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pinkfestivalpeanuttree · 2 years

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abfd uriel sun wukong idol group and Gabriel (uriel's fiancee) go to get ice cream

Uriel and Gabriel share a Neapolitan parfait or sundae, something's that's really over-the-top sugary with tons of toppings. Uriel loves it, Gabriel says that she dislikes it but secretly likes it. If they had gotten their own ice creams, Uriel would have ordered strawberry, again, with lots of toppings, and Gabriel would have gotten chocolate.

Sun Wukong either gets banana or some really, really, really weird flavor, like pizza ice cream or something meat flavored or Cheetos or monkey food, whatever that is. I looked it up, those ice cream flavors do exist, unfortunately (except monkey food. i don't even know what that would be)

Abyssal Black Flame Dragon gets something dark and edgy that "matches the darkness of [his] soul" or something (it probably comes in a kids cup and with a toy) but ends up not liking it that much. The others pick up on this, and Uriel finishes the ice cream for him while Sun Wukong orders him something else while making him promise to pay him back (a promise that everyone conveniently "forgets") (this is literally that meme "how black do you want your coffee" "as black as my soul" "okay just milk then")

999th Gang + Secretive Plotter + Most Ancient Dream + Lee Sookyoung (the Outer Gods kidnap her from prison because they don't know how to take care of a child) also get ice cream

Yoo Joonghyuk insists that if they wanted ice cream, he could make it better, and only orders mint chocolate chip after everyone else peer pressures him, starting a controversy over whether mint chocolate chip is good or not. After they get back to the house, Yoo Joonghyuk makes 20 different flavors of ice cream from scratch and obviously it's way better than what the store was selling, but it's not like anyone tells him that.

Uriel planned to order strawberry, but sees some weird spicy flavor like peppermint chili (also a real flavor) and gets that to fulfill her curiosity and her morbid taste in spicy foods. She eats the entire cone and loves it. Everyone else is appalled.

Kim Namwoon was going to order something edgy like ABFD, but Lee Jihye orders peach and he orders the same thing to match with her, at which point she changes her order to salted caramel. He ends up finding a new favorite flavor though.

Lee Hyunsung normally gets whatever is the special of the day, but that day, the special was something he definitely didn't like, so after a long time agonizing over what to order, he just got vanilla.

Kim Dokja tried to pick the cheapest option, but the others encouraged him (read: bullied him affectionately) to order something nice. He got mint chocolate chip like Yoo Joonghyuk. They were glad he said what he wanted but the ones who were on the "mint chocolate chip is bad" side were dismayed.

Lee Sookyoung also gets something really weird, but while Sun Wukong chose flavors that should not be made into ice cream, she picks flavors that could theoretically be good on their own but terrible when combined. Example: Carrot Pistachio Mint (not an ice cream flavor as far as I know but I saw a cupcake with a similar flavor once). Lemon Chili. Cherry Citrus Bubblegum (I wrote the first two, went, "Those two are both fruits and might go together. I've never had them together before, how would I know if it's bad? I need to make this worse," and added bubblegum at the last minute). Everyone else agrees that she's insane.

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lazyleafeon · 1 year

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[Image description: a 2 page comic starring 999th round Uriel and a teenage Kim Dokja from omniscient readers viewpoint. Kim Dokja is in his demon king form, and both of them are flying. Lee Jihye, Lee Hyunsung, Kim Namwoon, and Secretive Plotter watch from below.

Page 1:

Uriel: You’re doing great, Dokja!

Dokja uncovers his eyes, and as he flies more with Uriel he gets more comfortable in the air. Secretive Plotter follows them up into the sky using air steps.

Page 2:

Secretive plotter catches up with them.

Secretive plotter: are you two coming down?

End ID]

2 of 2 comics i drew for a gift exchange over discord of the 999 gang post canon

#999 uriel #orv uriel #kim dokja #oldest dream #secretive plotter #yoo joonghyuk #orv spoilers #omniscient reader's viewpoint #orv

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dreadark · 4 months

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After tens of thousands of years, their long journey had finally come to an end. They'd broken past the Final Wall, awoken the Oldest Dream, and could finally live the rest of their lives out in peace. Even Kim Namwoon could be satisfied with this ending. [Giant Story ‘Delusional Design’ is stuttering!] ...As soon as he figured out how to stop that.

the 999th regression gang + secretive plotter + oldest dream post-epilogue... but from the pov of the "monarch of the great abyss"

or: trying to exorcise my many many thoughts about kim namwoon by putting them in fic form

#orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #orv fic #orv spoilers #kim namwoon #secretive plotter #yoo joonghyuk #lee jihye #lee hyunsung #orv uriel #oldest dream #well that's all the guys in this chapter #(actually lee seolhwa is here too. but shh #did you know: i love 999 knw #(no one is surprised)#save writes

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bellevillenaty · 1 year

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An explanation to the main loop in ORV

- Beware of spoilers of the novel's epilogue -

I come to explain in the simplest possible way the loop that happens in ORV for those who want a more concise and less "philosophical" answer of the whole thing. But I must say that ORV, in general, is drawn to the philosophical side of human existence and that mainly revolves around its protagonists, because this is the story of Kim Dokja and a few other people, so don't expect a precise reason why things are the way they are.

With that out of the way, I'll explain mainly the three "main existences" in ORV which are: Secretive Plotter, tls123 and the Most Oldest Dream (not in this particular order) and how they are connected

[[….Oh, you sad, pitiful child.]]

[[Oh, hear ye, my dear god. I have endured a truly lengthy period of time just to meet you, but….]]

[[You are this universe’s most powerless existence, aren’t you.]]

...

[[….Is that why you needed us? This is a very cruel request for help, indeed.]]

...

[[You couldn’t even control your own imagination, is that it?]]

Chapter 515.

Some might consider that the Universe, or at least the entire tragedy of TWS, begins with the existence of the Most Oldest Dream because of this single sentence uttered by the 999th Uriel.

A child who had suffered years of abuse, neglect, and terrible trauma made a fictional story come true. That child dreamed to escape his own reality and forced himself into fiction to do so. By repeatedly saying "I am Yoo Jonghyuk," Kim Dokja gradually brought that man's story to life. But how did this child gain such power? How could this little child be the "Creator"?

...However, This story already existed and Kim Dokja just read it somewhere. So, if not the dreamer, who is the true creator of this universe?

At this point, many people who read ORV, just like the 999th gang and Secretive Plotter, are confused by the loop created by Han Sooyoung from 1863th turn, also known as the tls123.

The perpetuation of cause and effect "begins" in the 1863th turn, but also doesn't.

“Is this the price of the Outer World Covenant that you received? In exchange for killing Yoo Jonghyuk, you will get the power to make your own world?”

Kim Dokja to the 1863th Han Sooyoung - Chapter 295.

To recap, Han Sooyoung makes an Outer World Covenant with Secretive Plotter on the third turn and, like Kim Dokja, is taken to the 1863rd to kill Yoo Joonghyuk. However, unlike Kim Dokja, only one of Han Sooyoung's avatars is sent there, with the other one continuing to exist on the third turn.

Han Sooyoung's idea of "killing" Yoo Joonghyuk of that turn was to put him in deep slumber for eternity and thus create a new story out of the original story (out of Three Ways to Survive in a Ruined World) without him.

This implies that not only will she be able to push the boundaries of the original story that the protagonist himself failed to pass and go beyond the Final Wall, but she will also gain the power to create a brand new world. Perhaps when making the Outer World Covenant, Secretive Plotter had no idea of the details as contracts made within that Universe can have multiple interpretations and can be easily manipulated, even unintentionally.

Her ability also includes writing the Three Ways to Survive that Kim Dokja read and, with that, the combination of her power and Kim Dokja's dream allowed them to turn fiction into reality.

But, again, how did tls123 experience a story that was supossibly created just after her own existence? Yoo Joonghyuk's life already existed for Han Sooyoung to write about it, so she cannot be the creator.

Plus, if it weren't for her meeting Kim Dokja in the 1863th turn and the desire to see him survive, Han Sooyoung wouldn't have written TWS in the first place and would simply have continued her story beyond the 1863th turn.

“Something felt off to me about this world.”

It was my first time hearing such a shrewd tone of voice coming from him.

“One day, I suddenly came into existence in this world.”

0th Yoo Joonghyuk to Demon King of Salvation - Chapter 525

A conveniently-crafted life, a series of adversities created solely to become a tragedy later. This quote about Yoo Joonghyuk could explain his whole character, at least in the reader's mind.

After all, what is the reason for the existence of this character. Who is Yoo Joonghyuk? This question was on Yoo Joonghyuk's mind from the 0th turn all the way to the Secretive Plotter.

His life happened out of nowhere, and also, out of nowhere, thrown into the tragedies of a novel. On his first time in the scenarios, an unknown being helped him immensely using it’s strange knowledge about everything.

And after that, Yoo Joonghyuk felt that his life had been completely taken care of by someone else. As a final request, he wished to learn the truth about this world and himself.

But he was also curious about the existence of the being who had assisted him, and as a result, Yoo Joonghyuk regressed.

My interpretation

⸢The night sky was reflected in Yu Jung-Hyeok’s eyes.⸥

As if he was a child wondering about his origins, Yu Jung-Hyeok estimated where in the sky the [Wall] might be and extended his hand towards it.

He’d become the ‘Secretive Plotter’ someday, and…

….And at the same time, also become the 1864th turn’s Yu Jung-Hyeok that I knew.

Chapter 525.

For me there is a loop within a loop. Yes, Yoo Hoonghyuk would become Secretive Plotter and he would also become 1864th turn's Yu Jung-Hyeok, but not the ones we know.

Because, at the end of the day, they're both people from different universes. The Secretive Plotter is no longer a character within a novel for thousands of years, the fact that he has the power to travel to other turns and, above all, change many things from these turns (Outer World Covenant with 999th Yoo joonghyuk, and other Outer World Covenant with Han Soyooung and Kim Dokja) already shows that Yoo joonghyuk's will is what changes everything.

Yoo joonghyuk is the most powerful being.

He makes the decision to become a Regressor. Because he is a person who came from nothing and became everything.

He becomes a protagonist in an author's story, and he becomes a protagonist in a reader's story. Is there anyone more powerful than a protagonist?

Is there anyone more powerful than a protagonist who regress?

Yoo Joonghyuk is a real person, who became a legend, and finally became a protagonist. The loop occurred first with Yoo Joonghyuk himself and then spreading to those around him.

There is a dialogue between the Secretive Plotter and Yoo Joonghyuk from 14864th in which the Secretive Plotter says the following thing:

[…]

[[Did you know? There was this young boy in the front-most subway car that always died during every regression turn.]]

That question came out of nowhere. Yu Jung-Hyeok naturally recalled the events of the subway train. The very first scenario, the very first encounter with Hell that he had to experience every single time.

However, Yu Jung-Hyeok didn’t know anything about such a boy. Because, there were simply too many people who died in that manner back then.

[[While regressing several times, I tried to prevent his death, but it was impossible.]]

“…..”

[[He was really a young boy. Younger even than Yi Gil-Yeong. However, even such a child had to ‘prove his credentials’. For all of the 1863 lives, that child couldn’t even put up a proper fight and had to die. He died, and died, and died over and over again.]]

Chapter 458.

There's a theory that this boy was the Most Oldest Dream, however why would the supposed "God" of this world be dead in every regression that the Secretive Plotter faces on, and more importantly, why didn't our own Yoo Joonghyuk know about him?

There is a chance that such a boy will only appear because that is how the 1863th Yoo Joonghyuk wants it. Because the Secretive Plotter wanted it.

Secretive Plotter's greatest desire was to find the ‘creator’ of his tragic life and kill him.

It is strange, yes. But it is worth mentioning that our own Yoo Joonghyuk is someone who is in a new story created by himself and therefore he does not know this boy.

Remember? Our Yoo Joonghyuk is someone who has fled the novel story and is no longer a protagonist. The 1864’s turn Yoo Joonghyuk is no longer a character.

He escaped the barriers of TWS wanting to live that life shown by Kim Dokja. Living that turn that seemed perfect and so he did. From his own free will, he regresses and is now living that life.

As Yoo Joonghyuk had wished, he unwittingly erased his memory of all of his past lives and started a brand new story. And we all know that the Regressor Yoo Joonghyuk's life begins with the third round, but now, with Kim Dokja by his side, just as he wanted.

Unlike the Secretive Plotter that always wanted to find and kill The Most Oldest Dream, our Yoo Joonghyuk's wish was to find someone in particularly and fight alongside him. (Thus, the 0th turn Yoo Joonghyuk who Dokja thinks is the one he knew and our own Yoo Joonghyuk from 1864th turn. Both choose to regress for this reason).

The timeline will only move according to Yoo Joonghyuk's will (mostly), which is why the loop thing is so confusing when it comes to the other two.

Without Yoo Joonghyuk, neither Kim Dokja nor the Three Ways to Survive story would be possible.

As one of Kim Dokja's very first statments about Yoo Joonghyuk is:

"The first way to survive this ruined world is this man."

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I think I lost my hand here and I still have A LOT to say about, and I haven't even mentioned the Dokkaebi King or the Winny King yet and what they meant to this whole thing.

Did you guys have any opinions on this take? That’s my interpretation and maybe in the future I update this on a re-read or when I come with new ideias.

Because in the ORV story itself it is said that if you read it again, a new perspective is created.

(I also post this on Reddit)

#orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #yoo junghyuk #kim dokja #orv kim dokja #han sooyoung #secretive plotter #tls123 #most ancient dream #most oldest dream #Yoo Joonghyuk #orv theory

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felikatze · 27 days

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most ancient dream loop actually isn't what i have planned in my au but I need you to know that ever since i read your tags Ive been rotating it in my head. IT'S SO FASCINATING. because in the end it's still all their fault. it's still just them being so, so lonely and loving too much. Im insane Im insane Im not normal. Im insane. Im crazy. IM CRAZY. in this hypothetical would it not be siffrin who tries to kill OD, but OD who tries to kill siffrin. would siffrin look nothing but human, and loop the monster... but loop is the one who looks at siffrin, and hisses, "monster." It's just so isejis jeoejrkvmo33iu394i#&[$*$[2[3[=*#×(@,@**$

IT'S NOT YOUR PLAN??? it felt the obvious choice with kdj siffrin. though. upon consideration. bihyung loop would be funny as hell also.

BUT LIKE. A. YEAH. it came to mind bcuz of the homocide dynamic also. AND. WAIT. I JUST HAD A BRAINWAVE. ANCIENT DREAM IS THE FIRST ITERATION OF KDJ. LIKE. LOOP. and the whole of wos & orv exists to save MAD. the same way that Loop needed Siffrin to see how to keep on living. The same way Loop watches Siffrin over and over again, the way Loop has reduced their friends and family and themself to characaters that all ends when these characters reach through the page to hold them.

(Thinks abt MAD and the 999th gang in this context. Sobs)

it IS an interesting reversal that Loop sees Sif as a monster out of their own jealousy, whereas KDJ is disgusted by MAD bcuz MAD represents his lowest point and deepest insecurities he wishes gone. It's deeply similar I think in that Loop also sees Siffrin as their naive stupid past self and perceiving their own vulnerabilities through Siffrin registers as a threat to them.

In a Loop as MAD scenario it is also vry easy to spin Loop attacking Sif instead bcuz thru wos kdj continuously distances himself from what a "person" is often to focus on pragmatism that leads to the emotional hurt of his friends and also as a vehicle of his repressed suicidality. And seeing Sif so distanced from a "person" through the loops as well when Sif nonetheless got everything Loop ever wanted as Loop clung desparately to the last remnants of themself that Siffrin willingly let go, they would be mad, I imagine.

(ofc you said your AU isn't 1:1 so like, no scenarios probably. Actually do you keep scenarios and constellations or does Mirabelle just timeloop bcuz she keeps dying to the King ICAC-style?)

tldr: many thoughts. your mind is an enigma to me if it is not MAD Loop to KDJ Siffrin.

if it is actually bihyung Loop though I will laugh so fucking hard I'm making myself giggle over it

#Feli gets asked #isat spoilers #orv spoilers

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lacertae-dreamscape · 1 year

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Dokja surges forward to grab Secretive Plotter’s collar, and even as grizzled as he is, Secretive Plotter flinches at the unexpected action.

Tear tracks glisten in the flecks of moonlight illuminating the room as Dokja’s face twists. The hands bunching up the fabric of his shirt shake in a weak attempt to rock Secretive Plotter back and forth.

“Why can’t you hate me? You should hate me for what I did to you. All of you should. But instead you keep giving me all this hope and kindness like you actually care about me or something!”

fanart for my friend maely1234′s gorgeous fanfic that you can read HERE

it’s about the 999th gang and OD post-ending >:3c do go have a look!

#omniscient reader's viewpoint #omniscient reader #orv fanart #secretive plotter #kim dokja #the secretive plotter #oldest dream #the oldest dream #SOYdoesART

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luciemiddleford · 1 year

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I like, need a detailed byplay of exactly what was going through the gang (+ SP and the 999th team) when they saw the Oldest Dream and understood what was going on because. Because KimCom was Clearly Going Through It but Kim Dokja himself was too In Self Destruct horror mode to notice too much

Since he couldn't even understand wtf Han Sooyoung was saying

#orv spoilers #orv 515 spoilers #the oldest dream orv #kim dokja #kimcom

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melanchoise · 1 year

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HELLO I LOVED YOUR OD B'DAY ART SM !! (pls tell me you didn't see me clowning in the tags haha–) would you be willing to elaborate on why you chose the flowers you did for the 999th gang ? i was curious abt the flowers especially since im a sucker for flower meanings <33 have a good day / night ^^

UHM UHH HI 😳😳 i actually saw your tags before i went to sleep and i was planning to do a rb to my art after i wake up to explain to you further but since you sent in an ask thats awesome LOL

first off i'm glad you liked the art so much!! it is my pleasure to make art that twists the soul

actually you were kinda on the spot with everything! but some flower symbolism additions were part of my own hc for each member and i didn't know that someone would ask about it (nothing bad that you did!) so i'll elaborate below (also spoilers haha)

uriel: yep, lilies! i think it can mean affection for loved ones, but when i was thinking about it i intended for it to mean rebirth, devotion and longing at the same time. i think 999th's uriel went through too much and suffered a lot under bearing the weight of the inevitability of fate, but with OD i felt like her newest family may be a fresh start for her. she seems the most likely to cling to the past, but when faced with the most powerless existence in the universe, uriel would only feel pity and sadness for the god who never lived.

lee jihye: yippee you got it, hydrangeas! i didn't color these in, but the hydrangeas i was thinking of were pink and purple - heartfelt emotion as well as a yearning for compassion. all of the 999th, and i think especially ljh, felt an intense desire for the lives that the 1864th versions of them led. in the end, i would love to believe that they achieved peace, but i think the ancient sorrow and yearning that plagued them will always stick with me.

lee hyunsung: it was obvious from the start but sunflowers - an eternal adoration and loyalty to those around him. i have a lot of feelings about 999th lhs due to the fact that it just hits So Hard that he tries So Much just like in all those other rounds. and yet, despite everything, he will still look towards the light, like a sunflower :) you will never lose the shell again, lhs.

kim namwoon: those are actually wild daisy weeds! thought it'd be funny and a little in character if everyone else chose carefully while he just grabbed some off the sidewalk LOL - on another hand, daisies also symbolize rebirth and motherhood. knw seems like a lonely little fellow to me, and maybe he'll be a mom friend/babysitter figure to OD, who knows? new life, new start.

secretive plotter: yea, tulip :) red and orange. it's simple, yet represents deep, undying and unconditional love. i don't think i need to talk much about that, i just think the SP's ■■ doesn't need a long explanation.

ough this is so long LMAO

anyway this is just my interpretation, which will be different from other people! so if anyone has any other thoughts feel free to scream at me etc etc i would love to hear about them :D

#orv spoilers #orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #999 gang #the oldest dream #secretive plotter #asks

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headphonemouse · 10 months

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I haven't made a graph in years ANYWAYS.

all this is to say that the Oldest Dream has no goddamn clue who the 999th gang are. The 999th regression should have been covered while he was in uni, probably.

I got the blue line from diving 1863 by 13. The red data points are from chapter 367 where he talks about "it was the x turn and I was in middle school/uni/whatever" I added a trendline cuz i didn't know when exactly in those years those chapters were released, so the points are more like "this happened somewhere within that year." The graph was more to see how accurate the predicted progression was, and it's accurate enough for me.

Since chapter one we know Kim Dokja went through school and uni first before being drafted to the military but we don't know how long he spent in uni and the military. We also know that some regressions were longer than others (like 999th where YJH almost reaches the end) while others were much shorter (like 8th when he died in the theater dungeon). We are lucky that 2nd wasn't covered since YJH spent like 200 years training. I don't think he ever did that again because he ended up regretting living for so long.

I will probably revisit this once I've read more but damn I want to read it a third time to note what happened in each regression, since this information wasn't presented chronologically.

#orv #orv spoilers #leon rereads orv

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tamaharu · 2 years

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ugh.. kim dokja discovering who the oldest dream is. this poor, helpless fifteen-year-old, bruised and lonely, doing whatever he can to survive.

and after surviving, he'd drive everyone he loved to utter misery.

so kdj must become a monster. and going in for the kill, even though kcom is desperately trying to hold him back. the sword breaks, but kdj is so determined to kill him that he connects them and tries with all his might to take out his own throat, even with kcom holding all his limbs.

secretive plotter and the other 999th gang meeting od and kdj presumes theyll kill him. instead, they are moved by how powerless he is, with kdj blearily attempting to find a blade to kill him, shouting out that they need to kill od.

i dont need your sympathy.

he cant accept it. he needs to find a blade, he needs to finish it. but its too late. but.. after seeing that, after the oldest dream has finished, what is kim dokja supposed to do? how will this world keep moving, where hes forgiven. where he was embraced. kim dokja will definitely get off that train, will sit down by the river, will hand out flowers at graduation. thats how he'll survive.

han sooyoung and yoo joonghyuk looked behind them, with the face of someone who had left something behind. the only person who didnt look back was kim dokja.

and i was quietly staring at that scene.

#oughhhhh. i dont know how to convey how many emotions im having excelt to just repeat lines.#why am i crying.#o/rv lb

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page551 · 1 year

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truly a missed opportunity on singshong's part to let sp remain a child bcs when he is reunited with od they could've been childhood friends...

imagine 999th gang fighting over which one will send BOTH of them to school..

uriel is chosen once and sp "somehow" got himself thirty injuries on the row just from walking to school alone. he can only curse himself because of his small body

sp and od being deskmates and sp glaring blo0dy m*rder at anyone who dares badmouth od

od calls sp hyung once and sp becomes as red as a tomato. the gang doesnt let him forget that for weeks

#orv #omniscient reader's viewpoint #oldest dream #secretive plotter #999th gang

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ridley-was-a-cat · 7 months

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What I Watched This Week – 11/12 – 11/18

Chrono Crusade – I’ve been vaguely aware of this series basically since it came out in the US, and just had never gotten around to watching it. Now that I have seen it, I can’t figure out for the life of me how this was as popular or enduring as it has been, because it really wasn’t very good. The main character, a young nun who belongs to a militaristic church order that exterminates demons, is just breathtakingly stupid, and much of the plot relies on her carelessness, recklessness, and general thoughtlessness creating problems that turn into dramatic situations. It’d be one thing if the story didn’t take itself too seriously and played all of this off as comedy, but considering the serious tone of the ending and the straight-faced action sequences, it really felt like it wanted me to feel the suspense of a girl getting kidnapped by the big bad after the brain geniuses at the religious order tasked the main character they’re constantly berating for being incompetent with her protection.

In addition to the writing being pretty amateurish, the visuals are nothing to write home about, and they capture basically nothing about Catholicism beyond an extremely surface aesthetic. Anime just completely cannot tell the difference between the insides of Catholic churches and Protestant ones, and always have their sexy gun nuns running around these plain-walled, saint-statue-free brick meeting houses that are Episcopal at best. 5/10

Galaxy Express 999 Ep. 101-113 – I started watching this back in the spring, and decided this would be the perfect anime to make my 999th completed entry on MAL. That mark rolled around this past week, and it became time to say goodbye to Tetsurou and Maetel and their journey across the universe. It was a fun little episodic series made up of one- to two-episode long vignettes about the people they met on the planets the train stopped at along the journey to the Andromeda galaxy to get Tetsurou a mechanical body. I enjoyed the creative and fantastical approach to sci-fi, never bothering itself too much with how anything could be possible, and just doing it and wondering how that would play out.

As much as I liked the idea of riding a train across space and opening the windows to feel the breeze, and as weird and wonderful as many of the planets were, the one thing about this series that keeps it from being a favorite of mine is its fairly conservative politics. Many of the vignettes were pretty didactic with a clear moral to them, and that moral often stressed the dignity of work, or how giving money to the poor just makes them lazy, or that if people had machines to do work for them they’d become deathly indolent and fat. It wasn’t a poison pill obviously, or I wouldn’t have watched over a hundred episodes of it, but I did often feel like I was talking to my boomer mother. 7/10

Belladonna of Sadness – I was fishing around for ideas of what to watch for my 1000th completed anime, and somebody suggested watching something I wouldn’t usually think to watch that would be memorable one way or the other. That comment immediately shook this title of my mind, because what could be more memorable than a 50-year-old arthouse anime about rape and witchcraft? In the loosest terms, the story follows a medieval peasant woman named Jeanne and her husband Jean and her rocky life of trials and devilish temptation in the aftermath of the local lord gang-raping her on her wedding night. The movie is made up of a mixture of watercolor and oil paint stills, as well as bursts of abstract animation that convey more of a vibe or a feeling rather than specific actions, making it feel more like a dream than a story. It was sometimes difficult to watch, as the rape is very much on-screen and center stage despite being depicted abstractly, and not all of the experimental flourishes feel purposeful or meaningful, but it’s definitely a movie I’ll be thinking about for a long time. 7/10

#anime #backlist anime #chrono crusade #galaxy express 999 #belladonna of sadness

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cyclonesyndicate · 1 year

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forge ahead || mastermind trial

The elevator brings you up to the 999th floor. Through the force field bubble you see the curve of the earth’s atmosphere forming a horizon below the endless, twinkling void of space above. If all goes well, this will be your last time here. How do you feel? Does your stomach twist with apprehension? Or does your heart burn with resolve? One way or another, you will find the answers you seek at the end of this trial, and then it will all be over.

An extra chair has been added to the round, ring-shaped table. For the first time, all twenty of you are here together. The table has changed again; the curving bars of metal supporting the table’s surface no longer twist into the shapes of animals. Instead, it’s a blank canvas, a waterfall of curving white lines forming simple undulating waves that seem to move at the edge of your vision.

You all find your seats, together, a syndicate twenty-strong, ready to begin. Tony clambers up into the twenty-first chair and stands on its seat.

“The gang’s all here!” he exclaims, spreading his little raccoon arms wide. He seems subdued, somehow, but he’s trying to carry himself with the same bravado as usual. “Nice to see all ya’s ugly mugs together again.”

"Youse all knows why you’re here! It’s time ta solve the last puzzle. The biggest puzzle! The biggest, baddest, realest puzzle of ‘em all!”

"Who’s behind this killing game? Who is the big boss?”

The biggest, baddest, realest puzzle of them all. You look around the room, at all of the faces you’ve come to know so well. Twenty of you, and one mastermind.

And then, you feel a buzz from your CyPhone.

Let's not get too ahead of ourselves, Tony. We need to keep this elegant. Let's start with the small questions first. What is the meteor's involvement with everything?

Even now, the mastermind wants to play games with you. It seems there’s more than one puzzle to solve before you can get to the main event.

Take a breath. Pace yourself.

The end is in sight.

[FINAL TRIAL START]

#ch 6

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