sy-on-boy

[sy-on-boy]

Tumblr Top Ships Bracket - Round 3

This poll is a celebration of fandom and fandom history; we're aware that there are certain issues with many of the listed pairings and sources, but they are a part of that history. Please do not take this as an endorsement, and refrain from harassment.

#TWIYOR SWEEEPPP!!!! #polls

[sy-on-boy]

i thought i posted this but i think i didn't ??? so i'm doing that now HAJWLSDFKL this is a bit older but turns out it's been rotting in my folders JKDSFKLSDKL

#damianya #OUGHHHHH.... the subtle blushies #the sparkles..

[sy-on-boy]

they got married btw 💕

#i loveeeee 🥺🥺🥺🥺

[sy-on-boy]

9 yo me would be proud of me

#damianya #omggg i love this song

[sy-on-boy]

i cant believe i forgot to post my bewen shit here

#bewen #wait... why am i kinda..... #wait.... WAIT.... #luscious long hair ewen ok yeah becky would like that

[sy-on-boy]

About the AO3 "No Guest Comments for a while" warning

If you're not following any of AO3's social media accounts you might be in the dark as to what kind of "spam comments" have engendered this banner at the top of the site:

These spam comments have been posted about a great deal on the AO3 subreddit for the past couple of days. Initially they comprised a bunch of guest (logged out users) bot comments that insulted authors by suggesting they were using AI and not writing their own fics. Some examples, from the subreddit:

But it then escalated to outright graphic porn images and gifs being posted in comments, again by logged out 'Guest' accounts. Obviously, I'm not going to give examples of those, but between these two bot infestations, AO3 has clearly decided to act and has temporarily closed the ability to post comments for users who are not logged in with an AO3 account.

Unfortunately, this means that genuine readers who don't have an AO3 account won't be able to leave comments on fics that they enjoy.

If you are a genuine reader who doesn't yet have an AO3 account, I strongly suggest getting yourself on the waiting list for one. More and more AO3 authors are now locking their fics down to registered users only - either due to these bot comments or concerns about AI scraping their work - which means you're probably missing out on a lot of great stuff.

Hopefully guest commenting will be enabled again at some point soon, but I suggest not waiting until then. Get yourself on that list.

Wait times are going to be longer than usual at the moment, due to the current Wattpad purge [info on Fanlore | Wattpad subreddit thread], but if you're in line, then your invite will come through eventually.

Update: There's now a Megathread about this on the AO3 subreddit.

[sy-on-boy]

I realised I haven’t posted in a while haha. Here’s a sketch I made based off of THAT scene in chapter 96 which I’m still obsessing over

#damianya #aaaaa love em

[sy-on-boy]

their ship name might as well be theseus the way there's not a single original characteristic left there

#i keep on fearing i do this with damianya 😭😭 they are sooo special and unique to me

[sy-on-boy]

artwork for spy x family zines in 2022-2023

#gorgeous shading🥺🙏

[sy-on-boy]

It's nuts how a single panel can summon thousands of artists and writers to go create a bunch of sick af stuff. It's like the Popeyes chicken sandwich was released all over again with how many people are going nuts over this chapter.

#🥺💖 #i see a diff fanart of That panel every time i open twitter ahhh #damianya

[sy-on-boy]

some doodles!!!!

#damianya #OANA ART!!! UWUWUWUUWUWUWUWUW

[sy-on-boy]

Japanese Linguistic Observations in Spy x Family - part 1

This is a post series I've been planning for a while and I've finally had the time to complete part 1! 😃 I may have mentioned here before that I got my B.A. in Japanese/East Asian Studies, and even though I'm not fluent, I know the linguistics of the language fairly well. So I thought it would be fun to examine the interesting aspects of the Japanese version of the SxF manga that aren't reflected in the English translation. It might also be an informative experience for those who don't know any Japanese to learn a bit about the language through SxF! I'll try not to get too technical with the linguistics and keep my explanations at a beginner's level.

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Part 1 - Twilight's "honne and tatemae"

One of the main themes in SxF is how many of the characters have secrets they want to hide, so they act a certain way in front of others in order to mask their true selves. Japanese has a word for this phenomena called 本音と建前 ("honne and tatemae").

I remember learning about the concept of "honne and tatemae" during my Japanese college studies – a quick google search will yield a lot of publications on the topic and its relation to Japanese culture in particular. While the idea of hiding one's true intentions behind a fake facade can exist anywhere and is not something unique to Japan, it is enough of an occurrence in Japanese culture that there are specific words for it. The Wiki article has a basic but good definition of honne and tatemae, to quote:

A person's honne may be contrary to what is expected by society or what is required according to one's position and circumstances, and they are often kept hidden, except with one's closest friends. Tatemae is what is expected by society and required according to one's position and circumstances, and these may or may not match one's honne. In many cases, tatemae leads to outright telling of lies in order to avoid exposing the true inward feelings.

Sounds very much like the characters in SxF, doesn't it? Twilight especially, because unlike other characters like Yor and Anya, who simply have secrets they need to keep but don't create fake personas for themselves, Twilight does – the cheerful, friendly Loid Forger is a different person from the cold, calculating Twilight after all. Also unlike Yor and Anya, who speak the same way consistently no matter who they're talking to, Twilight uses different speech levels depending on which persona he's using and who he's talking to.

There are many different levels of speech in Japanese, ranging from super formal to totally crude. These speech levels are distinguished mostly by the pronouns the speaker chooses to use for themselves and who they're speaking to, as well as how they choose to conjugate the words they use. For example, 座ってください (suwatte kudasai), 座って (suwatte,) and 座れ (suware) all mean "sit," as in, telling someone to sit down. But the tone being conveyed is different: the first one is polite, the second one is casual, and the last one could be seen as rude if you're not using it with a close friend/family member.

As Twilight, he uses casual speech with the masculine and less polite pronoun 俺 or オレ (ore). This is the speech he uses when talking to a fellow spy like Fiona, and for his own inner thoughts.

As Loid Forger, he uses the polite 敬語 (keigo) speech, which is basically comprised of using the -ます (-masu) conjugation for verbs and the "to be" verb です (desu). He also uses the pronoun ボク or 僕 (boku), which is the standard male pronoun and more polite than "ore." He uses keigo to address pretty much everyone who doesn't know his true identity. When talking to a higher-up like Sylvia, he'll still use "ore" but will use polite speech instead of casual speech.

Anya is an exception to this: with her, he uses his most casual speech, the same as he uses with Franky.

I discussed a bit about this in part 24 of my Twiyor analysis posts, but this could be because Anya is a little kid, so he doesn't feel the need to put on any airs with her (same with Bond, whom he also uses casual speech with).

An interesting side note is that, as a child, Twilight used the pronoun "boku" but then changed to "ore" as soon as he became an adult/soldier.

Another aspect of keigo, besides using the more polite forms of pronouns and verb conjugations, is putting the honorific さん (san) after people's names. Twilight does this all the time with Yor, as she does with him. However, he switches to casual speech and drops the "san" part in her name when addressing her in front of people who (supposedly) believe they're a real married couple, such as Yuri and Fiona – because it would be weird for a real couple who have been married for a year to address each other in such a formal way, especially the husband. Oddly in these situations, while he uses just "Yor" when addressing her directly, he still calls her "Yor-san" when talking about her. During Yuri's first visit for example, he calls her "Yor-san" when telling Yuri how much Anya loves her (talking to someone about her) but then calls her just "Yor" a few moments later when telling her that he'll clean up the spill (talking to her directly). It's strange to me that he wouldn't just consistently use "Yor" whether he's talking to her or about her in these situations...I'm honestly not sure if he does this intentionally or if he just slips up since he's so used to using "Yor-san" in her presence.

Regardless, this is why the scene in chapter 86 is so significant – when Yor isn't present, there's no reason for him to refer to her as "Yor-san," especially in front of a fellow spy like Fiona who knows he (supposedly) shouldn't have any feelings for her. Yet, even after he just called Yuri by his full name "Yuri Briar" a moment before, he doesn't do the same for Yor and continues to call her "Yor-san" here, much to Fiona's dismay.

In the same chapter, it's also significant that he uses "ore" when addressing Yor directly in his thoughts. Even though he's not speaking out loud, I believe this is the first time he's speaking directly "to" her as Twilight and/or his true self and not as Loid Forger.

But despite all this, I think that both Loid Forger and Twilight are tatemae…they're both masks to hide the person he truly is. The person who fondly talked about his mother to Yor on the park bench, the person who genuinely expressed gratitude for her sacrifice when leaving the resort island, the person who refused to kill Yuri in a life-or-death struggle because he knew it would hurt her…that's his actual honne. But of course, the ongoing conflict of the series is that he has yet to realize this. He won't even show his honne to his closest friend, Franky. Seems like it mostly comes out in dribs and drabs during his interactions with Yor...no surprise there, lol. The man is certainly a work in progress. When he finally starts letting his "honne" show, I'm curious what form of speech he'll adopt.

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Note: I won't be releasing these posts on a set schedule, but I do have about five planned for now, more if I come up with other ideas! Stay tuned for part 2 soon~

#sxf analysis #interesting! love seeing the bits on twilight's inner voice #yor-san... oughghghhghg

[sy-on-boy]

#damianya #AAA #YEYEEESS

[sy-on-boy]

Chapter 96 redraw💫

#OMGGG AMAZING!!!! #damianya #love this sm #awwww

[sy-on-boy]

anya: he’s just a snot faced jerk

also anya: yeah i’ll tell him my greatest secret of all time

damian: she’s just a peasant girl

also damian: yeah i’m gonna get her tea cakes fit for royalty that are produced once every several years and were apparently originally created by a king to appease a queen of an enemy nation [insert five million sparkly flowery filters]

[sy-on-boy]

anya: “yeah i told your father my greatest secret at our first grade dance. ten years later we finally kissed,”

future damianya telling their kids their story is gonna be like "yeah your mother got a bolt for me and i offered to wear the bomb around her neck and i promised to invent commercial space travel for her and we finally danced. yes in that order. yes i was six years old,"

[sy-on-boy]

A lot has already been said about Anya relating to Damian desperately wanting to be loved by his dad. But there’s even more to it than that.

Before ending up at an orphanage, Anya spent the first few years of her life with very few or no people who cared about her outside of what her and her mind reading power could do for them. This mirrors Damian’s situation with how most of the people who approach him only do so out of self-interest.

There’s nobody who could understand Anya better than Damian could and I think to at least some extent, she knows this.

#damianya #ughhhh yeahhh!!