#honestly it sounds more arab influenced

[foopyboopy]

copying @jackfromthefairytale again but it's the imminence album this time

come hell or high water: this was honestly my least favorite of the singles, it's good but it's kinda repetitive. i think it's good as an opening song tho

desolation: first song i heard by this band! it's good, and a VERY good description of their sound, but there's not much more new i have to say.

heaven shall burn: 2nd favorite of the singles, behind the title track. eddie is pissed off and i am in danger 👍

beyond the pale: first new track! i have high hopes

ooh that's an architectsy riff. i like it

OOH THOSE VOCAL LAYERS IN THE CHORUS ARE SO GOOD GJEKIDJDOSKEKDPLSKSKDLSK

their architects influence is SHOWING and i am PERFECTLY okay with that

oh it's breakdown time. obliterate me pls

YUP I'M GETTING OBLITERATED

i call these "train breakdowns" because they feel like getting run over by a train OH WE'RE STILL GOING WAIT WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS DEATHCORE NOW‽‽‽‽ and now it's just the chorus again. holy shit

eddie berg how do you do that. just how.

death by a thousand cuts: VERY good track! this is the song i use to describe imminence's sound. wasn't my favorite of the singles but it's still one i put on often bc it's still SO GOOD

come what may: WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT INTRO THIS IS HEAVIER THAN CONTINUUM

OH FUCK THAT STACATTO (? forgot the word) VIOLIN IS SO GOOD

GENUINELY WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS HOLY SHIT IT'S LONGER THAN THE TITLE TRACK

THIS IS ALREADY BETTER THAN ALL THE SINGLES WHAT oh and now the chugs are broken jesus christ

genuinely how the fuck is this the same band as songs like erase. this is fucking brutal i love it

this one might beat the new mts song as my fav song this year so far

oh no it's breakdown time. i am about to die

oh? maybe not? are we getting a violin solo?? yeah i'm ABSOLUTELY down for that

OH THE DRUMS COMING IN TOO WITH THE GLITCHY SNARE oooouuuughhh (nonsexual)

this is their best song ever. like there's no contest WHAT'S THIS OH THE GUITARS ARE BACK THIS IS SOME SYMPHONIC METAL SHIT

and you're telling me this ISN'T the closing song. wtf

welp that's gonna be on repeat for a while

cul-de-sac: gonna guess this one is an intermission, it's pretty short and also following up whatever that was

yup sounds like it. it's cool tho. kinda reminds me of the intro of viking by stp in a weird way

this album is wild so far. like i'm trying to also level up my d&d character but i can't because i have too much to say

the call of the void: ok the intermission built up at the end so this is gonna hit hard i'm ready

I WAS NOT READY WHAT IS THIS

that's not a guitar. those are bombs.

man. when heaven shall burn came out i thought it was gonna be the heavy one. then continuum came out and i thought it was this one. now eddie is just screaming "RAGE" at me and i am happy

also. very good chorus. i enjoy

it takes some skill to make an album where this ISN'T the best song. like holy shit

breakdown???? i'm in danger

oh we got the low cleans. this is ABSOLUTELY gonna be a breakdown

WHAT THE FUCK

WHAT THE FUCK

WHAT THE FUCK

WHAT THE FUCK

WHAT THE FUCK

WHAT THE FUCK

WHAT THE FUCK

eddie berg is not human. that was a banshee. with bombs.

continuum: while this one was a great single i kinda wish it wasn't released as one. it would have been great to have to process this while still recovering from the previous song. plus there were too many singles for this album imo

l'apelle du vide: tbh i have no idea what to expect here but if i had to guess i think it's gonna be acoustic (like the arabic one on heaven in hiding)

ok yup i was right

this acoustic guitar is beautiful

oh this is GOOD!! this is kinda some ghost atlas shit

are we gonna get vocals on this? it doesn't sound like it but i don't mind that tbh

why is there a boat horn what's happening

oh i guess there are vocals (technically)

OH THE DRUMS

OH THIS IS AMAZING

god i love this band so much

the black: best of the singles, easily. would be best of this album if not for come what may. to be honest, though, i don't think it should have been a single. l'apelle du vide gives a really nice chance to rest and recover from the pure brutality of the previous tracks, and having something new afterwards would have been nice. to be clear, though, this is not a huge problem at ALL and it's frankly the only complaint i have about this song.

le noir: idk much french but i think "le noir" is french for "the black", so i'm guessing this is gonna be an alternate version of the title track but in french (kinda like the spanish version of temptation they did). the only reason i have to doubt that is that that's typically the sort of thing that would be a standalone release or on a deluxe version, but here they have it as the closing track of the album, so idk. we'll see!

oh it's only 3 minutes? maybe i was wrong. this violin is beautiful tho

ok this is interesting. i have no clue where this is going

oh this is fucking beautiful

it's kinda expanding on the melody of the title track, i like it a lot

okay yeah i'm crying now. this is amazing

okay that was an incredible album. final thoughts time!

first, i know this is kinda nitpicky, but there were way too many singles for this one. if it were me, i would have kept continuum and the black unreleased before this. the only new parts in the last part of the album were the acoustic instrumental tracks, which were good, but i would have wanted it to be a fully new experience, especially for the title track itself.

as for the good stuff, where the FUCK do i even begin??? this is somehow simultaneously the heaviest and most emotional this band has ever been, and in my opinion it's also the best. this album really is an emotional rollercoaster, with tracks like heaven shall burn and the call of the void being absolutely brutal, while songs like dbatc and all the acoustic stuff being super emotional, and then there's ALSO songs like come what may that are just both at once. besides the nitpick i had earlier, i never knew even remotely what to expect, and that was fantastic of them. i really wish i could forget every song and listen to the whole thing with fresh ears, because i can only imagine how hard it would hit having not heard any of the singles.

i do also wanna talk about the acoustic stuff specifically, because imminence has always done that SO WELL. i do wish we got a proper acoi track with vocals, though, because that kinda felt like it was missing here. not only did we get one both on turn the light on (love & grace) and heaven in hiding (the arabic one), but they had 3 whole fully acoustic songs, and i feel like it would have been nice if one of them had vocals as well, especially the last one. le noir felt to me more like an intermission than a closing track, and i wish it either had vocals, was longer and had more melody, or was moved to before the title track.

to be clear: this is an AMAZING album. it's gonna have to take something absolutely MASSIVE to beat this for my aoty. the complaints i have don't even come CLOSE to outweighing how masterfully done the album as a whole is, and they're also quite literally the only things i can complain about.

also, i'm not gonna do a full ranking of the tracks from worst to best until i listen to the album more, but come what may is the best track. like there's no contest.

#in case you can't tell i have a special interest #imminence #metal #metalcore #Spotify

[odinspattern]

What is Tav and Astrid's speech like? Do they have distinct accents? Or any other notable ways of speaking, like using particular phrases, slang, or terms of endearment?

Bonus question: What do their voices sound like?

So I have been thinking about this a lot, hence why this took me so long. Language in dnd and adjacent media facinates me as someone who has studied linguistics.

One if the best and worst things about it is that one is free to interpit what you want it to be. It can be daunting tbh.

Back when Tav was an Adventure Leauge character I was working on, I envisioned them having an US southern drawl, specifically Texan, because I thought it would be funny to imagine the Drow as having that. Their soceity is often portrayed so over the top and chaotically that what comes to mind is the expression; «Helt Texas.»

(For those who are not Norwegian, a common expression for something being over the top or chaotic, possibly insane is «Completely Texas.» Aka the joke.)

However, I have rethought this stance. Instead I have gone more classic. Dnd elves are often inspires by the elves of Lord of the Rings, and fun fact. Tolkien’s Elvish was inspired by the Karelian language, which is really cool.

Now I do not know Karelian, but I am learning Finnish, which is related. So yeah, I am claiming that the elves of Underdark speech sound Finnish, it developed diffrently in isolation and with both Svirfneblin and Duregar neighbours it took on some changes.

When it comes to expressions, they have this one that for the longest time took everyone completely by surprise, because they took one from their own language and translated it directly, and even Astarion and Shadowheart was like. What are you saying?

«This swings like a hook-horror.»

If they are impressed by you they might also claim that you have sisu.

As for Astrid. The dwarves are Norwegian, because this is my city now, and I do what I want. Also a lot of Dwarven names are Scandinavian in Origin, so I am claiming them. Miss me with those bad Scottish accents y’all are putting on them.

Fun linguistics fact about Norwegian. Did you know it is considered a Macro-language? It just means that it has many standardisations, both written and spoken.

I honestly considered giving her a Fredrikstad accent. Partly because it is considered the uglist Norwegian accent, but I found it very funny to imagine the scourge of the world speaking like she came out of Lange Flate Ballær

Because many of you do not know what the Fredrikstad dialect sounds like, here is an example.

Another linguistics fact, that thick L sound is very specific to Eastern Norway and there is some Northern Norwegian dialects that have it, which may suggest it came from the East. It showed up in the 1300’s, and has barely moved since. It is also hotly debated as it started moving the last 20 years after standing still for centuries.

I could also have gone all Oslo on y’all, because I am proud of Oslo, it is my shit city, the jewel and the ass of Norway. we have three dialects (four if you include Kebabnorsk, which would also be funny. I am old enough to remember when media actually took note of it, I was in High School at the time when you could watch a program where they spoke it on NrK, I Even remember that they made a Midsummer Nights Dream performance where they spoke Kebabnorsk.)

I decided not yo go there, for several reasons. Fist off, the kebabnorsk that I know is older already, it is like many other languages changing. But mostly because if I did, I would have to decide what other languages would stand for Arabic, Turkish, Balkan languages and Somali just to name a few that has influenced Kebabnorsk irl.

Not to mention that I doubt that Astrid grew up quite that urban. Which also cancelled out Groruddøling. (And no way she would speak the dialect of Oslo Vest.)

Instead, I have chosen the Hallingdal dialect.

Why?

Again, my city now. Also I am surrounded by it, so it makes sense to me to use it.

She uses the Word krimsjuk, which is specific to where I am located, it means to have a cold. Also pøse, which means bag, and she does love a good vaffel og svall.

#Astrid the drow #Astrid Dawnbringer #linguistics #bg3 #baldurs gate 3 #my ocs #mostly me ranting linguistics #long post

[truedairship]

Tagged by @ladytharen a while ago (thanks love). It’s been hiding in my drafts for way way wayyy too long but I finally remembered to finish it.

Current top 5 songs

Not that I have the self control to stick to five since it depends on my mood and this kinda got out of hand and that’s why it took such time oops

Statements - Loreen

Both the original and the acoustic version are amazing and what keeps me going at times. For me the lyrics is very personal, and working in a high-stake job with no room for mistakes where there is an unavoidable competitive element us coworkers (and roommates!) in between, well… it’s… interesting, to say the least. This song is like that softest blanket in the house that you hide under to relax after a long day.

I adore the performance with the dancers representing Loreen at different stages in her life, and the part in the bridge with the old lady lifting her up… yeah. It is both comforting and hurts in the best ways okay. Sadly the performance was too dark and a bit to politically loaded for the general public to vote for so she didn’t make it to the finals in Mello that year.

Also yes I’m cheating Tattoo and Neon Lights are two of her many other songs that give me life. Tattoo is just visual heaven and Neon Lights is another comfort song. (The song is about this comfort persona that Loreen herself sometimes needs / wishes she was) Honestly if you are in need of comfort vibe songs check out all the music she’s made. And the music videos are always worth watching.

Lost Again - Kings Elliot

Such a vibe. All the lyrics is so painfully spot on. Another artist worth checking out bc wow. I have the very bad habit to shut down my emotions but those songs make you feel stuff and are a great way to let some of that steam out.

*sneaks in Bitter Tonic, ‘Til I Die and Someday, Somewhere as well.

Rainbow Connection - Sleeping at Last

Sleeping at Last is one of the artists I especially listen to when I’m sensory overloaded. The way the different sounds are combined makes my brain focus on hearing the details which can help me to calm down and stop myself from spiralling into a meltdown.

Honorary mention to Saturn, Neptune and Touch as well.

Girls - Marina

Sometimes you need to get some irritation out okay. And I cannot stand being around people who regularly have that “mean girls” behaviour. It drives me crazy.

Are you satisfied?, Oh No, Solitaire, Happy Loner and you know what? Check out her songs as well. The lyrics are always so spot on. She’s one of the artists I’ve listened to basically forever, and her music still feels so relevant and personal.

Fiction Feels Good - Loreen

Yes she gets one more bullet point okay. This one is made based on her three Mello entries (til that point). And yes. Once again. It’s the lyrics that gets me. The Arabic influence is an homage to her Moroccan culture, and I don’t know why but the feeling I get from all of it combined is comforting.

I’m not gonna tag anyone in particular in this since it’s being posted way after I was tagged myself. So instead I’ll just say whoever wants to do it, consider yourself tagged.

[dailymusicthoughts]

Brian Eno-David Byrne - My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

Ok I am a massive dumbass. I was listening to this album and halfway through I was like "damn this sounds a lot like talking heads, I wonder if this album is influenced by it before seeing that this album was also made by... the singer of talking heads. And honestly this album feels like eno and byrne just spitballing their usual stuff and hope it sticks. And firstly I was I thought the talking head sounding songs were really nice. But sadly the album while still keeping the weirdness got progressively more uninteresting. The Vocals were also pretty weird with opera singing and then the arabic ones. But overall I still enjoyed this album especially for the creativity

Rating: 6/10

#music #album #review #experimental rock #art rock #Brian eno #David byrne

[pen-of-roses]

So, I've read that your conlang for Eshaven (I hope I'm spelling that right!) is based on Arabic. Hilariously enough, one of the language families in Ahvan, the Adrosian languages, is loosely based off of it as well. Adrosian languages including Old Adrosian, New Adrosian, Emyrian, and Osarani. Mind rambling about it a little? - @duskforged

I had an answer for this all typed up and it got deleted! Thanks tumblr.

(Evashen, but honestly impressed you remembered it that well!)

(I am in no way an expert in Arabic, nor do i fluently speak it, I have studied it for a couple years in school, and can hold a basic conversation, but I find it linguistically really interesting especially the morphology. In addition, my conlang is not nearly developed enough to definitively say what the influences will all be, I just know that Arabic will be a loose inspiration, probably unintentionally at best because of having been exposed to it and having studied it for as long as I did)

However! That being said! My phonetic alphabet is a mix of that and another language I have studied (because I wanted a more one to one system than what English offers)

Additionally, the conlang is much more root based than English, and I know that when i get to working on the vowels, I will be using a root pattern system based off that in Arabic to create the meanings because that was so cool, and made so much sense and I love morphology okay? My current noun system is already very root based (realized I had unintentionally also kept it to primarily three "letter"/sound roots, so heyy there's that influence!)

It's not going to be a gendered language though, and is more vowel heavy.

I do know it's probably gonna be a pro-drop language though, because affixes, and likely no indefinite article. Sentence structure is still way further along than I've gotten, though, so can't speak too much to that sadly

(is a baby conlang)

Though when I imagine the script it's definitely closer to Arabic than Latin because I like flowy-cursive style writing, it looks cool okay? Print is weird.

What the main inspiration for the words will be is...honestly unclear? Mostly because they've been kind of keyboard smashy-up until now, with some unintended rules placed on it

thanks for the ask though!

[cinematheory]

bing bing & hit that drum by red velvet both sound like they could blend into a bollywood soundtrack . . . like just replace the lyrics of w/ hindi lyrics and you’ve got yourself a bollywood song baby

#apparently lcm was desc as having bollywood elements but tbh i don't rlly hear it except maybe in the final chorus? #honestly it sounds more arab influenced #anyways i can't wait to hear loona's new title bollywood influence is always fun 😗 #rv #ozzies

[dxsole]

I keep forgetting I have ocs with specific accents/voices,,,which is silly because I should just...remember how they speak but jfkdbgkd

the ones that really get me are:

Walter has The Poshest English accent...wtf

Gideon has a little watered down Birmingham accent but Gyles is the full, slow talkin’, low pitched Brummie

Lawrence goes full Bostonian when he’s pissed or excited

Zeynep is Turkish so she’s gotta have some form of accent and I’ve honestly gotta research that again because i straight up forgot how that sounds oh no

Truman straight up sounds a lil like Elmer Fudd :/

Buck straight up sounds a lil like Foghorn Leghorn :/

Jasper straight up sounds a lil like Pepe Le Pew :/

Sloan has a wEST VIRGINIA ACCENT???? I literally wrote that and immediately forgot fjdbgkfd i keep imagining him with a more northeast accent in my head but that is WRONG

Setau actually sounds a bit English due to his schooling and influence from his adoptive dad rather than a specific Egyptian/Arabic accent

Quincy’s accent is Cockney but it’s the worst kinda Cockney you can imagine and that does me psychic damage every time i think about him opening that rat trap of a mouth

Nadia is from Sicily and i also forget that every damn day

Evgeni with the softest Belarusian accent you will ever hear ever ever,,,he speaks in lowercase, i can’t explain it fdjbgfjkd

#ooc #kjfdbjk

[is-it-mungojerry-or-rumpelteazer]

Tips for writing French characters

So I’ve been reading a lot of Les Miz fanfiction lately, and a lot of it is set in France. And although it is usually very good and most authors have really done their homework (I’m honestly very very impressed!), sometimes it is kind of very obvious the writers aren’t French. So, in no particular order, a few tips for writing French characters, from what has jumped out to me from fics.

Disclaimer: I am only one person. Not everything I say is necessarily 100% true in every context.

The “little death” metaphor for orgasms is not a thing!! I don’t know where it comes from, but nobody says that. It is actually commonly referred to as a joke about clueless foreigners trying to sound cool.

Berets are a thing... for old men in the countryside trying to keep their balding spots warm. Wearing a beret in France doesn’t make you look stylish: it makes you look like someone’s grandpa.

Racism in France is (at least in people’s minds) very linked to xenophobia. The concept itself of “race” is kind of taboo. So a racist person (unless they are like really really openly racist) is a lot less likely to use your colour against you than to use your (perceived) origin. The expression “person of colour” doesn’t exist outside of activist circles influenced by American culture.

The biggest non-European region of origin for immigrants is the Maghreb (that is commonly referred to as ‘Arabs’ even though they are technically not), followed by South-Saharan Africa. So if you’re making your characters non-white, those are your most prevalent places of origin. Also, most of France’s immigration comes from ex-colonies, which means that immigrants usually speak perfect French, but with very recognizable accents.

No European person would complain about a city center being chaotic. All European city centers are chaotic, people are used to it!

There are two types of Parisians: those who love Paris and those who could spend the rest of their lives complaining about it.

Tipping is not a thing. Waiters have real (if shitty) salaries, so you tip them as a reward if they’ve done something really nice, like keep the restaurant open later, or if you are feeling rich; but nobody expects you to. Advantage? You can use someone tipping someone they know as a gesture (a reconciliation, for example)

In that sense, the only places where you order at the bar and you pay when you order are American franchises. So if you want to write your usual Coffee Shop AU, set it in a Starbucks.

When people say that in France “they kiss you on both cheeks”, that is true... to a point. In reality, you put your face next to the other person’s and do a little sound next to their ear (more like kissing the air). If you actually kiss someone you don’t know they are probably going to take it badly.

The kissing thing (”la bise”, as it’s called) is very common. It is done almost always to women, and a lot of times to men. Also, if you want to make your fic extra believable, Southern French people don’t do two kisses: they do three.

French houses do not have fire escapes.

I can’t think of any others right now. As I said, people usually do their research quite thoroughly. Hope it helps, and I’m open to questions!

#cultural differences #text posts #french #Les Misérables #writings #long posts

[nitewrighter]

Hey there, I have a writing question. How do you go about finding or picking names for your characters? Especially sci-fi/fantasy characters like your ocs? Is there a trick to it? Also, if you have any resources for this and tag them, I'd love to take a look at them if that's OK with you.

Well the process varies from character to character. When it comes to naming my own characters, I am a big fan of like... Dickensian naming conventions where the name audibly fits for the character, but also thematically fits for the character. I also like names that can kind of play off of each other. My naming process is a a combination of browsing baby name websites and... also my own intuition.

When it came to my Overwatch fankids, a lot of the names kind of cropped up organically--like in Marti's case, I wanted a name that sounded both French and Spanish, so that obviously meant a romance-language name. You have like, a longer, more feminine full name with 'Martina' but then you shorten it to a cute, practical 'Marti.' So like, she's pretty, she's feminine but also the name Martina means 'Servant of Mars' which is kind of a reference to her having a bumpier origin story than the other fankids. Marti, in my head sounded like a nickname you could easily hear in a French or Spanish language film--a little androgynous, a little streetwise, but there's also Marty McFly in the Back to the Future series, so you sort of have that "relatable everyman" element to it--someone with a good heart who is very adaptive.

For Jaime it was largely me going with "I want a name that is clearly Spanish, but also plays off of McCree's name, Jesse." So you have a little bit of that visual association with "Jesse James" but it's Spanish so y'know it's pronounced "High-may."

Rei, as I've said before, is a name that's both Hebrew and Japanese, so it fit for my "Mercy is Jewish" headcanon and also I like Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Akasha's name is a reference to the Hindu concept of "Akasha" which means "Space" or "Aether" so that's kind of foreshadowing to her being stuck in the void... Also the fact that she carries a sword and the fic title "Sword of Akasha" is literally just me making a Code Geass reference for funsies.

Seye I got from browsing a couple of Yoruba baby name websites and comparing the different interpretations of the names the sounded most pleasing to me. I remember I was looking for names which meant "Heir" or "Prince" or "Chosen One" but Seye, which means "Honor" had the winning combination of sounding the most pleasing in my head and also being memorable and easy to spell while still being distinctly Yoruba. Also it had the bonus of the little "ey" sound at the end so it kind of seemed diminutive in comparison to "Akande."

Rajeev and Samir got their names from baby name websites--and it was important to me that you had a little assonance in their names. I wanted a bit of a reversal since their moms are Egyptian and Indian--so Rajeev, who takes more after Pharah, got the Indian name, and Samir, who takes more after Symmetra, got the Arabic name... so you have a bit of a switcharoo there but there's also kind of an audio association with their respective moms' names--the "rah" sounds with Rajeev and Pharah and the "Sm" sounds with Samir and Symmetra.

With Andrea, it was pretty funny because I had all these people pouring into my inbox with name suggestions, but I wanted a name that would sound natural in Spanish, but was also common enough to be American. And Andrea means "Of Man" which y'know... she has two daddies.

"Aidan" or "Aiden" is the more common spelling of Aedan's name, but I went with "Aedan" because Aed is the Irish god of the Underworld and Moira's Goth AF.

Faustine is Faustine because Obvious Reference to Goethe's Faust is Obvious... but also it's a name that means "lucky" and she's associated with Monaco and Casinos and money.

I think like... the auditory element of my naming process is kind of hard to describe and boils down to 'vibes' a lot. Like I already tend to "hear" my writing as I'm writing it, so a lot of it is determined by "yeah this sounds right."

When it comes to my OG OC's, Val and Aria, I was 17 and very adamant that Aria was Welsh, because if she was Irish, that would make her a self-insert--so I went with "Arianwen" which means "Silver Fair" and Aria for short and this was years before I was remotely aware of Arya Stark. I know it's a common name but honestly it suits her. It feels like her, and that's what's most important.

As for Val, his full name is "Valendin Dard Felov"--which I think I grabbed from some websites on Chechen names that I've long since forgotten--but his middle name "Dard" I stole from my Indian music professor in college, Dard Neuman. Dard is a Greek name that means "Son of Zeus" but in Hindu it means "Pain of Separation." Also the last name "Felov" was a bit of a pun because my boy Val GOES THROUGH IT and I was like "heheheh he 'Fell Off.'" I was developing Val along with a lot of my worldbuilding--I was really obsessed with him being from a mountain based culture so I was taking elements from Andean and Himalayan cultures, and I gave him a Chechen name because... Caucasus. So really it's a combination of like, the kind of everyman, melodious name of Val, and a longer name that kind of ties into the worldbuilding and his own story.

When it comes to making up names, my advice is to run your made up names through google or google translate.

So in summary, the NiteWrighter Patented Method For Naming Your Characters:

1. Who do you have already named and how will that name fit in among those names?

2. What is their backstory and what conditions might influence their naming?

3. How will the name fit in among the fictional world you're working with?

4. Does it sound right--is it memorable? Can it have variations in address and still be recognizable? Do you look at the character and go, "yeah that's _______"

5. Do you just think it's neat?

6. Pace around your house. Consult the wind. Feeeeel the vibes. But also don't overthink it. But also do. This is very important.

7. Do you know someone with a cool name whose name you can just fucking steal? Like the Fae?

8. Baby name websites, I guess.

#writing #naming characters

[rubisaurus98]

Misc. OC/Character Things 20/???

Feel like talking about the earliest days of the First Summoners and OC additions.

Makoto Akatsuki, Monika Levin, and Hakim Zidan fought alongside Owen, Grahdens, Rayla, and Stein back when the Gate to Grand Gaia was first opened. The first three never received the Summoning power but are still very formidable combatants.

Hakim and Monika have more experience as mercenaries than Makoto. Makoto took up mercenary work later just to have one last bout of freedom before he would be made to officially take over his family’s training school in the capital.

Ancestry-wise, Makoto has roots in Ohbanahara, one of the many who found themselves suddenly displaced around the time of the Grand Gaian war. Hakim’s ancestry also comes from another world with suddenly-displaced citizens (one with Arabic influences. Idk if the BF universe actually has one yet), but what it actually is has yet to be discovered. Monika’s ancestors are Grand Gaians.

Power-wise in terms of BF1 Units, they’ve always been on the level of 7-stars. They spar with each other and other similarly-powerful Instructors to keep their skills sharp in the event of something Big.

OC voice considerations: Monika-Whoever voices Yae Miko (Genshin), Megan Hollingshead as Rangiku Matsumoto (Bleach)/ Intoner Five (Drakengard 3)[They sound virtually identical, tbh]. Makoto-David Kaye as Sesshomaru (Inuyasha). Hakim-Sean Chiplock as Diluc Ragnvindr (Genshin), Derek Stephen Prince as Uryuu Ishida (Bleach), Crispin Freeman as Itachi Uchiha (Naruto).

Monika and Rayla are identical twins. Their lightning is also similarly-colored, but Monika’s has a slight reddish tint. And while Rayla used a sword, Monika uses a polearm.

Monika is the more cynical and critical twin between her and Rayla, but she's also just as outspoken and has a strong sense of justice. She will be one of, if not the first to point out when something's wrong; a bigger-picture thinker. Honestly, if it weren’t for her not only taking the reins on actually building a way for Akras to grow its numbers for a goal so huge and to make it a multifaceted organization, but moving to actually install them, the Akras Academy wouldn’t have been as good as it is by Ren’s time, if it even would exist.

Monika is the closest thing Rowena and Zura had for an actual mother-figure. So, you wonder how much Monika influenced those two in their Academy years.

Hakim was born blind in one eye and wore an eyepatch. He completely lost his sight when he fought Daze and Zekt alongside the First Summoners. Afterwards, he stopped using his eyepatch and found a way to “see” things not unlike Toph from A:TLA: Using his Elemental Powers to “see” through vibrations in the ground and shifts in the wind/air.

Makoto when Akras was barely just starting out always looked tired. Resting Tired Face. By the time of BF1, he actually loses this.

Technically speaking, Grahdens is the Academy Head, but Makoto is the one who actually runs the place in his stead and had been ever since the Academy’s founding, with help from the other two OG Instructors.

After the incident that lead to Rahnas’ dismissal from Akras, Monika has only referred to him as “that violent radical” and other similar derogatory names. He’s the only person she doesn’t hide her complete and unforgiving contempt for. In fact, she has full unfiltered disdain towards anyone who even remotely acts like he does.

Why is that? It’s actually quite personal, you see, and not completely out of disgust at the uncouth like Paris is with Lugina. You see, Monika had been growing concerned/suspicious of Rahnas for a while before his expulsion and watched both him and that Summoner Owen and Grahdens pardoned very closely. This was how she was the first one to know about Rahnas’ extrajudicial killing of that one Summoner. And they fought over it. She caught him about to commit the act and tried to stop him. She put up a hell of a fight, but he overpowered her and killed that one Summoner while she was down. This act fueled her rage and she fought him with renewed fury. She very likely would've lost her own life as well had authorities and the Elder Summoners had not been called. Which is how Owen and Grahdens found out before it could've been covered up.

Rahnas’ punishment wound up being incarceration for X amount of years followed by exile from the Empire as a whole. Monika was absolutely livid to hear that he used his earnings to pay his bail for the first part of his sentencing after she had come to in the hospital following that fateful night.

These three come back into the picture for Arc 3 at most towards the end of Valdroar, maybe towards the end of Rokkzalm.

They finally retire about 2 years post-BF1.

#Rubi says things #Makoto Akatsuki #Monika Levin #Hakim Zidan #FINALLY. I TALK ABOUT THE OG INSTRUCTORS ONCE MORE

[thedailyvio]

Every now and then I feel bad for giving 0 context for anything, so gonna quickly summarize my story stuff under the cut

The Traveler’s Found (TTF)

Skye, Gill, Marth, Kydin, Leo, Kira, Krieg, Heiwa, Narcissa, Sebastian, Vadim, Bahemek, Xenon, etc

TTF is hard to summarize because it has 10 story arcs and they all lead into the other, but the plot begins with ‘A wizard terrorist attacks the king of Hou’lu sending two girls on a quest to stop him’ which sounds so simple doesn’t it -sobs-

 Very adventure, political intrigue, slice of life elements

They basically travel all over the world, and I’ll quickly summarize what that’s like by listing each countries major influences

Hou’lu: Italian Renaissance, China

Sunobor: Medieval Germany, Japan, Inuit

Haldon: Folk Mexican, Folk Italian

Lavynna; Byzantine, some inspo from India to structure of things?

Gehinna: Ancient Hebrew

Parappa: Egypt-Germany

North Desert: Russia-Arabic

Harpies (more a tribe): Maasai

TTF of them all gets the most complicated but very incrementally, so it’s the hardest to express much on. But they get a cool hard magic system based on 10 elements so

Also TTF dragons are sentient, intelligent, and morally complex

—

The Miyoré Schism

A prequel to ttf by about 900 years

Faolan, Mien, Enlai, whatever I name the girl, Jiao

The plot here is a bit simpler

What happens when the one who pulls the blade only those Chosen by God can touch is among the race of people thought to be destined to serve?

This focuses largely on the Sha’li of East Hou’lu. As a race they have very distinct white hair, pale skin, and red eyes. At this time in history, monster taming was very common as well, so most the characters have a family or personal monster. Sha’li also have an ability to become “invisible” but in actuality they are lowering their ‘presence’ or ‘noticibility’ to all non-Sha’li

This story draws largely from Tibet for its aesthetics

—

Kingdoms

Ariella, James, Charles, Kiba

I have uprooted a lot about this story and not yet relayed it, but so far

A girl who wanted to become a soldier but was refused strikes out on adventure to do what she can for her country on her own- but to her chagrin gets a tag along

This story likely will have a soft magic system, and is definitely still based on Victorian and Japanese aesthetics. It’s actually a specific era of Japanese history but I can’t remember which. Possibly 16th c?

Despite this, it’s a low tech world.

Most fantasy type creatures/races do show up in Kingdoms, unlike my other stories

Dragons exist in Kingdoms but are universally evil and nobody has ever killed one

—

Magic and Cannons (MnC)

A wip name still

Cusick, Agathe, Romana, Kordell, Levi, Maureen, Ames, Sung-jin

I’m still figuring put the plot to this honestly, but the first bit is definitely

‘A narcissistic man is captured as a PoW and must find a way to escape’

There’s just three countries of any importance to this world, and it’s much less whimsical in nature than the others, being closer to reality in some ways, and having a lot more tech. Though it vibes as subtly cartoony in how characters have slightly exaggerated aspects to their personalities and behaviors.

Delemar is the country Cusick is from and is based on Wild West in many ways, they’re a very independent people which can be good and bad, they also give no hecks about safety and are pretty wild in general

Choson is where Romana is from and they are much more interested in normalcy and order, which can be both good and bad. They prefer reptiles and fish as pets to mammals actually, which feels important to mention. If you know much about history, I suppose it’s clear they draw a lot from Korea for aesthetics.

Choson is also a very mixed population in terms of race, which Delemar is very much not.

Kievan is where Agathe hails from and is based on Russia. In each case I tried sticking to 1850s-1900s ish for my influences of these countries, though socially they are very diff.

Kievan has an affinity for wine and is the only country that appreciates using electricity for power. They have harsh winters, especially compared to the other two countries which tend to be more tropical in climates. Kievan is less developed so far, but they tend towards legalism there, and while that can be bad, they are also the one not involved in a pointless war, so

MnC is what I call glasspunk, Delemar and Choson rely on ‘reactions’ for their energy sources, which I can only explain as ‘you know how if you mix two volatile liquids, they could explode? They harness the energy from such things’

This is possible because their magic system is a type of alchemy which has allowed them a lot of reactions not available to us, and with this they’ve been able to get treated glass which is nearly indestructible, great for containing anything they need.

Magic is still something within the individual, but in MnC the extent of what it does is change the properties of whatever you’re touching with your hands. If you specialize in using this and inventing things based off of things with changed properties, you’re called a mage.

MnC has a lot of strange tech this way, including trains, vehicles, customizeable guns, staves that through weird tech stuff can have sort of elemental effects, etc.

Electricity is not compatible with reactions btw, because it can cause them to explode outside of when they’re meant to, kinda like smoking by a bunch of canisters of gasoline, it might be a lil risky. So societies that use reactions do not use electricity and have things in place to get rid of it, and societies that use electricity don’t use reactions. Combining them can get cool tech, but is inherently risky.

oh whoops I went off there, huh. Oh well it’s not seen as often as the other types of societies/magics I listed so

Dragons in MnC are animals (technically wyverns?) and have been domesticated to be work animals. No fire breath but they do have a strong venom, I think a neurotoxin type?? And the insides of their mouths are orange 👀 oh and the domesticated ones are reflective like mirrors ish

—

Children of the Little Mine (CotLM)

Geno

This is the only one I plan to make a novel, because it’s set in 1950′s-1960′s New York City and I don’t care about those aesthetics at all

I don’t have it planned out very far for plot, but basically a gremlin thief boy of 17 has a strange ability to manipulate how gravity effects him, and seemingly nobody else in the world has this. But one day during a break and entering situation, Geno finds another boy with an ability, and from there they decide to try sticking together a bit to figure out why, and maybe put together a heist against a mafia boss in the mean time (two stealy boys)

This is very close to being historical fiction aside from abilities, which are /extremely/ rare in this world. I’m very inspired by Artemis Fowl and A Separate Peace for tone, and plan to have middleschool boys as my target audience. Though I love fantasy and such, this one’s still a bit close to my heart anyways

Anyways literally nobody asked for this I just do this to myself. I seriously wanna start practicing comic making skills, but I can’t do that too much for a daily thing when I can usually put in an hour at best. I’m trying to find a sweet spot for it all, but it may yet be awhile before I can post literally anything that sheds light on who the heck any of the chars I post are.

I want to though, and I’ve been running this blog for years now, so best to assume it’ll get there someday. I have still written a lot and planned out things, so progress still happens behind the scenes. Aside from the last few months but that’s not uncommon for this time of year. If you actually read this, thanks euchjsd I don’t think many will, but having it here makes me feel a bit better

#Text

[poetryinmotion-author]

Names in Clan Djarin

Hi friends!

Every character I have written has a specially-chosen name. Whether that name had a specific meaning, a certain cadence, or even if it just sounded good, I agonize over the names of my characters. I've been meaning to talk about it for a long time, and now, I finally have some space to do so!

Without further ado, let's talk about how I named my original characters in the Clan Djarin series! I'll start with the Nevarro Three. :)

ELLIS KAZAN: The name Ellis had been kicking around in my head for a character for a long time; I just needed to find it a proper footing. An English/Welsh name, it's notably gender neutral—making it perfect for my lovely enby Mirialan. It also hints at the English accent that Mirialan characters tend to have in Star Wars, i.e. Luminara Unduli (my favorite Jedi master) and Barris Offee (WHO DESERVED BETTER!).

As for the last name Kazan, I used it as a nod to the Middle Eastern/Muslim influence that's clear with a lot of the Mirialan culture and dress. It's a common surname in the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern world, so I thought it would fit well for them. Plus—it just sounded right. That's always important. :)

One more note on Ellis—their name derives from “Elijah,” who, if you didn't know, is a prominent prophet in the Hebrew Testament. It only makes sense, then, that Ellis would serve as an access point to the mystical in Din's life.

NEH'NAA: Neh'naa's name is a Twi'lekization of the name Nina. Honestly, the name just sounded right, you know what I mean? It just sounds bright, cheerful, friendly—exactly the kind of woman our Neh'naa is.

Twi'lekizing a name that already exists in our world is relatively simple. For me, I considered how the name Nina would have been pronounced using Old and Middle English pronunciation. Before the Great Vowel Shift, our vowels sounded very different: “Ah,” “ee” “ay” “oh” “oo” instead of how we pronounce a, e, i, o, u today. So, in Modern English, we say “Nee-nah,”  but in Old and Middle English, we would pronounce it “Nay-nah.” Spell it phonetically, add an extra “a” and an apostrophe, and voilá—a Twi'lekized version of Nina.

TOBALAS: Tobalas is a “Star Wars-ified” version of the name “Tobias.” It’s kind of funny, but as I was trying to formulate Tobalas’s character, my sister was watching the Divergent movies in the same room. And the name Tobias (which is Four’s real name) just jumped out at me. Another name that just felt right for this character, I've only just now really researched the meaning of the name. And honestly, it totally fits. Tobiah was a hero in the apocryphal Book of Tobit, wherein, with the help of the angel Raphael, he fights off a demon from a woman who later becomes his wife. And you may just see Tobias fighting some demons with the help of an angel at some point in his career as a character......

Tobias, to me, is a very serious name. I associate it with a certain level of self-assurance mixed with a hint of devil-may-care attitude. That attitude comes through in his interactions with Din (whose name, by the way, is derived from Arabic and means “way” or “path.” Just FYI.). Din is very serious, not to be trifled with; Tobias rails against that structure, wanting to do things his way.

For the “Star Wars-ifying,” I literally just made it up. I toyed around with what consonants could replace the “i” in Tobias, and after going through almost the whole alphabet, I landed on “l.”

So, there you have it! A long-ass ramble about my naming practices. I’m thinking I might post another about the villains and their names. I hope you enjoyed this look into the behind-the-scenes!

Until Tomorrow (or Tuesday),

E <3

#star wars #the mandalorian #clan djarin series #behind the scenes #writing #naming characters is a complicated profession #the naming of cats is no laughing matter

[iphisesque]

I'm sorry could you please elaborate on "the first successful crusade in over a century and the only one led completely through diplomacy, and by an atheist excommunicated king raised by Muslim and Christian tutors alike in an island peacefully shared by both religions"? I had no idea that was a thing and now I'm going insane over this concept

Hello anon, I'm guessing you came from my post on the sixth crusade in The Old Guard, or that you're otherwise new to my blog! The affair I'm referring to in the part you quoted does indeed sound crazy when you think of the traditional view of medieval Europe, but you shall soon discover that it was indeed a reality.

The king I referred to in that post was one Federico II, king of Sicily Holy Roman Emperor and a huge special interest of mine: he was born and raised in Sicily, an island previously ruled by the Arabs but then taken over by the Normans who there instated a kingdom (which also included the rest of southern Italy), and thanks to his father Henry VI's German heritage rose to the Holy Roman throne, though he always did prefer his Southern territories over cold harsh Germany.

Like I said, his home land of Sicily was in the hands of the Arabs before his Norman ancestors came to the conquest, and they certainly did not leave: Muslims and Catholics, alongside the sizeable Jewish minority and the Byzantines that had lived there since before the Arabs' times, all lived alongside each other in relative peace and freedom of cult, and in this tolerant environment and by tolerant men of all faiths Federico was raised, which greatly influenced his politics and his personal beliefs.

Speaking of, Federico was pretty well known for being an atheist, or at the very least skeptical towards religion: this, alongside his rebellious tendencies against authorities aside from his own, resulted in very strained relationships with the papacy, with Federico being excommunicated three times and even being called the Antichrist by Gregory IX. It was because he wanted to get back under the pope's good graces, in fact, that he decided to go for a crusade at all, and he deliberately played it out as a game of diplomatic chess with his friend sultan Al-Kamil, even walking into Jerusalem with an Arab-style caravan at his following!

Understandably, this is very juicy material to any Nicky/Joe shipper, and it becomes even juicier when you realize that the kingdom of Sicily was notoriously tolerant towards homosexuality, with even Federico II himself being rumoured to engage in sodomy (hence the threesome-with-him headcanon); I could honestly spend years talking about him and his kingdom, so for the sake of time I'm going to stop here, but you're always welcome to ask for more information about him or browse my "federico ii shitposting" tag for memes, posts and resources to do with him.

#federico ii shitposting #the old guard #hope this helped! federico is a huge special interest of mine and im always trying to rope more people into learning about him #federico ii blogging

[hjazysol]

Z: Would you say their real names are references aswell?

Yes. Also it's time they'll most likely just be a mix of people who are being referenced in the first place.

Stardust Crusaders

Gray Fly: Stays same.

Imposter Captain Tenille: Stays same

Forever: Stays same (The animals don't really matter much)

Devo: Stays same (It's not a name but it sounds like one)

Rubber Soul: John Berry (Because John Lennon was seen as the rudest/angriest of the Beatles & Chuck Berry an influence for The Beatles had a very shady past. Much like how Rubber Soul in disguise can be a prick & lose his temper easily & his terrible acting is very shady)

J.Geil: Stays the same. (But J I assume is John to complete the reference just for John Geil instead of the whole band.)

Hol Horse: I honestly don't want to change his because I really want Hol Horse to genuinely be Hol Horse. But if it weren't to be the case. Then Hal Oates. So his reference gets to stay the same.

Nena: Stays the same.

ZZ: Chris T. King (As the Band ZZ Top is a tribute to Riley King. And his Stand is a reference to horror movies Duel & Christine. T can just be Top)

Enya: Stays same.

Steely Dan: Danjuro Togashi (As a type of irony for the type of person he actually is. As Danjuro actually usually used for someone who's always helpful to others. And is polite and doesn't outburst often)

Arabia Fats: He can stay the same I guess. No one really cares about him.

Mannish Boy: Abbas Ahlam (Abbas is an Arabic name described to be strong & powerful. And Ahlam can be translated to Dreams or Utopia)

Cameo: Larry Black (Larry Blackmon)

Midler: Stays same

N'Doul: Stays same

Oingo & Boingo: They stay the same. They're just that type of wacky.

Caravan Serai: Stays same. Or could just change it to Carvan Serai.

Chaka & Khan: Stay the same.

Mariah: Stays the same

Alessi: Stays the same

Daniel J. D'Arby: Stays the same

Pet Shop: Stays the same

Terence T. D'Arby: Stays same

Kenny G.: Stays same

Vanilla Ice: Vanira B. Gears (As I'd honestly associate him more with Cream than with Vanilla Ice, as Cream is an actual Influencer of Dio & therefore him being loyal and helping him to the top is more associative. The B in his name is can be Bruce. Jack Bruce is seen as one of the most influential parts of the band just like how Vanilla Ice is one of the most influential villains for Polnareff. & Gears is just a reference to there most popular Album Disraeli Gears.)

[dropintomanga]

Can Sports Manga Really Break Through in North America?

Here we are in the summer of 2020 and it’s usually San Diego Comic-Con time. And with it comes discussion of how manga is doing in 2020. There was a Manga Publishing Industry Roundtable discussion at Comic-Con with representatives from almost all of the U.S. manga publishers (which you can watch here) about what’s happening in the U.S. side of things. While manga sales have dropped due to the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, they have rebounded back in some ways. A great thing about this is that it’s not just mainstream titles that are selling; it’s also series that are from other genres like slice-of-life and horror.

Which now leads into the title of this post because at the end of the discussion, publishers were asked about what they would like to see in the future. Erik Ko, chief of operations at UDON Comics, said something that really piqued my interest. He said that he wants to see if sports manga can truly break out in North America (i.e. reach levels of sales and popularity a la My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer, etc.). Erik mentioned how his daughter loves Haikyu!! on Crunchyroll and watched all 3 seasons multiple times (It’s also mentioned that Haikyu!! sold well during the pandemic for its U.S. publisher Viz Media).

While the manga has officially ended as of this writing, Haikyu!! will last for a while as the anime will have a 4th season and possibly more. However, while Haikyu!! is loved by a lot of anime/manga fans, it’s not exactly a series that has gotten EVERY shonen fan or manga reader talking. With the many sports manga licenses that manga publishers have gotten over the past few years, it doesn’t sound like there’s significant traction.

This does beg the question of what will it take for sports manga to really catch the eyes of manga readers here in the United States.

For starters, I’ll discuss a bit about the history of sports anime here in the United States. It’s been noted that a lot of sports anime do not tend to sell well over here. There was an Answerman article on Anime News Network answering “Why Do Sports Anime Bomb in North America?” that really goes into this. While it’s noted in the article that Yuri!! on Ice and Free! are indeed sports anime and have sold well, almost all discussion about those series revolves around the relationships between the male characters. Sports play second fiddle to the relationships compared to series like Haikyu!!, Slam Dunk, and Captain Tsubasa (where the sports aspect is still preached a lot).

Speaking of Captain Tsubasa, if you don’t know about this series, this is the one sports anime/manga that generated a lot of love overseas in countries that worship football/soccer. In the Manga: The Citi Exhibition book, there was an article on the promotion of Captain Tsubasa in Baghdad, Iraq by the Japan Self-Defense Force. The series was promoted via pictures on water distribution tanks in Iraq in the mid-2000s’ as a way to make Iraqi children smile. During the U.S. occupation of Iraq, Japan would later work with Iraqi media channels to show programming that would help encourage the country. One of these shows happened to be Captain Tsubasa, which was dubbed in Arabic. The series’ fandom took off from there and more places in the Middle East (like Saudi Arabia) even got in on the action using hacked satellites to watch. 

I wonder if this is what Erik Ko wants to see - something like Captain Tsubasa that not only gets fans gushing about the story and characters, but also inspires kids to become professional athletes or at least become more physically active in their own lives.

A big problem that gets in the way of this happening in the U.S. is how sports culture is like over here. How do I explain this? I’ll use a quote from a 2016 article in the Milwaukee Independent about Anime Milwaukee.

“While the Anime Milwaukee convention does not collect statistical data about those who attend, walking around the convention provided empirical confirmation of how Anime speaks to multi-generational and multi-cultural people. 

Anime itself will not solve the very real problems faced by disadvantaged residents in Milwaukee. 

But unlike the adversarial escapism offered by sports teams and the nature of competitive games, the appeal of Anime is with its positive messages. Where as sports is an unrealistic role model for struggling youth, for the most part Anime offers socially beneficial and moral examples.”

Sports in the United States are very much “us versus them.” In Japan, sports focuses on healthy competition between players. At least, that’s what Japanese sports stories try to focus on. While healthy competition between players does happen over here, it either doesn’t get shown as much in U.S. sports media or that competition becomes toxic to the point it hurts innocent people. In the U.S., you’re supposed to win and get recognized in order to move ahead in your respective sport via whatever means necessary. A good example is college basketball over here and how competitive schools have been involved in recruiting scandals over the best high school players. Another example is the psychological trauma faced by the number of young female athletes who were sexually abused/harassed and forced to believe that it was all part of the process to get ahead in their respective sport. I want to note that sports programs in the U.S. are often heavily underfunded, which adds to the pressure that faces any youth going through sports programs.

There’s also this tendency to view athletes over here as all-knowing celebrity gods (i.e. athletes who say awful things with confidence on social media) or people that only know how to play their respective sport (ie. the “shut up and dribble” comment to outspoken basketball players on social issues). There’s no in-between where we get to see the complete humanity of the athlete.

This does tie into how sports fans and anime/manga fans may not get along. You usually learn more about the nuanced aspects of life from outside sports than within. Sports over here preach some questionable values that anime/manga fans sometimes don’t believe in. Add the fact that sports is shoved down Americans’ throats so much and you can see why not everyone over watches sports. I do want to note that there are U.S. pro athletes showcasing their love for anime. While this is nice to see, almost all the titles they grew up watching are mainstream shonen/shojo. I’m curious if athletes would watch series like Haikyu!!, Kuroko’s Basketball, Eyeshield 21, etc., but then I wonder if they would keep watching as they can only handle so much sports drama as it’s part of their everyday reality.

So what will it take for a sports manga to break through in a big way? Viz Media tried to promote Slam Dunk here using the NBA to promote literacy in 2008. I also found out that Tokyopop tried to do something with the NBA via its Cine-Manga initiative in the mid-2000s’ and it only lasted from 2004-2007. So to that extent, there probably has to some kind of manga that’s similar to the now-famous The Last Dance documentary, which chronicled Michael Jordan’s last championship run with the Chicago Bulls in the 1997-1998 NBA season. 

Though honestly, it’s gonna take a mangaka who’s really interested in all aspects of American sports culture to come up with that kind of story. What might be better is that the story heavily criticizes the culture in a compelling and sometimes humorous way. I think that’s what will really get all U.S. manga fans and comic fans interested, especially those who are sick of commercialized sports exposure wherever they go. I do think over time as anime/manga continue to be accepted in the geek ecosystem, we can see this kind of story take off. 

Until then, if you happen to be someone who likes both sports and anime/manga in a level-headed manner like me, you’re doing alright. It’s hard to occupy both spaces when you’re supposed to choose a side. Although I liked physical education during my school days, I can understand why anyone whose hobbies lie more towards the artistic and creative side disliked physical education possibly due to the structure in how it’s taught. I know sports anime lovers that dislike watching real sports in general and I get why.

Hearing Erik’s comments made me wonder about the beauty of sports manga. Now that I think hard about it, sports anime/manga are a intersection of both the “nerd” and “jock” in a way that helps everyone. To be honest, that intersection is what really bridges gaps that makes people better. It’s what truly completes a person. I’ll use this example - you can’t have mental health without physical health and vice versa. Some kind of exercise can help the mind while learning how your mind works can help you do better in physical activities that connect people together.

Maybe more importantly, what sports manga tends to preach is that winning shouldn’t be everything. Right now, everyone is encouraged to win at something just for a taste of meaningless status and we’re seeing how that mentality can ruin someone. Sports, with all of its benefits freed from corporate influence, are supposed to teach us (like all great manga stories do) that there’s no “us versus them,” there’s only “us” in the end.

And that kind of story deserves to hit a home run that rounds all the bases to reach a celebratory and meaningful win for the world.

#sports manga #manga industry #manga #mental health #psychology #sports culture #sports fandom #manga fandom

[hyba]

Hey there, Hyba, I hope you're doing well! I actually have a random, non-writing related question for you, if you don't mind me asking. I saw your post about wanting to start reading and writing in arabic, and I seem to recall you telling me english isn't your first language. So, I was wondering how many languages do you speak, and which one is your favorite and what do you like about that one specifically? It's okay if you don't want to answer, I'm just curious. I hope you have a lovely day. =)

Hi, Ren! I don’t mind answering this at all ^^ Thanks so much for dropping this lovely ask into my ask box - it’s always a pleasure to get them from you!! :D I’ve kind of gone on a bit of a ramble, so it’s all under the cut (spoiler alert: I know 5 languages and Arabic is my favourite)!

My mother tongue was my national dialect (which is a dialect based heavily on Arabic, but which also has about two or three other linguistic influences as well, depending on where in the country you’re in). I also learned Arabic in school as a child. Honestly, given its poetic elements and just how beautiful the language is compared to all the other languages I know, Arabic is undoubtedly my favourite. Recently, I keep going back to it - poetry in Arabic and writing in Arabic just hits me in a way no other poetry in another language can - there’s a depth to it that I personally feel is quite unparalleled.

In addition to that, I can speak/understand French, Spanish, and English (though I’m not sure if Spanish or English came first - that part’s a bit hazy. I think I knew how to count in Spanish before I knew how to say anything in English, but again, not sure). Out of these, French is my least favourite. Spanish is amazing and is probably in terms of the sounds and the language itself more attractive to me than English, but English remains my most-used language because I studied in English, read books in English, and even communicate with my friends in English because for some of them it’s the only language we have in common!

I think the only language that I’ve perfected is English, which is why I feel like that’s a bit of a bummer. Despite the fact that Arabic is really my first language and the fact that it’s the language of so much in my life and so many people in my life, I find it a huge disappointment that I haven’t worked on it as much as I have worked on English.

Lately, this is something that has really come to the forefront of my life. So, I want to be more proficient and less clumsy in Arabic - to be able to write books and stories and poetry in Arabic, and to read the amazing literature we have in Arabic (translations really don’t do a lot of Arabic stories justice). I have a lot to learn for sure, but I figure it’s about time.

Arabic is a really complex language, especially if you go into the Classical Arabic, which is used in the Quran mostly. There is also the Modern Standard Arabic, which is a lot less complex and, as the title suggests, incorporates more modern vocabulary (such as words that are originally from English or another language).

I read somewhere that most Arabic speakers don’t differentiate the two and refer to them both as al-arabiyya al-fusha (read fus-ha), which basically means ‘pure Arabic’, but when I refer al-arabiyya al-fusha, I think I’ve always somewhere in the back of my mind thought that it was Classical Arabic, despite the fact that I do sometimes use the term to refer to Modern Standard Arabic because I don’t know what else to call that in Arabic 😂😂 

(After a Google Search, it seems that Classical Arabic is referred to as fusha al-turat and Modern Standard Arabic is called fusha al-asr. The more you know!)

So, that’s pretty much all I have to say about it for now. There’s a lot more, but if I continue, I think this will become way too long! I hope that answered your Q, and thanks again for sending it! I really enjoyed answering it :D