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overtake · 1 year

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can i ask how you color and sharpen your gifs? they’re so vibrant 👀

Of course! I don't know how helpful I can be because I don't do anything special, so this is mostly an incoherent ramble and offers absolutely no insight. There's so many amazing coloring tutorials out there, so I would recommend any of those rather than reading the jumble of words below the read more lmao. The best resource ever is this blog. You can find tutorials for everything ever.

First, I crop by using width x height x resolution rather than just plain cropping and then resizing the image. I have no idea if that actually makes a difference in the quality, but I've gaslit myself into believing it's a difference maker. My settings are usually 542 px x 400 px at 135 px/in. The reason I do 542 is because then I go into canvas size and do 540 x 398 to cut off those tiny transparent borders that always show up after you crop (I don't think it's noticeable at all when you upload a gif but I'm just in the habit of doing it). Once it's cropped, I flatten my frames into layers and use a sharpening action. I have no idea what tutorial and specific sharpening action I downloaded because it was years ago, but there's so many out there. Here's just some random ones I found, but there's a lot if they don't work for you [x, x, x].

As for coloring, I color every gif from scratch each time. I know a lot of people use PSDs, and then might alter them slightly based on the gif. That looks great and is faster and works very well, and it can be a great option for you to seek out. I'm just a control freak who wants to manually adjust everything.

Gifs with a dark or solid, colorful background are my favorite to color because it's so much easier to make the person stand out. I can just talk you through my mindset for this gifset.

I used exposure, brightness/contrast, selective color, color balance, vibrance, and levels. Exposure was +.53 and offset was -.0015 (I like using offest and gamma correction when I have a very dark background I want to emphasize, but I keep them at very very very low levels). Brightness was 9, contrast 7. I don't really like using brightness/contrast too much, but a little contrast in the right color conditions does sometimes make things more visually interesting. Selective color in black under the black subheading was +26. I go wild to make a dark background darker. If it had been a pretty blue background, however, I would've been in the blue and cyans section just messing with the sliders until I got a nice shade of blue I liked, and then I would've gone to the blues under hue/saturation to make it even brighter. I didn't use any 'selective color: neutrals' on this gifset, and I kind of avoid them because it's really easy to wash someone out or give the gifset a kind of ugly color tone if you're not very cautious.

Specific color balance numbers would be annoying for you to read through, but make sure you work with all 3 of the shadows, midtones, and highlights. I almost never go more than a +/- 5 on any of the sections, and I always hide the layer after to make sure I actually like the colors I added because you might accidentally take a totally normal gif and suddenly, all the blacks are looking magenta toned because you went too wild in color balance. I just added a tiny bit of vibrance (+8) to make sure I wasn't washing him out, and then I finished off messing with levels to once again emphasize the dark background.

90% of the gif coloring I do is done in exposure, selective color, and color balance. Those three are the backbone of my gifmaking. I spend so much time messing around in selective color with all the standout colors in the gif. I wish I could drop a magic secret here, but I really just go through and adjust the sliders until I find a balance I like.

I think color balance is so important to making sure the person isn't a weird shade after you mess with other colors - it ensures sure they're not super yellow or overly cool-toned. When I have a colorful background that isn't a red/yellow/orange (because messing with those colors will mess with a person's skintone), I also usually make it brighter through selective coloring and hue/saturation. I cannot emphasize enough how much selective coloring changed my life. It's my world. When I finally do upload my gifs, I always save them to my drafts and view them from mobile and desktop to see if there's anything that looks super weird that I need to fix. Sometimes a gif will look great in photoshop but suddenly the person is bright red on mobile, so it helps me make adjustments.

I used to be very conservative in adding lots of color and I tended to wash people out and was too afraid to make a colorful background even brighter or a dark background darker. For example: this old gifest I made on my main just looks so .. dull? There's no life in that skin. What I would do differently now, just as a basic starting point, is brighten the blues and the reds in his skin through selective color + hue/saturation, add more exposure, and use color balance to make his skin tone more human. With just those adjustments alone on top of the gif (which did already have coloring on it!), it looks way better and brighter. I mean, does it look good? No, it's a screenshot of a gif from almost 2 years ago and I spent 30 seconds on it, but it's better!

My advice is just to not be afraid to mess with colors and make them stand out. I have zero comprehension of color theory and no artistic background, so I was flying blind when I started adding all these adjustment layers and was very timid about them. I really just think the best thing to do is to mess around in photoshop working on gifs with different colored backgrounds so you practice how you want to mess with those colors. I seriously spend so much time making gifs that will never see the light of day because it's fun to do and it helps me learn the adjustments. My understanding of color also significantly improved when I started trying to make more edit-y style gifsets, because I'd try to recolor the background of the gif with the brush tool and changing the blend mode and wouldn't understand why the color I'd painted over top an orange background wasn't turning out exactly how I wanted when I changed the blend modes.

I'm sorry that this is an absolute mess with no real advice besides "I like these adjustments" and "just mess around!" I know that's not particularly helpful, but I'm honestly too busy being flattered that I was even asked for advice.

#ask #this is my first ask on this sideblog #and it's just a full 'i haven't taken my ritalin in months' word scramble #i am so sorry #but i'm so honored to even be asked #i am NOT qualified to be giving photoshop advice but have it anyway!

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rosy-crow · 2 days

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What do you think baby Genesis will look like when we do see him? Is he still as he’s seen in his childhood photo with Angeal or has he grown it out a bit?

Hmmmm

You know, since Angeal and Seph both have much shorter hair, I think it’d be cool if Gen’s hair was already getting pretty long…Kadaj style…

He should be about 15-16 if we see him. I can kinda imagine him being a bit of an emo punk teen lol. It’d be cute and consistent with his edgy 2000s vibe. Plus it wouldn’t be TOO similar to Gackt.

Idk I can see him with short spiked hair too lol.

#sorrryyyy i forgot to check my sideblog inbox ;-;#i forgot it actually worked #asks #ff7 #genesis rhapsodos #sephiroth #angeal hewley #ever crisis #the first soldier #blair hojo project

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shepscapades · 5 months

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I realized that we don't know when the events of the song sequence occur in the story. It could be Xisuma, either because of his helmet or he got a scar because his helmet broke. Or it could be someone else who got a scar later on. Hmmm.

. (thoughts in tags!)

#I wish I had like a submission channel because some of these are very interesting and valid thoughts #but I don’t really wanna give commentary that alludes to how accurate or inaccurate they may be #I just think the thoughts should be shared with the public/that other people deserve to see the theorizing going on #it’s very cool to me #dbhc ask #dbhc #dbhc xisuma #dbhc doc #new tag? sure!#if there comes up some more I may just keep responding with a period and the dbhc theory tag #this is where I make my first sideblog/hj #dbhc theories

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coffinsister · 2 months

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Hi there!

I just wanted to let you know that I'd never heard of Saya no Uta until I saw you talking about it on my dash and I was like hey I'll look into that!! I had no idea what I was getting myself into, and it was definitely an experience. I've only played the route of choosing Saya and choosing to call Ryoko, so I still have to make the other choices to view all of the game's content, but I just wanted to come say thank you for giving me the second controversial piece of media I've been able to consume without my ocd throwing a bitchfit, because the whole story is fascinating from a psychological standpoint and that definitely drew me in.

I just wish the story was a little more 3D, I guess? Like the writing is overly descriptive of things it doesn't need to be descriptive of and underwhelming with the actual voiced dialogue. It's an extremely bizarre contrast. And from what little Japanese I've learn over the years out of SpInterest there are some translation points that aren't entirely accurate.

A big one is the fact that Saya speaks in third person which is a common cutesy mannerism for small children in Japanese media. In fact, she speaks super similarly to Maria Ushiromiya from Umineko ( complete with using 'uu!' for emphasis too ) which caused me to attach quickly to her for it. While it's true that this doesn't translate well into English, it does lose in translation just how young Saya really sounds while speaking. Because in Japanese she's saying things like 'Saya did this for Fuminori because Saya wants to be with Fuminori forever!' and it's getting translated as like 'I did this to make you happy. So you'll stay with me forever, right, Fuminori?' and those are two completely different tones. In fact, it's so overlooked from the English translation that this trope of hers isn't even mentioned on the The Song of Saya tvtropes page and that's wild to me.

Sorry, I didn't meant to turn this into a rant in your inbox asjklhd. Thank you for bringing this intriguing piece of media to my attention. 💖

Hiii, I'm so sorry for taking so long to reply to this ask but it was lovely getting it, so please don't apologize! We love getting long asks, and talking about our interests <3 And I'm really happy me basically screaming into the void about it, got you into it! That's great, that's exactly why I post about the things I like.

This was very interesting to read so thank you for sending it.

Side Thought: TV Troupes actually really really sucks for this kinda thing, it is widely innacurate with big media, and incredibly lacking for small media. So personally, I would not chuck TV Tropes lacking this as much to the (very bad, like super bad) official translation, as much as I would to the site just kinda sucking.

I'm sorry if I sound harsh, the website is fun, like any other wiki is, I just have personal beef against it, do not mind me, old man yells at cloud.

The first route I finished was also the one with Ryouko, and tbh, in my opinion that's the best one, but obviously seeing the other endings gives a lot of extra information, and character depth, so I hope you play through them and enjoy them too.

And yeah, I feel you, I wish it was more 3D and that I could have cared more about the characters, the writing definetly feels too much like purple prose, and way too descriptive about meaningless things sometimes, while also compeltley glazing over others.

Also big big same about the translation, I already posted my long rant about it, but it's really such a shame, because Nitro+ is actually so good at conveying character through dialogue, like actually reading some of the VNs in Japanese is a whole new experience on its own

And exactly as you said, it would have been far easier to understand Saya is a literally preubecent child if the translation had shown how childishly she actually speaks, or another big one, we would have gotten to see more of just how badly Fuminori wants to show off in front of Saya and Yoh, if the translation had actually shown him avoiding being fully honest with Saya.

Like there's so so many moments in Japanese of him just going, Well, about that, you know... to Saya when she's asking him about their plans together, and he's very reluctant to ask her for help, even when he really needs it, until she blatantly offers it, and he takes it.

In the Official English version he literally just goes "Well, the thing, Saya is that I failed to kill Koji, any ideas about that?"

So much character missed there, I feel like also missing the honorifics isn't helpful or good, like Yoh calling Oumi, Oumi-chan makes them feel way way closer, than just college friends who hang out between classes. And it gives you a better sense that they care for each other.

My hot take about translations is that they shouldn't just accomodate to what's most familiar to the target audience, in this case USA people, it should just make the media more accesible. It isn't a failure of art if it is a bit of a struggle to engage with it, it's good to make an effort to try to understand foreign art, even when the way the text is presented, isn't super familiar or relatable to you.

This is basically what everybody who isn't from an English speaking country already does lol

#The first few people I met who had played tcoaal way back in the day got into it from me posting about it on a different sideblog and it #means so much to me to this day I wanna keep sharing what I like so maybe other people will like it too #I apply the same mentality to reblogging art and fics #I have actually never read Umineko I need to get in on that either way it's always lovely to see you around and I'm always up for #chatting about my silly little vns :)#soleil asks #saya no uta #longer answer to long ask

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transmascutena · 6 days

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you good?

yup, all good! or, no worse than usual at least if you wanna be less optimistic about it. just been taking a break from using tumblr for mental health reasons + regular old being busy reasons. i check my notifications once a day but that's about it for now

#i'm alive and well and all that but i do realize it looked like i vanished. sorry if that worried anyone ?#honestly just didn't really think anyone would notice.#<- not trying to be self deprecating there it just didn't cross my mind that i should maybe say something about it #not sure when i'll be posting again but when i do it'll likely be on my sideblog first #asks #m

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good-beanswrites · 9 months

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Ahh ive been reading some of your writings and they're just so warm and fluffy to read (if that makes sense??) Though i cant really express it in the tags ;; also if its alright, may i please request blanket with mikoto or tears with fuuta? - @erimnar

Omg thank you -- I've been so grateful for your tags! :)) And thanks for the requests, I had a lot of fun with these woo! I went with a real fun one for Mikoto/Blanket (once again, picture T1 minigram vibes) and I'll post a slightly angstier one for Fuuta/Tears soon 👍

“Mikotoooo, just share with Muu,” the girl pouted. “I mean it!”

He scooted out of her reach. “What are you gonna do, stab me about it?”

Muu’s jaw dropped, but there was no real horror behind it. “Maybe!” She lunged for him again.

After a strange rattling from the walls had woken some in the middle of the night, all the heat in the prison had seeped away. Es had left to fix it immediately, and no one had seen them for hours. In Mikoto’s opinion, they seemed better versed in law than plumbing and mechanical fixes. He had no idea how long they’d all be shivering like this in the winter chill.

The prisoners walked around all morning in a mismatch of spare layers. Mahiru giggled inside one of Shidou’s extra doctor coats, far too big on her. Mikoto hadn’t stopped laughing that Shidou owned extra doctor coats in the first place. Yuno’s stylish hats could be spotted on several of the prisoners, Mikoto included. (He’d given his own beanie to Kazui, earlier.) Fuuta had handed out a concerning amount of sweatshirts, and Muu had some fashionable scarves that gave enough warmth to be useful.

In addition to the ridiculous getups, they each carried their bed sheets around their shoulders. Mikoto was surprised to find himself the envy of the group.

A while back he’d requested a weighted blanket; he remembered finding one helpful when work got too overwhelming. Milgram had provided a fairly large one, though he felt it hadn’t worked as well here. He didn't expect it to cause a stir until Shidou pointed out that its weight would make it even warmer than his own. Following that, it didn’t take long to attract the small army of murderous children that were after him.

As he stepped away from Muu, Yuno leapt at his other side, ready to snatch the blanket off of him. Although Haruka and Amane were too nervous to make a grab at him, they stood anxiously nearby rooting for his loss. Mahiru had jumped in as well. Her quick movements forced Mikoto to spin around and draw it even closer around his shoulders. Caring less about the blanket, but always ready to tackle someone, Fuuta joined the scuffle.

It wasn't like Mikoto cared about the blanket, either. He had no issue sharing it with the others. He knew the attitude in the prison had been dropping recently. Despite the brief camaraderie from sharing articles of clothing, everyone’s mood had been especially bitter today. As physical discomfort added to their mental strain, things could go south quickly. The place needed to liven up a bit.

He stepped back from the blanket thieves, flicking the corner of it from Fuuta’s hands.

“Not so fast!”

Fuuta fumed. “You asshole…”

Yuno, meanwhile, seemed up for the challenge. “You’re quick!”

“I’ve had a bit of experience…” He flashed a wicked grin. Mikoto didn’t talk about his family much, but a few of the others knew he grew up on fairly good terms with a younger sister. His big brother instincts had developed just fine.

He darted this way and that. He faked and sidestepped and spun. As his opponents grew bolder, he ended up sweeping the blanket off his back. He swung it around the room with less effort than expected. He was stronger than he looked, and easily kept the girls at bay while wrestling Fuuta for the blanket. He let out a laugh as he fought back against all the grabbing hands. Taking advantage of the height difference, he lifted it directly over his head.

The position wasn’t the most secure, though. His taunts were quickly replaced by feigned cries as the others dragged him to the ground. As they pinned him down, a cheer erupted from Haruka before he covered his mouth. The others joined in the celebration as they claimed their prize.

Mikoto lamented, “you’re so cruel… you’re all so cruel…” It was good, he thought, hearing them all laugh.

The loss of his blanket wasn’t his only punishment. Heaving an exhausted breath, Yuno flopped down directly on top of him. She tucked herself and Muu into the blanket. Then Mahiru wiggled in, beckoning to Amane and Haruka. By the time they all nestled in, there was just barely enough room for Fuuta to squeeze in with everyone.

Mikoto wheezed from under the pile of prisoners.

“Okay, okay,” he said. “You win. Fuck -- let me breathe...”

Mahiru just made herself more comfortable. “But you’re so warm!” The others muttered their agreement. Not one showed any sign of moving. The prison was far too cold to give up heat like this, after all.

“That’s because you all made me work so hard!” He huffed. “Come on.”

“What are you gonna do?” Muu giggled, doing a poor impression of his voice, “murd--”

“-- Aw, shaddup…”

#milgram #mikoto kayano #muu kusunoki #and others #it was silly but i was still able to wiggle some of my serious headcanons in!#mikoto being able to read a room and know when and how to pick things up with a bit of charisma #him having great big brother/roughhousing/antagonizing for no reason instincts sdfdsfds #and having a lot of stress relief habits that he swears by - and then cant understand why they arent working #(because orekoto usually does all the stress relief with physical exertion)#oh and also the fact that hes really chill about joking about their situation in milgram sfdsdfgfd 💀#thank you sm for the requests!#and i mean it -- i was so happy seeing your tags ;-; ty for the kind words!#also ive been on this site for a while and its the first time ive seen that 'tagging a sideblog on an anon ask' trick so you get notified #thats so smart omg #ill tag you whenever i post the fuuta one #i know i dont have to do both prompts but theres no way im missing an opportunity to make my fave cry hehehe >:3 #drabbles

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yeehawkins · 3 months

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I can’t help but feel we have to unite

the way my brain just completely short circuited holy shit

with our powers combined we shall take over the world

#woag is me #like my brain read the ask and was like ''...HUH??''#then i saw your url and nearly fell out of my chair #omfl this was the arguably the best random ask to receive #(psssst i dont post much foo very frequently #but should totally follow my music sideblog delta-magnetic >:3 )#my second url ever on here and it also gets a [spiderman pointing meme] moment #(first url it happened on twitch but stil)#i hope you're having a wonderful day/evening/whatever time it is for you #this made me smile #heehawkins

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crengarrion · 4 months

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few things are as touching as the appreciation hardworking, heartfelt, passionate, dedicated young people express when you support them. sometimes this appreciation is shown by those young people sending you unedited footage of their professional wrestling ambulance matches and it fucking rules.

#[ whispers ]#mango brought to my attention a ugandan pro wrestling promotion fundraising for their first wrestling ring and i decided to reach out #to them because i made a post raising awareness on my wrestling sideblog. they asked me to record a video saying hello to a young lady #wrestler of theirs i said i'm a fan of. so she can record a video saying hello back to me! and then sent me exclusive footage of a match!#i cannot stress this enough: reach out to dreamers. reach out to the people making their dreams reality. to artists and musicians and #writers and people blogging about their cultures' food and their daily lived experiences and dedicating their lives to community outreach #and harm reduction and activism and rescuing animals and raising awareness. tell the people making what you love that you love it and #admire their hard work. thank the person bagging your groceries and driving your bus with a big smile. tell the makeup artist standing with #palestine openly what that means to you. one of my favourite authors is on tumblr and i'm reaching out to her after i read her new book that #just published. one of my friends became a well known poet in pakistan because a group of us all sent CDs of our spoken word poetry to each #other and made all of our friends listen. i'm friends with youtubers because i've been vocally supporting their videos since pre-YT or early #into their channels and have met up with some of them to hang out and talk shop. don't just cheer people on silently! let them know!#long post #sorry. overcome by my simple love for humanity in the midst of unfathomably dark times. it will happen again

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roguemonsterfucker · 5 months

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Me slowly cutting off every avenue of human contact: I’m sure this is fine.

#first I turn off replies #then I turn off DMs #then I turn asks off completely on a sideblog #now I’ve disabled anon on my main #my capacity for talking to people has diminished greatly #i’m just so fucking tired #obviously the confessions blog still has anon on #that’s the point of that blog #but that isn’t a place where people talk directly to me so it’s difficult

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sigmashuffle · 8 months

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I have a question!! So I’m a long-time BSD enjoyer but I haven’t read nearly as much of the manga as I would like. I’ve seen all of the anime though, most of it multiple times through. I didn’t realize until looking at the comments on Danny Motta’s video at how much people fucking hate Fukuchi and his sword. Up until this point I’ve thought it’s cool as hell and he, along with the sword, bring something kinda new and fun to the series.

HOWEVER, I know BSD is FAR from perfect and there’s a lot of dumb shit that faithful manga readers have a better perspective on. Would you mind explaining why Fukuchi and the sword are such a sore point? I hope this isn’t too much to ask. I just really want to know.

Hi anon! Its not too much to ask at all!

Unfortunately the answer to that is best explained in the context of ALL the issues I have with the manga/show so... this is going to be v long... and im done giving this show more credit than it deserves but don't take it that seriously lol I hesitate to even consider my pov to be on par with the average manga reader but ig we'll see how my opinions hold up after i post

And disclaimer: I don't mind answering this but ONLY with the context that this is 100% my opinion (as of late, bsd as a whole has just been REALLY bugging me so im just gonna take this opportunity to explain my gripes since most of them apply to or tie greatly into fukuchi's character/design/motivations/development)

I simply don't want anyone to come for my head bc of anything I say here tho, bc I feel like I may disagree with a large portion of the fanbase but WITH THAT SAID...

***from this point forward there will be a few spoilers from s5e11***

Here are my gripes with BSD...

1. BSD and its "magic system"?

bsd powers suffer from what i like to call a "lack of scope"

granted this could be due to the fact the story isnt complete HOWEVER im sure any anime fan can tell you this story doesnt feel like it is leading anywhere its just... going... (ill get to the awful pacing later)

for comparison sake im going to also talk about The Case Study of Vanitas since it is the world I have the most experience in

what does BSD not have that VNC does?

simply put, the magic system doesnt reinvent itself character to character

in VNC if you have an ability it is EXCLUSIVELY connected to "manipulations of the world formula" which is essentially elemental control (fire, ice, gravity, etc.) based on a sci fi version of chemistry (alchemy, if you will) and this rule applies to EVERY CHARACTER in VNC

its a structure that starts developing from the beginning

BSD however introduces a WHOLE NEW magic system for each character

some character abilities are similar, yes, and can be classified as such, but many cannot be classified

again a magic system doesnt NEED to have strict rules (its actually more boring that way if the rules are too simple) but it DOES need RULES... and solid ones

otherwise its tempting to use the MAGIC system to fill in PLOT RELATED gaps

and if that system isnt defined, well, to me that looks like lazy/sloppy/illogical writing

if you like the whiplash of not knowing whats gonna happen next, fine, (i did for awhile too!) up until the unpredictability started to come from powers that as a whole look like an authors way of trying to write themselves out of their own plot hole

ie: time travel

specifically time travel that isnt introduced FROM THE BEGINNING...

2. Fukuchi and his "deus ex machina" sword

time travel is NOTORIOUSLY difficult to pull off and especially by my standards

I have watched Doctor Who since 2008, before I even knew what tumblr was I was doing my own solo fandom stuff (basically just watching a LOT of youtube video essays) but basically I have high standards when it comes to time travel in stories

Amenogozen has the POTENTIAL to be a great weapon if used in a logical context... but theres one thing the sword (and BSD as a whole) does not follow

RULES

time travel is TRICKY mostly bc it has consequences... in BSD fukuchi gives nothing in exchange for his powers

lets even toss time travel aside for the moment

what is Fukuchi's innate special ability? Mirror Lion... (read below)

its essentially an attack multiplier of x100 at CLOSE RANGE

lets say your average untrained human punch is 150psi (pounds per square inch) which is the pressure equivalent of a point 100m below the surface of the ocean...

with Mirror Lion's multiplier you get 15,000psi which would be 10,000m or 10 kilometers

a pressure equivalent to the deepest part of the ocean (i dont need to remind you how powerful water is... we all know about oceangate)

MY POINT IS HE'S OVERPOWERED AS FUCK

dont even get me started on his motivations too

im glad we got backstory for him in ep 11 and im sure we are just supposed to sum up his motivations into "he was willing to pay the high price for world peace" but tbh royally fuck that

dont TELL me thats what he believes

PROVE to me how you made that conclusion

also the only reason he even dies is becasue he wants fukuzawa to kill him... we dont have any sense of accomplishment for stopping his scheme because NOW the scheme has been PLOPPED right into fukuzawa's lap which fukuchi intended to do from the start... apparently

and this seemingly retroactive decision-making is a problem A LOT of bsd characters have, especially the one and only character i hate THE MOST... *drumroll*

3. Osamu fucking Dazai

oh boy...

I have thought long and hard about Dazai... im not going to lie, after ch109 and ep10 I was about to admit Dazai might actually have grown on me BUT

this was all erased after 6 minutes into ep11 when he was confirmed to indeed NOT be dead

Dazai just *knows* everything thats gonna happen

Chuuya was never a vamp... he knew this... and somehow his ENTIRE escape plan was just hinging on that? bc yknow... hE kNeW fRoM tHe bEgiNniNg

OSAMU DAZAI IS A PLOT DEVICE USED *ONLY* TO FILL IN NARRATIVE HOLES

HE IS A WAY TO FORCE PROGRESS ON A STORY WITHOUT EVER GIVING A REAL EXPLANATION

HIS CHARACTER IS AN INSULT TO INTELLIGENCE

His character is paper thin, with motivations that do not translate to his actions

and frankly... im tired of it...

additionally... if sigma doesn't survive, all of Meursault was literally useless... so why pick him for nikolai's prison break game?

even if he does, it means the ONLY thing we get out of the arc is information about fyodor... as to WHAT information, who knows... but regardless, a villain arc that has been going on for TOO GODDAMN LONG (40 chapters?) should have a resolution that isnt "i knew what was gonna happen all along"

we spent the whole time being SHOWN that fyodor and dazai were of equal intelligence levels... or at least higher than what dazai was used to dealing with

if dazai could just predict shit like this from the beginning why was fyodor a villain for so long? makes ZERO sense, dazai would've defeated him AGES ago... what makes THIS time any different?

also... why is he even suicidal? yeah ok the author was... but like... why make it such a present character trait?... so we can fake kill him over and over? idk

can you tell i dislike him?

4. THEORY vs PRACTICE

I am a "show dont tell" girlie

ALL BSD DOES IS "TELL TELL TELL" ...its infuriating

almost every power/special ability has an element of "trust me bro" ok SOME OF THEM DONT but most of them do

ie: atsushi is a tiger (what does that even mean), kenji gets strong when he's angry (ok hulk?), and THIS JUST IN we STILL don't know how fyodor's ability works... and now he's DEAD?... we also dont know almost any detail about sigma's ability and he might ALSO be dead

but thats only regarding abilities...

when it comes to writing stories using people of high intelligence it is VERY difficult to not get into the aforementioned "trust me bro" mindset which BSD does REPEATEDLY

im not listing off every example but off the top of my head is one scene from s4...

ranpo explains his plan for saving yosano loosely involved "replacing the engine [of an armored vehicle] with an electric motor and playing engine sounds over the speakers so no one noticed" ...and only i can pick this claim to shreds lol (i engineer electric vehicles for a living) but this is so wrong on so many levels...

Internal combustion engines and Electric motors are IN NO WAY EQUIVALENT

ranpo would never be able to power a vehicle the size of an armored truck with a motor that he installed an hour before the truck was put to use... he just wouldnt... the vehicle is too big... ugh *facepalm*

and dont even get me started on batteries...

MY POINT IS

if you want to write some *genius move* at least TRY to do some research to make the action believable

thats like saying "oh yeah i ran out of gas so a threw a couple AA batteries into my gas tank until i could make it to the station"

BUT THAT WOULDNT FLY BECAUSE MOST PEOPLE KNOW THATS NOT HOW CARS WORK

*sigh*

5. Manga Readers' POV

the.chapters.are.too.short

especially for a monthly released manga

i am relatively new to anime and manga... like late 2020, so I am part of the "new gen" I guess you could say so i know i dont have any right to complain about pacing in comparison to like... the dressrosa arc of One Piece

with that said, not enough in bsd BUILDS on itself

it all feels like a self "one-up"

its been too long since any of my large questions have been answered

honestly its rare that any of my questions are ever answered because the narrative rarely follows logical progression anyway and any scenes thats ARE useful are cut from the anime

characters do not *develop* their powers, they just simply ARE

whatever ability you are born with limits what you can do and thats that... which leads me to...

6. Types of Ability Users

the most coherent thing i think i can speak on so this will be short lol

there are 3 types... i think (excluding lightnovels, i have not read 15, Stormbringer, or any others)

(1) natural abilities (ones that can be nullified by dazai or stolen like in Dead Apple)

(2) human/god fusions (chuuya) -> but this can ALSO be nullified???

(3) when an ability isnt an ability (it CANT be nullified) -> ie: whatever the fuck Lovecraft is

Sigma -> ??? (he could be part of the natural ability category but like... it feels weird to put him there)

but... there is never a comparison between these types so im not even sure of this "list" is exhaustive

this is just another way the story is leaving open ways to dig itself out of a plot hole... which isnt fun... bc now there are no stakes... there are no rules... its disorganized chaos where anything can happen

everyone will always be fine because there is a way out of everything

and thats BORING... and for me, downright infuriating

fukuchi likely falls into the first category... but then again he's also using a tool from another ancient ability user... so does he even fit there?

7. Anime Adaptation

rushed

RUSHED

and i know why...

BSD is so thin on STABLE plot the story would feel like its dragging if Bones wasn't animating at the pace they are (see Manga Readers' POV)

so to try and counteract the feeling that nothing is happening they are cutting "irrelevant" scenes BUT ALSO important portions relevant ones (ie: aku's death)

do all the plot points from the manga happen? by definition, yes... but the nuance the manga has is lost almost entirely

Atsushi doesn't physically throw an injured Aku's arm over his shoulders... Aku doesn't smile upon his demise... Aku doesn't reach out through the fog of the fire extinguisher (the adaptation of this scene was personally my last straw)

and then we have the new anime content...

why did we tack on an additional fight? zero context... didn't even tie up loose ends from fukuchi like...

is sigma alive?

are chuuya/dazai/nikoali still in france? europe?

is fyodor going to return in some way? (we know nothing of his motives, ability, or MOST importantly, what information did he learn from Sigma??? his ability is an EXCHANGE so why even have that happen if they are both dead anyway?) why would you fucking kill off a character like this

WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THIS ENTIRE ARC??? The mere reason I'm asking this question is, in and of itself, unacceptable

we MAY get an answer later... but its been 20 episodes... why the fuck dont we know anything about the arc we just completed? ...ludicrous

Final Thoughts

BSD does not have enough reliable rules in its magic system to form a solid foundation of... anything

Fukuchi is a disjointed character trying to do too many things at once, he doesn't have solid motivations, and his arc provides more questions than it answers

Osamu Dazai is not a character... he is a plot device used like a saving throw in DND

BSD frequently insults my intelligence to cover it's ass in its storytelling

being a manga reader is like taking 30 days to rip off a tiny band aid... the pacing is unbearable

even with the end of fukuchi's arc now known, there was no sense of accomplishment in defeating him bc technically we didnt… he gave himself up... so the sword was just to make him overpowered... it was pointless

the anime adaptation was rushed, scenes cherry picked, and plot narratively thinned into water... there was no depth this season

In my opinion...

There are very few redeeming characteristics about BSD now

The few meaningful scenes we do get in the manga are overwritten by later context that negates any emotion initially associated with the scene

even with the end of fukuchi's arc now known, there was no sense of accomplishment in defeating him bc technically we didnt... he gave himself up

Dazai is the worst written character I have ever read

It is very likely i drop this story entirely

If I seem salty/upset/etc. its because I am. However is NOT directed at you, it is simply a manifestation of my disappointment in this story.

...

And there you have my opinion... in way too many words... thanks for sticking around if you made it this far im impressed bc i am salty as hell lol

fin

#i hope this helps?#In all seriousness you have likely been following bsd for longer than I have (my first manga chap I had to wait for was ch101 #before then i was anime only #so like... early 2022? i think... this sideblog was born soon after)#long post #bsd discourse #asks #opinion #my post #bsd spoilers #god ok this was in my drafts for a bit #and this post likely got significantly out of hand #however i think i just needed a place to write down my thoughts #these arent even all of them by the way #i could write a whole post on dazai alone #...and not good things

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