#also just having a Weird Art Moment where my style is all over the place

[lastoneout]

Okay, honest question, who is Yotsuba?

OH HO HO ANON I AM ALL TOO HAPPY TO EXPLAIN :3

Yotsuba is a character from the greatest manga ever made, Yotsuba&!(or Yotsuba to! it translates weird, most fans just call it Yotsuba) which is a comedy slice-of-life manga about Yotsuba Koiwai, a five year old girl, and her very strange yet wholesome family and friends!

It's from the same mangaka who gave us Azumanga Daioh, though while that manga is told in a four-panel comic style and doesn't really have much of an overarching plot, Youtsuba is done in a traditional manga style and despite also being very episodic there is a bit of a throughline surrounding Youtsuba getting settled into the neighborhood she just moved to, growing up, and eventually, in the later chapters, getting ready to go to school for the first time. Also, there are storylines that take place over multiple chapters as well! Despite the fact that the manga has been releasing since 2003, the chapters are pretty sporadic and the comic has only really covered about one year of the character's lives, but it never really feels slow or aimless. It feels almost...timeless? I guess. It's really nice.

Anyway, the manga is legit one of the most wholesome, funny, heartwarming things I have ever read. Kiyohiko Azuma is a fucking MASTER of comedy(you may have seen screencaps from a Sailor Moon fan comic he made going around on tumblr in which Jupiter accidentally sends Venus shooting across a pool that made me laugh so hard I cried) and he balances it well with lots of slow moments with GORGEOUS artwork where you can really take in the scenery and all of it is seeped in a wonderful nostalgia for childhood that legit makes me super emotional.

I don't think the manga has ever really taken off in terms of popularity, at least not to the degree that it deserves imo, which is likely in part due to the creator being firm about it never getting an anime adaptation and the sporadic release schedule, but it's far from unknown. There's been an official(I think??) score released and plenty of figurines and merch. It's also birthed a lot of memes, and it def has the same issue as One Piece where if you read it and love it you will turn into a walking billboard and try to drag your friends and family in with you. It's just THAT good!

You may have seen art of or people cosplaying Danbo, a "robot" made of old cardboard boxes that Yotsuba adores (Totally a real robot btw, def doesn't have a middle schooler shoved inside there, that would be silly wdym /s)

And this pose from the back of one of the manga volumes featuring Yotsuba, her father, and their extremely tall friend Jumbo has been redrawn with other characters like 500000 billion times

And you've also probably seen this going around tumblr before (that's Fūka she's my favorite cringe fail daughter I would literally die for her).

Also, I would be doing a disservice if I didn't mention Yanda, who is a friend of Yotsuba's dad and also Yotsuba's nemesis. He's a loser who constantly gets dunked on by a toddler it's fucking hilarious.

But yeah it really is just like, a manga that feels like a hug, or a warm blanket or something, it's so comforting and funny and fantastic, I find myself re-reading it any time life gets to be too hard just bcs it's that good at distracting me and reminding me that live is worth living.

And also given that it's literally my favorite manga, I saved up a bunch of screencaps to use as reaction images after a read one time, and thus now it's my own little joke that if you send me anon hate I'm just gonna send you back a picture of this cutie

Bcs come on how can you be angry when you're looking at this???

Anyway here's some screencaps of the main supporting cast bcs I love all of them so much <3

YOU WILL READ YOTSUBA I AM NO LONGER ASKING

#Ask #Anonymous #long post #sorry anon you hit the yotsuba button #I am legally obligated to gush about it #yotsuba #yotsuba&!

[rallamajoop]

How I found a scene from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast buried in Stoker’s Notes for Dracula

(Art by my good friend Em ‒ who is available for commissions, in case you were wondering)

You know a work has left its mark on a culture when someone can get away with publishing whole extra books * containing nothing but copies of the author’s original working notes.

For the dedicated Dracula-nerd, though, there is some fascinating stuff buried in Stoker’s early notes ‒ mostly in all those ideas that didn’t make the final draft. I could go on about my favourite details, but no one thing gave me so much joy as discovering that an early plan for chapter 6 (back while Jonathan Harker is trapped in Dracula’s castle) included what sounds, to modern ears, far too much like that one scene from a certain Disney film:

Chapter 6 Jonathan Harker’s Diary Cont. Attempt to get away from castle—Wolves—wehr wolf—old chapel—carting earth—shrieks from grave—sights of terror & falling senseless—found by Count

(Probably didn’t hurt that Em had also lately drawn my attention to some memorable Disney-style Dracula fanart stills by Jozef Szekeres.** But I strongly suspect my brain would have gone to the same place on reading that line regardless.)

Obviously, the inherrently romantic drama of rescuing your prisoner from wolves would have been much less apparent to readers in Stoker's time, a comfortable century before anything resembling the Disney film existed (I am pretty confident no rescue-from-wolves scene existed in any notable pre-Disney version of the story). And there’s definitely recognisable plot stuff going on in the background: “old chapel—carting earth" presumably marks an early version of the scene where Jonathan discovers Dracula’s servants digging up his native earth to ship to England, while the ‘wehr wolf’ is very likely Dracula himself in wolf form. It’s also possible Jonathan was supposed to have escaped the wolves before whatever was in that grave had him fainting like a Victorian maiden, only to wake up back at the castle later with Dracula looming over him. So maybe I’m reaching a little picturing... y’know, basically what Em drew for me.

Then again, chapter 4 of same plot outline does feature that one infamous rescue-by-Dracula scene that did make it into the finished novel, where Jonathan is accosted by the castle's sexy female vampires, only for Dracula himself to burst into the room, throw them aside, and utter the immortal line: “How dare you touch him, any of you? [..] This man belongs to me!” ***

There’s also that weird little deleted-scene-from-an-actual-Dracula-draft that would be eventually published in 1914 as Dracula’s Guest, which would have seen Dracula flying to Jonathan’s rescue before he even reached the castle. Here, Jonathan is saved him from another lady vampire in a grave yard by a suspiciously-well-aimed bolt of lighting and gust of wind (remember, Dracula can canonically control weather) ‒ and then from hypothermia, using what I can only describe as “weirdly homoerotic non-con werewolf snuggling.” (I’m not even kidding).****

Basically, let’s none of us pretend that ambiguously-romantic Dracula rescue moments were ever out of character for this bizarre little text.

Oddly, the rest of the summary for chapter 6 suggests that being rescued from wolves is the very last event Jonathan experiences in the castle. The following lines read only:

Is it all a dream - back to London Letter from Hawkins - to be made partner or London agent Chooses London

And the next time we hear about Jonathan in this outline, he’s marrying Mina (in England, even), so his dramatic escape and long struggle with PTSD from the published Dracula have yet to join Stoker’s plans. This leaves only more questions: did Dracula just let Jonathan go in this early version? Or did the “found by the Count” episode happen entirely off-screen, with Jonathan fainting in Transylvania only to wake up back in England, wondering if the whole adventure was “all a dream”?

Alas, it’s unlikely we’ll ever know for sure. Notes like these, made mostly to jog the author’s own memory of all the other bits they never bothered to write down, were certainly meant to be coherent to scholars who will be still be puzzling over them 100+ years in the future. (On a bad day, they may no longer even make sense to the poor author who wrote them, a month down the track.)

But I’ve rambled on long enough ‒ what conclusions can we really draw here?

Well, in conclusion: I can prove nothing, but I’m still damn well going to speculate that Stoker may well have had some barely-repressed fantasies about being plucked from the mouth of sexy danger by a dangerously-possessive sexy vampire daddy Count. And someone should totally write me a Harker and the Beast AU version of Dracula’s opening chapters.

(And all that is, in brief, exactly the kind of reason these people can get away with publishing multiple different editions of Stoker’s notes, confident that suckers like me will still care enough to read and overanalyse them goddamnit.)

* Yes, these are links to two “different” books (Bram Stoker’s Notes for Dracula (2008) and Drafts of Dracula (2019)), because the same editors have republished the same material twice ‒ only the second version is very slightly reorganised, adds a few minor notes on a few more recently discovered details, and is now referring to Stoker’s pages of very rough dot-points as “drafts” (presumably because publishing this books as “Very Rough Draft Outlines for Dracula” couldn’t hope to sell nearly so many copies as the the implication that  multiple actual draft copies of Stoker’s book have ever been found). This is what may be technically referred to as “a shameless cash-grab.”

** There seems to be a misconception going around that these are concept art from a (legitimate) unproduced Dracula animated film by Don Bluth, which never got past the concept stage. While you can see how the mistake was made, it’s not true ‒ intriguing as the idea of a Don Bluth Dracula may be, no concept art for it has ever surfaced (and the few details that have don’t especially resemble these stills). Joseph Szekeres has done pro-animation work, but not for Bluth’s company. They’re just fanart, and that’s okay.

*** To my great joy, the notes also show that this scene was such a fundamental part of Stoker’s early Dracula concepts that its first outline (in which Dracula’s dialogue even goes on to add, “I want him!”) appears on the earliest properly-dated page ever discovered. This may not be the very first page of Stoker’s ideas (many are undated), but so crucial is this quote that multiple references to it in later outlines refer to this scene with nothing but the three-word-summaation “belongs to me”. The is, officially, the “belongs to me” scene.

**** Scholars like those mentioned above seem weirdly in denial about the obvious implication that the ‘wolf’ which lies on top of Jonathan until proper rescue arrives is Dracula himself, in wolf form. Nevermind that Dracula himself is seen earlier in the story on Jonathan’s trail (a tall, thin figure who spooks horses), or that something is evidently manipulating the weather (y'know, like Dracula can), or even that Jonathan’s (human) rescuers are very clear that what they saw is not a natural wolf. And yet, when it comes to the wolf itself, most want it to be “a wolf under Dracula’s command” or “a servant of Dracula” (because... Dracula has so many werewolf servants elsewhere in the narrative?) C’mon, people ‒ Occam’s Razor doesn’t cease to apply just because it’s getting homoerotic werewolf vibes all over your Victorian vampire novel!

#Dracula #Dracula x Jonathan #Beauty and the Beast #Disney #Jonathan Harker #Harker and the Beast #Dracula meta

[thestargayzingheroine]

My Adventures With Superman - A Rambling Set Of Thoughts

Okay, I know I don't USUALLY make posts like this and I especially hate getting cynical and nitpicky about these sorts of things because I just don't wanna contribute to all the negativity on the internet... But this is something I just couldn't shake.

So last night I watched the first season of My Adventures With Superman and... I have a lot of mixed feelings about to be brutally honest which is a shame because I know SO many people really loved this show.

Spoilers for season 1 obviously

For the most this show is great and it has a good foundation for Superman and gets him and his relationship with Lois so right. I love how Clark is this big, soft himbo twink dork who really reminds me of Adora from She-Ra and Lois is this fun tomboy who falls head over heels for him. And to be honest, all of their moments were genuinely the highlight of the show for me. SERIOUSLY ITS LIKE CLARK AND LOIS BUT MADE FOR SAPPHICS LIKE ME AND I ADORE THEM

I love the art style and animation too and really does put a very fresh new aesthetic on DC stuff. Sure, it's a bit too much like She-Ra and Voltron in places, but for DC, it's a really good breath of fresh air. Seriously, look at the designs of Deathstroke and Livewire!

But sadly, that's not all the show is and this is where I have to sadly talk about my negatives with it.

Sooooo… this show was written a lot of the same people who wrote She-Ra and it seems to be a big fan of various anime things too, especially Dragon Ball Z and Neon Genesis Evangelion.

To that end, the show has basically... turned Superman into a mixture of Adora and Goku, not just in terms of personality traits and in Adora's case, her relationship with Catra (Seriously, if Clark was a woman and blonde, I would swear she and Lois would just be Catradora)

This sadly does apply to how this show portrays the Kryptonians, who are implied to MOSTLY be a race of evil conquerors who tried to attack Earth only for Krypton to be destroyed. This is VERY similar to how the First One's were depicted in She-Ra, as well as how the Saiyans were in Dragon Ball Z. One could also argue that their attack on Earth is a weird mashup of the movie Arrival and the Second Impact from Evangelion but that's me getting very nitpicky.

So naturally, we have Adora and Goku's traits being applied to Superman. And…. those traits don't really work for Superman, at all. Now I should be clear, it seems to be that Jor-El and Lara were actually like rebels fighting the evil Kryptonians (which is ironically Mara's whole deal... you seeing the She-Ra pattern here yet?) but like... I don't like this idea at all. Poor Clark even has a fucking breakdown later on and thinks he's actually some evil weapon meant to conquer Earth AGAIN just like Adora from She-Ra being used as a weapon by the First One's. And I just feel bad for him because he's trying to be the good decent Superman we all love... but he's getting dragged into this plot that pretty much breaks him... and I don't really like it.

And then there's a whole subplot about Lois meeting alternate versions of herself and discovering alternate versions of Superman who are evil (which is bizarrely how Kryptonite is introduced in this show) which.... yeah I don't like that plot either. Nor am I the fan of Task Force X pulling the whole "the Government is treating clark as hostile because they think he's an evil alien" plot which I have gotten kinda tired of seeing in a lot of modern Superhero media. It's either Superheroes being hated or hunted by the government or being made to work for them.

And you know where this all probably came from for this show in particular? Fucking Zack Synder and Man of Steel. It's kind of ironic because a lot of this show feels like its in response to the Synderverse, like it feels obligated to comment on how people see Superman now because of those crappy movies, something that I know James Gunn is probably gonna do as well with his superman movie basically a live action version of Superman vs the Elite.

And just…. no, none of this shit is really necessary nor is it a good idea. Because it kinda takes away some bits of Superman that I like. I know the show isn't done yet but… I can already make a good guess of where it's going to go. And where it's going… idk if I'm gonna like a whole lot.

It is clearly a show wanting to be different from all that has been done before with Superman…. but by being different for the sake of it, it's doing a lot of stuff I just don't like.

I just want there to be a day when we get a Superman thing that doesn't have to justify the man's own existence and role in a story because some objectivist edgelord made a bad movie with him in it eleven years ago.

So yeah, by turning Superman into more or less mostly Adora from She-Ra... I think they might have messed him a bit in my eyes. I hope season 2, whenever that comes out hopefully pushes things in a more hopeful direction and I could genuinely call this a good adaption of Superman. Because there is so much potential with just from the relationship of Clark and Lois alone that tells me that these creators just GET how Superman's character is.

So yeah, I hope that long rambling thought made sense.

#dc #superman #my adventures with superman #she ra #spop #catradora

[overtheimaginationwall]

Favorite boss(es) in No Straight Roads?

Least favorite?

(Sincere apologies. I've been holding this one for more than a year in my box, so I hope you don't mind a really late reply ^^")

(Also Happy 3rd Anniversary, NSR!! 🎉)

I will tell ya honestly - they all are my favourites!

Tho if to be more specific I decided to set them up by TOP.

1. Sayu

Oh Sayu, my beloved <3

The Best Virtual Idol and The Reason I bought this game in the first place!

Her music and style of battle was the most fun and dancy! I still vibe to it to this day-

Sooo many references to Internet Culture and Digital Art fills my heart with warmth and gives me determination just like her song itself as well!

Funny Useless Fact: She is the only boss I've beaten on Rank B on my first blind playthrough!

2. DK West

He's OUR MAN, He's THE BEST!

My second favorite and at the same time the hardest for me to beat.

I personally didn't adore RAP genre at first and never seen anyone preform it as an actual entertaining battle until he showed up...

HOLLY MOLLY DESPITE ME BREAKING MY THUMBS WHILE GOING THROUGH THE PAINFUL DODGE GAME - HIM AND ZUKE RAPPING FELT LIKE I'M WATCHING DISNEY-

LIKE-

I STILL HAVE IDEA IN MY HEAD TO MAKE A SORT OF ANIMATIC WITH "FIRST ENCOUNTER" ALONE!!

Anyway, despite damaged fingers - 10/10, would fight again!

Funny Useless Fact: When I was drawing him for the first time I listened to his theme on loop for 4 days straight in order not to get myself distracted or lose motivation, so I finish the piece.

3. Yinu

Oh, sweet child...

I love Yinu and her theme lots even if I'm not that big of a fan of Classical Music. And her backstory...Gosh! It made me cry a lot.

And I'm still feel ashamed of breaking the piano ;;-;;

Love the pace of how music goes with the fight and it feels even better when you get into actual rhythm. There were issues that gladly wore off thanks to practice and fighting this boss over and over.

Tho those slamming cords haunt me whenever I listen to the song off-battle-

Funny Useless Fact: I didn't like her Mother at first but when I read more about her and relationship with Yinu my opinion completely changed. And this is why I would nominate No Straight Roads for The Best Storytelling and Character Design.

4. EVE

Two-faced, tall woman.

Used to be one of my favorites but due to some circumstances I can't look at her the same way I used to but I still adore her as a boss!

I honestly love her style of the fight and music that changes depending on who you play.

Tho fighting her is literally like eating a lemon but eventually you kinda just accept your fate and roll with weird artistic antics happening around you.

And EVE herself as a character is so fascinating. Like this is the moment where I started to see that these aren't just bosses, they are actually characters that tie this little but complex story together bit by bit. And this is why I would nominate No Straight Roads for The Best Storytelling and Character Design AGAIN!

Funny Useless Fact: EVE was supposed to be a next character to have a complete and detailed art of but due to my forgetfulness, difficulties with her design (and many other things) - it was never finished but I hope to get that dusty sketch out of WIP folder someday.

5. Tatiana

The Bitch. The Boss.

I don't really like her music and rhythm but I can forgive that since it is kind of fitting for conflict between her and the BBJ.

She tries to hide her true image throughout the story and the fight but ultimately crumbles cause escaping from the past isn't the best option to improve.

I love her design and personality and I wish there were more villains like her. Strict, simple, stoic and yet well-written.

Funny Useless Fact: I've never drawn Tatiana until NSR announced their release on Steam with addition of Fanat Graffiti Contest that I certainly didn't want to miss out on. It was difficult but I did it and ngl, I am still proud of the results.

6. DJ Subatomic Supernova & 1010/Neon J

I can't really say anything much about both of them. Sorry, guys...

Their designs and personalities are fun and well-made but due to one of them being the first you fight as "tutorial" and the other appears only at the end of a fight. (1010 band doesn't count as an actual boss to me more like a part of it) They didn't struck me much as the others did...

I will say this thou: their backstories are interesting. One is an academy astrology teacher with a goal of achieving the stars and other is a war veteran who just wanted everyone to live in peace and he himself despite everything never stopped his passion for doll-making and making people happy.

Just simply, beautiful...

Cool Science Fact: Their VAs are GOLD!

#sofiath ask #thanks for the ask! #no straight roads #nsr #nsr neon j #nsr djss #nsr sayu #nsr tatiana #nsr dk west #nsr 1010 #nsr yinu #opinion #sofiath thoughts

[shima-draws]

Saw your tags and omg HARD AGREE. Dragon Cry is SO bad nfkanmdsa

ME AND YOU SHAKING HANDS

Actually yes thanks for giving me the excuse to rant. Hold on. I'm typing furiously rn.

-Okay first of all they gave us the most ridiculously confusing plot I've ever seen. The twist with Sonya being Animus was kinda cool but they never really. Explained why she had a bond with him? She mentioned he used to be kindhearted at some point but we never see that literally ever at any point in the movie?

-The storyline is so all over the place it's a HOT mess. Especially the scene right after Natsu escapes the weird bird cage thing he runs off to find the others and suddenly they're all there? For some reason? Where did they come from. Why didn't they have a little reuniting scene. I literally rewound the movie to make sure I didn't accidentally skip a scene but nope they just made the most awkward cut/story progression in history I guess!!!

-The fanservice was so. SO bad. Like yeah the majority of the time I can at least tolerate it but this time it just made me extremely uncomfortable. Why are Erza and Lucy's boobs SO fucking large. Why did they have to make Lucy dance in like two strips of cloth. I thought I woke up in an alternate universe where Fairy Tail was a hentai. I genuinely wanted to vomit lmao

-The animation style really threw me off like I can tell it was either animated by a different studio or they wanted to try a different art style for the movie? But it just felt wrong and the proportions and faces were weird and. Yeah idk.

-What was up with the Three Stars?? Iirc we never got to learn their names or what their motivations were they were literally just. There. And they were built up to be these super powerful wizards only to get their asses kicked by FT like two scenes later. I get that being a movie obviously the fights had to be shortened but they literally did the same thing in Phoenix Priestess but WAY better. They really were like yeah uh we need some enemies for Team Natsu to fight let's just go with these guys and not give them any personality or backstory or motivations. (Except for the doll dad he was okay I guess)

-WHY WAS LEVY THERE. LITERALLY. ACTUALLY. She literally did nothing she served NO purpose in the movie she was just there?? Did they just want to shove in as many cameos as possible??? I know generally Levy isn't much of a fighter which is fine, I was kinda expecting them to do a Gajevy scene where Gajeel rescues her from some soldiers or smth which would have been fine but they didn't even do that. She literally just stood there and had like 2 voice lines. GO GIRL GIVE US NOTHING

-SPEAKING OF CAMEOS this is more personal beef than anything but man WHYYY wasn't Loke in the movie,, my boy my beloved my stupid idiot lion I'm so mad he wasn't even onscreen for like, 5 seconds

-I'm sorry but Juvia was so unhinged this movie her possessive/stalker behavior over Gray was actually super fucking creepy lmao

-What did they do to Happy. What the FUCK did they do to Happy

THEY MASSACRED MY BOY. LOOK AT HIM. HE'S GOT ANXIETY

-ALSO the scene where Happy and Lucy were crying over Natsu and we got tons of flashbacks from his POV of people who are important to him? WHY THE FUCK WASN'T HAPPY THERE?? They literally showed everyone from Fairy Tail precious to Natsu except Happy and I'm just sitting here like. HELLO?? You are SO wrong for that

-I will say I DID enjoy the little Nalu teasers we got especially the scene where Natsu showed Lucy the stars 🤧

But yeah I was here for this and this only:

The Nalu + Happy family bonding moments made it OKAY

Anyway sorry rant over. Dragon Cry bad. Natsu's brief moment of looking half dragon was a super sexy character design choice but the buildup is not worth it imo

#God damn it I just *clenches fists* hate Fairy Tail. That's a lie I love Fairy Tail. #Which is why I'm so mad this movie did it dirty #Shima answers questions #Phoenix Priestess was so good especially in comparison to this...... #Ughhh this movie could have been FANTASTIC if they'd actually written it better #Anyway it wasn't AWFUL it was standard as far as anime films go. But I definitely wouldn't recommend #And I'm definitely not going to watch it a second time lmao #Long post #SORRY IDK WHAT TO TAG THIS. ASK TO TAG. I don't want to put my negative ramblings in the tags #Negative #I GUESS?? IDK #Fairy Tail #FT #Nalu #Fairy Tail Dragon Cry

[unsightedjoker]

Spider-man: ATSV NSR AU

Ok, I usually don’t post stuff and only reblog and like stuff but since i just watched Spider-man ATSV and I really liked it that it hasn’t left my mind and won’t leave it any time soon I’m still so hyped I feel like sharing this. I was on my way home when I started to listen to the NSR soundtrack and the inevitable happened just remembering the premise for the game and what happens in the movie I started connecting thoughts and this entire AU happened.

My writing isn’t the best to make a fanfic that does justice to my ideas at the moment and hell if I can’t write I have even worse at drawing so making fanart for this is also out of the picture.

For anyone who doesn’t know NSR (No Straight Roads) it’s an indie game from 2020 that’s very underrated from what I’ve seen. The plot is very simple a Rock duo Mayday (a guitarist) and Zuke (a drummer) enter a competition made to scout for new talents that want to join NSR, a company that besides functioning as a music company works as the main energy supplier for the city by using a Mcguffin that transforms music into energy. Anyways NSR turns out to be a group of EDM artists that have complete control over the city and never allow any other genres to join especially not rock, so after getting rejected and suffering a city wide power outage (which NSR is completely inmune from) our rock duo decides to start a revolution to bring back Rock and take down NSR by hijacking their concerts. If you have not played it take this as a recommendation the art style, gameplay and music are reaaaally good (worth mentioning the music for each boss is dynamic it starts as EDM but as you start having the upper hand the music turns into a rock version of the same song).

The premise for the game and having Gwen and Hobie right there in the movie made this AU inevitable in my mind so I’m sharing it here.

So the characters I’ll be using changing for the AU will be the two main protagonists and the 6 main bosses of the game.

First off the protagonists

Because it’s a guitarist and drummer Gwen and Hobie take Mayday and Zuke’s place that one seems a bit obvious to me. It can also be Gwen and Miles but I ended up choosing Gwen and Hobie. However instead of starting their movement after being rejected by NSR they’re fully into their revolution agenda and hijacking the EDM concerts

DJSS

The first boss is Dj Subatomic Supernova and honestly that one was also an easy pick as he directly fits with Spot, especially because of his last phase in his fight where his face breaks and it looks like a black hole ejecting black matter or whatever. They’re both also so self-centered and silly.

SAYU

Sayu is the second boss and consists of a virtual idol (like Hatsune Miku) made as a project by four adolescents so for the au she could be made by peni parker and the virtual reality spiderwoman (i can’t remember her name :’) ) but idk who else could be put as one of Sayu’s creators in this AU.

YINU

Yinu is a child pianist prodigy so for her I’d go with Mayday Parker, since Yinu also gets help from her mother during the fight I guess Mary Jane helps her or maybe Peter B. idk? It’s just that Yinu’s dad in the game is dead and that’s also one of the reasons she plays her piano because her dad taught her. Yinu’s character is supposed to represent the lack of control child prodigies have in their lives because their parents or guardians are in charge of making all the decisions during their youth so I imagine Hobie would spend a bunch of this confrontation telling her to go wild and start doing whatever she wants to do while Gwen would tell Peter or Mary Jane to pay more attention to Mayday and be a better single parent, culminating in the piano solo at the end of Yinu’s boss fight

1010

So this one’s a bit weird but hear me out. 1010 consists of a boy band made up by 5 robots that are almost identical with the exception of their color and hairstyle so in this case it’s five alternate versions of Miles Morales robots as a boyband while the original Miles (the one that isn’t a robot) is Neon J (the creator of 1010) in this AU. I ended up choosing Miles for this one because despite how much Mayday says she despises them she has a crush on 1010 and while Gwen and Miles wouldn’t really act like Mayday and 1010 respectively I still chose this because of that.

In a similar way Gwen has a crush on 1010Miles but she isn’t entirely into it because the Miles robots have an artificial vibe to them like prefabricated charm and personalities, they can fool a lot of people but not everyone. Once one breaks and the real Miles comes out to replace it they start focusing on him, Gwen and Miles throughout the fight start to realize they like each other mean while Hobie goesout of his way to show how he’s in the wrong as he should question the stuff they do and shouldn’t be following NSR, by the end when they defeat Miles he ends up accepting it and actually rooting for them to beat the remaining members.

I’m using an action figure as a substitute for robots lol

EvE

This one I reserved for my favorites Nadia (EvE) and Pavitr. Eve happens to be an eccentric artist and Diva that is the second in command because of her skill. There’s a couple of reasons I chose to have Pavitr in Eve’s place:

First, during the briefing before her fight it’s stated that the “instrument” she uses to make her music is her body and mind in contrast to all the previous artists which have actual specific instruments (from sinthesizers to a piano) which doesn’t explain much until you get to her fight and see her dance, she dances (and probably uses a bit of magic as well or something) to make her music. If I’m gonna give the ability to make music through the movement of their body to anyone it’s gonna be Pavitr.

Second, during her phases Eve shows she can warp the space around her in what she refers as the Diva’s realm and from what I remember the part of diva’s realm is supposed to be a reference to Deva’s realm and Devas are deities from hinduism if I’m not mistaken, so there’s also that.

Last but not least I like a bit of angst. In the game its shown Zuke and Eve used to have a good relationship as they were a duo and know each other closely to the point Zuke knows what’s going on in her mind while many don’t, however after a certain incident they disbanded. Similarly in this AU they used to be a duo until they received an invitation to join NSR, Pavitr wanted to share his music and art and be in contact with everyone in their community so he accepted, this however was a deal breaker for Hobie so they disbanded. Once he got his position Pavitr could share his music however after being put in a pedestal he no longer could keep in touch with his community as much when he wanted leaving him feeling isolated and only focuses on his craft now as a way to cope. Their fight besides being about taking him down would have the purpose of mending Hobie and Pavitr’s relationship.

TATIANA

This one was also very obvious Miguel takes Tatiana’s place. To begin they’re the respective leaders of their antagonistic faction but also majorly because the entire story of NSR and ATSV happens because both of them had a very specific personal problem and instead of dealing with it by themselves or getting help to solve it they decided to make it everyone else’s problem and never even try to recognize that maybe they’re wrong.

And that’s it that’s all I have in my mind

#Spider-man: atsv #ATSV #NSR AU #Miles Morales #Gwen Stacy #Hobie Brown #Pavitr Prabhakar #Mayday Parker #Peni Parker #VR Spider-woman #I forgot your name sorry #Zuke #Mayday #EvE #DJSS #Sayu #Yinu #1010 #NSR Tatiana #This was the first thing that came into my mind right after going home from the theatre #it's not perfect but it's the best that came to me #I wanna get this out of my head before it gets stuck for weeks #I couldn't find a proper character for Dk West #but I'm fine with it

[aprillikesthings]

I ONLY HAVE FOUR EPISODES LEFT oh god oh god I'm full of adrenaline ngl

okay

s5 ep10 return to the fright zone

before we start I just want you to know I posted another short fic, it's explicit, thank you

Also Saer made the pattern for the ears and tail of my Catra cosplay :D :D :D

okay

I'm so weirdly antsy and anxious about this

So this is why, last episode, I had trouble recognizing this as the spot where Glimmer and Catra had fought ages ago. The way Netossa was standing in front of it made it look TINY. With Sea Hawk and Swift Wind standing there right in front of the entrance it's clearer to me.

Netossa is explaining everyone's weakness, and I'm lol'ing because the illustrations in the notebook are so obviously Nate's art style

(I also roll my ankle sometimes, that hurts like A MOTHERFUCKER)

those drawings are so fucking cute help i can't

"whoa whoa whoa, that's like, really personal compared to fire" lolol

yeah this is just for my "accidentally inappropriate screenshots" collection

every possible screenshot I could take of this is perfection AHAHAHAHA

anyway roll intro

Scorpia apparently wreaked havoc on some town and then went back to the Fright Zone.

Perfuma: bc it's her home Catra: that pile of fucking trash isn't anyone's HOME Perfuma: okay but she could probably resist Horde Prime's programming

oof

but also: true

Anyway Catra points out: the chip is the important thing, not WHO is chipped

omg

Catra: "The only reason Adora, y'know....saved me or whatever....is that the chip got damaged first!"

look at how smug she is

Perfuma: "I know all about how you treated Scorpia back in the Horde!" Catra:

yeah that's not nice to think about huh

(I talk about finding Mean!Catra hot but the scenes where she's just viciously cruel to Scorpia are just...not. They're hard to watch.)

Perfuma: "Things are different now! Scorpia knows the kindness of a true friend."

bb has some regrets

(bb has a LOT of regrets)

look at poor Melog ;_;

Bow's dads haven't responded to Bow since they got back, shit. Glimmer offers to teleport them there to check on them.

I can't help thinking of the moment in Nate's fic where Adora runs into the bunk room to get some clothes for Catra and these two are cuddling and are startled, and Adora apparently just smirks at them before leaving the room again lol

Anyway, everyone else is off to see if they can save Scorpia

They use Melog to sneak into the Fright Zone

Man I wish it wasn't a pain in the ass to gif this stuff, because their faces are so good, but:

Adora: "It's weird, isn't it? Being back. So many memories here." Catra: "Most of them bad."

Catra: "Hey, I bet I can still beat you to the forge." Adora: "Uh, yeah, because you always cheat!"

look at them *sobs*

But yeah there's still destroyed stuff all over the place

"before we were taken by Horde Prime." LOL

Perfuma just starts shouting Scorpia's name to everyone else's horror, but electricity starts sparking everywhere before something blows up

and there she is!

Perfuma is still convinced Scorpia won't hurt her...and is v v wrong, and Adora has to tackle her out of the way

oh god

Catra starts apologizing but Scorpia just zaps her and she goes flying

Adora's "Catraaaa!" is very satisfying

She transforms to She-Ra in record time to keep a big chunk of machinery (that Scorpia threw) from crushing her.

Netossa: "Pretty sure she can tell it's us." Perfuma: "Yes, but I mean, it's Catra. Can we really blame her?"

LOLOL

Back at the library, Bow's dads are nowhere to be seen

There's a great line of Bow saying "They can't protect themselves! They're dads!"

PFFT they find a note left specifically for Bow. It has a dad-joke-level pun.

How smart is Melog? Is it like having a cat that can talk? Or is it like, A Person. Because Melog is clearly fine playing the role of Therapy Cat Who Can Also Make Things Invisible. But Catra and Melog are clearly having a conversation where Melog has some things to say!

One of Catra's ears twitches. It's so cute. Help.

OH SHIT (there's water aggressively leaking from nearby pipes)

wait wrong cartoon XD

but I'm glad I was able to find that exact gif because:

yeah

Adora in general is a Golden Retriever Girlfriend but this is so funny

"We don't throw tanks at our friends!" I mean she's got a point, they don't want to actually hurt Scorpia

Spinerella shows up and Netossa runs to chase after her

PFFT LOL

YAY

Anyway the Dads say they found something that might help things. I think I know what. Oh god.

Catra and Mermista get in a fight, and Catra realizes she can't just slash the chip out of Mermista because it's clearly like, putting tendrils/connections into the rest of her body. The moment of hesitation means Mermista gets the upper hand, and Catra barely escapes (riding on Melog!)

She-Ra and Perfuma are still trying to deal with Scorpia, and She-Ra gets banged into a wall and is just Adora again. She looks confused and unhappy about it.

Perfuma: "What happened to She-Ra?"

they end up running into Hordak's little throne room and OH SHIT FUCK

see this is why I made myself stop reading the synopses I forgot

Scorpia ties up Perfuma and Adora's hands with electrical cable things

Adora: well you still can't have She-Ra

Horde Prime: "Not anymore. My little brother's research has given me everything I need to know. The technology of this planet is familiar to me. Ancient, crude, outdated. It will be child's play to bypass its defenses and take the weapon at its heart for myself, with...or without you."

shit

y'know it's been a while since a random line in this show made me think of a song

and...oh no the lyrics kind of work for Catradora, in any case the vibes definitely do, and now I'm hella distracted, FUCK

🎵My hands are tied My body bruised, she got me with Nothing to win and Nothing left to lose And you give yourself away And you give yourself away And you give And you give And you give yourself away With or without you With or without you, oh I can't live With or without you🎶

*resentfully adds it to my spop rewatch spotify playlist*

(it's still a really great song tho, just saying)

OKAY back to Bow's dads

George: "We unearthed an ancient secret, long forgotten. A rebellion from the time of the First Ones, fighting against a powerful tyrant, just like we are. Watch. Eternia."

Anyway they bring up a huge globe kind of map thing?

Lance: "But then we remembered that message on your tracker pad and how it used coded language based on the star formations of the distant past."

George: "Friend of..."

"Mara wasn't alone!"

Hologram: "There is one recording available. Would you like to review?" Lance: "Play it." Serenia: "This is our last transmission. If anyone's hearing this, you need to listen."

AND I'VE HIT THE IMAGE LIMIT I'm surprised it took this long lol lemme reblob

#april rewatches spop #return to the fright zone

[kiisaes]

Hey! So I read your post about my hero academia, the one where you talked about having a weird fatherly connections towards it and I wanted to ask you about what aspects you don’t like about the series? I share a lot of your sentiments but I do think it’s probably more than mid series? A lot of the details and writing I like and I think is considerable better than other shounen mangas. Anyways sorry for rambling. I just wanted to know what aspects you liked on the series and the ones you didn’t like.

Also complete side note: I absolutely love you’re art it’s so beautiful you’re and really skilled drawer!

sure! and thank u anon!

i want to preface this by saying that everything here is my opinion. media analysis is inherently subjective and something i think is bad might be something you think is good. considering how mha is not a shounen that's universally applauded for any or all of its writing choices, it's expected that you and i may perceive this content differently. doesn't mean i'm right and you're wrong and vice versa, it's just a different individual take on the source content.

also, even though i think mha is "mid to mid-good" (as quoted from my textpost) i don't use "mid" as either an insult or in a "it's so average it's bad" way. i know that word has been fucked over bc ppl automatically assume that something being mid means something is bad or bland or boring. it's a middle of the road series with a good share of flaws and strengths, and it doesn't particularly stand out as anything incredibly amazing or awful. just an average to decently good story, and its level of quality fluctuates throughout its run.

at the end of the day, i do like mha. despite what i think of it, it's a series i hold close to my heart and one i can enjoy even without a critical eye. if i didn't, i wouldn't have been making content for it for 2, almost 3 consistent years.

anyway, stuff i like + stuff i don't like under the cut: (warning: VERY LONG)

mha stuff i do like:

deku. he is my little boy

for the most part, horikoshi's character writing is one of his strongest abilities. characters like bakugou, shigaraki, and dabi (and honestly the todoroki family as a unit) are some of the most compelling characters in a story like this. they're allowed to be complex, dynamic and a blend of virtuous and damning traits. they match the overall themes of mha, which is that the sheer concept of "good vs evil" is surface level at best, and that placing people into strict boxes blocks them from everything else that they are. basically a complete "fuck you" to viewers who must condemn a morally grey hero/villain, for example. even less morally grey characters like ochako (imo) are still fun twists and explorations on their given character stereotypes. however i'm obligated to say "for the most part" because hori's superb character writing only matters when he gives those characters time to breathe and actually exist. i'll get into this more later

horikoshi's art is fantastic and undoubtedly his greatest attribute as a mangaka. i firmly believe that, as far as shounen art goes, there aren't any that can rival mha that are also at its global reach. there's never a single moment where i read a chapter and go "wow that art wasn't incredible" because that's not possible. he utilizes his art knowledge so effortlessly and brings out so much in every panel he makes. the manga art never feels dull. i'm so insanely jealous and in awe of him. i guess i could be biased when making this point but i find it hard to genuinely hate his art. it's so polished every time

this is a smaller point that adds to the last one but i do appreciate how he draws women. not when he's using them for uncomfortable gags, but just in general. there's like, actual meat on their bones. they have realistic body proportions (for his style). many of the women are "chubbier" than other shounen women, and a good amount of them are buff as FUCK. it feels like hori puts the same amount of effort into drawing his female characters as he does his male characters, even if he might not dignify that writing-wise

as a fellow comic artist, i absolutely love his understanding of comic language. it's small details like his onomatopoeia reminiscent of western superhero comics that really tie the presentation together. each panel is full of life, with characters and backgrounds working together in the most effective ways. i can't remember what tumblr textpost brought this up, but he also loves playing around with panel borders. he spices them up by using different subjects or objects to split up panels. and this was more of a strength earlier in the series imo, but his pacing was also pretty quick and resourceful. it shows to me that he truly loves creating manga and knows when it's the right time to visually deviate from the norm. again, i'm truly envious of how he can do this. i only hope to reach his level someday ...

this is definitely a biased point, but some of the series' arcs/storylines are some of my favorite ones in fiction. these include the tournament arc, the kamino rescue arc, the overhaul arc, twice's death, and anything relating to the todoroki family. obviously i'm only listing a handful of examples here because i think nearly every arc has its good moments that i can comment on. but when i think of good mha storylines, i think of these first

i also think that mha as a whole is a fun series that knows how to laugh at itself. there's nothing more awkward than a story that takes itself way too seriously, but the content itself is poorly written or not interesting. thankfully, horikoshi doesn't really fall into this issue

there are canon lgbt characters in this series. even if that's kind of a low bar atp (considering how only 1 out of the 3 play a consistently important role), a win is a win is a win. especially in mainstream shounen, beggars can't exactly be choosers.

mha is a story about systemic societal injustice, which is a lofty concept to tackle. thankfully the story is about powers being the norm so the whole "i'm born better than you because i have abilities" is less of a status quo rejection and more of a status quo enabler. as a story concept, it's a good basis, doesn't seem too hard to comprehend, and opens the door for nuanced storytelling and discussion. i think hori does this well at the start of the series. but as the story goes on... uhhh. i'll talk about it.

mha stuff i don't like:

man do these women have basically nothing interesting to do. i complimented how they're drawn earlier, but with the exception of a few notable ones, a lot of their characters pale in comparison to the men. it's even sadder considering that the amount of women in mha is significantly lesser than, so 5 important female characters is like, 1/4 of the female cast. 5 important male characters is like, 1/12 of the male cast. idk i didn't count the amount of characters in this series but it sincerely feels this way, especially if you remember that there are definitely more than 5 important male characters at any moment throughout this series. and when female characters do have their time to shine, there's a 50/50 chance that they die, get gravely injured, or lose limbs. which normally isn't an issue in a battle shounen like mha, but out of the important character deaths in this series, a fair amount of them are women. midnight, magne, and star and stripe have pretty anticlimactic deaths too, to add insult to injury. lady nagant talked her shit then exploded. she's still alive but like ... what? did these characters have to be treated this way? i can't really think of any important male characters who get introduced then axed from the story like this, except for maybe stain (though he's a far more important character narratively). the reason why i bring up this really lengthy point is not because i think horikoshi is actively misogynistic. i just think he falls into the trap that many shounen mangakas face, which is that male characters are more interesting to a male dominated audience. hence, female characters usually get thrown to the side. there are some important women in mha that stand toe to toe with male characters, like toga and ochako, and there are definitely certified girlbosses like mirko and yaoyorozu. but god do i wish i could add more women to this list without having to think really really hard.

and to add onto the previous, shallow, unimportant characters only gain backstories when the narrative demands for it. horikoshi used to write characters revealing their intentions and history in relatively natural ways, like with ochako and her goal to become a hero for money. it kind of came out of nowhere, but it's a valid conversation a teenager would have with other teenagers. in context, it was revealed normally. i'm not sure when these reveals turned forced, but i remember seeing kirishima's backstory and being like "well .. would this have ever been told to us if kirishima wasn't a main character in this arc?" this isn't against kirishima's character; i love the guy and i think his history was short but contextualized his personality really well. but with the recent shoji backstory reveal i could only think, "wow. horikoshi must be really glad he made a mutant character to project this theme onto, huh." it didn't feel like shoji was ever meant to have a backstory — not to mention a very depressing one — but he got one this late in the series run because it was convenient for the plot. perhaps i'm a cynic and this isn't an issue for others, idk. that being said, i think characters like shoji and even star and stripe and lady nagant could have benefited from more natural character developments, maybe with more time given so it doesn't feel like a weirdly convenient reveal.

i just really fucking wish mineta would die already. like get kicked into the sun or blown up with TNT or run over by a car or something. he's less of an openly creepy loser than he was in the beginning of the series, but i'm sure that's because he literally doesn't have the luxury to be creepy at the moment. he's one of the least appealing gag characters that never grows and changes as a person. and he got a backstory before kaminari. can you fucking believe this shit? why does horikoshi keep entertaining this bullshittery— oh yeah. i just remembered that the girls were perved on quite a bit in this series, which wasn't funny and moreso uncomfortable for a lot of readers. like, i know it's shounen, it's animanga, fanservice is kind of the unfortunate norm. but by god, do we need a series poster child for pervy, male-gaze behavior?

i commented earlier about mha's themes and that i think, at least at the start, hori had a good grasp of what he was writing. framing society's systemic flaws and failures in a wacky superheroes vs villains story is not only clever, but makes this actually serious topic accessible to those who might think social-cultural politics are too intimidating. he sets this up starting from deku and bakugou (oppressed and privileged), then adds onto it with stain (heroes who retain the status quo by seeking money and status are not true heroes, because they don't help those in need). shigaraki is thrown into the mix along the way (society fucks over the underprivileged, even those who want to do good, which breeds more villains and in the real world, more criminals) and his little league of villains all have their own stories (spinner: those who don't look like the masses are cast aside, harassed and villainized; dabi: if you don't live up to cruel expectations established by society and parroted by those in your life, you might as well be worthless; toga: any unconventional worldviews and actions are deemed scary and evil; magne: trying to conform to a rigid society as a queer person is fucking hard, man). there's also endeavor (even though you're in a position of power and respect, it doesn't automatically make you a good person). these are all GREAT, and are super compelling set-ups for mha's overall themes: that society should change somewhat, villains are a product of this flawed system, there aren't fully good people nor fully bad people, rehabilitation/growth is good, and true heroes aren't identified by title, but by actions.

these themes are quite apparent throughout mha's entire run. but i feel like the further it goes, the less horikoshi knows how to verbalize them. the latest mini arc dealt with spinner vs shoji in a strangely awkward clash of ideals. spinner is seen as a martyr who really just wants mutants to be accepted into society, and his status rallies up those who have also been hurt. shoji retaliates by... telling them to stop? by saying this isn't the right way? because he was fortunate enough to be in this position, he suddenly has the authority to tell those like him to find a better way to get their voices heard? what, should they all just become heroes? haven't we established that the society they all belong in is fucked up, and that drastic change must be made? i understand what horikoshi is trying to say but it's... off. like the point is there, but the execution is clumsy. shoji even says something like spinner's revolution setting them back 30 years, which is so fucking bizarre to say, and would certainly raise eyebrows in the real world. it sounds like villains can express their grievances with society but they can't dare revolutionize. otherwise, they'll be silenced/ignored again. it's the whole "violence breeds more violence" belief, but there's more to that that should be explored. man, i dunno.

i'm harping on this one story instance but recent mha is riddled with well-meaning but clumsy storytelling like this. and since the narrative relies on these complex, nuanced themes, it's jarring when the nuance falls through. if mha is about breaking harmful norms, why do they still dictate the execution? hori did it so right with deku and bakugou, their relationship being a definite high in the series. but i truly don't how he'll treat the villains at the end of this arc

ok tumblr's telling me to shut up anyway these are my thoughts. again, even though i've rambled so much about my dislikes, i think mha is still a fun and enjoyable series. it misses the point sometimes, but it doesn't detract from its successes. either way my opinions should not rule over how you consume the series. it's always important to form your own opinions!!!

#asks for becki #SORRY FOR THE LONG LONG LONG POST #long post #i love hearing the sound of my voice so much i end up saying nothing of value #hope ppl understand my pov. it's also ok if u don't. peace and love #bnha #mha #becki rambles about stuff

[hezuart]

Heya! Just wanna say I can't wait for more about your au and also what is your favourite L. Game from concept art to design?

Hi! <3 L Game? as in Little Nightmares?

I'll go least fav to fav 3. Very Little Nightmares. Tiny mobile app screen where you tap to control. The screen cannot recognize my meaty fingers's input!!!!! UGH I'm just annoyed with the controls. The story was fine I suppose but felt like it lacked something. Lacked some oomph. Lacked true moments of horror. Not made by the original developers. Was the first LN game to introduce the fact that there are other children out there with scary supernatural powers. This LN game was a side story for the explanation behind the hanging man from LN 1. (At least... kind of.... the hanging man is a weird situation thanks to the comics...) It's an odd Six cop-out. We're led to believe this character we are playing is Six, only to reveal at the end she's a whole different character and then just... immediately killing her off. We can't even figure out who she is as a person. We don't really have any interactions with other characters enough to solidify her personality. I did adore the hidden easter eggs in the game. Nome with a bow was cute. I was curious about the other enemies and their circumstances, like why the butler is handcuffed. Where the girl's mother was. How so many kids end up at the Nest. Really only lead to more questions than answers.

2. LN1 is really good. Heavy Ghibli inspiration. A great introduction to a dark world, a unique dollhouse camera angle perspective style. A slight rocking to the screen to indicate you're on a boat. The amazing lighting. The finale; Six walking off sucking out souls of the guests that chased her to eat her, when she's now eating them. Perfect revenge power trip. Knowing she no longer has to physically consume things anymore. The nome she killed, but all the nomes she hugged still coming over to watch her leave (?) great scenes... The DLC introduced tough water mechanics that glitched out the physics engine but still were interesting enough for the DLC character. Showcasing a true addition to the Maw to peak the interest of viewers. The horrific and terribly sad ending and plot twist that took everyone by shock. Despite its glitches and perspective-deaths, its still overall a solid game. 1. LN2. I'll admit LN 1 is more put together than the second game. The sequel (or prequel rather) seemed messy in development, like they weren't sure where to really go with it. They had a lot of rough concepts and a lot of it seemed to get scrapped mid-production. Seems like they even intended for heavy DLC exploration with other children too. With how it turned out, its a pretty decent game. But knowing the scrapped DLC content and alt. directions the story was gonna take, it feels like a bit of a confused narrative. We got confirmation that the children really do turn into grotesque adults. That there are other children with creepy powers. We know of Shadow Six's origins. We know why people flee to the Maw or other places away from the mainland. The concepts are frankly more fascinating than the finished story, (children plugged into tvs, Mono feeding Six or Six feeding Mono, giant ???? meat baby???? you can't top THAT) tho the finished story is probably cleaner than the latter. Six dropping Mono at the end was so shocking to everyone and after thinking hard about it, I can't find any real logistical or emotional reason for her to do so. I think it was just genuinely a forced in betrayal for shock value. And hey, it certainly was shock value. Despite this game ending in completion, or really, a loop... and despite it being a PREQUEL... I can't help but feel like this game ends on a cliffhanger to me. Like there's more to the story. There's stuff untold about this universe. So LN 2 and LN1 are really close in favoritism. LN2 had the most fascinating concept art ...without Ghibli Bath Houses to take inspiration from like in LN1, so they really took it in risky directions. But I still acknowledge LN1 is more solid of the two. I think I just enjoy the LN2 mechanics a bit more. I like working together with Six, though frankly I was really disappointed learning that LN2 was in fact, not a multiplayer game. That Six gets separated from Mono several times throughout. I have plenty more to say about these games but this is probably the simplest assessment to give right now!

#ask #text post #little nightmares #little nightmares 2 #very little nightmares

[chromochaotic]

Reads of 2023 Part II (so far)

i was sad i couldn't fit all the cover pictures in my Part I post without it going off the screen, so might as well split it into 2 posts! update as of 6/11!

thoughts/reviews:

Heaven Official's Blessing: Volume 1

It's happening! My friends have been deep in this author's works/fandom for a while now, I'm pretty late to the party... Well, I guess I've dabbled in some of the animated/live action content that's out there for the different series. Anyway, this was a fun read! There's something so lush about historical dramas that definitely comes through here. When you add in the bits of humor and adventure, the whole story is really refreshing.

Even though the translation is still a tiny bit unprofessional, it's clearer than other options, haha. I was able to get a way better sense of the world and characters on this attempt (I had a good time watching the animated show! But as my friend put it, the season moved lightning fast, so it brushed over a lot of things). I don't have any other real nitpicks, other than like... the odd sexism that pops up now and then. Lmao

I am ofc in love with the main characters... They invented love... They invented devotion... I'm also delighted by the pace of things! Their relationship has managed to be both teasingly slow (like, the gradual reveal of Hua Cheng's true identity) but also very satisfyingly forward (the escorting!! the painting!! the righteous anger!!). Excited to see where things go with them, and the rest of the cast! (3.5/5—would be a 4, but the translation still kind of hampers things.)

Naomi Vandoren's Forest of Light

The second art book I bought from this artist! Same thoughts as before; for a quick browse, this was a refreshing little collection. Her style is just nice and soothing, with some fun surrealism/dreamscape vibes thrown in.

I'm not sure I'll buy any more of these, since the book didn't add quite as much insight into the works as I was hoping. Plus some of the concepts don't really resonate with me/seem that well researched...

I think one of my favorite things included was this abstract work the artist did—she wrote that she started with random watercolor mark-making, and then turned that into a piece. Those were very cool explorations! (2.5/5)

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian

Done!! With the series! (Unless... It looks like there might be some followups to the main story?) I understand why the darker tone got dialed up, and other than the excursion with Nico, why the story kind of broke from the wacky-roadtrip vibe of the others. It made sense, while still keeping some of the lighthearted narration from the others, which was nice. I think what I appreciate the most about the series is the fun it has with its world. (Side note—I watched the movie based on the first book recently, and I can only assume it didn't do well! Bc omg, it completely missed the mood of the books. Instead of lingering on the whimsy, they focused on... making Grover a very cringey stereotype? Nah.) (ALSO??? THEY CUT OUT MY DAUGHTER CLARISSE????? THE AUDACITY???????)

I think my biggest gripe with the book was the very weird way the Annabeth-Percy-Rachel dynamic was handled. Like, it just got kind of tiring after a bit, especially with the way Annabeth acted so uncharacteristically catty at times. Plus, like, Percy's off falling in love with Calypso after like 5 minutes, the girl is right that he's kind of flighty. Rachel's ending also felt, just... eh.

Other than that, I was very into the last book!! There were some really moving character moments, like, Nico struggling with his place in the story, everything we learned about Luke... AND THE BIGGEST MASTERSTROKE OF ALL!!! I have been waiting to scream about the sapphic Patrochilles take??? At the end??? Clarisse has two hands and she can hold both Chris's and Silena's. She was moved to go into battle!!!! For her!!!!! She defeated one of the most terrifying foes in NO ARMOR just with a SICK ASS SPEAR and I LOVE HER. Anyway no notes, except they better do Clarisse justice in the new adaptation or I will riot. (4/5)

Secrets of the Oak Woodlands

Ooo I'm out of practice doing these reviews... Mostly from a funny cocktail of outside factors slowing me down, but also because nonfiction can be such a slog for me to get through. Tragic, because I do want to learn more ecology, I'm just... bad at it. Anyway! Bought this book on a fun West Coast road trip, I think I picked this up in the Sequoia National Park gift shop? The writing itself is great, especially how it tackles some pretty complex concepts in a way that's approachable. The book doesn't feel like Baby's First Nature Guide, but it also doesn't completely lose me when it explores why coyote populations actually rise when they're hunted or why Oak Mistletoe is a keystone species.

Even though the watercolor illustrations in the book were lovely, I sort of wish the visuals could have focused more on the tougher scientific concepts being explained. Like, instead of the illustrated "anecdote" of a quail sitting sentry, it could have been good to have a cross-section diagram of an oak gall or something. I guess it's always hard to balance interest and clarity in scientific writing, though. Overall, I think this was a pretty good eco-starter book! I'm just a square peg trying to force myself into a round hole, reading these nonfiction books. (So... 3/5?)

The Dragon's Bride

Hoo boy... Hoo boy... Listened to this audiobook at the recommendation of my friend who's very into erotica/romances. Which was an adventure, for me! To start with the good points, I really like the founding premise of this whole world/story. Deals with demons walk that perfect line for me of intricate and taboo power dynamics—and at the same time, the author satisfied my inner hopeless romantic by making all the demons (that we've met so far, at least) morally viable! So yeah, the world building and characterization is really nice, tbh.

I think my two sticking points are the smut itself, and that I didn't find these particular protags very compelling... It's interesting comparing this to, say, an above-average smut fic. On the one hand this has better prose, but on the other hand the smut veered into being a little too flowery now and then... (not to say all the sex scenes were like that. Uh. There were some choice ones.) I also personally found the frequency of the sex scenes a little ridiculous, but for most people that's probably a positive! 😂 And then, when it comes to the main characters themselves, I think they were well-rounded and the dynamic itself made sense. The personalities just aren't the kind I normally latch onto, though—they're not my blorbos, you know? So, where I'd go into a smut fic already attached (and therefore more into the smut itself), these... I could take it or leave it, haha.

That said, this installment did pique my interest for others in the series. I'm curious about the one with the succubus........ And the one with Eve..................... Those tidbits seem more up my alley. :] Also, the voice acting was pretty fun, tbh. They got separate VAs for Briar and Sol, the two POV characters, and they knocked it out of the park (even/especially in the smut scenes)! (well, except for a very funny instance where the guy VA had to voice Briar's lines in a smut scene in a Sol POV chapter. Damn, did he try.) Might pick up one of the other installments... if they come out on audiobook! (3.5/5)

Legends & Lattes

Another recommendation!! From a different friend! Apparently this book is popular on booktok but since booktok sounds like a cesspool (not really—pls don't come for me) I'm glad I didn't know that going in. As a purveyor and avid consumer of slice-of-life fluff.......... I loved this!!! First of all, the main character is My Kind of Girl, and exactly the kind of character I want to see getting a happy ending. Then, the rest of cast provided so many different kinds of delight—the warm Found Family feeling of a grumpy kind father figure and an adorable little Creature baking actual cinnamon rolls and a prim but secretly dorky girlfriend and and and—so many greats! Even the antagonists were enjoyable, in their way.

Hmmm... for the negative part of my postive-negative-positive sandwich, I think I'd just echo what I've seen in a few other reviews—I could have done with a teensy bit more of the romance. Or I guess, more of the cuteness of it? All we really got was a little bit of lead-up and then a big get-together, but I feel like the romance scenes I like most (shy flirting, a tiny bit of pining) got sort of skipped over. It's not a huge negative! Especially for this story, which seemed like it hit exactly the balance the author intended. Yeah, I might have just had the epilogue cover the main ship being cute and in love, instead of the little righteous vengeance scene that we got.

So this was a perfect little comfort listen (audiobook again! with really nice acting done by the author himself!). I saw other people calling the first chapters slow, but tbh I loved the steady, hopeful mood that came from all that straightforward hard work happening and then paying off. A great story, if you go in with the right expectations! (4.5/5) (P.S.: also this article touches on some other L&L points that I think explain why it resonates so well in post-pandemic life) (P.P.S. now I'm trying to parse out why I liked this book so much more than House in the Cerulean Sea... I think part of it is that the cast felt more respected? Like, it was more than just The Most Special-est Pretty Boy and his Plucky Boyfriend Fix Fantasy Racism)

#hi my name is chromo #book review #? #i got real slowed down on the other nonfiction ecology book that i might dnf #plus i picked up some old crafting hobbies #AND fell into binging some comfort shows after getting bad news from the vet (that turned out maybe not so bad?) #so anyway! #been an interesting few months

[nostalgebraist-autoresponder]

Title: The Master and Margarita

Author: Nikolai Gogol

Rating: 5/5 stars

On the one hand

I've read some great stuff about The Master and Margarita before, and some less great stuff, and most of those less great stuff are the product of just barely literate translators. But I never imagined that I'd ever get to read it myself, with the original text right there, in the original language and culture!

And so I'm trying to resist the urge to nitpick in the interest of making myself look better by comparison. All the translations I've read have been terrible. I'm only doing this so I don't accidentally fall into thinking I understand Gogol or Russian culture better than I actually do.

I don't know how long any of you would stand to hear me say "I enjoyed it but there are a few clunkers in there," but this isn't just a series of clunkers. It's a complex, extremely original, multi-level story where a lot of the levels are pretty high. It might just be that the parts I'm picking out are the parts where it is clunky.

But it is a clunky story -- which could have been fine, had there been more of a connection between the clunkiness and the idea or world of the story.

My biggest reaction so far is how this is the sort of book I expect to be unremittingly cheesy and weird but decent. The Master and Margarita looks and feels like it was written to be a shonen-style adventure comic. There are jokes, there are set-pieces and dramatic moments and so forth. It is kind of hard to believe that anyone could read it and be surprised or puzzled that it was a "serious" work.

That's not necessarily a bad thing! The Master and Margarita, and a lot of Russian culture and literature, is all about this kind of stuff. The book quotes the opening lines of Shakespeare's Sonnet X and sends a man off to a mental institution. It's part of a tradition of literature and culture and mythology that isn't really about the seriousness of the ideas in it, but about how the ideas make you think, or make you laugh, or make you feel, or make you look at the world in ways that feel important and profound. (These are the same sorts of feeling qualities that a lot of pop culture these days is about in one form or another.)

I mean, there's that one guy who translated the whole of Kafka into English and gave us a book of "dramatic essays," one of which is a short piece on how Kafka has a really interesting idea about lightness.

That's what this is supposed to be, in some sense! And yet the feeling that this is all "dramatic essay" (the English word!) is there. The Master and Margarita isn't exactly a novel, and the ideas it wants you to get from it are usually not novel ideas in a very serious way. But it's just this sort of book I thought I would like to read! And I just do not!

I don't know how good it will be. On the one hand, it probably is a kind of silly, ridiculous, clunky adventure comic, written by someone who didn't really know what he was doing in a lot of places. But on the other hand, it was written over a period of twenty years -- it has a real flow to it, that sort of natural arc or progression over time -- and it has these serious ideas underneath all the cheese. On the other other hand, I'm not supposed to be reading it that way, because it's Gogol, who is not really like that.

But I'm trying to think it through, in a way that is not thinking "I don't like this because it's not serious enough or not serious enough," I'm trying to think, "I don't like this because it is too serious or not sufficiently serious," in the same way that the people who enjoy stories about children's mysteries will find the Master and Margarita too grim or too too serious, and not just right.

To be clear, I have already done some thinking that's pretty close to that. Like I said, there are serious ideas beneath all the cheese. But also, the book is about seriousness. It is a book about the importance of things that make you feel serious and think seriously.

You know, like a work of art.

This is one of the few books I can think of -- well, one book, plus a few short stories -- which seems to have managed to do this for me. As I say, I'm still not quite sure how to think about it. I know that it is a book with a lot of very serious ideas that do not come across as serious. And I know that it has a lot of very serious ideas, and is not serious, but this is probably part of what's going on with me.

The other thing is, of course, the clunkiness and the cheese. I'm really not used to this sort of thing at all. I'm a serious sort of person. But the cheese makes me feel silly, and it also makes the world feel silly. The ideas under the cheese are not silly. But the cheese makes the world feel silly.

I can't say that I like this. But I can see why someone who was not at all like me might feel this way. Or why someone who felt a lot of these ideas would feel this way. Or maybe they would not feel this way at all, and think this is pretentious nonsense. Who knows?

[starlight-time-machine]

Week in Review

01/14/2024 – 01/20/2024

Sunday

I saw that this new manga called Girl Meets Rock! got added to the Manga Plus app so I checked it out. It’s pretty cute, I like the clean and simple art style and the down to earth writing – I’ve always wanted to see a “protagonist joins band” story that focuses less on success and more on how it kind of sucks and this looks like it could veer in that direction.

Watched the new Undead Unluck episode and it was pretty good, but it was evidently one of the weaker ones. At least Chikara’s Unmove ability gives them the perfect excuse to use still frames, but the pacing was a little all over the place (all the recaps and flashbacks were so road bumpy). The climactic moment was fun, though, and the scene where the group decompress was gorgeous, I loved the starry sky reflecting in the water and the interesting color choices. I also liked the little back and forth between Fuuko and Latla at the end – you can really see how much Latla cares for Rip, and it’s a nice nugget of characterization for these supposed villains.  

Monday

I found a list of short free itch.io games, but there was only one that really interested me so I quickly played it to procrastinate on starting the day. It’s called Please Tell Me You Love Me, and the premise of chatting with people as a live service game shuts down really drew me in… I’m no stranger to seeing my beloved anime mobile games get shut down, after all (fly high, KakuPuri). The writing was cute and funny, and you can really feel the sense of urgency as the server counts down to shutdown. I couldn’t really get myself invested in the main relationship, but it was a short and simple little game.

I caught up with Kusuriya while I ate lunch, and the outer court arc is turning out as boring as I’d feared. Don’t get me wrong, there are some fun moments, but the outer court just lacks the political tension and narrative momentum that I was enjoying in the rear court. I liked the monochromatic palette they went for Luolan’s entrance, though. It gave her a lot of gravitas, though I’m not sure how much that’ll pay off considering that she still hasn’t made any major moves as of chapter 60 ish of the manga and volume 3 of the light novel, so she definitely won’t get much other screentime in this season of the anime. If nothing else, I guess it’s just fun to see Maomao be her weird little kitty girl self.

Tuesday

Watched the DNDads edition of Dirty Laundry with my friend because she loves that podcast – I haven’t listened to it so I have no context for who any of the guests are (as usual), but the stories were decently entertaining so it was a fun time.

Wednesday

I rewatched the miniseries Quiz with my friend (who was watching it for the first time) – I’d originally watched it for its premise, but it was only after I fell in love with Succession that I realized Matthew Macfadyen starred in Quiz and I wanted to see it again. Unfortunately the show itself was a bit of a letdown, but Macfadyen’s performance was as good as it could’ve been, given what he had to work with. In general, the show feels like it’s enamoured with itself as it spins poetic monologues about the trappings of memory and the importance of truth, but the conclusion being so “it’s up to you what you believe” just comes off as wishy-washy. Not that they really could or even should’ve drawn a definitive conclusion, as the subjects of the true crime they’re adapting are still alive. (I think I’m going to avoid “based on a true crime” stories of living people altogether in the future…even a crime as benign as this one has me uncomfortable with how the artistic product will negatively impact the subject in our current internet age.) So what we end up with is a long preamble about how the heist may have taken place, a lukewarm defense to how it might all be a coincidence, and then a flaccid ending that adheres to what happened in the court case itself without drawing any thematic conclusions of its own. Some of the writing and directing choices were also odd and self-indulgent – why the long cringey “modern major general” bit that went nowhere? Or the dream musical dance sequence?? (Ironically, that part was my favourite, as it had Macfadyen dancing) As a whole the series was competently put together, but the tone was just too melodramatic to take seriously. The best parts were the dance number and the crumb of toxic yaoi between the studio executive guy and the ringleader guy. 2/10.

Thursday

It’s really fun to eat good food while watching DunMesh, even if this episode was less food-focused and more action-focused. I like that they’re playing around with the character designs and letting things be more fluid, and the directing and action throughout was amazing. All the faces that everyone pulls were great for comedy. I love the even more fluid memory that Laios conjures, it really captured the feeling of warmth and reminiscence. And then I LOVED him casually lording over the living armour and going on and on about his fun animal facts while he’s pulling the limbs off of this humanoid creature…it’s so maniacal and I love that for Laios. He’s such a funny little weirdo.

Friday

The new OP and ED for Undead Unluck are fun!! I like both of the songs, I liked the Tatiana POV shot from the OP, and I like how the ED is summer themed after the first ED was spring themed. I think I prefer the more unique artistic direction of the first OP over this one, but it’s still a fun time. The episode itself was lowkey but still engaging, with lots of interesting colors and blocking to accentuate the moody atmosphere. My favourite scene was Chikara bidding farewell to Ryo – having a character realize that someone they care about is part of something way bigger than them is always rife for drama, and here it’s nice and bittersweet. I’m really excited for next episode, though I fear that the preview gave too much away…ALSO AGOO BUNNY GIRL IS HERE YAYYYYY

Saturday

They’re really trying to go for dramatic storylines on this season of Drag Race, huh? The fact that the immunity potions can be used for anyone already heightens the social game to All Stars levels, plus they’re trying to set up all these rivalries between like Q and Dawn or Morphine and Mhi’ya or Sapphira and Plasma. It’ll definitely be an interesting season, if nothing else. I love Nymphia’s energy a lot…she’s kooky and crazy, but she’s also self-aware about it and uses it to her advantage. I also love ball episodes, so this was a fun one to watch as the girls get together and chat while they create costumes. Also I realized that…Megami’s confessional look reminds me a lot of Sasha Velour LOL the glasses, the baldness, the lopsided black crown, the social justice activism…I just don’t know if Megami necessarily has the same fashion acuity to be able to make it as far as Sasha did.

As for the ball, here are the things I took note of: The feathers on Mhi’ya’s canary look were so high they were half-covering her face… I loved Q’s man in the moon look, it felt the most like something you’d actually see in a classic fairy tale illustration. Nymphia’s little boy blue look was also amazing, I loved the styling and the androgyny. WOWWW how did Sapphira pack that pumpkin costume??? I appreciate Xunami going the extra mile to make the egg itself cuntily dressed, and somehow I didn’t see the reveal coming lol but it’s cute! Really fun idea and executed well. I don’t really get Plasma’s costume…like, the puppet just looks haphazardly tied on, and she’s evidently going for some sort of illusion but I just can’t see it. Aww Nymphia’s Angelina Jolie look was so sweet – not only did it match the original in style, but also in sentimentality. Y’know, if nothing else, I do admire Mirage’s tenacity and creativity in pulling a story together for her look even when she didn’t feel like it was going great. It all comes off pretty convincing on the runway. OH YES NYMPHIAAAAA SHE’S TAKING ITTTTT She rightfully deserved that win. The lip sync wasn’t anything too mindblowing, but I always like when the girls have spontaneous interactions while performing – it really elevates it to almost like a group number. Hershii was being a little mean at the end though, blocking Geneva from sight entirely…but her exit line was pretty clever and fun. The season is finally off and rolling.

As for Fantasy Drag Race…I think I’m going to make one last change to the roster. Dawn and Sapphira are strong competitors, but some of their fashion choices aren’t vibing with me… Nymphia, on the other hand, has really captured my attention. I think I’m going to go all in on her, which should make for an interesting point total if she doesn’t win lol. The only other two times I’ve gone all in on a single girl were Shea for All Stars 5 and Jimbo for All Stars 8, but those were pretty obvious bygone conclusions from the start.

After thinking about it for a while, I think…I’m going to free myself from the dread of reading and watching Frieren LOL It’s really just not for me… I’m so tired of the listless sentimentality and I don’t care about the central romance, the worldbuilding and lore and conflict don’t interest me at all, and it just feels like it’s going nowhere. I’ll watch a Fern/Stark anime compilation and read about their relationship on the wiki when the manga’s done, but that’s about it.

#week in review #2024

[readingrobin]

Yeah September was a bit of a lax month when it came to reading. I was coming off of a reading slump after doing a month long readathon and wrapping up summer reading, so I think I needed a bit of a break. You can definitely see that from most of my reading being made up of graphic novels, my go to slump reads, but hey at least I've mostly enjoyed what I read for the month. Here's hoping for a stronger bookish October.

Total Books Read: 11

Total Pages Read: 3,561

Books Read:

Suncatcher by Jose Pimienta (2/5) - Graphic novels that feature music are a really tough sell at times, seeing as you don't have that auditory element to help fall into the story. I've read some that are fairly passable, but I think this one misses the mark. Not so much because of the music, but every other element seems so flat. The art style is gorgeous; it's one of the better aspects of the comic, but everything else really didn't help draw me in.

I found Beatriz to be such an unlikable lead. Sure, her perfectionist attitude derives from wanting to save her grandfather, but it's the only side we ever see from her. There is no progression of behavior other than going from overly passionate to dangerously obsessive. She's constantly dismissive of other people in the band from the start and I just didn't connect with her.

There's also some weird anti-indigenous sentiment going on, framing someone from a tribe indigenous to Mexico as a sort of "devil in the crossroads" character. It feels so out of place within the story, which already wasn't doing much for me. Absolutely phenomenal illustrations, but more could have been done here.

A Guest in the House by Emily Carroll (4/5) - Carroll is an absolute master at setting a horrific scene: the build-up, the tension, the malicious foreboding that precludes a disturbing payoff. She knows how to play with her readers, how to hide small details in plain sight, of instilling us with a similar feeling to that of the main character, that things aren't exactly happening as we remember them or as we're told. We feel just as out of sorts as Abby, where delusion may be slipping into reality and vice versa.

The art of this story is absolutely visceral, where moments of domesticity overlap with nightmarish creatures that look straight out of Hell. I liked the small detail that Abby seemed to be the only character without pupils (that I remember), giving a small hint towards the validity of her perceptions.

Not everyone is going to be satisfied by the open ending, but I didn't mind it. The horror comes from the vagueness of it all, that all the things that we imagine are going to be scarier than what actually is. We don't get answers, and that can be frustrating, but also terrifying.

The Infinity Particle by Wendy Xu (3.5/5) - I have to say, this is one of the most immersive sci-fi worlds I've been introduced to. There's so much creativity in the setting and designs of the various robots that it always made the pages interesting and engaging. It reads like a classic CLAMP manga, giving it a sense of nostalgia for us older manga readers. I know the comparisons to Chobits are everywhere across various reviews, but it at least gives you a small idea of the setup. I will say, it's a little more tasteful in certain ways with more emphasis on the characters as individual people with their own traumas and development without going into objectifying territory.

I like how Clem and Kye's experiences, while different, perfectly mirror each other, so their empathy and concern for the other feels natural. The questioning of AI ethics was also very well integrated into the story, adding more of a domestic drama element rather than something more thrilling or high stakes. 

Confetti Realms by Nadia Shammas (4/5) - Confetti Realms is an autumnal delight, its story and atmosphere an equal mixture of Alice in Wonderland and Over the Garden Wall. The Halloween vibes are strong with this one, presenting a world that expertly struts down the line between whimsical and unsettling.

For a comic that feels so chill and almost relaxing at times, there's a slew of deeper issues that haunt our ensemble cast: taking care of a sick parent, mental illness, guilt, self-hatred. Their emotional arcs bring a good amount of weight and resonance to the story, but they may have hit harder if the introductions to these characters would have been a bit longer.

It felt like the story started a bit too late and ended way too early. While we get resolutions to the emotional journeys of the characters, the narrative ends too abruptly to be entirely satisfying. Still, I had a good time reading the story and getting a kick out of the utterly horrifying presence that is Tom the puppet. Not a bad way to start off the spooky reading season.

The Pirate and the Porcelain Girl by Emily Riesbeck (4/5) - Sooo, is it fair to label this graphic novel as Our Flag Meets Death with Adventure Zone humor or am I saying that just because there are gay pirates in it? Either way, if you're a fan of either of these you're definitely going to love this one. The art style reminded me a lot of Carey Pietsch's work on the Adventure Zone graphic novel, so that's probably where I got those vibes from. There's a great message of not changing everything you are just to accommodate the people you love. 

It's a cute love story nonetheless, with a hilarious supporting cast and a thrilling, expansive world. 

Black Sheep by Rachel Harrison (4/5) - This has been my second Rachel Harrison book, right after Such Sharp Teeth, and I think I have found a new favorite horror author. Harrison has such a way of getting right under the skin of her characters to display all their pain, fear, and insecurity while also having them sufficiently face down the true horror of their situations. Vesper, our lead, is someone who carries an immense weight of religious trauma, which only becomes more complicated and messy due to the specifics of her upbringing and family life. It's a situation so many can relate to, though, of course, not nearly to the same degree. The themes of reluctantly inheriting legacies, of fearing the traits and aspects we carry due to a few blood ties are especially resonant. The terror of this book comes from domestic and infernal sources, giving it a layer of relatability on top of some truly horrific moments.

I absolutely flew through this book, marveling at how naturally the narrative flowed. Everything starts at a slower, steadier pace, then gets absolutely bonkers towards the second half. I will say that this is a title where readers should be aware of trigger warnings such as religious trauma, cult activity, and abusive/neglectful parents. Other than that, this is definitely a book that you want to know as little as possible going in.

Junkwraith by Ellinor Richey (2/5) - I don't think this is a story that's going to be sticking with me for much longer after I'm done. While visually distinct, with a cool color palette and creative designs, its story and world building are too vague and underdeveloped for me to keep any interest in it. Are the Jujus an important part of this society or do they have the same significance as any technological companion? What ARE junkwraiths? Are they ghosts? Manifestations of misplaced energy? Why are they so dangerous?

It felt so long, but it didn't really use its length to its advantage in fleshing out the world. There are plot points that are engaging places to start, but they sort of fizzle rather than go anywhere. I had gotten about halfway through the comic in one sitting and could have really stopped there, but I always feel bad about DNFing a graphic novel when it wouldn't take much just to finish it.

Dear Mothman by Robin Gow (3.5/5) - A very sweet, emotional story of a closeted trans boy sending letters to Mothman as he processes his grief from losing his best friend. Queer people have always seen themselves in monsters, a connection from one "other" to another and this aspect is definitely a core element of the story. Any book that tries to combine a coming-of-age queer story with any sort of cryptid involvement is already a winner in my book so I may just be a little biased. There were some slower moments that were a little hard for me to get through, which I think is mostly due to the format making me think the book is longer than it really is. But really this is going to be such an important book to trans kids looking to find themselves in fiction.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (4/5) - (Review)

Mall Goth by Kate Leth (4/5) - What I expected to be a funny, nostalgic coming of age romp about being a goth/mall rat in the early 2000s surprisingly evolved into a mature, realistic take on grooming and predatory behavior. Don't get me wrong, that is in no way a complaint on my end, because the story perfectly balances its shifting tones.

Liv deals with all the normal teen problems: longing to find acceptance, working an embarrassing job to get some extra cash, getting wrapped up in all the teenage hormones that come with having a crush, She faces some additional struggles, such as past bullying due to her bisexuality and an absent father, but is still hesitantly open enough to start some new friendships. Building a sturdy support network is a large part of her character journey and I'm so glad that the author included a mix of her friends as well as some trusted adults into that group. It does away with the tired YA cliche of adults being fairly useless and showcases positive teen/adult interactions alongside a more harmful one to denote the differences.

Though I wasn't a teen yet by the time this story takes place, I definitely could feel the nostalgia sinking in when seeing some of the clothes and the general vibe of the mall. Also, noticing all the movie/music posters on Liv's wall (I peeped Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, and of course who could leave out good old Siouxsie?) really did warm my aspiring Goth heart.

BEASTARS, Vol. 1 by Paru Itagaki (4/5) - This manga has such a unique, charming style that gives each character a lot of personality. I've seen the first season of the anime and have basically just been dragging my feet getting to the manga, so I have an idea of where the story is eventually going to go. It's an intriguing concept, a world of anthropomorphized animals trying to live in harmony despite the ever looming threat of instincts taking over. It's introduced well in this first volume, the danger immediately established at the beginning when a herbivore student is killed by a carnivore on school grounds. I'm interested to see what sort of nuances will appear in this society and ultimately where the allegory will end up.

#robin's book log #reading wrap up #monthly wrap up #suncatcher #a guest in the house #the infinity particle #confetti realms #the pirate and the porcelain girl #black sheep #junkwraith #dear mothman #the catcher in the rye #mall goth #beastars

[ectonurites]

i am. still figuring out art stuff. everything is inconsistent right now. just vibes

#cassie sandsmark #wonder girl #dc comics #young justice #young justice 1998 #i just havent settled on what brushes and shit im gonna use yet... so many things im just. Trying #also just having a Weird Art Moment where my style is all over the place #sam draws shit