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alexissara · 7 months

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Quick Review: Stray Gods

Stray Gods is among the rare, the few, the musical video game. This is a visual novel/musical that reinvents Greek myth and provides a modern story about reincarnation, trauma, pain, murder, mystery and romance. The games gameplay is very simply put, making choices, there isn't more to it then that but the choices feel impactful.

I played one run with my GF and my Metamore romancing Persephone. After that run I did listen on youtube to more of the outcomes and possibilities [in particular the rest of the Freddie romance] but have not replayed it or anything like that. I feel like I got everything I wanted from the game with just that alone but maybe one day I'll revisit. We had a play time of roughly 8 hours but a lot of time was us talking over choices together or on a pause menu the game is fairly shorter than that if your playing it solo. Especially if you just lock in on one person you wanna grab romantically. Even more so in further playthroughs where you aren't going to need to ask as many questions.

The games music is good but I don't think there is a lot of stand out banger songs. Like I am not really belting these songs out in my head or wanting to rewatch the song over and over like with many other musical moments in animated series or from proper musicals. I really love You and I (Reprise) and that is the one song that atm has returned to my head. I think a large part of why the songs aren't super sticking with me though is that the tone of the songs are mostly more somber and mellow where I prefer a more action packed or upbeat song from my musicals. I do think the songs can feel a little weird because their designed in pieces to fit together by player choices but when you listen to them on the soundtrack they do pretty much all clear.

The queerness in Stray Gods is better than average, a progress pride flag exists in Freddie and Grace's room but that flag is a generic pride flag not putting a particular label on Freddie or Grace's sexuality. As far as I can tell no character uses any labels one can assume Grace is bi in so much that she can romance 2 men and 2 women but perhaps they want you to self insert your sexuality into her. Still it would have been nice to talk more about sexuality in this game especially when talking about passing down Eidolons and stuff. Perhaps it's too messy of a topic but it was something in my head. We do some a touch of unavoidable queerness with Persephone having a past lover who is a woman who as far as I know is not at all optional to miss. That said Freddie's feelings for Grace are pretty unavoidable but I know straight people aren't very smart so I do think they could somehow miss it. The game also sadly lacks polyamory despite being about Greek gods and that not making any sense.

Overall, I think the game is really well voice acted and good experience. I recommend listening to a song or two online to see if the music clicks with you because you probably won't want to play the game if you don't enjoy that since it's the main event. It's a fun time with a good cast and fairly simple. The story can get fairly dark with suicidal ideation, PTSD, Abuse, etc all being themes but for me they were all handled well but perhaps that was how we handled choices. I really like the game overall and I will probably be on the hunt for Grace X Freddie and Grace X Persephone art for however long people keep drawing it.

If you enjoyed this review feel free to check out my Patreon or Ko-fi for more stuff like this.

#Quick Review #Review #Video Game Review #Stray Gods #Stray Gods Review #Stray Gods Game

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fission-mailure · 3 months

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Trying to figure out why I actually enjoy Trails of Cold steel (and don't hate Rean -- he'll never be my favourite character, but like. He's fine. I don't chafe at the idea of spending four entire JPRGs in his shoes) despite it being at times extremely Light Novel Nonsense-y.

Like, Rean's a dark haired, kind of generic looking, kind of generic personality'd average dude, who's super strong and skilled, and has a pretty huge proportion of the games' female cast falling over themselves for him, and that makes me roll my eyes a significant amount. He's very in the mold of weird wish-fulfilment light novel protagonists like Kirito and Naofumi, and I kind of can't stand those stories.

And thinking about it, I think it comes down to a few things:

-- Unlike those characters, Rean's actually allowed to fail, and to have other people pull his ass out of the fire. In fact, he does fail, a lot: The first game ends with him losing the final boss battle, badly, and having to run away and abandon his friends, having failed in basically every one of his goals. I'm two chapters in to Trails of Cold Steel III after having played 1 and 2 ages ago, and so far there's been three instances of Rean either getting in over his head or being either outsmarted or outgunned by the villains and needing someone else -- Laura, Kurt/Juna/Altina/Ash, and Alisa/Sharon -- to save him.

-- While he's always presented as being both academically gifted and a strong fighter, he's never the best in either. Emma and Machias are the top students in Class VII, and Laura, Crow, and Fie are stronger fighters in Class VII. Even when he catches up to Crow, Laura (and maybe Fie?) is still a better fighter than him. That's not even accounting for characters outside of Class VII, where it's always made pretty obvious that Sara, Laura's Dad, Rufus, and Aurelia are a ways above him. Which, again, you couldn't imagine from, say, a Kirito, where the only people allowed to be better are people who are somehow 'cheating.'

-- Women in Trails of Cold Steel are actually allowed to have their own goals and character arcs which aren't in any way related to him (in fact, every female character in Class VII has their own thing going on). Laura wants to hone her sword skills and be a worthy successor to her house, Emma has her conflict of ideals with Vita, Fie has her ongoing attempts to find a new role for herself after being a child soldier for most of her life, Alisa is struggling against a legacy that she sees as inextricably tied to a controlling mother she doesn't really understand. These are arcs which are wholly independent of Rean, and he doesn't do much in them apart from provide encouragement. When there are breakthroughs in these arcs, it's never because of him, he's usually just present and being supportive. The only female character whose arc really ties into Rean's at all is Juna's, and even then it's more about her complex feelings about going to study with the military that annexed and occupied her home.

-- I feel like most Light Novel Heroes come with ... pretty emaciated supporting male casts so that the audience doesn't have to cope with the earth-shattering idea that their surrogate might have to compete with other guys for the affections of Insert-X-Number-of-Women. Think about your Kirito, whose only real male supporting cast member is Klein, who's significantly older than the rest of the cast; or your Naofumi, whose male supporting cast is entirely composed of -- well, we're meant to think of them as the most awful people around, but considering that a lot of the time that manifests as them going "We think it's bad that you're a literally slaveowner who bought a child slave, Naofumi," I'm not sure how well that works. But the supporting male cast of Cold Steel is pretty good!

-- Unlike the Light Novel protags he's clearly cribbing from, Rean does have some stuff going on beneath the surface. Not ... much, but there's some inner conflict there about how he's meant to reconcile looking after the people he cares about with the fact that he and all the people he cares about are a part of Imperialist Nightmare State Erebonia, which can and will use him as a tool of imperialism whenever it can. It's a conflict that often puts him on the wrong side. When Cold Steel III starts, he's fresh off being coerced into assisting with Erebonia's annexations of Crossbell and North Ambria, both unambiguously awful things that he's now an accessory to, one of which has put him in direct conflict with another Trails series protagonist.

-- Other characters make fun of him. Like, whenever he makes some dramatic and sentimental speech, you can bet there's a solid 30% chance another character will go "Oh fuck, oh god, he's speechifying again, someone stop him, someone stop him."

All of which combines to make him and his role in the story as LN-style Audience Surrogate ... basically fine. Like, it's fine. He's not my favourite character, in fact I think he's probably my least favourite member of Class VII because in general the character writing for the other Class VII members is pretty strong, but I'm not grinding my teeth while playing him, even if I do roll my eyes at times.

#trails of cold steel #kiseki series #sen no kiseki

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thenanamisimp · 5 months

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What I've watched recently (spoiler warning - see bold titles)

Before the tragedy of Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 episode 18 happened I had actually started watching Great Pretender. However, after the loss of a specific someone (Gege when I catch you) and a few days of mourning and crying at tiktok edits and angsty tweets, I couldn't bring myself to keep watching Great Pretender (I will get to it once I feel capable enough to commit to another series in a few days probably). I have instead caught up with some weekly anime that I've been watching this season as well as (finally) started reading MXTX's The scum villain's self saving system. Since I haven't posted in a few days, I wanted to share my opinions on the media that has been keeping me sane since the tragic loss of my favourite character (considering the situation as well as the fact that my average state of sanity is still slightly insane - take this with a grain of salt).

Jujutsu Kaisen (season 2, episode 18) - every Thursday on CrunchyRoll

The production team went above and beyond and I thank them for it. Nanami looked so peaceful in his imagination and I highly appreciate that they extended the couple pages from the manga into 7 minutes of perfection (I'm in so much pain)

Jujutsu kaisen (season 2, episode 19) - every Thursday on CrunchyRoll

Episode 18 felt like a fever dream and so did this one. To keep it short and sweet again (aka I don't wanna cry again), the production team did incredible work once again.

The apothecary diaries (season 1, episodes 1 to 8) - every Saturday on CrunchyRoll

I really wanted something short and more light hearted to watch - hence I finally decided to start this series. In reality I was planning to binge it when it finished airing but I was impatient. The story of an apothecary knowledgeable about poisons and medicine who serves one of the emperor's concubines - with the added bonus of a handsome fool who is in love with her while she doesn't seem to be interested at all! (Jinshi is so madly and hopelessly in love with Maomao it makes me die laughing every time she cringes at his flirting but also I LOVE HIM). THE ANIMATION AND COLOURS of this anime are incredible, there is literally no reason for anyone to not like this show. Absolutely watch this if you have even the slightest hunch you'd enjoy it

Spy x Family (season 2, episode 8) - every Saturday on CrunchyRoll

As a lover of season 1, I've been very excited for season 2. Up until episode 5 of season 2, I couldn't see what the plan with this season was but after the start of the cruise arc (I'm afraid to google the actual name of the arc - spoilers haunt me) my faith has been restored. We're back to exiting ventures with the Forger family, this time more focused on Yor's assassin adventures. Even more so, this episode was extra incredible as we got to see Yor in real action, fighting a storm of other assassins looking to kill the family she has been assigned to guard and looking hot while doing it. Spy x Family is truly an incredible shounen.

Ron Kamonohashi's Forbidden Deductions (season 1, episode 9) - every Monday on CrunchyRoll

I started this anime on release day and I started it for Ron. And I stayed for Ron. And mysteries (I do love me a good detective story). Overall, this anime is a good way to take a break from your daily routine by watching a mystery being solved in a comedic way while slowly also unfolding the bigger mystery of why the renowned Kamonohashi Ron stopped sleuthing. This week's episode finally gave us a good hint to his past! Honestly I wish more people were talking about this anime this season, it's so underrated.

And finally! I've been reading The Scum Villain's Self Saving System (Chinese name: Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong), Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's first novel series. I've read both Heaven Official's Blessing (Chinese name: Tian Guan Ci Fu) and The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation (Chinese name: Mo Dao Zu Shi) and every time she impresses me with her writing skills. While I really want to share my opinions on her novels, I would like to make a dedicated post for MXTX's novels once I finish all of them, as I've actually not read most the extras for either TGCF or MDZS and I've not finished reading Svsss. I'm also very (im)patiently waiting for my copies of TGCF volumes 5-8 to get here in the mail in the next few days. I do have to say tho, Svsss has surprised me as I find it to be quite different from MDZS and TGCF, which is valid considering it was her first release.

Thank you for reading this (mostly) anime ramble! Enjoy watching :)

theNanamiSimp

#anime #anime recommendation #anime review #jjk #jujutsu kaisen #jjk spoilers #jujutsu kaisen spoilers #the apothecary diaries #spy x family #ron kamonohashi

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vivilove-jonsa · 1 year

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Hello,

Since you've published a book I was wondering if I may ask a couple question?

Does it feel different from writing fanfictions?

Do you find your self relating to GRRM's pace of writing like the long years between books?

How did you like your covers for your original works? Did it take long to pick out?

This is just crack question but any chance there's a minor red headed character with her dark haired partner? You know as a little Easter egg jk. But in all seriousness we always knew you could sell your works and I'm glad you took the chance!

Hello!

Wow, I'm flattered that you want to know this stuff so thank you for asking! I'll happily answer each one below the cut :)

Does it feel different from writing fanfictions?

Yes. The joy of writing is still very much with me but there's some major differences and things I've had to adapt to when looking to sell books as an unknown author versus writing fanfic for a pairing that people are seeking out. The biggest is the wait for validation. Can't post a chapter of an idea, see how people respond and start crafting a story from there. You write the whole damn novel with little to no input from anyone else and then put it out there for critique before publishing.

It may sound weird but I've found more freedom writing original works in some ways and more restrictions in others.

The restrictions involve more planning, outlining and plotting. I have to stay on track instead of indulging in Side-Character B's backstory or a secondary romance, etc. Also, I would hop from genre to genre with my AUs and, while there are authors doing that I'm sure, it's not a safe bet for a newbie looking to make money. So, I found a niche in contemporary romance that I enjoy reading and writing and I dove in. I'll probably tackle another niche with a new pen once I've got ten or so books under my belt with the current pen name to try it out.

The freedoms involve making my characters whoever they tell me they are. No one will scream 'that's OCC!' because these are my characters. There's no trappings of canon or expectations in that sense either although romance readers tend to have favored tropes, etc and they expect you to stick to the 'formula of romance.' Also, I miss talking fic with other writers and fans of my Jonsa works as there's more distance between me as an author and people who read my books. Don't get me wrong, I love interacting with some of them who have reached out but the gap is there and it can feel lonelier.

Do you find yourself relating to GRRM's pace of writing like the long years between books?

No, lol. This is a side hustle for me but a romance writer would starve going at his pace unless you had that miracle hit right off the bat (which is soooooo rare) and even then you need to keep producing product to keep from becoming obsolete. I started my first novel February 1st last year. I will have FIVE completed by February 1st of this year. I'm shooting to average a book every 3 months this year at least. It takes me roughly six to eight weeks to write it and the remaining time goes into editing, formatting and submitting for ARC reviews. Quality AND quantity are the name of the game to earn money. In GRRM's defense though, my books average 75k words and one of those five was a novella at 40k words. And my books are romance centering on two individuals which are far less complicated to tell than his enormous fantasy opus with a cast of hundreds.

How did you like your covers for your original works? Did it take long to pick out?

Yes, I love them! The cover of your book is the single most important part of your passive marketing and you want your book to be as to-market as possible to attract readers in your genre and niche. My niche involves hot guys in suits on the covers and my dear friend made them for me except one which I paid a graphic artist $75 to do an illustrated cover for. Anyway, we would tinker and talk about the color or font, the placement of the title, etc. but, for me at least, this was a simple process. Some self-published folks spend far more time working on theirs or might pay hundreds of dollars on them but mine seem to draw eyes just fine. Maybe once I'm making bank more steadily I'll consider farming this out to a pro.

Any chance there's a minor red headed character with her dark haired partner?

Absolutely!! In fact, my first book includes a pairing that looks suspiciously like Jonsa (I changed the eye color for her and gave him Kit's brown eyes though). Partly, that's because the original idea for the book was going to be a Jonsa story until I decided to switch gears. My third book has a guy that fits Jon's description and my novella includes elements of Sansa's love of songs and such in the female lead. It's fun to have bits of the characters I love in my books even when they're my own creations.

Thanks so much for this delicious ask! Lots of fun to answer <3

#jonsa #fanfic writing #versus #romance novels #7thkarma #asks #writing stuff

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c-is-for-circinate · 2 years

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We all talk about this all the time, but:

I want to read more books. I need to read more books, I want to read more books. And for some reason, for someone who spent a solid fifteen years of life with a library book glued to one hand at all times, the very idea is the hardest thing in the world.

And it's hitting me all over again right now, because I'm thinking about things I want to write, stories I've been wanting to write, that I've had in my head and my heart and my failed NaNo attempts for months, years, and I'm thinking about how --

How I don't remember how books work any more. How stories fit together in book-shape. I know how they fit in TV-shape, in D&D-shape, in short-story-shape. I know fanfic-shape down to my toes. But the reflexive, instinctual understanding of what book shape even looks like in a story just...isn't there! in my head! where all of my Story Insight lives!

So I need to read more books, I need to read more books, because I have stories in my heart and my head that want to grow into book shape and I don't understand book shape enough any more to help them there. And yet it's the hardest thing in the fucking world for some stupid fucking reason, and

It's because some books are bad.

I've got the Tor free-book-of-the-month mailing list thing, when I remember to go and download it. I remember the day I read a solid 75% of The Traitor Baru Cormorant over about six hours, intent and compelled, until I had to stop for dinner and to decompress for a little while. Until I came to realize that actually, no, that wasn't the kind of compelling that meant I was enjoying myself at all. It was the kind of compelling that was going to leave me feeling greasy and unhappy for having read it once I surfaced from the spell. I didn't finish.

Towards the beginning of the pandemic, when we were starting to realize that we were settling in for a long haul, I got some Ursula Vernon novels from Amazon. Ursula Vernon! Ursula Vernon who can do no wrong, whose works I have followed for close to twenty years now, who I love! The closest thing to a sure shot that there was in literary form, I thought. And I got to the end of The Wonder Engine and went, oh, no, I hated this.

Every Heart a Doorway was fine-I-guess. The Murderbot books are all great, but again, I got the first four novellas free from Tor and read them at least three times before I dared to buy the novel. I still haven't managed to bring myself to start trying Gideon the Ninth.

There's so little risk, when you click on a fanfic. You don't have to spend money. You don't have to leave your house. Nobody in the entire world even needs to know you've done it. All you have to do is click a button. The tags and the summary and the author's notes tell you going in what the story's about, but once you know the language they also tell you what the story's going to be like just at a glance, just from knowing how different kinds of authors talk.

Nothing is invested, nothing is risked or ventured or spent, except the time you choose to take to read it. If you hate it, you can just click back.

Books cost money. Books cost money, and they should cost money! Authors should be paid! But my god, I'm a millennial whose rent for the past five years has been on average about 85% of her income, the idea of paying money for anything other than food or toiletries inspires a moment of religious panic. How can I possibly justify spending it on something I might not even like?

(When I was a child, I went to libraries multiple times each week, I KNOW how libraries work, I know how much I always loved them. I don't know when I got old enough for social anxiety to twist and reshape itself this way, so that I can make business calls to strangers with ease if I'm doing it for work but going to a place I haven't been in order to get something I don't know I want is just utterly impossible. I don't know when that became me, but it is now, I guess.)

And I need to read books. I want to read books. I need to read books.

I just wish I knew how.

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zielenna · 4 months

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12 and 17 :)

Hi! :)

I think you heard most of this already, but here goes.

12. Any books that disappointed you?

Quite a few! I tend to avoid books I am not confident I will enjoy, but it still happened. First one was Lee Mandelo's Summer Sons, which I only read 70 pages of. And you know, that one is on me, I should have known that a novel marketed as a follow-up to Dream Thieves would not be great, but I thought it would make a decent breezy summer reading, and I was compelled by the premise of estranged friends, ghosts, campus politics, southern gothic, and blood magic. And to be fair, the campus part was almost solid; I do believe that the author had been in a graduate program. But the prose was so clunky! It was possibly the worst-written book I read in the last couple of years. It wasn't just unremarkable, it was so bad that I had difficulty parsing it, and I am quite sure that wasn't intentional.

Unfortunately, my quest for a novel with ghosts intervening between estranged friends led me to another disappointment, Bryan Washington's Family Meal. I was mostly bothered by two things. First, there was much of "therapy-speak," both in dialogue and in narration. People told one another that the other person didn't get to say X to them, and apologized each other for trauma dumping. Second, possibly as a result of the author's other stylistic choices (spare, simple prose; limited access to characters' interiority), the descriptions of various locales and characters' actions were dominated by proper nouns - so I knew the exact demographic make-up of every neighborhood they drove through, I knew the names of Japanese ingredients they cooked with, and I knew that the love interest was Thai and used they/them pronouns - but I couldn't tell you anything about their personality. This made the novel feel rather flat.

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

Well, because I am so picky, I am rarely positively surprised… Zola's Bête humaine surprised me with how well it was constructed. I can't recall it in detail as it's been a while since I read it, but I remember being impressed with how intricately the various plotlines were interconnected, how self-contained each chapter felt, and how effectively they cumulated. It felt very clean, like a classical tragedy. The novel also had a very striking center, towards which the plot and the characters gravitated, and from which the violence which the novel examined had originated. Funnily enough, Zola seems not to have been aware of it, as the novel explicitly provides a different account of the original crime - one which accords with his ideas about heredity, but isn't really persuasive.

Other than that, I was surprised by how much enjoyed Esther Yi's Y/N (it was even more to my taste than I expected) and, frankly, the Chaucer texts that I read this fall. I don't recall having a strong response to him in my undergrad, and it took me long weeks in the summer to read Troilus and Criseyde when I was assigned it in my second year. But now I had a really good time!

Actually, it was every easy for me to compate Y/N to Family Meal, which reinforced my opinions of both.

Y/N, a character's first impression of Seoul: "I drew aside the little curtain at my window. The proportions were startling. Row after row of perfectly rectangular apartment towers—thirty floors on average—obscured my view of a mountain range. Entire families were sitting on leather couches as high up as mountains. When the Han River appeared alongside the elevated track of the highway, I was shocked by its breadth. The river was a giant black snake with a muscular back, winding through the constructed landscape with a calm magnanimity I found menacing."

Family Meal, a character's first impression of Tokyo: "The publisher flew me to Tokyo to work with Hana on her edits. We’d been given a three-month deadline. But she and I spent most of our days in tiny dives around her neighborhood instead. We rode bikes past the financial district. We ate dinner with her ex-boyfriend, a stocky guy with dyed hair who blushed at the sight of me. The rest of the time, I slumped in the sento beside my rental in Setagaya, wading in the bathwater beside salarymen and shop owners and bankers."

I told you that what struck me in Y/N was its resistance to cliche. And that is a stylistic choice I sympathize with more than with the transparency of Family Meal.

#thelibraryiscool #readings #sooo much hating on family meal. so much.#to be fair i do think that the depiction of the inciting traumatic incident was effective #but even the fact that there was an inciting traumatic incident...

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kunosoura · 1 year

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got a list of sff reccs?

Non-exhaustive lists:

Science Fantasy

Science Fiction

Fantasy:

I had a whole list of fantasy recs that went down with my previous blog, so here are some interesting ones off the top of my head:

The Iron Dragon's Daughter. I know it's on the Science Fantasy list also. Idc. I want more people to read it. It's got two sequels which are pretty good, but this first book is the breadwinner for me.

Wheel of Time: Don't read these books. If you do though come talk to me about them so we can be mean to them together.

The Winternight Trilogy - A really interesting series taking place in Late Medieval Russia, right as Christianity is beginning to encroach into the country's furthest regions, and the tensions arising between Christian bigotry and the native beliefs. Featuring a second book which bizarrely deviates into "transmasc equestrian" story and a hot (cold) demon.

the Earthsea trilogy. Obligatory mention. I'm frustrated with the very ending of the series (Not the short story Le Guin wrote just before her death but The Other Wind) but the rest of it is a really smart and heartfelt fantasy story, critiquing the genre's tropes and attitudes decades before they reached their apex without turning into a necessarily "deconstructionist" work.

If you have a taste for longer books, check out The Brightest Shadow by Sarah Lin. It's a progression fantasy book, which is like if LitRPG had a sense of embarrassment, but I still really enjoy it. The first book takes a while to warm up and is a little on the nose, but I've really enjoyed it from the second book on. Even in the first book, I enjoy the scenes where the narrative takes a break and the characters just talk with each other, practicing and learning and growing together, as they discuss the subjective histories and philosophies they were raised in or were later tutored by.

The Green Bone Trilogy is like... I'm ultimately a bit disappointment with how it played out because it never quite makes it to critiquing the intentional hypocrisy at the core of the narrative, but it's still good action packed fun if you want something simple. Has the honorable distinction of being the only book to ever have me blushing scarlet at work. Here there be sex scenes, some of them gay.

I didn't include The Locked Tomb in science fantasy because it doesn't really have science fiction themes, and it also probably doesn't need my endorsement, but it's really good.

Speaking of Worlds-That-Are-Secretly-Our-Own-But-With-Necromancy-As-A-Metaphor-For-How-Capitalism-And-Imperialism-Controls-Bodies, Check out The Craft Sequence.

The Queen's Thief's first book is incredibly YA with a plucky young protagonist, if a bit graphic when describing the impact of being locked in a pre-modern prison. The second book is a wild swerve exploring trauma, destiny, grief, and disability. The rest of the books get smarter and more varied in their themes from there.

Oh speaking of YA esque novels I'll deign to recommend, I read the Scholomance recently. Mostly because the morally tormented protagonist with incredible powers is my favorite junk food, but also because I think it handles the themes of young adult stories (interrogating and challenging a kind of shitty world) in a better than average way.

And some standalone recs/miscellanea:

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell is an immaculate recreation of a really dry old British book, only it was written a couple of decades ago, is about Wizards, and features a really good take on The Fair Folk. It also assures you very early that you don't have to worry about the morality of the protagonists, because both of them are shitty, evil, and at times insane.

The Goblin Emperor is a really fun and heartfelt story about a far flung, unkindly-treated noble kid getting thrust into a royal title by a massive assassination of everyone in front of him. Despite being a story about a Monarch, it ends up being weirdly based about it.

Mushi-Shi is an anime that is incredibly evocative, poignant, and fantastic. I don't watch or recommend anime much but I strongly recommend this.

Honestly, I don't often recommend video games for their fantasy worlds because so few do much particularly interesting with them. That said: Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles is a mediocre game set in a world with an absolutely immaculate fantasy atmosphere. Genuinely feels like you're in an old gaelic storybook. Don't get the remaster, it adds voiceover work which DESTROYS this.

Pan's Labyrinth has a good deal of horror elements, but the backbone is a faerie story about seeking the fantastic in a world growing increasingly dark and grim.

The Years of Rice and Salt is primarily an alt history novel about a world where Europe was completely devastated by the Black plague. But underneath that is a story about reincarnation, destiny, and love. Maybe a bit more magical realist but I love it so it gets a rec anyway.

Here's some of rapid fantasy movie recommendations: Stardust, The Princess Bride, The Last Unicorn, The Seventh Seal (this one's a little bit higher brow than the others mentioned here)

#I held back a good chunk of like games and cartoons and anime/manga etc #it's just like. it feels like a completely different discussion to this. idk how to explain it.

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ellies-space · 5 months

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answer all the books qs

welp... your wish is my command, anon! I answered a few already in other asks, but I'll answer all the unaddressed ones here...

2) Did you reread anything? What? - I didn't, actually! I reread quite a few books last year (not least Twilight, so I decided to focus on reading new stuff this year!

4) Did you discover any new authors that you love this year? - Yes! Annie Garthwaite is an amazing new historical novelist. I read her debut, Cecily, this year, and it was fantastic. Can't wait for the sequel next year!

6) Was there anything you meant to read, but never got to? - lol, yes... most of my TBR list... I kept buying new stuff and reading that instead which I really need to stop doing!!!!

7) What was your average Goodreads rating? Does it seem accurate? - it's around 4 stars, which feels accurate. I read a lot of absolute five-star bangers and a lot of 3-star "meh" books, so 4 stars as an average feels fair.

8) Did you meet any of your reading goals? Which ones? - I'm on track to meet my goal of reading 26 books this year (one every two weeks basically) - if I can get back into reading this month after a mega-slump since August...

9) Did you get into any new genres? - not really any that are 100% new to me, but I did rediscover my love of fantasy novels after a few years' break from them!

10) What was your favorite new release of the year? - I don't know if I actually read any new releases of this year??? I'm still catching up on the ones from previous years, lol

11) What was your favorite book that has been out for a while, but you just now read? - probably Circe. Loved that book with a passion.

12) Any books that disappointed you? - yes absolutely - The Road Trip by Beth O'Leary comes to mind. I love her other books, and I love a second-chance romance, but this one fell flat for me.

13) What were your least favorite books of the year? - as above, probably The Road Trip.

14) What books do you want to finish before the year is over? - Definitely The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden, which I have in progress (very apt for this time of year!). And then... one other book, but I haven't decided which yet!!

15) Did you read any books that were nominated for or won awards this year (Booker, Women’s Prize, National Book Award, Pulitzer, Hugo, etc.)? What did you think of them? - I read Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree, which it turns out was nominated for a Hugo Award - and I loved it! Such a soothing cosy fantasy.

16) What is the most over-hyped book you read this year? - Probably ACOTAR. Like, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it. But was it a masterpiece? Absolutely not lol

17) Did any books surprise you with how good they were? - Related to the above - ACOMAF! Soooo much better than ACOTAR.

18) How many books did you buy? - Too many lol

19) Did you use your library? - I did, especially at the start of the year! I use it as a way to test whether or not I like a book; and if I do, I'll then buy it.

20) What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations? - as mentioned, I didn't really read any new releases tbh!

21) Did you participate in or watch any booklr, booktube, or book twitter drama? - absolutely not lol. who even has the energy

23) What’s the fastest time it took you to read a book? - I read the book Elmet in like two days, mostly because it was for a book club and I left it super late lol

24) Did you DNF anything? Why? - a few books tbh - I'm getting more comfortable with DNFing things if I just don't vibe with them. There are too many books out there for me to persist with ones I'm not enjoying!

#ask games #answers #personal

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phoenixkaptain · 11 months

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If you don't mind me asking, who are your favorite romantic relationship's couples in books/ manga/ anime/movies/tv series (can be canon or non-canon)? Why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before......Thanks....

This is a bit difficult for me because I am very particular about my romances. It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that I myself don’t really want romance, so I’ve always gravitated to two types of couples. The type who are best friends / old married couples, ie: they’re comfortable with each other and know each other well, or the type who are almost immediately rabidly obsessed with each other. Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham come to mind.

I like couples where the woman plays the masculine role and the man plays the feminine one. (Mouri Ran and Kudou Shinichi are my primary example for this, because Ran is a Karate champion who can punch throw concrete and commonly acts more as a guard for other characters than a damsel and Shinichi is melodramatic and fixates on details and has a real talent for saying rude things in a cutesy voice. They’re each other’s hero a lot, rhey save one another a lot, and I like that dynamic of theirs)

I don’t really understand attraction based on sexual interest. Like, I don’t understand wanting to date someone just for sex. I get why people want to have sex, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t understand why people would ask someone out just for sex? Like, if you just want sex, just ask for sex straight out. Why’ve you gotta date for a while? I don’t really get it.

All that being said, my favourite couples are either very boring or extremely bizarre. I admit as much.

Like, I very much enjoy Marth / Caeda from Fire Emblem. They know each other and Marth got his little circlet from her and they have some very cute interactions! On the other hand, I also ship Marth / Michalis because Michalis made an offhand comment all of once about finding Marth terrible but begrudingly respecting him and all I could think of was “slowburn, enemies-to-lovers, 250k words)

I ship a lot of things and I ship characters with multiple other characters and I ship polycules. It’s pretty rare that I find a ship I actively dislike, actually. I’m just a bit too easygoing about it all. Even if I’m uninterested in a ship, I can be convinced if there’s cute art or something.

Ah, I miss the days when people wrote essays on why they shipped characters. I know it was mostly for queer romances, but those always helped me interpret what others saw as romantic. So many of those posts were so detailed and fun to read. Even if two characters barely interacted, I loved reading someone’s essay on why they ship them. Even if characters have never interacted, I enjoyed reading essays on why they would make an interesting couple.

I know this didn’t really answer the question, but I honestly struggle with listing what ships I enjoy. There are too many of them, quite frankly, and some of them are couples that I just ship in a queerplatonic way that toes the line between platonic and romantic.

That being said, here are some of my favourite queerplatonic ships:

Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn. My favourite dynamic for them was in the novel Cloak of Deception. It mentioned their size difference a lot, which I really enjoy (Obi-Wan is not tiny! They just kept putting Ewan Mcgregor next to giants! He is average height, honestly) But most importantly, it portrayed their relationship as Qui-Gon getting distracted by something for a few minutes only to whip around and look around for his Padawan wildly. This man has left Obi-Wan at a gas station before. They snark at each other and are just overall very comfortable with each other and the whole thing makes me very happy, I wish there were fics based on this dynamic (aside from my own)

Qui-Gon Jinn and Luke Skywalker. These two have never met. They do not know each other. Qui-Gon dies long before Luke was born and nobody ever mentions Qui-Gon to Luke. But, and I’ve said this before, they are oddly similar and I think it would be fun to watch them hang out. They are like two tuning forks ringing in perfect harmony. They are so similar, they are a mirror to each other, and I love the idea of them bonding over plants.

Furuya Rei and Kudou Shinichi. I don’t know how to describe their dynamic. They are suspicious of each other. They trust each other with their lives. Conan can tell that Amuro (Furuya) isn’t who he says he is. Furuya can tell that Conan isn’t who he says he is. They bond over stupid things. Furuya gets stalked for his ham sandwich recipe. Conan cannot believe that this man is this stupid. I don’t know, I like their dynamic. I like Furuya taking one look at Conan and saying “what a suspicious lil guy. I’m going to feed him in hopes that he returns like a stray cat.” It is very fun to read and to write.

I suppose you could say that my favourite ships, romantic or otherwise, are ones where they will sit across from each other in comfortable silence.

And I like ones that are mutually insane. Again, Hannibal and Will. Hannibal in the Red Dragon (novel) gets so upset that Will dared to not give him his phone number and home address that he figured out Will’s home address for the sole purpose to send a serial killer to his door out of petty revenge. When Will gets stabbed in the face at the end of the book and is in the hospital, Hannibal writes him a letter that ends with “I hope you aren’t ugly now.” In Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lecter meets the first woman he’s been able to have any contact with in literal years, and his first question is “Where’s Will Graham? If they’re going to send someone to pick my brain, they’re going to send Will Graham. Where is he?” (He is in Florida drinking beer and ignoring Crawford’s increasingly desperate phone calls)

Hope this is somewhat what you were looking for.

#ask #long post #anonymous #the inane ramblings of a madman #i never remember the characters i ship #i’m so bad with names #i forgot will’s name for a second #i have a problem

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pitgritted · 1 year

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𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑.

𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞. jojo . you can call me any variation of it really .

𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐬. she/her .

𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. discord is the best way to reach me ! ims are manageable , but the time gap between responding to messages are a pain in the ass . sometimes i don't even get them ...

𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐞(𝐬). sett is actually my currently &. only active muse !

𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞/𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 (𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬/𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬?). i've been one to enjoy writing ever since i was a child . i even made my elementary school teacher literally weep tears at my short little novel i wrote about some character i made up expressing shame . so you could say ... almost all my life . I haven't started to actively write a character until middle school . i'm gonna go with 9+ years .

𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐯𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝. tumblr is currently my only platform . i used to have platforms like wattpad or quotev when i was younger .

𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞. genuinely when i meet people who are now my friends . especially since i'm not a very social person &. my social anxiety tends to lead me to assume the wrong impressions . but i make an effort to not let it reign over when i have interaction with others .

𝐫𝐩 𝐩𝐞𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐬 / 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬. don't get me started . it pisses me off or makes me severely uncomfortable when i notice my media or graphics be used heavily as reference ... i spent many years of my life learning how to create psds &. graphics , because at the time , i was making below than average of an income to even ask someone to make " this " for me . it drives me insane how much time i've spent on an editing software to see it be replicated or repurposed on another account .

another one being when followers of mine ( who interact with another muse as i have ) compare writing &. tell me about it . i don't wanna hear what this person's interpretation is like versus mine . makes me uncomfortable &. insecure about how i write . don't try to glorify someone else's writing over the other on purpose .

additionally , when the mun tries to act like they are the only best iteration of the character . although it hasn't happened to me , i've seen it from a by standing party . learn to separate muse from the mun .

just have the respect &. etiquette when engaging with me &. many others really .

𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐟𝐟, 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐬𝐭, 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐦𝐮𝐭. i don't have a preference . really . all of them are good writing material . although suggestive writing would be a rare thread if it's not someone i feel comfortable writing with . fluff &. angst are free all around .

𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐬. i tend to do both . as i am someone who genuinely sucks at plotting first , i try to gain ideas from the person who desires to engage with my muse . &. i usually develop an idea based off a rough draft of the interaction . if i can't seem to find a sustainable idea for plotting , i will usually repost memes from it's source .

𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬. both . there's no in between . more often i will have threads longer than others , but they take longer . shorter threads are usually the ones posted far more faster .

𝐛𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞. well i go strictly by MST . so the best time for me to write is towards 10 AM my time or reaching closer to the afternoon if i'm not working on classes or doing work .

𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐞(𝐬). apart from being stubborn &. wanting to crack the heads of people who infuriate me or bully my friends , no . definitely not . sett is a literal criminal . he's much too bold &. loud meanwhile i am timid &. quiet .

tagged by : @cwarscars .

tagging : @burntscars , @weldlune , @fourt , @uppance , @windchaser , @witchcraftandburialdirt , &. @unforgivenn .

#𓆰ㅤ ㅤ〝 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗼𝗻 - 𝗴𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗮 𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗸𝗻𝘂𝗰𝗸𝗹𝗲𝘀. 〞 — 𝙳𝙰𝚂𝙷 𝙶𝙰𝙼𝙴𝚂 : PITGRITTED.#𓆰ㅤ ㅤ〝 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗮’ 𝗰𝘆𝗮’ 𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄. 〞 — 𝙾𝚄𝚃 𝙾𝙵 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝚁𝙰𝙲𝚃𝙴𝚁 : MUN SPEAKS.#jojo content jojo con-

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wanttotalkaboutbooks · 2 years

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Iron Widow

by Xiran Jay Zhao

I'm aware that everyone and their mothers have read this book and I'm super behind. I'm also aware that people will deride this one as just another TikTok YA novel - which isn't entirely inaccurate, but I prefer to judge a book by its own merit anyway.

The book is advertised as a Pacific Rim meets Handmaiden's Tale, with a feminist plotline, polyamorous relationship, and Chinese mythology worked into the worldbuilding.

I unfortunately accidentally went onto Goodreads and came across the reviews for this book, which mostly were either overwhelmingly positive or negative with no in between, and I fucking disagree with both those views so hard that it makes me mad which is why I'll probably be refuting those arguments in the stuff below.

My Rating: 3/5

I'm tired and it's late by the time I'm writing this. I want to emphasize that I did like reading the book - it has that rating for a reason! I enjoyed the experience! My full review is...critical, but that's mostly because it's easier to pick apart criticisms than to point out what was done well. I don't want to deter anyone from reading and I'd always generally recommend reading a book for yourself before looking at any in-depth reviews.

EDIT: After thinking about it I knocked this book down to a 3/5. I think I had much more criticism than praise for this story so giving it an above average rating is a bit unfair.

Full review and spoilers under the cut!

Plot and Characters:

I don't have much to say about the plot, which is overall a positive thing because I can articulate criticisms a lot better than I can compliments. The story was mostly solid and well-paced. It bent to the characters' motivations and personalities in a way that was reasonable. The layers of the world were slowly peeled back in a way that revealed certain truths to the reader while continuing to make them wonder about others, right till the very end.

Overall, I found the writing of the characters to be average. The three most important characters are all archetypal, and though their backstories aren't explored in-depth, I think they are represented well with how they interact with the plot of the book. Even though the protagonist, Zetian, is very much a Strong Female Character, she isn't immune to the world around her and is forced to depend on others for help. She is Special and Unique but not overly so - there are precedents for people with her aptitudes and living people who are "better" than her. She's also not remotely perfect with how she speaks and interacts with other people, and it's not uncommon for her to be very harsh to someone who has suffered under the same systems as she has. Fundamentally, Zetian is an angry girl full of rage against a world who has hurt her, and is willing to enact imperfect, violent vengeance. If this doesn't sound like something you would like, then you won't enjoy this book.

(Some of the criticisms lauded against the book and against Zetian in particular were that she's meant to seem super badass and heroic but in reality she's selfish and violent - because of her violent actions against people who harmed her. Her family, who mutilated and abused her, for example. A fellow pilot who killed a man she loved, as another example. This opinion is fucking bullshit and the people who say this had no place reading the book, because the entire point of the book is that she is violently angry and wants revenge. It's in the summary. She isn't perfectly emblematic of feminist theory. If you aren't going to empathize with the main character, if you aren't going to put effort into understanding why a character acts the way they do, then why are you reading fiction?)

I do wish that there was more relationship development between the three primary characters and that it was handled with a bit more subtlety, a bit more nuance. Sometimes it felt a little like they were jumping from one set of feelings to another, and I think the book would have benefitted from a more gradual shift in emotions and attitudes. Honestly, ultimately, I feel like the relationship between these three characters feel flat towards the end. This is especially true for Yizhi, the "main" love interest - by the end he just seems to...unthinkingly support Zetian without any other influencing factors. It's debatable whether this is in character or not. Also, I think the "character sees another characters memories and starts to understand them" trope is a cop-out.

Fundamentally, though, I enjoyed reading this book! Once I got going, I wanted to know what happened next, and I do think that's the most important part of storytelling.

Style, Tone, and Voice:

The writing in this book is pretty decent, but I won't lie, I think it falls into the same trappings as pretty much any other YA book, which is that the "voice" is...bland, for lack of a better word. Don't get me wrong, Zhao uses some really pretty imagery and their use of figurative language is frequent, but it's honestly a bit heavy handed.

Most notably, again like a lot of YA books I've read, this is another story written in 1st person by someone who...doesn't utilize first person very well. First person POVs are meant to be a direct line into the character's thoughts, but here there's a noticeable disparity between how the character speaks versus the prose. Zetian speaks in a brusque and colloquial manner, but her narration is more prettied up. There's nothing inherently wrong with this writing style, but it would have worked much better if it was in a 3rd person POV.

Overall, I do like the way the book is written - its descriptive, it's not mind-numbingly boring, it's engaging. It's not what I would want from a 1st person POV, but we can't have it all.

Diversity and Social Commentary:

I'm not actually going to comment much on the diversity considering it's a book written by a Chinese author, set in a country analogous to China, and I am not Chinese. I think it was really nice to see the heavy influence of Chinese mythology on the worldbuilding, and it made for some really cool imagery, especially with the mecha-formations. There's queer rep in the poly couple formed by Zetian and two boys. That's nice, I love to see it.

What I will comment a lot about is the feminism, because it's the crux of the plot. It is supposed to be a feminist novel - Zetian's whole goal is to destroy the system that values the lives of boys over girls. The plot does achieve this - by the end of the book, Zetian and her two closest allies have figured out why girls are constantly being sacrificed, and Zetian is one of the most powerful pilots in existence, and not afraid to use that power to completely tear down the military structures.

I think the feminist message could have been represented better. Unfortunately, some of the negative reviews made a really fucking good point that stood out to me: by the end of the novel, Zetian doesn't have a decent relationship with a single female in her life. Her two closest allies throughout the book were men. Zetian doesn't get along with any of the women she knows because they're all subservient and upholding the power structures she's trying to dismantle, and I think you have to sympathize with that on some level - she's been repeatedly let down by the women in her life and some, like her grandmother, have actively harmed and mutilated her. Still, it's a fairly big oversight that the female character in a feminist novel completely fails to connect with any other female character by the end of it. Like there's not a single other woman in this universe who agrees that the patriarchy is bad? The only woman Zetian has a good relationship with is her dead sister, who we don't even know anything about.

Iron Widow also has another issue that I find pretty commonly in YA where it just...states everything. This is a thing I find extremely fucking annoying - an author should not outright tell the reader everything in explicit terms, we should be allowed to come to conclusions ourselves. Zetian shouldn't have to straight up tell the reader that, like, women are used for their bodies that that's Bad; it's something that should implicitly come across in the writing. It's just straight up boring and irritating when authors explicitly tell you everything. This is pretty common in the book, and a lot of times Zetian will straight up verbalize the Feminist View™, which comes across as just clunky writing to me. Once again, we should be able to come to these conclusions ourselves as readers, and also it's strange that this random girl from a frontier village, with no proper education in a world where the concept of feminism doesn't even exist, is speaking in what's essentially online feminist rhetoric. There's nothing incorrect about what she's saying but frankly, it just boils down to this: not everything should be explicitly stated. What isn't said is as important as what is.

Conclusion:

I feel I kind of ripped into this book right now but I genuinely did enjoy reading it. I take any TikTok famous book with a grain of salt but it was genuinely fun to read, and the imagery of the mecha-robots(?) is really cool, literally just a fun time. It's not particularly deep or heavy, but if you want a casual read with pretty worldbuilding and and action-based plot, I think this book has a lot to offer.

#bookblr #book recs #book review #iron widow #xiran jay zhao #ya novels #my review

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genshinimpactlife · 1 year

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Hi! Could I please get a matchup? There's absolutely no rush or pressure at all though! I totally understand if you're too busy or just not in the mood, please don't push yourself if you're not in a comfortable position to do so.

I'm an autistic, pansexual man. I'm a librarian and while I do enjoy it, my true dream is to work in the medical field, there's nothing that fascinates me more than medicine. I'm an INFP-T, enneagram 9w1. I'm "slow" and take a long while to process information, so I get along best with people who are patient. I don't look at people, speak with a "sing-song" voice and am always either wringing my hands or rocking back on my heels, constantly moving in some way. I get overstimulated very easily. My peers used to frequently refer to me as "weird" but due to my mellow nature, I was generally liked regardless.

I have short, fluffy chocolate brown hair. I cut it myself so it's always a mess, but somehow I manage to pull it off. I like to tie a tiny braid in it every now and again, both because I find the act soothing and because it provides character. I'm very pale with rosy cheeks and blue-green eyes. 5'10. I have a scar across the front of my neck and wear round glasses with a golden glasses chain, adorned with little moons and stars. I usually wear a button up and a sweater with a long coat. Also, in the Genshin universe, I'd definitely have feline ears and a tail, not unlike the Kätzlein bloodline.

I have a weak heart and am a frail, sickly person in general, so I'm not very active, although I do like to swim. I also love books...novels, poetry, the act of writing itself. I enjoy drawing and writing music, too, anything creative really. And drinking. Alongside medicine, my other obsession is astronomy, cosmology in particular. That's why, if I were studying at the Academia, I'd want to be a part of the Rtawahist Darshan.

If I had a vision, I think I would have an anemo vision. I love the wind, I think there's something indescribably beautiful about it's existence, and I value freedom deeply. My weapon of choice would be a catalyst.

While I'm very timid and awkward around strangers, my friends describe me as a bubbly, cheeky person who likes to cause mischief. "Endearingly annoying". I'm good at making people laugh, although it's almost always unintentional. I've been told that I give good advice and comfort alike, but I myself am very stubborn, once I've put my mind to something I absolutely refuse to give up, for better or for worse, and I quickly grow frustrated upon failure. My love language is physical touch, but anything that involves touching my hair is my greatest weakness.

I think that's enough. Thank you soso much for your time! But again, no pressure or rush at all, okay? I can't wait to see more of your blog! :)

I would match you with...

Barbara has always been kind to you and would try to initiate a conversation with you, even if you are a bit timid.

But when you two became friends, and your bubbly and cheeky personality came out, she started falling for you.

Barbara would 100% support your dreams of working in the medical field, doing whatever she could to help.

Barbara is a very patient woman who would have no problem with your quirks.

As a fellow autistic person, that's what I call them :)

Barbara would quickly catch on to the signs that you are getting overstimulated and adjust accordingly. Whether it be compression therapy or just going somewhere with fewer external stimuli

Besides Running errands, Barbara isn't very active either. Both of you would be average activity-wise

She would love to sing any songs that you write. She might even ask you to make one for her to perform.

Barbara doesn't know much about astronomy, but she loves listening to you talk about it and teach her.

You are very kind Anon! I actually write these when I'm taking a break from schoolwork and other things, so its no pressure at all <3 Hope you enjoy!

#Genshin impact #Genshin impact matchup #genshin impact headcanon #Barbara #barbara matchup #barbara headcanon

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hundredthousandtimes · 1 year

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Serious question but why are cdramas so devoid of basic logic. So many times I'm trying to watch a chinese drama and there are so many stupid illogical things that happen in the span of a few episodes, my brain almost explodes. These are well rated well regarded serious dramas so it's not stupid things for the sake of comedy etc. Like the most basic logical reasoning isn't followed it takes me right out of the story, like no one is asking for nirvana in fire and six flying dragons or secret forest level of plotting here. But a story and the characters that inhabit it should act with a minimum of logic ??? for example I'm watching under the power and aksjdjd there is this scene on an a boat where one dude comes to rescue another dude and then they run into the FL on the deck instead of either killing her and knocking her out and running away, they stand there talking to her for a looooong time while she convinces them to let her go and then when one of them pushes her in the way of the ML who's trying to injure one of them, her and her friend get mad at the ML and say he almost killed her whut? The entire sequence is so dumb I wanted to scream. Do these people not read these scripts who writes this dumb sh*t, it's like there was no effort spent in plotting these stories? Like wtf is the process here exactly? Why is it that 8 times out of 10, instead of enjoying a story and its characters you spend time pulling your hair out bc nothing makes sense. I know they can do amazing things bc they made nirvana in fire and story of ming lan and yanxi palace and those shouldn't be the norm but the difference between them and the average cdrama shouldn't be light years?? Like there are exceptional kdramas and there are horrible ones but the average kdrama is generally pretty decent and most of the times doesn't require mental gymnastics or for you to leave your brain on the floor to watch something. Sorry for the rant lmfao I just can't wrap my head around how insane the Chinese drama industry is like it doesn't seem like something that can actually be real bc money is the most important thing no matter the industry and generally when you're trying to make money you at least try to make a decent product, this seems to be the opposite case. Every great chinese drama seems like the very very rare exception. Everytime a production team actually does their job and pays attention to the writing and directing and details which should be the norm for everyone we're like BEST DRAMA EVER because the bar is in hell.

Hi, sorry for the late reply. I agree with you. It's hard to find good cdramas nowdays because I usually don't agree with the high ratings. What I don't understand is that most chinese dramas are adapted from a novel. Is the scene same in the novel too or did they changed it for some reason? Maybe the novel explains it more, but somehow it had to be cut out? I don't know.

I'm more of a characters person, so even if the story is a little stupid I will watch it, but these days they ruin the characters and their relationships with other characters too. I sometimes gif shows just because the actor/clothes/scenery etc. is beautiful.

#ask #anon ask #answered asks

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andoqin · 2 years

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Dramas I've watjched this year Pt 1

This is gonna be all the dramas I started and... have either paused or dropped for various reasons.

If I paused them I might go back to them at some point but if I dropped them that's it.

Mad for each other I like the main actors and I found the Netflix says I finished this... I have no memory of doing that, which should tell you a lot.

Doom at your Service - this one is on hold for now and I actually feel like finishing it because the premise and the actors are really for me and the mood the show brought to the table fits with my end of the year mood. I do think being able to binge this will be beneficial, because I think it wont actually hold up to much scrutiny especially in the latter half. (On Hold for now, 4 eps watched)

True Beauty - I knew this was going to be a hard sell for me and I was right. I always have trouble with high school shows, part of it is my age and part of it is the saccharine spin shows will often put on that. I dropped this fairly early on and I don't think i'm going to give this another chance. The main actress tries, but it's not enough and the cute lesbian romance my heart wanted was not going to happen :<. (Dropped, 4 eps watched).

Novoland: Pearl Eclipse - now granted I didn't technically watch an episode - 2021 had me too wary to start sth and I wanted to give it some time, but I followed along closely enough for the first 10-15 eps on my dash... and well considering how hyped for it I was and how much I *wanted* to watch it it deserves a spot on this list purely on account of the collossal waste of talent, time and audience patience this show is responsible for. (0 Eps watched but way too much time spent reading rants)

Awaken - This started in 2020, but I didnt watch (parts of) it until it was complete. I tried 3!!! times to finish this, with crime shows it's often a matter of me being in the right mood/the show hitting me in the right way until I'm invested because there's no romance (usually) to hook me emotionally. The reason I tried to watch this three times is purely Nam Goong Min and a little bit of the premise, but my god the editing is so bland, the show so averagely shot and the writing not good enough to carry it. (Idek how many eps I watched but I tried!!! 3 times!!!! damn you NGM!)

Inspector Koo - This one I'm DEFINITELY going to finish, now that it's all complete but currently I'm not in the mood for it at all. I can see it's strengths and I'm loving Lee Young Ae and Kim Hye Joon playing off of each other (and what a delightful dynamic that is!!) and the surrounding characters are all very interesting (need to find out what Santa's deal is!) but for some reason the thought of actually finishing it fills me with blah at the moment, which the show doesn't deserve. (6 eps watched - on hold for now)

The Sword and the brocade - TANG SONG YUN, WALLACE CHUNG!!! in a historical drama together, in pretty pretty costumes. It should have been great! But this drama suffers from its length, and even the beginning has some hilarious weird things about it (the fact that he saves her from drowning and its... nbd??? apparently????????) but I was willing to overlook that because they had a lovely understated sort of chemistry, and Tang Songyun really tried to get everything out of her role, but the writing just let down the show so hard I dropped it at the midway point and just never bothered to pick it back up and basically forgot about it. (20ish eps watched. Dropped)

Jun Jiu Ling - I was initially excited for this, I mean I didn't enjoy the source novel a whole lot, but it had Peng Xiao Ran! and Jin Han!!! maybe they can save it but lmao no, I watched 2 episodes and basically peaced out. PXR looked bored and lifeless and Jin Han is not a strong enough actor to really elevate a shoddy script. This isn't to say he's *bad* but if the writing doesn't favour his strength he's completely adrift. This, coupled with the blah production values makes this an instant miss. Only read @purplehanfu's hilarious recaps for this show! (2 eps watched. Dropped)

Jirisan - JOO JI HUN, Jun Ji Hyun!!! I'm just noticing a trend in the last three dramas. I get overly excited for the cast, because I think they largely pick dramas I like, but man the case of blah writing continues. This added to some eh directing had me watching parts of ep 1 and 2 with some skipping, 3 and 4 with more skipping and just not watching more. (Sort of 4 eps watched but not really, Dropped)

One the Woman - Lee Ha Nee is a delight and this show is one I might actually finish, since I do love this kind of premise and the acting of the supporting cast is helping a lot. I do think Lee Sang Yoon is not giving his best performance here, it's not bad but LHN outshines him so severely I honestly wish she was with anyone else. The problem is that I watched it to the halfway mark and I dread the second half which I can see will have a very bad Kdrama 2nd half downturn. Sigh. For LHN I still might though, thank god for the skip button. (On Hold, 8 eps watched.)

Rattan - This had some beautiful visuals a truly bonkers premise, but I think when I was watching the eng subs were sus at best and I kinda forgot about it. Watched about 4 eps?? No idea. Someone tell me how it ended up being as a complete drama please, I dont think my dashboard knows this drama exists haha. (Dropped, possibly might finish at some point)

Song of Youth - I started this for Bai Lu, but good lord her character was so unpleasant and they did sth so weird to the color grading/saturation for this drama I pretty much forgot it existed after 4 eps. (Dropped)

Bossam - Steal the Fate - Another one I was really into for the premise and the actors. Jung Il Woo seems to fare much better in historicals and him being a widow/bride abductor who accidentally abducts a princess was genius set up for me. Once again though the writing was not strong enough and while I did appreciate seeing JIW shirtless the writing left me bored witless. (Dropped)

Sisyphus: The Myth - AHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH AHAHHAH ha hahahahaliksdjsakjd. I have a wholeass fucking rant on this trash dumpfire of a drama. Well only episode one but jesus fucking christ. Do not watch this. People didn't listen to me and continued and wasted their fucking time. Turns out Cho Seugn Woo can pick trashfires after all, after his string of strong strong dramas and performances. It's like he forgot what acting properly was? I'll just avoid PSH dramas from now on. (I wasted 1 hour on this episode and then whatever time I needed to write down my rant, which is honestly more than this drama deserves).

Hometown - I have only 4 episodes left on this one but by god it was just getting stupider by the second. Manipulating/Hypnotising people via sound/speech? I know that the police in dramas can't be too good otherwise we wont have a mystery or a drama, but this is just getting ridiculous. And everyone seems to have swiss cheese for brains. The production value is pretty high, it looks cinematic, the directing is actually pretty good I think but the script is just... no thank you. (8 episodes watched. Dropped)

Happiness - I'm currently pausing this, but I will definitely finish since I'm on ep 8 and I love the way the show has dealt with its premise and its main characters. Plus PHS is really beefy now??? Good Stuff. (On Hold)

Vincenzo - The hilariously fake italian stuff and the general vibe just didnt work for me so I dropped this fairly early on. I do enjoy the gifs I see on my dash but that's it. (Dropped)

The Devil Judge - It is very homoerotic, so I will have to finish, I just gotta find the time and energy to overlook its nonsense premise, which kind of overstretched my suspension of disbelief. (On Hold)

Taxi Driver - I found the first case pretty interesting, and I liked the lady cop but the core premise was a bit eh and something in me seems to not like vigilante justice all that much because I didn't really like our main characters. (Dropped)

Racket Boys - This show is pure unadulteraded fluffy goodness, but it didnt hook me deeply and that's the only reason I like shows like that. If the vibe is for you though, check it out, the kids feel like actual friends/found family. (Dropped)

Mouse - LMAO lmao lmao lmao no. Once again a DYSMAL fucking first episode that told me that finishing this show would drive me batshit. Plus the whole eugenics angle???? Miss me with that shit please. Also the cops in this universe have single digit IQs I don't know how they survive. (DROPPED LMAO)

A Tale of thousand Stars - I loved LOVED LOVED the trailer for this one, but the premise should have rightly scared me off, transplant love stories are always iffy at best for me and I just couldnt connect with the main characters and didn't believe the actors when they tried to act like they were in love. (Dropped)

Yumi's Cells - I found this to be a surprising delight and I was even into the little emotion animations, but I made the mistake of watching it while it was still airing, catching up and then forgetting about it. I might still continue watching, but maybe once S2 comes out. I do like the way it handles relationships and the fact that for once it's not going for a "HEA" in the traditional sense. I also think making this not a full 16 ep show was a smart move. (On Hold)

22 Shows of which i dropped 16! and 6 are on hold...

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skipps-writes-for-gojo-satoru · 3 years

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Someone made an incredible animation of the scene in hidden inventory where Gojo gets screamed at by teen girls fawning over him, and it's beautiful ✨

https://youtu.be/5l9_O51-YYs

Also, it highlights my previous point that when Gojo's confronted by women flirting with him, he doesn't really do... Anything. He's just chill about it. And the little °^° face he makes and the little confused "hm?" from the manga panel in the beginning could indicate that Gojo might not be hit on by girls as often as we think- Jujutsu sorcerers are busy and have even their time off interrupted on the regular. Other than being mildly amused, we don't see Gojo actively bask or pursue attention from women (other than Utahime ofc, which could be because she's as straight-laced as Nanami).

The little content smile he gives at the end basically says it all: Gojo enjoys the attention, but most likely isn't interested in pursuing anything more than that, including sexual relations (with more reasons from my previous posts).

I could see Gojo being the type to allow himself to appreciate just a bit of affection from random women he encounters on missions and then casually walking off with a lazy wave of his hand- just like he did with Miwa.

The man's on a mission (literally) with the goal to change the world. Virgin Gojo is very possible seeing how unaffected he is by women throwing themselves at him- or at least, he allows himself a moment to enjoy the attention but is quick to dismiss the thought from his mind to focus on his duty.

Honestly, non virgin Gojo is still possible, but unless we see Gojo actually show interest or actively flirt with someone (which seems unlikely), we may never know. To me, analyzing Gojo with his interactions with other characters (not his antics) makes me think it's more likely Gojo is a virgin than not, simply bc the argument for Gojo being a non virgin is his looks and immaturity (or his act of immaturity, we know Gojo thinks in a much more complex way than he lets on) which I'd argue is not an accurate description of his character, because that's only a part of it, and is in fact only what Gojo shows on the surface. And there's plenty of reasons why his lifestyle would make such getaways difficult. Also, Gojo's lack of enthusiasm for it. Gojo allows girls to fawn over him, but he hardly stokes the fire more than just taking off his glasses when they asked him to.

If Gojo was more like Osamu Dazai from Bungou Stray Dogs who flirts with every women he sees, I would have an easier time believing he would not be a virgin, but his lifestyle, behavior, and even his Six Eyes and his goal makes me think he wouldn't choose to constantly go on small getaways like that. Personally, I'd say Gojo spends more of his time plotting and maximizing his efforts on recreating Jujutsu Society.

Really, when Gege said he couldn't see Gojo being faithful to a woman could be because he's already committed to his job. Not because he's out womanizing, but even because the type of woman he'd commit to is so rare. And even if he did find a woman he'd commit to, being the ENTP he is means he's incapable of immediately recognizing and acting on his emotions- not because he doesn't have them, but because they're not really his forté. He'd rather rationalize his behavior than attempt to understand his own feelings. It'll take time and patience, but Gojo committing is still a possibility.

Honestly, I'd like to hear why people would think Gojo's a cheater/womanizer to begin with? Besides him teasing Utahime, Gojo's been pretty respectful to Shoko and Mei Mei. He even complimented and recognized Mei Mei's strength as a sorcerer. He didn't flirt once with the hoard of girls fawning over him. In fact, he was quick to focus on his mission despite the attention. I don't think Gojo's ever even teased Shoko about anything (other than commenting on her terrible way of explaining things, which is more of a fact than teasing). Though, correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, I haven't mentioned Riko much in previous posts and idrk why lol. But while Gojo is dominated by logical thinking, he's emotionally inept enough to notice Riko's mood. He may seem cold in how he comforted her by saying he'd leave her behind, but it's more of his ENTP personality that has him expressing his emotions in a more objective manner- even if it hurts, it's the truth, and that's fine isn't it? (Typical ENTP way of thinking).

Also slight tangent I read that one long meta about Gojo's interaction with Riko someone linked, and I'm completely appalled that they would think Gojo is only "pretending" to have emotions, "mimicking" them even! That he's incapable of truly feeling when in fact it's inherently characteristic of any ENTP to express themselves in a way that, to others, would be considered "cold" and unempathetic. It just goes to show just how misunderstood ENTPs are. They only make up 3% of the world so are often confused for socios/narcs/psychos which is understandable-

But I wanna make one thing clear: all sociopaths could be considered ENTPs. But not all ENTPs are sociopaths. (Switch Socio with psycho/narc/etc and it still works). Why?

Purpose.

Arrogance, boastfulness, unrefined emotional sensitivity, recklessness, impulsiveness- all of those fall below the importance of Purpose. Regardless of how Gojo "acts," it's been expressed time and time again- Gojo acts for the sake of the next generation. Sociopaths/Antisocial Personality Disorder/Psychopaths have one most common defining starting point: "it all starts with cruelty to animals and lack of response to their own actions, or actions of other people."

Let's make it more simple: regardless of whatever end of the spectrum sociopathy can be- high functioning, low functioning- antisocial personality disorder, in it's most simple terms, along with psychopathy and narcissism, condensed into one common trait is very clear: Their actions, while easily blendible into society, are for the sole purpose of pleasuring themselves.

Why don't people notice those with these disorders? Because their *behavior* is so similar to not just the typical ENTP, but also the ISTP AND ESTP. They can easily be mistaken for common members of society, but again: their sole purpose is the pursuit of pleasure themselves, while acting with complete disregard for the consequences of not just their own actions but others'. Staying in one job for extended periods of time is especially rare for a sociopath in particular, and this is one very clear difference between Gojo and a sociopath.

Gojo is willing to spend the rest of his life as a Jujutsu Sorcerer for the sake of others. This sentence alone defies any inclination that he could be a sociopath regardless of any other symptoms commonly associated with sociopathy, such as emotional insensitivity, hostility, risk taking behavior, lack of restraint, and impulsivity- there's a reason such people blend in with society, and that's because such symptoms are common with *any* person, regardless of personality type. Other than with the higher ups, Gojo hardly shows the anger, irritability, or general discontent that a sociopath is most commonly is associated with as their established mood - and even if he did, would being easily irritatable while in the position of the Strongest, the one who carries the burden of establishing a new future of Jujutsu Society on his shoulders alone be so unrealistic? That is why Purpose is so important.

If Gojo truly was a Sociopath, he would have dipped long before Jujutsu Kaisen had even started.

And I apologize for yet another tangent! Someone said Gojo sees his students as weapons or tools to be used in furthering his agenda. While that is not necessarily untrue, the implication is hardly close to reality. Like someone else commented, Gojo goes far and beyond for his students. While he is undoubtedly lacking in his ability to show affection in the most traditional of ways, it's clear that Gojo cares for his students-and others- deeply, whether that be when he went to see Yuta on his business trip to ensure Yuji would be safely taken care of in his absence, when he goes out of his way to personally supervise his students, when he willingly spends a whole day with Nanami just to ask him to mentor Yuji for him (in the Light Novel) regardless of Nanami's disdain, when he turned his Infinity off to allow Yaga to punish him (Gege made it clear in the manga that Gojo had done so to be a good role model for his students and that he recognizes his behavior deserves punishment), and when Gojo commented that he didn't want to think any of his students would be the traitor. Gojo does not express himself as most people do- he's only one of the most misunderstood personality types (on record, along with a few other personalites if you've researched them) and to say people have misinterpreted his character is much more plausible when even in real life, people who behave like Gojo are statistically reported to be misapprehended more often than more populated personality types. When inspected closely, there are so many ways Gojo himself expresses his care for other people, only hidden thinly behind the surface of his lofty attitude and uncaring demeanor. It only takes a few looks at his behavior, not his mouth, to recognize how much he goes out of his way for his students, doing he things that don't necessarily help further his agenda simply because he wants to, not because he has to. Changing the world isn't even something the average person would strive to do, yet Gojo makes it his life goal to accomplish. How could a heartless, emotion mimicking person possibly endure the strife necessary to accomplish such a task? It's appalling.

Gojo is more charitable than most people on the earth, simply because of the perseverance and diligence he takes to withstand the stress and hardships of Jujutsu Society for others. Remember that he chose to become the Strongest, it didn't happen overnight, and in becoming the Strongest, he carries the heaviest burden.

That's without mentioning that even though Gojo is the Strongest, and while to most he seems to proudly state so, it's clear that despite Gojo's antics, he recognizes his weaknesses as a sorcerer and is able to rely on others to make up for them. He had asked Nanami to mentor Yuji because he acknowledged his own flaws as a teacher and that Nanami would have a better capacity than him in that area (in Light Novel). He travelled to see Yuta to ask him to care for Yuji in case something happened to him- and Gojo knows that it's possible that he could be defeated somehow, someway. He's not so deluded to think he's untouchable, even despite his playfulnesses. He is always thinking ahead, calculating his next move while understanding his own shortcomings, acting prudently to ensure a better future.

He is a much deeper and complex character if one only takes the time to look past his antics and analyze his behavior- Something many people in real life seem to miss, and that is the true reason why Gojo struggles to commit.

Sorry for the long tangent and repetitiveness in the beginning lol! Back to the main issue!

Tl;dr there's more evidence of Gojo being a virgin who's more focused on work than pleasure. There's plenty of handsome men who don't seek out sex for reprieve but seek mental stimulation instead for relief. It's totally normal. Gojo could even spend his free time playing video games. He did admit to spending long hours beating 99 years of Momotarou Dentetsu to Geto. He's a gamer, and we know how gamers are commonly known for being virgins lol. Gojo could even be asexual for all we know. He could even be demisexual- someone who doesn't pursue sexual pleasure unless he's made an emotional connection with then. He doesn't necessarily have to even be straight or bi. Therefore, Gojo is very likely to be 28 year old virgin, and there's nothing wrong or strange about that.

Sources: ENTP articles, statistics on mbti rarity, other mbti articles, some quick Google searches, articles on sociopathy, psychopathy, narcissism, and antisocial disorders, etc, the manga, light novels, other metas in threads I remember reading, the anime, graphic organizers

Thanks for reading! 🙏

- 🤔

AHHHH CAN I JUST SAY THE ANIMATION IS DAMN GOOD 🔥🔥🔥 this scene in the manga is absolutely iconic prepare yourselves for season 2 😤 I literally had to stop the video and stare at him...I think one of the reasons Gojo behaved that way is becuz during childhood he probably didn't go out and be around people hence his confused reaction with the screaming teens. I mean everyone enjoys being complimented and getting attention from time to time and gojo is not an exception to this. Yes I definitely agree that when Gege said that he probably meant he's too busy for a relationship. The way it was translated made alot of people confused hence the player/cheater gojo was born. But then also the remember the comment he made when Gojo won the popularity poll? "Pick Nanami instead" ahhh hilarious

MY GAWD 🤔 ANON CAN I JUST SAY THAT YOU'RE AMAZING?! You explained in a way that easy to understand and you made statements backing it up with evidence. I learned from your ask than I ever did in university 😂 wow its truly fascinating though I never knew much personality types especially ENTPs I DON'T BELIEVE FOR ONE SEC GOJO IS A SOCIOPATH OR PSYCHOPATH fight me if you do. Exactly exactly just as anon said "He is a much deeper and complex character if one only takes the time to look past his antics and analyze his behavior." I COULDN'T AGREE MORE 😤 thank you so much for once again educating the community I'm a fan of you 🤔 anon ❤

#gojo discussions #virgin or not?#gojou satoru #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen gojo #jjk gojo #gojo satoru #skipps chat

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