#ALSO the keikaku thing is on purpose

[worldoshaking]

I’ve been having thoughts about translation lately, specifically in the context of svsss. tl;dr I really, really love the ways danmei fan translations are creating a vernacular of their own, and new conventions for what a good translation should look like. Both the web translation and the licensed version are amazing in different ways.

(First of all, I want to clarify that I’m speaking very much as a reader - I have no experience translating, and have the greatest respect for anyone who does. This is just a ramble about my own impressions as a reader of translations, based on my very specific cultural context; I don’t have the expertise for anything else. This is about translating fiction, not technical translation, which is completely different - there, a seamless, invisible translation is the objective. I’m also not Chinese and speak very little of the language, so I would not want to speak over anyone with a connection to the cultural context of these works. I also want to acknowledge that this whole community exists because of the enormous amount of labour Sinophone fans have put in to make these works accessible to the rest of us - as translators, writers of meta, and starters of important and often difficult conversations - and I’m immensely grateful for that!)

*

It’s kind of a peculiarity of English that localisation as a concept feels a little weirder than with other languages, because of the breadth and complexity of the Anglosphere as well as the historical context of the language’s spread. The thing is, English is a lingua franca that’s spoken in lots of situations where there are other languages in the picture: in online communities, in academic contexts, in diaspora communities, in countries with a colonial history, in conversations with people from other countries. In each of those situations, the context and purpose is a little different, and in some cases it can give rise to a distinctly recognisable flavour of English. I grew up in one of those contexts; English is my first language and I would call myself functionally a native speaker, but you can also hear from my English that there are, so to speak, other languages in the picture somewhere. This is also why the concept of ‘native’ is kind of a flawed one in a post-colonial world: there’s a degree of (often racial) bias in whose dialect is considered standard or native, and whose is ‘speaking wrong.’

Anyway, all of this is why it sounds weird to me when localisation gets taken too far, to the point where things like modes of address and linguistic register get ironed out, because it’s not completely unimaginable to me that these characters could be in situations where they would speak in English, even to each other, without their cultural context being any different. (I mean, there’s English-language slang in svsss, and two of the characters even use English as their secret language.) And as a speaker of English in largely bilingual contexts (i.e. contexts where everyone has other languages in common but English is the one we’re using), it sounds much less weird to me to, for example, keep the honorifics and titles, because that’s what I would do in an analogous context in real life. But more generally, it makes sense to look to how bilingual and diasporic speakers of the source language handle it! There are often specific conventions and forms of address that arise in bilingual linguistic communities. For instance, calling someone an ‘auntie.’

(This is a matter of taste, but I’m also okay with footnotes, because in my head the characters aren’t speaking to me, they’re speaking to each other with a shared cultural context; it’s fine if they use terms I don’t understand. But everything in moderation, of course; sometimes you need to translate ‘keikaku’ as ‘plan.’)

I think the reason it sounds weird and off to my ears when a translation sounds too localised is that it can feel whitewashed; at worst, some translations sound like they’re asking ‘How would these characters speak if they were white and monolingual and from the US?’ rather than ‘How would these characters speak if they happened to be speaking English?’ More generally, the approach prioritises creating a product that flows smoothly to speakers of the target language, who might not have any context for the source language; something along the lines of ’how would it sound if you had a babel fish in your ear?’ This would normally be a pretty reasonable approach to translation, but it sounds weird in this case specifically because those characters could be speaking English, and if they did that’s not how they’d speak it; for instance, if a character uses a respectful title to address someone else it sounds jarring to hear them just use a first name in the translation, because that conveys a completely different impression of the relationship between them and erases a potential hierarchy or power dynamic.

Of course, there are also really good translations that find interesting and creative ways to convey things like linguistic register in a smooth and elegant way, without relying on things like honorifics; these could potentially be more effective at conveying cultural context. It’s also about drawing a line between unnecessarily exoticising or othering the culture of the original work (which titles and honorifics can sometimes do, as in anime fandom) versus simplifying things too much in the urge to make them accessible to white audiences. There isn’t really a one-size-fits-all answer, beyond listening respectfully to speakers of the source language. But it’s a little uncomfortable that some modes of address and turns of phrase are labelled as ‘unnatural’ and ‘wrong’ when they’re quite conceivably ones that speakers of dialect or people with a diasporic background would use, or that societal structures that provide important context are completely erased from the translation.

*

I think that’s part of what I particularly enjoy about the good webnovel fan translations I’ve read: they preserve a lot more of that bilingual oddity and liveliness than, say, a commercial anime translation typically would. Granted, there’s always a slight artificiality to the exercise of translation, because you are constructing an English that these characters would speak when they don’t do that in the source material (characters who might, for example, live in a fantasy version of Ancient China, where English doesn’t even exist). But this feels like a much more natural and respectful, as well as more fun, way to do it! It’s also just a really fun linguistic worldbuilding exercise in miniature. I love the fact that these translations are creating a vernacular of their own among translators and readers, with a shared vocabulary of generally understood expressions that aren’t quite standard English (for instance, expressions like ‘who’s your shimei?’ or describing a clingy character as ‘sticky’ - it’s not the first term the typical Anglophone would use, but it’s both understandable and delightfully evocative) as well as titles like ‘shizun’ and ‘shixiong.’ Fundamentally, these translations feel very organically bilingual, and there’s an affection for the source material that really comes through.

Of course, it can be a delicate balancing act to decide how much you can get away with while keeping the translation functional and readable. I love both the original web translation and the licensed version of svsss, because I feel like they both take slightly different approaches to this question while still retaining the bilingual flavour. There are specific turns of phrase in the original fan translation that I really love (for instance, Shen Qingqiu’s ‘pure and literary air’ when he fights.) I also loved the inclusion of Chinese slang, and extremely serviceable terms like ‘papapa’ (as well as the borrowed Japanese slang; it really gives you the context of Shen Qingqiu being an annoying otakuTM, and I say this with the utmost affection for him.)

At the same time, I think the licensed translation does a wonderful job of keeping the slangy otaku online-ness of svsss while making it smoother and more accessible to a wider audience. They didn’t keep ‘papapa’ (at least so far; I haven’t read 2 in full yet), but the fact that they replace it with a range of wonderful, terrible, embarrassing euphemisms along the lines of ‘take a trip to pound town’ is even funnier. (Especially the fact that they come up with a different terrible expression every time; it’s so creative and hilarious!) They make Shen Qingqiu every bit as ridiculous and cringey and lovable as he is in the original fan translation, and construct a really unique and delightful English for him. I think the footnotes are also more extensive, and they’re really helpful!

In the end, I think the web and licensed translations are really complementary to each other, and I would heartily recommend reading both!

#mine #meta #...i mean. barely #mxtx #svsss #svsss meta #long post #shen qingqiu #shen yuan #linguistics #translation #also i love the illustrations in the licensed version so much ;_; #fluffy curly binghe <333 #scum villain #scum villain's self saving system

[otakween]

Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 - Disc 7

There's a mysterious tamer/partner on the inside of the cover of this one. Will there be another crossover omake or are those just new characters...?

Ch. 41

-Neo really reminds me of Yami Bakura with his heavy eye liner and white hair. (Except he's less interesting cuz he was rotten from the start).

(God, Yu-Gi-Oh! could get ugly...)

-Omegamon powering up via the "power of hope" and then the other side characters conveniently being like "we still have things to do here, so we can't go with you, Hideto" felt pretty contrived. I guess whoever wrote this likes to handle a small amount of characters at once and I can respect that.

-Yaoi anatomy spotted. Neo's waist is literally slimmer than his neck. What is this Winx Club!?

Ch. 42

-I stand corrected, we're now cutting back and forth between Hideto and Taichi and the rest of the gang. I like this, keeps the pace quick and the plot interesting.

-Neo's henchmen (Neo Devimon) beating up Omegamon when he was already half dead felt pretty dark. Are they called Neo Devimon because of Neo or is that just an awkward coincidence? lol

Ch. 43

-Jijimon kinda looks like a little furry penis lol. In black and white it's hard to distinguish where his head ends and his body begins.

-What was Birdramon there for (next to Jijimon)? Literally served zero purpose...

-Suddenly they threw all these new digimon at me at once! I had to look up where Callismon's name comes from and apparently it's supposed to be a reference to Callisto. All the new digis are boring to me because they're the buff, robo-cop-esque variety. Meh. (This is why I prefer Pokemon designs, more animal-like and cute compared to digimon's human-like and manly)

Ch. 44

-Whelp, that explains why I've never seen Callismon before, Neo created him! Whenever they introduce these man-made digis, I wonder what their fate will be in terms of reappearances. Will we never see Callismon in another part of the franchise since Neo wouldn't be around? Guess we'll see...

-Not much happened this chapter, just some predictable battling -yawn- a lot of padding in this manga.

Ch. 45

-Boring end to a boring battle. Once again, this just felt like padding.

-Demon's castle looks more like a factory plant than a castle. Ooglay

-Neo is such a sore loser. Every time his minions lose he's like "no, you see, I MEANT to do that. All according to keikaku."

-Digimon Frontier Generation Omake

-This volume ends with a one-shot Frontier cross-over omake. Why did they just skip over Tamers? Oh well...I've never seen Frontier so this is my first exposure to it. Feels backwards...

-What time period is this supposed to take place in? Taichi and Takuya just get yanked out of their own adventures and into a new one. Realistically, shouldn't they be like "uh, I'm kinda busy!" Especially Taichi who was on his way to Demon's castle lol. Maybe time freezes when you go to a parallel world tho...

-So Frontier has humans digivolving? Do they all digivolve into human-like digimon? I hope not...that sounds boring. Also, I guess that means way less characters and higher stakes for the kids? I think I would miss the digimon-human relationships...(Edit: apparently they have a human form and a beast form, but the beast form looked pretty human-like to me so meh).

-So is Babamon parallel world Jijimon or does Babamon also exist in Taichi's world? I bet we'll see them paired up at some point lol

-They really said "I know, brown hair and goggles!" for Tamers' protagonist. -sigh- groundbreaking...

-Zero uses Dragon Impulse, but wasn't that the attack he was supposed to never use again? Fuck his lifespan I guess...

-This manga had some kind of barcode gimmick that I can't use without a toy. Wonder what they do lol...I do think it's a clever gimmick that I would have enjoyed as a kid. It'd probably be a QR code nowadays.

This felt very similar to the Digimon Adventure 02 collab. Fluffy little filler omake where two worlds collide and the kids learn to respect their differences. I'll always enjoy a crossover, even if they are kinda low effort.

#digimon adventure v-tamer 01 #manga #digimon frontier #digimon

[lightyaoigami]

13,15,16,18,30 for writer ask!

ahh thanks tanya!! great questions!

13. Is there a trope you wouldn’t write if it was the last trope on earth?

anything to do with pregnancy/babies is a hard no for me. also throwing in a hateful shout-out to buffyspeak my most loathed!!

15. A Hollywood producer tells you that they want to film just one of your fics. Which fic would you want it to be?

the one i'm about to post in the next day or so >:) i will drop the link when it's ready but it's called kompromat. i can ~visualize~ this one so clearly in my mind, i wish i could draw so i could make it into a comic.

16. What is your most underrated fic?

i just posted amnesia haze, which was was surprisingly hard for me to write because it was a little woobie for my usual taste but i'm happy with the way it turned out. lmk if you guys like it.

18. What is a line/scene you’re really proud of? Give us the DVD commentary for that scene.

i love this question. i'm very proud of this bit here from down bad:

"His coordination was flagging, reminding him of a recent trip to the arcade where he had attempted to play Maimai Murasaki on the highest difficulty. It had been discomfiting to admit that his fingers just weren’t limber enough, and the harder he tried, the more cringe-inducing it became. He pressed his left hand to his chest to make sure it was still rising and falling and wondered if anyone had ever suffocated to death on a classmate’s [redacted]."

i spent a lot of time taking handwritten notes on how it would feel for a very persnickety person like light to do something that is objectively undignified, messy, and a little gross--even if it was his idea. and not only that, he's doing it for the first time ever, he's a little hammered, and he has strong feelings towards this person even if he mischaracterized those feelings as hatred. so yeah i wrote a lot of post-it notes on the myriad ways you can fuck up performing a [redacted] on someone despite really wanting to impress them. i also have to credit my genius pal @llawlietofficial for giving me the idea of "playing a video game on insanity mode and you're just not good enough at it to win" which was such a banger. i also think that there are not NEARLY enough fics exploring the idea that sex doesn't always go according to keikaku. while i totally understand the desire for wish fulfillment and fantasy, there is something to be said about writing things to give readers the ick on purpose to represent a more realistic, vulnerable, intimate encounter. it just tugs my heartstrings, ok? :))

30. Tell us an idea for a longfic you want to write in the future.

devastatingly i suffer from only-can-write-oneshots disease. i guess mine would be a more slow-burn college au that i could put down bad in as a chapter. or a slow burn detective workplace thing. i love slow burn. their pinkies can touch but only after 50k words /s

Behind the Scenes of Fic Writing: 30 Questions for Authors

#ask meme #reznorty3 #my writing

[aceprosecuties]

Day 2 of #gayblackquillweek!  Prompt is soba.  Simon tries taking Nahyuta out to his favorite soba shop.  Things do not exactly go as planned.  Approx. 1200 words.  Also largely unedited so please excuse any errors or anything like that!

“Wait, what’re you talking about, Simey?”

Simon pinched the bridge of his nose as an exasperated and borderline angry sigh left his lips.  He had explained this to Bucky at least three other times, but perhaps the drink that the chef had obviously over-indulged in had made it difficult for him to comprehend…much of anything.

“For the last time, I need tonight’s meal to be exceptional, as I’m bringing a…date.” Simon hated saying that, and the word left his mouth awkwardly, but he remained standing with his arms crossed. “I expect you to be sober and prepared.”  Although Bucky rarely let him down before with his soba, Simon was nervous about tonight, despite that, technically, his date had tasted Bucky’s food before.

“Yeah, yeah, I got that.  What I don’t get,” Bucky slurred, leaning on the counter and smirking up at his friend, “is that this date of yours is that super pretty prosecutor.  The ‘sad monk,’ you called him.”  Bucky then lowered his voice, and spoke with an accusatory tone. “He’s the enemy, you know.”

“Once, yes, he and I clashed blades in the courtroom but that is in the past,” Simon replied, turning his head away.  “He is actually…quite admirable.”

Not to mention his eyes were beautiful green emeralds that Simon could easily get lost in for hours.  But he’d leave that particular comment in his thoughts rather than voicing them to Bucky.

“Ugh, fine, just stop with the lovey eyes.  What time?”

“Again, seven.  Everything needs to be perfect.”

-----

Everything was far from perfect.

First, Nahyuta ended up having to speak with Edgeworth for longer than he originally anticipated, and then had to take a few calls from Khura’in which lasted for what felt like forever, so of course they didn’t leave the prosecutors’ office until after the time Simon had said they would be at the restaurant.  

And then the cab they took had this funky smell to it, plus all the traffic…and then when Simon tried calling Bucky, no one would pick up, so he spent the entire car ride bouncing his leg up and down anxiously.

“Peace, Simon,” Nahyuta said, putting his hand on Simon’s knee while the other was held up in the air as if he was praying. Unfortunately, the hand did not have the comforting effect that Nahyuta had intended it to.  Even though Simon’s leg stopped moving so much, the man was still feeling restless and annoyed; he had everything planned so well!  How could it all have gone so wrong?

He just wanted to make sure Nahyuta had a nice night, and everything was not going according to keikaku.  

Although they ended up at the Whet Noodle an hour after he had said, Simon half expected that Bucky would have at least remained somewhat professional.  But…no.  Apparently Simon’s tardiness caused the man to worry and a worried Bucky meant a drinking Bucky.  He was sloshed and sick when Simon arrived with Nahyuta following him.

“Heeeey, Simey!  And there’s that prosecutor who tried to put me in jail!”  He was loud and slurring and caused a commotion immediately.

Simon growled and stormed up to the counter.  “Bucky, I called you to say we were running late. What happened?”

“Oh, well, I was kind of busy so I didn’t pick up my phone.  You should’ve called the restaurant!”

“I did.”

“Well…then I didn’t get the message.  Oh hey Mister Monk guy!”

Nahyuta had followed Simon up to the counter, and despite the less-than-professional greeting, just offered the chef a polite smile in return.  “Mr. Whet, it is good to see you again.  I hope you’re not too sick to prepare dinner for us?  Simon’s been looking forward to this, you know.”

“I do know!”  Bucky leaned in, whispering to Nahyuta while staring at Simon.  Well…whisper was not the right term, because although he had his hand to his mouth as if telling Nahyuta some big secret, he was actually speaking more than loud enough for practically the entire place to hear him. “He was being all weird about it, kept planning things and coming in to make sure I would do everything right for ya. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say he really likes you – he usually doesn’t go through this much trouble.”

“That’s enough, Bucky,” Simon growled, his face turning a shade of crimson as his friend gossiped about him to his date around two feet from where he was standing.  “Just…go make the soba!”

“Alright, alright, jeez.”  Bucky threw his hands up and went back to the kitchen, leaving Simon and Nahyuta at the counter.

“Wipe that smirk off your face, Sad Monk.”

Nahyuta had been mischievously smiling at Simon since before Bucky left them. 

“You didn’t actually plan for this, did you?”

“So what if I did?  It doesn’t matter anyway, does it?  Everything went wrong.”

“Oh, Simon,” Nahyuta sighed, while moving in closer to the other man and bringing his hand up to rest on Simon’s shoulder. “You worry far too much.  You do know I’m happy just being with you, right?”

Simon said nothing, but the redness still evident in his cheeks was enough of an answer.

“Then relax.  The Holy Mother-”

“Nope, stop, I will leave.”

Nahyuta pulled both of his hands up in a defensive position, but he was still smiling.  “What I mean to say, is that you don’t need to try and impress me.”

Simon turned so he was fully facing Nahyuta, and couldn’t stop himself.  He leaned in to place a quick kiss on Nahyuta’s cheek, as a silent thank you for being so understanding about everything.

They then heard a crash.

Both of them looked at each other and the leapt over the countertop to barge into the kitchen.  Bucky had fainted onto the floor; their noodles were still uncooked, so nothing had spilled onto him to make any sort of a dangerous situation.  

“Hey, Bucky!”  Simon crouched down and shook his friend, hoping to rouse him. Luckily, he saw Bucky’s eyes open.

“What happened?”

“You fainted.”

“Oh, sorry about that Simey…lemmie just get up and-”

“No, Bucky.”  Simon helped Bucky to his feet and crossed his arms over his chest.  “You ought to close up and get home.  I don’t need you fainting again and ruining my dinner by spilling it all over yourself and the floor.  You should go sleep.  I’ll just have to bring my date another day for your soba,” he said, smirking a little. Bucky knew Simon well enough by now that this meant he was off the hook for tonight and that Simon wasn’t angry with him.  

After Bucky thanked him, the pair exited the kitchen and then the shop.

“Sorry…”

Nahyuta stared when Simon mumbled out an apology, but not long before he was grabbing the samurai prosecutor and pulling him in for a kiss.  When they broke apart, Simon had an expression on his face that was adorably dumbfounded, with his eyes widened and his cheeks flushed.

“I told you before…you don’t need to impress me. I enjoy all of my time with you.” Nahyuta hooked his arm with Simon’s and started walking.  “Come, I know of a great burger place around here.”

#ace attorney #gayblackquillweek #blackmadhi #simon blackquill #nahyuta sahdmadhi #simon x nahyuta #prosecuting boyfriends #my writing #bucky whet #sorry if this is rushed I was...rushing >_> #ALSO the keikaku thing is on purpose #because Simon would think like that #I refuse to believe otherwise

[poorlittleyaoyao]

I mean Nieyao were close in the books, it's mentioned that NMJ took it so hard because he has a hard time growing close to people and that he finally found someone he really connected with and trusted since Xichen and then JGY killed a guy and faked suicide so he could seal NMJ's spiritual energy and make sure he couldnt follow him to force him to turn himself in. People are just very intense in this universe, songxiao were together for like six months

Good LORD. Between this and Novel LWJ falling in forever-and-ever love with Novel WWX after a couple months of being harassed at summer camp, everyone in Novelverse is operating on the same bonding timeline as college freshmen. This isn't an insult, because the people about whom I went "wow!! just met this person but we are now Best Friends!!" during my first month or so of college are STILL some of my best friends over a decade later... but yeah, like you said, it's intense! And it's a very different vibe from what CQL gives us, I think, because its general policy of bringing characters into the narrative sooner and/or adding content for worldbuilding purposes results in all the characters having more of a history when things go south.

Since I haven't read much of the novel beyond what's been officially released in English, I'm curious to know what we hear about JGY's view on his three months with NMJ. I sympathize with both iterations of NMJ, because for someone so genuinely devoted to his values and who was forced to grow up VERY fast and never got much of a chance to connect with his peers, it would be VERY UPSETTING to have the guy you thought was your bestie be like "if you thought you saw me kill your officer, no you didn't." Then next time you see him, he's working for the guy who killed your father and seems to be having a LOT of fun torturing you, and THEN your one remaining bestie insists that It Was All According To Keikaku, he didn't mean it, we just had a secret plan that we never told you about. That sucks! I'd be furious too! (Though I'd also be furious with LXC for not trusting me with the truth and/or taking his word over mine, tbh.)

HOWEVER--and this goes back to me wondering about JGY's perspective in the novel--I also feel for JGY here. To me, the core of Nieyao's dysfunctions are that they are never, ever on even footing. Regardless of NMJ's intentions, JGY is NMJ's subordinate in their time together--and not in a "technically you're my servant but really we're besties" way like the Jiang siblings and WWX. JGY doesn't a lifetime of shared memories or well-regarded parents to trade on; he has no ties to Qinghe at all. His standing is fully dependent on NMJ's goodwill, so it is in his interest to play into whatever connection NMJ believes them to have, regardless of his own feelings.

Which makes it extra messy! Because NMJ would, I think, be absolutely FURIOUS if it occurred to them that JGY might have considered his affection compulsory--not in a jerkass possessive way, but on principle. Furious at JGY for lying to him, furious at himself for not considering the power differential, furious at the whole situation for preventing him from forming a bond on its own merits. (Meanwhile, I think LXC is valuable for both NMJ and JGY because they both forge their relationships with LXC on equal footing in a way that they never could with each other.)

CQL gives the impression that they've know each other for awhile, long enough that JGY's well-established as NMJ's deputy before NHS heads to Cloud Recesses Summer Camp. I'm admittedly a JGY apologist, but I interpret JGY's distress when NMJ banishes him as 100% genuine. Both of them are hurting, both of them feel betrayed, and neither of them want this to be happening because they have a meaningful shared history. My general impression of the novel vs. the show is that the show downplays the political aspects to their conflict (as well as the physical threat NMJ poses) in favor of cranking up the personal aspect. The Gone Girlification of Jin Guangyao that we get in CQL doesn't seem to mesh with what I've heard of MDZS, which in turn is what makes me wonder how novel JGY viewed his and NMJ's relationship.

#I am sorry anon! WoH took over my brain yesterday and it is quite late #so I hope this makes any sort of sense #still stuck on Songxiao only knowing each other for 6 months in the novel like W H A T #but if they're both in their late teens/early 20s.... yeah that tracks

[has-gilgamesh-doneanythingwrong]

Gilgamesh having a spat with another Heroic spirit and someone recording it and posting it onto social media andd the shit just goes viral. Plus Gil manipulated that to his own advantage

LMAO, this one made me laugh my socks off. I can totally imagine that happening. It's all according to his plans...

Here, he'll fight multiple spirits. Can you guess who they are?

Gilgamesh Fighting with Heroic Spirits (and then recording it)

-Gilgamesh was bored, dispirited even. With all his closest allies out on quests, he had nobody in particular to talk to. Due to a tumultuous series of unfortunate events encountered in the latest lostbelt, there was a severe lack of morale in Chaldea as well.

- In other words, there was nobody to entertain him. That meant only one thing for Gilgamesh- it was time for CHAOS!!!!

- Lurking through the halls of Chaldea, Gilgamesh searches for any unlucky targets; coming across none other than...

ARTHUR PENDRAGON.

- A chill runs up his spine as he encounters the Saber in the canteen, eyes widening with glee. As Gilgamesh can never seem to run into Artoria (she either greets him coldly or avoids him), Arthur presents himself as the perfect new rival for Gilgamesh to test his mettle against.

- When Gilgamesh speedily clunks his golden feet as he paces powerfully towards Arthur, all Arthur can mumble is a slight 'hello...??' before Gilgamesh challenges him to a spar.

- "Loser wears whichever outfit their victor shall desire." Arthur is so confused by this random challenge, and has no clue what in the blue blazes Gilgamesh is going on about- so he tries to politely refuse him. However, Gilgamesh successfully manages to goad him into the fight by questioning Arthur's honor as a king.

- Arthur is FUMING with rage. As the two of them exchange sharp insults, weapons flying haphazardly around the place; as they bitterly clash against one another- a Mordred wandering around with Fran takes sight of this ridiculous scene and is captivated by it (they have wanted to see arthur in battle!) Then before anybody even realizes it, the Knights of the Round start pulling out their devices to record the entire thing; as they scream words of encouragement in support of Arthur.

- However, when Arthur sadly loses and is forced to wear an incredibly gaudy and short maid outfit, the knights' reactions are quite interesting. Some claim that they will battle Gilgamesh to reclaim Arthur's honor, whilst others such as Mordred thank Gilgamesh for the sheer hilarity of this event.

- As soon as this hits the Chaldea network, everybody goes INSANE. Arthur is embarrassed beyond belief, and Gilgamesh is as smug as ever! He had always wanted to try out a prank like this.

- As Gilgamesh departs the premises, he grins proudly. He's happy to have at least boosted Chaldea's morale a little bit.

- And now, his next target was....

Medea.

- However, she anticipated him just in time. You see, Gilgamesh knew about Medea's secret collection of figurines and outfits- possessing a great interest in them. He planned to catch her in her room in order to give her a good scare.

- Before Gilgamesh can even burst into Medea's room with his recording device, Medea's magical wards set themselves off; destroying Gilgamesh's device with one hit.

- The King is shocked to his very bones. For Medea to see through his plans comes at a great surprise. With a new sense of respect for her, he carries on with his journey.

The Chaldea Kitchen

- As soon as Emiya catches sight of Gilgamesh's presence within the Chaldea Kitchen, he pulls out Kanshou and Bakuya with enough force to startle even Tamamo Cat!!

- In spite of that, when Gilgamesh asks Raikou and Boudicca to pass him the rice; Emiya's face twists with delirious confusion. Gilgamesh? Offering to help with the cooking? Lowering his blades, he mutters insults underneath his breath as he resumes cooking lunch for the kiddy gang.

- 'I must be losing my touch,' Emiya muses, as Boudica and Raikou teach Gilgamesh how to use the rice cooker. Interestingly enough, Gilgamesh listens carefully to both of them, although he does boast that he has a contraption that works even better than a rice cooker. However when Boudicca says "ok then show us hotshot!!!", Gilgamesh glares at her.

- Once the rice is cooked, Gilgamesh dumps it onto his pure gold serving board, purposely bumps into Emiya's side, and thrusts it onto the table standing before them. "Faker. I'll show a pathetic copy like you who the better cook is. I challenge you to a rice ball making competition!"

- Emiya is dumbfounded. An eerie silence passes between them all, until a tiny golden recording device pops out of a small, rippling gold portal. "Hoh, how deplorable of you. You'd really be as brazen to defy my challenge, despite declaring yourself to be the ultimate Chaldean chef? What a farce!" Face glowing with mirth, Gilgamesh incites his wrath.

- It is without a doubt that Gilgamesh loses the challenge. As the other chefs clap and pat Emiya on the back, as they examine both competitors' riceballs with awe; Gilgamesh is oddly relieved. (it's all according to his keikaku)

- It seemed as if the kitchen had regained their sense of passion as well. This puts Gilgamesh's heart at ease. As he spouts more lofty insults, as he carries his large array of caviar-stuffed riceballs back to his room (with Emiya yelling 'don't come back here ever again!'); Gilgamesh laughs.

- This video is also a smash hit within Chaldea. Even Gudako (who had been holing themselves up in their room) finally bursts out of it again, to laugh at the entire ordeal. As Emiya treats her to a large meal of curry, realization dawns upon him- his face marred with disbelief.

- 'Did Gilgamesh do this...In order to cheer up Gudako...? And to restore harmony back at Chaldea...?' As this thought passes through his mind, Emiya vigorously shakes his head. 'No, no way in hell would he do such a thing. I must be growing soft.'

- As Gilgamesh takes a bite out of his riceballs, he wonders which group he should torment next. Maybe the Chaldea staff? Or he could invade Marie's tea party and hijack Mozart's piano. Or maybe he'd destroy the Chaldea Man's Club by destroying them at a game of cards... As long as Chaldea never lost its touch of amusement, then Gilgamesh was fine.

#asks #gilgamesh #fate series #gilgablog #fgo #my writing #here i wanted to showcase gilgil nice side

[0w0tsuki]

I think the reason that keeps me from putting Mikado higher up on my personal "best written DR characters" list is just the sheer difference between what Linuj wants you to believe Mikado is and what he actually is. Linuj would have you believe Mikado is this ultimate, hypercompetent, intelligent, one step ahead mastermind when in all reality he's just flying by the seat of his pants and his big "plan" doesn't even work on paper, let alone practice.

Like I can hardly believe Linuj has "things going as planned" for Mikado's likes and "plans going wrong" as his dislikes. Like he is nothing but entertained whenever the plan goes further and further off the rails. Also sidenote: most of linuj's likes/dislikes for the cast as so fucking lazy like all are is "thing that's a core part of their character that you could learn from one conversation with them/ the opposite of that". Like I swear Yoruko is the only one with interesting likes/dislikes. Anyways where was I? Oh yes Mikado being bad at being a mastermind.

First let's talk about Syobai. Like he's this shady assassin you hired to kill your real self. You know his loyalties only lie with money. And this man just magically shows up in your killing game without your cordial invitation and you don't even question it? Like Syobai should be hyper sus to Mikado and he just seems to regard him like any of the other participants.

Now let's get to the void reveal. First we start off with his very lax reaction to him being outed as the Mastermind. Cause apparently his hidden motives only served the purpose of him playing hero. You'd think that his identity as the mastermind would mean a little bit more to the plan than that. So we are already seeing that some parts of his "Master Plan" are just for funsies. Then during the first trial he has the "might as well throw the baby out with the bathwater" mentality and just fucking announces the fact of the voids because "well they already know about ME so might as well" even though he's already that his identity as the mastermind being secret was just for fun.

And then chapter 4 happens and you actually begin to see him actually upset that his plan is off the rails....... for like 5 whole seconds before he goes back to whimsically overconfident even when he's been captured and stripped. He just falls completely on "the outcome is already determined" shit that he spouts whenever the validity of his plan ever comes into question. Like I'm pretty sure at this point he's just sitting back and letting Divine Luck take the wheel.

Speaking of divine luck let's talk about my statement at the beginning that his plan doesn't even work on paper. His plan ultimately hinges on Utsuro's divine luck but that requires 3 things. Number 1 is that even though Utsuro is dead, his divine luck is still somehow existing and is somehow tied to him still. Which is a crapshoot at absolute best. Number 2 is that Utsuro WANTS TO COME BACK! Like his luck only benefits himself. He has to actually WANT to come back in order for his luck to bring him back. 3 is that through this killing game that somehow manages to send the correct symbol to this luck that "hey look at this killing game that parallels your's, you want to come back?" Like it still baffels me how Mikado comes to the conclusion that "Recreating the killing game = recreating Utsuro". Also Yuki. FUCKING YUKI. You sell this idea that your plan REVOLVES around this boy becoming Utsuro when he DOESN'T EVEN DO THAT! Like apparently all he needed was Yuki's avatar? You can't even argue that only one Yuki avatar exists. An avatar is literally just a representation for yourself in the virtual world. That glitchy 2D Yuki? That's an avatar baby. Mikado could have literally made an empty avatar to sit around and wait for the finale and it would have produced the same results.

Like Mikado I'm sorry, I love your charisma and the way you carry yourself but your "PLAN" makes NO GOD DAMN SENSE!!! AND YOU CAN'T EVEN KEEP THIS BARELY COBBLED TOGETHER PLAN ON THE RAILS LONG ENOUGH TO EVEN GET THROUGH THE FIRST CHAPTER WITHOUT BLABBING ABOUT SHIT THATS REALLY IMPORTANT TO IT!!!

Now after all of this I just want to clarify that I actually like dummy idiot "flying by the seat of his pants" Mikado. I just wish Linuj was aware of the fact that that was the character he was writing and didn't try to sell him off as the hypercompetent "all according to Keikaku" mastermind. Or maybe made him as smart and competent as he wanted him to be.

#sdra2 spoilers #sdra2 #sdra2 mikado #mikado sannoji

[evergreen-dryad]

thoughts about spook 65

...Although, it’s more like a stream of consciousness commentary. I try and fail not to make this too long as usual, so warning long post ahead.

Summary: Aidairo leaves us on that cliffhanger by giving us a break with tension-breaker Kou with his caring friends, more Mitsukou, and then dun dun dun they encounter a Wild Comic Relief of Universal Proportions Natsuhiko (poor fish and tarantula I hope they got back safe) and apparently Natsuhiko wants to capture No.6 like he’s the rarest pokemon of all and might have the secret key to the immortality fountain?? Will we ever know more about these mysterious man stay tuned next month. And oh yeah also No.6 always wanted to throw Aoi into the hole to rot away because he’s also a necromancer. Just great and swell here folks, don’t know how Nene and Akane are faring ~

whaaww Kou’s feeling really overwhelmed I mean this is a lot for like what a 13 year old boy

LMAO IS HE WIPING THE MOKKE OR DID HE READY A KERCHIEF FOR NENE

‘Teru-nii hasn’t been home recently’ -- hmmmmm? What’s he up to? Is he out on a journey to exorcise bigger fish out there?

...Or it could be just a field trip lmao

lol. out of context -- 👀

(I love that white-black juxtaposition between the two of them)

AWW WHAT GOOD BOIS

KOU HAS SUCH GOOD FRIENDS I’M MELTING HEREEEEE

ahahahahaha ofc Satou sugarboy here has his priorities right. ‘Get sweet drinks and sweets for us you simp’

awwww

I love it, we’re getting outside perspective from the supportive side characters. It’s the Arc for no1 Supportive Side Character Ao-chan after all!

ooooooohhhhh Satou’s the observant one here. Starting to love him now~

what a cheerful sandboy Yokoo is holding that carrot

oyo it’s Mitsuba but I’m just distracted wondering if those plants on the left side are mimosa plants, le touch-me-not

LMAO

MITSUBA YOU NEVER HOLD BACK

omg you just popped right outta the mirror like that. I would have screamed and flung my hands everywhere. Kou you have nerves of steel or in this case your brain is a steelwool scrubber right now

Yeah man that’s his job your man’s a ghost in case you forgot

AWW HE’S ALSO CONCERNED

MITSUBA DOING THE BLESSED WORK AROUND HERE HE JUST OUTRIGHT ASKED KOU WHAT’S UP

LMAO KOU

It is unbelievable to him since Mitsuba has always been such a prickly tsun before he’s probably never shown much common decency let alone common friend interaction like showing concern esp since Kou to him is a blokehead

Awww, Kou

(oh? oh? what was his wish again exactly, to be friends or for him to be human somehow?

and lmao Kou is going doki-doki when Mitsuba for the first time ever asks if he’s okay)

Aww, Mitsuba misses his Daikon-senpai, this is too cute guys I--

Nene your fantasy came true Mitsuba’s looking for you like a lost puppy

LMAO HANAKO IS THE BAD FRIEND IM SCREMINH BUT KOU HONEY YOU’RE RIGHT HE FIGHTS BEATS STABS PEOPLE UP AND INTRODUCES YOU TO PORN AND EVEN GOES YANDERE FOR AN ARC

really. why am I so intrigued Teru is gone. Where did he go. There must be a story somewhere.

oh whoa there goes Kou acting all otome ML again (callback to Hanako wanting Nene’s wish to come true too with the shoulder-clutching?)

HAHAHAHA YEAH HE DIDN’T LISTEN AT ALL. THIS SIMP. YOUR BI HIMBO. YOUR MORON.

Mitsuba’s face is sending me I swear

Yes Mitsuba he deserves that kick to the arse. Teach him to listen to you

There we go again~~ *Kou otome ML move count: 2*

A scream??? COULD IT BE---

BUGS AND TRASH PLS PLS BE OKAY

wow Mitsuba just suited up. our two superheroes on the move

AAAAAAAAAA

IT’S A FISH???? WHOSE LEGS ARE THOU TOO LONG?? DON’T TELL ME IT’S NATSUHIKO

also lmao these phat daikon arms. And these rando fish are all so cute. Look at this guy on the right. So smooth and chill like a seal

Ya jeez more and more apparitions are showing up y’all it’s becoming a yokai manga (I’m not complaining I love them all.)

Oh that dramatic foot in a spotlight, Natsuhiko you dramatic hoe, it’s you I’d know you anywhere (jokes aside I saw that Sailor Moon edit of him so)

HAHAH THE FISH LOOKS SO HAPPY. PEAK COMEDY THAT FOOT SILENTLY SLIPPING OUT OF SIGHT I--

HONESTLY HOW DOES NATSUHIKO KEEP GETTING INTO THESE SITUATIONS

Good shonen boy Kou finally jumping into action to the rescue, because god knows without Hanako around there’s no one to do the saving of damsels in distress around here

‘I want to join too’ -- AWWW LOL THIS IS SO CUTE

and off they go bullying a fish like it’s a game, so sad I liked that whalefrogfish

is it ded. rip.

oh wow Natsu you kissed fish gullet, look how red your face is wow. Also you really shouldn’t think that you’re too funny to let die. You survived being thrown into Nowhere, you’ll survive fish llke Jonah did. But fr did Sakura throw you into a fish trash pit or smth

LOL OH YEAH KOU DOESN’T KNOW AND YEAH HE IS THE NO1 AIRHEAD FOR MITSUBA NOT KOU LOL

OHMYGOD HE DID A DRAMATIC SELF-INTRODUCTION WITH THE FLASH STEP AND ALL I LOVE U YOU DORK. YOU HUGE SHONEN DORK OF INDESTRUSCTIBLE COMIC RELIEF PROPORTIONS

ohmygod he called himself an Onii-san. He wants Kou to call him Onii-san. I am crying. Teru come back your lil bro’s being propositioned (w hA T a tiME for YoU TO Be GonE eH)

HAHAH THAT IDOL POSE. NO WONDER SAILOR MOON I AM DECEASED

KOU BABY IS SUSPICIOUS IM CRYING YES AS YOU SHOULD BE HUN (that font is just perfect *chef’s kiss*)

Natsuhiko just awkwardly perched there in the background

Touchy touchy LOL MITSUBA YOU SAID WHAT I THOUGHT

and yikes Natsuhiko’s pulling the same moves as Nene to gain kouhais lolol, aaah I’m starting to see similarities between them

HAHAH OMG *Kou otome ML move count: 3*

ooh what a shady guy. Natsu what do u know tell us tell us tell us

omg y u like this. whY do you sound so threatening now. I take it back you’re not harmless

W H A T

Natsuhiko do you mean to tell me you’re immortal????? Is that why you survive all these ridiculous levels of eldritch horror????

Fml he really looks like a vampire in that lighting. Esp since I can like see all his individual teeth what on earth is this level of detail Aidairo for once Natsuhiko looks like the cool mysterious guy he was meant to be

Just realised he has like a dyed hair thing going on kinda like Tsuchigomori. Don’t tell me. Natsuhiko are you Tsuchigomori’s secret love child.

‘There’s a bad energy coming from here’ --- pFFFT. He sounds like he’s trying to be a fengshui expert now. A conman

hmmmm??? Oh that wasn’t a phone?? what is that it’s an onsen...?

wait that is probably a phone nvm. I’m just jumping at every little detail like 👀 

so huh I’m assuming Tsukasa can’t handle no6 on his own either, so....or possibly Natsuhiko is acting on his own??

Ooh cool blankets, everyone has different flowers!! (*squints* no stop you can’t go looking for flower meanings everywhere)

And yes that’s a phone. Naatsuhiko just canonically has an onsen symbol phonecase just to show he’s a Chill Bro

lol Mitsuba i don’t think you need to worry you’re not a whole soul anymore

D’AWWWW LOOK AT ALL THOSE LITTLE CUTIES (sheep, elephant, bunnies (multiple), rubber duckling)

You. Natsuhiko. You’re the one most like a cat.

omg what a braggart. what a chest-thumping man u are Natsu-senpai

OMG KOU NOOO WE WERE MAKING PROGRESS HE TAMED YOU ANYWAY

hahahahha I’m crying. Even Natsuhiko’s conscience is touched by Kou’s trusting naivete I can’t

oh my god. but thank god Teru-nii still comes first he still hasn’t completely seduced you over to the dark side just yet

awwww, Kou. Awww. He really, really wants to do his best to save them all. I--

Aw yay Natsu is touched to the point he’ll help!! Hopefully he wasn’t lying!! I hope there isn’t a sacrifice involved-

oh???

Onix (srsly I really love all the lotuses everywhere. really going Buddhist symbology there)

look at dat foot. it go.

oh!! we’re fresh at the battlescene!!

!!!!!!

IT’S ALIVEEEE

I guess these guys are too useful to let rot in the trashpit eh

?? For one moment I thought we were looking down into the trashpit at our missing 4 lmao. But why. No 6 you’re coming off as ...naturally innocent??? Dang. Let this cutie rest

I’m genuinely curious how on earth this no 6 is not a god on his own. (It’s funny to me that I’m coincidentally writing about a god like this as well at the same time.) How does he rank equal to the others. How is Hanako even his boss have they ever met before I demand a full show of Hanako’s powers one day. We’re not even sure what his boundary is. Or is it that he only has the power of life and death on those in his boundary?

(edit: just realised that if Tsukasa is behind Natsuhiko then no6 is basically Tsukasa’s dream power - necromancy. He could build all the Frankensteins his little heart ever wanted)

oof there go the minions. I love how they have little buds on their heads. Every minion of his is ‘living’! And they’re like the first with individuality I’ve seen...?

oh he thinks Aoi did this purposely? Pfft she got dragged in there

juijuirjfuerjcjkekerjckdediejdiedmwec. I am so worried. But fr this one panel of Aoi is so beautiful.

Huh the hole is a starburst shape? 6 points hmm --oh wait im dumb it’s closing up oh no

LOL KEIKAKU DOORI

But shiet really how did he see to that. By giving her power over those specific bugs?? Planting info of that hole in her?

IM SCREAMING THAT’S THE END OF IT THAT’S IT TILL NEXT MONTH

#jibaku shounen hanako kun #jshk #jshk manga #jshk spoilers #jshk 65 #tbhk #mostly #hyuuga natsuhiko #minamoto kou #mitsuba sousuke #shinigami jshk

[bladekindeyewear]

Bloggin’ bout HS^2′s second upd8 continued.  > (==>)

And it had felt so real, almost like he could have reached out and touched him--

--Yeah, the next page is gonna be BGDirk just standing there like I saw before I read the update, right?

> (==>)

> (==>)

Two pages. Close enough.

> (==>)

Hah!  Get fucked, Dirk.  (Even if you’re supposedly one of the better Dirks.)

> (==>)

Yep, all see-thru and everything.

DIRK: You passed out in a puddle of your own drool. And what the fuck is that on your face? JAKE: My face? What do you mean on my face? DIRK: The moustache, Jake. Who’s idea was that. JAKE: Oh! You dont like it? DIRK: I didn’t say that.

Oh come the fuck on.  He looks good in a mustache, Jane-influence or no Jane-influence.

DIRK: We’ve had this conversation before, dingus. I’m you. And I’m me. But I only exist because of your powers. The fact that I’m manifesting here, in the new universe, outside of a dream, is evidence in itself for just how absolutely boned you are.

Now what exactly do you mean by that last part?  How is this a sign of trouble?

--Is it because this Dirk thinks he’s needed?  And therefore shit will be going down?

DIRK: You’ve been a useless sack of shit for two decades. I’m here to kick your ass back into active duty.

...Hm.

I mean, Jake MIGHT be able to help stop this stupid goddamn war, but this IS Dirk trying to help him, so...

JAKE: And what side am i supposed to be fighting on? for jane or against her? DIRK: Against her. Obviously. What the fuck, dude.

Pffff.

JAKE: But you were the one who wanted her to run in the first place! You wrote her bloody speeches! DIRK: Yeah, I did. And every single one of them kicked ass. I wanted Jane to be the democratically elected president. Not a cake-slinging Jeff Bezos with a great rack.

Pfff.  I mean, you didn’t do a great job the first way, either.  It’s heavily implied things in Canon-land were about to go to shit too.

Not as FAR to shit, nor as quickly, but still to shit.  So, really, how DIFFERENT is this from the way you wanted it done, Dirk?  How can you claim this isn’t half YOUR fuck-up too?

DIRK: Don’t worry about it. The point is, you have a chance to make a difference. You’re in the perfect position to infiltrate her operation.

Oh hell no.  Don’t send him back in THERE you utter horse’s ass!  How could THAT be good for his mental health!? What the fuck about Tavros?!?

DIRK: That’s horseshit and we both know it. Jane would take you back in a second. She loves you.

I think Jane’s definition of “taking him back” would be a bit broader than his body or soul could fucking afford.

> (==>)

Eugh.  You really liked the Condesce’s way of doing things right down to her style, huh?  To think you used to love the spoon.  Is that a fucking spork?  Is that zilly Battlespork your go-to weapon now?

Also, it took me a moment to realize those green and orange silhouettes were Jake and BGDirk.  I was a little like “how did Rose get here?!?”.

> (==>)

Have I mentioned how good all this art is?  So much attention being paid to the use of color, to making everything look so soft and streamlined?

Looks like she’s going in for at LEAST a hug.  And the art style might be mercifully light on showing us indulgent details of just how asset-laden Jane is supposed to be.  Shots of Jake’s manly bod aside, something in me doesn’t like the traditionally-sexualized stuff pushed like that in a canon that’s been light on it for so long...

> (==>)

Oh, that... THAT looks fake.  Or like, she’s about to turn around and happily wail on his ass or something.

JANE: Boo hoo hoo! Oh, Jake! Something awful has happened! JAKE: It--it has? You mean more awful than usual? JANE: The opposition has taken Tavros, Jake. They’ve finally shown their true colors. I knew it was only a matter of time before they attacked our family directly!

.....Ah.  Well, that explains it.  She’d never cry like that about HIM returning AFTER STEPPING OUT ON HER.

It’s then that Jake realizes that Jane isn’t mad because she’d never realized he was gone.

Poor pages, huh?  All their most dramatic gestures always undercut.

...It seems like we might see Candy kind of resolved in less of a fucked-up worldstate after all, at this rate?

She seems to have forgotten that she’d been cross with him the last time they met, because now that Gamzee is gone, there’s no one left to talk to.

It’s true. Gamzee’s absence always improves things.

> (==>)

All of it is made worse by the occasional wry glint in her eye, or moment of self-deprecation in the slant of her mouth. It reminds him of the Jane he used to know. Or the Jane he thought he used to know.

Ambition is a hell of a thing.  Seems like she’s drunk of it almost as deeply as Prince Dirk.  I’d imagine this could be a pretty consistent thing with really active Life players when they get actual power, huh?  The way it just gathers to Life players in all its forms -- power over others, status, wealth -- it’s easy to start to leverage it in ways that constitute abuse of power over others from a Riddle perspective.

At first Dirk stands at Jake’s elbow, a one-ghost support staff, before he appears to lose interest in Jane’s rant and wanders off across the office, reading the spines of books and spending way too long staring at a startlingly phallic piece of installation art,

--PLEASE let us see it.

, the provenance of which Jake doesn’t know, but could hazard a guess it wore a codpiece.

Nope, never mind. Interest lost.

> (==>)

Then he settles on Jane’s desk, propping his ghost butt there and sort of just...well. Here’s a picture of what he does.

Um.

Where is this going?

> (==>)

Oh, so the BEST option, then.  :D

Okay. That’s a bit of an exaggeration.

Boooooo.

> (==>)

--Alright, forgiven.

he’s thoroughly exhausted from attempting to pay attention to his supervillain wife while trying not to look at the crotch of a ghost man from his brain.

...Okay, hold up.  BGDirk, are you trying to steer him into doing this for self-indulgent, non-comedic purposes? Or is this a bit of Prince Dirk in there?  (I mean... I can’t definitively say Jake wouldn’t have wanted this.)

And I’m still wondering how all of this is going to be relevant.  IF it’s going to be relevant.  Despite promises to the contrary that are seemingly being ignored.

> (==>)

DIRK: All according to keikaku.

Fuck you.

JAKE: i really didnt think id fall off the wagon so quickly. I dont think being here is good for my emotions to be honest. DIRK: Yeah, probably not. But that’s okay. They don’t matter. JAKE: Oh.

Yeah, Dirk, you suck at this more than you know.  This ain’t going to go as well as you “hope” I don’t think.

DIRK: Don’t know anything about stiff lips, dude. But that’s not what I mean. It’s not because you’re a man. You’re a god. JAKE: Oh right. That. DIRK: The world comes first, even at the expense of all your relationships and personal happiness. That’s what being a hero means. JAKE: I guess...i never really thought about it like that.

You’re also not guaranteed to be fucking right, you know.

There are definitely dichotomies where what was best for the world wasn’t best for the person, so far, and vice versa in Homestuck.  But Dirk’s taking his anime-flavored principles as gospel as usual, and ignoring, oh I dunno, the impact of the heart in all of this.  Some people, ESPECIALLY JAKE and other Pages so far, CAN’T operate at their best until they’re at least reasonably healthy and sure of themselves, and investments to that effect are essential to letting them slowly realize their full potential.  Brain Ghost Dirk is likely making the same goddamn mistake he made with his overbearing Dirkbot back on Jake’s island.

> (==>)

DIRK: Think what you want about Jane, but at least she realizes that none of you can ever be normal, and she never bothered to try. Can it really be a god-complex if you’re actually a god? DIRK: People like us don’t get happy endings.

...Yup.  This is the fucked-over part of Dirk’s worldview coming in full play, here.  And he believes in it so strongly that he couldn’t even fucking leave NON-CANON alone anymore.  Fuck.

JAKE: Thats bleak dirk i dont think i could possibly believe that!

Mmmhmm.

DIRK: Yeah. That’s probably more a Dirk thought than a Jake one. I told you, it’s hard to tell sometimes. JAKE: Is...is that really how dirk felt the whole gosh darned time?

Mmmhmm.

> (==>)

Last page of the upd8.  Well... all I can say is, it’s a good thing he’s a fucking ghost here.  And half Jake, at that.  At least that can limit the damage.  Hopefully giving Jake just enough of a kick in the doing-something direction without being so overbearing that he makes things worse, making for a balance of...

...Wait.

Wait, is that why we’re here?

Maybe that finally makes some sense of all this.  Of this cut, of this small violation of that last sentence in Meat, of--  ah, yeah, I might be on to something here!  Only maybe, but still--!

We’re quite possibly bearing witness to a realm of influence where, through measures outside of his control, Dirk has a balanced impact.  Where this same ideology of his, tempered by Jake’s hopeful mindset and Dirk’s inability to take direct action, might just manage to make things better and actually make everyone happier by the end, while solving Earth C’s fucked-up Candyland state at the same time.  It’s possibly to show the readers (through the lens of a Hope player specializing in positive possibility) that Dirk, had he been restrained, COULD have had a positive impact, even at the same time that we’re shown Prince Dirk at his soul’s most overblown and heinous.

And, if we want to be optimistic..... perhaps this’ll show Dirk, too?

Canon and Non-Canon may not “meet” again.  But that doesn’t stop Dirk, via this fragment of his multiverse-spanning soul, from seeing Non-Canon.  From seeing how well things COULD have worked out, had he held back.  And if we keep cutting like this -- back and forth between the “real” story and these events in Candyverse -- perhaps the moment at which Brain Ghost Dirk realizes what he’s accomplished, realizes how much better things are because he could hold back, will coincide at the end with Prince Dirk finally, belatedly, realizing just how fucked his plan was, and understanding at the very, very end why he has to fucking die?

THAT would be interesting.

I guess we’ll see?  Talk to y’all next upd8.

#Homestuck #hs2 #Homestuck Liveblog #upd8 #bladekindeyewear #blastyoboots

[renardtrickster]

I had a weird dream last night.

The first notable thing is that I was either back in High School, or in College, and the teacher was talking to the class, something about literature and writing, and decided to use No More Heroes as a discussion point. I nerded out. This somehow culminated in the teacher pulling out copies of No More Heroes 3, pulling the class into the computer lab, handing everyone a Nintendo Switch and earplugs, and letting us play one of the missions. It was just as gory and profanity-laden as the rest of NMH is. I think somehow that mission we played related positively to trans people, not in a "Travis said trans rights" way but in this apparently profound and well-done manner that I don't remember.

So I go home to brag to my brother about it and the post-apocalypse happens. All of a sudden me and my family are living out of a van. I got into a "keikaku battle" with Dad, which entailed predicting each other's moves, and he won somehow by buying a cat and dog beforehand, and sent me to retrieve them from the trunk. It's these two white boxes that could maybe hold a sandwich, and inside is a small kitten and a tiny puppy the size of one of those wedding ring boxes. We immediately lost them. Dad sent me and my brother out to look for them, so we did, beating up raiders together. Then he got pissed when I nabbed a good weapon and like, fast-traveled to a nearby town (which I'm 90% sure was Megaton from Fallout 3), which I couldn't do, so I had to take a train.

This resulted in me meeting this one guy who was like this weird racially insensitive invention of my mind? Like imagine every Hollywood stereotype of a voodoo practitioner. He's dressed like Baron Samedi without a shirt, he's holding a machete and gestures with it when he talks. And speaking of which he talks exactly like you'd expect someone like this to talk. Deep voice, kind of crooning at me, dragging near the end of his sentences like a Disney villain, like he's about to offer me power at a great cost. Like imagine Nazeem if he talked like Jafar. The weirdest thing was though, was that he was white as shit? Like the world ended and there's this pale-ass Caucasian dude cosplaying as a racial-religious caricature and nobody can stop him. It's even worse because I don't have any affiliation with or connection to Voodoo or any place where it's practiced. I don't know why my mind would show me this What Is The Purpose?

The post-apocalypse eventually ends when we drive over the Golden Gate Bridge (I have no connection to California), and my little sister beats the crap out of some kaiju that look like turtles with spiked shells, duck heads, and snake's necks. Apparently it was these that made the world look like some dust bowl. It's also revealed that the puppy and kitten were hidden in her hair the entire time, and may have given her superpowers. So we just go home and pretend nothing happened. My brother's here too. So I show him this post because I was proud of it and he said it was cool. This segues into the weirdest part of the dream.

Some dude responds to my post, and it's a real dude whose URL I recognize and follow, which is why I'm omitting it (the real life version wouldn't do this which is additionally messed up). He just starts laying into me for no reason at all. Like it's really rude and impersonal and serious for no reason like some Literally Who commenting on your fun doodle to criticize it. One of the criticisms was that I made a character's flaw "clumsiness" which he's seen a million times, but this was in referenced to the character whose flaw was "perverted". Which either means my dreaming mind twisted the facts for no reason, or he edited the post despite directly reblogging it where anyone could see it. Then he dragged me for making a character with an impossible-to-read/pronounce name, Detective [I don't know how he spelt it but it was pronounced "neh-zeh" apparently]. The only problem being that 1) I specifically omitted everyone's names and 2) none of them have a name resembling anything like that.

The worst part was yet to pass. He talked about "how brave [I] must be" to associate Korekiyo Shinguji with triangles, because apparently he has a very obvious triangle/number 3 motif. Not only did I not mention Korekiyo at all, but his proof was fanart of chibi Korekiyo with his sclera & pupil replaced with a triangle (I literally have a character with a 3 & triangle motif why didn't he use that). Then a criticism of one character who was pound for pound a description of the probably-racist voodoo guy, who not only is not in the post, but I never mentioned him before, not even to my family. Any answer as to why he knows about that guy and my association with him is spooky. At this point it just devolves into stuff that reads like an amalgamation of predictive text, unrelated images pulled from Google, and a criticism of various characters from Call of Duty (apathetic to it), Fallout 3 (I played it once), and possibly other media/real life/"real" life probably. The only additional one I could remember was calling me tasteless for drawing parallels between Jesus Christ and some dude whose death somehow led to his two sons not getting found guilty of some crime.

It was scary on a "dude what" level. And I responded in a "dude what" way before my brother stumbled into the room. He was green-skinned, frothing at the mouth, and promptly fell over. When we got to the hospital, it became clear that by showing my brother that post, I exposed him to that dude's reblog, which was so full of cringe and What that it destroyed his immune system. At that point there was just so much going on that I woke up before something crazier happened.

#on no renardie is posting

[mononoke-no-ko]

Welcome back from your break. So, now that it's been weeks since the release of Resurrection to Japanese theaters, and the summary has been done. What were things in the movie that surprised you, and was there anything you were disappointed in?(characters, settings, interactions, plot, etc?)

I was surprised with the method of Lelouch’s revival, though thinking about it clearly, code has always been one among the very few viable options to bring Lelouch back, without having to come up with new rule and backstory. I guess because it has been tossed around within the fandom in the past decade, I dismissed it simply on the basis that it’s a fan theory.

There are disappointments, but all are within expectation. I knew that Lelouch wouldn’t be the old dramatic keikaku guy that he used to be, as he has gone through character development and now his position is also different. I was hoping that they would give him a new ‘epic’ character arc, but I guess the movie has different purpose and focus after all. The new enemy also sound like they have interesting background that can’t be fleshed out beyond what’s necessary, but it’s probably impossible to do with the length of the movie.

#asks

[momestuck]

Epilogues: Meat ch 38-42 [Epilogue 7]

We’re very near the end now. But it can’t be that easy for D---, can it?

chapter 38

Dirk has decided he’s going to take it upon himself to get Dave and Karkat to fuck at last. He’s not going to outright rape them by taking direct control of them through the narration - for the “integrity of their emotional arcs” rather than like, any actual concern for their will as people, of course. Instead he’s going to try to use his narrative power to “persuade” them.

So he pushes Karkat to make a really heartfelt speech about how much Dave means, how when Dave says kind things to him it doesn’t automatically feel fake. And Karkat... doesn’t quite play along. He says he’s glad Dave’s his friend. (Also Dave makes an anime reference).

At this point Dirk goes berserk. He desperately tries to force Dave to take the initiative and top Karkat. As the scene progresses, he gets more and more heavy handed with it.

“I just want you to be happy...” [in exactly the way I prescribe]

Dave fights back against Dirk’s influence, without recognising its origin. (It’s interesting which characters can perceive it, and which can’t). Anyway, Dirk backs off - it doesn’t “count” for him if it’s not of Dave’s own will that he kisses Karkat.

They do in fact kiss. But not before Dave shouts at Dirk’s narration:

DAVE: GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HEAD AND JUST LET ME DO THIS MYSELF!!!

This completely busts up Dirk’s attempt to narrate, and then Dirk decides... to just let the moment pass, without a thorough ‘poetic’ (you wish dude) description.

I’m not going to intercede with a single word further, and I won’t let you, either. I won’t cheapen this beautiful moment with my base editorialization just to satisfy your voyeuristic curiousity. Frankly, I’m offended you’d even expect me to. What they’re getting up to here is nobody’s business but theirs.

Davekat is canon, and that’s really all there is to say on the matter. Let’s give these crazy lovebirds some privacy and move on.

This is a really interesting moment. On one level, insisting on the privacy of fictional characters who exist only insofar as we imagine them is kind of absurd. On the other, letting them have actual privacy and independence is a huge step for Dirk, as a characterisation moment.

Also lol @ ‘davekat is canon' there god. about fucking time

chapter 39

Dirk is narrating himself, for once. He’s getting a spaceship from Jake’s mansion. Parenthetically, we learn that Skaianet - Jake’s company - has been manufacturing military spaceships for the Crocker administration. Guess we’re well on our way to a similar fascist hellhole in the Meat storyline as well, if there was ever doubt.

To think: if Jane had just died in the final battle... (because of course, fascism is driven by the ill will of one single superpowered evil person...)

Going by the narration, Dirk still feels some level of horniness for Jake here, even though Jake is now more or less his lovestruck puppet.

He not-so-gently informs Jake that this is a Dirk-and-Rose only mission, and they’ll never see each other again. Jake says some shit. (Also apparently Dirk intends to leave Jane in charge of the planet for ‘millions of years’.)

Dirk gives Jake a kiss, which he describes in the most nauseatingly self-aggrandising way possible. And then he says goodbye - implying this is, in a sense, some manner of revenge.

DIRK: I’m sorry, Jake.

DIRK: But I’ll never let you break my heart again.

God damn he’s an overdramatic bitch isn’t he.

Chapter 40

Either there’s no epilogue 8, or this is longer than I thought.

Jade gets woken up by Kanaya... and this time it really is Jade, at least going by the text colour. She’s fully aware of everything that alt-Calliope did through her... and immediately declares DIrk must be stopped.

Judging by the lack of editorialising in the narration, this reaction may be All According to Keikaku?

Chapter 41

We get a little insight into Dirk’s motivations. It’s some kind of Singer-style effective-altruism-by-way-of-god-complex:

If my agenda was to try as hard as I could to make sure no one thought I sucked, what the fuck would ever get done? How would I go about taming this world, or shaping reality for the better? And if I didn’t bother pursuing those goals, and thereby tacitly accepting the untold suffering that resulted from my inaction, wouldn’t that make me a bad person? If I try and succeed, I’m a hero, right? And if I try and fail, at least I made things interesting on my way to the grave. There would be a tragic nobility in that. And the way I see it, settling for anything less from my arc would be, frankly, pathetic. 

In this longwinded soliloquy, Dirk acknowledges that, whatever his self-perception, he recognises his role in the story is to be the villain. Supposedly for the greater good. He understands that people will resist, because “the sins of God and man” are not so “pliable” as that. He says that it’s inevitable that “power such as [his]” over other peoples’ would become “the enemy of anyone who noticed”, but suicide simply isn’t a thinkable option for someone as consequential as him.

So he’s setting up for his own dramatic comeuppance, as part of the whole grand design.

What a dick!

Chapter 42

Jade catches Kanaya and Roxy up on what’s really been happening, the control Dirk’s been exerting. Dirk - now confident of his escape - takes this opportunity to free Kanaya from the thoughts he placed in her, that made her so blasé about Rose leaving with Dirk.

Kanaya is incandescent, understandably. But then alt-Calliope ‘wakes up’ in Jade again, suppressing Dirk’s role in the narration, and Dirk meanwhile is on his ship and on his way out already. (Though given Jade has such overwhelming Space powers, you think she’d be able to catch up and stop him pretty trivially!)

alt-Calliope declares she won’t turn them into puppets to send them after Dirk, like he did - that this is the line between them. Dirk laughs, it’s futile, he’s already gone! etc.

(I guess Dirk is going to the Candy universe, unless I totally misunderstood that lol)

Epilogue 7

Well we finally got that Davekat kiss. And a lot of thought about agency of fictional characters.

Dirk, it seems, wishes to remake the universe in the ‘right’ way, without suffering? Perhaps that’s the purpose of his planned SBurb session: to repopulate the universe now depopulated by the black hole with a new set of universes.

Dirk seems to have gotten his ‘win state’ all sorted out - but alt-Calliope still has something in mind, even if they’re obstinately refusing to tell anyone until the time is right.

#momestuck

[sho-minamimoto]

series : death note

Favorite character

im an L enjoyer. Even beyond his antics in the anime i really enjoy his story in the light novel L:Change The World which follows a separate canon from the anime where L wins against Kira.... He takes care of a little girl and the two have to run away from authorities together iirc and L but Dad sure as hell is not a direction you would expect his character to take if youve only seen the anime but it was neat. also hes a misa fan and i am too

Second favorite character

Misa Misa my Beloved she deserves the world ........................ also i really like mello i kind of wish he didn't die or that we saw more of him

Least favorite character

That one guy who temporarily takes Kira's place as part of his dumb weirdly elaborate bait and switch Keikaku (keikaku means plan) i felt like he was just kind of. there. served his purpose then died. that sure was a guy i suppose

The character I’m most like

Matsuda bc i too get excited about misa and other things i think are neat and also mess up and make mistakes that other people get angy at me for that i would not have made if i wasnt as enthusiastic about things and got distracted by them from things i was supposed to do

Favorite pairing

Rem/Misa ha ha ha..................... that should have happened its what misa deserves. and rem as well

Least favorite pairing

Light/Anyone. With the exception of Light/L but only specifically in that one section of the show where Light doesn't have any of his memories as Kira and is just a dude

Favorite moment

When L and Light beat the shit out of each other while handcuffed and end up accidentally throwing each other around the room as a result msldkmfsldfs

Rating out of 10

6 out of 10 but emotionally a 9

#ask

[ocarinnas]

I was tagged by @kishitan-iis ~ THANK YOU SO MUCH DEAR ! (´∀｀)♡

Rules: Write down 10 facts about yourself and tag 10 followers you want to know better.

my name comes from the combination of my father’s and mother’s names (thankfully the name does exist - and i really love it) basically my name is a shipping name heheheh

i don’t like coconut. i dont eat other things as well but this is what upsets people the most for some reason  （*´▽｀*）

games had an essencial role in me learning the english language. i used to spend a good amount of time translating each and every word of the game’s dialogues when i was a kid (using an old dictionary) so i could understand the story. 

i have so many tumblr accounts! i have the very first account that i created, (and i hardly use now) two fandom blogs, two personal blogs, one studyblog and one resource’s blog. but this one (ocarinnas) is the blog where i’m most active.

i don’t know japanese but i bought an official light novel online (Alice_Mare by miwashiba) because i wanted to support the author. i read the translations twice, online, but i dream to learn japanese so i can read the real thing someday.

i used to play the keyboard when i was younger. and i had swimming and art classes. 

i currently have two laptops (the new one arrived today and i’m testing it lol). i’m planning to use this one only to watch animes/movies and game online (since it’s very fast!),  while the old one is reserved for all the other purposes. 

i love buying cute stationery things ♡..... even though i don’t use it. i wish i had friends to which i could write letters to or that i had the creativity and time to create a bullet journal/planner   (˃̩̩̥ɷ˂̩̩̥)

i have a keychain and a pin collection. also, a lot of stickers!

i went to disney world 3 times (yeah it seems a lot, even for me haha, but last time i went with a friend - while the other two times there was only my family - so it was a new and fun experience!). aaand each time i bought a different plushie: first a Perry (that platypus), then the Cheshire Cat, and then Thumper (from Bambi).

And I’ll be tagging (it is optional!): @oyatetsurou @radicorn @nicorobins @sleepydekus @kacchan-pls @keikakus @lovelybaka @fyodor-dostoyevsky @dotbaka @kurolove

#okay forgive all the random facts #i didn't know what to writeee #tagged #thank you again for tagging me!!

[overwatch-imagines-hub]

How about the shimada bros with an s/o who purposely uses horribly broken Japanese around them just for shits and giggles (i.e. i wish i was mou shindeiru, nani the fuck, nothing is daijobu, my life is not going according to the keikaku, ryuu ga waga teki go fuck yourself, etc.)

Genji

He gets used to it pretty quickly

Probably because friends like D.Va and Tracer do similar things

It’s all in good fun

He chuckles along with you when you do it and maybe even tries to come up with some of his own dumb sayings

After you say one he often tries to teach you the correct pronunciations and wording

Through this process you’ve learned a surprising amount of proper Japanese and are able to understand and reply to a decent amount when Genji speaks in his mother tongue

He’s a proud cyborg

Hanzo

Ngl, he might be a little sensitive to it at first

He knows you’re just doing it for fun and that he’s being a little uptight but he just can’t help the type of person he is

He tells you as much as well and maybe asks you to tone it down a bit

Still, the phrases sometimes slip out

One day you say a particularly funny one and Hanzo can’t help but laugh

Hanzo’s surprised at himself and you’re ecstatic

He becomes more good humored over time and occasionally one of his own silly phrases slip out

Like Genji, through the messing around he also tries to teach you a bit of his native tongue

#Anonymous #overwatch #overwatch headcanons #headcanons #overwatch-imagines-hub #hanzo #overwatch hanzo #hanzo shimada #genji #genji shimada #overwatch genji #hanzo shimada x reader #genji shimada x reader #genji shimada headcanons #overwatch genji headcanons #hanzo shimada headcanons #overwatch hanzo headcanons

[justapanda]

Tokyo Ghoul:re Chapter 143: Kaneki

Initially I thought the narrative over the last 40 or so chapters was a mind fuck, with all the confusing messages that were impossible to decipher. However when I was recently reminded of one minuscule detail I was immediately given the feeling of several pieces falling into place, and everything started making a lot more sense.

Specifically, it was when Furuta mentions the letter "V". Most people immediately theorized that Furuta was either referring to the origin of the kagune itself, or that Furuta was simply trolling (which he does a lot of). However I don't think it was either of these things. First of all, we already know what the letter "V" stands for, it means Victory.

Furuta refers to the letter "V" as Victory on chapter 98, after assassinating his father. While the actual kanji and meaning of the letter V likely refers to something else, Furuta's referring to the word Victory does make sense, considering that the organization V's entire purpose was to defeat the Underground King, and thus achieve victory. Furuta was also declaring that victory was in Furuta's hands since he successfully assassinated Tsuneyoshi and everything was going according to keikaku (keikaku means plan).

With that being said, in chapter 142 I believe Furuta is also claiming victory here at this very moment, meaning that his plans have come in place and that he is soon to achieve one of his major goals, which is to bring forth Dragon.

Kaneki is Dragon.

Many have already suspected it, but nobody has believed it completely up until now. I think Kaneki is almost definitely Dragon due to all of the pieces coming together. Of course, up until now this has been nothing more than baseless conjecture from me, so I will explain.

What do we know about Dragon so far? Furuta's descriptions and references to Dragon have been vague and very confusing, reminiscent of when Eto was teasing about the One-Eyed King.

Furuta merely states that he wants to bring out the "Strongest of enemies" which would put Arima to shame, and dubs this person Dragon in honour of his Washuu roots. This could imply that "Dragon" may have been the original alias of the Underground King over 100 years ago, which does fit with all the symbolism we've been given so far.

Anyway, that alone doesn't give us the concrete evidence to conclude that Dragon is Kaneki. However, the combined hints of what Furuta has been saying over the last 40 chapters does give us more reason to believe so. It has become increasingly obvious over the last 3 chapters, where Furuta states that Touka and Hinami serve as the bait and that Dragon will emerge here. Once again things are going according to keikaku, with Kaneki showing up immediately after, followed with Furuta showing exhilaration and stating "V" which means Victory in this context.

I believe Kaneki becoming Dragon is going to happen in the exact same way as it did for when Kaneki became the One-Eyed King. One of the main narrative themes for Kaneki's character is that he has always been pushed by others, and being forced into the roles that he never intended to be all the way back since childhood.

Furuta is also a parallel to Eto considering that Eto's plans all went accordingly and Kaneki eventually did become the One-Eyed King that she wanted him to be over the span of the first 86 chapters of :re. Ever since Eto disappeared from the story, Furuta has replaced her role as the one to push Kaneki even further towards his final destination.

We don't know the motivation behind it yet, but it has been made clear that Furuta wants to force Kaneki into the role of the previous Underground King, as a tyrant One-Eyed Ghoul who was feared for his strength and his ruthless onslaught against humanity and the CCG.

Everything has been set up for Kaneki to become a murderer of humans, both to save the people he cares about, and to finally end his hypocrisy and pacifism towards the human race considering he has slaughtered hundreds of ghouls over the span of the series. Next chapter in 143, I strongly believe Kaneki will become Dragon and put an end to his indecisiveness.

#tokyo ghoul #tgre 143 #tg meta #ken kaneki #nimura furuta #kaneki ken #kichimura washuu #eto yoshimura #kishou arima #one eyed king #dragon #underground king