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immaturityofthomasastruc · 3 years

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Do you any suggestion for Super Sentai?plz

*cracks knuckles*

Well first off, if anyone wanting to get into Super Sentai watched Power Rangers growing up, I’d check out the series whatever season you watched was adapted from to see how things went there in comparison to how they were in the United States. So if you grew up with the original Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, watch Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger. If you don’t know what the Sentai the season you grew up with is called, I’d check out RangerWiki, which provides a lot of information on both franchises.

I’d also recommend checking out a few episodes of the very first Super Sentai entry, Himitsu Sentai Gorenger. Not all 84 episodes, mind you, but I’d just watch a few to see where Super Sentai got its roots from, because the team football attack gets referenced a lot further down the line. Yes, you read that correctly.

But for individual seasons for beginners, it’s harder for me to answer. Super Sentai has varied aesthetically and tonally across its 45 year run. Some shows are dark and gritty, while others are light-hearted and goofy. Some shows have a vehicle motif, while others use animals for a motif. So the seasons I’m going to talk about will cover all kinds of tones and themes across the years. I also haven’t seen every single entry, so these are the ones I’ve seen that I recommend for beginners.

Denshi Sentai Denziman (1980-1981, 51 Episodes)

Centuries ago, the evil Vader Clan conquered and decimated the Denzi Civilization. In the modern day, the talking dog IC awoke from his slumber when the Vader Clan began their invasion of Earth. So IC recruits five people to become the Denzimen to defend their planet and stop the Vader Clan once and for all.

The first three seasons of Super Sentai were very experimental, but Denziman was where Toei started to get an identity for Sentai down. Not only would the black visors and sculpted mouthpieces become a staple for Sentai’s (and by extension, Power Rangers) suit designs, but this was also the first season to really start a few Sentai traditions. It was the first season to have female villains, the first to use a transformation device for the heroes, the first time the monsters grew to fight the team’s giant robot.

The Denzimen, while not really going through any character development, are still very likable characters, especially Denzi Blue/Daigoro (played by legendary tokusatsu actor Kenji Ohba). The villains are also a lot of fun, a real improvement from the first three villain groups, who were all basically Earth-based terrorist organizations and/or death cults. The Vader Clan is full of villains who are just as entertaining to watch as the heroes, especially Queen Hedrian, played by the late Machiko Soga, who would later go on to play Witch Bandora, the character Rita Repulsa is adapted from in Power Rangers. There’s not that much of an ongoing for most of the series, and it can get pretty goofy at times, but it’s still a really good show.

Choushinsei Flashman (1986-1987, 50 Episodes).

Five infants are abducted by the Reconstructive Experiment Empire Mess to use as test subjects for experimentation, but are saved by benevolent aliens from the Flash Solar System. They all spend the next twenty years in the system developing their combat skills and special powers until they decide to head back to Earth to fight Mess themselves as the Flashmen, despite the warnings of their alien caretakers.

The 1980s are usually referred to by fans as Super Sentai’s golden age, with a string of great seasons thanks to famed writer Hirohisa Soda. Flashman is no exception. While Denziman tended to have more stand-alone episodes, Flashman is more story-driven. Later on, there’s a really dark plot twist that I don’t want to give away. Admittedly, some of the special effects can be dated to showcase the Flashmen’s powers in addition to stock footage being reused a lot, but the action and camerawork are still fast-paced and rarely do the fight scenes get boring.

The villains are the kind you love to hate, and their actors all give great performances, especially the late Unsho Ishizuka (the Japanese voice of Professor Oak) as Great Emperor La Deus. This is easily one of the darker Super Sentai entries, but if you don’t mind that, I highly recommend it.

Choujuu Sentai Liveman (1988-1989 49 Episodes).

At an academy for the finest minds in the world, three of the students feel their talents are being wasted on designing a satellite to conduct scientific research. They soon join up with Great Professor Bias, leader of the Armed Brain Army Volt, who takes them all under his wing as his students and generals. Before they leave, they kill two students, leaving their three friends traumatized. Two years later, Volt begins its plan to conquer Earth, but the three friends of the two victims developed their own technology to fight them as the Livemen in the two years since they last saw their former classmates. Bias’ students have developed their own abilities through mutating their bodies, starting a conflict between some of the most intelligent youths in the world while figuring out what Bias’ evil plan is...

Some Sentai fans consider this to be even darker than Flashman at times due to the themes discussed. Unlike earlier seasons, the heroes have a more personal connection to the villains, and act as foils to them in terms of morality. The show also has some surprisingly deep themes at times, deconstructing the harsh standards the Japanese have for education and the effects they can have on people. Seriously, the main villain, Great Professor Bias, sets up a competition for his generals as a way to advance his plans, treating it like a high academic honor.

This series also has some amazing special effects for the time. This was the first Sentai series to have an animal motif, so they go all out by using one of the most complicated models for his giant robotic lion, a stunning innovation for special effects. It was also the first series to introduce the gimmick of combining two robots, which is a genius marketing tactic when you think about it, motivating kids to buy both robots to combine them. Even putting those technical aspects aside, this is still one of the most iconic Super Sentai seasons, and a must-watch for beginners.

Choujin Sentai Jetman (1991-1992, 51 Episodes)

An elite soldier is chosen for a top-secret military project meant to turn him into the leader of a team of supersoldiers called the Jetmen. After he gets his powers, the satellite base is attacked by the Dimensional War Party Vyram. Not only are the four remaining “Birdonic Waves” meant to empower the rest of the Jetmen scattered across Earth, powering four civilians instead, but the soldier’s fiance is killed in the process. So he has to recruit the rest of the Jetmen and form a competent team to stop the Vyram from conquering their dimension.

A lot of Precure fans view Heartcatch as the best series in the entire franchise, and many Sentai fans view Jetman the same way. It was a huge success in ratings and toy sales, which actually helped to save Super Sentai from cancellation after the disastrous sales and ratings of the previous series, Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman. It also had some elements that made it stand out from earlier Sentai seasons. While I’ve talked about how Marinette was forced to become Guardian against her will while the show doesn’t acknowledge it, this show actually does point out that almost the entire team is a group of civilians with no combat experience. Earlier episodes are not only spent assembling the team, but also training them to better fight the Vyram and pilot their giant robot.

The series introduced a love triangle for three of the Jetmen, and while controversial among fans, was very popular with Japanese mothers, who were rumored to find Gai/Black Condor very attractive and begged Toei to not kill him off. The love triangle, while arguably one of the weakest parts of this show (but still better written than the Love Square), was part of the main theme of the team being more conflicted, showing they weren’t all best friends all the time.

This extended to the Vyram, who also tended to fight with each other over their plans to conquer the Earth. Sure, there was the occasional villain in earlier seasons who tried to overthrow the big bad, but this was the first time we had a whole group of villains trying to one-up each other. The best way to describe the Vyram is if the cast of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia were supervillains who were still competent at their jobs.

The series is also incredibly dark, and is often seen as the darkest Sentai has ever gotten. There’s a lot more violence and blood than usual, and a lot more onscreen deaths that aren’t just limited to the villains. Humans are actively killed or hurt in the crossfire, and it shows just how painful this war is. And because of all of that and many other reasons, this is seen as the peak of Super Sentai. If you have to watch a single Sentai series, watch Jetman.

Ninja Sentai Kakuranger (1994-1995, 53 Episodes)

During Japan’s Sengoku Era, a team of five ninja sealed away the leader of an army of Youkai, rendering their kind powerless. In the present day, one of the few surviving Youkai tricks two bikers, who are actually descendants of two of the ninja in the past, into undoing the seal and giving all of the Youkai their powers back. Another descendant of the ninja recruits them into taking on the legacy of their ancestors to fight the Youkai, becoming the Kakurangers.

The 1990s were when Super Sentai was starting to delve more into fantasy elements rather than just science-fiction, and also started to take on a more light-hearted tone. Kakuranger is no exception. It’s a lot more goofy than the other entries, even using comic book-style graphics during its fight scenes. There’s also a narrator who appears to explain the history of the Youkai of the week, a detail I really like. While this show is still unashamedly goofy, it still gets more serious in the second half, but never loses its comedic moments entirely.

Like with Jetman, Kakuranger shows the reality of drafting two civilians to fight a war against the supernatural, with only one of the first three Kakurangers knowing how to fight. That Kakuranger in question, Tsuruhime/Ninja White, is easily one of the best Sentai heroines of all time. Not only was the first female and non-Red to lead a Sentai team, but she was only fifteen years old while the other Kakurangers were in their twenties. Marinette could learn a lot from her, and no, that’s not an insult. Tsuruhime is a complete badass, and a team-up with Ladybug would be the coolest thing ever.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah, watch Kakuranger.

Kyukyu Sentai GoGoV (1999-2000, 50 Episodes)

The demonic children of the Grand Witch Grandiene begin causing natural disasters to bring destruction to Earth in order to revive their mother. In response, five rescue workers who also happen to be siblings are recruited by their estranged father to become a team dedicated to saving lives from the Psyma Family’s actions.

Did anyone ever watch Rescue Heroes as a kid? Imagine that show, but with the intensity turned up to eleven. This show is epic, with amazing action and some of the coolest giant robots in Sentai history. One of their robots is a giant train armed to the teeth with guns. Even putting aside the action, this show does a great job at highlighting all the dedication rescue workers have to their jobs by showing a lot of rescue scenes in addition to having GoGoV fight the Psyma. It even teaches the audience about firefighters from Japan’s Edo Period. There’s really not a lot of shows that explain what rescue workers were like in the past, which shows just how invested this show is in teaching people about rescue workers.

While this wasn’t the first Sentai series to feature a team of siblings (the first being the aforementioned Fiveman), I think it managed to capture the dynamic best. Family is a key theme of the series, with the healthy relationship between GoGoV contrasting with the more toxic environment the Psyma Family has.

This is easily one of the most action-packed Sentai series ever made. It is literally Fire Force twenty years before that anime premiered, and it is AWESOME.

Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger (2004-2005, 50 Episodes)

In the not-too-distant future (Next Sunday, A.D.), the universe has come together to the point where Earth has made contact with several intelligent alien civilizations. However, intergalactic arms dealer Agent Abrella starts to help out the extraterrestrial criminals on Earth, called Alienizers, by providing technology and giant robots to them because he enjoys profiting from crime, and dreams of a world without the police. In response the organization Special Police Dekaranger, or S.P.D., brings together a team of officers to apprehend the Alienizers.

You want to see space cops doing space cop stuff? Then this is the show for you. Admittedly, this isn’t the most story-driven show, but is instead carried by its characters, who go through a lot of development. The Dekarangers have one of the best team dynamics in Sentai history. All of them are very likable characters, and it’s a lot of fun to see them interact. But the best character in the show goes to the Dekarangers’ boss, Doggie Kruger/Dekamaster, a dog alien who becomes a Dekaranger himself, labeling himself The Watchdog of Hell. That has to be the coolest title any superhero has ever had. Dekamaster is another one of the greatest Super Sentai characters ever, taking down a hundred goons in his first battle by himself.

I haven’t even gotten to Agent Abrella, one of the coolest Sentai villains of all time. He’s obsessed with profit and chaos, and he’s easily one of the most sadistic main villains compared to his predecessors. He isn’t some evil emperor who wants to rule the world. He just wants to raise hell and make a quick buck from it. He’s also voiced by Ryusei Nakao, the Japanese voice of Frieza from Dragon Ball Z. That’s another appeal of Sentai, the voice talent. A lot of big-name voice actors have voiced characters, like Mao Ichimichi and Kotono Mitsuishi. Hell, the currently ongoing Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger has Yuki Kaji of Attack on Titan fame voicing one of the main characters.

Dekaranger is easily one of the most popular Sentai seasons out there, as it has a lot of additional material. Not only did the Dekarangers get a theatrically released film like many other seasons before it, they teamed up with two separate Sentai teams, some of them cameoed in the anniversary series Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger, they got a reunion movie ten years after its finale, four of the Dekarangers guest starred in another Sentai series two years after that, Uchu Sentai Kyuranger, which served as a prologue to a team-up with another Toei hero, Uchuu Kenji Gavan, and then that led into the Dekarangers cameoing in another Kyuranger movie meant to be an epilogue to that series.

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Yeah, this is why I haven’t talked about the Sentai movies in this post. You don’t have to watch any of these unless you really enjoy Dekaranger, which you should at least check out. It’s slow at times, but it’s still a lot of fun.

Engine Sentai Go-Onger (2008-2009, 50 Episodes)

The Banki Clan Gaiark have traveled from their home dimension of Machine World and chosen Earth as their new home, but they have to pollute the planet to serve as an ideal living space for their kind. In response, sentient animal-themed vehicles called the Engines choose five humans to partner up with, the five humans in question becoming the Go-Ongers.

Unlike most of the shows I talked about, Go-Onger is incredibly goofy, and I love it. The characters are all incredibly likable, both the Go-Ongers and the Engines. While Sentai had touched upon the idea of treating the mecha as sentient beings, this was one of the earliest series to actually have their partners talk, leading to some interesting character dynamics. The villains are also really fun to watch. While they’re about as competent as Team Rocket at times, there are moments where you actually feel bad for them, especially towards the end of the series.

It’s also really funny. Granted, comedy is subjective, so you may not find the same things as funny, but there are a lot of funny moments in this show, all helped by the actors giving amazing performances. Go-Onger can get extremely wacky at times, like in Episode 31. I’m not going to say what happens, you should watch it for yourself.

What makes the humor really work unlike the last attempt at a comedy-focused Sentai, Carranger, it didn’t really feel mean-spirited by portraying the heroes as idiots by claiming to be “parodying” Sentai. Yes, the Go-Ongers can be dumb at times, but they still take their jobs seriously when they’re not goofing around. There’s not really much I can say about Go-Onger other than it being a bunch of dumb fun. If you’re in the mood to start off with something more light-hearted, I’d check it out.

Samurai Sentai Shinkenger (2009-2010, 49 Episodes)

For centuries, generations of samurai have waged a war against a race of demons from the underworld called the Gedoshu. After their leader was temporarily sealed away for several years, the Gedoshu begin another invasion of the surface while trying to flood the Sanzu River, which grows through human misery. In response, the current generation of samurai, the Shiba Clan, assemble to fight the Gedoshu as the Shinkengers.

This was actually one of the first Sentai seasons I ever watched, as my first Power Rangers season was Samurai. And yeah, while Samurai is a really bad adaptation, I’m here to judge Shinkenger on its own. Admittedly, there are a lot of qualities that can be chalked up to cultural differences, like the whole honor code samurai have and certain plotlines you’d see in a jidaigeki film. The Shinkengers themselves are all very likable characters, and you can really relate to their struggles of being forced into this war (again, handled a lot better than what’s going on with Marinette). All of them have different responses to their situation. Some of them dedicate themselves to wholeheartedly following their lord (Takeru/Shinken Red) or being more vocal in their hatred of their duties.

The villains are also really interesting. Sure, the big bad is pretty boring, but the side villains are just so twisted they really steal the show. Takeru/ShinkenRed gets a rival who serves as a perfect foil to him, representing the idea of why one fights. Even the concept of the Gedoushu is pretty terrifying. Demons from another world hellbent on causing misery to flood our world with their water, which I must point out, is deadly to humans. They’re not my favorite villain group, but they’re a close second.

There’s also some clever plot twists that happen late into the series that I don’t want to give away. Sure, you might have a hard time getting used to the Japanese culture at first, but Shinkenger is still a great series.

Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (2011-2012, 51 Episodes)

The Zangyack Empire invades Earth and because of their army reaching across the universe, they become the greatest threat the planet has ever had. In response, the previous thirty-four Sentai teams unite to fight them. They succeed, but the attack they used to wipe out the battle fleet stripped them of their powers. A few years later, a group of space pirates come to Earth in search of “The Greatest Treasure in the Universe”. While the pirates couldn’t care less about stopping the Zangyack, they still have to deal with them while searching for the treasure, which is somehow connected to the previous thirty-four Sentai teams. Also, the pirates form their own Sentai team, the thirty-fifth Sentai team in particular, the Gokaigers, who have the ability to TRANSFORM INTO ANY OF THE PREVIOUS SENTAI TEAMS.

For Super Sentai’s 35th anniversary, Toei wanted to go big this time. While the previous two anniversary seasons only had movies that paid tribute to Sentai as a whole, this was the first season where the anniversary aspect was in the premise alone.

The interesting thing is that the series was changed last-minute, and it was totally for the better. See, in March of 2011, Japan’s Tohoku Region was devastated by an earthquake registering at a 9.1 on the Richter scale. To this day, it was the largest earthquake ever recorded in Japan’s history, and that’s not even getting into the tsunami it caused the same day. What does this have to do with Gokaiger? In response to the tragedy, several tokusatsu stars including Super Sentai alumni took to social media to encourage kids to stay positive, and even asked some of Gokaiger’s showrunners if they could reprise their roles in an episode. Originally, there were going to be some cameos from past Sentai heroes, but it would only be limited to the ones whose powers would upgrade the Gokaigers’ giant robot. After this, there were a lot more cameos from Sentai alumni in the latter half of the series. Out of Gokaiger’s 51 episodes, 24 of them were tributes to past seasons. And that’s not even getting into all of the cameos in the movies too.

This was another one of the first Sentai seasons I ever saw, and it really helped me get into the franchise as a whole. It manages to explain things to people who haven’t seen certain seasons, while paying tributes to said seasons and making clever homages older fans will understand. Admittedly, the show does spoil the endings of the older seasons like Liveman and Jetman, so keep that in mind before starting this one.

Even outside of the tributes, the Gokaigers are some of the most memorable characters Super Sentai’s had in recent years. While they aren’t exactly evil, they start off not really interested in protecting Earth and care more about getting the Greatest Treasure in the Universe. The only reason they fight the Zangyack in the first episode was because their lunch was interrupted. A team of anti-heroes in Super Sentai hasn’t really been done before. Even then, there’s an interesting dynamic where some of the Gokaigers have more of a moral conscience than the others. And as the series goes on, they start to care more about protecting the Earth, even if they don’t admit it.

It’s just a really good show, and even if it isn’t your first, I’d check it out.

Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger (2013-2014, 48 Episodes)

When the alien entity known as Deboss invades Earth during the prehistoric era, another bird-like alien named Torin empowers several dinosaurs into the mighty Zyudenryu to fight off the invading force. After a brutal final battle, Deboss was sealed away, but his army of followers was still growing. In response, Torin started to recruit several humans throughout time into the modern day to become the Kyoryugers.

While Gokaiger was the first Sentai I ever watched, Kyoryuger was the first Sentai I watched every week as it aired, so it has a special place in my heart despite its middling reputation. Yeah, Kyoryuger has been criticized for starting the trend of Red Senshi stealing all the screentime, and while that can easily be applied to later entries like Shuriken Sentai Ninninger and Kishiryu Sentai Ryusoulger (the latter basically made Red and Gold the only ones to pilot the giant robots while the others watched), I don’t think it's as bad as everyone says it is.

There is just an amazing cast of characters here. It’s the first Sentai to be composed of ten rangers (while Dekaranger also had ten, three of them were just one-offs), and it does a really good job at balancing them all out. Yes, Daigo/Kyoryu Red does get a handful of power-ups and can be the focus at times, but the other characters all have their own distinct personalities and are just a blast to watch. I’d honestly recommend watching a few episodes of this show to get an idea on how to do an ensemble cast. If I end up doing the whole “tokusatsu has better toy tie-ins than Miraculous” thing, expect me to talk about how Kyoryuger introduces its new characters and giant robots.

And then there’s the soundtrack. Oh my God, the soundtrack. Sentai tends to have banger songs for their seasons, and Kyoryuger is no exception. “Vamola! Kyoryuger”, “Solid Bullet”, “Kyoryu Gold! Iza!”, “Yuuki Bakuretsu”, “Chou Shinka! Kyoryu Beat”, “Houkou! Bragigas”, and “Senkou no Brave”. So many of these songs are incredibly catchy, and I haven’t listed all of them. The show has a bit of a music motif, so it makes sense for there to be a lot of insert songs.

The one major flaw I have to point out is that you kind of have to watch the theatrical movie (which is only slightly longer than an average episode), in order to understand some of the plotpoints for the season’s endgame, but other than that, it’s still a really good season to start off on.

Mashin Sentai Kiramager (2020-2021, 45 Episodes)

The Dark Empire Yodonheim attacks the planet Crystalia, with the king’s brother betraying him and siding with the enemy. The kingdom’s princess is sent to Earth to recruit five warriors to fight the Empire. The chosen five all possess “Kiramental”, a way of weaponizing their imagination, which they use to defend the Earth’s radiance.

Precure fans might remember this being the season where Cure Star met the Red to promote the latter’s season (actually referring to Cure Star as his sempai), and I can kind of see why. A lot of fans have jokingly compared this season to Precure because of the gemstone motif and focus on creativity, with Juru/Kiramai Red acting like a Pink Cure according to some of the comments I’ve seen in Sentai discussion forums.

This is the most recent season to finish as of this post, and it’s already gotten a lot of praise in terms of writing, characters, story, and managing all of these during the COVID-19 Pandemic and having to adapt to losing five episodes in the process. The characters are very likable, the Red is one of the better ones in recent years with him being more timid compared to the more hotheaded ones, and the villains are also amazing, and some of the best in recent years. Episodes can range from funny to tragic to just plain awesome in terms of writing, with seemingly innocent filler episodes being the source of major bombshells and plot twists.

Honestly, there’s not much I can really say about this show other than check it out for yourself.

But these are just my recommendations. If you do some research and see a season you like, I’d go for it. If anyone else wants me to do these for Kamen Rider and Ultraman, I’d be happy to.

Sorry this took so long.

#immaturity of thomas astruc #iota #not miraculous ladybug #super sentai

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mackenyu-archives · 3 years

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[Translation] Mackenyu Arata Interview for Rurouni Kenshin: The Final at Animate Times

As a fan of the Rurouni Kenshin installment, Mackenyu Arata couldn't hide his surprise when offered to play Yukishiro Enishi. Looking back on the shooting, he talked about his thoughts on the upcoming release

—What was your honest reaction when they offered you to appear in the Rurouni Kenshin: The Final installment?

Mackenyu: My honest reaction was, “Eh?! You’re kidding right? No way! Really?! Is it okay for me to take this role?! I’m this young and I’m playing the last boss?!” I was really surprised.

—What was your impression about Yukishiro Enishi as a character?

Mackenyu: He is described as the series’ most feared enemy. But seeing him from a different point of view, I think you can’t really tell which side is justice and which side is evil.

—How did you create this role?

Mackenyu: To match his physique of course I worked out, but I focused on his mentality. Things like whether he wants to reveal his identity to others or not. I was most consciou about understanding and performing this role properly.

—Did you read the original to understand this role?

Mackenyu: I didn’t read the manga. I think adaptations and manga are completely different thing, and basically I avoid reading original manga to all the live-action works that I have worked in so far.

—So the information you’ve obtained from the script is already enough?

Mackenyu: That’s right, I think everything is already included there.

—I know that each set has its own characteristics and atmosphere, but what did you feel when you came into this filming team?

Mackenyu: (looks at the movie pamphlet) it looks exactly like this. It felt like we were continuously filming in the midst of burning flame. Everyone is working really hard until they burn-out and tattered. That applies to me too.

—I got the chance to see the preview, but I get the impression that you really put your life on the line for this role.

Mackenyu: Yes. From the very beginning I have to give my everything.

—Did you shoot that first scene on the train during your first day?

Mackenyu: Yes. Actually, it’s been almost 3 years ago, but from the first day filming, I was already doing full action sequences.

—That train scene, which was also the introduction to Enishi. I was completely blown away by the intense action scenes inside the train.

Mackenyu: It’s a wonderful opening scene, right? I had fun shooting that. As an actor I’m really happy that I was able to be part of a set where I can fully showcase my abilities.

—Previously, action director Kenji Tanigaki talked to us in Animate Times. He said, “I knew right away that Mackenyu Arata is incredibly athletic.’ How did you feel when you actually performed action scenes under his direction?

Mackenyu: I’m honored to hear him say that. While performing the action scenes with Tanigaki-san and his team, sometimes I would suggest, “I want to do this kind of sequence” and he would include it in, he was a very flexible person. Moreover, I think he is a person with great imagination.

—Was there a time when his imagination moved you?

Mackenyu: There were times when I thought his ideas are amazing. Especially during the action scene inside the train where I fought using a kendama [T/N: a traditional Japanese skill toy]. Somehow, he came up with a sequence where a single kendama can beat dozens of people at once, it’s amazing.

—But your role is not just about the action skills. The whole idea about ‘Jinchuu’ is that when justice is not served by the heavens, then humans will make the judgement. The fight also involves complex emotions.

Mackenyu: It is essential to combine actions and emotions when playing Enishi. It was important for me to act with my whole body for this role.

—This work has so many interesting points, but is there any scene that particularly left an impression to you?

Mackenyu: Other than the action scenes with Kenshin, the scenes with Kaoru played by Takei Emi-san are highlights. I think we can see another side of Enishi. When they exchanged conversations, and also his actions around her—how he behave in a certain way, I think you might begin to see how he really feels inside.

—Did you have any particular difficulty?

Mackenyu: That would definitely be the action scenes. It’s very high level, and I’ve never had such a hard time filming anything before. It was fun at the beginning, but gradually everyone and myself starts wearing out. However, the sense of accomplishment is great.

—How did you feel when you finally cranked-up?

Mackenyu: We shoot this movie for about half a year, with a really tough schedule, so I was really happy it all ended.

—To continue playing Enishi for half a year, that must really push you to your limit

Mackenyu: That’s right. Because that role was such a role after all. It was pretty tough.

—There seems to be a lot of hardship involved, but is there anything you’ve accomplished from this work?

Mackenyu: What I’ve accomplished... honestly, I have no idea. What I know is that I always gain something from each work, but it took me years to really understand that. Everything that I have been through has made me what I am now.

—In that sense, everything about you will constantly be updated

Mackenyu: That’s right. There will always be something new, there will always be growth.

—What was your impression when you watch the movie at the preview?

Mackenyu: It was really tiring (laughs). My hands were sweating throughout the whole movie, my energy was drained, so by the end I just heave a long sigh.

—The movie screening is just around the corner. How are you feeling now?

Mackenyu: As a big fan of Enishi, I’m really looking forward to it. I’m very happy that everyone can finally see the movie.

—As our name suggests, many Animate Times reader watches anime. Do you have any recommendation?

Mackenyu: For anime... I like ‘HUNTER x HUNTER’, I’ve been watching it. I really like the story.

—I see! Now please give your final message to those who wants to watch this movie and for the readers of Animate Times

Mackenyu: The most terrifying enemy that surpasses the previous movies will finally come out! And for those who believes that Makoto Shishio can never be surpassed, I want you to come and see it for yourself! Please look forward to the release!

#interviews

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captain-jensen · 4 years

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Let’s Enjoy Tonight

Chris Evans x Reader

Request: Can I request a Chris Evans imagine where he is in love with Robert Downey Jr's daughter and is at a party at Robert's and talks to her on the balcony about her family and about her dad and eventually reveals how he feels??? Thanks 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻💗

Warnings: Age gap

Authors note: This takes place a couple of years ago to fit the scenario. I know it’s short but I’m a sucker for happy cliffhanger endings.

Tonight is a big deal. Your father was throwing a huge wrap party for the cast and crew of the last Avengers movie. You aren’t nervous in the slightest though, even given the scale of the party. For the last few months of filming you’ve been hanging out with your dad on set so you’ve gotten to know the rest of the cast really well. Not that you didn’t know them before hand, you’ve known them for years. This year was different though, you’re 22 this time around which means you have been hanging out with the Avengers like an adult, often getting invited to their karaoke nights. So to say you were excited for tonight would be an understatement. Excited in particular to see one original Avenger. Over the past few months you and Chris have become particularly close. It started with you guys pairing up for karaoke, then you guys starting eating lunch together on set, and when it came to the parties he or one of the other cast members threw you guys always stuck close together. You guys have become VERY close friends. Too close as some (like your dad) would say. Whenever you guys were in the same room you were always giggling together, making excuses to be as close as possible, whispering to each other, and often can be caught staring at one another across the room. Neither of you have made a move yet though, given a couple of obstacles. Obstacle number 1; Age, Chris is 37 years old, that’s 15 years older than you. Which doesn’t bother YOU but it does bring up the topic of obstacle number 2; Your dad. Your father is none other than the godfather of Marvel himself Robert Downey Jr. Now your dad is chill and understanding sure, but its hard to predict how he would react to the possible relationship between his daughter and one of his very close friends. Your dad however, was not a stupid man. He can see that there’s something between you and Chris, but he might be choosing to ignore it until it gets out of hand. You’re hoping that tonight is the night things get out of hand.

There is only about an hour left before people start to show up to your dads rented condo. You’re wearing a simple red dress that hugs your figure just right. Hopefully Chris will love it. “Y/N sweetie are you almost ready?” you hear your fathers voice outside the door.

“I’m done, come in dad” You see the door creak open slowly and then your dads head pops out from behind it.

“Sweetheart you look beautiful. A little intense though for the wrap party isn’t it? I mean that’s a lot of shoulder, are you trying to impress someone?” He asks only half joking.

“Oh my god dad, I’m just trying to fit in with the Hollywood crew” you retort. Putting to use the wit your father passed down.

“Well I’m relieved to hear that” He said. Even though he fully knew what your plan was, he was happy to not hear it come out of your mouth. “Well people are going to be showing up soon so lets go eat” and with that he walks out of your room to go snack on some hors d’oeuvres.

A knock at the door of the condo startles you and you jump up to accompany your dad at the door, welcoming the first guest of the evening. To your dismay however, it was just Gwyneth and her husband. After about an hour and several guest arrivals later, you finally hear his upbeat and loud voice through the music. You look towards the door and see Chris hugging your dad at the door. You coolly make your way to the door while trying to keep your excitement in your chest. As soon as your in Chris’ eyeline he can’t take his eyes off of you (your dad recognizes this). As you approach your father and who you hope will become your daddy, you put on your prize winning smile and pull Chris in for a hug. “I’m glad you came tonight” you say softly into his ear.

“You know I would never miss a good party” he responds, pulling away from the hug after feeling a pair of suspecting eyes on him. Chris could never let it be known by anyone how much he liked you. He couldn’t do that to his friend. He also couldn’t help it. You were magnetic. Whenever you were around, Chris felt like the happiest guy around. He could never take his smile off of his face, and the same applied to you. After you guys separate your dads attention gets pulled elsewhere. “You look...really amazing Y/N” Chris says quietly to you.

“Thanks, you do too Chris” you shoot him a wink and a sly smile. “Lets go get a drink” You say, already ushering him to the makeshift bar where a very skilled mixologist was slinging drinks left and right. You both order a drink and decide to sit at the bar. “So how does it feel knowing you aren’t Captain America anymore?” you ask.

“Honestly? It’s bittersweet. I mean I’m grateful for it but I’m also excited to be able to explore different characters and stories and such” he responds.

“That’s good. Do you have any projects coming up?”

“Yeah I just signed a contract with Apple to do this limited series adaption of a book called ‘Defending Jacob’ I get to play a father in it.” he responds excitedly.

“Chris no way! That’s awesome. I’m so happy for you!” you respond with just as much enthusiasm.

“Thank you. That’s sweet of you to say” he replies with a soft smile on his face. You’re about to respond but you get interrupted by a hand landing on your shoulder, causing you to turn around.

“There you are, I just got here and wanted to come say hi.” You see a wide grin on Mark Ruffalo’s face. He greets you and Chris, making small talk until he sees Hemsworth and takes his leave.

“Do you wanna go outside?” Chris asks with a raised eyebrow, obviously nervous but eager to be alone with you while you look the way you do.

“Yeah sure. It is a little loud in here” He leads you through the crowd by a strategically placed hand on your waist. Your heart hammers in your chest and you’re sure he can hear it even over the blasting music. You make it outside and there’s a couple small groups of people already on the balcony, but there’s enough space for you two to talk without any interruption.

“So are you going back with your dad to California?” Chris asks once you get situated on one of the couches, knees just touching his.

“I’m really not sure yet. It’s nice living rent free and hanging out with him, but I don’t know if I want to live in Cali, I really like the east coast” you respond.

“Oh like Massachusetts?” he asks in a cheeky voice.

“Well I was thinking more along the lines of New York.” You respond, not knowing that he held real hope in his heart that you wanted to move to Boston with him on a whim. He knew that wouldn’t happen though. There was no way someone your age would want to be with a man his age. He also knew your father would not approve.

“Ah right. That makes sense”

“I’ve always wanted to see Boston though. I’ve never been to Massachusetts” you say.

“Oh really? You know, I’m a pretty good tour guide if you’re ever interested”

“Well I’ll definitely consider that” You fall into a deep silence. The other groups of people had made their way back inside some time ago, leaving you two completely alone for the first time ever. You notice a slight sheen of sweat on his forehead and know that he’s obviously anxious about something. “Are you alright Chris? You seem spooked” You decide to ask, seeing if he wanted to confide in you.

“When you asked me earlier about how I felt not being Captain America anymore it made me realize the fact that I’m not gonna be working with any of those people inside. Not Scarlett, Mark, Chris, or your dad. It just kind of hit me”

“Oh Chris I’m sorry. But you’re still all friends, it’s not like you’ll never see each other again. That’s good. From what I’ve heard, castmates aren’t normally as lucky as you guys are when it comes to your bond” you respond, trying to comfort him.

“Yeah you’re right. I’ve met some of the most amazing people during this time of my life.” He says. “If it wasn’t for Captain America, I wouldn’t have met your dad, therefore I would have never met you. So I’m still grateful.” He looks you deep in your eyes as he says this. He takes you in fully, like he’s trying to memorize your face.

“I’m grateful too” You say. Looking at him just as deeply.

“Y/N, I need to get something off my chest. Because I may see Rob again after this, but I don’t know when I’ll see you again.”

“What is it Chris?” You ask with baited breath.

“These past few months that we’ve been spending time together, have been the best moments of my life. I’ve never felt more light and happy with someone. You’re beautiful, intelligent, caring, funny, and so open and in love with life. When I’m with you, I feel like a better person. I know you probably don’t feel the same way, and your dad wouldn’t approve. I just needed you to know” He says softly. He looks up from his lap to check your reaction. Where he’s expecting confusion and maybe even discomfort, he instead finds a warm smile and slightly glossy eyes.

“Chris, I feel the same way. I like you too.”

“So you aren’t uncomfortable with the age thing? What about your dad? Does he know you like me?” He asks in bewilderment at the fact that his feelings are actually reciprocated.

“It doesn’t bother me if it doesn’t bother you. As for my dad, there might be a period of adjustment, but he’ll get over it. He probably suspects already.”

“Y/N. Can I ask you one more thing?”

“Yeah of course”

“Can I... kiss you?” He asks, slowly leaning forward until he’s just centimetres away from you. Without another word, you close the distance, letting your actions speak for you. The kiss is tender but full of longing and ambition. He tilts his head to the side and deepens the kiss, letting his tongue swipe past yours languidly. Feeling out of breath, you break the kiss, even though it nearly kills you to do so. “I needed that” He says sort of sheepishly.

“Me too” You look around quickly to check if there was any witnesses. But you were still alone. So you latch your mouth back onto Chris’ in a much hungrier and desperate kiss. He breaks away quickly though, not wanting anything to get too heated.

“We should talk to your dad before anything else... escalates” He says, it’s then that you notice his slacks clung a bit tighter to his legs.

“Or I can pretend to go to bed but actually go with you to your hotel” You suggest, trying to devise a way to avoid the conversation with your dad. “Then we can just tell him tomorrow”

“Lying is not the best way to do this” He says with a small giggle. “I want to, but I want to make sure Rob won’t put a hit on me if he finds out I helped his daughter lie to him in order to sleep with me” He argues slowly while he lazily tries to fight off your advances.

“Alright, that’s probably smart” You give in and stop trying to kiss him. “So how are we going to do this? Tell him tonight? Or maybe tomorrow at brunch?” You eagerly ask, wanting to get it over with as soon as possible so the two of you can enjoy each other in peace.

“I say we enjoy tonight, plan exactly what we want to say, and do it tomorrow. Then we can spend the next couple of days together in peace” He makes another good point.

“Ok. We should probably get back to the party then. We’ve been out here for a while. People will notice”

“Yeah we should” With that he looks over his shoulder and once he realizes the coast is clear he gives you one last deep kiss that literally takes your breath away. You both clear your throats and stand up. He walks with a more scandalously placed hand on your hip and shoots you a wink and that famous flirty smirk. You walk through the doors and back into the condo. For the rest of the night, even though you try to hide it, you’re both gleaming at each other and constantly sharing small touches. Robert, not being as oblivious as you both thought, tries to think of a nice brunch spot for the inevitable conversation tomorrow. Even though he could confront you both right now, he just stands by. Watching you enjoy your night next to the best man he could wish for for his daughter with a smile on his face as well.

The end

#Chris Evans #chris evans x reader #chris evans one shot #chris evans imagine #steve rogers x reader #Steve Rogers #steve rogers imagines

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cherry-valentine · 3 years

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Spring 2021 Anime Season

Mars Red is one of two series this season set in one of my favorite periods, the Meiji era. It’s a vampire series that deals a lot with the politics of war as the Japanese military is attempting to establish a vampire unit, supposedly to compete with the British vampire unit (because of course that’s a thing). It focuses on a human military officer named Maeda who is charged with recruiting and managing vampires. Maeda is the type of character I really enjoy. Handsome, a little older than most anime protagonists, chain-smoking, overly serious, and voiced by Junichi Suwabe (who has to have the sexiest voice in all of anime). The series has a classic, romantic feel to it. Its take on vampires is somewhat traditional (they evaporate in the sun, drink blood, sleep in coffins, have super strength and speed, etc.). If it brings anything new to the table, it’s the concept of vampires having different ranks, from S-class down, and how lower ranks naturally fear higher ranks. Still yet, the classic vibe works in the show’s favor. Combined with the historical setting, it gives the show a certain charm. The art is lovely, from the backgrounds to the character designs, and the music is a high point. It easily has the best ending theme of the season.

Fumetsu no Anata e (To Your Eternity) is a unique series. I’ve seen a lot of people comparing it to Mushishi, but with an overarching plot, and that assessment is pretty accurate. The show follows an entity that comes to be known as Fushi. It begins as an orb, and as it makes contact with other objects and creatures, it learns from them and can possibly take their forms. Among the forms it most often takes are a white wolf and a young man. Originally, it’s a somewhat empty shell, incapable of communicating, but as it meets different creatures and learns, it develops a personality and begins to speak. The series is, overall, about Fushi’s journey through this world and all the experiences it gains, both wonderful and tragic. There’s a subtle beauty to the series, with an early focus on nature, but it also has scenes of trauma and violence. The animation is fluid and the facial expressions are amazing. There’s an overall natural feel to it that, like others have pointed out, reminds me of Mushishi (though it’s definitely faster paced than Mushishi). The show also likes to make you cry, so keep that in mind.

Joran: The Princess of Snow and Blood is the other series set in the Meiji era this season, albeit an alternate version of it that has a strange form of technology. To be honest, I’m a little fuzzy on some of the details, but it seems to be about a group called the Nue who work for the government to fight against a growing rebellion. The main character is Sawa, a member of Nue who has some sort of special powers involving her blood, which allow her to transform and battle monsters, or whatever else stands in her way. Her goal is to get revenge for the death of her entire clan (implied to be wiped out because of their power). Sawa is a decent heroine, a woman who craves vengeance and is determined to get it through any means, but is, at her core, a compassionate person who would rather live in peace. It’s this internal conflict that makes Sawa compelling (even if it’s not entirely original). The other characters are interesting, particularly Tsuki, whom I won’t talk much about because it would involve spoilers. The plot and details can get a little convoluted, but the action and animation are solid. When Sawa transforms, the art style changes, and it’s a really cool visual effect. The music is also nice.

Shaman King received a remake this season. I was a huge fan of the original, and so far I’m enjoying the remake, but to be honest, I’m having trouble seeing the point. The art is almost the same (just a lot shinier), the voice actors are the same, the plot is the same. Maybe it’s just that it’s been so long since I saw the original, I’m unable to remember the details and so I can’t tell what’s different. But to me it feels like I’m just rewatching the show. Which is fine, because I loved it to begin with. Maybe it gets different later on. Maybe it more closely follows the manga. I’ll keep watching to find out. For anyone new to the series, it looks like the remake is a solid place to start if you want to get into it. I won’t go into plot details for a story this old, so I’ll just say it’s a top tier shounen fighting series with a unique art style and some very memorable characters. If you like that sort of thing, and missed the original (or you just want a refresher), definitely check it out!

Godzilla Singular Point is a true delight. I’m a huge Godzilla (and kaiju in general) fan. I’ve watched every single Godzilla movie, as well as all the related movies (the Mothra films, Rodan, etc.), but I never watched the previous Godzilla anime that was on Netflix a few years ago. It just didn’t sound like something I’d like. Singular Point, however, is right up my alley. Set mainly in a small seaside town that’s suddenly attacked by bird-like monsters known as Rodans, we have two geeky protagonists using their intelligence to figure out what’s going on while more and more monsters appear. Mei and Yun are excellent heroes. They rely on their wits rather than physical strength, which is a refreshing approach. It’s also interesting that they have little to no face-to-face interaction. Instead, they chat with each other via text as they work separately. They often challenge each other with science questions. It’s adorable. The show’s overall feel is fairly upbeat and energetic. The colorful art and peppy character designs by Kazue Kato (who did Blue Exorcist) help with this feel. It should be noted that Godzilla himself doesn’t fully appear until halfway through the series. It says a lot about the quality of the show that I don’t actually mind that at all. Some of the science stuff does go over my head, but the general plot is easy enough to follow and the action is very well done. It also has fantastic music, with my favorite opening theme of the season. Even if Godzilla isn’t your thing, consider giving this series a shot if you like nerdy science types as heroes.

Burning Kabaddi is a sports anime about an unsual sport. I’d never heard of it before now, and if people in the comments were not talking about the very real sport, I would have assumed it was made up for the anime. The show is aware that the sport is obscure, so it takes great pains to explain the rules and details so that we can all follow the action. The story centers on Yoigoshi, a soccer prodigy who decides to drop all sports once he gets to high school due to all the drama and angst that surrounded him (mostly due to his teammates being jealous of his talent), and pursue a career as a streamer. All the various sports clubs at the school want to recruit him (especially the soccer club, of course) because they’ve heard of his skill and he has an athletic build. He rejects them all, but the Kabaddi club is strangely relentless. He ends up being manipulated into joining (the vice captain of the team straight up blackmails him by threatening to show his online streaming account to the whole school). Despite this rocky beginning, Yoigoshi actually starts to enjoy playing Kabaddi, and more importantly, begins to bond with his new teammates. It’s pretty fun stuff that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The art is serviceable for a sports anime and the music is fine. The series isn’t going to blow your mind, but it’s a fun way to spend twenty minutes every week. Worth a watch if you have a weakness for hot blooded sports anime.

The World Ends With You finally got its anime adaptation and I was so excited. The game is one of my all-time favorites. So far the anime is pretty good. The art is a near perfect replication of the bold, thick-lined art of the game. The battles are exciting and cool. Best of all, the anime often uses music from the game. This is important because the game has one of the best soundtracks, ever. Every time I recognize a song from the game, I almost squeal. If I had a complaint, it’s that the pacing feels a little off at times. It feels like the anime is rushing through the story, but that’s understandable. In the game, it took longer for everything to happen because you were walking from place to place, fighting battles along the way, stopping to scan NPC’s, shopping at stores, spending time in menus, etc. The anime has to cut most of that out, so naturally things are going to move faster. The result is that you don’t get to spend as much time with these characters, and so you feel less attached to them. Anyone watching the anime who didn’t play the game might feel like the emotional beats are lacking. I feel like this anime is definitely meant to be enjoyed by fans of the game, rather than newcomers to the story. But if you are a fan of the game? You should be watching this every week. It’s an excellent refresher on the story, just in time for the second game to come out this summer. Super high on my watch list.

Boku no Hero Academia has a new season. To be honest I don’t remember what number we’re on. This season, so far, focuses on a tournament-style competition between the two main hero classes. I would much prefer the plot to move on to something more exciting involving the villains, but I suppose they have to throw arcs like this in every so often just to remind everyone of which characters have which quirks. The plus point is that instead of being an individual competition, it’s team-based. What this ultimately means is that characters that are viewed as weaker or having more obscure quirks actually get a chance to shine. These are characters who definitely aren’t going to win one-on-one battles. In an individual tournament, it’s pretty much a given that characters like Deku, Bakugou, and Todoroki are going to win most of the matches. But in a team, everyone has to work together. The end result is that the lady characters, all of whom have fairly weak or situational quirks, finally FINALLY get to actually do stuff! Even better, in several of the match-ups, the girls have taken the lead in planning and strategizing. It’s been pretty nice to watch. The girls from the other class have been very proactive as well. I really wish the girls could do more in “real” battles with villains, since it’s clear that they can step up when they need to. Who knows? Maybe this is a sign of good things to come.

86 is a new mecha/sci-fi anime based on a series of light novels. The setup is fairly cool: In a country where everyone has silver hair and eyes, the people live in what looks like a utopia. There is a war going on outside their protected land but all combat is performed by automated robots, so there are no human casualties... or so the government would have the people believe. In reality, there is a district that exists on the outskirts of the country called 86, where people who don’t have silver hair and eyes are sent to pilot the robots and fight to protect the country that shunned them. Most of the pilots are children or teenagers. The mortality rate is high. Only a few people in the government know of their existence, mostly military types that include “handlers”. These handlers each take on an 86 unit and communicate with them through a system called “para-raid”. Using this, they monitor the battlefield from their safe positions and issue commands. Naturally, most handlers view their units as nothing more than tools in the war, and most 86-ers view their handlers as privileged snobs who know nothing of actual battle. The real plot kicks in when Lena, a young Major, becomes the new handler for a particular 86 unit. Lena is sympathetic to the people of 86, but it’s going to be hard getting her notoriously rough unit to accept her. The plot is a bit complicated and the show deals with some weighty themes (racism, privilege, war, child soldiers, death). Lena is a likable enough heroine and the members of 86 are all interesting and fairly well written. The music is fine. The art... well, it’s pretty to look at, but it feels a bit generic to me. A bit too shiny. The mecha designs are great, but I’m not crazy about the character designs, which feel like they could be from any other modern anime. I also find it sad but hilarious at the same time that the women’s military uniforms are clearly designed for fanservice (they include mini skirts, thigh-highs with garters, and a short jacket that opens up just above the chest to show the tight shirt underneath) while the men’s uniforms are just totally normal military wear. To be honest it’s just too stupid to actually be offensive, so it comes across as comical. Thankfully, the interesting setup and plot carry the show, making it good enough to overlook the generic visuals.

Moriarty the Patriot has a new season... maybe? I think it’s technically still season one, but with a split cour. Regardless, it feels like a new season so I’m treating it as such. The series focuses on famous Sherlock antagonist Moriarty, here represented as a trio of handsome brothers (though one of them is clearly the protagonist and the leader of the group) who work as “crime consultants” and basically help the lower classes wage class warfare against the nobility. This season shifts the focus away from the individual crimes Moriarty concocts and instead focuses on larger-scale conflicts that involve government conspiracies, corrupt cops, etc. We’re also treated to a lady James Bond (finally!), fixing one of the very few complaints I had about the first cour (that it lacked strong lady characters). The show remains very compelling, with beautiful art and excellent new opening and ending themes.

Best of Season:

Best New Show: Godzilla Singular Point

Best Opening Theme: Godzilla Singular Point

Best Ending Theme: Mars Red

Best New Male Character: Maeda (Mars Red)

Best New Female Character: Sawa (Joran)

#Anime Reviews #Spring 2021 Anime #Seasonal Anime Reviews #Seasonal Anime #Anime #Text #Godzilla Singular Point #Mars Red #moriarty the patriot #Fumetsu no anata e #Burning Kabaddi #86

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warriors-but-cats-die · 3 years

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Hi! I see that you have different lore and rules in your au, (ie. elders choosing names, seers changing clans which I think is SO interesting omg, clans not speaking the dead's name) would you ever go more in depth with those changes? I'd be very interested to see your take on the clans cultures!! Love this blog so much!! ♡

aww thanks for the curiosity!

wbcd is actually pretty tame in terms of worldbuilding stuff for me, because. bookkeeping. that's -- almost always the answer lmao. i'll do links first and then ramble broadly about clan culture below the cut.

my (warriors) main, @mallowstep, is where most of the relevant content is contained, although i'm ngl for the past few weeks we've just been Experiencing this web of riverclan aus so. this morning i debated the existence of the original sin in warriors. "debated" more like -- talked through? i don't know.

anyway.

i have two worldbuilding related series, the elders' den (folklore) and five clans alike in dignity (worldbuilding essays). it's been a while since i've added anything to either of them because "poetry. hymns. language." has been kicking my ass way more than i expected, but they are living series.

and if you want some proper seers switching clans (i.e., as a thing that's part of the culture, rather than something that happens in an emergency), saccharine tithes of love and glory is currently at 6/8 works and explores that idea starting with yellowstorm (yellowfang), and i just posted squirrelflight.

but for some broad notes:

riverclan

there's...a lot. riverclan is easily one of my most developed clans. i'm trying to keep this stuff to bullet points, because i will literally not stop talking if i don't (see: one of the first things i did this morning was read through the wikipedia page for the doctrine of original sin to talk about how that was compatible in riverclan's belief system.)

core belief: all riverclan cats carry the divine in them (literal descendants of the river)

core values: patience, pride, flexibility, creativity

unique practices: building shrines for the dead and having water burials; bone divination; weaving; raiding the twoleg place; keeping trinkets

main spiritual practices: holidays; veneration of the moon; looking for river spirits

social structure: fairly nuclear

meta-thoughts: they're a proud clan, but because of that, they're the most accepting. it's sort of, "you're one of us, so it doesn't matter -- you have value."

shadowclan

probably the least developed clan. i'm always trying.

core belief: heritage matters, birthright does not (i.e., a focus not on who your parents are, but a respect for the past)

core values: cunning, respect, loyalty, community

unique practices: a large and long list of prayers that seers need to memorize with very specific purposes; prefixes are associated with the last cat to hold them, something which then reflects on the next cat to get the prefix; deep mourning traditions

main spiritual practices: group prayer, led by the leader in the morning and the seer in the evening; serious holy days (vs. riverclan's holidays); limited belief in the ability of a "normal" cat t connect with starclan

social structure: large focus on extended kin

meta-thoughts: i'm always trying to add on to shadowclan, but i've yet to find a story to tell in shadowclan that makes me want to sink my teeth into their culture. there's also -- a problem with them being a diaspora culture, and i'm trying to describe an "ideal" form that hasn't existed since...cedarstar, probably

skyclan

my beloved. i'm not much interested in old skyclan, so:

core belief: loyalty to the clan (really, a focus on being a community, rebuilding, etc.)

core values: adaptability, cunning, loyalty, resilience

unique practices: asking kits if they want to be part of skyclan; having clan meetings on the new moon; naming cats after the very recently deceased

main spiritual practices: nothing has really set hold, yet, other than group prayer/gathering on the new moon

social structure: the whole clan is one family, although they lean towards nuclear

meta-thoughts: they're a new clan, and that's really what this is about. everything about them is about surviving, and so they're very pragmatic. results oriented. etc.

thunderclan

aka, i refuse to accept thunderclan is boring

core belief: a deep focus on commitment to the clan (very communalist)

core values: decisiveness, loyalty, respect, community

unique practices: telling stories with repeated lines; not speaking the name of the dead; deeply valuing skill in battle

main spiritual practices: a deep focus on individual prayer; belief in invoking the names of specific cats; believing the journey to starclan takes several moons; limited spiritual weight in the position of seer

social structure: focused around maara/denmates, often over maach/bloodkin

meta-thoughts: while i haven't done terribly much with thunderclan, it's because i think thunderclan as-presented is pretty good. it's not that they're the default, it's just you're mostly familiar with them. they have a really, really big cultural thing around stories though, more than any of the other clans. while all the clans use stories to explain things, thunderclan takes telling stories very seriously. they're learned nearly word for word.

windclan

aka someone decided windclan should have hymns and i think we all latched on to that

core belief: a focus on commitment through sacrifice

core values: patience; respect; flexibility; mediation

unique practices: calls for casting of stones fairly often (all clans have conflict resolution, windclan is just most likely to use them); requiring the seer to confirm the name of each kit as not being ill-omened; pack hunting which has three roles; a commitment to ecology; sentry duty

main spiritual practices: the hymn, which is split into main sections and sung through, in part or whole, about once a season; holy days (fasts and singing days) have no fixed occurrence but are announced by the seer as little as the morning of; leaving the dead on the open moor so they can run to starclan

social structure: broadly communal, a deep sense of ties between mentors and apprentices, an expectation that mates will be well-integrated with both families

meta-thoughts: much like thunderclan has a lot of sayings derived from stories, windclan has sayings derived from hymns. while i've removed tunnelling from windclan, i've replaced it with a new way to categorize warriors. the three running positions are flusher, chaser, and catcher, and while all cats can run all positions, flusher is the most highly specialized because they're responsible for land management.

alright! i always have more to say about this, but. that's a start.

#ask #spacepriide #mallow speaks #worldbuilding #wbcd is so chill in worldbuilding #like all the names are based on appearance #something that's not a part of my general worldbuilding #but is a necessary concession #etc

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agentnico · 3 years

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The Mysterious Benedict Society - Season 1 (2021) Review

Anyone ever tried Eggs Benedict? Recently tried it and my goodness is it good!! The poached egg covered with hollandaise sauce that’s is slowly soaking up the muffin that holds it all together....absolutely delicious.

Plot: Four gifted orphans are recruited by an eccentric benefactor to go on a secret mission; placed undercover at a boarding school known as The Institute, they must foil a nefarious plot with global ramifications.

Being brought up in a Russian family, I have missed out on a lot of western media and literature that many kids back then of my generation would have enjoyed. So it’s a rare case when I come across an adaptation of something I’ve actually read as a kid, and as such get the nostalgic feels for. In cometh The Mysterious Benedict Society, a new family friendly show on Disney+ based on the first book of a series by writer Trenton Lee Stewart. I remember as a child reading these books in my school’s library (as at home I only read Russian novels like War & Peace at that very young age!) and actually imagining how good these books would be as films. They had such colourful characters and such heart and the story had this element of spy-espionage to it, but because it was about kids it made one feel like they themselves too could too have the skills and special capabilities and be something great. No matter how weird or how much of an outcast you were or are, there’s always a place in the world for your weird or quirky nature. They were really inspiring and fun books, so I was so happy to hear now many many years down the line that they finally have adapted these books. Or at least the first one, let’s hope they got enough of a viewership to garner further seasons.

What a show this is. Talk about faithful adaptations!! You can tell how much love and passion the writers and producers of the show have for their source material, as this is a pretty straight forward book to screen adaptation. Yes there are minor additions and changes here and there, but overall this thing is devoted to please fans of the original book, but also welcome new ones into the fold. The minor changes mainly include that the villain isn’t in a wheelchair anymore, which is actually for the better to avoid any old-school villain stereotypes, and also Mr Benedict and his team get more of a prevalent role in this compared to the book where once he gives the kids their mission, him and his team kind of vanish until the end of the book. And the latter add on is evidently done to fill up the runtime of the episodes, however the characters are all so loveable that you don’t mind spending the extra time with them.

I love the way this show looks. The production design and extravagant outfits make it seem like a light version of a Wes Anderson movie. The aesthetic is that of a Willy Wonka chocolate factory with so many eye popping colours everywhere. But it is again the original book’s great narrative and characters that make this show so enjoyable. The central four orphan kids are especially good and one has to wonder where Hollywood producers keep churning out these talented child actors! Do they have a machine in a secret lab in Area 51 where upon a film studio’s request another special kid can be created that has the ability to manoeuvre their facial expressions with distinct precision and also deliver lines of dialogue with believable emotionally filled resonance? Nevertheless, the kids here are fantastic, which is good, since, you know, you kind of spend most of the show with them. But the adults are not to be missed either. Tony Hale, who is most known to all for his dumb and simple minded caricature Buster Bluth in Arrested Development, is sure to surprise in his double performance as the charming and sincere titular Mr Benedict, and the opposite sinister villain Mr Curtain, who I found to be a surprisingly menacing presence. Mr Benedict’s team also includes characters played by Kristen Schaal and MaaMeyaa Boafo both of whom fit in well with the quirkiness of the series, but it is Ryan Hurst as the sad and lost Milligan who provides most of the laughs as he captures the steadfastness beneath the weirdness.

At the end of the day the reason the show does so well is cause it recaptures the central themes and underlying messages of the original books so well. From the importance of how trauma and guilt can affect us later in life to the isolation felt from any neurodiversity that one may have outside what is considered the "norm" of society. Each person, mainly the kids, feels the impact of their world and expectations in different ways. From being unaware of bluntness in social interactions to hyper-fixations, the series shows the beautiful parts of neurodivergent minds while also exploring the ways society aims at taking that and moulding it into their concept of perfection. The power of an observant mind, empathy, and acknowledgment of the beauty in the ways that people's minds work differently from one another is all wrapped up wonderfully in this series. And that’s as deep as I’ll ever get in my reviews. Like phew, I sounded like a professional psychoanalyst just then. Too much. That was too much for my tiny little brain to handle! Any-how, The Mysterious Benedict Society - go watch it so we can get a season 2!

Overall score: 8/10

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annethepancake · 3 years

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Sherlock rant

I recently rewatched BBC Sherlock for Rupert Graves, and aside from the lack of Lestrade appreciation I have a lot of problems with this series. Here are my thoughts:

1. It was all a blur

My second first impression of the show: I don't remember anything but the characters. And some characters I just blatantly forgot, like Mary. And I loved Mary on my second watch! I really forgot that at one point John actually got married and I don't even remember when I watched the show for the first time. I can still recall most of HIMYM's events and I hated that series.

2. It’s overall not a detective/crime show

Watching Sherlock for the second time, I mostly turned off my brain and just let it play in the background because (1) there's hardly anything for me to solve with the characters, most clues are taken by Sherlock off-screen anyway (especially after season 2), (2) they focus way too much on the quirks of the characters that make it almost like a sitcom that got dragged on for way too long. A crime/detective show shouldn't allow me to turn off my brain.

3. The characters just kinda fall flat

Exploring the depth of human emotions is not a bad approach to a modernized version of anything, I’m not trying to pretend I’m better than someone who gets sentimental over fictional character (if you know my blog at all, you know I am not), but at least write good characters. Sherlock is hardly a multi-faceted person; in fact, he’s kinda like the Wattpad teen fic main character sometimes. He physically fights off some terrorists with a machete to save the damsel in distress? He gets high off his tits but still got everything right all the time? John is just kinda there for most of the cases. Jim is a poorly written antagonist. Irene is a lesbian but gets the hot for our main character, surprise surprise. The only interesting characters to me are the ones who act like normal people: Molly, Greg and Mary. They are the multi-faceted characters, ones who I can actually relate to without feeling inferior to them in any way. Write characters like them, stop trying to be smart about it and stop writing Wattpad fanfictions for Sir Conan Doyle’s original works.

I get that they try to make Sherlock more like a human with emotions, making him quirky and arrogant, then make him quirky and more likable. It’s hardly a convincing character development though. He’s given over-powered deduction skills, so edgy, so high and mighty all the time. When he is finally written as vulnerable, turns out he has plans for that too. I would love to see him get it wrong once and maybe get humbled by that mistake, but getting Mary shot and killed is hardly even his fault, he is only doing his job. And killing off Mary is overall a bad idea anyway.

4. They treated the fandom like shit

I was absolutely disgusted at the start of season 3 when the showrunners just straight up shat on their fans. I wasn't there with the fandom during the wait between season 2 and 3, but I believe it was a pretty long wait (2 years, I could barely wait 2 years for my comfort series, and they have like 10 episodes per season), and they were presented with the first actual mystery of the series: How did Sherlock survive the fall? After years of waiting and having fun theorizing, they were met with a mockumentary about them, starring the most hated character of the protagonist and the fans. Those are the people who actually cared about the show for god's sake. The fact that the showrunners treated fans like crap and there's still an active fandom for the show appalled me.

Now not only The Empty Hearse bugs me, but the entire show does as well.

Allow me to digress.

Doki Doki Literature Club is a great example of audience engagement done right (Sorry for using this example I’m not actually that invested in the other franchises). After the success of the first game, the story provoked so many fans into solving the mysteries of the characters, some of them went really, really far. And that’s because of the actual mysteries that the development team took effort to plant into the plot. There is actual pay-off for painstakingly following the clues; as far as I know, only two (2!) people in the world have come close to solving the mystery of the first game (or they actually did). The game developers value their fans and their intelligence enough to have planted those clues where they did, and it’s a genuine exchange between the fans and the creators. Now even though you haven’t actually played the game, when you hear of the name and you’re only kinda familiar with gaming (like me), you’ll probably know what it is. What started as a mere open-source game by an indie developer became a sensation which left millions of fans begging for more.

Looking back at Sherlock, there are tons of logical flaws for a self-proclaimed crime series, virtually no clues for the audience to solve crimes along with their favorite detective, and when there was actually a mystery (Sherlock jumped off the building), they plainly showed him alive and well minutes later. Do we really need to see things spelled on screen to know what’s going on? Are we supposed to accept that Sherlock Holmes is an all-knowing future-predicting genius now too? Not a great sign of respecting the audience there.

So far, the only thing left that’s interesting about this series is the characters’ dynamic. Which brings me to the next criticism I have for the show.

5. The plague that infested mainstream media

Why is there still an active fandom? Queerbaiting and targeted marketing.

Community marketing is proven to be one of the best marketing methods there is, if not the best, to lengthen the lifespan of a product or service. The way they do that for shows and films and video games is usually by planting seeds of possible lores and history inside the content. Look at Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, they are franchises that ran for multiple years with a ton of history and world building that provokes fans’ imagination.

Sherlock - well, Sherlock has sexually ambiguous men.

Sherlock has a formula for success. It was an adaptation of the most iconic detective novel in the world, funded by one of the biggest TV networks in the UK and possibly the world (don’t quote me on this). Making this series means you can appeal to such a wide group of audience even before airing. Adding in the quirky smart men who live together, you’ve basically guaranteed a prime-time show with millions of loyal fans all over the world.

Fans are not stupid, and queer people don't just find queerness everywhere they go. They know a gay subtext when they see one. Sherlock came back from the literal death for John, pretty gay if you ask me.

This show is very much not just about some guys being dudes solving crimes, they have relationship that’s deeper than friendship, and definitely not platonic. They deliberately wrote a sexually ambiguous Sherlock Holmes from the get-go - literally from the very first episode, then capitalized off of the targeted demographic, never a pay-off for their anticipation. Martin Freeman said in interviews that he could recognize Sherlock fans, them being generally women from 16 - 25. No shit Sherlock, this show targets them and capitalizes off of them, being quirky and gay as hell, of course the fanbase is generally 16 - 25 and female.

Sherlock queerbaited the fandom for years for the sake of marketing and there’s never a pay-off, nor was there any recognition to the community, and to add to all that bigotry, queercoding pretty much all of the villains? Why was a show aired in the 2010′s allowed to do this? Why did Mark Gatiss, an openly gay man, a writer of the show, allow this to happen? Why are millions of fans all over the world allowing all this to go on?!

6. Conclusion

Now I haven’t read the books yet, so I’m not at all qualified to criticize the adaptation quality of the TV series; I’m just talking about the TV series on its own. Despite my criticism, I think the first two seasons did quite okay. There are quite a few nice cases there, I like The Blind Banker and The Hound of Baskerville. They did those well because the focus was on the cases themselves, and the connection between John and Sherlock was only in the background. I, like many other fans, like to figure things out on my own, to read between the lines, and to not have things spelled out for me. With the next seasons bombarded with Sherlock and John bonding it seriously felt like mere fan service for me and even though I wasn’t there when the show was on, I still felt like I was robbed and my interest in the show was abused.

Sherlock is undoubtedly super influential in pop culture even now. It has to have done something right to be in that spot (capitalizing off loyal fans?). I’m not writing this rant to change someone’s mind about the series, by all means, I’m still gonna love the hell out of Gavin Lestrade, and absolutely lose my mind over Mary Watson. So do take my words with a grain of salt, I’m just disappointed that one of the most influential shows there is is just short of my expectations.

#sherlock #bbc sherlock #rant #criticism

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cl-01-kestis · 3 years

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My Little Rebel - Inquisitor!Cal Kestis x Female Rebel!Reader | Part 14

Summary: After getting a new leg installed, you travel into the depths of Coruscants night life and find yourself in a surprising scenario.

Warnings: hints of nsfw, alcohol consumption

(Keep in mind Cal is aged up to 19)

Quick note: This original post had an nsfw scene in it, I’ve taken it out because I feel like it doesn’t fit the story well at all. I’ve still implied that something happened, but you can perceive it however you want.

The sounds were so deafening, silence flooded your mind and you hated it. High pitched ringing rattled around your ears and pierced your ability to hear for a while after it stopped. You can’t remember the last time you opened your eyes, the light slid through your lashes and you felt like you might’ve been something other than alive. You could still feel your heart beat, you still sucked in weak breaths of air through your nose.

The first thing you smelled was metal, thick stench of silver varnish, polish and gasoline. You wanted to gag but something about being it seemed to calm you down, you felt like you were back on Yavin again but you knew you weren’t. Your fingers twitched and you opened your eyes slowly, immediately shutting them back over when you tealised two big bright lamps were bent over your still form which seemed to be lying on a leather made bed, a medical bed.

You weren’t in the Mantis, that’s for sure. The last thing you remembered was falling down after getting your leg cut clean off, after that everything was black.

“She’s waking” You heard a foreign voice speak, clearly there was people in the room spectating you as you slept. You attempted to open your eyes once more and squinted them instead of closing them over, your arms moving beside your waist to push yourself up and regain full consciousness.

As soon as your eyes adjusted to the light of the lamps looking down on you, they focused on the brand new shiny leg, replacing the one that was cut off. Only then did you realise just how much of your leg you lost, the metal started right at your v line and was attached to a metal brace that was wrapped right around your hips.

“Where am I?” Was your immediate response to your surroundings, shifting your position so your legs dangled off the bed and you held your head to avoid getting a headache due to how quickly you had woken.

“Hiding in the lower levels of Coruscant” Cere’s soft voice called out, the sound of chair legs scraping against the concrete floor before her face appeared in front of you. Cere was slightly lower than you due to how tall the bed was, looking up at you with her beautiful brown eyes and trying to avoid staring so much at your new leg. Processing her words, you let out a soft hum in response and blinked a few times to adjust to the light.

“We were lucky enough to find a mechanic who fixed you up, the leg should take a few days to get used to” Cere informed you in a serene voice, resting a hand on your knee on your real leg and reaching out her other one to hold your hand. You nodded your head at her words and looked up to find that Merrin was fast asleep in the corner, sitting on a chair with her arms folded and head tilted slightly to the side.

“Everyone’s asleep, the time’s 10 at night, I’d get more rest if I were you” You turned your head to meet the eyes of a young man, around the age of 18 with scruffy, curly hair and a face that was patched with oil and polish. Clearly he was the one that fixed you up.

“Thanks” You smiled at him, watching as he wiped his hands with a clean cloth after rinsing them under a tap which was in the corner of the room.

“It’s no bother, just don’t walk around too much just yet, this’ll take a while getting used to” The young mechanic said, chucking the dirty rag somewhere random and walking up to tell you more about your new metal leg.

“It’s made of Alum, commonly used for Mandalorian armour so it should stay intact for a few years. You can move it around, it’s attached your nerve endings to the legs so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find your way around it” He explained calmly, getting down on one knee in front of you and holding your ankle.

“If you may, I’d like to test the flexibility” He offered with a kind smile, earning a blush from you as you nodded your head and let him do what he had to do.

He stretched your leg out as if it were your other one, his hand holding down the robotic legs knee as the other one cupped your ankle, strething it so it was level with your hip and making sure he wasn’t going too far. You felt strange, it was as if you felt his fingers ghost on where your ankle should be, you never knew what it felt like to have a fake limb but here you were. Recklessness got you here and taught you a valuable lesson.

You were surprised you weren’t as shocked and as heartbroken as you should’ve been, you were pretty laid back about losing a leg, that says a lot about you. But you’re a Jedi after all, Jedi shouldn’t be scared and that’s one thing you aren’t. So you blame it on that.

Plus, it looks cool as hell. When people notice that one of your legs isn’t natural they’ll probably stay away from you, which is a good thing. Intimidation might be the way to go through to restoring the Jedi temple, you want people to avoid you and this was the first step of doing so. But still, a part of you felt pissed off because your real leg was sitting around somewhere in the holocron vault.

“How does it feel?” The mechanic asked, stretching it further. You felt strange around the area where your ham strings should be, he did say he wracked your nerve endings with the legs ones so it made sense as to how you could still feel everything.

“It feels normal, not sore” You replied, wriggling your robotics toes and rolling your ankle to test it’s flexibility.

“That’s good! If you’re ready, try standing up” He got off his knee and stood up, dusting his trousers off and reaching out for your hand.

You were reluctant to take it at first, your eyes flickering to Cere who nodded at you in encouragement. “You can do this” She smiled.

Taking his hand, you lean forward and hike yourself up onto your feet. Instantly, you crashed down onto the floor and thankfully landed on your hands instead of your face, saving you a few other instalments.

“Thought that might happen, it’ll take some time to walk straight” Cere informed you, looking at the mechanic who nodded his head at her statement and helped you back on your feet, this time holding your arm whilst Cere held your other.

“This is so weird” You sighed, closing your eyes briefly to gather your thoughts and gain the strength to take your first step on your new leg.

“It will be, dear” Cere assured you softly, rubbing your shoulder before helping you sit back down on the bed you woke up on, patting your back before leaning down and pressing a motherly kiss on your head. You smiled at her gratitude and squeezed her hand before letting her go back to sitting down beside Merrin who was still fast asleep.

Some time had passed and it was coming up to 11:30, Cere was asleep and so was Merrin but you were wide awake, getting used to walking around with a new leg and having the support of the mechanic who kindly gave you a crutch if you were to ever fall over.

You paced around the workshop for some time, using the crutch and waddling about till the pain in your leg went away and the nerves got comfortable enough to let you walk around without any trouble. Sleep wasn’t something you craved at that exact moment so you decided that sneaking out and finding clues about your past would be useful.

“Hey listen, have you seen a lightsaber around here?” You asked the mechanic whilst walking up to him without the crutch but still holding it in your hand, watching as his expression changed from emotionless to surprised.

“You’re the owner of that thing? Here I was thinking the Jedi were extinct!” He exclaimed with a delightful tone, grabbing your lightsaber from his workshop table and chucking it to you from a fair distance, a far enough distance that required you to reach it with the force.

“Not all of us” You replied with a smirk, bringing it up to your gaze and widening your eyes once you realised there had been a few changes made to the lightsaber.

“I noticed it wasn’t in very good condition when you came in, decided to patch it up... might be useful” The man said, walking up to you and pointing to the hold at the opposite end of the hilt.

“Double blade...” you whispered to yourself in amazement, looking back up to the mechanic with big bright eyes and bringing him in for a tight and unexpected hug.

“Thank you for this” You mumbled in his ear, squeezing him before letting him go and bringing your attention back to the saber. The mechanic cleared his throat and smiled, trying to suppress the blush spreading on his face as he watched you further inspect the newly improved saber.

With the click of the button, your lightsaber burst into life and a matching blade appeared on the other side. You felt so emotional looking at it, this would strengthen your combat skills enough to take down a full Inquisitor, it made you happy to see it. You’d heard so much about different Jedi who wielded double sided lightsabers, they were only used in advanced combat so it was never common amongst most of the Jedi. Only the most skilled could wield one.

Testing its movement, you adapted quickly to the new model of lightsaber and spun it skillfully around your body. You adjusted to the heaviness of the model and made sure it didn’t hit any parts of you as you made the saber come to a still once more and turned it off, the blades sheathing back inside the hilts.

“This is perfect” You beamed, nodding in approval at the mechanic who bowed his head in gratefulness and let out a relieved chuckle.

“That’s good to hear” He replied, turning to his workshop table once more and leaving you to get ready to wherever you wanted to go. But you were lost for directions at the moment, you’d never been to the lower levels of Coruscant before so of course you’d get lost without some advice.

You didn’t want to pester the mechanic further, so you approached the bed you woke up on and placed the crutch on it, dusting yourself off and grabbing your combat trousers which had been taken off for the procedure for your synthetic leg.

“You have any idea where I can find a popular club around here? It’s not what you think it is, I’m just trying to get in touch with someone” You turned around to the mechanic whilst fitting your new leg into the leg hole of your trousers, slipping it through and then getting your other one in.

“Why a club?” He asked with confusion, screwing on a gadget to a droid which was out of power, he was clearly trying to regenerate it.

“It’s busy, clubs are usually full so it’ll be a good place for me to blend in” You replied with reason, earning a fair nod from the mechanic who put down the screwdriver and wiped his hands.

“I’ll write down the navigations for you, look out for a club called the Outlander, that’s one of the most popular on the top level. But if you’re looking for something more on the lower side, go for Club Kasakar” The mechanic said whilst scribbling a bunch of messy handwriting in Aurebesh, your second language.

Not many people knew, but even though you were born on Coruscant, long before the Jedi found you, your mother and father were from Corellia so your first taught language was Old Corellian. Only when the Jedi found you did you start speaking Aurebesh.

“Here, this should help” He said, walking up to you and handing the piece of paper with a smile. You took it graciously, thanking him silently before looking over his handwriting and studying the navigation to both of the clubs.

“Also, one more thing,” you looked up to the mechanic who looked at what out were wearing.

“Turn up at a club like that, they won’t let you in... no offence” He warned you with a small ghost of a smile, making you blush and look down at your attire before clearing your throat.

“Thanks” You mumbled, bidding him a farewell before turning around and finding your way out of the workshop, clipping your lightsaber underneath your poncho and keeping it well hidden.

You arrived on a small landing platform that was stretched out into a large pot hole that went so far down, you couldn’t see the bottom. This was all the lower levels of Coruscant, vehicles of every kind drove past, carrying either locals or visitors, maybe even tourists. You skimmed over the large space to check if there were any taxi’s floating about whilst also making sure neither Merrin or Cere were looking around for you. You needed time alone.

You looked down at your wrist, a holowatch was wrapped around it and you were surprised to see it was in good condition after all you went through. Flicking through your contacts, you stuck your tongue out and frowned as you searched for the one person you needed to see most.

Clicking on his name, you waited. The sound of dialling rung out in the air around you and it took half a minute for the other end of the line to pick up. Some rustling was heard but you didn’t waste any time in getting the message across.

“I don’t have much time, save all your questions for later. Meet me at the Outlander club on Coruscant at midnight, don’t let anyone see you” You spoke clearly, checking your back to see if anyone unwelcome was listening in and realising who you were speaking to.

“I’ll be there” Cal replied.

“Good” You said sharply before hanging up and waiting on the platform for a taxi to come and pick you up. You had a long night ahead of you.

It was cold outside of the Outlander, busy to say the least, but waiting in the cold made you look like your date stuck you up. You made a stop at one of Coruscants designer shops and bought yourself a black mini dress and a pair of cheap silver heels. You weren’t going to waste your time on anything flashy so you went with the most basic option you could get. You were freezing though, you kept your poncho on due to the dresses lack of material.

You wish you had looked at your options before picking the most simple thing there was. In terms of comfort, the dress you were wearing had nothing towards it, instead it was for showing off and had the sole purpose to catch everyone’s attention. You felt embarrassed as strangers walked past you, looking you up and down like a piece of fresh meat before entering the club. You watched people go by opposite from the entrance with one leg bent, heel against the wall as you held your poncho close to your shivering body. Your legs were on show and had a wet look to them due to the dampness of the area and the fact it was lightly raining. The neon lights illuminated your figure and made you vulnerable to the naked eye.

You turned your head at the sudden shift in the force around you and felt your heart squeeze in your chest, looking over in the far distance to see a flash of red hair. You lifted yourself from the wall, eager to see if it was Cal as you walked a few steps forward and leaned on your toes.

Cal emerged from the crowd of people he was hiding in and searched around to find you, gold eyes shifting from body to body as he stuffed his hands in his black trouser pockets after adjusting his black blazer. You swooned are the way he looked, noticing the all black suit he had on and noticing he took your advice in making sure no one noticed him. He blended in perfectly.

“Cal!” You yelled out to him, waving your arm in the air to catch his attention which worked immediately. His eyes snapped to yours and his face lit up like a Life Day tree, picking up his pace and eventually crashing with your body. He wasted no time and swept you completely off your feet, spinning you around and setting you back down to kiss you passionately. You smiled in the kiss as he held you tight and used one hand to cup your cheek, his thumb stroking it softly as you tangled your fingers in his hair.

“I’ve missed you” He whispered as your lips departed, pressing his head against yours and closing his eyes as you hummed in response.

“You look amazing” You said to him, leaning away and taking a step back to inspect his outfit to which he blushed and waved your comment off bashfully.

“It’s nothing, I didn’t want to be noticeable so I went for the most simple thing” He said with a shrug, taking a joking spin which made you smile and let out a soft chuckle.

“But you... wow” He gasped, eyes noticing your dress underneath your poncho. In response, You unwrapped the poncho from your shoulders so Cal could see the rest of your dress, twirling and trying not to freeze to death as the cold enveloped your top half once more. Cal breathed out a sigh of amazement.

“Wait a minute” Cal stopped and frowned when he noticed your leg. The light shone against the Alum leg and caught Cal completely off guard. Any sign of happiness to see you was replaced with anger and confusion.

“Who done this? When did this happen?” He asked eagerly, taking a step towards you again and holding your hands delicately with his.

“I had a run in with an Inquisitor, it’s nothing” You brushed off his curiosity, trying to avoid telling him the fact you stole holocrons and almost got yourself killed.

“Maker (Y/N) you could’ve been killed!” He exclaimed, huffing to himself as you rolled your eyes and shook your head.

“Not trying to sound big headed, but I’m a Jedi” You smirked, causing Cal’s frown to slip off his face and replaced with a small ghost of a smile. He nodded his head awkwardly.

“Fair point, but let’s not forget you still have much training to do” Cal offered you his arm which you gladly took without hesitation, strolling in with him into the club as your other arm held on to your poncho. You two received many looks as you walked in the Outlander, feeling the bass of the music in your feet as you walked over to a high table and stood at either side of it, facing each other with smiles on your faces.

“Of all the places I thought I’d next see you, this is not what I pictured” Cal joked, earning a giggle from you as you leaned your elbows on the table, the neckline of your dress hiking down slightly and revealing your cleavage.

“Even so, no one will find us here... it’s just me and you now” you said coyly, tapping your fingers on the surface of the table as Cal flashed you a mischievous smirk.

“Last time you said that I had you pinned down on a bed” He replied, immediately causing you to blush and look away, fighting back a chuckle as he leaned on the table and placed his hands over yours. You bit your lip and looked back up to meet Cal’s flirtatious gaze, he winked at you before a waitress approached your table with a bright smile.

“Hi folks! Welcome to Outlander, what can I get you to drink?” She said in a speaker voice, holding a tray against her chest as she looked at the both of you.

“You speak Old Corellian?” You asked her in a quieter tone, seeing her furrow her brows before managing a smirk and nodding.

“Mimmin doko” I do. She replied, earning a smile from you as you leaned up and cleared your throat.

“Ihn spelulo de Coruscant visci Fho Uhl sinioro Il Ihn spelulo de Corellisi vin Fho mi” A glass of Coruscant whiskey for the gentleman And A glass of Corellian wine for me. You said effortlessly, seeing the waitress nod as she scribbled down your order on a small holopad, smiling as she finished and nodded.

“Coming right up” She chuckled, turning around and making her way back to the bar as you turned back to Cal who had a more than shocked expression.

“Where the kriff did that come from?!” He asked in amazement, whistling to himself as he looked you up and down seductively, intrigued by what he heard.

“Corellian parents, kinda cool right?” You simpered, stroking Cal’s forearm which made him raise a brow at you in amusement.

“Cool? It’s hot as shit” He said lowly, making you laugh and tap him playfully as he leaned in close to you, your heads almost touching.

“Why’d you speak it to the waitress anyway?” Cal asked curiously, looking around to check once more if anyone was looking at either of you as you smiled and cleared your throat to pass the time.

“Hidden identity I guess, to cover up our tracks so no one knows who we are” You said.

You and Cal chatted for a bit and waited for your drinks whilst listening to the music blasting around the club, people dancing at all corners as you two blended in and looked like everyone else, normal. Cal occasionally touched your arm and intertwined his fingers with yours, knowing fine well he wouldn’t be able to do this with you around people for a long time after. The thought made him sad but you understood how he felt, the two of you were the most dangerous people in the galaxy according to the Empire and Rebellion. You were destined to destroy one another, but at this exact moment you could be with each other without anyone knowing. Now that thought was calming.

“Here’s your drinks!” The waitress from earlier returned with your order, lifting the drinks and placing them on the table effortlessly.

“Lui mia kar” Enjoy my dears. She smiled before walking away and leaving the two of you alone once more. You looked at your drink and then to Cal’s, noticing he had glowing blue whisky which made him look at it as though it was a foreign object.

“Care to tell me what you ordered for me?” Cal asked in a sultry tone, picking the whisky glass up and inspecting it before taking a chance and trying it. His lips met the rim of the glass and he tilted it up, the blue liquid reaching his mouth and making him hum as the whiskey poured on his tongue.

“Coruscant Whiskey, it’s a drink my friends and I got drunk on a lot when we all started living on Yavin” You chuckled, watching as Cal’s face twisted in different emotions. At first he was skeptical about the taste but he raised his eyebrows and smiled.

“It’s not that bad actually, pretty sweet” He commented, setting his glass down and smiling at you.

“It is, Coruscant offers sweet whiskeys but some can be a bit too sweet. Corellian wine on the other hand, any type of wine from there is perfection” You smirked, picking up your own glass and taking a sip from the ruby red liquid inside. Cal watched you closely, noticing the way you licked your lips after you finished sipping. He couldn’t stop his eyes from looking down below your neck, noticing the way your breasts were held in tight against the material of your dress. Cal took note that you weren’t wearing a bra considering the dress had extremely thin straps and would look rather strange with one on.

You noticed Cal looking and leaned your head down so you were blocking his view, earning a blush from him as he quickly looked away and took another shy sip of his whiskey, shrivelling up at the taste for a second before getting used to it once more.

“So... how goes the Inquisitor work?” You couldn’t help but ask, watching as Cal frowned and pursed his lips, it was clear the question had damaged the mood slightly.

“It’s... boring, nothing too important’s happening” He said in a more than melancholy tone, avoiding your gaze as he looked at your hands, almost as if he was studying them.

“Trilla- The second sister, she’s frantic about catching you” He added.

“Am I really causing such a stir? What’s next, Darth Vader knows about me?” You scoffed. Cal stayed quiet.

Your heart twisted when he didn’t reply, he only swallowed and looked down at his whiskey in guilt. You leaned back slightly and felt a lump growing in your throat.

“Well shit” You chuckled, not out of amusement but rather fear, just to shake the tension off your shoulders.

“Does anyone know you’re here?” You asked. Cal shook his head and returned his gaze to yours after what seemed ages. You sighed in relief.

“At least that’s something...” Your gaze shifted over to the bar which was shaped in a hollow circle in the middle of the room, many customers sat at the counter and ordered drinks of all kinds, some others were selling death sticks. You watched in interest and skimmed the room until your eyes landed on the bathrooms in the far corners of the club. You noticed couples either going in or coming out, making you blush and look away before picking up your wine and taking a few big gulps of it which made Cal’s eyes almost bulge out of his head.

“Careful! Don’t get drunk on me just yet” He scolded you playfully, bringing the base of the glass down on the table as you still kept a firm grip on the body.

“Need something to shake me up, it’s been a stressful day” You said, hinting at your leg which made Cal nod his head in an understanding manner, his eyes lingering on it for a few seconds longer before clearing his throat and reaching his hands up to his collar to loosen his tie and undo a few buttons.

You couldn’t stop yourself from looking at his pale skin underneath his shirt, you could see a muscle in his neck flex which made your heart flutter, unable to take your eyes off him. He took notice to this and smirked, walking around the small table so he was next to you and wrapping an arm around your waist.

“You know, i don’t mean to sound provocative, but I wouldn’t mind taking you somewhere more private” He said in your ear as you sipped slightly at your wine, trying not to choke on it as your face heated up and you looked at Cal with wide, surprised eyes.

“And for whatever reason would you want to do that, Mr Kestis?” You toyed, hands reaching to Cal’s tie and pulling on it to bring him closer to you, your lips inches away from each other as he let out a low chuckle and grabbed your hips.

“I’m sure you know why” He whispered, using his other hand to grab your chin and tilt it up slightly as he peered down at you with his bright golden eyes. You didn’t look away, you felt impelled to kiss him right there and then but you were around so many people. It took a lot to fight the urge off and Cal shifted around your thoughts out of curiosity, a cocky smirk growing on his face as he pulled you closer to him and smashed his lips onto yours, almost knocking the wind out of you.

At this point you didn’t care about the embarrassment of people watching, you kissed Cal back and didn’t hesitate to open your mouth and grant him access to taking it a step further. Your hands tugged on his hair and you felt his fingers dig deep into your hips, his other hand shifting from your chin to your ass which made you yelp in surprise.

“Maybe somewhere private doesn’t seem so bad” You breathed out as you separated your lips from his, feeling his hot breath tingle on your face as he pulled away and nodded his head. He was flushed in the face, licking his lips as he grabbed his whiskey glass and finished off whatever was left in it, cringing at the taste once more before grabbing your hand and taking you away from the table. You didn’t have time to finish your wine but you managed to quickly leave a few credits to pay for both of the drinks.

The air was thick as the two of you approached the entrance to the bathroom, but neither of you thought anything about what you were doing. You received strange looks from people who were nearby the bathroom, knowing fine well what you two were getting up to. You laughed as Cal looked behind his shoulder and cracked a smile, pulling you close and kissing you once more before leaning into the bathroom door and taking you with him.

You and Cal stood at the bathroom sinks beside one another, flushed with heat as you washed the sweat off your faces with water from the taps. You had messed up his suit and he ruffled your dress, the hem hiked up more than it was supposed to. You both kept replaying the events that just took place in your heads, side eyeing one another and letting out the occasional giggle which was muffled by the music outside of the bathroom.

“We should probably get back to the club, it’s starting to heat up in here” Cal said, turning to face you and reaching over to your shoulder to fix the strap of your dress. You nodded your head, clearing your throat and taking his hand so he could lead you out of the bathroom, eyes linked to yours a second longer than necessary before he turned around and started walking towards the door.

The two of you returned to your tables very suspicious looking, ordering another round of drinks and looking to one another with great blushes on your faces. You could definitely say you spent this night well.

#star wars #x reader #jedi reader #cal kestis #jedi fallen order #cal kestis x reader #inquisitor

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teyvattherapist · 3 years

Text

Sandrone | Stories

Character Details

Sandrone is a man of many names and many faces, everchanging always moving, untrustworthy by nature.

Originally a man who sought knowledge above all else, he now finds solace in clear orders and directives.

Much like some of the other Harbingers, Sandrone finds himself coming to blows with many of those within his rank. He, however, doesn’t seem to take notice of this.

Or perhaps he doesn’t care?

Story 1

A natural infiltrator, some would say of Sandrone. The Puppet of the Tsaritsa uses words and personas to get just about anybody and everybody to trust him by doing nothing more than changing his mask.

This skill makes him untrusted by the other Harbingers, even the one he grew up with. To them he’s void, expressionless, monotone, some would go as far to say Sandrone lacks anything that makes him a person. But it all lends to his ability to manipulate a person’s perception.

However, one may find that Sandrone isn’t one for combat, his claymore is a powerful dangerous weapon, but he prefers his words over combat. He never liked the battlefield and if he had had his way as a child, he would have never been on it.

Perception and perspectives are the names of Sandrone’s game. He walks the line between friend and foe. Enemy and ally. Hiding things from him is almost futile, while he warps the perceptions of others, his own is sharper than most. Anything and everything is futile once the puppet has his strings attached.

Story 2

There are rumours of what Sandrone looks like beneath the mask and who he just might be, none of his subordinates know, and very few of his fellow Harbingers know. Nobody and yet everybody knows who is under the mask.

Some say he keeps his identity hidden because he’s a political head from Inazuma. Others say he keeps his identity hidden because he’s a captain from Mondstadt. And one may even hear whispers of a well known scholar from Sumeru.

These are all merely rumours though. Sandrone is a nobody from nowhere. Or at least, as far as he’s aware. No matter what he may say though, it doesn’t stop the rumours. So instead he began to listen to them.

Sandrone will apply other people’s perceptions and theories to any number of his masks in order to infiltrate them. Whether it be a suspicious subordinate with a pension for talking politics. A pesky treasure hoarder with a fear of authority. Or even a very curious merchant.

Nobody is safe from being heard or seen by the Harbinger and having their own ideals twisted against them.

Story 3

Before Sandrone, there was Sulien. A quiet and quite shy boy from Mondstadt in a foreign nation to learn a secret form of alchemy that once brought upon the destruction of a nation. Alongside his brother and very few others, Sulien excelled in this alchemical art.

Studious was an excellent word to describe the young boy, and it would seem this particular trait of his hasn’t been diminished unlike everything else. As a child he wanted nothing more than to learn and to teach, a scholar like his father.

These dreams are all but naught for Sandrone now. The only true semblance of his childhood dream lines the walls of his home in the forms of multiple bookshelves. Books in every language one could think of. He knows it all, and he’s quite proud of it too.

Sulien sought knowledge as a child and when it was given to him he learned quickly just how dangerous it could be. Now Sandrone wields that knowledge like a weapon against the foes of the Tsaritsa. And while he may no longer remember the boy he grew up alongside, he may vaguely recall late nights spent listening to stories.

There was no doubt of his skill even then, though the extent of his alchemical abilities are long since lost, locked away and unused due to their terrible nature. His thirst for knowledge and something more is what remains.

Story 4

Before being a Harbinger though, Sulien was an alchemist working under Dottore. For two years Sulien withstood the Harbinger’s.. Eccentric.. Personality. However, his heart wasn’t set on using alchemy for elemental infusions of mutated people and machinery.

No far more interesting was the reports that began to show up on the desk of the Jester a year into Sulien working for the Fatui. All done anonymously of course, reports of rogue agents and enemy movements, things that nobody else had managed to get ahold of.

Pretty eyes and smooth words, it was a lowly alchemist who managed to gain the trust of even the most skittish of Fatui agents behind these reports. His skill did not go unnoticed once more and more reports began to show up. In fact it took seven months for the Jester to find out who was placing them there.

Nowadays there is very little Sandrone and Sulien have in common, the latter washed away to make way for a puppet known specifically for his skills of manipulation. Little is retained but the cunning charisma that makes him who he is.

Story 5

Sandrone has long forgotten his past or who he is, where he’s from, or what the almost orange sun shaped birthmark on his right hip means. He vaguely recalls an obsession with the stars, with fate, with destiny. But he does not remember where this obsession comes from.

No, he no longer remembers the once great clan he hails from. Previously known for their gifts granted by Celestia itself. The Ambros Clan has lost almost all their greatness, dwindled down to two members, one of which who no longer remembers.

Any favour given to Sandrone, whether or not it is willing, is only used to advance his Celestia given powers. He can recite all of the constellations and their stories, and point out things in the sky that others may not care to know.

Sandrone simply cannot remember how he knows or why he cares. That burden falls to the moon-touched twin he has long since wiped from the fragments of his memory. There are reflections in the cracks he can’t seem to make sense of.

Perhaps his memory has long since been taken from him, his autonomy wiped away in lieu of following orders and adapting to needs. Despite this nothing can take his status as Celestia’s sun kissed favourite away from him. Even if he no longer remembers what it means to be favoured or even what those favours may do.

Celestia has not forgotten the sacrifice of the Ambros Clan long past.

Fellow Harbingers

Sandrone is not one to often hold grudges, his very nature doesn’t allow him much room to have an opinion on very much. Still, though, his opinion of his fellow Harbingers is rather low. Whether that is due to their treatment or due to his own perception of them is rather unknown.

While he knew Tartaglia while they were both children, the others are still new players in this game that he hasn’t been playing all that long. From Dottore’s horrific experimentations, to Signora’s brutal way of doing things, to Scaramouche’s general attitude. Sandrone does his best to ignore the less savoury parts of his colleagues.

There are times where even the puppet slips though, and it is almost always in response to Signora’s meddling in his business. Overbearing and mocking in how she conducts business with him, he prefers to work exclusively alone as a result.

Head of the reconnaissance unit and one of their best undercover agents, Sandrone often has the ability to work alone or with very few of his own people. This has changed now that his work has extended beyond the borders of Snezhnaya, however.

More opportunities for his colleagues to annoy him and thus more opportunities for them to get in his way. A solitary man and a group of people who all seek their own form of control don’t mix well. And while few of the other Harbingers make their disdain known, few also work behind the scenes to watch him fail.

Sandrone is a man of few failures nonetheless, an irritating fact to most.

Delusion

If there was one thing that somebody could find most common between the Ambros twins, it was their ability to both be cunning. The moment Sulien was conscripted into the Fatui after school, he began devising a plan to escape back to Mondstadt. It took two years of working under Dottore as an alchemist focusing on elemental infusion before he was given a leg up.

Backing the Harbinger, Pierro, into a corner, Sulien was able to secure a particularly lucrative promotion, one he deemed necessary to escape the harsh tundra that is Snezhnaya. Everything was going directly according to plan. Nothing could stop him. Or at least, so he thought. This was until the Tsaritsa caught wind of his plans to leave.

Under the guise of retrieving his new orders and a delusion, Sulien was captured and thrown into a cell for what would perhaps be the worst month of his life. Broken down piece by piece until he could no longer stand to remember. Sulien Ambros was completely washed away and replaced by the perfect marionette, Sandrone.

There was no ceremony nor prideful moment. Nothing more than a gift box with a set of black and green gloves within, the left one sporting a Dendro Delusion. Untrusted by his colleagues and further looked at as merely machine, Sandrone doesn’t particularly remember much, let alone why. Even his mask is a vicious mockery of the cracks his own mind holds.

#Sandrone #Genshin Impact oc #Stories 2

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gmfgravitymayfall · 3 years

Text

Magic

I’ve been thinking a lot about magic in this AU, and I think I have a good ground base. I’ve always wanted magic to be tied to Limbo in some way, and I’m pretty sure I got it: Magic is tied to verious magically ley lines connected to extra-dimensional planes. These ley lines crisscross the globe allowing those with enough skill and knowledge of these energies to manipulate them to there whims.

Many of the other realms the ley lines are connected to have been discovered through out human history. To the Fey Lands of Celtic folklore, Yomi of Shinto tradition, to the Christian concepts of Heaven and Hell. The various “Other Worlds” that the Ley Lines are connected to are often times misconstrued by the few humans who have ventured to them, and just as often the same realm will have different names in other cultures. For example: It is suspected, but as of yet unconfirmed, that Hell, Yomi, Mictlan of Aztec myth, and Helheim of Norse myth may be connected in some way; and in fact may be the same place. Similarly, Heaven, the Summerland of Wiccan beliefs, and Valhalla are believed to have some connection as well.

There are certain places in the world where the Ley lines intersect, these areas can sometimes create Hotspots of supernatural activity. Making traveling to, or communicating with these other worlds considerably easier. These intersections tend to attract witches, occultists, and other researchers of the paranormal. Sometimes with entire Witch Towns being set up at these locations. Cities and town that have knowingly or unknowingly been built on hotspots are Gravity Falls, Limbo City, the Island city of Fortuna, and Miami, Florida.

Witches are normal human being that have simply studied and adapted they’re bodies and minds enough that they can wield these dimensional energies to suit their needs. It usually takes years for a young witch to learn how to cast magic, and like many other skills, the older you are the harder it usually is to learn. However, there are often times people more adept at using magic than others. Either because they were born directly on a ley line, in one of the intersectional hotspots, or they have some kind of supernatural lineage. (Being born on a hotspot may also resort in the child developing psychic abilities of some kind)

Performing different kinds of magic means pulling energies from different locations the ley lines are connected to. And while it is not uncommon for witches to perform different types of magic in their day to day life, most witches will develop a specialty in a specific field of magic. (Not unlike the Coven system from The Owl House, but there’s a shit ton more magical disciplines)

Every witch character in this story effectively has the same specialty they had in the original show (With the obvious exception of Wendy) Luz tried to do the Universalist thing, but it was extremely taxing on her so she scaled back to specializing in Light Magic. Still an extremely diverse field, with branches in illusion, Healing, and Oracle magic. She is also clearly adept at combat magic; using various light based spells in offensive and defensive ways.

Amity is especially skilled at creating Magical Constructs. Basically the Abominations from the show, but they can be made from any material; more like traditional Golems. She can make Constructs out of stone, mud/clay, glass, she can even pull and Elsa and make Snow Golems that will follow her orders perfectly. She could create multiple constructs at once and even take control of other people’s Golems by overpowering the other caster’s will over it.

Willow, of course, specializes in researching and cultivating magical plants. She is also able to commune with nature spirits to perform her spells. Willows can use her magic to accelerate the growth of plant life, or hinder the affects a plant based toxin has on the human body. She had used her knowledge of plants and magical skills to become a promising young doctor.

Gus, while a general research, is a gifted illusionist. During his research, Gus usually utilizes his illusions to create doppelgangers of himself to help out around his lab, or to keep people distracted while he takes naps in his office (Somehow he still hasn’t been caught) If he wanted to, whoever, Gus could create a realistic illusion the size of a school gymnasium that could fool all but the most skilled Illusionists.

While most witches could perform similar feats, they would require lengthy incantations, a lot of concentration, and a witches staff to do. While a speciallist can perform a complex spell with just a thought. Amity, for example, could create six to seven Sand Golems by simply sticking her hand into a beach; while it would take Willow hours just to make three.

It is possible for a witch to become a Universalist (A witch who could use just about any form of magic with a snap of the fingers) but it requires decades of dedicated study and hard work. Wendy, Eda, and Lilth all managed to become Universalists, with Eda even claiming she’s the most powerful witch In Fortuna. And while Wendy didn’t start her training until she was in her twenties, she is still considered one of the most skilled witches known. Even Eda considers her a peer.

Although, Wendy is somewhat cheating. The golden bracelet she wears absorbs ambient magical energies which she can use however she wants. And considering Limbo City still has demon running all over the place, there’s plenty of magic she can use. Wendy’s knowledge of of hidden lore and lost artifacts is unparalleled, however. It’s how she got the bracelet in the first place.

#Magic #witches #The Owl house #Gravity Falls #Luz Noceda #Amity Blight #Willow Park #Gus Porter #Eda Clawthorne #Lilith Clawthorne #Wendy Corduroy #worldbuilding

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yue-muffin · 3 years

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wooohooo!! translation dump as promised. I translated this so fast this afternoon, not much thought was put into it beyond “I think this is 90% correct” lol. I did get a few interesting observations about translation and learned a few words and phrases, so I annotated it because why not. it’s already messy.

also, because i can’t bring myself to cry over the original story, i’m not really sure of the whole timeline, but there are scenes that seem pretty common across multiple adaptations so i’m taking a wild guess and assuming a similar Thing happened in the original. that being said, there’s at least one other adaptation where shino is being bullied because of his/her father being a deserter and she/him crossdressing.

I once read some of the jpn wikipedia page, and the part I read up to gave the reason shino (who’s male in the original) crossdressed as a child. and has a name you’ll typically see on girls. supposedly, his parents had a hard time having a child. when they finally had shino, his mother wished to follow a tradition where you raise a child (or maybe just male children? idk the past was sexist) as the opposite gender until their coming of age ceremony so they would grow up strong.

so, back to the game...? haha well the basic structure of the first scene is familiar but you have no idea how thrown off i am that hamaji is a dude. shino as a girl, that’s fine. but hamaji as a dude??? it should be an...interesting change to the story.

Anyways. Here we go, super bad translation ahead.

里見八犬伝：八珠之記 | Legend of the Eight Dogs of Satomi: Records of the Eight Beads

初めから | New Game 画廊 | Gallery

続きから | Continue シーン回想 | Recollections

設定一覧 | Options 用語集 | Glossary

> New Game

「私の名前は？」苗字は「犬塚」固定です。名前は各7文字までです

“What’s my name?” The surname “Inuzuka” is fixed. The first name can be up to 7 characters.

naturally, i chose the default name: shino

主人公は「犬塚信乃」です。よろしいですか？

The main character will be “Inuzuka Shino”. Is this correct?

はい | Yes いいえ | No

「署名完了」「オプションを聞きたいときは、STARTボタン。閉じたいときは、Xぼトンに、ね？」

“Signature complete.” “If you want to listen to options, press the START button. If you want to close the options, press the X button, ok?”

村の若者「くっそ、男女（おとこおんな）のくせに…」

Village Youth “Damn you, you man-woman…”

this vn is voiced! all except shino, which sort of infuriates me. but it is what it is. anyways this is super helpful. 男女 is a poor example bc it’s obvious this is being used as an insult, and in the case of an insult おとこおんな is used. but the same characters can also be said だんじょ, which gives it a general meaning of “men and women” with no derogatory connotation. so, voiced just helps overall when you’re not fluent in the language.

「だから、何？そっちこそ、男のくせに負け惜しみ言おうっていうのか」「勝負を仕掛けてきたのはそっちだろう」

“And, so what? I was just about to say the same thing. For a man, you’re such a sore loser. You’re the one who picked a fight with me.”

this is shino, who doesn’t get a name tag or voiced lines. sad. she speaks super informally lol. though, they all do, even hamaji who appears later.

村の若者「……」

Village Youth “...”

「それで負けたからってその言い草はないだろう。 …自分こそ、男らしくないんじゃないのか」

“You lost, so there should be no excuses, don’t you think? …Not very manly of you, huh.”

村の若者「何だと…っ」

Village Youth “What did you just say…!”

「私は間違ったことは言っていないはずだ。負け惜しみで、悪口を言う暇はあったら、刀の鍛錬をしたらどうだ」「悔しかったら、かかって来い！この犬塚信乃が相手になる！」

“I didn’t say anything wrong. If you have the time to badmouth people like a sore loser, why don’t you focus on sword training. If you’re pissed off, then come at me! I, Inuzuka Shino, will be your opponent!”

刀だけは自信があった。ちゃんばら程度の腕で、負けるわけもない。 The only thing I had confidence in was the sword. With my skill in sword fighting, I wouldn’t lose.

村の若者「くそ…お前なんか卑怯者の娘のくせに。偉そうにしてんじゃねえよ！」

Village Youth “Damn you, you’re just the daughter of a coward. Don’t think so highly of yourself!”

村の若者「そうだ、そうだ…っ。おまえは結城合戦から逃げた卑怯者の娘だろう！」

Village Youth “That’s right, that’s right. You’re the daughter of a coward who fled from the Siege of Yuuki!”

「……！」（卑怯、だと…？) 自分のことならまだいい。だが、父上や母上のことを言われるとなると我慢ならない。「私のことならいいけど、父上の悪口を言うのは許せない！」

(A coward, they said…?) I didn’t care if they insulted me. But, when it came to things said about my mother and father, I couldn’t hold back. “I don’t care what you say about me, but I’ll never forgive anyone who insults my father!”

村の若者「戦が怖くて逃げ出したおまえの親父は卑怯だ。蟇六様はそうおっしゃっていた、間違いねえぞ」

Village Youth “Your father is a coward who ran from battle in fear. Hikiroku-sama said that, so there’s no mistaking it.”

do not have enough brain power to figure out what 様 should be in this case. Hikiroku is the village chieftan/head.

「……っ」私が刀の代わりの木の棒を振りかぶり……。勢いよく振り下ろそうとした瞬間だった。 I brandished a tree branch in place of a sword. The moment I swung it down with force...

？？？「はい、そこまで」

??? “Alright, that’s quite enough.”

涼やかな声とともに現れたのは、見慣れた姿。それを見て、先刻まで威勢の良かった彼らは黙った。

A clear, refreshing voice appeared along with a familiar figure. I looked over at the two who were previously so high-spirited and now fell silent.

村の若者「浜路…」

Village Youth “Hamaji…”

浜路「ちゃんばらもいいけど、ほどほどにしないとね。それに、君たちも女の子に寄ってたかってっていうのは感心しない」

Hamaji “Sword fighting is good at all, but it should be done in moderation, right? Not to mention, ganging up on a girl isn’t exactly admirable of you two.”

at some point, i kind of had a re-realization that direct translation just is so subpar. like, there’s so much nuance that is conveyed in a phrase but if you were to translate it literally, it would lack that impact in english. there’s no choice but to elaborate a bit in english. that’s more important than making sure there’s a one-to-one match up.

it took me so. damn. long. to unlearn my habit of ‘as close to literal as possible. no embellishments. no elaboration.’ to be entirely fair, i didn’t realize until recently just how much an official translated text can differ from the original (see: haruki murakami’s novels. i was shocked to learn just how different some parts were.)

浜路は受け止めた木の棒を、優しく私に押し返す。 Hamaji gently forced me back with the tree branch he’d stopped earlier.

浜路「さあ、今日はおしまいだよ。俺と彼女は用がある、さっさと帰りなよ」「それでも帰りたくないって言うのなら…。俺にも考えがあるけど…？」

Hamaji “Now, that’s all for today. She and I have some business to take care of, so you hurry back home.” “But if you say you don’t want to go back… I can think of something else…?”

浜路のニッコリとした笑顔には、誰でも敵わない。ものを言わずとも、迫力がある。

No one could rival Hamaji’s sweetly smiling face. It had such intensity, even without him saying anything.

村の若者「い、行こうぜ…」

Village Youth “L, Let’s go…”

村の若者「あ、ああ…」

Village Youth “Y, Yeah…”

浜路「…さてと、信乃？喧嘩はするなって、俺、言っていなかったかな？」

Hamaji “…Now then, Shino?” What have I said about not getting into fights?”

「喧嘩っていうか、刀の鍛錬の一環で…」（うう、怖いってば…)

“Fights are part of sword training…” (Uwah, how scary…)

浜路「刀の鍛錬？男装をしているとはいえ、女の子の君が？」

Hamaji “Sword training? You do dress as a man, but as a girl, you…?”

i really hate it when sentences trail off or are cut off haha. i mean, i get the impression and i know what it means in my head. but without the rest of the sentence i sometimes get a little confused about how to translate it.

i didn’t know how to word that last sentence. i don’t think hamaji meant it in a bad way, he was just surprised since just because she dresses as a man all the time, doesn’t mean she’d like activities that are more male-oriented. but idk. this hamaji is kind of hard to read.

「…すみませんでした」（だって、刀の鍛錬は趣味だし…）

“…Sorry.” (I mean, I like sword training…)

interestingly, shino got super formal here. so maybe she did feel as if she was being criticized for liking something traditionally for men.

だが浜路は怒らせると、恐ろしい。微笑見ながら罵声を浴びせてきかねない。

But, angering Hamaji was a scary thing. He would yell at you while smiling.

（まあ、私の勝��な憶測だけど…。笑いながら怒る印象はあるけど、実際にやられたことはないし…）長い付き合いだが、甘やかされた経験しかない。浜路はいつも笑顔だが、言うことは的確だ。敵に回したら恐ろしいことになるとは常々思っている。

(Well, that’s just my own guess though… He seems like the type to smile while angry, but the reality is, it’s never really happened…) We knew each other for a long time, but he had only ever treated me indulgently. Hamaji was always smiling, but what he said was always exactly how he felt. I always thought it would be scary to become his enemy.

hamaji does have a “smiling” voice. it’s very pleasant and calm, even when he’s telling you off. she does imply that his appearance doesn’t match what he feels, but his words are always "on point” (的確).

ALSO I HAD NO CLUE 実際 was actually JISSAI. well, I read the JI- part and looked it up, and...well 実際 is jissai. i’ve know this word for so long but i’ve never seen it written in kanji before lol.

#the muffin's translating woes

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streets-in-paradise · 4 years

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Fictional Sibling relationships i live for

I had been thinking about this topic lately and decided i would like to make a post about it because it is a very fun and interesting one for me. I had mentioned a few times here that in terms of fandom involvement i am more invested in family and frienships than in shippings, particulary i have a fixation with strong sibling bonds or sibling like friendships. I think it must be because i have a strong bond with my younger sister, i identify with that and that’s why i tend to get more involved and interested in this sort of character interactions.

I will keep this just in movies, movie adaptations of books and tv shows because i don’t want it to be super long but still want to talk. In movie adaptations i will try to stay in movie’s territory as much as i can, if i add commentary on the book versions this would never end but i may slip a bit towards it because i can’t help it.

As always, i make the disclaimer over the images i will use here, they belong to the sites where i found them.

Sorry for my pathetic language skills in english.

Note: this got so long that i will probably make a second part for more characters i coulnd’t include

Boromir and Faramir in lotr

Lotr is full of great material for people who, like me, obsess over families. Frodo and Bilbo, Merry and Pippin, Elrond and Arwen, Theoden ,Eowyn and Eomer are other great examples of family relationships i’m interested on from here ( i pretty much love to overthink stuff about almost all the lotr family relationships). I choose to talk about this bros because they have a particular place in my heart. How many times we had seen the common trope of a royal or noble family where the father is a dick who gives all his love and attention to the older brother, neglects the little one causing him to grow up resentfull and ending up as a villian while dad’s favourite is the hero of the tale? Not this time, and it is so refreshing.

Boromir and Faramir choose each other over their father’s bullshit, you can see it in the lovely deleted scene the gif up here comes from. When Denethor shows up they are both annoyed, when he is mean to Faramir Boromir calls him out and tries so hard to make him show some appreciation for his youngest son. it is clear that, in this version, Boromir is more family to Faramir than his father ever was. I love how much they care for each other, how they pass beyond the differences. Boromir is a super amazing big bro, i love how he protects Faramir and is there for him instead of letting his father’s praise get in between. I could talk for hours about this two because i love them so much. I’m doing a hard effort in stopping myself from throwing a whole set of headcanons i have for them so i will stop now before i get too excited.

Fili and Kili in The Hobbit

Staying in Middle Earth for one more mention i had to talk about this two. Being fully honest, the movies broke my heart because they took the exact opposite way i would had wished for. When they were introduced In An Unexpected Journey this two adorable brothers were one of my favourite aspects of it because i loved their Merry and Pippin like dumb chaotic energy. One of my biggest complains with the Hobbit adaptation is to have shifted the narrative of the strongly family focused story arc of the Line of Durin. Kili’s romance with Tauriel shifted the focus and, in my particular perspective, i hated that because i was already super involved in the family story. Besides from the “I belong with my brother” iconic line we don’t see much more of Fili and Kili’s bond after the introduction of Tauriel. In fact, Fili loses a lot of his initial screentime in Desolation of Smaug and Battle of the Five Armies.

I love this two, the relationship with their uncle as it was introduced in the first film and i would had loved to see more of their family dinamic explored. One of my biggest complains, besides from the change of focus on their supposed ending, is that i’m convinced that they should had entered the mountain with the rest of the company. It is such an important moment they would probably waited for since they were children, is the legacy of their family. In short terms, i love them and i would had loved to keep seeing future developments of the Line of Durin story they had in AUJ.

Hector and Paris in Troy

This two represent the opposite case. The relationship they have in this movie is very different from the source material but i love the great development it has here. It is outstanding to see the importance the sibling bond has in a movie that is supposed to be about a war caused by a romantic passion.

The sons of King Priam are absolute opposites. Hector is the embodiment of a true hero, a Steve Rogers of ancient times. His strong caring nature and will to protect everyone reminds me of Boromir as well. Unlike Faramir,Paris is a freaking mess. He is the careless, adventurous and reckless little brother Hector ends up protecting every single time he gets into trouble. I had stated before that i think Paris is a selfish prick but i think that is a slight confussion of mine with the original. This Paris is more a reckless dumbass and, unlike Iliad Paris, his arc in the movie it’s a bit more simpathetic. In this version Helen is trapped in a loveless marriage to an old prick who treats her like trash (in the director’s cut Menelaus jokes about how he only cares for his wife for breeding purposes on a conversation with Hector). I can understand at some point that, if he trully fell in love with her, he felt horrible for letting her stay there as a prisoner of her husband. Going back to the my focus for this talk, i like that the movie had decided to make this two close brothers who actually care for each other despite being absolute opposites instead of two guys who barely know each other, are barely aware of being brothers and share only hatefull interactions.

Hector’s protectiveness over Paris warms my heart. He had threated him a few times ( director’s cut has the “ i will rip off your pretty face from your pretty skull” excharge. I love that scene), he gets furious at him for his foolishness, they argue but when the time comes he always chooses to protect him. Honestly, that’s such a big bro thing, i can’t help to feel identified. The weight that this relationship has in the development of the story is a surprising thing and it makes everything more tragic. Paris being the killer of Achilles has a more significant meaning because, now it’s not just the irony of the weakest character killing the strongest. Paris is aware that he owns the memory of his fallen brother so much, he wants revenge. Hector was there for him all his life, the least he can do for him is to kill his killer and avenge his death. Briseis begs him to stop but he can’t let himself do that, he owns it to Hector and that debt is bigger than anything.

I will not delay this any longer, the family relationships on this movie are my favourite aspect of it and i have a soft spot for the bond between the trojan princes. Don’t get surprised if i one of this days i end up making an entire separate post talking about the family dinamics displayed in the film (same goes for lotr but that would take me ages and i would have to make an entire series of posts if i wanted to discuss every lotr family relationship i would want to talk about).

Sam and Dean Winchester in Supernatural

If you reached this point you may had noticed that i have a big thing with family tragedies involving siblings. Supernatural is my favourite show because it combines lots of elements i love. To mention just a few: horror, mythology,classic rock and a strong family approach in its pretty tragic but outstanding plot.

Sam and Dean are one of my favourite duo of bros of all time. I don’t think i have a lot to say about them because their relationship has been analized lots of times by the very big fanbase of the show. My main difference with the common interpretation is that i don’t see the Winchester family in a similar way to the movie versions of the Steward of Gondor and his sons, which means i don’t think John has been the shittiest father ever despite his many mistakes. Unlike movie Denethor he tried hard and in the interactions we saw of him with his boys he actually cares for both of them.

This bros were the ones that made me realize in an actual concient way of my tendency to get too attached to families, story arcs regarding them and sibling love. I’m super attached to this story, i don’t know what the hell i’m going to do with my life once it ends.

I will end this post here. It is more than sure that there would be a part two because i have tons of more brothers,sisters and other family relationships to talk about.

Thanks to everyone who has read my very long ramble

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elk-ambrose-scott-writing · 3 years

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Top Five Favourite Classic Books

Genre: Adventure

Author: Jack London

When it was published: 1906

Plot in 20 words or less: Spicy good doggo lives rough life, wolves eat everything, and eventually someone manages to pet doggo.

“Normal For The Times” Factor: Racism, in text and in Jack London’s personal views (see the link at the bottom for the full post and explanation of what those messed up views are)

Why it’s awesome:

White Fang is one of the first classic books I sought out and read as a younger adult.

While the graphic animal death isn’t for everyone, I really enjoyed seeing everything from White Fang’s point of view, and I found him to be an interesting character to see the world of the Yukon through.

I was drawn in by the horror elements to the introduction, and the more realistic view of nature that other animal POV books I’d read (much love to the Warrior Cats series but they aren’t realistic AT ALL) didn’t have. It felt, to me, like an animal book written for those who wanted to learn about animals.

It was paced well, it was written well, and I really, really enjoyed the ending.

Genre: Tragedy

Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald

When it was published: 1925

Plot in 20 words or less: Friendly chap meets his cousin’s ex and dude’s got mad money and great people skills, both lead to his downfall

“Normal For The Times” Factor: Character expresses challenged racism, negative stereotypes about Jewish people (proof in full post)

Why it’s awesome:

The Great Gatsby feels like a fly stuck in amber; it cannot exist outside of the time period it’s in, and it’s one of the most fascinating times in history.

I was hooked from the first sentence.

I connected with Nick, though the character I was drawn to the most was, of course, Jay Gatsby. I adored him. I didn’t see what he saw in Daisy and I kind of wanted her to quietly leave the novel and never return, but I also see that Gatsby and Daisy were both flawed people.

It’s a well-written book with excellent characters, and it is a slice of history that deserves it’s timelessness.

Genre: Comedy, tragedy, mostly a social commentary

Author: Miguel de Cervantes

When it was published: 1605 (for the first part)

Plot in 20 words or less: A man from La Mancha has a midlife crisis and decides reality is overrated and becomes a “knight”

“Normal For The Times” Factor: Written in old Spanish, and translated from old Spanish, so some of the phrases are a bit dated. Pretty sure de Cervantes was not a racist or sexist dude, but he’s also been dead for like 300 years.

Why it’s awesome:

Don Quioxote is the second most translated book ever, after the freaking Bible, so you know it’s gotta be good.

It’s like the JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure of literature; once you read it, you see tributes and references to it EVERYWHERE.

While it is a tragedy and a portrayal of Spanish society at the time, it’s also freaking hilarious, which makes the tragedy hit all the harder.

I don’t know if I agree with scholars who say it’s the greatest work of literature, but it’s definitely one of the best.

If you haven’t read it I’d recommend trying it, but make sure you get a good translation because the book is originally in Spanish. If you don’t want to read this long book, see if you can find a recording of “The Man of La Mancha”, the musical play I mentioned. It’s also excellent!

Genre: Horror, Science Fiction (The first of it’s kind, the OG scifi novel)

Author: Mary Shelley

When it was published: 1818

Plot in 20 words or less: Man creates monster, decides to be a deadbeat parent, comes to regret it

“Normal For The Times” Factor: None, except for the way the novel is written which is different from how we use language now. Mary Shelley was fucking badass and had awesome parents.

Why it’s awesome:

Even before I’d read the book, I knew the basic gist of the story, and I knew some of the famous lines from the 1930’s motion picture.

When I read the book I fell in love. It’s much different from the movie, which I don’t understand, and so far there hasn’t been many mainstream movies that capture the greatness of this work.

Pop culture leaves a lot to be desired, including perpetuating the idea that the Creature is called Frankenstein. Ugh.

I could go on and on, but I will sum it up with this quote from Tumblr: knowledge is knowing that Frankenstein is not the monster. Wisdom is knowing that Frankenstein is the monster.

Back to the great book. And it is great. Not only is it the first science fiction novel, it is also an examination of science, of society, and of the consequences of abuses of both.

It is a classic because the themes of alienation and of science without morality is still so relevant today. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is an example of all the best parts of sci-fi, and if you haven’t read it, do so. Then join me in ranting about how the movies got most of it wrong.

Genre: Science Fiction

Author: H. G. Wells

When it was published: 1898

Plot in 20 words or less: The Martians are coming, it’s definitely a metaphor for something, cough on aliens to save the world

“Normal For The Times” Factor: H. G. Wells was an anti-Semitic eugenicist, so there’s that

Why it’s awesome:

This book is the quintessential science fiction novel, as famous as Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

It’s narrated by a nameless man living in London, and the whole book details the arrival of Martians, his perilous escape from them, and the world under the Martians and their eventual defeat via germs.

I personally found the narrative very tense, despite the old-timey language, and I enjoyed the suspense I was in despite knowing how the whole thing ended.

This one, like Frankenstein, doesn’t have a movie adaptation exactly like the book, as it keeps getting updated for the era the movie is in. Unlike Frankenstein, that doesn’t take away from the book. While the book is tense and well-written, the main character is just kind of there.

The whole book is used to illustrate why colonialism is really bad to England, which I personally enjoy because it’s hilarious how they didn’t get it, though Wells seemed to not really understand himself the depth of the way England tried to wipe out entire cultures. It was more than just diseases. CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for the uninitiated) recently started broadcasting the Australian adaptation of this story, and I’m looking forward to watching it. he novel isn’t for everyone, but it was a good introduction to scifi for tiny Elka, and is a good example of the genre.

Full Post Here: https://wordpress.com/post/elkascott.wordpress.com/1498

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