire, Sophie never attacks humans, but purchases blood and anime goods via mail and lives a modern life. “

So this series sort of fixes some issues I have had with other similar series, but at the same time when I say similar series I mean actual carbon copy. Someone is printing fake anime money here and it’s getting a bit tedious, but let’s save that for...

Criticism:

Them knowing Japanese is really just a throw away... I mean Sophie literally just says she came over knowing none and only wanting to play a video game. Then she said she learned from books. I know she is a vampire but that is incredible even for a super human. They don’t even mention how Ellie knows... Ellie can’t even grasp modern day computers...

Where does Sophie get her income from......?? WHERE DOES ELLIE GET HER INCOME FROM, SHE HAD 3 GOLD BRICKS?!?! WHEN SHE BOUGHT HER HOUSE DID ANYONE HELP HER?? SHE COULDN'T COMPREHEND THAT 3 JUGS OF BLOOD WERE WORTH LESS THAN 3 BRICKS OF GOLD....

In the first few episodes they keep cutting to an evil looking cat outside... then they never do that again... why? It didn’t even make the scenes more creepy because the scenes weren’t creepy to begin with. It was just an odd bump and distracting.

‘Amason’ catering to blood that is like specifically harvested is totally going along with the real life issue we are having with rich people drinking the blood of young people....

I was excited for a lesbian vampire show, but the show ends up being more about one-sided loves. Sophie is too sensible to like Akari back. While Hinata may love Akari, Akari just seems too interested in Sophie, or in reality to dolls, to really love anyone genuinely. Plus Akari’s wedding fantasies with Sophie really taper off in the end and really morph into more of a really beautiful friendship.

The animation overall is boring and nothing to note really. I did however like that they were doing colored chibi eyes like this in the beginning of the show because I had never seen that before:

but sometimes they will randomly not have any color...

My biggest complaint though is that while this show helps the genre overall, it is still just a carbon copy of 20 million other shows just like it and it’s plot is even more paper thin then you can imagine. I found myself getting bored by the end of the series and the last two episodes were a struggle to get through. This show is forgettable at best.

Positives:

Speaking of lesbians though, Sakuya and Yuu are like actually dating though, no joke.

I really like how they portray Sophie and Ellie. These are women over hundreds of years old and you can really tell. Yes, by the way, I did say women, because while they are stuck in young 13-ish year old bodies they really feel and exude the fact that they are adults. For Sophie, it’s how sensible she is, she is concerned about her age, she is very cool and collected (and not in a let’s tease her till she breaks the visage sort of way). She is also very aware of her age and what position that put’s her in with other people who ‘look’ her age:

As for Ellie, she is a very sexual creature and I really like that she never comes off as an ecchi loli. She speaks and acts like an adult woman and it translates in the small details in the clothing she wears. She does have a small hang-up of not being as sensible as Sophie and likes to hit on young girls; making her feel like a mid-life crisis gross man. She still feels like an adult though and I really liked that about the show.

On the topic of Ellie, I really like that during the fight between Ellie and Hinata in episode 5 "Vampire Cooking" that they were both wrong. There was deeper meaning to both sides of their arguments and it wasn't just based on comedy. It also adds more sense to the way Ellie dresses and acts in such a sexual way.

Is this Vampire’s like to count thing a The Count joke? I want it to be...

I really want to read this manga...

My biggest point to make about this show though is that it fixes the issues I had with KINMOZA! and Gabriel DropOut. My biggest complaint with these slice of life’s where you have a ‘creature from another world’ is that they always end up doing the same things: join high school, do mundane Japanese things, ect. That has gotten boring for me over time and you would think for the Japanese audience that has gone through this twicefold, it must be getting doubly tiring for them. I like that this show dodges that flat out and even explains that Sophie tried to integrate, but Vampire protocol prevented her from doing so. Plus if we are comparing the relationship between Shino and Alice to that of Sophie and Akari, I prefer the latter. The former relationship feels so static in comparison. Sophie also 1UP’s Gabriel because she is out there doing her thing and not bothering anyone. She is mature and owning it while Gabriel is an annoying protagonist. I really love Sophie honestly, she is a refreshing character.

Verdict:

#me #review #anime review #it was meh #average I guess #Ms. Vampire who lives in my neighborhood.#Ms. Vampire who lives in my neighborhood #Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san #ms. vampire #anime

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courage-a-word-of-justice · 6 years

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SSSS.Gridman 3 - 4 | Double Decker 5 - 6 | Golden Kamuy 15 - 16 | Zombieland Saga 4 - 5 | Merc Storia 3 - 4

Gridman 3

Samurai Calibur is literally what pulled me back into the show – after all, he’s an indicator that despite this show’s serious demeanour, it is campy at heart. So it’s great to see him have a big role, even if he has to look stupid to do so.

Uh…by the way, kaiju (Anti?). What’s so cool about Wolverine blades? I mean, Wolverine himself has healing factor to back that up, but you’re just a kaiju…

That star explosion! There’s the Trigger we know and love!

“A kaiju that eats breakfast with me.”

I always love how anime deal with isolation through framing and other visual techniques. In this case, it’s Utsumi and Rikka in two mirrors of different shapes.

“…over, right?” I thought, as Utsumi said, “…disbanded.” – Close enough.

Literally everyone in this show has blue eyes. It’s striking, but it’s a bit much…? I personally like a mix of eye colours for characters, especially those eyes which seem to have flecks of different colours in them. Not that I’ve ever had an excuse to give any character I’ve created eyes like that (since it’s easier to describe single-coloured eyes), but it would be nice to have an opportunity to. Update: Apparently it’s a homage to something. A Transformers thing, actually.

This ED…hmm, it kinda looks like the Sarazanmai ads I’ve seen around lately. Just without the stylised background people and with Akane and Rikka.

Double Decker 5

“The Derick Special!” – Welp, aside from forgetting the E in “potatoes”, they got the spelling right, LOL.

I wonder if Kirill’s sister looks anything like him?

…Hmm. I noticed the license plate on that blue car has BNY. Maybe it stands for “bunny” or “Barnaby”?

*Kirill headbutts Doug* - Well…uh, that’s one way to use your head…

“My first partner died.” – Wait, but if that’s (Doug’s first partner) not Derick…then who is it??? The one before Derick? Update: Yep, I was right.

I just realised the motorbike (? car?) Max rides has her name on the license plate. At least in the ED it does.

It seems like the next episode is a breather ep…hmm.

Golden Kamuy 15

Kibushi is number 8 on this page.

“Bat man”…? Like the superhero?

I can’t believe I actually don’t mind the Blingee fire at this moment in the season…urgh. Why did I just say that? I might regret it later…

Oh my gosh…woodcock birds are adorable!

Inkarmat likes Cikapasi’s cover story? Even the bit about…boob-grabbing…?

I like the technique where it appears Nagakura and Toshizou have deaged. It really gives the scene emotional impact and emphasises the fact this episode is called “Let’s Talk About the Past”.

Zombieland Saga 4

I always imagine Lily’s voice to be extremely high pitched. So high pitched, it’s almost silly…but maybe that’s just what happens when I turn off the volume and try to imagine their voices that way.

Chatsumi means “tea picking”. As in picking tea leaves.

Bikubiku just means Junko is trembling from fear. She probably has a fear of heights…

Hey wait, I thought slapping Saganship Z on people who aren’t zombies is called “administering medicine”…

The CGI…I don’t think it’s entirely hideous, but it’s still vaguely obvious.

Marutchi/Tamatchi -> Yes, it’s another Tamagotchi joke from Saki.

Merc Storia 3

Oh my goodness…this (the queen) is the fairy I got hyped for way back when this show first had its ED showcased! She’s basically the anime version of a Shirley Barber fairy! She’s gorgeous!

Princess, didn’t the tale of Excalibur teach you not to pull swords from stones?

There are a lot of princesses in this, to the point where it makes me feel like a kid again. Then again, all good anime makes me giggly like a kid. Not to mention this actually is aimed at kids…

Who’s a healer, Merc? Jamo? (Yeah, yeah, I’m kidding, but seriously, get Merc to do a better indication of who she’s talking about.)

Oh, how did I not think of this? Yuu’s name is Yuu because he’s you, geddit? The player character?...Okay, stop booing…

Seriously, all the fairies, regardless of their gender, are gorgeous…! Except the bartender and the butler. The bartender looks like Tank from Brave Beats and the butler’s just an old guy. The background characters are only decent looking, too, but I’m talking about (most of) the main characters here. The princess is kinda cute, but not enough to awaken a moe instinct in me, y’know?

I didn’t notice this until now, but Paristos has pointy ears…hmm.

Wait, that was a dude fairy??? The black one, i.e. “one that knows the land”??? Update: Sorry. I listened to his voice and then realised…that is a dude. Sorry. He even kind of sounds like Ume…Update 2: A-hah! That’s why The One That Knows the Land (that is literally what he’s credited as) sounded familiar. It was Junichi Suwabe! Update 3: His name is in the next ep, it’s Zephrodai.

SSSS.Gridman 4

I noticed Akane has a Surume card. It’s probably a pun on Suika (Watermelon) cards. Apparently the pun is that tapping the card on and off is like water swishing (sui sui), hence the name. Update: It would be also nice to say they were a pun on Hong Kong’s Octopus cards, but the visuals on the cards are all wrong…

See? They’re (Namiko and Hass) using their phones like normal kids. So why didn’t Rikka remember to use her phone last ep?

Rumour has it Borr is a dude, which makes the fact he’s questioning why girls like older guys make a lot more sense. Then again, you could just headcanon him as a lesbian instead. I’m not going to stop you from thinking that way if you do.

Honest to stars above, this feels like Kiznaiver Round 2. I didn’t mind Kiznaiver but though it could be better. The drama felt a little too…melodramatic, y’know?

See? This episode just proves Calibur is best boi…until further notice, when they introduce that other Neon Genesis bishonen for real.

So if Borr -> Buster Borr, Max -> Tracto Max and Samurai Calibur -> Calibur, then Sky Vitter…either Sky or Vit. I already know the answer is “Vit” because I saw it on the wiki, but it makes a bit more sense now. Anyways, I was wondering…what happened to the 3 dudes from Arcadia? Max is the strongest, eh? So many questions, not enough time, y’know???

Double Decker! 6

“Good Noodles”, LOL.

The line that appears when the subs say “Let’s take this to our car” actually says something along the lines of, “For the moment, let’s take this to our car, shall we?”

Interestingly, the word “guinea pig” (as in, the “we’re being tested on” sort) translates directly – you can read the word morumotto (guinea pig) in the text.

Maybe I’m not familiar with terms aside from keiji/keibu etc. for policemen, but I’ve never seen a policeman being referred to as “omeguri-san”…

If we’re talking about noticing things…a post for this episode already spoilt for me that “Kirill now has a brother”, although I don’t know whether that comment was made in jest/deception or not. Also, that “sister” sure didn’t have any…er, secondary reproductive characteristics on the torso, to put it lightly.

Reminder, dear cowatchers: Doug is…kind of…an asshole.

*Milla’s disappearance involves getting on one of those double decker buses you see around Lisvaletta* - Welp, that puts another meaning to the name “Double Decker”, eh?

Apple Bieber (LOL) is so tsundere when people actually call him “Doctor”, haha.

Holy sisters, Batman! Milla even sounds like a man. I may be terrible at identifying voice actors from their voices alone, but heck if I can’t tell this “Milla” is a man! (The voice of “Milla” sounds familiar…who is it, though? I’ll skip forward and check. Update: Okay, it’s a name I don’t recognise, but it is a dude! The VA’s name is Yuki Fujiwara. But now that that’s established…I like Valery (sic…?) already. He’s definitely my type~.)

Soooooooooo…yeah. Kirill really does have a brother. Sorry for the spoilers.

Golden Kamuy 16

…Wait, so he’s (Shiraishi) actually getting captured this time?

I find it interesting there is a Japanese equivalent to “Kamuy” which means “residence of the gods”, to translate it somewhat loosely.

Shiraishi had such stupid faces in everyone’s heads…LOL.

I find Tsurumi wearing a proper outfit coloured like the 7th division (albeit more Chinese-looking) kinda strange. Tsurumi suits red more, methinks.

Opium, eh? I assume this talk about poppies and England has something to do with the Opium Wars.

Arisaka’s probably as bad as Brook from One Piece…at least, when it comes to skull jokes in the OP manga. Or like a group of dads having a meeting.

Nikaidou’s so petty…LOL. But it is a good idea to weaponise a fake leg – I mean, Toshizou could have the same advantage if he put a sword in his cane…but I think Toshizou thinks too highly of his Izuminokami Kanesada to do such a thing.

I laughed pretty hard when I learnt Ogata is meant to be part of the 27th. Probably because it wasn’t much of a coincidence in the first place.

Zombieland Saga 5

Wowee, what just happened to Tatsumi’s leg??? “The second you let your guard down, it can all fall apart!” – I think he was talking more about his leg rather than competitive baseball…Update: I swore the ball went through his leg. If you didn’t interpret it the same way, then…sorry.

So I heard you like KFC. Well, we’ll just grab Saga’s equivalent to KFC so you can have chicken in your anime while you eat chicken…or something like that…?

Shouldn’t that be “principles of Drive-In Tori”?

The fish eyecatch seems to involve a Karatsu-kun-chi…according to the banner in the back.

Google Translate tells me “Bonjour, Saga jeune” means something to the effect of “Hello, Saga youngster.”

They really like their live-action segments on this show, huh?

Seriously, which of these girls does Ookoba-san remember??? Is he the driver from episode 1’s Truck-kun? Update: It’s Junko, so that makes sense. If it were Policeman A recognising Junko, Ai or Sakura…we’d be in trouble.

I forgot why they were panicking, but then I remembered…they didn’t have their makeup on. Ah.

Eh? You’re kidding…the Gatalympics is legit!

Yugiri literally poledanced on that rope! Yipe, that’s stiff competition…

What is Tae eating in these in-between scenes, anyway…?

I believe I cannnnnn…*music cuts immediately* Fall…So much for the “I Believe I Can Fly” parody…

Merc Storia 4

Gah, that necklace looks like a Sims gem…

Okay, if I figured out what the next country is it won’t be so interesting. It’s the “country of the clan of few people”.

You can see Salodeah in the ED…and Fruedling (sp???)…but there are some other characters you don’t see in these fairy episodes. Now I’d like to meet the lady riding the spider and the blonde guy (you see them in the same screenshot). You can also see the dog girl from the animal in the ED (I forgot her name though, LOL). I’d also like to see the angel country…

I just realised the next ep previews are called Merc Yokoku (Next Ep Preview) Storia…hmm.

#simulcast commentary #merc storia #merc storia: the apathetic boy and the girl in a bottle #zombieland saga #Merc Storia: Mukiryoku Shonen to Bin no Naka no Shoujo #Golden Kamuy #SSSS.Gridman #double decker #Double Decker! Doug and Kirill #Chesarka watches Merc Storia #Chesarka watches ZLS #Chesarka watches GK #Chesarka watches SSSS.Gridman #Chesarka watches Double Decker!

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hoodlessmads · 5 years

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Bloom Into You Chapter 41

…is maybe the literal cutest thing I’ve ever read.

I love how that teacher’s like, “What the hell were you doing in the student council room this late?” and they’re like, “Sorry, we just needed this key so we could go have our soapy love confession scene in there but you can have it back now.”

And they’re not quite full-on holding hands on the way home, but they’re just kinda

Just

Just kinda

Screaming.

The panel layout on the page where they’re both laying in bed awake thinking about each other is so lovely. How Yuu looks like she’s looking at Touko but she’s actually not because they’re in their own rooms but she actually is because they’re on the same page literally. And Touko’s adorable “that all just happened” expression as she’s holding her hand.

I find it interesting that as the manga has gone on and as the anime has gone into production and aired, the manga itself has begun to embrace those water themes more and more. Like, I don’t remember water being such a huge deal at the beginning of the manga, but it’s a highly prevalent visual motif in the anime. We see Yuu underwater when she feels distanced from her friends in the classroom, there’s underwater lighting at some points in the opening iirc, and this all comes to a head beautifully in the actual aquarium scene where they are underwater, with Touko looking up at the fish and stuff above them and Yuu leading Touko by the hand into the light, which she had previously felt so distant from. Anyway, it’s just nice how several of the past few chapter covers have featured Yuu underwater reaching toward the surface/the light, and this title talking about sea charts reminded me of that. I guess it’s meant to be like, she’s above water now. On the ocean, which is this whole new thing to navigate.

I love how Yuu comes skipping into school all pumped about her friends’ lives and literally anything at all because she’s in such a good mood and how shy she gets when asked if anything good happened, and the fact that she immediately took that charm out of the drawer and put it on her bag. Like, Yuu in this whole chapter is a whole ass “FINALLY” mood.

I love how the panel layout and our sense of time almost makes it look like Touko has been standing at the door to the classroom for a minute trying to gather the courage to face Sayaka the same way, as though things haven’t changed between them, or at least to face her at all. She goes in looking all determined, like she’s decided she’s going to say something to Sayaka because Sayaka deserves it and it’s only right, but then stops at “Good morning,” and doesn’t end up saying anything else, kind of chickens out, just looks over pensively wondering if she should say something, and if that’s not a Touko ass thing to do I don’t know what is lol. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if she’s still brooding about what to say after school, trying to be all responsible, determined to be the liaison between friend and girlfriend. And meanwhile Yuu and Sayaka are as functional as ever and come to an understanding and reaffirm that they are best friends for life in like two seconds before Touko can even finish thinking about it. God, I adore Yuu and Sayaka’s friendship so much.

But the main point that the classroom scene got across for me was that things aren’t the same between Touko and Sayaka now. It’s awkward. It’s different. There’s a distance between them now that wasn’t there before. And while they will still be friends after this (for a while, if we believe the second light novel to be canon), this is definitely the beginning of them slowly drifting apart. I think it’s a good thing. Sayaka especially could use the opportunity to move on. Staying as close of friends as they were just wouldn’t be a healthy scenario for either of them, especially now that so many things have come to light that they previously kept secret from each other. As much as she does know her weaknesses and still love her, it still feels like there’s a part of Touko that Sayaka never really knew. They have both changed and grown so much since the beginning of the series, and the people they are now just aren’t as compatible as they once were, as friends or otherwise. I hope Sayaka comes to realize this sooner rather than later so that it can start hurting less.

Honestly this chapter filled my heart with fluffy cuteness like a water tank about to bust from too much pressure and I almost died from it, but that ONE panel with Sayaka’s face after she sees Yuu’s charm broke me. Nakatani is a master. That facial expression was just so raw. I hate to see her hurting like that. Sayaka is truly too good for this world. God, please future girlfriend, please love her well.

But Yuu and Sayaka’s friendship waters my crops. That cheek slap and stretch routine is a blatant gesture of unbridled affection disguised as fake irritation and you cannot convince me otherwise. This whole scene. Ugh, she’s so…nice?

Touko’s flustered reaction at seeing Yuu and Sayaka being such legitimately chill friends and having worked out all their issues while she was brooding and being anxious will never cease to amuse me. I love her, I try to defend Touko so much, but it’s scenes like this that prove once again that she’s actually just the yuri equivalent of a fuckboy, god bless her heart. I do adore her.

It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen disaster gay Nanami Touko so I was quite glad to see her make several appearances this chapter. They’re both trying so hard to be chill during the student council meeting but they both helplessly look up at each other at the same time. Or perhaps Yuu looks up helplessly and Touko is just dead ass staring at her, smitten. And Touko is so determined to type very important things afterwards. How is Nakatani so good at drawing cute ass snapshots of cute ass people? And I love how they’re…are ya’ll holding hands with your feet now? It’s adorable. Keep doing it.

Maki is that audience insert.

Same.

Doujima’s still completely oblivious that there are lesbians in this show.

So Yuu. I am always a huge sucker for when characters who are traditionally pretty unemotional get to a point where they’re so emotional that they can’t help but display that emotion in a way that’s uncharacteristic of how they’ve been up to this point, but for that reason is so incredibly satisfying to watch. It is so satisfying to see this adorable person that we’ve come to know and love finally get to this point. Yuu is honestly the best part of all of this fluff, by far. Talk about acting experience. This whole time, she’s worn the world’s greatest poker face, and now that she can finally let herself be the absolute gay mess she actually is, she’s just barely keeping it all in and it’s so adorable and gratifying. You wouldn’t have known this girl could get so red and flustered but damn if she isn’t and it is so fucking cute.

She’s so eager to finally say Touko’s name (with senpai), and in spite of how flustered and head over heels she is, she’s still the same functional and straightforward Yuu we’ve always known. She comes right out and tries to DTR within like an hour of having the initial thought. The response: “Girlfriends? I haven’t thought about it. I guess we are.” Touko, this is why you’re a meme.

And on the flip side of Yuu being so embarrassed, Touko’s all, “Stand aside, I’m Character Development Touko now. I’m not the flustered disaster lesbian you once knew. I’m Smooth Touko now. I’m the new and improved Kiss Your Tears Touko. I troll Yuu about saying my name and not the other way around. I’m smooth as hell now.” But then as soon as “Touko-senpai” comes out she’s just like “fuck.”

Their conversation about happiness at the end is really moving to me, because they’ve moved past the “ureshii” happiness they were talking about last chapter and they’re now talking “shiawase,” which specifically refers to lasting happiness. If that isn’t the deepest most romantic shit. I also feel like bringing up the way Yuu casually mentioned the idea of girlfriends living together at some point in the future and it was just kind of glossed over as if this girl is not already playing the long game with Touko and I’m crying inside. Because I genuinely believe they’ll get there and I always thought so, but this nod from canon is glorious. (You’ve been dating for one day, Yuu, chill.) But in all seriousness, Yuu, you absolute head over heels in love sap. This talk of girlfriends living together and this repeated mention of lasting happiness (has me feeling all types of ways) tells me where Yuu’s head is at. How serious her feelings actually are. Like, that’s marriage material, bitch. She’s that happy. I’m just…so happy for her.

I find it interesting that we haven’t really been in Touko’s head since she texted Yuu on the train in chapter whatever, and not since the confession scene last chapter. We’ve mostly been with Yuu ever since. Even that one classroom scene I would argue is more from Sayaka’s point of view. I hope next chapter we get a little more from Touko’s side. I have a feeling we’ll get something like a Touko-centric chapter at some point, as I feel her personal character arc and the whole thing with her sister still need some polishing off before we can bring the story to a close. But that’s just me.

In some ways, it’s a shame that there’s so few pages left before the end of the story. Yuu and Touko’s new relationship is completely uncharted territory for them now (not to unintentionally make a pun on the chapter title). That period of excitement and uncertainty at the beginning of a new relationship is always one of the most gratifying things to explore in a story for me, so I wish we had more time. There are so many interesting things to explore with this entire cast of characters that just won’t get explored, simply because of time constraints. Still, the flip side is that ending it here in volume 8 will give Bloom Into You the succinct, satisfying conclusion it deserves to a well-structured, well-paced arc, with absolutely no excess anywhere in sight. Bloom Into You is such a brilliant exercise in telling a complete, engaging story while trimming all the fat. Some romance stories can end up feeling bloated in terms of pacing and structure, but I have a feeling this is going to be just perfect. (Unless Nakatani Nio, actual manga genius and icon, somehow manages to fuck it up. Not likely.)

Once again, I’m excited to see where Nakatani takes us and the characters next. I can’t wait to see certain characters’ reactions to the new relationship, like Akari, Koyomi, and Rei. And god, I would love to see more of Yuu and Touko navigating this new relationship, what it means, what the rules are, how they define it to themselves and others. Basically, I just want to know what happens next. Is that too much to ask? Can’t I just know what happens next? God damn it.

#bloom into you #yagate kimi ni naru #yagakimi #i like talking about yagakimi #like a lot #it got progressively later at night/early morning as i wrote this so i dont even know whats happening anymore

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hoodlessmads · 5 years

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I’m Caught Up With Bloom Into You

Gosh, where do I even begin with this series?

I watched the first episode, and by the end, honestly, I thought it was going to be pretty dumb. Cute! But dumb. And I do love me some dumb cute precious romance.

But W O W that’s not what Yagakimi is. It successfully pulls of an excellent bait-and-switch on the reader/viewer not just once but twice--the first is at the end of the first episode (the part where I assumed it was going to be kind of cheesy and dumb), and the second around halfway through the anime series. The first one is basically the premise of the story, so it doesn’t really count as a bait-and-switch unless you go in blind like I did. But the second one takes all of the reader/viewer’s expectations up to that point and turns it on its head. And even beyond that scene, the entire series is chock full of moments that demolish your expectations for what direction the story is taking and who the characters are. Every single chapter I felt like I was being thrown for a loop, and learning something unexpected and new about the characters. Even up to the most recent damn chapter I feel like I have no idea what Nakatani-sensei is going to throw at us. And all of this is me making a point that this manga is DEEP.

I could talk at length about how gorgeous the anime is, how well-directed certain scenes are, how incredible the Japanese voice acting was (didn’t see the dub, but if anyone can carry Touko’s emotional range it’s the fabulous Luci Christian so I’m sure it’s decent), or how much I stan Michiru Ooshima. It was a great adaptation and I sincerely can’t wait for Season 2. But I’m not going to talk much about that. Instead I just need to talk about the story (the manga).

(spoilers up through Chapter 39)

You know what one of the many great things about Yagakimi is? In spite of the fact that it deals with same-gender relationships and queer issues, and while it does periodically address those issues, they’re actually not the primary focus of the characters or their struggles. From day one, Yuu is much less concerned about Touko being a girl than she is about her own inability to feel anything towards her (supposedly). And that’s not to say that those issues are ignored, like they are in some anime of this particular genre. The characters don’t live in a paradisiacal vacuum where being gay in Japan isn’t a problem and everyone around them is magically super accepting. Yuu’s sister is incredibly sweet and accepting (I love her), but her dad makes casual homophobic comments. Even after Touko initially confesses to Yuu, Yuu brushes it off as something she “probably doesn’t have to worry about” because they’re both girls, and it’s weird. Riko Hakazaki has to hide from her students, coworkers, and workplace, that she’s living with her girlfriend, because it could cause legitimate problems for her if they knew. During Sayaka’s first lesbian relationship, when she is still figuring herself out, her own girlfriend tells her that it’s “just a phase” and that she’s sorry that she “made her” that way. Even much later, when Yuu is conflicted about how she should confess her feelings to Touko, her sister Rei immediately assumes (understandably so) that she’s conflicted because of the whole gay thing. Rei starts worrying about how the family will react, if they will be accepting and supportive of her sister. Little does she know, being gay is the least of Yuu’s problems at that point.

But is being gay and the societal backlash that comes with it really that inconsequential to Yuu’s story? Yuu Koito struggles to develop romantic or sexual feelings for anyone. She exhibits clear signs of depression--intense apathy, emotional repression, struggles to find genuine joy in anything. A lot of people have posited even that she exhibits signs of sexual repression specifically. And this is one of the core conversations we can have about Yuu’s character. How much of her “inability to love” is because she is legitimately somewhere on the ace spectrum, perhaps demisexual (she develops feelings after getting to know someone, to put it simply)? And how much of it is her unconsciously repressing her own feelings (perhaps homosexual) for her entire life, resulting in a scenario where even she doesn’t know how to get them back? There isn’t a clear answer here. No one knows. Yuu doesn’t even know. And that’s the point!

The characters. Are so. Good. Yuu, Touko, and Sayaka are the obvious powerhouses here, all three of them multi-layered people that I can and will analyze at length. But Yagakimi doesn’t sleep on the minor characters either. Yuu and Touko don’t exist in a vacuum. From Yuu’s sister and her boyfriend to Maki, the juxtaposing aromantic and asexual friend and ally, to Yuu’s surprisingly likable best friends, to Hakozaki-sensei and her girlfriend Miyako, to even Dojima. Everyone matters. Everyone gets their own little storyline. I’m tempted to be reminded of Kimi ni Todoke and the brilliant way it handled its side characters here. Although Bloom Into You is much shorter than KnT, and therefore has a lot less time to develop those side characters and relationships, it still provides them with their own layers, their own problems, their own mini-spotlights. And it makes me care about every single one. Riko and Miyako’s cute ass and wholesome adult love story, Akari’s dumb doomed crush on basketball senpai, Koyomi’s dreams of becoming an author and her infatuation with a certain idol of hers, Maki’s experiences as a contented bystander. I adore and welcome it.

Let’s talk about Touko Nanami before this gets any longer than it needs to be. To be honest, I have a type when it comes to characters, and it’s the ones that are suicidal and hate themselves, probably because I relate to that stuff more than anything (though I also relate to Yuu’s apathetic brand of depression). This character. This character. One of the things I love most about her is how consistently the reader is lured into thinking they know her, and then consistently proven wrong. (I think we share this experience with Yuu.) It takes episodes, chapters, volumes to slowly chip away at the layers and layers of personality we’re given before we finally arrive at the truly heartbreaking core, which is a girl with a fractured identity and deep, deep self-loathing that defies all logic. And it’s because it defies all logic that it’s so scary. Because that kind of self-hatred doesn’t just go away. You can’t just fix it. It’s there to stay, and it’s not just your friendly neighborhood self-hatred--painful, but an otherwise harmless roommate. It’s actually dangerous, and it has the power to destroy Touko’s relationships with others and even destroy herself. (The scene in the anime where she stands in front of the railroad tracks and almost takes a step forward, thus nearly giving me a heart attack, comes to mind.) It defies logic, so there’s no logical way to beat it, either. And it’s not just the self-loathing that gets me and makes my heart hurt for her; it’s the loss of oneself, the lack of one’s identity as an individual. The loss of on’s own sense of self, especially at such a young and vulnerable age, is debilitating. Touko is really good at wearing that super serene smile, but when the chips are down, nothing is going to stand in the way of her and what essentially amounts to obliterating herself from existence. Not even Yuu. And then we come to her crippling fear of being loved by anyone, which is an aspect of self-hatred that probably doesn’t get enough acknowledgment. She hates herself to the point that the thought of someone loving her, which should make her happy, actually hurts. How fucked is that.

But I never gave Touko enough credit. To be honest, in chapter 34 when Yuu (finally) confesses, I was expecting her reaction to be really bad. Like, really bad. I was expecting a shitshow, a blowout of their relationship (temporarily of course). I was expecting basically what Yuu thinks that she got. And for that one page, I swear I felt my heart forcibly ripped from my chest. But then I read the next page and was surprised to see just how much she’s changed over the course of the series, how unexpectedly maturely she took the confession and examined her own feelings afterwards, how quickly (and once again, maturely) she deduced that she’d been making Yuu suffer. It makes me appreciate their relationship even more than I did before, and it makes me want to root for them. (Not that I wasn’t already.) The chapters just keep getting better and better from here on, I swear.

Sayaka deserves her own post, but the queen has her own novel series at least. Sayaka could SO EASILY have been that bitch. Nakatani could have created this rival love interest who treated Yuu like shit and was a possessive asshole and just stopped there. But instead, we got Sayaka, who ends up being one of the best and most well-developed characters. And in the many many times where I was calling Yuu and Touko “you dumb bitch,” Sayaka was there, the smartest and most honest of the three by far, which was refreshing. Her backstory is utterly heartbreaking, her love for Touko touching as hell, and her rise from the ashes, so to speak, is inspiring. Fuck that senpai. Sayaka isn’t even that mean to Yuu, on top of it all. I mean, she can be kind of snippy. And understandably so. But they actually end up surprisingly getting along? I am shook to my core. Sayaka’s growth is one of the greatest sights to behold in this series. Her friendship with Touko isn’t sidelined in favor of Touko’s relationship with Yuu--far from it. Sayaka provides her own unique support and sparks Touko’s development in a way that Yuu never could. Their friendship is crucial. By the time Sayaka FINALLY confesses, I was so god damn proud of her and her bravery, I swear I could have cried. While Yuu was busy being in practiced denial for 40 chapters, Sayaka was OUT THERE learning to be completely up front and honest with herself and others about her feelings. (Not to knock on Yuu, because she has her own arc to go through to get there.) That whole fucking scene where they’re both just sobbing about shit afterwards Got Me.

Ugh. It’s been an emotional few days. I’m really glad I decided to start watching that first episode, because this entire series has been a series of pleasant surprises. This is a good anime, ya’ll. It’s a good character study. It’s a good love story. It’s a good gay love story. It’s all of those things. You could literally talk forever about all the nuances of this story and characters and all the things that make it as good as it is. This long ass post just brushes the surface. For now, I’m anxiously (ANXIOUSLY) awaiting chapter 40. If you know, you know.

#bloom into you #yagate kimi ni naru #yagakimi #spoilers #im fucking screaming over this whole series and how it destroyed my emotions

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