#he's my 2nd emotional support hero

[zozo-01]

its like that now infamous line about how “if your portrayal of batman wouldnt take the time to comfort a child its not batman” is absolutely true. this man did not see a traumatized child and take them in without hesitation to be considered cold. HES JUST ANTISOCIAL HES SOLELY FOCUSED BY HIS HEART. it takes so much courage to see the world out of the world and demand day in and day out that you can make it better. batman is just a bleeding heart who never learned to interact with people and it makes me sad let him be happy

EXACTLYYYYY!!!! YOU'RE TELLING ME THE MAN WHO TOOK IS SEVERAL HURT CHILDREN AND TRIED TO RAISE THEM AS HIS OWN ISN'T A BLEEDING HEART???? THAT HE'S A CRUEL MONSTER?????

batman's super power has always been looking evil into the eye and having the hope that good will prevail.

#god i love batsy #he's my 2nd emotional support hero #the first is (comic) supergirl #because angry women go brrrr #jaybird ♥ #zo answerin asks <3 #this is zo speaking

[ilovereadingandstuff]

BNHA 406 Review!! SPOILERS AHEAD

Love to see her again, resisting the pain and injures. And she really integrated the idea of Izuku as a hero...remembering him by his actual name, as it was the only thing left in this world...It's kind of endearing.

You're prettier every time I see you, Shiggy. That's not fair.

And this little guy over here is gorgeous every chapter too. But he's so haggard. There are probably so many emotions buttling up inside him...(I don't know how to interpret his panels anymore)

I really want to know what's up with this hole in his hand. Shiggy obteined it way back at PLF war, but I still don't understand where it came from. That's from AFO's quirk, right? With that hole is that he and AFO steals quirks from others?

Funny to see you trying to convince yourself of a lie. Try harder, Shigaraki.

That's the face of a maniac. A guy who's laughing at his own pain, a guy who's hitting on the pavement, flying in an insaly high speed...I love him.

Your face is so pretty Mitsuki. I hate you...but you're so pretty.

So it's canon?? IT'S CANON THAT AFO KILLED HIS OWN BROTHER!?! I'm not going to lie: I always supported the idea of 2nd user being the one who actually killed Yoichi...as a way of saving his life because AFO would take him capture again AND also as a way of not letting AFO win with the sweet achievement of getting rid of his own brother...but now that it's canon that AFO killed Yoichi...I like it. Love to know it... Some really good angst there. And now we can most likely say that AFO was crying because of that.

I like this part, right here.

AFO is a narcissistic who does not respect nor see other people besides him. So the simple idea of him actually recognizing someone as a person, like he does with Izuku, All Might or Tomura, is a big deal, but then...the idea of him recognizing someone as a threat...That's HUGE!! EXTRAORDINARY!! UNTHINKABLE!!

Wait, that's 2nd holder's name?? THAT'S 2ND HOLDER ACTUAL NAME??!! I've been...ages...wanting to know what is his true name...And...I accept it. If that's canon, I'm going to embrace it as it is, as the new information we got...But I don't like it. Sorry, but kUdO as his name??!! Could it not be another one?!? There were not other options??! I only like the fact that it starts with a K, similar to K-atsuki. (And how do we mix it with Yoichi's?? How is that even possible?? Kudoichi?? Yodo??).

I don't like that paraphrase of this sentence but the concept it's undertandable.

Good chapter. I was getting impatient, and also the idea of 'Kacchan Bakugo' was getting on my nerves. But now: I'm good.

#yoichi shigaraki #bnha manga spoilers #bnha 406 #katsuki bakugou #all for one #2nd user #midoriya izuku #mitsuki bakugou #shigaraki tomura #shigAFO #Kudo? #Kudoichi?? #lady nagant #bnha #mha #second one for all holder

[cleromancy]

still thinking about mia!

in particular i found the deliberate and thoughtful way ga01 approached the concept of a plucky teen sidekick refreshing... because sidekicks are a staple of the genre, right, and moreover most of us *like* them, so how do we justify the "good guys" *having* them when we're also writing stuff with way more realism than the old stuff?

and to be honest i don't really need that when im reading, i can suspend my disbelief. but you have to commit to the bit when you're the one writing it, you have to believe it. and a lonely place of dying... it did ok for what it was and im extremely fond of it, but i also think it was already walking away from like... the fact that batman got robin killed, yk. it was walking away from what that meant. and like i said thats fine. if they never brought robin back i never would have gotten into comics in the first place, yknow?

but i think the exploration of some of the thorny concepts around mia sidekicking in ga is great because like. this is *emphatically* not an omelas situation. green arrow definitively does not "need" a speedy and it is also emphatically not speedys job to provide a counterbalance or whatever.

ok this got long. putting in a cut here

and both dinah and roy absolutely tear into ollie about his decision to let mia sidekick with him--and i feel like ive read a fair few kid/teen sidekick stories which have the kid wind up in danger (or whatever) regardless of the adult trying to discourage them, and the adult at that point figures if theyre going to sneak out/disobey/whathaveyou its better to do it where the adult can keep an eye on them. and there are times when this is presented like the adult literally cannot convince the child not to do those things, which. yknow. we understand how fiction works so we also know if the writer says the kiddo wont listen to any reason, that the adult just doesn't have the power over them to stop them, then thats what happened... but the implications about the power dynamic and the adults ability to set reasonable boundaries dont paint a *great* picture.

but GA doesn't do that... i would argue mia was being set up to be the 2nd speedy all the way back to dinah and roys conversation in that plane where they just learned ollie might be alive and cant stop bitching about him lol. and iirc this is within the first 6 issues. and dinah and roy are both throwing around unfair accusations at the time, but roy says smth to the effect of what do you want to bet he's already training her to replace me. and i don't think he really believed that but it obviously planted the idea in readers heads if it wasnt there already! but yknow after that, mia doesn't debut as speedy until ga 46, or thereabouts im not looking it up, several years later both IRL and in-universe (or well in-universe its almost 2 years. iirc.).

(i can't even imagine how it must have felt if youd been following that series the whole time *finally* seeing that enter speedy cover. id have been screaming my damn head off.)

anyway. i already talked about comparing and contrasting the man mia killed during her test run vs the jason and felipe situation but i also wanted to say that i think it was great that the whole conversation pretty much *opens* with that. like forget physical danger the kid might be in--what about the psychological toll? what about the choices hes putting her in the position to make?

despite ollie very much being the protagonist of the series and mia very much being a supporting character, the focus of the emotional impact is on her, and the focus of the *responsibility* is on him. (now compare and contrast batman with robin...... listen, i absolutely do not believe it wasn't set up as a deliberate contrast, ok.)

and you would naturally think that would mean she doesn't... get to be speedy. she doesn't get to be a hero. she doesn't get another chance. but then she gets her HIV+ diagnosis, and the focus for mias character turns specifically to *living* with HIV.

and i think that's what makes it clear, to me at least, that the whole... fighting crime thing is supposed to be a metaphor. at least on some level. its a power fantasy, its a metaphor, its about the *good guys winning.* heroes being heroes. and i think a lot of the discussions around representation have gotten so overblown for what they are, but--unironically--sometimes its really meaningful and important just to see yourself. and to believe that no matter what youve lived through, you can be good, you can be wanted, you can make a difference.

which is why mia gives her presentation in the auditorium about her diagnosis, and i feel like this was also a deliberate callback to roy "only you can prevent forest fires" harper and his anti-drug PSA. because roy decided, after snowbirds, he was going to go public about his addiction because he wanted to help other people going through the same thing he did, or prevent other people from going through it yk. and there are two incidents i can think of where, years down the line, he feels some regret over it because now hes just known as the heroin guy, the guy who used to do drugs. but i also don't think he would ever have chosen to do anything else. both speedys are actively choosing to bear that stigma openly in the hopes of reducing it, you know?

speaking of which! i thought it was a *fantastic* - and no doubt deliberate - contrast to how roys drug use was treated, to have mia only talk about it *once* (this is in the HIV+ issue. 45ish?) that she regularly did meth when she was on the streets, and its explicitly clear she did it to survive. and it never comes up again. there's no condemnation, there's no literal war on drugs propaganda here. (the first roy comic i ever read was the mini ntt one in the mandatory fucking D.A.R.E program in middle school, btw.) it was a fact of her life because her life was *fucking dangerous,* and meth helped keep her alive until she managed to find her way out of it!

so this is another concept mia becoming speedy explores--the fact that the people who should have kept her safe as a child did the opposite. mia has never been safe her entire life until moving in with ollie. and the people who hurt her left permanent damage in a physical way in the form of HIV. so now ga is exploring like... what it means to be safe. what it means to be mortal. what exactly is a childhood. and it doesn't dig *too* too deeply into these because its not that kind of comic book, its the kind of comic book where the good guys shoot glue arrows at bad guys and stick them to the floor. but it approaches it and sits you down with those questions and i mean, for me at least, even putting aside exactly how hype i was for mia to take on the mantle, it felt *right* that ollie would say yes.

and the next issue i think or the one after that (its the teen titans one! tim is there later). is the one where roy reams ollie out for this, they talk about it, roy lampshades the different... contexts of having a speedy. like its not like how it used to be. the bad guys are worse, its not safe enough for a kid anymore. and this is where ollie relays mias diagnosis (<- she had already decided to go public about it as i said before, so ollies not sharing information that isnt his to share here). and roys like that could have been me. its a good issue! i like what it does with what its doing.

and then some 20 issues later, once mia is reasonably well established as a superhero and a titan....... Enter Jason.

(🥰)

i have so much to say about this arc i love it so much. let me preface by saying none of this is a condemnation of jason, hes pretty much my favorite fictional character of all time. im not interested in wagging my finger at the guy styling himself as a supervillain at the time and going Naughty Jason! Thats Not How We Make Friends!, yk. im also not endorsing it, bla bla bla, whatever, this really aint about him right now. right now we're just talking about what he does for the story, the questions he poses about mia and sidekicks and shit.

god, where to fucking start.

i guess ill start with jasons "were not so different you and i" villain speech. and yknow at least on the surface level theres like. a certain join-me-be-my-robin element to it or like he's encouraging her to cross the line or whatever. but honestly, jason was less there because jason todd the fictional character wanted to be there, and more because winick as the writer thought it continued to explore the concept in an interesting way.

because we've talked about green arrows responsibility vis a vis letting her be a sidekick bc of the psychological impact of it, about the choices she's put in a position to make, about HIV and what it means to be a hero and safety. all of those things. and jason shows up to *demonstrate* that--

--it really is not fucking safe to do what they do.

and Jason is, i think, at his most terrifying here, and thats on purpose. it is *visceral*. it is so, so incredibly well done. and it throws ALL those questions of safety and responsibility and mortality and heroism and do-gooding into a new light because you really feel like, oh my god, her life is in danger.

tbh i think some of the reader anger at jason for this arc--and titans tower, just to a lesser degree because it wasnt NEARLY as good lol--is the fact that he *is* challenging us, the readers, to think about our beloved kid/teen sidekick trope. he brings back the element of realism that GA was drawing away from somewhat, the element of *real consequences.* and as a reader it is so much easier to just be mad at jason because well hes the villain of the story...... and ignore the fact that hes demonstrating--both by being the dead robin cautionary tale, and by being ~red hood, the scourge of the underworld~ lol--that if this is not something she's prepared to face, a possibility she's prepared for, then she shouldn't be wearing that uniform.

and that the person she relies on to protect her can't always be there to do it.

and, mini tangent, there's absolutely no way jason was trying to kill her here. he terrified her, he kicked her ass, but he didn't do any permanent damage and he didnt "lock her in" (<- real reading i saw once 🙄 try reading it again with your eyes next time genius) he stabbed his knife into her cape. if jason were being written by anyone else i would entertain the idea but it was winick, who knows exactly how smart and thorough jason is supposed to be *because he was the one who made him that way.* there's no doubt in my mind that jason was perched somewhere watcging to make sure she got out before the place went kablooey but you know what, in fairness, thats not on the page. BUT, like. the reason mia *thinks* jason was going to kill her--before she realizes he could have if hed wanted to, and purposely let her go--was because he wanted her to think that. he wanted to scare her and he wanted to warn her and he wanted to make her think.

really really love this arc.

anyway. i mentioned in my other post that winick tweaked mias backstory so she was also homeless like jason, which i sort of have mixed feelings about. in smiths version, her dad trafficks her and later she winds up as one of the "girlfriends" (euphemism for victims) of his associates. and that was ... not really the picture of child trafficking you usually see in comics, the more common real-life scenario rather than the sensationalized version of quote-unquote child prostitutes on street corners. but at the same time i think winick kept the most important part (the familial trafficking) and i also think he changed it in order to explore all the aforementioned topics in an interesting way. it doesn't feel like it was just an arbitrary change, or to make it more exciting or whatever. like he was exploring stuff with it, it was purposeful.

for example--going back to mia and meth. the more you read of winick the more you notice that intravenous drugs and illnesses associated with them (so including but not limited to HIV/AIDS) are something of a... recurring... motif, i guess? they're something he regularly comes back to explore. and thats interesting in the context of mia for a lot of reasons but well. when mia defensively says to ollie that she used meth, the reason she gives is they used it to stay awake on the streets. and i do think winick deliberately--and *effectively*--explored the pre-existing (and historical) parallels btwn batman and green arrow in a bunch of other ways, so i don't think im off base in saying the fact that *robin* 2.0 famously lived on the streets *probably* had something to do with the backstory tweak for speedy 2.0, particularly again bc of jasons "we're the same" villain speech. but also, like i said, she mostly used to stay awake(/alive), which is something of a harder sell if she hadn't been homeless, and also like i said, winick likes exploring drugs and wanted to write a hero living with HIV.

before i get into the comparisons with jason and mia, i also want to say that i think jason--who im constantly affectionately calling a revenant--is such an effective contrast for mia because the emphasis for mia! was always on living. it was always on healing. despite having a *distinctly* non-everykid origin story, mia absolutely embodies something i think was very characteristic of her generation of teen titans, or at the very least early days cassie and tim, which was this simultaneous like... they're normal kids, they're *relatable,* but they're also superheroic in determination, and resourcefulness, and they want this, and they know they can do it, so they will. and thats what its all about, man.

...actually i just ran out of steam, ill write out some thoughts on jason telling mia theyre the same later lol sorry. im toired!!!!

anyway mia is soooo good.

#dc #text #many thoughts head empty #meta #mia #mia text

[sokai-asuki]

About Blank Eclipse and How all of it happen:

Part 1 | Part 2?

To start with, Blank Eclipse is about a group of different members from different world. The goal behind Blank Eclipse is to stop the corruption and the interruption of the story. An unknown virus have been running around the world, choose one host or vessel to interrupt the storyline of some certain world.

There's a different types of virus they need to hunt, the virus that interrupt he storyline, the virus possessed one of the main/supporting/background cast, and the virus that ultimately kill the forgotten people.

Blank Eclipse's sole goal is to stop the virus from spreading more and more from their world. But in the end, they will be depicted as a villain in their world.

The Blank Eclipse:

(CREATOR'S NOTE: The name behind Blank Eclipse is the fact that I choose my favorite characters, and the fact I made this, I need to see what all of them have in common. Until I found the name for it, "Blank" means for an empty canvas painting, we can also choose that word for empty vessel. No emotions, no goal, no meaning. That's how I describe some certain characters.

"Eclipse" is a different meaning.

For me, "Eclipse" is something you have to get through but not knowing something behind them, the shadow of that something will come back as another them. To cut it short, the Blank Eclipse have divided to three categories. I will explain later.)

The founder and leader of Blank Eclipse is one of my character from the story I've made. Inkuro Afuru. If some of you have checked my original character/OC tag, you will find her or Inkuro Afuru tag.

Anyway, Afuru has found out about the multiverse realm of different world. That we can say those realm are the other show. She found it out and explore around it but never interact with the people of it. Until, she found one world that the storyline of it suddenly been interrupt and the world have been completely wipe out by the virus.

Knowing this, she try to find the virus and destroy it at all cost but, she's the only one and she can't fight the virus all alone, she need to think how strong it is and how many of it that have been passing around the realm...

She makes her point by visiting each realm to requite one person to help her and thus, the Blank Eclipse have been form.

The Blank Eclipse have divided to 3 different groups, different members and different role.

We got 3 group, 6 members for each of them, and different roles for each.

The Representative of Blank Eclipse in 3 different group; Akabane Karma from Assassination Classroom, Onodera Kyouya from Talentless Nana, and Hansel and Gretel from Dead Don't Tell Tale

The Weapon of Blank Eclipse in 3 different group; Tsugumi Seishirou from Nisekoi, Clay Moorington from Lego Nexo Knights, and Mikhail from Vanitas No Carte

The Undertaker of Blank Eclipse in 3 different group; Tomioka Giyuu from Kimetsu No Yaiba, Leonardo from Rise of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, and Ace from Death On The Next Chapter

The Exterminator of Blank Eclipse in 3 different group; Sleepy Ash from Servamp, M-21 from Noblesse, and Ichinose Guren from Seraph of the End

The Strategist of Blank Eclipse in 3 different group; Todoroki Shoto from Boku No Hero Academia, Khun Aguero Agnis from Tower of God, and Dazai Osamu from Bungou Stray Dogs

And lastly, the leader of Blank Eclipse in 3 different group; Inkuro Afuru from Heart of Cursed, Gokudera Hayato from Katekyo Hitman Reborn, and Sherlock Holmes from Yuukoku No Moriarty

Those 3 groups of Blank Eclipse are being categorize with the 1st Blank Eclipse call "Puppeteer", 2nd Blank Eclipse call "Puppet, and 3rd Blank Eclipse call "Backstage".

Why this specific characters and anime/story/cartoon you may ask? Well, first one, I am bored. Second, I need entertainment. Third, I want to write what they thought and understand the situation they are in.

I'll try to write my favourite characters, just like them in canon, but even I, myself, have no skill on writing nor speak English very well. I'll try to write them the way I've seen them in the story and try to see some flaws in them. Try to find what makes them the way they are and try to see them in what other people think. Such moral grey character, they were being loved and yet they've receive more hates than love.

I want to try, in their world, everyone understand them, however the second they are on different view, no one is on their side except themselves...

That's why I want to try write them together, get understand each other in different circumstances and yet so similar. To me, they are everything to me with how I do understand their flaws and try to find behind their said flaws. Not everyone is perfect, not everyone has to be perfect, there are limits of that perfect of theirs.

So, I think, this is the only way I can express and let my thought float free with how I think this is they are.

#Blank Eclipse #this will be the tag everytime I talk about them #can't wait to get bash about this #inkuro afuru #todoroki shoto #sleepy ash #servamp kuro #tomioka giyuu #tsugumi seishirou #akabane karma #gokudera hayato #noblesse m 21 #khun aguero agnis #rottmnt leo #clay moorington #onodera kyouya #sherlock holmes #dazai osamu #ichinose guren #ace #dotc ace #vnc misha #vnc mikhail #ddtt hansel #ddtt gretel

[theletterunread]

Books in 2022

Uncharacteristically for a midterm year, 2022 sucked. 2006, 2010, and 2014 hosted some of my happiest experiences, and even their worst parts were emotionally rich or educational. 2022 was mostly stagnant, interrupted only by misfortune: illnesses and deaths, harassment, personal and professional setbacks that started on January 2nd and continued through December 29th.

There were nice moments too – everyone should go to at least one Weird Al concert – but they’re obscured in my memory by the relentless slaps to the face. In that same way, when I look over the list of books I read in 2022, I recognize a lot of good titles, yet the overall vibe is one of disappointment. But there’s an unresolved question of cause and effect at hand: did a bad reading list contribute to the mediocrity of the year, or did my existing bad mood prevent me from enjoying these books? Is it the tale or the teller?

Fifth Business, Robertson Davies (Jan. 2-5)

The first volume of the “Deptford Trilogy.” Dunstan Ramsay, a retiring history professor, reviews his own life. The title comes from the narrator’s sense of himself as a supporting actor (neither “Hero, nor Heroine, Confidant nor Villain”) in the more riveting lives of others. Maybe you can already understand my interest in this character. The novel is sophisticated and perceptive about human behavior, and at the end, it reveals itself to have been beautifully plotted too. A thoughtless act by a nasty kid in Ramsay’s neighborhood turns out to have reverberated through generations, and it leads to a dramatic and frightening ending. Frightening because the events are so convincingly presented that you can well imagine an unwelcome conclusion like that rearing up in your own life.

Abandoned Cars, Tim Lane (Jan. 6-10)

Pulpy short stories drawn in a highly detailed, old-fashioned style. The drawings carry it. The writing isn’t bad, but it’s a lot of those, “lonely men, open roads, cigarettes, greasy spoons, crooners on the jukebox” kind of stories. A midcentury nostalgia that was picked clean a long time ago.

A Complicated Kindness, Miriam Toews (Jan. 9-16)

A teenaged Mennonite in Manitoba dreams of a more exciting life in New York City. I can sympathize with the heroine’s dreams, and I did like learning about Mennonite life, a world I know nothing about and the author knows intimately. But the details were ultimately so foreign to me that there was a limit to how much I could get into the novel. It’s hard to know how perceptive an observation is when you have no idea what’s being perceived. Still, people whose tastes I trust (my dad; the cartoonist Tim Kreider) admire Toews, so let’s call this my failure.

Stone Fruit, Lee Lai (Jan. 11-13)

At the start of the book, Ray and Bron are happy aunts to a six-year-old niece. But soon, their relationship ends, and they’re sunk into an unhappiness that’s not alleviated by the families they turn to. It’s all pretty bleak, but not unfairly so. The emotions the characters endure are realistic and earned, so while you might feel depressed at the end, you won’t feel manipulated. Plus, there are some great illustrations, particularly of the friendly monsters that the niece imagines while playing with her aunts.

The Manticore, Robertson Davies (Jan. 17-25)

The second part of the “Deptford Trilogy,” following David Staunton, the son of the rotten kid from the first book, as he undergoes Jungian analysis, a subject I know little about. But the little bit that I understand (or misunderstand), I like. It’s much more internal than Fifth Business, the scope is narrower, and the stakes are lower, but it’s just as intelligent and well-written.

A Map of Betrayal, Ha Jin (Jan. 26 - Feb. 1)

The main story is of Gary Shang, a double agent working for the CIA and passing information back to China while dealing with his American family and his conflicting loyalties. The framing story is of Gary’s daughter learning of her father’s past and reckoning with it. As usual, Jin’s insight into his characters’ emotional lives is terrific and effortlessly rendered. The details of this particular plot, however, are not quite so successful. Some of the set-up is unconvincing, and there are plot turns that feel sketchy. Not so much that you’ll have to put the book down, but don’t go in expecting another Waiting.

Tintin: The Complete Companion, Michael Farr (Feb. 2-21)

The second book I read to supplement 2021’s reread of the entire Tintin series. This one deals with the factual background for the stories and the artistic process by which Hergé wrote and drew each volume – as opposed to The Metamorphoses of Tintin, which I read two months earlier, and which took a more academic view. This book is beautiful to look at, featuring details of the series’ artwork and clippings from Hergé’s archives, but neither this nor Metamorphoses really deepens the pleasure of reading the actual books. Maybe what I’m looking for is a third path: a book that doesn’t take a technical or academic approach to the series, but rather an aesthetic and emotional approach. Maybe I should stop whining and write that book myself.

World of Wonders, Robertson Davies (Feb. 3-8)

The last book in the “Deptford Trilogy.” More like Fifth Business than The Manticore, this one again covers most of a lifetime – this time, of the magician Magnus Eisengrim, who is linked, from birth, to Dunstan Ramsey and David Staunton. This one ties up some of the remaining threads from the other two books, if that sort of thing is important to you, and it’s all about stage magic, something I always like reading about (in fact, this book lead me to seek out the one three spots down this list). On balance, it’s not as good as The Manticore, which itself is not as good as Fifth Business, but those are only relative markings. There’s no reason not to read all three.

On Animals, Susan Orlean (Feb. 9-15)

A collection of essays about domestic animals and wild animals. Though there are interesting stories of whales, tigers, and other majestic creatures, the essay that affected me the most was about homing pigeons, perhaps because their feats were the most beautiful to me. Because this is a collection of pieces written separately and later cobbled together, it doesn’t have the thematic strength that her single-subject books do, but it’s worth reading nonetheless.

Pocket Kings, Ted Heller (Feb. 16-23)

A funny book about a stalled-out novelist who starts playing poker and becomes a relative success while the rest of his life falls apart. The plot doesn’t matter too much. You’re in it for the wittiness and intelligence of each individual paragraph. Towards the end, there’s a great section where we’re urged to reconsider the wisdom of a dozen pithy quotes by famous writers. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “There are no second acts in American lives” is challenged by the records of “Richard Nixon, Muhammad Ali, John Travolta, Bill Clinton or…F. Scott Fitzgerald.” There’s also a good joke when the narrator accuses the novelist Zoë Heller of leveraging her last name to mislead readers into thinking she’s related to Joseph Heller – a joke that became even better when I learned that Ted Heller is actually Joseph Heller’s son.

Penn & Teller’s Cruel Tricks for Dear Friends (Feb. 24-26)

When I was in high school, I read their other two books: How to Play with Your Food and How to Play in Traffic, both of which were full of worthy anecdotes and some magic tricks I’ve deployed throughout the years to mild approval. This one was less good. There are fewer interesting passages, and much of the book serves as a trick in and of itself. For example, half of the pages are illegible, printed in what the book itself calls, “itty bitty tiny irritating psycho-print,” so that it can be used as a prop in one of the tricks the legible pages teach you. Clever, but how can you not feel conned yourself when half of the pages are unreadable?

David Lodge and the Tradition of the Modern Novel, J. Russell Perkin (Mar. 3-7)

Another academic analysis of a favorite author, another unsatisfying read. Why do I keep picking these up? There’s nothing wrong with what Perkin says about David Lodge, and as members of the same relatively small fandom, I feel a kinship with him. But there’s no response possible to somebody else’s analysis besides (a) agreeing or (b) presenting a competing analysis. I hope he got an A for this thesis, but as a book, it does nothing for me.

Dracula, Bram Stoker (Mar. 7-17)

Foolishly, I wrote my own vampire stories before ever reading Dracula. I suppose I thought that, since the story has been absorbed into our collective consciousness, there was no need to read it. Maybe you feel that way. That is not so. It’s a very good book, even if it doesn’t surprise us the way it would have its first readers. It’s perfectly paced and vividly rendered, and, although the subject is masked by the nineteenth-century propriety of its language, I think you’ll be excited by how sexually charged the novel is. An early scene of the brides of Dracula descending on a victim will have you sweating.

All The Answers, Michael Kupperman (Mar. 11-14)

Michael Kupperman’s father was a boy genius who appeared on a panel show in the 1940s, answering tricky math questions. Being a child star was not a positive experience for him and he grew into a withdrawn adult, who never shared memories of his childhood with his son. Kupperman’s book is both a biography of his father and a memoir of his attempts to connect with a distant parent. In that sense, and because it’s a comic, it invites some comparisons to Maus, but that’s a pretty tenuous comparison. I only make it because the book doesn’t offer much to hold on to. Neither half of it is bad, but it never achieves escape velocity, perhaps because the father at the center of it all remains unknown to us and to Kupperman.

The Art of Fiction, David Lodge (Mar. 19-24)

A collection of newspaper columns from the novelist. In 50 entries, he discusses one element of the novel (opening lines, point of view, symbolism, the title, unreliable narrators, etc.), and illustrates his points with excerpts from modern and classical novels. It’s all very smart and very digestible, and if you’re trying to write a novel, you’d surely find some useful tricks to borrow. My favorite piece is the one on naming characters, in which Lodge cannily compares the deliberately suggestive names "Robyn Penrose" and "Victor Wilcox" in his own novel Nice Work to the name "Quinn" in Paul Auster's City of Glass. Quinn is a name that “flies off in so many little directions at once,” and if a name can mean anything, it ultimately means nothing at all – which, as Lodge rightly points out, is the point of that existential book.

Fictional Father, Joe Ollman (Mar. 19-23)

The story of a newspaper cartoonist who became rich and famous for his sappy father-and-son comic strip while ignoring and abusing his own son. This is a made-up story, but apparently – as Ollman himself only discovered after he’d written it – it’s very congruent to the real life story of Hank Ketcham, creator of Dennis the Menace. Though Ollman sees and draws out the real emotions of in this dynamic, his book is played mostly for laughs and is mostly successful. Lots of funny dialogue and a drawing style that makes everyone look laughable.

The Lost Weekend, Charles Jackson (Mar. 26-30)

The classic novel about a dissolute alcohol’s weeklong binge. The best scene is when he makes a half-joking/half-serious attempt to steal a stranger’s purse to fund his addiction. In addition to how well it works as a sad character study, it’s also one of those books that transports you to a bygone urban landscape – if you like that sort of thing, which I do.

Whereabouts, Jhumpa Lahiri (Mar. 31 - Apr. 4)

I find Lahiri’s work both irresistible and highly resistible. I like it because it’s so good, so intelligent, so precise, and so effective. I reject it because that same expertise leaves me feeling manipulated. It provokes an emotional response, yes, but because what’s provoked is always the only emotional response made available by the text, you have the sense that you’ve been moved from A to B to C without your input. A friend of mine says writing like this is akin to a sniper’s bullet: the marksmanship is incredible, but how good are you going to feel about the results? Oh, but this book in particular? It’s fine. A woman without a name wanders through a European city without a name, thinking. A little more diffuse and experimental than her other books, but in the end it feels…well, you know.

Amateurs, Dylan Hicks (Apr. 7-11)

I hardly remember this one. It was about a group of twentysomethings, tied together by threads of romance, thwarted romance, friendship, and competitiveness. Was there a wedding? A road trip to get to that wedding? I’m not sure. My recollection is that the book was good, not bad, but I have no evidence to back that up.

Don’t Come in Here, Patrick Kyle (Apr. 10)

A little comic book. Not much of a narrative. Just a showcase of trippy artwork, which wasn’t bad. What I remember most was returning this book to the library and it not being checked back in, obligating me to call up the circulation desk before I could be slammed with a humiliating late fee.

The Long Prospect, Elizabeth Harrower (Apr. 12-16)

An Australian novel about a young girl who lives a stifling life in a boarding house owned by her unpleasant grandmother. One boarder, a scientist, takes the girl under his wing. That’s the set-up, but I can’t animate any of the characters. Like Amateurs, the action of the book has been completely forgotten. Unlike Amateurs, the feeling that remains is not positive.

To Know You’re Alive, Dakota McFadzean (Apr. 14-15)

A collection of off-kilter, slightly spooky stories. There’s a cute one about how our culture might react if a boring alien landed on Earth, a creepy one about the discovery of a lost piece of children’s media, an eggheaded appraisal of Super Mario Bros. 2, and a silent nightmare with an inescapable cereal mascot. They’re all fun.

Let Us Be Perfectly Clear, Paul Hornschemeier (Apr. 16-17)

Another collection of short comics. The design of the book is clever. There are two halves: Let Us Be, printed from the front of the book to the middle; and Perfectly Clear, printed from the back of the book to the middle. But the stories themselves are less memorable than the package.

Hanging On, Edmund G. Love (Apr. 17-24)

Pulled off a library shelf at random, I think I may be the only person to have ever checked it out. A memoir of a being a teenager and sometimes college student in Michigan during the Great Depression. Though there are few highs and many lows when you grow up in that era, the book is a breezy, amusing read, so long as you don’t get hung up with resentment after learning that his tuition to attend the University of Michigan was only about $100 per year.

Carnet de Voyage, Craig Thompson (Apr. 21-23)

A little illustrated travel diary. Thompson wrote it while he was traveling around, promoting Blankets. It’s trifling, but fine. I had a stomach flu at the start of the year, so a sequence of Thompson suffering from food poisoning made me feel seen.

King of King Court, Travis Dandro (Apr. 24-28)

A very good memoir of childhood. It’s drawn in a chunky, juvenile style, but the material is pretty harrowing. Dandro’s dad was a heroin addict, his stepfather was an alcoholic, and his mom was understandably harried and overwhelmed. Dandro’s perspective is mature and empathetic, but he’s still able to recall and illustrate the feelings of fear and anger and shame that can arise in kids when they have unwelcome encounters with the adult world. It sounds like a painful read, but it’s not at all.

Remembering the Bone House, Nancy Mairs (Apr. 27 – May 5)

A memoir about the physical spaces Mairs has occupied: both houses and her own body. Her approach is scattershot, but I liked that. There’s a tendency towards loftiness and know-it-all-ism in memoirists (fair enough, given that the alternative is to concede that the stories from your life are meaningless, in which case, how self-indulgent is it to publish them?), but Mairs avoids it. She presents her book with the attitude that writing is not the summation of life, but just another action taken by the living. Illustrating that point is a moment where she writes of publishing a personal essay about her affair and discovering that, contrary to what she thought, her husband didn’t know about it – until he read the printed story.

Nutshell, Ian McEwan (May 7-11)

Told from the perspective of a fetus, as he listens in on the sinister machinations and plotting of his mother and her lover. It’s clever and the high concept doesn’t wear thin. Embarrassingly, I didn’t realize until I had finished the book that it was retelling the story of Hamlet, even though the title comes from one of the only lines of that play I can confidently quote.

Level Up, Gene Luen Yang & Thien Pham (May 11-12)

The main character’s strict father won’t buy him a Nintendo Entertainment System. When the father dies, the hero buys an NES, and develops a passion for video games that becomes a crutch whenever he falters in life. Eventually, he’s set upon by some cherubs or angels who act as his guilty conscience, obliging him to follow his late father’s wishes for him. The main idea here – the hero’s challenge to find his individual happiness without disappointing or disrespecting his family – is handled well, but I can’t help but wish that video games hadn’t been the subject the story was spun around. I like video games, and respect their intelligence and artistic merit…but every time people try to transplant them into another medium, the operation is a failure, and the subject dies on the table.

The Unconsoled, Kazuo Ishiguro (May 12-21)

A book that tries your patience, if it’s possible to say that without being totally negative. A pianist arrives in a new city in advance of a concert and is soon dragged all over the city for endless, perplexing meetings and chores. The story is presented like a dream, where characters pop up randomly, and locations can be endlessly distant in one moment and right around the corner in the next. The thing is, dreams are always more interesting to the dreamer than to any audience, so the book can be frustrating at times, even if you accept its structure. Still, it’s impressive that he pulled off such a stunt for 500 pages, and the quality of Ishiguro’s prose is bright and beautiful as always.

Perchance to Dream, Charles Beaumont (May 23-29)

Twilight Zone-esque tales from a writer for The Twilight Zone. Actually, many of the stories in this book became scripts for that show. But they work in either medium. The best is “The Howling Man,” about a traveler in Europe who comes across a group of monks who are keeping a strange prisoner. Inventive and tidy and not bogged down by any need for meaning, these are the sort of stories I’ve been trying to write recently.

Passport, Sophia Glock (May 28-30)

As a teenager, Glock discovered that her secretive parents were actually spies working for the CIA. I think that’s the set-up for Spy Kids, but this book goes in a less bombastic direction. It’s a fairly conventional coming-of-age story, as Sophia makes friends and enemies, goes out to parties, and learns to accept herself. It’s okay, and there’s something amusingly anticlimactic about the irrelevance of her parents’ profession to Glock’s own story, but you won’t be mesmerized by this book.

The Resisters, Gish Jen (May 30 - June 2)

A baseball prodigy tries to find happiness in a dystopian future. I sped through this book, surprised at how tolerable it was, but by the end, my general disinterest in dystopian stories won out. The nod-your-head-sadly parallels to our current culture are more wearying than enlightening. The baseball scenes are okay, though. That sport translates well to the page.

Come Along With Me, Shirley Jackson (June 4-9)

The title comes from an unfinished novella included in this collection, but it and every other story are overshadowed by “The Lottery,” which is as good as its reputation holds. The next best inclusion is Jackson’s essay about the reception “The Lottery” got. In addition to the reams of letters from people incapable of understanding that her story was fictional and convinced that there really did exist a small town that committed ritual stoning, she received a fawning letter, to which she politely responded, “I admire your work, too,” only to discover that she had responded to an accused axe murderer. On the far opposite end, this collection also has “Pajama Party,” a cute domestic comedy about a child’s first sleepover. I liked that one too.

Twists of Fate, Paco Roca (June 9-11)

I’ll compare this one to Maus too, and I’ll be on firmer ground: a comic book about a young man painstakingly drawing out the war stories of an elderly man. The man fought against the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War, fled to Algeria, joined the Allied forces, and was party of the forces that liberated Paris from the Nazis. But he was never able to return to Spain to liberate it from Franco, a regret that gnaws at him, even at age 94. That’s a good story, and it digs into some underexposed history, but I was never fully convinced of the need for the framing device.

Memoir of a Gambler, Jack Richardson (June 12-19)

A little bit like a non-fiction version of Pocket Kings. After his divorce, Richardson crosses the country, and eventually the globe, playing poker in high and low places. There’s not a lot of happiness in this world, and Richardson does nothing to change that, but his cold and precise rendering of his adventures (and really, they are adventures: he’s not just sitting at the tables for the whole book) are entrancing. His description of the geography of Las Vegas – which, by chance, I was reading as I flew into Las Vegas – should on its own be enough to shut down the city.

Hidden Valley Road, Robert Kolker (June 21-25)

The true story of a large family in Colorado Springs, some of whom were acquainted with my uncles. There are 12 children, and half of them are ultimately diagnosed with schizophrenia, leading to much grief but ultimately making the family a fruitful source of data for medical researchers. It’s a sad book, and like all good documentaries, it makes you feel guilty for being witness to what you’re seeing.

Lovesickness, Junji Ito (June 24-26)

A collection of unsettling, grotesque comics. Exactly what I was expecting and hoping for when I picked it up, yet I was unmoved by the collection. The territory is just the same as in Uzumaki, which I’d read the year before, but as a set of independent (rather than linked) stories, the material doesn’t have a chance to develop an insidious feeling or any thematic resonance. It’s more a series of satisfactory but forgettable shocks.

Thin Places, Jordan Kisner (June 27 – July 3)

These are the sort of essays all NYU freshman are taught to write: pick three or four subjects – usually a selection from personal experience, history, a piece of art, and an event, place, or occurrence in our culture – and juxtapose them in every pairing until you reach your page count. It’s a very mechanical process, and my experience being taught it left me prone to resist this form. And yet I liked this collection well enough. Kisner is honest, most of her insights are well-articulated, and though there’s no humor in these essays (the form won’t allow it), she doesn’t fill that vacuum with pretension, as my classmates and I always did.

The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger (July 6-9)

There’s a party game called Humiliation, where you reveal that you've never actually encountered some huge culture monument, and you get points for each person at the party who has. For a long time (still, in fact), I could say I’ve never seen Titanic and scoop up a bunch of points. That was my go-to because I was too embarrassed to confess to an even bigger miss: I had never read The Catcher in the Rye. It’s a wonderful book, though. Very funny and very moving. What surprised me was how much I admired Holden Caulfield. I don’t just mean that I understood and accepted his adolescent angst. I actually think he’s a noble person. His anger may sometimes be misplaced and his sense of righteousness can be overly dogmatic, but those are habits that usually pass with age, and what will be left is the sensitivity, intelligence, and moral strength that’s plainly evident beneath his clumsy exterior.

American Splendor: The Life and Times of Harvey Pekar, Harvey Pekar, et al. (July 7-13)

Autobiographical comics by another admirable grouch. I had never read any American Splendor stories before, maybe because their multiple art styles (Pekar wrote the comics but had a variety of other artists draw them) seemed wearying to me. And truthfully, that quality still does nothing for me. But the writing is great. The stories vary in subject and length and presentation, but every one of them is closely observed and intelligent about the way people talk and act and think. The ordinariness of life (and of Cleveland) is rendered with extreme beauty. And Pekar himself is a great hero. Another noble crank who’s critical and passionate and full of fury, yet never unkind and never less than generous.

I’m Telling the Truth, but I’m Lying, Bassey Ikpi (July 10-13)

A pain-filled memoir, this one about bipolar disorder, disassociation, and the Challenger explosion. It’s mostly engaging, though there are parts in the back half where useful details seem to be missing and it becomes hard to follow. Given the subject matter, this may not be unintentional.

Crash Site, Nathan Cowdry (July 14-15)

Edgelord stuff run through several layers of irony. Lots of violence and provocative dialogue stacked up in such a way that it’s impossible to tell whom the author is trying to provoke: those who would take offensive or those who would deny the validity of being offended. I sort of see the point, and I didn’t hate the book. But at a certain point, you wish Cowdry would stop fooling around and just write a real story.

Amnesty, Aravind Adiga (July 16-19)

A young migrant worker in Sydney comes across a murder. If he reports it, he risks deportation, a fact that the murderer is all too happy to rub his nose in. It’s a good blend of a thriller and a social commentary. I also liked that fact that it was taking Australia and its cultural values to task. Not that I personally have anything against Australia, but it’s a country that you rarely see condemned, so I appreciated getting to reading a rare (and surely well-deserved) scolding.

Onion Skin, Edgar Camacho (July 17-18)

The story of a couple that runs a food truck and finds themselves in a turf war. It holds your attention while you’re reading it, but it’s a mess, jumping around in time and in tone. Plus, the relationship at its center is very tired: a mopey guy finds his life reinvigorated by a free-spirited girl. The food looked good, though.

Popcorn, Ben Elton (July 21-24)

A Hollywood satire written by a Brit, so it has that some of the stiffness and artificiality that can come in when writers try to cross the pond. But on the whole, it’s funny and astute about the industry. The ending overemphasizes its lessons, but I liked that Elton didn’t shy away from the mayhem he’d been teasing.

Brownsville, Neil Kleid & Jake Allen (July 22-23)

The familiar story of growing up in New York, being attracted to the mafia, and eventually joining it. The twist this time is that it’s the Jewish mafia. Interesting? Not really. That detail hardly changes anything, so the arc and most of the individual scenes in this book are rote in conception and in execution. Your favorite mafia story, whatever it is, will give you as much as this book and more.

My Man Jeeves, P.G. Wodehouse (July 29 - Aug. 1)

An early and unpolished collections of short stories. Given that Wodehouse later rewrote most of these pieces, the decent thing to do might have been to let this collection go out of print. Fewer laughs than Wodehouse usually provides, though there are still a couple of big ones, such as one character’s passing idea to make money by selling anarchists and other dispossessed people the opportunity to beat up his rich uncle.

Good Eggs, Rebecca Hardiman (Aug. 6-10)

A warm-hearted comedy about an Irish family. There’s the grandma who keeps making trouble, the rebellious teen with a soft, sentimental center, and the harried father caught in between the generations, trying to keep everything running smoothly. Eventually, they’re all put on the same side of the field when they have to take on an American who’s scammed them. It’s nothing remarkable, and I didn’t laugh too much – perhaps not at all – but sometimes it’s enough if a book features one element close to your heart. In my case, it was the suburban Dublin setting.

Kiss & Tell: A Romantic Resume, Ages 0 to 22, MariNaomi (Aug. 9-11)

A catalog of intimate relationships ranging from crushes to long-term relationships. To some degree, it’s all contextualized by its setting (the Bay Area in the 1980s and 90s), and by how the author views her relationships in comparison to that of her parents. But mostly, it’s just a list, and one that becomes quickly repetitive.

The Library Book, Susan Orlean (Aug. 11-14)

Possibly a perfect non-fiction book. In 1986, a fire broke out at the main branch of the Los Angeles Public Library, wiping out 20% of its collection. Orlean covers that disaster and it subsequent investigation, but she also makes room for the history of the LAPL, discourse on the function of libraries in America, personal reflections, academic theorizing, and science experiments (the chapter about her own attempt to burn a book is one of the best parts). The arson at the heart of this story is compelling enough to make this book good in anyone’s hands, but in Orlean's, it’s great.

I Don’t Expect Anyone to Believe Me, Juan Pablo Villalobos (Aug. 16-21)

Another fun mash-up. This time the blend is crime thriller, campus novel, and metafiction. Juan Pablo is a Mexican student who is abducted before leaving to study abroad in Spain, and ordered to get close to a corrupt politician by falling in love with his daughter. The plot is knowingly ridiculous and, though you eventually give up on trying to follow it, it’s amusing all the way through. There’s also a fun essay at the end, in which the translator explains his difficulty in capturing the voices of the different narrators, conceding with admirable frankness that he’s not sure he succeeded.

The Bridge, Peter J. Tomasi and Sara DuVall (Aug. 17-20)

The true story of the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. If you don’t know it already, the fun detail is that the chief engineer became overworked in the middle of construction, and spent the rest of it monitoring the bridge’s construction from his bed while his wife took over as de facto leader at the job site. The standard details of how to build an enormous bridge are also fun to learn about, and the authors do a good job making you share in the stress of the workers deep below the water.

Woke Up This Morning, Michael Imperioli, Steve Schirripa, and Philip Lerman (Aug. 23-28)

An oral history of The Sopranos cobbled together from the podcast Imperioli and Schirripa started a few years ago. That show is endlessly discussable, and the book has a few funny stories and some thoughtful analysis, and it’s certainly better to read this book than to listen to the podcast (did I tell you I’ve declared a war on podcasts?), but I don't know…I found myself growing less and less interested the more I read. Once the initial fun of being a fly on the wall passed, I recalled that The Sopranos is strong enough to speak for itself.

Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark, Brian Kellow (Aug. 30 - Sep. 4)

A thorough biography that features and contextualizes lots of excellent film reviews by Kael. It also reveals some of her astonishing lapses of ethics. In 1971, she published, “Raising Kane,” an essay about the authorship of Citizen Kane’s screenplay. It’s a terrific piece of writing, but it’s extremely shoddy journalism that has since been disproven. Even worse, much of her research was stolen from a UCLA professor, whom she never credited. It’s a shocking revelation and Kellow presents it without excuses. That chapter alone is worth the price of admission.

Love That Bunch, Aline Kominsky-Crumb (Sep. 2-5)

Autobiographical comics from one half of an underground comix power couple. A relationship that’s mostly been presented through her husband Robert Crumb’s eyes is shown here from Kominsky-Crumb’s perspective instead. But the thing is, they’re a very well-matched couple, so their perspectives aren’t all that different. And honestly, neither of their styles are terribly interesting to me, accomplished though they are. Still, you can admire Kominsky-Crumb’s pioneering efforts, and she and her husband and their unconventional family are pretty cute, no matter how repellant this book tries to make them seem.

Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (Sep. 6-10)

Another classic that I’m only just now getting around to. A hair less interesting than Dracula – the old-fashioned formality of the writing makes it a less ripping read – but still great. Dr. Frankenstein and his monster are both fascinating and complex, and the whole story is genuinely haunting and ambitious in scope. The framing device of the Arctic voyagers who witness the end of Frankenstein’s story seems impossibly contemporary. Considering how young Shelley was when she wrote something so good, hers may be the greatest accomplishment in the history of literature.

This is How I Disappear, Mirion Malle (Sep. 10-12)

Another mental health story. Because this one is done as a comic, not as prose, it can place us immediately into the shoes of its protagonist and let us feel her pain, which is a point in its favor. Working against it is the abundance of scenes, dialogue, and plot points driven by text messages and social media messaging. As always happens when those elements are spotlighted in a story, they dial the energy of the book down to nearly zero. (I'm not letting myself off the hook: I've tanked my own pieces that way.) That technology is an important part of our lives and our culture, and someday somebody will find a way to mill it into art, but it hasn’t happened yet.

The Plot Against America, Philip Roth (Sep. 11-17)

It had been nearly 15 years since I read anything by Roth. This was a good one to restart with. An alternate history of Roth’s childhood if the United States had elected Charles Lindbergh over FDR in 1940. The family drama and the political drama are equally engaging, and Roth even leans into the ridiculous fun of speculative fiction with a big, ludicrous twist in the last fifth of the book that guides everything to a satisfying resolution.

Loved and Lost, Jeffrey Brown (Sep. 14-18)

Three graphic novels covering three of Brown’s formative romances. Sincere, but sort of wimpy. I don’t want to cross a line and start critiquing anybody’s personal emotional repertoire – I’m just talking about what’s recorded on the page. The happy moments we see of his relationships are moments of quiet companionship. There’s almost nothing about adventures or inside jokes or mutual discoveries – the exuberant parts of a relationship. Quiet companionship is an important part of love too, and if that’s the pitch at which Brown lives his life, there’s nothing wrong with that, and he should record it accurately. But the pleasure of reading about it is faint.

Fame Adjacent, Sarah Skilton (Sep. 20-24)

A fun and original novel. The narrator is a former child actor, the only one from her troupe of singers and dancers not to become famous. The first part of the book has her in rehab for her internet addiction. The second part has her road-tripping to New York for a reunion with her castmates. It’s a lively book (a quality in short supply in too many novels), and I want to commend Skilton for pulling off a trick that’s harder than you might think: the fake TV show that she creates is credible. Often the fictional media contained within books (and TV shows and movies, for that matter) seems either implausible – we don’t believe a TV show so described would ever air – or like a poorly disguised version of an existing piece of media – distracting us as we look for the Easter eggs in this universe’s version of Seinfeld. But Skilton’s invention (Diego and the Lion’s Den) is totally believable, and its details are nicely fleshed out.

Seek You, Kristen Radtke (Sep. 21-25)

Another bit of brainy graphic essaying by Radtke. The subject is loneliness – Radke’s and America’s. Surrounding the personal reflections, there is a lot of well-synthesized research and bright analysis. And how about this for a good definition to carry with you: “Loneliness isn’t necessarily tied to whether you have a partner or a best friend or an aspirationally active social life. It’s a variance that rests in the space between the relationships you have and the relationships you want.” My only complaint is about a section where, talking of television sitcoms, she blurs the important distinction between canned laugh tracks and the laughter of live studio audiences – but that’s only a personal hang-up of mine.

All About Me!, Mel Brooks (Sep. 25 - Oct. 1)

A very happy memoir by a very happy guy. Lots of warm stories stretching from his childhood to his dotage, and some triumphant moments where he outwits boneheaded Hollywood executives. He’s justly proud of his own talents and achievements, but he spends more of the book heaping genuine, specific praise on other actors and writers he’s worked with. Tellingly, the only colleague who’s recollected with even the slightest negativity is Jerry Lewis…

Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus, Chester Brown (Oct. 1-3)

An illustrated collection of stories from the Bible that Brown believes evince a pro-sex work attitude in early Christianity. As somebody with almost no preexisting feelings about the Gospels, I’m an easy mark for any interpretation. Brown, who has spent the last 25 years visiting prostitutes, is not exactly a detached analyst here, but whatever his motivations for writing this book, his evaluation of the Bible’s text is convincing enough. The trouble for me was that, irrespective of their political meaning, I found the Gospel stories themselves distasteful and unkind.

Running with Scissors, Augusten Burroughs (Oct. 2-4)

The blurbs all compare him to David Sedaris, but that’s inapt. There’s nothing funny about Burroughs’ story, and the comparison seems to me like laziness, an inability to distinguish two very different types of memoir. With that pedantry out of the way: this is a good book. As a teenager, Burroughs is put in the care of his mother’s psychiatrist, a dangerous blowhard who keeps a filthy and miserable home. Burroughs witnesses and endures a lot of horrors over the course of five years, and though he’s never self-pitying nor seeking of praise, I did feel admiration for his escape and his ability to transmogrify his life into art.

Hollywood Said No!, Bob Odenkirk & David Cross with Brian Posehn (Oct. 6-8)

Two never-produced screenplays and other sundry material by some of the brains behind Mr. Show. Not their best work, but I smiled a lot while reading it. I did object, however, to their attacks on Jamie Kennedy, towards whom I feel an odd and misapplied sense of protectiveness.

The Road Through the Wall, Shirley Jackson (Oct. 8-14)

Jackson’s first novel, in which she exposes the ugliness, prejudice and misery beneath the surface of a privileged upper-class neighborhood. That’s pretty shopworn material these days, but remember: she did it in 1948. The novel is decent – I liked the scene where two teenagers seek a transgressive thrill but the best they find is a secret tea party with a butler – and the gruesome ending does still shock. But it’s weighed down by having too many indistinguishable characters.

Clyde Fans, Seth (Oct. 14-17)

A meticulously drawn book about a generational struggle to keep open a family business. The artwork is impressive, but I just can’t summon up any enthusiasm for this story and its themes: the agony of being a salesman, the inability of men of a certain generation to share their feelings, and more of that midcentury nostalgia I complained about earlier.

Ostrich, Matt Greene (Oct. 15-17)

A 12-year-old boy with brain tumor narrates an otherwise typical story of growing up (parents, friends, school, burgeoning sexual feelings). There are some clever and funny lines, but I grew less and less convinced I was hearing the honest voice of a child as opposed to the practiced remarks of a novelist.

Mr. Mercedes, Stephen King (Oct. 20-29)

A retired detective is taunted by a murderous psychopath and begins a private investigation to catch the killer. My hopes for this one weren’t quite met. The plotting is fine, and some tension builds well in the last act, but none of the characters feel like more than placeholders, and the gruesome details (particularly in the killer’s backstory) are nowhere near King’s best. Also, King’s efforts to write dialogue for a Black teenager result in some embarrassing lines that I won’t quote here.

The Only Story, Julian Barnes (Nov. 4-9)

I picked it up because it was about tennis, and discovered that Barnes was an author I should have been reading for years. A man recounts his “only story,” of being a college student home for the summer and falling in love with a middle-aged woman he’s partnered with for a game of doubles. The direction the story takes doesn’t matter. What I liked about the book was how intelligently and unpretentiously Barnes writes, and how deeply he digs into important questions. The book opens with, “Would you rather love the more, and suffer the more; or love the less, and suffer the less? That is, I think, finally, the only real question.” And before you have a chance to reflect on how well put that is, Barnes challenges himself: “You may point out—correctly—that it isn’t a real question. Because we don’t have the choice…if you can control it, then it isn’t love.” The array of thoughts those four sentences evoke would be accomplishment enough for most novelists, but it’s only the first of many treats Barnes offers.

Hummingbird Heart, Travis Dandro (Nov. 5-7)

The sequel to King of King Court, picking up on Dandro’s life as he hacks his way through his teen years. All of the praise-worthy qualities of the first book are present…but less so. The intelligence of the writing and the appeal of the drawing style are still there, but the subject is less interesting, more well-worn: shoplifting teenage boys learning to put aside their anger and face the fact that they must grow up. It’s done well, but only well, and Dandro's previous book set the bar higher.

Palimpsest, Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom (Nov. 9-12)

A very angry memoir of an adoptee seeking out her roots. The author directs anger at her adopted country, at her country of birth, at bureaucrats from all over, and at herself. All of which is well-earned, and the point that Sjöblom makes early on is that she wishes to counteract the rosy prevailing narrative of the experience of international adoptees. I would push back slightly by noting that Sjöblom sometimes seems to not just want to dismantle that narrative, but to replace it with one that’s equally overbroad – her own – not realizing that that would be just as limiting. But that minor quibble aside, this is worth reading.

Somebody’s Daughter, Ashley C. Ford (Nov. 12-16)

There’s a lot of trauma recounted in this memoir of growing up with an abusive mother and an incarcerated father, and Ford renders it all calmly and dispassionately, yet still with a keen memory of the pain she felt. If you can handle that sort of material, this book offers it about as well as it could be done. And Ford shares a few memories that stick with you long after the book is done, like a scene of her grandmother setting ablaze a nest of snakes.

The Third Person, Emma Grove (Nov. 16-20)

This one sneaks up on you, and soon, you’ll be flying through its 900 pages. Grove is a transgender woman visiting a therapist to be approved for hormone therapy. As the sessions progress and Toby the therapist learns more about Grove and her past, he begins to think that she may have Dissociative Identity Disorder, which he feels must be addressed prior to any other medical care. The drawing style is simple and flat, and much of the book is given over to repetitive scenes of therapy sessions, which may sound boring, but it’s actually very easy to become absorbed in their discussions. And the therapist isn’t just a prop to give Grove somebody to talk to; he’s a real character whom we see as clumsier and more unprofessional the longer the book goes on.

This Is Not My Beautiful Life, Victoria Fedden (Nov. 17-20)

While Fedden was pregnant and staying with her family in Florida, her parents’ house was raided by the feds. This memoir touches on her dysfunctional family, their legal travails, and the goofy (and, to my eyes, could-not-be-less-desirable) experience of living in Florida. The details of her family’s unique experiences give the book some early momentum, but the humor doesn’t progress beyond zaniness, and eventually, the book spins off in fragmentary, underexplored directions in an unsuccessful search for a point.

Just After Sunset, Stephen King (Nov. 24-30)

I broke my informal rule and read more than one Stephen King book in 2022. This one is a collection of stories, and it’s more successful than Mr. Mercedes. There are 13 stories, and at least nine of them work. Particularly good are “Stationary Bike,” one of those tales about a living painting; “The Gingerbread Girl,” about an obsessive runner; and N., an old-fashioned novella about a psychiatrist who takes on his patient’s obsession.

The Girl Who Never Read Noam Chomsky, Jana Casale (Dec. 1-8)

A highly internal novel about a Millennial in Boston who aspires to be a writer. No, don’t run away: this one is actually good. Leda, the protagonist, is seen in a number of quiet, precise vignettes, moving through college and her early 20s, trying to be a friend and a lover and a daughter and a romantic partner. I thought I’d had my fill of these stories (both from other books and from my own droning life), but I found room to let this one in. My interest waned in the last third, once the character grows up and we accelerate through her adulthood and old age, but up until then, it’s absorbing.

Fun, Paolo Bacilieri (Dec. 2-5)

A graphic novel about the history of the crossword puzzle, woven around a knowingly melodramatic mystery, all told in a vaguely meta style. It’s pretty busy, and though it delivers on the fun promised in the title while you’re reading it, it doesn’t stick with you.

Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (Dec. 10-15)

A book my mom was recommending to everyone 25 years ago. An askew story of the Antichrist being swapped at birth and of the junky Armageddon that follows. It’s cute and funny, and though I get a little impatient with British whimsy these days, it's well-deployed here. The cast is so sprawling that it becomes a little unwieldy – this is probably an asset in its miniseries adaptation – but there aren’t any characters whose sections you dread.

With the Fire on High, Elizabeth Acevedo (Dec. 23-29)

The first young adult novel I had read in many years, about a high school senior with a talent for cooking who must learn to trust in and prioritize her own dreams. It had been a while since I read a book with a lesson, and shifting gears took some time. But once I did, I was happy to go along and cheer the main character’s triumph. I read most of this book on a six-hour train ride through California’s Central Valley, seated next to a man without a neutral odor, so its many descriptions of aromatic food were very welcome.

***

It was not my favorite year of reading, but curiously, I read more books in 2022 than in any other year since I’ve been keeping track. Maybe it was overextension that led to a less positive experience. Maybe my mood was brought down by two or three too many painful memoirs. Or maybe I should just internalize the lessons of Ted Heller and Jack Richardson, and accept that sometimes life deals you a bum hand. That can be true of a year or of a reading list.

But I did discover those two authors. And finally mark off Dracula, The Catcher in the Rye, and Frankenstein. And one Susan Orlean makes up for a hundred Brownsvilles. In order to maintain my enthusiasm for writing in the face of the constant beatings 2022 offered, I had to accept the old lesson about taking pleasure in the creative act itself and not being preoccupied about where the final product would lead me. That equanimous outlook is just as useful pointed towards the writing of others, remembering that, whatever the yearly average turns out to be, the pleasure of reading any one good book is never diminished.

#reading list #robertson davies #tim lane #miriam toews #lee lai #ha jin #susan orlean #penn and teller #bram stoker #david lodge #michael kupperman #joe ollman #charles jackson #jhumpa lahiri #dylan hicks #elizabeth harrower #dakota macfadzean #paul hornschemeier #edmund g love #craig thompson #travis dandro #nancy mairs #ian mcewan #gene luen yang #thien pham #kazuo ishiguro #charles beaumont #sophia glock #gish jen #jd salinger

[siverwrites]

Yuletide Letter 2023

Ao3: Siver

Thank you so much for taking this on! Here there are some general prompt details if you want them and if you already have some idea of your own, awesome. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

None of my requests require every requested character

Prompts from past letters are up for grabs too where applicable: https://siverwrites.tumblr.com/letters

Treats are welcome!

Requested Fandoms:

Ghost Trick

Final Fantasy VI

King's Quest VI

The Legend of Heroes: Crossbell arc

General Likes:

fluff, hurt/comfort, comfort, mutual care and support

family found or otherwise, bonding, cuddling/hugs/holding, banter, emotional bonding, loyalty, slice of life

sickfic, angst with a happy or at least bittersweet end

supernatural stuff, mystery, adventure, worldbuilding, creepy or unsettling atmospheres

fandom fusions, pre-canon, post-canon, missing scenes, reunited characters

General DNW:

NSFW, non-con, dub-con, incest, underage relationships, unrequested shipping (except those ships listed as liked or background canonical pairings), infidelity

explicit gore

real world modern mundane AUs (eg. coffee shop, college, high-school etc)

terminal illness, permanent-death of requested characters

2nd person pov

–

Ghost Trick

Alma

Cabanela

Jowd

Pigeon Man

Alma/Jowd/Cabanela are the OT3 of my heart but I’m perfectly happy with gen fic for them too with bestest friend Cabanela to Alma/Jowd. I’m also happy to see something focused on only one or two of them–I only ask that if there’s a ship situation between 2/3 it’s simply because that’s where the focus lies. No infidelity.

I’m a big fan of hurt/comfort and the more tenderness on the comfort end the better. However you can’t go wrong with pure fluff either.

I’d be interested in any mix here with Pigeon Man. I’m always a sucker for Pigeon Man and Cabanela during their year working together or any other time like meeting again for the first time in the new timeline! But, Jowd and PM have a history and Alma and PM are a very rare combo I'd love to see more of, or any other combo or subset of these four characters.

I'm a big sucker for Ch. 9 and Ch. 15 always. Anything in there is good stuff.

Big sucker for the year Cabanela and Pigeon Man worked together on Jowd’s case or any point in those five years for just Cabanela.

A case Alma somehow ends up involved in?

Navigating Jowd's whole deal in the early days of having dragged the truth out of him

Jowd knowings things he shouldn't and having to avoid accidentally slipping up but Alma and Cabanela are sharp

Other characters are welcome to make appearances if needed! I love the cast wholeheartedly.

-

Final Fantasy VI

Celes

Edgar

Sabin

I'm quite partial to the World of Ruin explorations as there is a lot of space for character interaction there. Lots to consider in how they're dealing with it and coping and looking for hope and finding each other...

Some general ideas:

Sabin and/or Celes trying to deal with "Gerad" or the aftermath

The trip in Figaro Castle to Kohlingen. It's been saved! Sabin and Edgar are home; Celes not so much but there's some comfort to be found?

Sabin and Celes trip along the Serpent's trench before or after Mobliz, or more during that first visit to Mobliz

Post-game what are they doing? Well, Sabin and Edgar presumably went to Figaro. What about Celes? Maybe they invited her to stay for a bit while she decides what to do with herself?

-

King's Quest VI

Alexander

Cassima

Captain Saladin

Rotten Tomato

Fandom Specific DNW: King's Quest 2015

I played KQ VI for the first time early this year and was completely charmed by it. While I'd like the focus to be on KQVI things I'm good with pulling in details from the other games in the original series too. Just nothing specific to the 2015 reboot please as I've never played or seen it.

I found Alexander quite endearing. I was really interested in Cassima and while she's stuck in the damsel in distress role she felt less like one--she was ready to take action and just needed that opportunity, and was so protective and dedicated to her home.

Saladin could be interesting from a conflicted loyalty to the crown perspective. It's tough being a guard dog!

Rotten Tomato... sometimes you just gotta have fun. He was an entertaining grump nyehh.

Some general ideas:

Even with the genie's help, I'm sure there are still things to take care of after the mess Alhazred left. Or go with the worse ending and Alexander and Cassima having to deal with the fall-out of that.

Exploration of Cassima before Alexander arrives? She's pretty trapped but bound to be something there... Does she managed to communicate anything with Saladin? Does Alhazred just keep wrecking things?

Alexander and Cassima having an adventure after the end possibly tying into that first point but with the land of the green isles anything could go! Maybe they come across Rotten Tomato again and need his help with something.

Cassima doings and thoughts while Alexander is doing his thing in game

-

Crossbell

Alex Dudley

Elie MacDowell

KeA

Lloyd Bannings

Randy Orlando

Sergei Lou

Tio Plato

Zeit

Fandom Specific DNW: Spoilers for Reverie or Daybreak, shipping between any of the characters listed here - gen only, please!

I love the found family feels among the SSS, Dudley yanked in too. Any combination of characters is welcome here.

Tio and Randy sibling like relationship and some shared similarities in childhood trauma

Sergei and Dudley working together in the past or present or just a little break. Totally not getting attached to the SSS

KeA winning over Dudley because none can resist her

Anything relating to KeA's powers. Explore them!

SSS family time

#yuletide #yuletide 2023 #letters #letter

[thesparringpanther]

The Dragon Prince Book 4 Review:

Just writing down my longer thoughts. It's not like this show will be back this year anyway so.

Pros:

Janaya. My crops were watered. I love delving into Janai's character a bit and showcasing her trials and tribulations as the Sunfire Queen, along with the social dynamic of marrying a human. It's cute seeing Amaya support Janai through her troubles too. I was really hoping the show would showcase the troubles of humans and Elves integrating on a larger scale and not just end with "humans and Sunfire Elves are cool now, let's focus on the 5 other tribes that hate humans" and I'm glad they delivered.

Magefam, but more importantly, Claudia, stole the show. She has stepped up in her villainy and while (thankfully) kept her immaturity and, it's fun to see her slowly become crueler as well. The new spells she used were really good and really made her a threat to the cast and a joy to watch. Also they gave her a different outlook outside of trying to keep her family together (because daddy issues can only take you so far) with her actually believing Aaravos, whereas Viren was always just using him for power.

Terry, full stop. My fear was that Terry would have nothing to him and be an obvious Soren replacement, but, Terry has no real need to impress Viren and somewhat impresses Viren by just being himself. It's a breath of fresh air for the Magefam dynamic, because Soren couldn't impress Viren without becoming someone he's not, and Claudia is his spitting image as a mage, albeit sillier, so even at her worst he'll still love her. Its both heartwarming and heartbreaking that Terry has a closer bond with Viren than Season 1 Soren did (I don't think he likes either BUT he's groaning less with Terry).

It's fun seeing Viren essentially go "Are we the baddies?" to Claudia, who at the very least has murdered people by now.

Ezran has grown so much its unreal. Its very prominent in the 2nd episode with Ezran really wanting to have a whole "and then we all held hands and forgot we've been trying to murder each other for centuries" energy for Zubeia & Zym, it amounts to what a 10-year old's expectation of resolving such a deep-seated conflict, but then stepping up and acknowledging that what he was doing was unrealistic, you cannot just forget about the pain and the damage and the loss and pretend nothing bad happened to strive for peace, you have to remember all of those negative emotions and still strive for peace anyways because you will inevitably just keep causing that same pain for future generations. That boy was raised right.

Rex Igneous is so good. Love the way he was bored of visitors and tore down Avizandum. To me he feels like he's indifferent to humans, whereas Avizandum, Sol Regem, and Zubeia probably were anti-human. Makes me wonder how the Tideblood & Moonshadow Archdragon will act.

Sad that Aaravos had to leave the show for a while to hype his return but him making fun of all the heroes before smashing his own mirror is soooooooo worth it. He knows how important presentation is for villains. I do wonder if that means that Aaravos' consciousness was transferred to Sir Sparklepuff and he didn't want the heroes to wonder why he's braindead in that mirror.

Cons:

I mean I could go on an episode-to-episode basis but uh:

The entire season feels like a first draft, which is disappointing after waiting for 3 years. Overall it's a downgrade compared to Seasons 2 and 3, and at times even worse than Season 1. There are still things I enjoyed but honestly this is the show's worst outing.

The pacing, particularly the Drakewood episodes, are cramped. It doesn't breathe. Character interactions that SHOULD have happened here (Callum & Rayla, Soren & Viren) but didn't because we had other things to address. I get it, but you can't repeat the emotions that could follow Soren after being abandoned by Rayla and captured, stripped of his armor, berated by Claudia that everyone else is treating him like a joke, meeting his dad that makes him feel small and unwanted. Especially when this will be the nicest Viren will ever be in all 7 seasons. I can only hope it was a deleted scene and moved later on so the words can sink in.

Soren being missing and possibly dead or gravely hurt should have raised the stakes and tension for the original Dragang. Instead it feels like a complete afterthought by the start of the next episode.

Rayla.....oof. Disappointing on all accounts. For such a setup of her going on a revenge quest (in a show where revenge quests just cause even more damage) by abandoning her newfound family it's anti-climactic. It's a good thing that they didn't have Rayla come back with info, since that would justify that it was a good thing Rayla left. Most of this season felt like Rayla tagging along for the ride rather than Rayla being one of the main characters.

Maybe it didn't click for me, but, like, alot of the Rayllum scenes didn't have the bite that comes with your ex coming back into your life after ghosting you. There was no emotional catharsis for both. Ultimately their breakup and reunion did not fix any flaw either of them had, so it is functionally meaningless.

Culturally insensitive Amaya works. Culturally insensitive Amaya that is the fiance of the Sunfire Queen does not. The plot makes more sense coming from an Amaya that's either recently dating Janai or pining for her and has recently begun living in the Lux Aurea camps, but it looks like she's been living with Sunfire Elves since the end of Season 3? Not knowing their mourning ritual when this was done en masse following the Fall of Lux Aurea when she was quite literally there? Engaged to the Sunfire Queen? Make it make sense. I'm also not expecting that Amaya should be well-researched into Sunfire culture eithrr, but there needs to be a balance in what Amaya should know and what she shouldn't.

Really disappointed that the other human kingdoms didn't exist this season. Both in the case that Ezran can now do what he wants instead of having to balance between leading a Kingdom and adventuring with Callum & Rayla (which was cool to spin in Book 2 and 3), but also that I think it would be important to highlight that there are just as many factions of humans as there are of elves. Just because 1 kingdom is cool with Elves and Dragons doesn't mean the rest are. Granted the humans seem to be more unified than the Elves, as no other Elves are helping the Sunfire Elves rebuild, so maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill. But I still think Ezran should be making policies ALONG with the rest of the Kingdoms rather than just Katollis like how Viren was doing it, even if the end result will just be Ezran running off again.

The season finale is both anticlimactic and confusing, and neither are in a good way. Are the Dragang supposed to end the season without the map so they have to chase the Magefam first? Is that why Rex threw a huge temper tantrum last minute? Why does his trust of the Dragang stay at 0 even after Zubeia calms him down? Is the plot of the show (fate of the world) hinging on the cast not wanting to disturb Rex again? HUH?

#the dragon prince #the dragon prince spoilers #the dragon prince season 4 #tdp analysis

[miyoron]

Miyo’s Animes of 2022: A List About Things I Liked

Hi hello! It’s that time of year again! The time where I put in random anime shows I liked for the year and maybe go over dumb things that happened in all our lives.

Maybe? ...no? Yea me neither, I wanna just talk about nerd bullshit so let’s do that yea? YEA! As always, I will be writing these as I feel like in a random order and using whatever name I choose whether it’s the Japanese title or the English translated one...just go with it ok?

****PREVIOUS YEARLY WRITE UPS****

https://miyoron.tumblr.com/post/155146006684/miyos-anime-of-note-of-2016s

https://miyoron.tumblr.com/post/168918050454/miyos-anime-of-various-notes-2017-edition

https://miyoron.tumblr.com/post/181565753419/miyos-anime-of-note-2018-rainbow-edition

https://miyoron.tumblr.com/post/189938086634/miyos-anime-of-the-decade-though-actually-just

https://miyoron.tumblr.com/post/639065021256810496/miyos-2020-anime-extravaganza

https://miyoron.tumblr.com/post/672147095495589888/miyos-animated-things-of-note-2021-hello-and

***************************************** My Dress Up Darling

This show was one I was initially a little wary on because like...you always gotta be careful with shows that seem horny you know? Like “am I going to end up on a list or something like that?” Thankfully though, while this is horny, it’s also freaking adorable which is always a plus in my eyes.

The story of the show is Japanese doll maker apprentice Gojo is thrust into a wild and frantic world of an aspiring cosplayer and intense gyaru, Marin Kitagawa. What follows is a fun little romcom following their adventures of learning more about the hobby and about one another of course. Marin bringing Gojo into her surprisingly dorky interests and him becoming just as enraptured about capturing the characters in costume as she is portraying them. It also helps that Marin just has some of the best expressions of the year, every one she makes is great and fun to see.

What’s also great is the fact that she actively loves him like...falling into a blushing fit at the thought of admitting it even when he’s mostly unaware of it. It’s a great show and brought back memories of cosplay planning sessions from my college years, even when I was mostly there for emotional support to keep my friends from going nuts sewing seifuku. Joy of a show, go look into it!

Symphogear XV

I've been a watcher of Symphogear in the past and haven't really written about it because I guess I didn't have much to say? I like the music and the characters but other than that there wasn't much I felt like I could write down and sound interesting. But hey, I finally finished the show so I thought I'd write down that hey, the last season is really good!

Symphogear is a series that is defined by its bombastic action where you have character launching ICBM missiles, giant swords from the heavens or just suplexing space shuttles. Yes, all this happens throughout the course of the show and I'm not exaggerating. The fifth season, XV, is the culmination of the high impact singing and battles and just hits every note perfectly. Heh, note. See what I did there?

The characters all get to have their own little moments and the relationships between them all is probably my number one reason I enjoy the show. Look, when you can have two girls be basically married and the series all but says it outloud, I'm for it. Hibiki is Miku's action hero wife and I will hear nothing else from you lot. The show was a great send off and with news of a new project next year on the horizon, all we can do is wait and see what's next.

Spy x Family

I originally tried to read this manga a couple years back and somehow couldn't get into it. Maybe it was just the long feeling opening chapters that did it, it's hard to say. That being said, seeing it put out in animated form is what finally did it for me as I caught up between the 1st and 2nd cours and am glad I did.

The basis of the series is super spy Twilight, alias Loid Forger, has to go undercover to get at a political figure and to complete this mission he has to make a fake family. Adopting an unknowing mind reading orphan, Anya, and unknowingly marrying a trained assassin, Yor, such is the basis for the comedy and heart of the show. Only Anya knows the truth of the situation and she thinks it's awesome and cool.

You probably don't need me to say much about this show since it IS wildly popular, but I liked it and think you should check it out. The new family member in the second half of the show and Loid's fellow undercover colleague are super fun additions and I loved every moment Fiona was on screen. It's a fun show, and I say check it out.

Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story

Probably one of the weirder shows I watched this year, the show about hyper intensive golf with a weird "buy Gunpla" message barely hidden in it. Like I don't actually wanna describe too much of what happens in this show because it's wild and you honestly probably wouldn't believe me even if I said so.

Eve is an underground golfer whose style is power and defeating her opponent above anything else. Crush their hopes, crush their spirits, that's her style of golf. That is until she plays a round with Aoi Amawashi, a high level teen golfer who is the only one who's been able to beat her. She wants her win back. Meanwhile Aoi wants to play here again because she's the first one she's had fun golfing against in ages. The story that follows goes to bring them together to finally have their rematch.

This show goes interesting places and near the end, every week had me on edge on what was going to happen. I will say, if you want to binge it, be warned it ends on a mid season cliffhanger and the new eps don't begin til Spring anime 2023 so you'll be waiting a while. Either way, check it out when you can, it's a trip.

The Demon Girl Next Door

It was a treat to see this show get a second season after being absent for a few years. Shamiko and friends are back for more awkward ineffective demon fun and trying to get better at this whole "Demon" thing.

This season was cute because Shamiko had to really step up and take charge, even if she was kind of bad at it. She helped Mikan clean out her apartment, was able to find her hidden item left behind by her father and even make it into a giant fork to use against her enemies! Though of course, the main thing here was all of her interactions with Momo. There's something about a mostly uninterested magical girl going through life half teasing her friend and half being embarrassed about interacting with her.

There was also some fun new friends in the form of fellow demons Riko and Shirosawa, a Chinese fox and Japanese tapir respectively, and the little cafe Shirosawa owns. It's a fun little show that still feels like something from the mid 2010s but it's a good one of those so I feel in the end, it's all good. Ganbare Shamiko!

Kaguya-sama Love is War

Kaguya is still a funny show, one of the funnier romcoms out there to be honest. The tale of two hyper intelligent stupid teenagers in love who want the other to admit it continues with the usual hilarious results.

The big set piece for the 3rd season is the incoming culture festival, the second half of the show leading up to it and the big reveal involving Shirogane's future. Why does he need to confess to Kaguya before the end of the festival? Will Kaguya accept? Will she fold first? What dumb bullshit is Chika going to do? These and more await you in Kaguya!

Yea I don't have much to add, like I said. It's still funny, there's fun new character interactions with Miko being on the student council now and Ishigami trying his best to confess to a senpai of his own. What I'm saying is if you liked the previous seasons, you'll probably enjoy this one too. We get a movie in February so there's more coming up too, so let's go watch! Or not, I'm not your mom.

Komi-san Can't Communicate

The second half of Komi! It's here and introduces more fun characters to become friends with! Also everyone's faves are still around of course, like problem child Najimi who is here to be your angle AND your devil at all times. All so that Komi can make all the friends and try to get over her horrible social anxiety. It's a tough world but having friends helps I feel.

Like I said, this season introduces more characters from the manga and the fun situations along the way. We have the school trip to Kyoto which features a bunch of fun interactions, like buff posing in the hot springs and the introduction of the mysterious yo yo wielding hero. Plus it introduces one of my favorite, equally awkward characters, Katai. A big beefcake of a boy who is horrifyingly scary because he's enormous and looks intimidating but he's just bad at talking and...you get the idea. I love him.

I have a lot of sequels on this list so I think a lot of my paragraphs might end with "it's more of X, so you'll probably enjoy it". That being said, it's more Komi so....you'll probably enjoy it. See that's not so bad huh?

LOVE LIVE CORNER

Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club

Yes indeed, they keep making more Love Lives and I keep eating them up like the monster I know I am. That being said, they are different enough at least and the Nijigasaki shows are a bit more interesting than the others for the fact they have a different style than the rest. Also there's just SO many of them, you've got plenty of fun girls to watch.

The introduction of new characters Shirioko, Lanzhu and Mia leads to new interactions which may have played out different than the phone game version but...I never finished those so, whatever~ That being said, I loved just the sheer overpowering force of Lanzhu coming in and taking no prisoners. Sure, she can't just be a big rude force all the time and has to become a friend in the end but her initial entrance is just bombastic enough to be super fun. She is here to idol and FUCK anyone in her way.

Niji has a lot of fun little side cameos too of the Normal rank idol randos from the original phone game that shows just..a nerdy interest in LOVE LIVE LORE I can appreciate. You go chameleon girl, take the spot and run for it. We have an OVA for this sometime and a set of what looks like short gag eps coming up so that should be fun. I will send out love to Setsuna's actor, Tomori Kusunoki, who sadly has to step away from the role for health reasons. We'll hopefully continue to see her in other shows for years to come.

Love Live! Superstar!!

This show I enjoyed last time but season 2 I enjoyed way more. Weirdly, going from a unique 5 person group to the old reliable 9 person group, worked out better for me. Maybe it's just because the new ones added were goofy and fun and gelled well with the rest of the cast, even with some goofy story telling decisions.

Liella got popular! And thanks to that they got fans! Though they wanted to get more members and that's where our first years come up! Like I said, the new girls are fun and I just can't gush enough about Natsumi. The best little Love Live goblin in a while. I love her shitty youtube plans and her thoughts to monetize everything for her own benefit. Like I said just...it's fun, she's fun! Also they let her say a cuss.

Superstar has another season coming up next year I believe, or it atleast has another season somewhere down the line. We'll see what happens with more rival idols getting closer to Kanon's fan girl creating energy then. I'll look forward to it!

Ya Boy Kongming!

So I played a lot of Dynasty Warriors back on the PS2 and I also read some of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms as well. What I'm saying is this is a series up my alley in way that you wouldn't expect it to be but it is.

Kongming, the legendary strategist, has died and been reborn in modern world Japan. Becoming entranced by a demon from Hell, he wakes up the next day and learns he got drunk on Halloween night and the demon was in fact Eiko, an aspiring singer. From there, he pledges himself to become her strategist and help her in her goals and to bring about an end to pain and war through her singing. He believes in her so much, even if she's a bit embarrassed about it initially.

Seeing classic strategies being put in the modern world and used to strictly build cred in the music world is fun and silly. Eiko is a good character with fun outfits and I love seeing her make friends with new people. Gaining new allies in her battle to become a singer with Kongming helping all the way is just..yea I like it a lot. Also probably the most banger op of the year? I listened to it a LOT.

Now we pause for the PRECURE STOP

Yes Precure 5!

Me and Cheapsteaks did our annual dual old Cure season watch and the first one we started was Yes Precure 5 which was the first 5 person team one. I'll say it definitely felt like an early 00s Magical Girl show but it was starting to get down what Precure is I feel. I really liked the Cures, especially Dream and Rouge.

That being said, there's definitely some things about this one I wasn't as huge a fan of. The villains primarily were really lackluster compared to the previous ones in Splash Star and the ending felt really anticlimatic. On top of that, Nuts and Coco were fine but after a bit their fairy voices really wear you down. Similarly, Milk is a little pain and not in the fun goblin way.  That being said, these are very minor complaints for a show for babies.

The movie was super fun though and was more fun than one would expect. We've got the sequel, Yes Precure 5 GoGo! already started for next year so we'll see if it deserves a 2nd 49 episode season or if it shoulda just been smushed all into one, an opinion I have had previously regarding Futari wa/Max Heart.

Suite Precure

Suite Precure was much more fun in comparison.  Maybe it's because it's a later show so they learned how to do things, maybe I just liked the story and animation better. Whatever the case, Suite does a lot of things I enjoy.

Doofy villain trio? Check. Even doofier baby brained fairy? Check. Super good gal pals teaming up to beat up said villains? Quadruple check. Yea, the musical themed world and fairies and transformations are fun and I was happy when the Precure finally all assembled just for the musical tones accompanying it. I guess I don't have much to say just that I had fun watching this one a lot more.

Accompanying Yes Precure 5 GoGo, we have also started Doki Doki Precure so we're in the final laps of watching all the series. Then it's on to all the All Star movies and other related content!

Delicious Party Precure

The current running Precure, I like the designs a lot and parts of the story are good and cute. But I have a bone to pick, an axe to grind, a suggestion for future cures maybe. I'm probably being dumb but maybe they should just plan to have 45 episodes anymore because the delays that hit both this and Healin' Good a few years ago have hampered the story from feeling satisfying. Again, I know it's a show for babies but when the delays affect things this bad, maybe just plan for a shorter show and use the extra eps for throw off stuff, like when Tropical Rouge did its 11 Random Stories episode.

I'm being mean, I'm sorry about that. Precure is still good and I just get heated when it affects ones with characters I feel are made specifically for me. Ran wasn't hit as hard and screwed over like Hinata was because she atleast gets more time to show off. And what she can show off is just a wide array of facial expressions that I look forward to each week. Behold just a few examples.

Like I said, I still like the show and the characters but again, lackluster villains can really hinder a show I enjoy. Hear my suggestions Toei, suggestions from some random dingus on the internet across the world. I promise it's a good idea!

Lycoris Recoil

Hideo Kojima's anime of the year! This one I initially checked out because I kept seeing the meme going around of Chisato getting kicked in the back of the thigh and wondering "what's that from?" Well the answer is LycoReco, a show with girls and guns and action.

Lycoris is a secret organization which has high school girls trained for covert tactical ops and Takina has just been kicked out of the central command for putting her fellow agents at risk. The solution? Shack her up with Chisato, a peppy Lycoris member who is also on the out with the main command for just..doing as she pleases pretty much. It's a real odd couple situation, if they were gun wielding high school students for the government. LycoReco is an action thrill ride with hints of intrigue along the way that make you want to see what happens next week.

There's lots of fun little moments and character interactions, and one major secondary character who has a past you would not expect. And it's treated with way more care than you'd expect any popular media to really. It's a good show and just furthers the Yuri Aquarium Agenda. It's everywhere man, open your eyes!

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners

This is a game I haven't played and don't intend to play. That being said, I will always check out a Trigger show and this one was no exception. Edgerunners is a cool little show with a lot of action going on and it has that super stylized look that all Trigger shows have. There's a lot of fun characters and thankfully there is the ever present force of the Trigger Gremlin character, this time in the form of Rebecca.

The story isn't going out to break the mold, but the world and characters are cool as shit. I love the look of it and would gladly recommend it to others who want to see some crazy action scenes. It's not everyone's tastes and I do wish parts of it went different but I had a fun enough time to recommend it in the end so that as you will.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury

I haven't watched a Gundam in a while and I don't really have a good reason why not. Maybe I'm lazy, maybe I'm a nerd who likes female protagonists more than male ones. Who knows! What I do know though is that I'm having fun watching Witch from Mercury and a large part of that is I just really like Suletta's design and character. This is honestly just a good year for characters who are bad at social interaction, though Suletta's feels different in comparison to say a Komi or (spoilers) a Kobeni.

The mystery of the Witches and the Gundam program slowly unraveling is keeping me going week to week and I look forward to the second part in the spring. Well, that and the Utena vibes being given off with the duels and bride system at the school. It's an interesting set up and I'm glad I started watchin. It also gave us more gremlins in the form of Chuchu who continues the proud Gundam tradition of just decking people in the face.

I hope their business does well!

Do It Yourself!!

Do you like videos about crafts? Do you like anime about girls doing random things and learning new skills? Then I have the show for you! Yua is learning how much she enjoys making things with her new club, even if she's very clumsy and injury prone. It's okay though cuz Pudding is there to look after her.

The show is a nice and comfy little thing with a bunch of very on the nose puns for names and honestly I don't think that's a bad thing. Jobko's actor has a very fun performance, even if her main joke is "foreign girl speaking Japanese." But you know what? It's an easy joke and I don't mind it.

Also I like the character designs in general, the colors are soft and cozy and really fit the characters well. Call me a sucker, but I'm always for cute friendships and DIY has it in spades.

Chainsaw Man

Chainsaw Maaaaan Chainsaw Maaaaan! Chainsaw Man is good and cool! It's a super fun manga and I think the anime did a pretty dang good adaption of it. The cast is fun and I think they cast them all really well. The action is good and even the bits of CG that look a bit wonky are on background characters so I don't really see that much of an issue.

Honestly, I don't know what all to say like...it made me wanna reread the manga again because it's just filled me with good memories of the first time I did so. Seriously, just go watch this and also read it. It's gritty and grungy and that's fucking cool.

Pictured:  Intelligence

Mob Psycho 100

It's good to see Mob on this list again and that it hasn't had some change of animation studios affecting it like One Punch Man's second season.  The effects are as bombastic as always and the battle are always on point with the visuals being some of the best I've seen this year which is kind of par the course for Mob, but it's still great to watch.

Of course, the main draw of Mob isn't the battles but it's seeing how Mob himself has grown over the course of the series. This season, our dear Shigeo is getting a little cocky even, thinking he's finally hit his popular time with girls. Follow Mob as he tries to come out on top and finally ask Tsubomi-chan out! Can he do it? The answer might surprise you! Or it might not if you've read the manga before.

Seriously though, it was great seeing Mob again and I still love how committed he is to those he cares about. It just goes to show that not every conflict needs to be solved with a fight, but with a heart to heart and I dunno, I just think that's a great lesson. Mob's greatest strength is his humanity and I think we can all agree, that's why we love him.

Bocchi the Rock

Rounding out the year for social anxiety, we have Bocchi the Rock. A show about an awkward girl who failed at forming a band in middle school and at social interactions throughout her life. A girl who is terrible at existing and would prefer to just keep herself walled up in her closet making youtube guitar videos for the masses. Bocchi is relatable sometimes in ways I feel like we all experience sometimes.

Bocchi finally gets her chance though, meeting up with Nijika and Ryo who are trying to find a guitarist for their band after the original one flaked. What follows is a blossoming friendship and the beginning to the Keissoku Band, ready to entertain the masses...if Bocchi can get the courage to play outside of a cardboard box and or trash can.

The show is seriously fun and another case of good expressions. I only got a few of Bocchi's here but she has so many I don't even know where to begin to be honest. Seeing her try to get the confidence along with her friends, while simultaneously melting down at anything even remotely social, is again something I think all of us can relate to sometimes. I'm happy for getting to know Bocchi and I kind of hope to see more down the road. If not, I appreciate what we got though.

Pop Team Epic

It's fucking back and it's just as fun as ever. More goofy bits, more random voice actor pairings and a fun new gimmick of them just chatting together at the end of each episode is just...it's great, I love it. Pop Team is still so good.

The parodies, the comedy, it's all still there and it's just what you want. The return of the Aoi Shota cinematic universe..just I can't praise it enough. You should go watch it, it's great. Here's a little spoiler of things to come if you do...

POP TEAM EPIC

So that's my anime list for the year. Like I said, it's a bunch of random things in mostly the order I watched them in throughout the year. Here's a couple more random things to tide you over!

Anime Movies I Enjoyed!

Pompo the Cinephile - Fun movie with real good animation Revue Starlight The Movie - Great music as always and some crazy scenes, so nice I saw it twice Dragonball Superhero - The Piccolo movie we always wanted, so nice I saw it twice pt 2 One Piece: Red - Good music, pretty fun movie over all Yuru Camp: The Movie - So good to see these girls again and just as comfy as ever. Made me wish my job felt as fulfilling as they did in the movie though

Show I Enjoyed but Can't Form a lot of words about! Gunbuster - It rules! Go watch it! It's rad!

Show With Oops Political Timing! Teppen - !!! - Doofy comedy show with a fun opening which had to hold back an ep due to the assassination of Shinzo Abe. Oops on unforeseeable events!

I can't think of much else so...I hope you had a good time reading and have a good 2023. Let's all be safe and not suck ok?

#MiyosDumbAnimeList

[miraclelevellan]

Gonna talk about the datamined dlc so

Obviously I'm thrilled that Hector and Chrom are in it,becuase my men~. I have a type and it's Blue. Hopefully at least one of them comes with their boyfriend but I have a feeling Eliwood is gonna be left out,especially since Robin's Thoron is supposedly in the game files

Veronica is really the only choice for Heroes rep. She won a CYL,she got a Legendary before Askr trio,and she has geinue character development unlike the Askr trio. Yeah Alfonse got some but it was traits he already had.

Camilla is a choice for sure,but we know why she got in. I'm not upset since I like Camilla and with Ivy having a lot of similarities I wasn't to surprised.

But fuck the final bracelet. Piece of shit Soren getting in? God it's gonna be a long year since I'm sure he won cyl to. Thank god I have as many tags of his muted/blocked becuase I hate this cunt. Legit only fear of Tellius remake is having IkexSoren canonized becuase I will kill him off to stop him from getting any support points. And honeslty as a lover of Tellius,the games don't need a 3rd rep. Julia could've fit the mage dlc bracelet and have given Holy Wars their 2nd generation rep. But yeah sure let's give it to the oily bitch with the emotional availability of a rock

#fire emblem #fire emblem engage #rant at the end #not a good one for soren fans #what the fuck is the tag called? #anti-soren #fuck him

[insomniac-jay]

BNHA Next Gen: Revamped

A revamp of my BNHA next gen because I plan to redo the story of them with some more details.

Yukiana Midoriya/Snowbelle: The eldest daughter of Izuku and Shoto Midoriya. Yukiana is definitely the golden child and is the smartest, most powerful, and arguably the prettiest. She's a recent college graduate and is planning on heading overseas with her boyfriend Gakudan.

Quirk: Snow - By lowering the temperature of her body, Yukiana has the power to create and manipulate snow, snowflakes, and ice. With some training, she is able to cause full on snowstorms and blizzards.

Hisao Midoriya/Hephaestus: The second eldest child and first son of Shoto and Izuku. He is autistic and his special interest is engineering. Because of this and the fact that he might be insane, he has chosen to become a support hero. He is just as smart as his older sister.

Quirk: Pyro - By increasing his body temperature, Hisao can create and control flames and their intensity. He mainly uses this when he makes support items in the school forge.

Kasumi Midoriya: Middle child. Kasumi has no interest in heroics, instead turning to becoming a doctor. So far, she is working towards a scholarship for Japan's best medical school.

Quirk: Mist - Kasumi has the power to create and manipulate mist and fog. She rarely uses her Quirk, but when she does its for certain purposes.

Kanon Kirishima/Red Demoness: The eldest child of the disgraced Bakugo and Kirishima. She was born Quirkless, something that has brought her the ire and vitriol of her estranged father Katsuki. But what she lacks in power, she makes up for in other skills such as swordsmanship, martial arts, and dance. At night, she is known as the vigilante Red Demoness.

Katsura Kirishima/Bombshell: Katsura is next child after Kanon. She has a disdain for Katsuki as he often used her to try and pit the rest of his children against their elder sister. She has a lot of trauma from her upbringing and has changed her appearance (plus her personality) numerous times to try and get away from it.

Quirk: Bombshell - She can cover herself in a tough, durable armor that she can discharge in the form of an explosion with enough energy.

Katsuo Kirishima: The middle child. Katsuo has a disdain for heroics because it reminds him too much of Katsuki. Instead, his career path is a technician. He enjoys the sounds of pressing buttons and flicking switches.

Quirk: Ignite - He can harden parts of or his whole body and release explosive shards when heated up enough.

Hibana/Boom & Hanabi/Pop Kirishima: The youngest children and two of Hisao's classmates. Both of them are very much opposites: Hibana is the adventurous, wildchild twin meanwhile Hanabi is more reserved, somewhat motherly twin who keeps her sister out of trouble.

Quirks: Spark (Hibana) - Hibana has the ability to harden her skin and when there is enough heat, it can create sparks that she has control over the intensity of.

Firework (Hanabi) - Hanabi has the ability to harden her skin and shoot out colorful fireworks that explode upon contact with a target.

Gakudan Yaoyorozu/Musicmaster: Eldest son of Momo and Kyoka. Another recent college graduate, Gakudan is making plans to do heroics overseas with his girlfriend Yukiana.

Quirk: Music Constructs - Gakudan has the power to create multicolored constructs made entirely out of music or sound in general.

Otoko Yaoyorozu/Melody: 2nd eldest and one of Hisao's classmates. She's definitely a lot more girly than people expect, but don't let that fool you. She's is most definitely a threat.

Quirk: Music - Otoko has the power to produce different types of music based on her emotions. For example, happiness creates pop music, anger creates rock, etc. She can also use the music she produces to affect the emotions of others.

Anastasia "Anna" Yaoyorozu: The youngest child. Anna was adopted by Momo and Kyoka while the pair were on a trip to Europe. She since then has taken a liking to her new home and family.

Quirk: Imagiworld - Anna has the power to open portals to imaginary worlds that she can create. With a bit more training, she might have the power to trap others in these worlds.

Daishin Sero/Hotwire: The eldest of Denki and Hanta's children. He's a pretty chill guy and is an avid skateboarder. Much like Sero, Daishin is highly acrobatic and was even qualified to partake in the Olympics at some point. He is dating fellow college graduate Makoto Tetsutetsu.

Quirk: Livewire - Daishin can produce wires from any part of his body that can produce electricity.

Teiko Sero/Black Shock: The youngest and only daughter of Denki and Hanta. She's very emo and unironically reads Twilight. She wears the harshest makeup imaginable and everyone just lets her.

Quirk: Cable - Teiko can produce cables from her body (mainly fingertips) that can shock people upon contact. They can also be plugged into devices.

Makoto/Iron Maiden & Tetsuka Tetsutetsu/Mercurina: The twins of Tetsutetsu and Itsuka. The two are the same but opposites at the same time. Either way, both of them are protective of each other and Kin. Makoto is dating Daishin while Tetsuka is dating a college grad named Amanda.

Quirks: Metal Mitts (Makoto) - Makoto has the power to cover her hands entirely in iron and can even change their size.

Mercury - Tetsuka can cover her body in a malleable mercury armor that allows her to change both her shape and size.

Kin Tetsutetsu: The youngest child. He's a fighter who's got a lot of spirit. Kin's not really interested in heroics; his passion is boxing.

Quirk: Heavy Metal Giant - Much like his father, Kin can cover himself in a durable iron armor but he can also increase both the size of his body and/or his limbs. He can also add weight to himself in iron form.

Akiko Iida/Machina: Tenya, Yuga, and Hatsume's daughter and Kira's sister. The best words to describe her are insane and built different; especially since she's doing what no hero had done before and is becoming a support hero (Hatsume's proud). Biologically, she's Tenya and Mei's daughter.

Quirk: Zoom - Akiko has engines in her legs like any other member of the Iida family and Hatsume's eyes, but hers is quite unique. Her version serves as a sort of homing in device. Basically, she can run super fast and her eyes are a homing device so she can focus on her target.

Kira Iida/Comet: Akiko's younger sister. She's sorta an outcast due to the whole Aoyama situation but understands that it wasn't fair to him and her grandparents. Biologically she's Tenya and Yuga's.

Quirk: Lightspeed - Kira has the power to run at the speed of light.

Hiromi Tokage/Splice: Yui and Setsuna's only child. She's the resident punk on campus but she's a total sweetheart.

Quirk: Modibody - Hiromi can split up parts of her body and change their size at will.

Mizumi Uraraka/Aquana: Ochako, Toga, Mina, and Tsuyu's daughter. Mizumi is very much a sweetheart who loves surfing and marine biology. She is currently dating both Hiromi and Akiko. Biologically she is Ochako and Mina's.

Quirk: Liquid - Mizumi has the power to create and lift any type of liquid; this includes acid.

Uten Uraraka/Rainfrog: Mizumi's younger brother. He's like a more nicer version of Tsuyu mixed with Toga's hyper energetic personality. Biologically he is Tsuyu, Mina, and Toga's.

Quirk: Poison Dart Frog - Uten has the abilities of a poison dart frog including colorful skin, poison and acid production, and camouflage. He also has minor shapeshifting powers.

Shinpachi Ojiro/Shadow: Ojiro and Tooru's son. He's possibly the most powerful of his graduating class given the nature of his Quirk.

Quirk: Spectrum - Shinpachi can turn parts of and/or his whole body into a prism and can absorb different levels of energy. He can then discharge in the form of rays or through other methods.

Yoruko Shoji/Night Raven: Shoji and Tokoyami's eldest. She is beauty, she is grace, she will indeed punch you in the face. 100% goth.

Quirk: Shadow Puppets - Yoruko has the power to create shadow puppets of various things including animals, people, and objects.

@calciumcryptid @pizzolisnacks @peachyblkdemonslayer

#jay's bnha ocs #bnha next gen #it's back bitches

[ultrahpfan5blog]

The Flash Season 1 - Retrospective Review

So I started watching The Flash from scratch again. With Season 9 on the horizon sometime in 2023, I figure I will slowly work myself through the rest of the show. Watching season 1 of the show again reminded me of how good it was. I am not of the opinion that The Flash has become a bad show now. But I admit that Season 1 is probably still its strongest season and the rewatch affirmed that to me.

In all honesty, season 1 of The Flash is definitely the single best season in the Arrowverse. That includes S&L seasons, Arrow season 2, Legends season 3 onwards etc... Everyone obviously has their favorite shows so this is obviously a subjective opinion. But in my mind, The Flash season 1 is right up there with the best seasons of superhero tv, and its even more impressive given its a full 23 episode season while other great seasons of tv like seasons of The Boys, WandaVision, or Peacemaker are under 10 episodes. Daredevil, arguably my favorite streaming superhero show, clocked at 13 episodes.

Everything in season 1 felt very fresh and I think one of the most appealing things for me in season 1 is watching a very vulnerable hero at work. I mean, coming into The Flash, a lot of network heroes on the CW like Clark in Smallville, Oliver in Arrow, Sam and Dean from Supernatural etc... were all pretty tough men, sharpened through hardship. So even though all had moments of vulnerability, they were all characters who would brush it off and move on. But what was interesting about Barry was that he was genuinely very young, and while he had experienced a giant tragedy, his life outside of those events were still positive. He was a bright young man, in a supportive environment. So when he's faced with enormous challenges, he is not as sharpened and toughened like the heroes I mentioned above. He behaves a lot more like I would believe a regular person to. That's what made the character relatable to me. Frankly, this was true with a lot of the supporting cast as well. Cisco and Caitlin felt very realistic as characters. Not heroes independently just yet, just nerdy scientists. Joe West was a new creation in this show that doesn't exist in the comics and that character was a masterstroke and helped provide so much heart. He was the everyman amidst the unbelievable. This is true with other characters like Iris and Eddie and Ronnie and Martin Stein etc...

I think another thing that really worked for me is the tone. Season 1 managed to balance humor and drama incredibly well. The show embraced the fun of having powers like Barry had. Again, this added to the relatable quality of the characters and the show. The way people reacted to the events, felt quite real. And Barry's joy was quite infectious. But the show also didn't shirk away from drama. 'The Man in the Yellow Suit', 'Out of Time', and 'Fast Enough' are three of the most dramatic episodes of the season, dealing with quite a bit of drama and emotion, but they are all incredible and amongst my favorite episodes of the show. But the season also embraced the fun in episodes like the crossover Flash vs Arrow. There are just some memorably fun episodes, like Crazy for You with the hilarious Karaoke scene.

The villains were initially a little weak. Certainly in early episodes with characters like the first Weather Wizardd, Multiplex, Kyle Nimbus, and Farooq, but they did improve as the season went on. There were a few excellent casting decisions, like Wentworth Miller as Captain Cold, Dominic Purcell as Heat Wave, and Peyton List as Golden Glider. Mark Hamill returning from the 90's Flash series to play the Trickster was glorious. Hartley Rathaway was a pretty good villain as was the 2nd Weather Wizard. We also had Grodd, which was not something I expected to see executed on the show. But they were very smart with how they peppered him throughout the season and gave him an episode late in the season. Clancy Brown as Wade Eiling was another piece of excellent casting. It's a pity they never brought him back after the first season because he would have been a great recurring government foe. It has to be said that it can be argued that the best solo episode villains were all brought about in the first season itself.

Obviously, in a 23 episode season, not everything works perfectly. There are certainly some episodes that are a bit weaker than others and certain relationship dynamics that don't work. A couple of the early episodes has the show still ironing out the kinks. I think they perhaps overplayed their hand with Harrison Wells a bit when he killed Simon Stagg in just the 2nd episode, because that did make him very obviously villainish. Also, one of the key aspects of the season was the whole Barry and Iris one sided romance thing. 'All Star Team Up' was not as fun as it should have been. I'll be honest, I don't think the show has ever been able to properly nail down the WestAllen relationship and some of the issues come from the first season. I think Candice Patton is great but the character is written a bit flaky at times and she just isn't able to find the right fit in the show which is a problem the show has struggled with all its 8 seasons. I do think they should have continued the path of her being a reporter at an established newspaper and moving up the ranks, which would have felt more realistic than what they ended up doing eventually. Eddie Thawne was a character that initially felt a bit of a bore but the show figured out what to do with the character midway through the show and he became immensely more likable. One of my issues with WestAllen also became that I quite liked the Eddie and Iris relationship by end of season, to the point where I didn't really root for WestAllen that much. Also, Barry suddenly changing his opinion on Wells felt a little abrupt. I think it would have been a bit more plausible if his opinion had changed in the Trickster episode as opposed to the previous episode.

The casting of the main characters were all terrific. As I mentioned earlier, despite my issues with the character, Candice Patton was terrific as Iris. Rick Cosnett was excellent as Eddie, particularly in the back half of the season where he was more than just the stock boyfriend character. His death scene is definitely one of the powerful moments in the finale. Jesse L. Martin was outstanding as Joe. You can tell what a seasoned actor he is. Carlos Valdes does a lot of heavy lifting when it comes to the humor on the show but he showed himself to be equally adept at doing drama. Danielle Panabaker was wonderful. Incredibly appealing and her dynamic with Cisco is great. The whole Barry/Cisco/Caitlin nerd trio was one of my favorite parts of the first season. They all had excellent chemistry with another. It was a masterstroke to bring John Wesley Shipp as Henry Allen. A casting decision that has benefited the show throughout its run. Robbie Amell and Victor Garber were very welcome additions to the Arrowverse. As was Matt Letscher as OG Thawne.

But unarguably the two lynchpins of the first season were Grant Gustin and Tom Cavanaugh. Tom Cavanaugh as Thawne is still the best single season villain the show has had. And while he has returned many times since then, season 1 is still the highwater mark. I think it's because Thawne is such a layered character. He is bad guy but his motivations are very identifiable. He somehow manages to blend and inherent creepiness with a certain likability. He has many moments of dry humor but also fantastic dramatic moments. It's a brilliant performance and he executed the wolf in sheep's clothing character to perfection. This was also a case of hero and villain performances going brilliantly toe to toe with Grant Gustin just blowing away expectations as Barry Allen. Grant has me already invested in his two episode appearance in Arrow season 2, but he had me hooked from the scene in the pilot where he meets his father in prison. Grant Gustin's ability to show vulnerability was one of his best strengths but he also imbues the character with a lot of lightness and joy. He is just immensely likable and even when Barry does bone headed things, you are always on his side thanks to Grant. Grant and Tom facing off in these roles have always led to some of the best moments. Also, Grant absolutely owns the finale. The scene where he talks to his Mom is phenomenal acting.

All in all, this was just an excellent season of television and I had a lot of fun watching it. Arguably one of the most important seasons of tv for the Arrowverse because its success introduced the idea of time travel which fed into Legends of Tomorrow and the success of the first crossover led the way to a huge part of the success of the Arrowverse for the next 8 years. All in all, a 9/10 season.

#the flash #grant gustin #barry allen #candice patton #iris west #rick cosnett #eddie thawne #tom cavanagh #harrison wells #eobard thawne #reverse flash #jesse l martin #joe west #danielle panabaker #caitlin snow #carlos valdes #cisco ramon #robbie amell #victor garber #firestorm #ronnie raymond #martin stein #john wesley shipp #henry allen #wentworth miller #leonard snart #captain cold #dominic purcell #mick rory #heat wave

[overnightorsomeoneelse]

2nd Part of PFJ

Aiden Fox

FVLE, Goethe

The Nobility - 2nd Volition

Guys, I'm cooking something with this. Fox has never been a character who ever cared about what people thought. He was always chilling with himself and others. Yes, even with the Nightmares, whom he was going to beat in the face for Bonnie. Fox never really has enemies and treats everyone as equals. If someone violates this principle, then he interferes with it. The guy openly despises those who take advantage of weak people. Fox strives to protect the people around him. His problem with will is that he can give a lot and take responsibility for others. This is characteristic of 2V. He has a savior complex that is hard for him to get rid of and dreams about being a hero to people he knows. The subjectivity of his function is expressed in the fact that he likes to influence others. He is even capable of frightening people with his will, but in the most adequate measures. Fox has a natural sense of responsibility. Despite his often gentle demeanor, he still has a strong core within him. These are reasons that make Fox a person who will easily become someone's friend.

The Possessor - 1st Physics

What kind of person looks at this character and doesn’t say to himself: “Yes, this is just the spitting image of the 1F”? Laziness is a character trait that we immediately recognize when Fox first appears. But this laziness does not come from the fact that he doesn’t care about physics, but from introverted performance. He enjoys physical comfort, playing the simplest instrument, and eating in general. He couldn’t even resist taking a bite of the donut with which he wanted to negotiate with Towntrap. Don't get me started on his constant love for pudding. He is very confident in his physics and is always ready to throw his fists at someone.

The Skeptic - 3rd Logic

Fox's problem is his extreme skepticism. He absolutely does not accept information that will seem like a lie to him. This is a person who will not be penetrated by any argument, but inside himself will also be unsure of his judgment. Likes to argue from time to time. Has problems trusting new people.

The Onlooker - 4th Emotion

Emotions are of minor importance to Fox. He is completely dependent on his surroundings to express his emotions. He does not have deep problems with expressing emotions, and if he has them, the guy, due to the effectiveness of the function, easily gets rid of them. Has a simple interest in this function.

Ann Chica

EFVL, Pushkin

The Middle Class - 3rd Volition

Ann Chica's will can easily be revealed after watching episode 19. The episode "Chica's Dream" easily reveals the essence of her will. She strives to realize her ambitions, but her core personality is also fragile. Chica may doubt the actions she took to achieve her goal. By combining 3V with her first emotion, Anne's "mental breakdowns" become huge drama, as they did after Toddy's decisive humiliation. The girl immediately broke down from a deep emotional cut and was already preparing to completely give up on her dream. Once she was supported by her mother, her will rose again to the top of Everest. In her song, Chica wants a lot and more, if you read the song's lyrics. She wants to be beautiful and ideal, to be accepted by everyone, to be recognized and respected. Wants to be “different from everyone else.” Dreams of finding perseverance in himself, which is also what 3Vs usually desire. She is ready to fight with the whole world. Just an incredible amount of desire, which emphasizes the overly fantasizing 3V. Although only recently, one humiliating shot made her want to quit all my activities and plunge into complete whining. Her 3rd will can also be seen in the rest of the series. Ann Chica treats people with sharp aggression who seem to her to not respect her. She has a deep hatred for her rivals (Meg is the most obvious). To realize her own dream in the process, she usually uses connections with her friends, which emphasizes the objectivity of the function.

The Romantic - 1st Emotion

The already mentioned first emotion makes Chica scary with the 3V combination, which is why her classmates most likely try to avoid her. She does not adjust her emotional behavior with others. Pure rage, deep sadness or extreme joy are not filtered at all. Throughout the series there are overly dramatic moments of her. She behaves truly with everyone and usually wears his soul open. Chica expresses her emotions vividly.

The Toiler - 2nd Physics

Ann Chica can be called the true hard worker of the group, because she constantly uses physics for its sake. The girl confidently takes on the role of a designer and wants to improve her professional skills. Sewing is also pretty processing physical activitiy. She is always busy making costumes for her friends. Chica is also the band's guitarist, highlighting her desire for a variety of physical activities. She strongly cares about people's physical condition. The is girl is confident in her physics.

The Scholar - 4th Logic

Logic is the most unimportant function for Chica. She is not interested in long discussions or mastering her speech, but just has an idle curiosity. The girl asily believes any information and starts to thinks only in tense moments. She usually uses its logic to operate other functions in real world.

#FNAFHS #Psychosophy #Aiden Fox #Ann Chica

[smol-grey-tea]

Top 5 games, that's a good question 🤔ᴴᴹ.. Lemme list some games first so ik what to choose from

Dandelion, Nameless, Mystic Messenger, Ssum, Doki Doki Literature Club, Five Nights at Freddy's, Danganronpa, Undertale and Deltarune, Stanley Parable, Beginner's Guide, Presentable Liberty, Zelda, Minecraft, The Walking Dead Game, Life is Strange, Until Dawn, Fran Bow, Cinderella Phenomenon, ummmmm, Detroit Become Human, Beyond Two Souls, Little Misfortune, Papa's Pizzeria, Sonic Heroes, My Sims, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Mario Kart

Ok I can't rly think of any more games so I'll just rank these..

1. Nameless. Duh. ʕ͡°ʖ̯͡°ʔ

Is anyone surprised? (◉0◉)ᵎᵎᵎ It's my favourite game of all time, I identify w the whole game so much, such an emotional and gripping story, I love theorising, I love the art, I love the voice acting. I love the pure amount of passion you can tell was put into the game

It's been my favourite game for the past 7 years - it was actually my 7 year anniversary of first buying the game yesterday!! I so wish I could have official merch.. Gotta go to Korea myself one day 😊😊😊

2. Zelda

I'm being purposely vague since I kinda don't have a favourite specific Legend of Zelda game? All the Zelda games I've played before include (in order): Breath of the Wild, Link's Awakening, Age of Calamity, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Skyward Sword and now finally Tears of the Kingdom. The only games of the mentioned that I've actually completed tho are just BotW, AoC and TotK so I can't rly have too much of an opinion on the other games..

Zelda games are kinda known for their puzzles but my favourite parts about games (or really...anything) would be the story/lore and the vibe/atmosphere. I love the whole setting of the Zelda games, such a gorgeous and beautiful art style as well w the newer games, n fun adventure too!! Hell, maybe I'll even get Zelda tattoos too? Idk. I just fuckin love it tho

3. Danganronpa

I'm sorry, I like it!! I think it kinda has a bad reputation cuz of the fandom but imo the games themselves are fine (could be much worse..) and I rly love solving the mysteries!!! They are actually difficult puzzles!!! I love it!!

And the characters are so good too :) Especially w the 2nd game - the 2nd game is very good at creating characters who you can really root for or really hate and I think that's so cool. I wonder if I can be able to do that too with my own writing

4. Undertale

Bruh it's the nostalgia 😫 also it's a rly good game. I almost prefer Deltarune idk but good puzzles good characters good story and theorising material and good difficulty and-

Undertale good. I can't wait to see where Toby Fox takes his games in the future!!

5. Wii Plaza

I joke!! Haha!!

5. Ummmm idk, Five Nights at Freddy's??

It's not even rly about the game itself tho is it. It's what you associate w it. Ppl who went to see FNaF at the cinema didn't go to see a good movie, they went to see a love letter to their childhood

I remember being 11 yrs old and first finding out about FNaF by hearing my sister screaming from downstairs. I remember talking about it to my friends at school, doing impressions of the animatronics. I remember ppl talking about Markiplier and feeling guilty for watching his videos because at that age my parents weren't yet comfortable with me hearing swearing, but I still watched him anyway and I'm actually rewatching his Five Nights at Freddy's play through right now. Isn't that so cool?

I loved seeing the film at the cinema and holding my sister's hand everytime a jump scare startled her

The games are very good themselves too, even tho the guy who made them supported Trump and he also probably should've finished the series at Ultimate Custom Night and now the games are steadily losing quality and also logic but who actually cares about that in the end? Does it matter? Does it matter if the games themselves are actually good or not? I love them not just despite that but almost because of that

My hands are dry

I also rly highly recommend the other games I listed at the start too!! All of them are good, a majority from my childhood/early teens, all w fond memories attached. I find that my favourite types of games are choice based games/games w more than 1 ending (like Undertale, Walking Dead Game, Until Dawn) or visual novels (like Doki Doki, Nameless, Danganronpa). Adventure kinda games tho I think are super cool too :) 😊😊😊

(*ˊᗜˋ*)ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ so much for asking!!!!! 😁😁😁 I hope you enjoy my long responses 😊 when I think about it, I guess ppl don't usually have long responses to these kinda asks, they usually have short ones. I do love a good ramble ٩(๑˃́ꇴ˂̀๑)۶ᴳᴳ (๑`✪̤◡✪̤)◞ღԵհɑղƘՏღ

#my post #if you saw this post already no you didn't ( ｀o´)_θ☆ #ask #anonymous #(*ˊᗜˋ*)ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ

[sully-s]

Do you have any more ideas of your Connor Luther AU because I think that’s a really good idea and like his and Tim’s relationship or other hero’s and Connor Luther’s relationship would be cool :)

Also your art is amazing like wow it’s so so beautiful

I know very little about Younge Jusitce and how relationships invloing Kon work so I don't really have that many ideas about that other than

Kon never becomes a member of Young Justice but he also never becomes a bad guy like Luthor wants him to be. This makes Luthor very conflicted with his emotions becuase he's disappointed that Kon not living up to being the weapon he wants but on the other hand loves his clone son has a hard time being as critical and cruel as he is with employees keeping Kon grey character who is super susceptible to either side whoever makes the best argument or whoever encounters him first.

Most of the ideas I had about Connor Luthor AU are about Luthor and Clark's relationship with Kon like fun jabs that Luthor says to Conner about Clark being a " deadbeat " dad.

Luthor: He doesn't even pay child support Conner: It must be hard not having human money

- Clark eventually finds out about Kon (when Kon starts to do his own costume) and uses his existence in his articles pointing out all the contractions about Luthor's views on Superman being a menace when raising a half Kryptonian in a super passive-aggressive way to vent his anger about Luthor keeping Kon a secret. - that Kal would try very hard to be Kon's other father and try to relate to him.

Kal: I understand what your going through I also have had a 2nd father that I never really got to know. Kon: Totally not the same thing your dad blew up. Kal: No my space dad's consciousness is on file running the fortress of solitude found it way later in life so getting to know him was really awkward. Kon: ...Oh... Kal: Oh? Kon:...You know I've had a lot of emotions towards you...but it's not until now that I've ever felt sorry for you. Kal: Sorry for me? Kon: You really think a computer program is your dad? Kal it just ones and zeros man. You need to let go. Kal: *Breathe In Breathe Out,Clark Deep Breaths*

- I think it would be hilarious if there was a huge public custody battle, Superman vs Luthor for Kon. Superman has a great reputation and character but he's is a terrible father on paper. Constantly off-saving people? = unreliable, protecting the earth for free? = financially unstable, Questions about Superman's alienness and if he can completely emote with even a half-human, it would be a blood bath disastrous. And Luthor is the inverse. So Luthor wins easily.

- Kon learns more about Clark and gets convinced that Kal really never knew about him and was not a deadbeat father and even starts to like Clark. That he tries to set his two dads up. so they can be a "real" family. Which really disturbs both men. (I'm not aginst LuthorXClark but I think it would be funnier if they had no attraction to each other but both want to get on Kon's good side which would be shakey at this point becuase Kon would have found out that Luthor was lying to him his whole life and Kon still battling with the years of Luthor's anit superman propaganda. So they force themselves to go on these really bad social outings confusing the hell out of Metropolis, the Leauge Clark's wife Lois lol

#Kon raised as Luthor's Son AU #DCAU #DC comics #Superman #Superboy #superman #kal el #kon el

[soyala23]

Clint Barton’s Family

I’m just here sharing my two cents that no one asked for. I read a post where someone wrote people are starting to like Clint having a family and that the only reason people where against it originally was because a group of fans were too vocal that their OTP wasn’t canon [that’s such an oversimplification]. Fans for years, no matter what the fandom, complain and nitpick on how Hollywood handles their favorite characters so it’s unfair to target a group of fans for doing the same. Fans have the right to their opinions/feelings and shouldn’t be attacked for it.

My initial issues with the Barton fam, outside its awkwardness and randomness, were primarily how it crippled MCU Barton’s character. The Hawkeye series keeps taking a dig, at Clint, suggesting Hawkeye has a branding issue … really? I think not.

The truth is a lot of MCU fans never got to really know who Clint was. [Honestly, I think MCU hates Clint for some reason. Like where was Clint in CAWS when it’s about the fall of SHIELD? Whatever. MCU seems to only support heroes with flashy powers or tech imo.]

I guess ...I can get MCU’s attempt of using the family as Clint’s cornerstone, his impetus in becoming Ronin and doing whatever it took to get them back, after Thanos, but creating this family also came with consequences. Early on as soon as the family appeared, his wife wanted him to retire (as early as the 2nd Avengers movie) because they were having another child.

This took Clint out of the Avenger picture and forced him to be the least used original Avenger member… like taking house arrest because it was too hard on his family. I wasn’t thrilled about that. Clint essentially only made a guest appearance in Civil War and was completely absent in Infinity Wars. General fans didn’t have the time to connect with Hawkeye because he wasn’t there enough. It also makes you wonder how MCU Clint previously worked as an assassin and a spy, being gone months at a time, killing people, and still making it back home to be the leave it to beaver dad, but being an Avenger is now a problem. This didn’t make sense to me but that’s what you get with a choppy storyline.

Okay, so they gave him a family…but a 1950s family? Joss Whedon stated he wanted Clint to be different and normal [what’s normal anyways] compared to the other Avengers. So does normal equates to having a cookie-cutter family with a white picket fence living in a small town where the ever so polite kids can be raised with good morals? Are we returning to this old-fashion narrative to what an ideal family is because I can’t relate to it. [Is this why MCU made Natasha feel less than because she couldn’t have kids or like she should sacrifice herself because she had nothing to lose (i.e a traditional family)? I won’t go down this rabbit hole but that is pretty fucked up for the modern era.

Shoot me but I like my characters darker and more complicated …sorry. Clint has just as much blood on his hands as does Natasha. Clint overcame a lot from his own broken family growing up. Bottom-line, there is so much to Clint that I didn’t think he needed a family to define his character, in the first place.

If you are going to keep going with this family narrative, it’s about time MCU added a little tension and some complexities. I love the scene with Clint and his youngest on the phone in Ep 3. I would have to be pretty heartless not to find this scene so emotional. Any decent parent will tell you that your kids matter most over any other relationship, so I get it. Now we see Clint alone without Natasha, SHIELD, and the Avengers so all he has left is his kids. Vulnerable Clint makes me sad. Here is a guy who is so used to being in control and now he is emotionally defenseless as he must figure out who he is, deal with being HOH, and rebuild his relationship with his kids. This scene did a great job portraying all these emotions with him breaking down and being forced to rely on the help from a young girl, he just met.

On the other hand, it bothers me that the kids keep guilt tripping Clint so hard. Clint was the one who lost precious time with his kids but for them they didn’t lose a second. He literally was on house arrest with his family, for 2 years before the snap, but they act like he is a deadbeat dad who was never around (okay idk what happened those 2 years after endgame though). Clint already spent alone time when the kids for holiday activities. I was like your dad almost died bringing you guys back… when he’s trying so hard and loves you guys more than anything. Makes me annoyed at the older kids because I can understand the little one not getting it. The kids are SO lucky, and Clint is actually a pretty great dad. He sacrificed so much for you kids, c’mon.

When it comes to Laura Barton, I’ll say this (before someone shoots me down). I respect Laura Barton’s character. She is (too) sweet but strong for she must be to essentially raise her family on her own while her husband was off being an assassin, a shield agent, and then an Avenger. Like I already said, I like characters who are more realistic and complex. It just bothers me that no matter what happens, Laura has a smile plastered on her face like everything is fine. I’m a woman and none of my girlfriends would show that much blind support and trust instead of some marital strain (that would be real and not necessarily a bad thing). Clint is not the same person he was pre-blip but Clint and Laura just picked up where they left off like nothing’s changed?

I’m not sorry to say I feel that the deep emotional bond (you can define this however you want because labels do not matter) between Clint and Natasha is a lot stronger than I feel Clint has with his wife. (Real life is complicated folks so it’s not a big deal.) I go with what feels natural to me. That’s not my fault… you can blame this on the poor character development from MCU. I need something more than just Laura’s existence to prove otherwise, but it seems now after 6 years they are changing Laura’s character (especially if she is who a lot of people think she is thus creating a new character angle). At least this makes me feel validated that the MCU also realized there were flaws they wanted to fix. I’m curious to see what they do with Laura, but no offense to Laura and even Kate (love her though) but neither can compare to Natasha. Like Clint said Natasha was the best that ever was.

Honestly, I think MCU likes messing and teasing both fandoms to keep all parties interested. I mean why would they juxtapose these two scenes back-to-back in the Hawkeye episode of Legends, prior to the launch of the Hawkeye series. (you can check for yourself)

Hawkeye is so good. I love how Clint is finally able to show his skills. The occasional sweetness is fine, but Jonathan Igla admitted he was inspired by Hallmark Movies (I dread those movies). I feel like even though my emotions are being tugged at endlessly, I don’t know where they are going with this. I’m hoping for a not so sweet/happy ending. I like drama. Just don’t make Clint a supporting character in his own show.

Some people will agree with all of it, some of it, or none of it. Others won’t even care. Let’s just agree to disagree.

Thanks for letting me rant. gifs from @theavengers, @nia-s-not-so-secret-diary, @clintfbarton, @rizahawkais @agentholland @mercury-is-a-planet​ and those that are uncredited

#hawkeye #hawkeye tv #deaf clint barton #clint barton #Clint Barton needs a hug #kate bishop #natasha romanoff #natasha romanov #black widow #clint and natasha #clint/natasha #clintasha #marvel #mcu #marvel mcu #marvelheroes #marvel avengers #the avengers #superheroes #badass #badass couple #he should’ve married his best friend #barton family #laura barton #lila barton #nathaniel pietro barton #cooper barton #disneyplus #jeremy renner #laura and clint barton

[taigertea]

Kotetsu and change

I just think a lot about how so much of Kotetsu’s struggles throughout the series comes so much from his rapidly changing situation (and how glad I am that season 2 gives him a chance to breathe, so far at least, but also makes me nervous for the 2nd cour since things are going a little too smoothly and they seem to be setting up a lot of stuff) 

- Before season 1, he’s lost Tomoe, and even though it’s been 5 years, obviously Kotetsu hasn’t been able to adjust well, if at all. Who can blame him? He lost his most stout supporter, one of the few people who knew him as Kotetsu AND as Wild Tiger, the person who supported him most. 

It’s wild (ha) to me that Kotetsu was at the top of the hero rankings at some point too when Tomoe was around, and fell to the bottom. Never truly confirmed that he was ever KOH or just like ranked very highly (like 2nd) but still, he obviously did very well. Of course, at the heart of it, rank doesn’t matter to Kotetsu, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt. Episode 8 shows a former KOH who retired and ended up a commentator. You have to wonder if Kotetsu worked with him in his day and watched him retire. How many other heroes has he watched go? 

- Season 1, first half, he has to move to a new company, has 0 support there, and has a new partner who kinda seems to hate him. He has to learn how to work in a new suit that for some reason, they decided to have him essentially test run in a crime scene (might have been circumstantial - when he gets called he has to meet it, but still feels like a bad idea to have what seems like Kotetsu’s first time using the suit for work then). This point is emphasized with the whole wire malfunction.

One of my favorite scenes/episodes in the series is when Kotetsu escapes all the other heroes without his suit. It makes you wonder if the suit could almost be a hinderance at times (I’m not blaming your suit Saito, it’s just that Kotetsu’s not used to it!) I mean the suit is obviously super helpful, but I wonder if in some situation by situation basis, that Kotetsu without the suit actually sometimes works better. 

- Season 1, second half, when things are finally! looking! up! HE STARTS LOSING HIS GODDAMN POWERS. Bring on the mental and emotional fucking turmoil! This season’s pretty self explanatory honestly.

Last episode shows his comeback but he’s obviously struggling now even more than before due to the loss. Like during the second half he’s decreasing but now he’s down to 20% of the time he originally had. 

- Rising, oh dear God, Rising. Rip out my heart. The fact that Barnaby is lecturing Kotetsu on timing shows pretty clearly that Kotetsu’s still having a hard time adjusting to the new time and his self-deprecation is shown pretty damn clearly. He had a cool chase scene and nice little bout with Lunatic, but sadly neither of these can really count as wins in my opinion. It’s not until he partners with Barnaby that things really swing in his favor again, which might have been the whole point but I do remember feeling a bit disappointed Kotetsu never really got a chance to fully shine on his own during the movie. 

- Season 2, first half. Finally, FINALLY, Kotetsu gets a seasonal win. His partnership with Barnaby is PRISTINE. Kotetsu gets so many good moments, starting immediately with the first episode! His Lara save in episode 6 was super cool! He had such good momentum in his fight with Fugan, even pulling off a save for Mr Black simultaneously! Even the bout at the end of ep 12 with Fugan was so good (even though Kotetsu get’s pretty fucked up here). And it seems like it was Kotetsu’s idea to attack Fugan with his own attack! OLD MAN <3

I just,,, am so emotional about Kotetsu getting the win he deserves after such a long beatdown 😭 we see so many glimpses of how competent Kotetsu can be and I’m so happy to see it come together more

(But still very worried about second half of S2...) 

#tiger and bunny #tiger and bunny 2 #tiger and bunny 2 spoilers #kotetsu t. kaburagi #kaburagi t. kotetsu #kotetsu kaburagi #kaburagi kotetsu #tnb #dtg blabs #i couldve been more eloquent here but i can't help but be dumb for this old man