#also we finally got GAY MEN in an animated show!!

[cyanide-sippy-cup]

I think my favorite thing about Fionna and Cake has to be how unapologetically queer it is. In every corner, whether it be a cameo appearance from the gay couple,

a quick visual cue/reference to the pilot,

a questionable line from Brian David Gilbert of all people,

[img: Winter King (on the right) saying "Don't think it hasn't occurred to me!" This is in response to Cake suggesting he kiss Simon (left)]

or actually being integral to the primary or secondary plot.

Seeing such a casual yet important and beautiful inclusion of queerness in this show fills me with such indescribable joy. Without even trying, without even stepping away from it's own story, it's making a statement.

Without going out of its way, it's teaching genuine stories while saying "We are here, we have a place, we have a history, and we're here to stay."

#also we finally got GAY MEN in an animated show!! #it doesnt sound like a lot but i promise you that basically never happens #also hold up I just looked it up DONALD GLOVER HAS BEEN DOING THE VOICE FOR MARSHALL THIS WHOLE TIME??? #PUCK IT UP GIRL #adventure time #bubbline #marceline #marceline the vampire queen #princess bubblegum #bonnibel bubblegum #marceline and bonnibel #fionna and cake #fionna campbell #marshall lee #gary prince #marshall lee and gary #gumlee #cake the cat #winter king #winter king fionna and cake #it's crazy that we went from Finn in a kissing contest to this

[bengiyo]

We are headed into our final Drama Shower show of the season. How do you rank the shows we got this season and how are you feeling about the direction of the project?

What is Drama Shower and Why Does It Matter?

Before we get into rating these shows, I want to do a breakdown of what this is. To give you a sense of how big a deal Drama Shower is, fans are regularly updating a Wikipedia page for it with relevant links to follow the project. Also, there is a dedicated MDL page for it.

Drama Shower is a dedicated half-hour programming block on MBS, a Japanese broadcaster that is over 70 years old, in conjunction with Kadokawa, a Japanese publisher and holding group, that plays BL content at 1:30 am on Fridays. The project's main producer is Kaoru Azuma, who is a self-described long-time BL fan. He wants to show that BL can do a variety of stories in genre, and has recently stated that he wants to produce original content through the project as well.

We originally had six shows air through year one: Mr. Unlucky Has No Choice But to Kiss!, Senpai, This Can't Be Love!, Takara-kun to Amagi-kun, Eternal Yesterday, Candy Color Paradox, and Jack o' Frost.

I originally reviewed these shows as overall a mixed bag, but showing great promise. I liked that they got more comfortable with depictions of m/m intimacy over time. I thought Mr. Unlucky was legitimately funny (9), Senpai never found its footing (6), Takara and Amagi mildly squandered their premise (8), Eternal Yesterday was extremely poignant (10), Candy Color Paradox had ambitions that exceeded its talent pool (7), and Jack o' Frost was a really strong finish (9.5).

MBS seemed to enjoy the performance of this project enough to continue it for another year.

For me, I think it's very significant to give BL itself a time slot to see how audiences are responding to BL as a concept compared to the pitch of individual shows. I'm really encouraged by MBS doing this. Even if you don't care about the name MBS, you have interacted with their content, because they are also behind Full Metal Alchemist and Haikyuu! anime adaptations.

Rating Year 2

I actually liked the way year 2 started, even if I'm a bit mixed on the end. I really loved opening with Tokyo in April is... I liked that they had BL trying to be topical. I think the show unfortunately conflates some things it shouldn't, but I loved TIAI and I loved Ren and Ryunosuke's experience being gay men. I liked the changes they made to the source material. This show was dark in a way that it owned, and I really like that. I gave it a 9.

We then moved to My Personal Weatherman, and that went over well for the people who like to see really hot people go at it with each other. I actually enjoyed how much Yoh and Segasaki actively misunderstood each other even as they were speaking to each other. I don't know that they exactly completed their story, and I suspect that there may be a future outing for this show. Despite enjoying it, I think it didn't get all of its pieces together fully and gave it an 8.5.

We then crossed over into uncertain territory with One Room Angel. Despite enjoying a lot of what was going on in this show, I don't actually think it's a romance. It's my understanding that the angel character is a lot younger in the source material, and so they may have been a little shy about how much they did with these characters on screen. I also don't think the storytelling was balanced between the leads. However, because I am susceptible to complex stories about grief, I gave this show an 8.

Now, we have Sahara-sensei to Toki-kun. I hated this show so much. I think it makes the unfortunate mistake of asking me to care about how homophobia and public perceptions impacts people through its flashback drama, but then does nothing with that in the front. It sucked so hard, and I'm really disappointed because I thought this show had some of the most potential, and I thought Toki was one of the most watchable characters Drama Shower had produced. I ended up giving it a 4.

Our next and final show (I think) for this outing is called My Strawberry Film. This one will also be in a high school, but I know little about it, other than we may have a GL plot in it.

So, overall I'd give Drama Shower an 8. I think fans of BL, and especially Japanese BL, should continue to show up and support it. The fact that we have a dedicated programming block is important. The fact that none of these shows has felt like a retread so far is super important. Drama Shower is varied. There is something in here for almost everyone. Drama Shower is the biggest commitment to BL we've had from a distributor other than GMMTV's ongoing BL slate. Taiwan has Vidol doing is four projects, but Drama Shower is the first time I know of that a Japanese distributor has focused on BL in a meaningful, ongoing way. We should stick with it.

#answered #Ben writes #japanese bl #bl series #drama shower #tunku shower #mr. unlucky has no choice but to kiss! #senpai this can't be love #takara kun to amagi kun #candy color paradox #eternal yesterday #jack o' frost #tokyo in april is... #my personal weatherman #one room angel #sahara sensei to toki kun #my strawberry film

[melukonova]

my college experience thus far!

a/n: have fun experiencing college through my eyes, major will not be specified! will definitely be a stem major though in certain scenarios

characters: haikyuu and genshin x gn! reader ; college au with iwaizumi, cyno, kuroo, tooru

warnings: mentions of rejection, these will vary in size because some of the men are not very present in my life anymore nor had a huge interaction (very short hcs because i do not interact enough with others and it shows… kidding. sorta LMAO.)

tooru - the high school best friend

it wasn’t like you guys planned to kiss while watching anime on a saturday night during hanging out

you weren’t a rebound either for his last girlfriend who decided that he prioritized volleyball over him

he did his best to make sure that your friendship was his main priority which is why he always had spoiled you in silly ways, even his parents and family members took such a liking to you

you were rather enjoyable and you pushed tooru to focus on his grades but you never forced him into anything that he was not ready for

which leads back to this moment where you’re outside of your car, not expecting the night to go as it did

you guys ended up having a brief talk before a call from your parents about your curfew

tooru never ended up going to college but he supported your decision to go and let you study with him while he worked on his career for volleyball

“are you sure that you’re ready for a relationship again, tooru?”

and with a quick tilt of his head and a slight smirk as he whispered, “have i ever steered you wrong, y/n?” he smiled as he closed the distance between your lips again before opening your car door, “see you tomorrow.”

iwaizumi - your first college best friend

you two had gotten paired up with two other individuals in your group, it was all your first class together in college. everything is new and different, jetlag included for some (iwaizumi)

he ended up falling asleep and missing an 8 am class, big mistake for this huge group project that you all had made. luckily, you got his instagram account.

it was surprisingly empty on his account so you could not figure out much about him but he had responded later on in the evening to your surprise which blossomed a very close bond between the two of you…

though only just being friends could not only be enough for you, he was everything that you could ever imagine and more as a partner.

after thinking on it enough, one day you decided to tell him how you feel to see if it had been reciprocated.

sure enough, iwaizumi needed time... and you were okay with that. you knew giving him time would be what was best for you both. luckily your friendship had survived it.

after enough time, he finally approached you in person and asked if you would like to hang out and walk around campus.

and eventually, he asked you out to dinner to your favorite restaurant on campus… the food court where you both made it official.

kuroo- we have chemistry together

this guy…

you met him in your chemistry lab together, he made a small comment in your direction about titrations since you could not get the water to be a light pink color. he still wore this devilish smirk on his face as he looked in your direction.

clearly he was messing with you, though bokuto also had been in for it as well… that poor guy had to deal with kuroo constantly.

he managed to make you laugh though on several occasions. you both eventually ended up studying together because of this, it was never intentional how you fell for him.

boy was it a slow play of his, several semesters had passed and you two had several occasions where he eventually started to play a game to see when you would text back since you had been so busy with work yourself.

eventually, you both started to text more and more…

random conversations would come up like “is it gay if you kiss the homies goodnight when they wear socks but you don’t?”

you managed to morph yourself into his friend group, getting all their approval. somehow, they planned to get you two together.

your new friends and you had managed to get a table at a restaurant for ramen. it was rather delicious and the noodles tasted fresh before he jokingly asked you what is the most cliche date ever. though, what you didn’t realize — was he was actually asking you out…

“let’s go to the aquarium, i can tell you the chemistry of how things work there. so how about it?”

dumbfounded. all you could say was sure before waiting for a few other hangouts before your eventual ‘date’. you needed confirmation so you didn’t accidentally find yourself falling for a man who didn’t love you back.

“kuroo… are you asking me out on an actual date?”

“do you want it to be?” there was no hesitation in his words as he picked out another awful outfit for your guys’ date. it would be rather ridiculous to be this dressed up for an aquarium.

and that’s how you managed to get your first kiss stolen.

cyno - a pokemon nerd

you two had met in your recent physics class, you both had failed miserably on your first exam.

“did you get higher than a 0.3?”

“no…”

did anybody??? no. the average was a 0.5 out of 2, a solid 25%! gross.

this exam led you two to talk more, you eventually found out how big of a closeted nerd he was. he tried his best to sound cool in front of you but he forgot about all of that when you mentioned the words ‘pokemon tcg’.

you opened up a can of worms that you hadn’t even realized existed at all… not that you weren’t a fan!

trading card games were not your forte though… you tried your best to get an understanding of how to play, he rated your deck and everything — trying to help you get a sense of the game.

eventually, you guys spent every day after the lecture together. you guys got lunch and you both were talking while playing.

though, cyno couldn’t take it anymore. he needed to call you, he needed to talk. he just needed somebody to hear him out

or so you thought…

he just needed you to hear him out.

“y/n, i can’t shake this feeling that you’re meant to be my player two. there’s something here and i want to pursue it with you, if you’ll let us.”

screaming, literally screaming internally. was he that sleepy? but you heard correctly.

“y/n? did i lose you? was that too forward?” he wanted to make a pun to stop the awkward tension until he heard you speak up.

“how could i cy-no when i feel the same?” you guys were both laughing before you got in your car and started driving to him as you guys called. a simple ice cream date, he said… yet all of these puns about ice cream were NOT on the agenda from what you thought it would be…

“my favorite day of the week is sunday. do you get it? it’s because-”

“you can have sundaes? it always makes me melt to be with you.” he was caught off guard.

perhaps it was an (n)ice day for you both…

melukonova, 2023. 𓂃 ☄︎

#haikyuu #genshin impact #genshin #gi #hajime iwaizumi #iwaizumi fluff #iwaizumi headcanons #iwaizumi x reader #tooru oikawa #oikawa x reader #hq kuroo #hq x you #hq #hq oikawa #hq iwaizumi #genshin cyno #cyno fluff #cyno x you #cyno x y/n #smash bros (🌿)

[dg-outlaw]

X-Men '97 and the Gambit Ford F-150 Trailer Hitch Clutching

So I haven't watched all the episodes yet, but I wanted to address the stuff I've seen/heard about certain dudes in the "fandom" getting all upset about Gambit's crop top and how it made him seem gay or bi coded, even though in the entire episode he's classic Remy LeBeau from the original 90s series--not too interesting in helping out or doing anything other than what he wants to do, shamelessly flirting with Rogue, and busting everyone else's balls/possibly flirting with them too, but will still jump into the fight when it's time.

Oh, and Gambit was my favorite X-Men character growing up and I'm a cishet male, if that matters. Spoiler alert: It shouldn't.

"Holy Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition, Batman! It's his belly button."

If that's you, you clearly were too young in the 90s to remember the fashion of the day. The top photo and the ending basketball scene (a references to the comics as well), was soooo 80s/90s. Bishop's got a lime green tank top on and Cyclops' tank top is tucked into his shorts. The animators understood the assignment.

If anything, Remy (above) is rock-n-roll coded more than anything else. Just Google most 80s era rock bands that had songs about partying, sex, hot babes, etc. and you'll see big hair, eyeliner, bright colors, leather pants, jewelry, fishnets, fingerless gloves, and yes... crop tops. Maybe the 80s and 90s were "gay", IDK, but I remember most of my childhood clothes in the 80s and early 90s were some variation of a neon color as was every other kid's regardless of gender.

As mentioned above, he soooo badly wants in Rogue's pants, which possibly eliminates any gay coding, which only leave bi coding if a 90s crop top = being bisexual.

Who. Freakin'. Cares. Say this out loud with me. You can like, love, and enjoy a character without identifying with that character in any way, shape, or form (and that's probably a good thing for some characters). This can mean their sexuality, gender, ethnicity, religion, morality, or anything else about them. Yes, we can bring in the Punisher debate and how military and law enforcement appropriated the Punisher logo as their badge of honor and intimidation, and how they cherry-picked traits from that character to signal their toxic masculinity when Frank Castle is not meant to be a patron saint of law enforcement or the military. But it is also possible to just enjoy a character without making that character your identity. You can enjoy their characterization, storylines, or even something as simple as their costume, superpowers, or where they're from because you were born or grew up there too.

As mentioned above, Gambit was my favorite character growing up when I first got into X-Men, mostly thanks to this series, and he and I are very different. To me, Gambit was the cool, confident guy that I wasn't. He also wasn't Cyclops or Wolverine.

As a kid, most kids wanted to be Wolverine when playing X-Men on the playground because he had the claws and the healing factor. To us, he was OP which fit in with the whole childish argument of big, bigger, biggest, and finally infinity whatever... until someone busted out with the infinity times infinity argument. Also, there was no real internet and comics weren't readily accessible, so most of the knowledge at that time was from the show and limited comics one might've had. Plus, I think the whole Magneto pulls the adamantium from Wolverine's body storyline hadn't happened yet so yeah, that would've been a good game changer on the playground.

Anyway, outside of Batman, I was never a fan of the "popular" thing growing up and often preferred more underdog characters, teams, and things. Also, due to self-esteem issues I always felt less than, so while I liked Wolverine it was hard for him to be my favorite since he was everyone else's and I felt like I wasn't cool enough to like him. Cyclops on the other hand was the clean cut boy scout, which also didn't appeal to me because that was also something I didn't relate to. Outside of Beast and Morph, who got sidelined earlier in the series, that then left Gambit. (Note: Bishop wasn't a part of the main group and came later on.) But Gambit also seemed cool to me. He had a cool looking outfit, was agile and knew how to fight (I was into martial arts at the time as well), and could throw explosive cards. He definitely fit the "Rule of cool" in my child brain.

Lastly, and this goes back to point #4 above, it shouldn't matter what a character is like or how they identify. They're fictional and enjoying them as a medium should be fun. They are not you and you are not them, even if you have things in common. That said, I do think it's great when there's representation as well. I don't recall if this was in the OG series, though I seriously doubt it was, and I don't know about main Marvel canon, but I also think it's cool that Morph now has they/them pronouns as seen in the profile credits and Marvel wiki. I'm sure some people have missed this and I'm sure that'll be the next hot-button issue, but whether Gambit is gay, bi, straight, or whatever, he's still one of my favorites and it's why I grabbed this guy when it first came out.

I have more things to say about this first episode and my experience with the X-Men growing up, but I'll save that for other posts as this has gotten long enough already.

#x men 97 #x men the animated series #gambit #remy lebeau #long post

[debbeh]

can u give me a guide to the six idiots :33 like maybe with a picture of them n their names n who they play in the Big Three shows :33 pwetty peesse :33

UM YES!?

ok, you saw me earlier trying to format all the images so it's gonna be mostly my (ehhhh) descriptions of the characters and you gotta guess what they look like 😈

Ben Willbond

Yonderland:

Elder Vex (above): the one who says Deb-beh and has the coziest looking outfit I NEED IT RN PLZ and the Tom Cardy- esque hair and earring

Nick: the stick. Grumpy all the time cuz he's a stick >:(. Is also a portal between dimensions but whatevs

Horrible Histories

Mike Peabody :historical news reporter that wishes he were anywhere but here rn

King Henry, Alexander the Great: SkINy MaNdRiA, excellent hair, sniffed a guy

Ghosts

The captain: AKA James, makes a lotta noises, if you ever hear me going weeeahhhhhuuuueeeaaaaaahhhh, I'm referencing him, the gay one<3

Martha Howe-Douglas!

Yonderland!!

Debbie.

Debbie's evil twin sister (bossy boobs)

I just googled it: Rita, the Negatus simp AKA us, the demon that looks like how female animals are protrayed in Barbie movies

Horrible Histories!!!

Boudica (look up the song, it's rlly good), Cleopatra, every female historical figure

Pirate lady....<33333

Ghosts!

Lady Button (present day): Old disgruntled lady that pouts all the time and falls out of windows

Lady Button (flashback)

Mathew Baynton!!!

Yonderland!!!

Oracle: weird blue blob guy, Nigel, Darling

Nanny la roo: NUM NUMS!!!! - nanny that is also a kangaroo

Admiral Anous: Voldemort mf I hate him bc he hates Negatus>:(

Elder Choop: Croissant hair mf, says, "IDK WHY DON'T WE ASK UR MUM??"

Le Fox: French

THE BIRRDDDDD: AKA Thomas Payne, Batman but cooler

Oh yeah, and Elf: the elf shaped one, full name: Grintallin Gobscrew Crotell Fashanu F’naw Goplatz Holla-Holla, has multiple wives apparently and is in debt to the mob

Horible Histories (look all of them up, they are all hot)

Dick Turpin: play the song >:333, shot not one but two men dead!

D.I. Bones: the whakkus bonkkused

King Charles II: absolute party-er

Ghosts

Thomas Thorne, shot, dead! Absolute poetic simp for Allison, drowned himself in the lake ;( -cannot drown-

Jim Howik!!!

Yonderland

Elder Pressley: looks like Elvis, eats christmas tree ornaments

Crone: A sLaPper *wink wink*, has apparently gotten with everyone, goes eeeerrrrrrrrrrr all the time- sounds like a doorhinge, she is amazing

Neil: lhe most normal of the demons probably

Horrible Histories

A SHOUTY MAN!!! :does all the infomercials, will try to sell you piss

King George VI (above) : "oh yesss, dad's dead, I'm king..."

King Richard III: a sweet little guy<3 -according to the song, get's attacked by whasp

Ghosts

Pat Butcher: Greatest DJ in the AAARRREEEEEUHHHHH, killed by a child, AKA Pete in the American version

Larry Rickard

Yonderland

Detective Mounteback: very dumb detective with very large hat

Elder Ho Tan: trans Icon, doesn't like loud noises, absolute baby<3

Sue: above, the lady with the gun from the episode I showed you

Horrible Histories

Bob Hale: weather report, needs a hellicopter and a nice cup of tea, basically Bill Wurtz

Lol knight with shit on head, Aztec guy, George III friend who slays so hard; "ConGRatu-VerY-LaTiOns your... *MAgEsTy*"

Ghosts

Humphrey: keeps getting left on roofs and shelves, does NOT know French smh

Robin: 5,000 yo ghosts, once saw a cool butterfly, KNOWS FRENCH! Got stuck by lightning and now he can turn on lights

and finally... the moment you've been waiting for...

Simon Farnaby!!!

Yonderland!!!

Negatus<333: Silly guy try to take over Yonderland but is just a lil guy, has an evil lair, uses The Font of Orris (cauldron thing that lets you see everything) as a hot tub, get's bullied by all the other overlords, wears pjs with houses on them.

Elder Flowers!!!: Long hair and lack of shirt, vegetarian hippie of the group, wants his clothes to be veGONE, "all you need is love, brothers... oh, and food"

Horrible Histories

Emperor Caligula: the wakkus bonkkus guy

Marcus Licinius Crassus: Knockoff Bassline Junkie song

Ghosts:

Jullian!!!: Died conducting an affair with his secretary!!!, is eternally sorta drunk, does the hand thing, only ghost that can interact with stuff, makes silly EEERREREEEEE noise when he's trying to move something, his name is Trevor in the American version, sad when there's no porn on da TV ;(, has no pants BTW

Thanks for coming to my TEDTALK!!!

Lemme know if I missed anything!

#yonderland #bbcghosts #negatus #sixidiots #themthere #ghosts

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - KISSES galore

Jan 20232 Wk 2

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

My School President (Fri YT) 6 of 10 - The mutual squealing and kicking and rolling over in bed was v cute. Tiw might actually be the greatest BL wingman of all time, yes better than Namgoong. Friend zone? Cute GMMTV, very cute. Elevator kiss, on the other hand = you little shits. Also, I’m mad you made me watch the MV because there was no way to skip through it without missing stuff. Tricky bastards. GMMTV = cute, shitty, & tricky all in one ep. Guess that’s why they’re the top of the Thai BL food chain. 

Never Let Me Go (Tues YT) 5 of 12 - We knew that this pair kisses really well, but for the characters that was a pretty stellar first kiss. I liked that we got to see Palm really want something for a change. Up until now, he’s been a pretty passive character, constantly told what to do by others, this is the first independent choice his character actually makes in this narrative. Meanwhile the action part of the bodyguard plot has begun, which makes me happy. Let the forced proximity cohabitation trope commence! With probably at least one running through the woods holding hands to come.

Between Us (Sun iQIYI) 9 of 12 - Basically a filler ep with in-your-face backstory we already sussed. Prem is doing a good job tho. WATCH ALONG HERE.

609 Bedtime Story (Fri WeTV) 8 of 11 - There was no GamesVee. I’m sad. 

Cutie Pie 2 You (special) 2 of 4 - Awwwww, how sweet they tried to give it a plot. Operative word being: tried. 

I Will Knock You (Fri Gaga) 9 of 12 - Stuff in tents. Lots of cringing blushing maiden bullshit. Noey = v bold and into public claiming. I’m not wild about this one. 

Remember Me (Sun Gaga) 14fin - Honestly, they were branded pairs so we knew ManTitle were goona kiss, but I kinda wish they hadn’t bothered. These characters just didn’t work for me as a couple. Marriage equality stinger* on this puppy. Still, what a slog. I’m only binging stuff from this studio henceforth. (Next one: Buddy Line Y Animal). Whatever. Frankly that’s my review of the show: whatever. 5/10 

* I do like that this drama teased a marriage and then intentionally never gave us that marriage on screen. For all romance genre fans, this would've felt like a slap in the face. Instead they put in a stinger that essentially said “if you want a marriage scene between men, legalize marriage in Thailand, you fuckers.” And ya know, I’m here for that. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

The New Employee (Korea Weds Viki) 4 of 8 - Ooo first date. Omg they are SO CUTE. There was a lot of squealing and flapping of hands on this side of the screen with the show. Also two out gay boys! Korea how far you have come in just a few short years! If adorable our baby boy’s 2 fag hags don’t get together by the end of this show, I will be a touch disappointed. (It has to be said. I’m not expecting it because this is still Korea doesn’t do sides in BL. But hope springs eternal.) Meanwhile, I like that there was actual desire expressed with these two. This is definitely one of the gayest BLs to have come out of Korea in recent years. If you’re confused like I was, that pen has the initial of baby’s ex crush from uni on it. 

HIStory 5: Love in the Future (Taiwan Weds Viki) 3 of 10 (or 6 of 20) - Classic that Taiwan has finally given us a femme character in a BL and he is predatory & evil. The secondary couple is the most adorable thing, I even forgive them a pratfall kiss, because there was a 3 piece suit involved. I am starting to like the main couple a little bit more, mostly because of the rich kid character. I love domesticity, and Taiwan always does it so well. The main character time traveler whatever remains a bit annoying, I prefer a sunshine archetype that is not intentionally naïve to the point of stupidity. Still, I’m invested. This is classic HIStory franchise. 

Candy Color Paradox AKA Ameiro Paradox (Japan Fri Gaga) 4 of 8 - It’s a bit too much second hand embarrassment and cringe for me. I hope Japan someday gives us a BL like Eternal Yesterday, where both characters are cool and no one dies. Incidentally, if you’re playing a game of spot that BL actor, the one playing the “actor character” is Izuka Kenta  (from The Novelist and Absolute BL2). WE LOVE HIM. 

The Director Who Buys Me Dinner (Korea Weds iQIYI) 9-10fin - I honestly don’t know how I feel about this one. It was more of a red thread fated mates who are fated to repeat the mistakes of the past. Shall we call it faded mates?  And I’m not sure, even though the ending is somewhat optimistic, that I am actually optimistic about it or them as a couple. So I wouldn’t call it HEA. 

Final review? Featuring a gorgeous & stellar cast, TDWBMD should have utilized them less for melodrama and more for chemistry. This BL is a unique twist on an office romance if NOT a unique twist on a doomed red thread trope, resulting in it feeling less than the sum of its parts and ultimately unsatisfying. Possibly this had to do with the fact that this was one of those KBLs where I felt how short it was the whole time, like I was missing something constantly, in every episode. No HEA. Worth watching for some but seriously flawed. 6/10

It’s Airing But I’m Not Watching It

The Star Always Follow You (Vietnam YT) - same Team RL peeps we have seen before (Sunshine, Stupid)

GMMTV’s Midnight series - first segment has begun bit it’s not the EarthMix messy gays. I’m so not interested in messy hets, so I’m waiting until they grace my screen. Moonlight Chicken (Weds YT) 1 of 8 eventually.  

Gossip

I’m gonna hold off on The Warp Effect and binge it later, after I know for sure if the BL couple makes it. 

I will be taking everyone‘s advice and not watching Till the World Ends sorry not sorry. Protecting my squishy center (also I HATE xmas carols.) 

In Case You Missed It

I posted a meta of all my 2022 wraps, top picks, industry stats, etc..

I ALSO posted the 2023 forthcoming BL master post.

Coffee Shop shorts series with the adorable couple from Ghost Host, Ghost House have a WONDERFUL new installment with "BLACK COCONUT". You should watch it. Also... try the drink. 

Love Bill (Vietnam Sat YT) starring Bah Vinh ended its run and IT’S SAD. I am so glad I waiting because now I’m not gonna watch it. So there. 

Adorable KGL Girlfriend Project, basically a very short lesbian version of Love Class. It’s cute. 

Next Week Looks Like This:

Jan 19: Individual Circumstances (Korea Thurs Viki) 8 eps - A reunion romance between a movie director who was once promising and a writer who disappeared due to past wounds. Stars JunQ (main rapper of 2nd gen group MYNAME) and Han Jung Wan (Mr International Korea winner).

2023 forthcoming BL here

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

The LOOK in his eyes. I really hope we get more than crumbs from Satang Kittiphop in the future. 

Also, that outfit, definitely an instrument of hope. (Mark is going to be in Moonlight Chicken, Cooking Crush, Last Twilight, & Only Friends this year. Apparently GMMTV’s directors like him a lot. So ALL the hope. Plus more sweater vests without shirts, please and thank you.) 

Relatable. 

FINALLY! (all are My School President, it was a GREAT ep this week) 

(last week)

Current Kpop earworm? Well Monsta X released a new single, Beautiful Liar, so yeah, THAT! 

#this week in BL #BL news #BL gossip #upcoming BL #best BL #new BL #BL reviews #Thai BL #Korean BL #Taiwanese BL #Japanese BL #live action yaoi #Rakutan Viki #gagaoolala #GMMTV #My School President #Never Let Me Go #Between Us #609 Bedtime Story #GamesVee #Cutie Pie 2 You #I Will Knock You #Remember Me #The New Employee #HIStory 5: Love in the Future #Candy Color Paradox #Ameiro Paradox #Izuka Kenta #The Director Who Buys Me Dinner #Coffee Shop

[sneezemonster15]

I find it so funny when people try to dissuade people from shipping same sex pairing by using the "We need more representation of close and intimate male friendship. People need to stop making everything gay" excuse. But the reality is that the friendship who is truly under representated is male/female friendship. Ask anybody if 2 guys can be friend? Of course! Ask if 2 girls can be friend? Obviously! Now ask if a a guy and a girl can be friend? "Well, hum ... not really ... the guy probably want to fuck the girl if she is pretty ... the friendship isnt real." Clearly society lacks representation of healthy male/female friendship. Tv shows, anime etc ... give the MC a whole harem of girls (girls who are supposed to be just friends and he thinks of as only friends at the beginning) pining for him or love the trope of the good guy friend who is waiting for the girl to stop dating assholes and finally notice him. Which also lead to the gay best friend trope bc its the only guy who can be the girl's friend.

Representing male/female friendship not only help against heteronormativity but also misoginy. The idea that women arent fun to be around and are boring perpetuate the thought that women are just good at being fucked, at being wifed etc, and not fun enough to just have a good time doing friends stuff ... So men end up thinking they can only return romantic or lustful feelings toward women.

All that to say that those people clearly do not care about friendships representation. They are just annoyed that people prefer same sex pairings to the holy straight pairings. And "feminist" women who cheer because their queens finally got to get the dicks they wanted are advocating for the wrong thing. Celebrating their faves girls being used as sequel factories or for disney happy ever after the heteronormative and misogynist society craves so much, isnt the big flex they think it is.

Well said anon.

Yes, I agree there is a dearth of healthy and realistic m/f friendships in media and they are surely underrepresented. Lately, more creators are portraying m/f friendships in their films/series etc. But yeah, it's such a stereotypical thing to reduce m/f relationships to romantic or lewd isn't it?

I liked how the character of Amy in Gone Girl talked about the Cool Girl trope. How men wanna see women they wanna hang out with in a certain way and outwardly, it seems this is a fun girl, with a free, liberal and casual devil may care attitude yet still have their personalities revolving around the desires and fetishes of men. I also liked how again, the character of Amy in a film called Chasing Amy portrayed a similar issue, even though the film has its own problems. How men see lesbian women and even though their sexual interests don't intersect, men nevertheless feel righteous about constructing sexual fetishes around it, objectifying lesbians because women, by the simple grace of being women, simply cannot do without men, that their whole existence is nullified if men aren't in it.

A male/female relationship which is platonic and based on equal terms can do so much to give some resolution to this issue.

As for the 'feminist' fans in this fandom, it is interesting to see how Sakura or Hinata stans think cheering their faves is a holy act of feminism while understanding nothing about feminism and female representation in media. It has created such a toxic environment in this fandom, and I am sure others. To a huge extent, I blame the industry because the target group of this genre is so impressionable, it's so easy to misinterpret things, especially with how these women are written. While I get why Kishi did it with these two female characters, given they would be paired up with his two main (and clearly gay, living in a homophobic world) characters for the sake of the sequel and that he writes other female characters much better than theirs, it still is very problematic. Because they were never condemned in the actual story. They were never called out. Never made to face consequences for their actions. And this, THIS, makes their fans so insistent about the apparent goodness of them, while sweeping the rest under the carpet. While it doesn't take a genius to spot their faults, it certainly takes a certain level of understanding of narrative, visual language, themes and understanding of the world.

I can talk about narrative subversion till my lungs give out but unless one shows an inclination to learn how narratives are built, they would keep sticking to their token understanding of concepts such as representation and feminism. Which is such a sad phenomenon. It is almost hurtful how so many fans are so willingly tone deaf and blind, all because of some shallow relationship they wish they had. It's amazing to me how well fortified their delusions are. How strong their willingness to be courted by a hot popular boy. How fine they are with having their fave character revolve around some guy for the most superficial of reasons. This is what their understanding of feminism amounts to. All this nonsense for some cheap self insert.

Even Sasuke stans who are anti SNS. They prefer thinking of Sasuke as some cool, badass, revolutionary man archetype who sleeps around and struts with his massive dick out. And this is how they facilitate their Sasuke*fem reader smut. These Guevara extremists who think homosexuality only exists in western societies, who also consider themselves uber feminists, who think Sasuke casually slept with Karin (because why wouldn't he? He is a man and he has a dick and a willing girl is around, it all makes sense lol), are fine with self inserting into a female character, as long as the badass revolutionary would casually fuck her and then throw her away or let her die without a second thought after his demands have been met. Because yay, feminism. Like irony goes to anti SNS and SS/NH to die a horrible death.

Hinata stans would get triggered at SNS posts or anti NH posts and share the same four Spanish panels of photographs of Naruto with his family because that's their understanding of a happy family. Orchestrated studio pictures. Because gay men living in a het marriage have never been clicked. Because gay men in het marriages don't exist. That's their extent of understanding a relationship. A family picture. It is certainly not a flex.

Just look at how SS apply all sorts of mental gymnastics to justify Sasuke staying away from his family for 12 freaking years. Like you can certainly feel bad for SS stans who even after Gaiden, had the courage to ship this ship. The levels of desperation. And to what ends? What is even their payback? Where is their reward? Kishi certainly isn't giving them any.

You know sometimes I feel shipping is a strong word for what I feel for the story. Because Naruto is just a love story about two boys. If I want them to be together, is it shipping? Shipping is such a fandom term. If that's what the story has led me to, to hope for the two main characters to have a resolution that the entire narrative has painstakingly led me to, is it really shipping? I am just an ordinary reader/audience who wants a good ending to this story. The way the creator wrote it. All I did was to follow what he wanted me to see. Is it then shipping or just a natural conclusion to the story? To want them to be with each other?

As for those fans who say 'we need more representation of men being friends, stop making everything gay' are so fucking silly. Like damn, don't we have enough representation of platonic male bonding? There are entire tropes based on that dynamic. Cop buddies, bro code, band of brothers, big brother mentor, bromantic foil, bros before hoes, brother from another mother and this goes on and on and on. I can count like forty films and twenty books off the top of my head that use these male bonding tropes. Just say you are a homophobic piece of shit. Why circumvent facts? Like we live in a patriarchal, heteronormative world and suddenly stories about men being friends are in jeopardy. Like c'mon, cut the utter bullshit. Lol.

There are only a handful of sane voices in fandoms. Because the rest of them leave and I totally understand why. Hehe. But while you are here, do what you can and then get out. This shit is not good for anyone long term.

#ask #sns #naruto #homophobia #anti ss #anti nh #fandoms

[alexissara]

Gundam: The Witch From Mercury - Quick Review

Gundam: The Witch From Mercury or as we'll refer to it as Gwitch has finally wrapped and I wanted to share my thoughts quickly in the quick review format [written in basically one take with just all the points I feel like bringing up]. This is a show I'd watch with my Gfs and my Metamore every single Sunday for a while now and that's given it an extra special flare. I was captured by the stunning animation, great fights and the blooming of some lesbian feelings.

This 24 episode toy commercial is among the best in the Gundam series and is probably one of my favorite anime. However, it is a flawed series that I feel was really lacking in a lot of ways likely due to executives being worried about both having a woman be the protagonist of their warm crime cartoon and to have queerness be a center of the season.

The shows 24 episode length feels too short to tell the story that was being told, while individual episodes don't ever feel like they waste time there was not enough space for things to have impact and Miorine in particular feels like she is kind of just an object for the plot whose feelings vary depending on what the writers want. She isn't given the time to cook up an arc for her so she ultimately just serves the plot as a "I don't think killing is good" character. Still her romance with Sulleta is compelling even if it's not the connection to Sulleta that is my favorite [Sulleta sapphic polycule all the way really].

The show has good background music but it is mostly the same song. The opening and EDs are all really great songs. The mech designs are mostly super cool and they are in fact, great toy commercials. While I would never put together a model kit, I would and very likely will, buy whatever video games they produce that put Sulleta in the for front. It set up an interesting world I would like to see more stories told in.

The fights are all really amazing but the end does include one fight between broths that really muddles the rest of the plot to sell one more toy and it sucks ass. Still the rest of the fights were really Immculate.

The series does kill off most it's women who can pilot a gundam which is annoying because we see men getting to live. While the show does center a Lesbian relationship the most explicit romantic desires outside of Sulleta are expressed by men about women. In general the show puts a ton of men in the spotlight and keeps them in the forefront. It feels like the show was insecure about women taking the center stage so the rest of the plot is mostly focused on men. Women do get to do plenty of things but it still feels like we could have had more women taking the stage in battles. For gundam though, it's a decent amount of women in mechs. Plus Sulleta does get to be in a mech most episodes.

The show doesn't have a kiss in it, there is no kisses between anyone but the lack of a sapphic kiss feels bad. Like you can say "yuri doesn't do kisses" but you would be old if your saying that because I do quick reviews of Yuri manga all the time here and basically everything I am reading has kisses, a lot also have explicit sapphic lust, and increasingly even using the word Lesbian. This show instead opts to say "Gay Marriage is normal" in episode 1 and then never show anyone being gay who isn't the main couple, there are ships but every single known romantic connection outside of Sulleta and Miorine is a man's feelings towards a woman or a woman's feelings towards a man. Queerness isn't even off handily mentioned by anyone else. Still it is really nice to have them be gay married at the end even if we're not seeing the wedding or a kiss we do know for sure their married, that's explicit and they have matching rings.

Still, the show does offer us a lot of really cute sapphic ships. It also offers us a really good cast of women even if I wish they got to do even more. Chuchu is maybe my favorite gundam character ever, Prospera my beloved I will stan forever my wonderful wife, Secelia  is a bitchy queen, and a lot more are also bangers.

Politically the show nods to leftist politics but it doesn't really fully commit to that as it keeps giant companies around in it's time skip and it seems there has just been some kind of "balance" stuck where captalism is fine again. Even though the government is evil we don't fight it really. I'd like to see a show in this world that takes on the Space Assembly League. I guess the takeaway is buy Gundams, I mean Revenge is bad.

Overall, I really enjoyed the show Sulleta is such an endearing main character she is charming and sweet and strong and she is for sure my favorite MC of any mech anime and in general one of the best anime main characters of all time. I think the show is a great piece of art but short of a master piece. Perhaps these are the limits of a show that is a toy commercial. Regardless, I had a great time and I don't look forward to my wallet running dry on prints from fan art of Gwitch and Super Robot War games and shit.

#Quick Review #Gundam #Gwitch #G witch #gundam the witch from mercury #Anime

[hws-anthology]

Welcome to our first Contributor Interview segment! We’ll be interviewing several contributors over the course of the Anthology Timeline and asking them some questions about their experiences in the Hetalia fandom. 

Our first interview comes from our wonderful director @frukmerunning​ and you can read it below 

How did you discover Hetalia?

“I think I discovered it the way most people do… at the middle school lunch table. I was in 5th grade, and one of my close friends had just discovered Hetalia. They proceeded to assign all of us a country (as you do) and I was Austria. I was immediately entranced by the prospect of a piece of media geared towards history (I was a nerd) but I wouldn’t actually watch Hetalia until 3 years later. During the time in-between I did build a small empire on Hetalia iFunny… despite not having seen the show.

In 8th grade I finally sat down and watched Hetalia. English dub, on Hulu. Thus began an obsession that would completely change the trajectory of my life.”

Who is your favorite character? Why?

“Austria for sure! I’ve always had a thing for the slightly snobby, rude, abrasive characters -  Kyoya from Ouran, Seto Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh, and Zuko from ATLA being among my childhood favorites. Austria was the ideal candidate from Hetalia. He also has all of the best lines, my favorite being “I do love the hard way… but I suppose I could just submit to you ;) “

On a deeper level, Austria is coded to be Jewish, and I didn’t have much representation for that part of my identity as a young person, so I tended to gravitate to any character I could project that onto.

I also ended up being a professional musician… so yeah… Austria.”

What was your first Hetalia OTP? Current Hetalia OTP?

“When I first got into Hetalia, I didn’t know that people could be gay. The first gay fanart I ever saw was of Germany and Italy, I still remember that fanart clearly. I was 12, so the thought of two men being together was something I’d never considered, and seeing that fanart shook me to the core. I’m not sure if it made me ship GerIta, though.

For certain, I remember loving PruAus since their first interaction in season 2 (I think???) of Axis Powers. PruAus has never left my mind, though I’ve had many different OTPs in my 13 years in the fandom. Right now, I have a deep love and appreciation for ItaPan, and I don’t think that’s going away any time soon.”

What is your best memory associated with the fandom?

“In 2020 I started designing a Hetalia game (that we will finish someday) and I ended up making friends with two of the writers that joined me on that project. Later one of them started a small personal server and invited me to join, along with a few others. Flash forward to the next year and 5 of us from that server decided to all meet up! I hopped into a “strangers” car and drove 2 states over to sleep on the floor of another “stranger” despite the protests of my mother. We had a great time being together, watching anime, exploring the big city, and we even spent an entire afternoon making an entire convoluted self-insert AU with as many characters as we could fit in. Since then we’ve had many more visits and trips, and I hope we continue to do so in the future <3

These people are the dearest friends I’ve made from the fandom, four of us even have matching circle tattoos (you know… draw a circle, that’s the earth). I’m so grateful for my friendship with them, and I wouldn’t have ever known them without Hetalia.”

If you were framed for murder, what character would you want as your Defense Attorney?

“Probably England, I would definitely end up in jail, but at least I would be entertained. Though maybe France would be the Prosecutor and the judge would get so annoyed that they’d throw the case out.”

Consider for a moment that all of the characters are real. Who would be your best friend? Your worst enemy?

“I think Japan and I are very similar, we would spend a lot of time alone together. But we would need a 3rd, more energetic person to keep things interesting and to make sure that we actually hang out. I would also get along with Germany and England.

As for my worst enemy, I think I would hate France. He would flirt with me but not actually mean it and then I would get attached to him and get my feelings hurt :( “

Which Hetalia character is most likely to commit tax evasion, in your opinion?

“If you are a follower of the AAACU, you know the answer to this question is Italy and Japan… just don’t tell Germany (he’s a snitch)”

Do you have a favorite Hetalia fanfiction?

“I’ve loved many a Hetalia fanfiction over the years. This fandom is home to so many creative and talented writers that I would be here all day listing my favorites and telling you all about what they mean to me.

One, however, stands above the rest. “Sign a new agreement with itunes” which was written in 2014 and can be found on Livejournal. It is a human au featuring France and England and their journey from unlikely roommates and friends to inseparable lovers. This fic completely influenced how I see France and England, and maybe even a little bit of how I think about romance. It’s very much worth the read.”

In one sentence, describe what Hetalia means to you.

“I can’t believe a bunch of stupid country people completely changed the trajectory of my life.”

#hetalia #hetalia anthology #contributor interview #itapan #pruaus #gerita #fruk #hws austria #hws italy #hws japan

[braveblackbutterfly]

Farewell to The Owl House: a personal essay (warning: this a long post)

When Steven Universe ended in 2020, I didn’t think I would ever find another animated show that I would grow to love dearly.

And then I found The Owl House a couple of months later.

I started seeing gifs (like this one) and posts about this cartoon on my dashboard, similarly to how I discovered Steven Universe. Eventually, I decided to check it out on Disney Now. I watched the first episode and immediately liked it. So I watched the next episode and the next til I caught up a week before the episode that rocked the world (or at least the fandom’s world).

Enchanting Grom Fright. 

I have seen a few epic moments/episodes in children’s animated shows like Steven Universe and She-Ra. But there was just something about the lumity dance scene and the episode as a whole that just warmed my heart. And when Dana Terrace confirmed that Luz is bi (and later that Amity’s a lesbian), I was over the freaking moon.

Growing up, I never saw much if any (good) representation of bisexual characters in the media. I just assumed people were either gay or straight. I recognized my attraction to boys when I was a kid and immediately assumed I was straight, ignoring any signs that I liked girls too because I liked guys, so I can’t be gay, right?

Right?

It wasn’t until college and meeting one of my roommates who was bi and being introduced to her queer group of friends that I began to realize “yes, people can like men and women, or any genders for that matter.” And I finally allowed myself to ask the question: “do I like women too?” The answer was yes and I began identifying as bisexual (or queer when people act like they can’t understand bisexuality *eye roll*).

So finally seeing a show with a bi protagonist whose also a girl of color and neurodivergent just made me felt seen all these many years later. To know that kids and teens (and yes, adults too) can see a character like themselves or realized that bi people actually exist and are actually you know...people who deserves love and respect.

Luz is one of my favorite characters in the series, and I relate to her a good amount. But I relate to a few other characters too, particularly Amity.

I talked about this in another post I made last year (or was it 2021?) but going to talk about it on here too.

Lost in Language is one of my favorite season 1A episodes, for many different reasons. But mainly because of the progression of Luz and Amity’s relationship (from Amity wanting nothing to do with Luz to admitting she was harsh with her and them hitting the reset button).

I have been an Amity in the past. Not the mean/bitchy attitude Amity back then, coming from a rich or esteemed family. But I was the top student of my class too.

I had to be.

Not because of my parents like in Amity’s case. But because I had no other social standing in middle and high school. Students knew my name because of my high grades, my awards and eventually graduating as salutatorian. Yes, I’m still a tiny bit disappointed about the salutatorian thing. It was a battle between me and another girl throughout our 4 years in school, but she ended up becoming valedictorian.

In middle school, I had a Luz at my school. She kept trying to be my friend, but I wanted nothing to do with her. It always felt like whenever I was around her, something bad would happen. Especially this one incident. I was at my locker, ready to go home when she came by. She was twirling her baton, and it smacked me on my head. I got pissed and told her off. She profusely apologized, but I was too mad to accept her apology, and I left.

Looking back, I know I was too harsh with her. It was just an accident. She didn’t mean for the baton to hit my head. But at the time, I didn’t want her around. So unlike Luz and Amity, we never became friends.

I have slowly but surely grown to not care about being the best student, the best employee, the best child, the best this and that. I am an awesome person because of the person I have grown into, making changes and opening my mind and falling in and out of like/love with my friends (and more than friends). And no one can dictate the path I choose for myself.

I typed all of this to simply say: I love The Owl House.

I sometimes hate admitting it because Steven Universe still means a lot to me, but The Owl House has become my ultimate favorite cartoon of the newer generation (I’m a 90s baby and 90s/early 2000s cartoons still have my heart).

Besides relating to the characters and enjoying both the lighthearted and heartbreaking moments, this show has awakened the creativity in me.

I am a writer...or at least I love writing. But I haven’t done or shared that many projects of mine online. But in 2021, I gave drawing another chance, specifically redrawing screenshots. I liked my work and had the bravery to share my artwork on here, which I still do. I have to admit that my drawing skills have improved throughout the years. I still don’t feel ready to make art inspired by my own ideas. If I did, I would make and post a hundred black racebent Amity/canon Luz fanart. 

And this year, I posted my very first fanfic. I have written fanfics before, but never ever shared them with anybody, especially not for the whole world to read. But again, this show inspired me so much that I just had to start sharing it.

Plus, my creative projects has helped me make some of the best friends I have ever made on here. And I love having their support and supporting them when they share their projects.

I’m not ready to see this amazing show come to end tonight. But I don’t think I will ever truly be ready to say goodbye. I’m going to miss this show. All the laughs, all the cries, all the shipping moments.

Thank you to the creator, the cast, the crew, and everybody who helped make this cartoon come into existence.

Us weirdos will always stick together.

#bbb butterfly #the owl house #toh #luz noceda #amity blight #lumity #bi representation #leeann art #i do not own these gifs

[rikeijo]

Hello! I hope I am not bothering but I just wanted to get someone off my chest. I was wondering what the Kubo meant when she said that rinks were similar to what members of the same club wears. It just kinda confused me when she says that considering how romantically the ring exchange scene is (seriously who gives each other rings in front of a church platonically!?)

No need to worry, I like discussing things too deeply😂 so you are not bothering at all! But another fujo rant comes in 3... 2... 1...

So yeah, the those rings are for clubmates interview... Imo, to understand why she said that, or why it was written (because she didn't say that publicly, so we can never know for sure), we need to talk about the difference between how western fandom approaches "representation" and how Jp fandom does.

Japanese fandom and representation

Things are progressing in Jp, too, but even to this day, a lot of people (that doesn't mean all) who call themselves "fujoshi" don't want "representation" and don't want to be allies. They simply consume BL and, let's face it, p0rn, for their own enjoyment. It's in Jp only, but some time ago, somebody posted on twitter their graduation project on this topic - an article and video - if anyone can understand some Jp and is interested in this topic, it's worth giving a watch. The title is "同性愛嫌悪的にBL・GLを愛でる私たち", "We, who homophobically love BL and GL" .

I've mentioned it before, but in case of YoI, there was, eg., a random article from a gay journalist, a figure skating fan, who wrote about how good that dinner scene in ep. 10 was. And it was really, really good - Jp is a country, where a lot of people still think that being gay is bad for society, that gay people are unproductive, so it's okay that they face discrimination. So that scene, where Phichit just congratulates Y&V on their marriage like it's the most natural thing in the world, is incredibly powerful. Yet in fujo spaces, that article was bashed, obviously - "Why did he write something like that? It doesn't have anything to do with those LGPTs. We just like playing with the characters, but they are not gay...".

BL is not LGBT?

Why you ask? Well, if you like fantasies about semes raping ukes etc. then you probably don't want to be told "hey, that's actually discrimination and homophobia, you really should stop that... Semes and ukes don't exist, most people switch...". That's why a lot of fujos insist that BL is something completely separate from LGBT issues. And that leads us to...

Another thing that I also ranted about in the past - that fujos hijack almost all depictions of same-sex attraction between men in mainstream media deeming them "fujoshi fanservice". So YoI is most often discussed as "fujo-pandering anime", and not as "anime with gay representation" the way it is in the western fandom... And it also had a lot of antis, because quite a lot of people dislike fujos. Some of the most popular lines you see in YoI reviews are: "it would be so much better without the weird fujo pandering...", "it was good, but that weird fujo pandering was unnecessary".

Went so far, so why no confirmation?

So finally giving the answer to the question... I believe, that there was very little incentive from the marketing point of view - society is homophobic, industry is homophobic, fandom is homophobic - to actually announce that Y&V are really gay and in love. Most fujos are only interested in Yuuri being uke and Victor being seme (so many fujos wished for IceAdo to fail and I hope that karma will come back to them...). So after the show ended, in my opinion, what is in Jp called koushiki (so people who run the IP and seriously it's not "Mappa"...) really wanted to get rid of the "fujo pandering" reputation (and fujos to a certain extent too, probably, because they've got so rabid that a bunch was even sued for online harassment) and started to backtrack on some things - avoiding rings, avoiding Y&V only arts, even avoiding Y&V only merch, which would sell like crazy. And yeah, Mitsurou and VAs sometimes pushing the narrative that "it's not that serious". They also started promoting Yurio instead. I think, from their perspective, it was the safe choice for the IP... Make it for "everyone", not only for fujos.

Where we are now...

Only it wasn't, in the end... The great koushiki vs. fujos war started (fujos started acting as "rings police", attacking staff members on twitter, doxxing Avex's employees, so on) and long story short, two years later YoI+IceAdo trailer did very bad at cinemas (in the first week out of ~170000 seats, only ~17000 were sold, that's ~90% empty seats - well, a little less maybe, because I'm not sure if special tickets are included in these statistics)... That's my opinion, but I think that was the most likely reason why IceAdo wasn't released in 2019. With such a big Jp distributor, they probably started to fear it will flop. Or the other way - the distributor decided that it would probably flop after seeing these numbers - allegedly, the first rumor that something is wrong was from that distributor's employee.

The very sad reality is that we are in 2023 now, and koushiki pretends YoI doesn't exist... If you think about it, it's really extraordinary... Even without the movie, they could release "VicYuu merch" and it would sell like crazy, but their stance has always been "Well yeah, but we prefer to not earn money, actually 😘 Want to play a game where Victor and Yurio bully Yuuri together, maybe?".

That was long again... I'm sorry, but it's just not possible to give an honest answer in a few sentences.

#yoi fandom and fujo culture #ask

[pierog]

SORRY THAT LAST ASK WAS EVIL here's a nice one what are some of your favourite memories from this year!!

LOL thank you

this got long so here's a read more

-goes w/out saying but spending 5 months travelling and cycling around europe was so cool. my fav bit was a month in italy -- particularly a workaway involving staying in a beautiful umbrian farmstead with a gaggle of gay men, so much cooking and cocktails and basking beneath the wisteria, walks thru medieval hilltop villages surrounded by golden meadows.. travelling solo is nice but i'm very much an extrovert and i felt so touched by the love and friendship i experienced here. i still talk to my boys most days. -i visited one of my best mates in cyprus and it was so fun i accidentally stayed for a whole month. loads of nature hikes, festivals, gigs, exploring abandoned cities, snorkelling in oceans so deep and blue and ancient. -later we flew to england to do brighton pride (hooked up with a lovely irish lass 😳) & visit some more expat uni pals. we went on a road trip afterwards in devon/cornwall and it was so beautiful but again the company was the main thing; i spend the whole time laughing til it hurt

-actually that reminds me of a random cute "small world" moment. on the bus from venice to rome, i saw a girl next to me reading the same book. we got chatting and it turned out she was going to brighton pride as well. we decided to meet up there, but everyone's phone service was jammed and we couldn't find each other!! so i gave up. a couple days later, i was boarding the train to london when i heard... "ASIA!!???" and it was her!!!!!!

-i cut my intercontinental cycle trip short cos i got into the final selection for an antarctica job and needed to be in the uk for the interview. as such i explored the scottish isles. my fav part was staying at a victorian manor in inverness owned by a witch who looked like stevie nicks and was hosting the scottish opera for the week. they invited me for wine and ghost stories by the fireplace and ending up giving me a ticket to the opera which was sooo silly but sweet!! so i saw carmen for free and gifted them some nice tesco roses and wine in return -i lost my phone in corfu but i couldnt be mad cos it was so fun. i went to a BEAUTIFUL grotto to snorkel which ended up being like a mamma mia beach bar. i was drinking a pina colada the size of my head when two aussie girls came over and said "do you mind if we smoke here" and i said "no go ahead" envisioning a cigarette but it ended up being an ENORMOUS doobie. they shared it with me and all the other girlies, we got crossfaded and went swimming, and i dropped my phone when trying to sensibly cross a road (it got handed into the consulate but shipping is so expensive so i'm working on that!)

-as such i've spent most of this year without a functioning phone & it's been grand. just so much more present and alive, got really into foraging, birdwatching, beachcombing, swimming in the ocean every day in the summer..

-coming back home was actually more tender than anything though. everyone goes on about post-travel blues but i've so enjoyed slipping back into mundanity; floor time with my best friend (you), parties, concerts, weekly life drawing and art club, finally feeling at home in this city. i got to illustrate a novel, animate a tv show opening, get my first poem published in a journal, work on a video game, and also win an nz game award for mine! i'm so grateful for my girlfriend and family and friends and lovely flat on the seaside. also i quit my shitty job for reals and am studying animal management next year so YAY

#thank you my darling #i feel soooo annoying talking about my travels cos lets be honest nobody else is really that interested #so i tend to shut my mouth #but it's lovely to look back on #one bad thing about no phone is i have a visual memory and dont remember anything without seeing pics of it LOL #but these are some really sweet ones from the top of my head #asked

[justjensenanddean]

More about Soldier Boy from GQ Interview.

Which means the big question in season three is something a lot of us are contemplating right now: When a would-be tyrant is finally toppled, what fills the power vacuum they leave behind? What if the venom that person injected into society has already sunk in so deep that there’s no sucking it out again? What can we do?

A popular answer on both sides of the real world political spectrum these days is looking for inspiration from an idealized, imaginary past. As conservative politicians try to drag everyone back to an America where white Christian men get to decide what’s right for everybody, liberal politicians fall back on ineffectual appeals to a bygone era of civility, decorum, and reaching across the aisle.

The show’s newest superhero, Soldier Boy, is an explicit throwback to the fantasy of an idealized past—a beloved, humble American hero who killed dozens of German soldiers in World War II, then refused the honor of his own national holiday, insisting the date should be used to honor all superheroes instead. (He also wears a combat helmet and fights with a shield, so yes, he’s The Boys’ Captain America.)

You will not be shocked to hear that the truth about Soldier Boy is a little more complicated than the official story. Believed dead for decades, he returns to a world he doesn’t recognize. For Captain America, being unfrozen meant catching up on stuff like Steve Jobs and Star Trek. For Soldier Boy, it means balking when he sees an openly gay couple walking down the street.

Eric Kripke didn’t need to look far for his Soldier Boy: Jensen Ackles was just finishing his 15-season run on Supernatural, the first TV series Kripke created. “He said, ‘I know that there are some actors that the studio and network and producers have in mind, but I'd be willing to go to bat with you if you want to do that’," Ackles recalls. “And I was like, ‘How big of a bat do you need?’”

Anchoring *Supernatural—*a TV show that premiered in the early days of George W. Bush’s second term—has taken up much of Ackles’ acting career, but he’s still managed to dip into more conventional superhero fare, squaring off against a young Clark Kent in Smallville and voicing Batman himself in last year’s two-part animated film Batman: The Long Halloween. (“Especially the Batman thing—that’s such a heavily painted lane,” he says. “You don't want to reinvent that too much.”) Even this funhouse-mirror version of Captain America wasn’t much of a stretch: “I've known Chris Evans for a million years, back when he and I were fighting for the same roles,” says Ackles.

But more than anything, Ackles was ready to show Supernatural fans what he could do on an Eric Kripke show that isn't bound by traditional TV's standards and practices: "I don't want to be a one-trick pony," he says. "I think I've got something else up my sleeve." Once unleashed onto the modern world, his Soldier Boy feels less like a superhero than a warning: Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.

(...)

But like so much of The Boys, this ultra-dark worldview turned out to be uncannily well-timed. “Kripke is a fortune teller,” says Ackles. “He has some weird Kryptonian crystal ball in his office, and he's like, This is what the cultural landscape's going to look like a year from now, and he writes to it. I don't know how he does it.”

Trump was defeated, but he’s gathering strength for another presidential run, and we’re all stuck with what he unleashed—and there’s no sign that it’s going anywhere, or that the Democrats in power have serious plans to do anything about it. And maybe that’s been the real message of The Boys all along—the one that makes it stand apart from all the other superhero stories out there right now: No one is coming to save us, so we’d better figure out how to save ourselves.

gq.com

#Jensen Ackles #Soldier Boy #*

[boxwinebaddie]

stas laying awake at night thinking ab women in a cold sweat is the lesbian girl failure rep we NEEDED thank you sm

you are So welcome, my love! as a sapphic girl failure, i gotta rep the Girlies, what can i say? shadahsdsk but literally she is Pathetic! i am dying like men come in the tavern and she's like get back demon but any woman comes in and she's Bewitched askhdlsad. like pouring mulled wine into a tankard & staring so hard she overfills the Fuck out of it and it's spillin all over the counter so she's like aaaaa fuck!!!

and then tries to fix it but Knocks The Whole Bottle over and is like AAAAA FUCK X2 and doesnt have a rag so she's literally using her dress and so its all Red and stained now smh and the lady comes up and is like Are You Quite Alright? and shes like ofc! why wouldn't i be?

then slips on the wine on the floor n knocks herself out.

A MESS!!! A GAY DISASTER!!! she does have crazy Down Bad dreams but also has really weird out of focus ones? its the same one every night of an elf girl w/ green eyes & ginger hair...which, For Context...

its because when she was really little, kylie wandered past the palace walls bc i think something she was playing with got lost in the woods and this Big Animal ambushed her & she was abt to get Gored by it ( i think it was some sort of fantasy bear creature...she was also Friendly!! tyvm! and protecting her cub! ) tldr; stas jumped in front of her and got hurt, but SANG to this HUGE bear and it Immediately Relaxed -- stas pet her behind the ear n everything. :) she also was not phased at all abt bein slashed even tho she was Fucked Up. kylie stood there mesmerized bc what the fuck? this girl was legit Bleedin and…comforting the bear creature?

like Fear Not, Friend; You Are Safe. <3 ;-;;;;;;;;;;

kylie was shoooook oh my god bc stas just saved her life. i think they were trying to communicate but kylie was speaking in her crazy elvish mother tongue and stas was speaking english. idk if they tried to exchange names or not i think stas wrote anastasia in the dirt and kylie drew a bunch of symbols. also fun fact stas can write her name but sheeee...is a woman so she cannot read or write...like at all. i think kylie does teach her l8r bc she had to learn like Every language tbh.

anyways, i want to say kylie used magic and Healed her? aaaaaaaaaa insane!! stas said the medieval version of the stan Wowza, lmaooo. i also think stas showed kylie how to get out by drawing a crude map in the dirt which helped her escape completely unscathed. she was still all dirty/bloody but Alive and was at edge of the forest when the guards finally located n siezed her.

she got a looooot of shit for it btw. gerald was Mad like what in Hells happened??? why are you Bathed in BLOOD? are you hurt, seldë?!! she was like nay!! i was nearly KILLED by a Werebear!! but at the last moment i was saved by...a girl. A Human! she had eyes the color of daylight & hair black as night. Netya. and looked abt the same span as me. i feared she would succumb to blood loss so i sealed her wounds with Athae. ky knowing stas was a girl is v cute to me. and gerald was like...ur telling me a GIRL hath slain the beast?! A Human Girl? of a mere eight sun cycles?!

( idk i'm still figuring out the lingo ) & ky was like She Did NOT Slay It Atar! she was wielding naught but a wooden sword! then...she…Threw Her Voice? it was some strange Sorcery! yet the sweet melody hath Soothed the creature! the girl, saas, used her stick to draw a wayfind in the earth. it gave me safe passage out of the forest. i owe her my life. and ger said…so this vile creature lives yet? but ky was like!!! she was not a Vile Creature! she was kind! just startled!! promise me you will not harm her! & ger was like Ofc…then they killed her the next day & orphaned the cub. :(

stas wept & raised it, btw. she a fkn disney princess.

anyways...very gay thoughts about the pretty elvish girl whose life she saved but also saved her life — a life for a life tbh — screaming. im not sure if she knows its kylie.

-uncle nina, being really feral and insane abt the tkak lore

#sorry my lore is really unhinged im passionate abt it #but yeah shes down so bad smh #gay girl failure rep #please let me live abt the lingo idk what im doing smh #but yeah u know when u have crazy dreams abt a girl u saved #who used crazy elf magic to heal ur wounds #also not kylie being like please dont hurt her and then gerald lying and fucking murdering the nice bear homie #absolutely WHACK #gerald i hate u so much #i'm sorry my weird high fantasy speech is so weird i'm crying itll get better i Swear smh

[saiskulls-110]

also as per my last ramble in the tags i want to add that though i absolutely understand and also feel frustrated by the show never bringing up that some women aren't interested in romance, or dating, or anything like that; i feel like the people writing angry reviews about it need a little more perspective.

japan still struggles with sexism. every aspect of it. and we know this. but they've dealt with it in completely different ways to it than their western/european counterparts. in japan it is STILL common for a girl's dream in life to be getting married. and it is glorified.

teen girls really do rely on romance as a crux of their culture there (and of course there are exceptions, but it is far more common than you can imagine—), and that's not just an adults view on it.

the manga industry has been coming out with, even for a non-jp audience, incredibly progressive stuff recently. unfortunately, when it comes to anime, the amount of hoops artists have to jump through to get it greenlit for a show is crazy- and that's on top of the struggle of having their original work (most likely) edited by a company first.

it's going to be very common that work that would have been explicitly, comfortably queer gets watered-down simple, or removing any real moments that would canonize a character's queerness, or at worst borderline fetishised in its final product. that being said, romantic killer FEELS like queer content. moments just Make Sense and feel Familiar through an aro/trans/gay lens.

i'm not going to pull up any scenes in particular, not just because it's a good watch i recommend if you want to tear up, but because it's the show In General— beginning to end, that feels like a familiar experience. If you take any moment in the show to try and view it as already-established representation it is glaringly obvious that:

Makoto has a little crush on Junto. Anzu is, if not arospec, pan, and has no problem being clear that she's fine with romantic interaction with men, women and enbies without a second thought as to their gender. Saki at one point had a crush on Anzu, she might still now! Hijiri struggles with understanding what other people find fun, that goes for romance too, and in small scenes he makes it clear that he cares for anzu just as much as the other prettyboys.

Even Kazuki and Junto feel like they have something going on at times — but that one's probably just my own lil headcanon.

Point is: Good, queer anime is hard to come by. I'm not saying 'take what you can get' or 'it won't get better', but show some understanding as to the differences in culture and how each scene might be read differently to someone that grew up in that space.

we got The Stars Align go watch that. for frame of reference that show didn't get it's final episode finished because there wasn't enough interest from japanese viewers and the showrunners didn't want to keep funding something with a good trans-non-binary character.

#sai talks anime #romantic killer #positive frame of mind for this one boys #forgive me for having hope 🙏

[elvthali]

uH yeah so here’s wild life update thing explanation whatever cause ye a h

As of the past several days I had no access to any of my stuff, especially my phone or computer, due to being strong armed into a hospital. I've been working rough dead-end retail and retail-adjacent jobs for the past several years alongside my freelance artwork with perpetual aspirations of one day applying myself to a more official long term job as a game artist. But with crippling anxiety, depression, and the constant lack of self confidence I've still not achieved that. And throw in working jobs that perpetually drain me of any energy, sufficient mental or emotional stability, and especially time- you get the idea it's been a nasty cycle I won't go into detail with.

In order to solve this situation, and get out of a toxic household, I’ll be moving to the city my best friend and her wife live in. Having direct access to friends and finally being separated from the emotionally distressing situation I’m in now is of top priority. And currently something I’m making a point of rapidly putting into motion.

Due to? Everything? I’ll also be tackling a few other things during all this. Firstly I will be starting to pull together work for a proper portfolio for job hunting. Then contacting a handful of very overdue commissions to inquire if they’d still like them done or would rather just have the incomplete versions free of charge. Next, responding to a variety of things, artfight related stuff, mentions, messages, etc. And lastly, launching a Patreon; something I’ve wanted to try for years but very much lacked the confidence but with encouragement from others and my situation I’m finally tackling. (actually was tackling all of this before this nonsense started but that sure got disrupted dsdsf)

. So any sort of overdue communications, responses, etc are coming I promise and things are probably gonna be a bit… wild for me over the upcoming months. orz

For now; here's my patreon ( patreon.com/ElvthaliArt ) and the things I am (at least hoping) to offer as of currently and maybe going forward! ;o;

So some of the usual stuff you'll likely be seeing there are:

Fantasy art/themes; I've a heavy bias towards fantasy genre stuff

Humans/Humanoids, Anthro/Furry, Feral/Animals, Monsters/Creatures in general, etc.

Fanart; primarily video games and especially for LoZ & Fire Emblem, but a variety of others mixed in as I have many games I adore;;

LGBT+ positivity; particularly a lot of gay men because? Well duh;;

A concerning amount of sketches/wip/notes; I'm perpetually jumping between ideas, sketches, projects, etc and not to be trusted with anything ever.

Me losing my mind learning/trying stuff; just a small price to pay on the road to infinite power--

And for patrons I'll be (hopefully) exclusively offering:

Sketches, concept art, & WIP peaks; many. many sketches.

Start-to-Finish Progressions; compilations of wip versions of completed pieces to see where it started.

Concepting/Creative Process/Artist commentary; some insight into the mess that is me creating things.

Small bases; simple psd bases for patrons to download and use.

Tutorial/how-do-you-draw-x videos; monthly polls in which I'll attempt to explain/show how I draw something (warning: I'm bad at explaining).

Tutorial/how-do-you-draw-x polls; in which you vote on/request subjects to see me hopefully explain in prior mentioned videos;;

NSFW Artwork; namely lots of queer stuff, particularly gay men, and a bit of teratophilia (monster-people essentially) art.

Monthly warmup commission rough sketches/doodles; request a piece of artwork each month I'll use for warmups/experimenting.

WIP Polls; vote on a selection of WIP pieces to determine which I should prioritize.

..And some general nonsense cause I draw stupid silly stuff for the hell of it sometimes.

And?? That's about it I think? I’m just gonna kick my ass into all this work now so here we go with all this chaos orz

#elv's chatter// #patreon #digital art #fanart #signal boost #update #lgbt+