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quirklessidiot · 4 years

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Title: filthy rich [3/3] Pairing: millionaire!sakusa kiyoomi x y/n [filthy capitalist au] Genre: mystery, major angst ahead, thriller, mafia!au-ish

Synopsis: Just run, Y/N. Don’t look back.

Warnings: dark and yandere themes, toxic relationships, mentions of violence, shady business, class differences, mentions of rape, smoll breeding kink, unwanted pregnancy, mentions of abortion, and sakusa being a manipulative bastard

Notes:

Im disappering again for a week or two so as a parting gift, here ya go, im starting a bokuto fanfic soon and posting the reboot of notice me soon too hnnng thanks for the wait guys uwu

A sorta realistic take on a yandere is harder than it looks kssjdn omg anyways here yall go the long awaited last chapter of filthy rich. I’m not sure if I should put like a one shot sequel but so far im marking this series completed. Thanks for sticking by!

previous || series masterlist || blood son [sequel;one shot]

You run your hands through your hair and shut your eyes tight, the quietness and stillness of your shared apartment was something to bask on before you put on a fake mask of happiness. It had been exactly two months since you found out about the birth control switch and the medaide agenda.

In the span of those two months, you had grown more observant towards your boyfriend’s actions and you knew that it wouldn’t be anytime soon until he actually notices that you were onto him.

You let out a shaky breath as you recollected some weird things you’ve seem to have noticed, how his brows would furrow when he’d receive a call indicating that something was up and it was serious or how you visited your ex-boss one time a week or so ago along with Kenjiro since you wanted to see how he was doing.

“...Well, he just didn’t come home and sold the place. Apparently he was in a rush to move or something because of family matters so I didn’t exactly see him.” the neighbor gossiped to you two.

“Y/N?”

You jump on your spot as you hear that dreadfully familiar voice.

“Hey,” You greet, walking up to him, you decide to do your usual hug but stop when you notice a small red stain on his necktie, the tie is dark blue and although it wasn’t obvious from afar, it definitely was up close. Your brows are furrowed together, this time in pure curiosity, “Did you get hurt? It’s unlike you to get messy.”

You notice the quick shift of attitude in his eyes, you were seemingly getting good at observing his emotions these days and it looked like he panicked for a second there.

Odd.

“A friend of mine had gotten hurt a while ago, you remember Atsumu Miya?”

A vivid image of a blonde man crossed your mind, he was another conglomerate friend of your boyfriend, another person to be weary of to add to the list, “Oh, is he alright?” you asked, trying to keep it casual as you untie his tie for him as usual.

“Yes. He’s awfully clumsy. You don’t need to worry.”

“Oh…” You mumbled, “by the way, I visited my ex-chief.”

“Ex-chief?”

“Mhm.” you hummed, “You know, my boss from before? Me and a few co-workers decided to visit him since he was a really good boss. Turns out he just left without telling anyone, poor man.”

“Sounds unpleasant. Did you know why he quit?”

“No.” You shrugged as you take the tie out and place it on the side, “He suddenly just quit his job and moved, neighbors said it was also because of family matters. It’s kinda weird because as far as we knew, he didn’t have a family.”

“Would you like me to look into it?”

You almost stiffen when he slithers his arms on your waist but you didn’t want to give away any suspicion, “No. I don’t want to pry. Hopefully he’s enjoying his retirement.” You sighed, turning towards him with a tight smile, “Now what would you like for dinner? I was thinking Mediterranean? I need to lose some weight since I’ve been feeling bloated for a while.”

He leans in for a soft kiss on your temple, “Mediterranean would be fine. Would you like anything else? We could order more.” he hummed, his lips slowly started to dangerously hover on top of yours.

“No, it’s fine.” You give him a quick peck and wiggle your way out of his arms, your stomach doesn’t feel well these days. Whenever you were near Sakusa you had the urge to throw up your innards despite having an empty stomach.

You don’t notice the dangerous gaze on your behind as you pick up the phone for your take-out.

Sakusa hasn’t felt you in a long time and it’s driving him insane, he wants to feel your heat, your body, and everything in between. He wants to fill you up and see you pregnant with his children. He wants everyone in the world to know you were his and his only.

Yet he can’t do that.

You’ve ignored his affections these past few weeks and it had been driving him insane to the point where he had to ask one of his men to put an eye on you to see if you had been cheating on him or seeing someone else.

Yet you hadn’t.

Your routine was the same old one and Sakusa is digging his nails deeply into his skin in his office one day with his tie uncharacteristically untied. Miya Atsumu sits across him, taking a sip from his flask, “Ya look like shit.” the blonde points out.

“Fuck off, Miya.”

“Heard from your cousin that you’re not getting laid by your girl these days.”

“You better be thankful that you’ve got men behind you or I’d be shooting your fucking brains out for saying that.” Sakusa spats, his dark gaze pointedly looking at the blonde across him.

“You should just find someone else then and not yer prude of a-”

“Keep telling me ideas like that and maybe I might just shoot you and chop your body up until it looks fuckin’ unrecognizable.”

Atsumu raises his hands up, signaling that he was giving up, “Gee, omi-omi. I was just giving my advise. It’s so easy to drop her.”

“I don’t want to drop what’s mine.”

“You’ve got issues.” He chuckles, “Haven’t you been switching out her pills and fucking her raw for the last couple of months? I bet yer ass you got her pregnant on that before but ya just don’t know it. Getting her pregnant would definitely secure her spot in her life. Woman’s nuthin’ without ya.”

“She’s...she’s not showing…”

“When was the last time ya two went at it?”

“Two months ago.”

“Ya poor boy.” Atsumu sighs, shaking his head, “Ya sure you don’t want to take a break from being a loyal boyfriend for one night? i bet Y/N wouldn’t notice.”

“And no one would notice if you fucking disappeared. I’ll make sure of it, now get out.”

You may not have been the sharpest tool on the shed but you know that someone’s been tailing you these past few days, you’re not stupid. You could only come to the conclusion that it was Sakusa who was doing such things but you couldn’t get why.

Something just didn’t make sense. It felt like you were missing an important piece in the puzzle, med-aide and the switch of your pills and now a hidden tail?

You furrow your brows together in deep thought as you sat down next to a teenage boy on his phone, you decided to take the bus today to the grocery store, surprisingly the one tailing you wasn’t around today.

Your eyes slowly shift towards the boy’s phone, it seemed like he was playing a video game.

An otome game, to be exact.

You felt your lips twitch up, you remembered those games a lot growing up. The graphics seem to have massively improved now by the looks of it, “...That looks interesting.” You tell the teenage boy who turns to you in surprise.

“Oh, thanks.” the blonde replied quietly.

“Is that a new otome game?”

“Kind of.” He blinks, his gaze returning back to the screen, “It’s sort of a remake of the yandere simulator from back then.”

You feel your shoulders tense up.

“A yandere?”

“Yeah.” The blonde nods, “The girl’s awfully creepy in the game, she stalks him, does things to get him. The player has to catch her in the act and evade her at the same time.”

“Oh…” You blink, “I-uh, this is weird… but what’s a yandere again?’

“It’s someone obsessively in love with you. They’ll do anything to have you stay by them.” He says, pushing on a button but suddenly the screen turns red and you feel shivers run down your spine as you hear him curse and the words ‘you’re caught’ appear on the screen.

“W-what happened to your character?”

“He died. Nothing much.” he mumbles, “If the Yandere knows they can’t have you, they’ll kill you.”

You immediately went pale as soon as you heard that. Maybe, just maybe you were being paranoid. He wouldn’t go to that extent, would he?

“How did your character escape the yandere in the game?”

“Well, I haven’t finished the game yet but based on some anime’s and manga’s I've usually read. They either killed to get away or they moved so far away where they wouldn’t be seen so I think the creator might have the same ending.” The blonde said, he slowly looked to your side, “You’re looking awfully pale, ma’am. Are you alright?”

“Yeah, j-just remembered a horrible game I played back when I was your age.” You gulped in, “Nightmares, you know? The yandere tried to get my character pregnant and tried to get in her way of moving out of the country.”

“Sounds like a very realistic one.” He mumbles, “What did your character do?”

“I wasn’t able to finish it.” you whispered, loud enough for him to only hear, “I couldn’t really find a way out.”

“The developers of the game must’ve made it hard for you. Maybe your character should’ve ran away,” he advised, “Or better yet, you should’ve killed him.”

“I-well, I don't think there were options like that.”

“Well if I were you and there was no option for killing, I’d run. Far, far away. Change my identity and all that.” he exits the game and stuffs the phone back in his pocket, you get a good look of his cat-like eyes and immediately feel a shiver on your spine with the next words he say, “I mean its a game but you wouldn’t wanna loose and get your character killed, right?”

“R-right.”

The teenage boy hops down without even saying goodbye and you have a scary realization that you can’t break it off like you originally had planned. You needed to run, run far as you can and get lost.

The words that the teenage boy says echoes in your head for the next few days, from that point on, realization dawns upon you that, nothing is certain now. You couldn’t trust anyone, you couldn’t let friends and family be involved in this. Sakusa Kiyoomi is a powerful man so you needed to be careful with how you were going to disappear.

You continue to act nonchalant and the same as you try to lay out your plan but you knew that you had only a week or so to complete this for it to successfully work.

Sakusa Kiyoomi wonders what he should do to save the relationship, he’s tried everything in the book that he could think of but you remained the same. Was this the end of the relationship? For real?

He could never stomach the idea of having you leave him.

It’s eerie that day, something felt different when he came home to an empty apartment. It looked the same yet something felt very, very different. Apparently the apartment guards said you were here since your car hadn’t left the driveway and they hadn’t seen you go out.

He checks out your side of the closet, your clothes remain there untouched and your toiletries were there too. He scans the fridge for your notes but nothing is stuck there. He suddenly feels like something cold was dumped on him.

It couldn’t be, right?

Right?

He runs to every room, checking every nook and cranny and when he finally reaches the last room which was the bathroom, nothing is there.

Everything was in its place except you.

Where were you?

Your bank account remains untouched, your wallet and phone was left in the apartment. It was as if you were returning home, the very least. Komori tells him to calm down, saying that they’re letting the best people find you around the city, they don’t rule out that someone might’ve had the audacity to touch you.

Whoever took you would be given hell to pay, that’s for sure. Was it the triad? Kkangpae’s? Or opposing yakuza’s? Oh, they’ll definitely have their heads on the platter if they tried to harm a single hair on your head.

Sakusa doesn’t even hesitate to notify the police about you already despite the memorandum that twenty-four hours is needed to consider a person missing, it's nothing a little money can fix.

“I hope we find her soon.” Your aunt sighed, “I’ve notified her parents about it. It’s definitely weird that she’d leave all her valuables behind.”

Hinata and Natsu sit there next to their mom, completely sad and worried, “I’ve hired the best people for it already, obaasan. We’ll find Y/N.” Sakusa replies yet his thoughts are in a complete frenzy now.

And find you they did.

No stone was left unturned. He made sure of it. Yet after a month of relentless searching. Nothing came up, it seemed like you had just vanished and Sakusa Kiyoomi had turned the whole underground world upside down for you but nothing came up.

Some say that you disappeared and ran away but that was immediately ruled out, no security cameras saw you in and out during that day and it would be impossible for you to just leave without security cameras on you. The guard had exclaimed that despite the blackout that day, the generators only took a few minutes to power up so they’d definitely catch you on camera in case you ever exited the building (along with the guards since they knew exactly what you looked liked) plus the clothes and such were still there, left untouched.

Some said you died, it was definitely impossible for you to just vanish without a single trace after all since everyone was looking for you.

Yet no one dared to say it in front of the boss, not if they valued their life.

The billionaire had dried out his connections to find you. What good was it to be the most powerful and richest man in the country if he couldn’t find you? Life had no meaning now, you were gone. It felt like a part of him was ceasing to function.

Sakusa Kiyoomi was a dead man walking now.

Unknown to the whole world, you’re in a small town with little to no signal. Your hair is chopped unevenly and your skin is darker from the repeated exposure under the sun, your life is simple and mundane now yet you’re happy.

For the first time in months, you actually felt free.

You shut your eyes tight, the events that transpired this past few months replayed in your head. Your escape was definitely done as carefully as you can and you didn’t even know if you’d succeed since you weren’t a master in that sort of thing.

You recalled that it was a week before you ran away, a few days after you met that kid in the bus. Someone from the electric company had come to inform you that there was a scheduled black out in the city that day during the afternoon and you felt something bubble up in you. That was the day you’d put your plan into motion.

You knew that the longer you delayed your plan, the harder it would be to escape.

You had a few minutes to actually put your plan to work. The camera’s on the hallways would cease to function for a few minutes according to the guard downstairs as he did a protocol on the building (apparently the generators were quick). So that morning after Sakusa left, you placed only a few clothes and the stash of money you had been carefully hiding in a garbage bag and chopped your hair short in an uneven manner. Burning all the remaining hair on the fireplace and the black hair color that you use with it. The maid uniform that you stole on your floor and a fake name plate that you made was on and you were good to go.

The minute the black out started, you took the garbage bag and walked out. Taking the stairway used by the caretakers, you made sure to just look down and never directly up at the camera’s pretending to work.

When you finally made it out of your building. You let out a stiff sigh and put down the bag, it was only the beginning. If you thought the same way as Sakusa Kiyoomi, you could only imagine that you needed to be more careful from this point on.

You take the newly bought duffel bag that you strategically hid behind some boxes. Thankfully when you had placed it yesterday afternoon, it hadn’t been touched.

You put on a pair of shorts and a baggy shirt with cheap shades and stuffed the maid uniform in the duffel bag along with your belongings in the garbage bag. You take the other route that led to the busy streets. It was easy to look like a tourist and seemingly blend in the crowd, from that point on, you only had one destination in mind.

When you were younger, you vividly remember an acquaintance telling you about this small town outside of Tokyo where her grandparents were from. It was only an hour away via plane and when you went down another few hours via bus yet if you took the bus route all in all, it would take a few days.

Since it was far, only a few busses actually went there and since you had to leave within the day, you decided to just take the bus nearest to that town and take another bus when you arrived there.

The plan smooth-sailed from that point on.

Except for one minor detail.

You open your eyes and look down at your now small bump. The monster who almost had you trapped left a parting gift, you grip your garden hoe tightly.

A big part of you wanted to kill it.

Yet every time you try to, you hesitate.

The moment you arrived here, you had to pretend to be a weary and poor widow. You just didn’t expect to be a weary and poor expecting widow. You let out an uncharted sigh at the thought, it was hard enough to be alone here with little to no money.

This child had the demon’s blood in it.

Yes, you may have gone free from his cage but in truth with his seed growing in your stomach day by day, you started to feel quite the opposite.

taglist [thanks for your support ilyasm skkss im so sorry for updating late too :(]

@maraudusk ;; @iamnotobsessed ;; @ssuna ;; @weebartistinc ;; @aomineavenue ;; @tsukkismamagucci ;; @onlyshinji ;; @ichiraku-verse ;; @watevermelon ;; @victoriasee ;; @caramelcandescence ;; @n-nara ;; @bloody-bella ;; @ricefarmerkita ;; @paripedia ;; @srhlsx ;; @craftyfawns ;; @kepchups ;; @soggycardboardd ;; @vinnieluv ;; @dinablossom ;; @yourstruly-01 ;; @shinhiromi ;; @dinablossom ;; @kneecotinee ;; @vicassa ;; @ahoeforshouto ;; @benimarus-main-mop ;; @atsunakaashi ;; @myaaa-xoxoxox ;; @newfriendjen ;; @usedcoupon

@kn0xiousnight

[can’t tag you guys uwu just make sure ur tags are open :<]

#sakusa kiyoomi x reader #sakusa kiyoomi imagines #sakusa kiyoomi headcanons #haikyuu imagines #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu headcanons #yandere!sakusa #idk its my take on yandere and toxic relationships #haikyuu scenarios #📝📝.Filthy rich series #hostclub.adulting

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amphtaminedreams · 4 years

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The Women of Euphoria and Personal Style: Lookbook no.8

Hi to anyone reading,

I hope you’re well considering everything going on! It feels weird to want to talk about fashion or TV shows or red carpets or whatever when 90% of my Google searches are COVID-19 related but there you go. It’s all about trying to power through as normal (minus the social interaction) and pretend the world isn’t ending, right? Queue nervous laughter.

And as if things aren't shitty enough, production of season 2 of Euphoria has been postponed until further notice.

Okay, in the grand scheme of things, having to wait a bit longer for a TV show isn’t catastrophic but it does just about sum up the transition from 2019 to 2020 thus far that after HBO redeemed itself by broadcasting Euphoria in the summer following an ending to Game of Thrones that has made the whole series unrewatchable, the glimmer of hope in me reignited by the prospect of series 2 this year has been quickly dashed. 2021, I’m rooting for you, because it doesn’t seem like things are getting better any time soon, and in all seriousness, I think everyone needs a break from the collective suffering of the last few months.

For me (and undoubtedly for many others if the hundreds of makeup looks and styling videos are anything to go by), Euphoria’s effect on the world of fashion and beauty is unprecedented. I really can’t recall a TV show in living memory that has had as much of an impact on the way young people dress. I mean, this might partially be because the style of the characters already kind of caters to and draws from the target audience but also, aside from Blair Waldorf did anybody really give THAT much of a fuck about what anybody in Gossip Girl wore?

The draw of the styling on Euphoria is that it has something for everyone. The style of each of the main girls, Rue, Kat, Maddy, Jules and Cassie, all of whom I’ve attempted (emphasis on attempted!) to base (emphasis on base!) outfits around, is varied and distinctive but still so current and realistic at the same time. It’s also consistent; even if you don’t own the specific pieces worn by any of them, similar shapes and details reoccur enough in different looks throughout the series that it’s not hard to create an outfit which matches your favourite character’s overall vibe without buying anything new. That’s kinda what I have attempted to do here and without further ado, I’m gonna get on with it! First up:

Jules (Played by Hunter Schafer)

When it comes to whose style is the most experimental, Jules is the obvious answer. A lot of her outfits are what I imagine a cartoonist in the near-distant future will envision their cool girl protagonist wearing. Whilst her ensembles are generally whimsical and girly for the most part, there’s usually a few slightly punk-ish finishing touches thrown in there too be it through chunky shoes or bold makeup or that incredible mesh trench coat she wears in the series finale with the trans symbol on the back which, honestly, deserves a moment of silence.

There are definitely nods to current fashion trends sprinkled throughout her wardrobe too. I'm not going to lie, despite someone at work seemingly thinking it was an insult to tell me I look like someone who does (I still don’t know but this person has a Rick and Morty keyring so I don’t give it too much weight), I’ve never watched any anime. BUT, that being said, given the abundance of anime screenshots posted by all these aesthetic oriented Instagram and Tumblr moodboard accounts, I have a vague idea of what some of the more iconic characters look like and a lot of Jules’ looks seem to be very much modelled after or at least inspired by them. In a way, I see a lot of her looks as a blend between modern “e-girl”, Y2K skater chick (yes, I’m thinking early Avril Lavigne), and 2013 Tumblr “hipster” a la 2014 Joanna Kutcha and Charlie Barker, and though on paper that sounds like a nightmare combination, it works. I know-if that sentence were a Depop description I would’ve just gained 30 followers.

When it comes to my own interpretation of Jules’ style, it’s definitely something I like to channel when I’m putting together a proper OUTFIT outfit. Meaning an outfit I actually put effort into and thus will most likely want to get a good photo in, lol. The way her character dresses is almost quite Christopher Kane in that it’s fresh and unusual but still understated enough that I wouldn’t walk into a room wearing any of these feeling like I’m doing a Rick Owens runway.

I’m not TOO far out of my comfort zone but still at the same time, I’d be trying something new and maybe a little bit more zany than I'm used to. As for noting where any of these pieces are from, only a few have been bought in the last 6 months, but from left to right clockwise I have marked out those that have in case they’re still available (though be wary of the fact that it seems a lot of online clothes stores are still forcing warehouse employees to work in close confines at the moment and so perhaps aren’t operating the most ethically):

LOOK 1

Corset-Jaded London

Shoes-TK Maxx

LOOK 2

Dress-Motel Rocks

Boots-Koi Vegan Footwear

LOOK 3

Dress-Jaded London

LOOK 4

Dress-Jaded London

Beret-Ebay

LOOK 5

Beret-Ebay

LOOK 6

Mesh Top-Depop

Hair Clips-Urban Outfitters

Kat (Played by Barbie Ferreira)

Eurgh, Kat.

I LOVE THIS BITCH.

If I had to choose my favourite character in the show, it would be a very close toss-up between her and Rue, and though I think Rue might just about nab the top spot for her relatability factor, Kat is the girl I want to be or wish that I had been when I was at school. I mean, there’s definitely an argument to be made in that a lot of what she’s doing with her cam work could be seen as a means of validation (Sam Levinson has basically said everyone on the show has some kind of an unhealthy coping mechanism and I would guess due to the circumstances in which her cam girl career was borne and the fact she’s underage, this would be hers) but I do think in other ways we really see Kat reclaim her power and recognise herself for the smart, capable, gorgeous woman that she is. Honestly, the definition of divine feminine energy, and I would completely let Barbie Ferreira/basically Kat if she was also actually 23 dominate me.

Plus! Her! Style! Is! The! Bomb! Definitely the easiest character to base looks around because if I’m totally honest Kat’s energy is pretty much just what I want to emulate in every day life.

It’s either pieces that are typically feminine, cutesy, and even slightly preppy at times drenched in everything grunge OR vice versa where you have something semi-gothic and then add a colourful, more playful touch in there that harks back to the beginning of the series before Kat had began to explore her identity and sexuality and dressed slightly more Forever 21.

I’d say, not yet with my whole chest, that on a good day the outfits I put together when making an effort aren’t too far off something Kat would wear, minus the more overtly BDSM touches; if wearing a ring choker in London is enough to get me a creepy comment from a gross middle aged shopkeeper (because I apparently forfeited my right not to be perved on when I decided to buy a bottle of Oasis summer fruits), then you can only imagine the kind of looks wearing a full-on harness would get in my conservative OAP dominated hometown. Not the most doable right now, especially considering the only time I get out is to work and to go for a run. The chafing I could deal with but the horrified glares of pensioners whose M&S prawn mayo sandwiches I’ve ruined by simply being in their eyesight not so much.

LOOK 1-

Corset-Urban Outfitters

LOOK 2-

Bodysuit-Depop

Skirt-Zara

Harness-Ebay

LOOK 3-

Co-ord-Depop

Lace-up Corset-Missguided

LOOK 4-

Dress-Vintage

LOOK 5-

Belt-Ebay

LOOK 6-

Coat-Topshop

Dress-Jaded London

LOOK 7-

Fishnet Top-Ebay

Skirt-Urban Outfitters

Maddy (Played by Alexa Demie)

Not gonna lie, I was kind of scared to do Maddy. I’m scared to be posting this, lol! Alexa Demie has played this character for a single season and she’s already one of the most iconic women to grace our screens in years. This is a huge undertaking and I don’t have the bank balance or the body confidence (lmao) to raid IAmGia.

And this is where I want to stress: THESE ARE NOT OUTFIT RECREATIONS. THESE ARE INSPIRED BY. I HAVE ADDED ELEMENTS OF MY OWN STYLE INTO THEM. PLEASE DON’T DRAG ME. I KNOW, I’M NOT ALEXA DEMIE. I WOULD NEVER ASSUME TO BE ALEXA DEMIE. I’M NOT ABOUT TO TAKE THE LORD’S NAME IN VAIN LIKE THAT. So now we’ve got that out the way (wipes bead of sweat off forehead), let’s continue.

Everything about Maddy Perez is extra. She has very much been established as a centre of attention character, and her outfits are a key part of that. They’re daring, they’re hyper-feminine, and they are always glamorous. We’re told that she competed in beauty pageants when she was younger and it’s clear that level of excess and coordination and glitz and all-round-boujeeness wormed its way into her DNA during that time. Even the “depression” outfit she wears to school following Nate becoming violent at the fair is costume-like, a 2019 Bratz doll Off-White street style collaboration.

Do you know how HARD I had to try to be HOT!? For these photos. Alexa Demie is one of those blessed women who doesn’t have to try at all, and that translates into the character completely. At any given moment, Maddy could add or remove one item or clothing and be let straight into the VIP section of a club, and that, honestly, is inspiring to us all in these dark times.

One thing I tried to keep in mind is that she always looks polished and coordinated, I.E the kind of look I would prepare for a night out is something Maddy would wear on an average day. Co-ords and delicate prints seem to be more subtle wardrobe staples along with mesh and PVC and glitter and feathers and fur and basically anything that toes the line between expensive looking and tacky. Yes, I am aware we may toe different sides of that line but please let me stay delusional and believe that’s not the case for 5 minutes. Much appreciated xoxo

LOOK 1-

Bodysuit-Jaded London

LOOK 2-

Bralette-Depop

LOOK 3-

Co-ord Suit-Boohoo

Bodysuit-Boohoo

LOOK 4-

Dress-Motel Rocks

Shoes-Schuh

LOOK 5-

Bodysuit-Zaful

Trousers-Depop

Coat-Topshop

LOOK 6-

Dress-Zaful

Belt-Zaful

LOOK 7-

Top-Jaded London

Hair Clips-H&M

Rue (Played by Zendaya Coleman)

I have a complicated relationship with Rue as a character. When I started season 1 of Euphoria, I was like “Oh my god, this girl is the worst. Jesus, she’s so negative and draining and willingly self-destructive and-”

Then, oh my god is this what it’s like to live with me!?

I will say, to my own credit, that I don’t think I've ever been quite as hard to deal with as Rue (a lot less smashing stuff up and a lot more moping), and to HER credit, by the end of the season we come to realise she’s been through a fucking lot and so it makes sense, but wow. I don’t think I have ever seen a teen show handle drug abuse and mental illness in such a brutal way. It’s quite a talent to be able to show a character cause so much pain to those closest to them and yet do so through a sympathetic lens. And issues aside, whether it’s her occasional social awkwardness or her relationship with her family or watching bloody Love Island (still quite surreal to see Zendaya Coleman witnessing the Amy/Curtis drama unfold), Rue is just my favourite character to follow.

Her style, though. AH. The thing is, I can hardly drag it, because it’s pretty much what I wear when I’m moping about the house-or just any time I can get away with it to be honest-to a T. I want to stay true to character, but that being said, creating a “Seth Rogen”-esque outfit that’s worth posting on here is difficult. So, with the same kind of artistic license that had me wearing berets whilst cosplaying Maddy Perez, here is the best I could do:

I know, I know, it’s probably too much colour and jewellery for Rue but this is as toned down as I could do and I tried to stick with the key silhouettes we see from her throughout the season; I mean, I can’t see her wearing leopard print but the structure of the coat in outfit 1 is very similar to the one seen in Shook Ones pt.II. I think the bottom line when it comes to her character is keeping things effortless and not overly-feminine; you want to mix street style, athleisure and your dad’s wardrobe favourites like your life depends on it. Plus messy hair and smudged makeup, both of which I’ve already got down according to the completely inappropriate number of customers who’ve asked if I'm tired at work so thanks for that guys, and glitter tears. Lots and lots of glitter tears.

OUTFIT 1-

Dungarees-Vintage

OUTFIT 2-

Trousers-Depop

Cardigan-Urban Outfitters

OUTFIT 5-

Beanie-Depop

OUTFIT 6-

Shirt-Boohoo Man

Sports Bra-TK Maxx

Trousers-Urban Outfitters

OUTFIT 7-

Shirt-Jaded London

Cassie (Played by Sydney Sweeney)

Style-wise, Cassie is a hard one. When putting outfits for her character together, I found myself gravitating towards a direction that’s probably a bit too bohemian for her character, under the guidance of loose terms like “girl-next-door”, “floaty”, “delicate”, you get the idea. She definitely feels the least fully-realised in terms of all the main girls and I think it’s fair to say she’s probably got a bit of self-discovery to do. Most of her storylines in the season are dictated by her relationships to other people: McKay, Maddy, Lexie, her parents and so on.

Nevertheless, I tried to stick to the airier, more traditionally “pretty” pieces whilst still channelling the confidence and ease with which Cassie pulls them off. Sydney Sweeney has the most incredible figure and I feel like whilst the clothes the on-set stylists put her in flatter that and don’t hide anything, they’re still the focus. It doesn’t feel like there’s anything more inherently sexual about her character than any of the other main female characters despite the way the men within the narrative view her, and I think it’s a testament to the the wardrobe department that to me she still gives off big modern Disney princess energy and a certain innocence even whilst we hear her being continuously sexualised by her male peers.

If anything, Cassie probably dresses the most like an actual teenage girl, and her style, whilst less distinctive than the other girls, still does a good job of capturing the youth and romanticism of her character.

The colour palette of her wardrobe tends to be quite neutral, with a couple of pastels thrown in there, and if there are any details, they’re usually quite dainty. Similarly, Cassie is probably the least experimental when it comes to her makeup; we don’t really see her wearing the bold eyeshadows or liners or gems like the other girls at any point.

OUTFIT 1-

Bodysuit-Motel Rocks

Hair Clips-Bershka

OUTFIT 2-

Dress-Jaded London

OUTFIT 3-

Trousers-Urban Outfitters

OUTFIT 4-

Top-Urban Outfitters

Hairband-H&M

`OUTFIT 5-

Top-Urban Outfitters

Jeans-Zaful

Headband-Primark

OUTFIT 6-

Top-Urban Outfitters

OUTFIT 7-

Dress-Urban Outfitters

Hair Clips-Boohoo

SO, I guess that’s it for my Euphoria lookbook! As always, let me know what you think (nicely pls, my ego is fragile lol) and I’d love to hear your opinions on the show too! I really haven’t got this excited over a new TV show in ages and I just think that it does everything so excellently-from the writing to the cinematography to the soundtrack, you can tell each element is so carefully and purposefully constructed. It immerses you into the dramatic highs and lows of being a teenager in a way I haven’t seen since UK Skins and I never thought I’d watch a show which held a candle to that.

In terms of what I’m doing next, I’ve got a very delayed fashion week masterpost in the works as well as something to fill the Met Gala shaped hole in our lives, which I hope to get up over the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, if you read to the end, THANK YOU! And I hope you’re staying safe and AT HOME where possible. I know this self-isolation feels never-ending and if I’m honest, it is having a hugely negative effect on my mental health, but NHS staff are doing their very best with the shitty recourses they have and whilst it seems that our government have thrown workers under the bus once again, we can all do our bit to combat that by slowing the spread of the virus. Also thank you to anybody who’s out working now in such a scary and uncertain time! I work at a grocery store and can say from experience that the best way to show this thanks is just through kindness and following employee’s instructions without giving them grief for it. Everyone’s scared right now and the best we can do is pull together and look out for each other, as difficult as that might seem at times.

Anyway, sorry for the ramble, and like I said, stay safe! Thanks once again if you read til the end or even if you’re just here for the photos. Appreciate it more than you know either way!

Lauren x

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nad-zeta · 4 years

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Match up | (• ◡•)| (❍ᴥ❍ʋ)

heya!! tysm again fr the ikesen matchup, i loved it sm ♡ sooo now could i pls get a matchup for ikevamp, if its ok? 💞 (ps i hope ur doin ok!!) here’s the info again!!

bi girl, i prefer guys! ambiverted intp, gryffindor or ravenclaw, neutral good, scorpio. i have an older twin sis n i love/hate her sm!!

medium-length straight-ish black hair (side bang to the right) & dark brown eyes!! 5'5-ish, filipina! im getting glasses soon~

complex daydreamer- i crave affirmation/praise!! anxiety, i overthink sm! quiet w/ others cause idk what to say. im like half funny/playful & half deep/awkward- easily annoyed but guilty after cause im soft-hearted. i have a way w/ words, poetic? hopeless romantic! i tend to be quite chaotic? sorta socially anxious-

not innocent/naive but ppl think so at 1st! i look fine but im a big mess. superiority complex, insecure- smart n knowledgeable. passionate! a kid w/ my twin but w/ others, mature. its hard to friend ppl! dramatic but rather closed off. its hard for me to ask fr help- opinionated but i try to understand. i need lots of space,,,

i like to have fun n loosen up but would also just cuddle n have long convos. forgive but never forget- realist but rather optimistic. good w/ technology! imaginative/creative. near-sighted! rather selfish, i put myself 1st. love language is words of affirmation/quality time- stubborn! observant- sensitive.

a habit- i tend to drift away n just think? i care a lot abt how i look! i like bein the best so i get competitive. keyboard smashes!! i swear quite often. i like bein organised! i like makin faces!!

fun fact: math/history r my faves. sometimes im rlly hyper n say the most random things? i fear judgement, future, unknown, n failure. bilingual, learnin french! fr pda only hand-holding?

likes: gaming, affection, jokes (stupid/puns), space (stars), weapons (swords/guns), music, instruments (piano), animals, movies, books, philosophy, psychology, writing, exhilirating stuff, astronomy, mythology, etc.

dislikes: heat, presentations, naivety, stupidity, blind faith, stereotypes, being pressured, etc.

tysm!! shjsjsjs i changed it a bit- anyway, stay safe!! dont forget to take care of urself 💞

Hehe, you are most welcome dear!🥰❤🌻 I’m so happy you sent in another request! You are honestly so sweet! ❤🥰Soz for taking sooo long! I hope you enjoy this dear and I hope you are looking after yourself! Sending lots o hugs! 🌻❤ @x-joie-x

So I match you with………….. Napoleon

The first time Napoleon meets you was when he legit grabbed your hand and pulled you along with him, as he tried to get you out of the mansion. It was not safe for a human in a mansion full of vampire, and this soldier wanted to get you out before it was too late. But alas it was just that, too late. By the time the two of you had arrived at the door from whence u came, it was sealed shut, and no amount of tugging or pulling could get it to open.

Comte, who had heard the commotion, stepped into the hallway to see you and Napoleon trying to open the door. He strode over to you and placed a gentle hand on your shoulder as he led you and the soldier to his study so he could explain. After a lengthy explanation about your current situation he named Napoleon as your personal bodyguard to help you navigate, the Paris of the past

To say you were starting to overthink and get anxious would be an understatement. Napo looked over at your quiet demeanour and scanned your face to find a glimpse of anxiety. After the conversation with Comte was over, Sabastion came to escort you to your room for the night.

The next few days you spent cooped up in your room. Too anxious to leave, u needed time and space to sort through your feelings.

Your stomach started grumbling, but you just ignored it, cause honesty you were just too stubborn to go downstairs and ask for help. Napo had been pacing outside your door, trying to figure out the best way to coax you from your room. That’s when he heard the rumble coming from your stomach. He gently opens the door and strode into your room, “come nunuche, I made too many pancakes this morning, And I need some help finishing them.” Just as you were about to refuse your stomach gave another loud growl, cue Napoleon bursting out into laughter, “I think its best we feed that little bear before it gets angry.”

You couldn’t help but chuckle at Napo, as the soldier went from scary and intimidating to boyish and playful in 0.2 seconds. You smiled as you watch the former Emporer of France try to catch his breath through his full body laughter fit. He finally calmed down and grabbed your hand, pulling you towards the dining room. A new fit of laughter erupted from the man as you couldn’t help but crack a joke on your way there. The rest of the afternoon was spent cracking jokes and eating pancakes.

Napo found you incredibly amusing, especially how you could go from funny and playful, to awkward in 2 seconds flat. He loved to joke along with you and then tease you whenever you would turn into an awkward mess the second one of the other residents entered into the room.

Especially Arthur, you would often get annoyed at his flirty comments and pick up lines, you absolutely left Napo in stitches when you made a sarcastically awkward comment back to Arthur on afternoon. Napo had learned by now that you were actually rather soft-hearted so the minute he saw the guilt flash across your eyes for being annoyed at Arthur’s comments, he squeezed your hand in reassurance, “don’t feel guilty nunuche, trust me he deserves it. Plus if you don’t believe me, just ask Isaac.”

Napoleon would invite you with him every day to help teach the children at his makeshift school. At first, you were somewhat socially awkward, but thanks to Napoleon and Isaac’s encouragement, you actually started teaching a class of your own. Napo loved how smart and passionate you were. You gave your all in teaching the children various topics, and honestly, Napo couldn’t help but fall in love with you. You taught them everything from maths to history, and the children absolutely adored you. So did Napoleon tbh, the man would take sneaky glances just watching you in your element. When stealing these little glances of you, a lovestruck foolish smile would dance across his face, which most certainly didn’t go unnoticed by Isaac or the children.

After class, Isaac would go off to his second job as a professor of the University, leaving you and Napoleon up to your own devices. Napoleon seemed to bring out that playful side of you, as the two of you goofballs would grab lunch at a nearby cafe. Or have a little picnic in the park, and just spend the entire time quick-firing stupid puns and jokes at each other. You sometimes get super hyper and start saying random words, which leads the two of you to have loads of random conversations. And TBH the two of you are always pulling silly faces at each other just for laughs. You live for those moments when u make a joke or pull a face, and monsieur de Whaha starts erupting with laughter. It is a true sight to behold, the way his whole body shakes, and the sight alone is enough to prompt you into your own laughing fit.

The day Napoleon knew you were the one and only woman for him, was the day he found you in the training hall. You loved swords and weapons so when you were helping Sebastian with housework one day, and you came across a vast display of swords, you were absolutely ecstatic. You wasted no time in picking up one of the swords and swishing it around. Napoleon walked into the room just as you pick up one of the swords and his eyes went wide, “pfft what in the world are you doing?” You narrowed your eyes at the man, as he chuckled, “practising, obviously.”

Napoleon’s eyes lit up as he strode past you to pick up a sword of his own, “then I shall be your partner.” You smiled a broad smile as you went on the offensive and attacked Napoleon. The two of you spent the next few hours smack-talking each other as you fought. Napoleon enjoyed every moment of your fight and the way you were determined to win. He found that competitive side of you rather sexy, so much so that he decided to confess his feelings.

After you had beaten him, he proposed a rematch, but this time he raised the stakes. He went on the offensive, and just before delivering the final blow, he dropped his sword and grabbed hold of you. Smouldering jade blue eyes met your brown ones questioningly, and once he found his answer, he leaned down to kiss you.

The former emperor of France was utterly head over heels for your stubborn optimistic, competitive personality. He absolutely adored what a walking contradiction you were, being both a realist and optimistic, being organized yet messy at the same time. Napoleon had noticed early on in your relationship that you were rather closed off and slowly, but surely he managed to get you to open up to him. The two of you have had many a deep conversation while cuddling.

He found that whenever you were snuggled in his arm, it was easy to pry information out of you. Especially when he would tickle you. He found out a lot during his cuddle interrogation sessions like how you feared judgement, the unknown future and failure, like how you actually care about your appearance and that you have a superiority complex. None of which scared him off, if anything he loved you more for it! Being sure to curb and banish all your insecurities with the sweetest words of affirmation and praise.

Napo like you, is also a bit of a romantic so this dork will 100% plan dates under the stars, especially after he found out about your love for astronomy and space/stars. He will definitely plan small quiet dates for the two of you, away from the loudness of the mansion. This boi will burst into your room in the afternoon, drag you to the stables, plonk you on top of a hose and before you know it you are sitting in his arms reading or chatting about anything from philosophy to psychology under the shade of a willow tree, surrounded by flowers.

Napo loves your writing, and this boi will insist you read him your fics whenever you finish them. He will spend the next ten days bragging about how amazing your writing skills are to everyone, even going as far as to say your a much better writer than Arthur.

Knows you need space and alone time and will give you as much as it as you need. He knows you will come and find him once you want some company again. And once you do seek him out, he will crush you in a warm embarrass and whisk you off on some exhilarating adventure.

Mornings between the two of you sweethearts consist of soft, heart-melting moments. Naturally, the first thing Napo does when he wakes up is, plant a loving kiss on your lips. He will tighten his embrace around you as he cracks open his eyes to wish you a good morning all while nuzzling your neck. He knows you are a sucker for sweet words so he will be whispering the sweetest of endearments to you, in between lazy morning kisses. Best be sure this boy will complement and praise you every single day of your life.

Other potential matches…………….. Dazai

I hope you enjoyed this dear! 🌞🌻and I hope you have a super good day! ❤❤🌻

#matchups #matches #match ups #ikesen matchup #ikevamp matchup #ikevamp match up #ikevamp napoleon #napoleon ikevamp #napoleon bonaparte #ikemen vampire napoleon #ikemen napoleon #submission

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majorshiraharu · 3 years

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Discussion of Limitations in Live Action & Style Choices

This will be all spoilers for the new episode of the Mandalorian. I’m putting it under a cut so no one accidentally gets spoiled. Fair warning it is long af, I tried doing a mix of my opinions and information from the show, films, etc. I tried putting the more opinion parts in italic, might have forgotten some parts tho. I spent way too long on this lmao

--------------SPOILERS BELOW------------------

I'm putting my thoughts for each time I watched it. That way, you can see how rewatching changed my mind some. I also had almost a whole day to process the episode before I watched it again, then I had a few hours to think about it and add to this, and then now I've watched it for the third time. This will be a mix of my reactions and opinions and then some information about The Mandalorian and things I think many people are overlooking. Especially in a time when we have major blockbuster films with pretty amazing CGI and people have come to expect that level of detail in everything. If you don’t want to read my reaction/opinion parts, skip down past “3rd Viewing” (the sectioned area)

1st Viewing When It Dropped; Right After Watching: — Okay honestly not the biggest fan of this Ahsoka, I feel like they could have done a bit better with her lekku, montrals, and the contacts because they kinda took me out of it a few times. She didn't move a lot like Ahsoka, but then again she does move and act more like the Rebels version, so if you haven't seen that I can see how this would be more off-putting. She's much older at this point and probably can't move as well as she used to. Also, I know we've come to expect the effects of high-budget films and their fancy CGI, but this show is not that and I think they truly did the best they could with what they had. I'm too tired now, but will write about that stuff in my second viewing section. Overall, I think in the scenes where she interacted with Mando and the child were very well done and felt like how I thought Ahsoka would be after the journey she had over the past years. Those moments felt like Ahsoka to me, and I really enjoyed. 2nd Viewing; About 16 Hours After First Viewing: — So I took some time today to think about last night's episode, I also decided to hop on social media and see what people's reactions were. I was surprised how on Twitter and Reddit I hardly found anyone who disliked this version, longtime fans, new fans, people who didn't know Ahsoka. It seemed like most people really loved it and were extremely happy to see her in live-action. Some people didn't like the way her lekku & montral looked but otherwise enjoyed it, and then there were a few people who said it didn't feel like Ahsoka to them. Now here's my opinion on the second viewing, I liked her more after watching it again. As mentioned above she's definitely more like her Rebels version, and we have a few years when she and Sabine were out searching for Ezra and Thrawn. We don't know what she's been through but clearly, she's much calmer and wiser, which I think fits, it's not like how she was in Clone Wars but it's been like 25+ ish years, so she's had a lot of time to grow and shouldn’t be the same. The actress who played her was pretty stiff and monotone during more scenes than I would have liked, but all her scenes with Din and the Child were excellent, and felt pretty close to Ahsoka, really liked her in those. The action scenes were very cool at the start. Her fighting style was more like her fighting in Rebels. I would have liked a few more shots of her with her signature lightsaber hold, but they included them during the right moments, so that doesn't really bother me that much. Now for the mostly on Tumblr infamous lekku & montral, on second viewing I didn't mind them as much because it wasn't as shocking. The length should have been longer imho, and they definitely needed to change the montral, that's what I have the only real problem with. The montral just looked too short, was angled back quite far, and yeah, just didn't look like any animated version, concepts, or even any cosplays I've seen. This was the only thing about her that I really just didn't like and bothered me some. 3rd Viewing; Most of my opinions stayed the same, I watched it this time with some of my friends who love Star Wars and one who loves Ahsoka as much as me, so I wanted to see their reaction. They all loved her, tho they agreed the length should have been longer and the top should have been different. But they all really loved the episode and her.

--------------------- Now all that said, here are some counterpoints and information because I thought it was important to look into why it might be that way, and I will also include ways that I think it could have been done better. Besides having some cosplay experience of my own, I have no idea what they went through to pick or make this look, and it could have been always ended up a lot worse. First off they need to consider the actress, the material, how it moves, how heavy it is, how it looks in movement, fight scenes, etc. - There is concept art that shows many types of looks for her, and while I think they picked my least favorite of them, people need to understand that there was a reason. We don't know and may never know, but it was a choice made. Concept art from the end of the episode:

It could have also been that it looked better in person, or that they wanted a distinct look for it in live-action to make it feel more realistic or unique. Here is other concept art of Ahsoka from Rebels and The Clone Wars, Link Here

----------------- Also, many people aren't aware of this, but the Mandalorian is made to look a lot like the OG movies. They specifically try to only use camera angles/ movements from that time. They try to do action that fits the original films style and also is similar to old westerns. They have a very specific look they're going for, and a lot of people don't know this. This also includes the use of miniatures, puppets, and as many realistic things as they can for costumes and the interactive parts of the set. They use CGI and new tech too, but aside from the large screen they use for scenery they seem to only use CGI when it's really needed and not for everything like blockbuster movies or even some shows do, aka they don’t overuse it.

Here are two links for more info on this. They are long but have a lot of cool insight into the show: link for filming style here — link for the tech they use for filming here They have the tech and probably money to have made Ahsoka's lekku & montral CGI, but it was a deliberate choice in style not to do this. Was it a good idea, maybe yes, maybe no, maybe a mix? In Season 1 Chapter 6 of The Mandalorian when they had the Twi’lek Xi’an and I saw how her lekku moved I was concerned for if they ever included lekku in a more prominent role.

As you can kind of see in the above gif, they didn't have enough weight to them and were too foamy/rubbery in their movement. It seems like the same stuff was used for Ahsoka's, which resulted in the same problem. Since we've only known her in animation where they can change things to a much more finite degree, it's off-putting in live-action, and it kinda falls into the uncanny valley which I think is why it's slightly weird to see. If we had seen her in live-action first this probably wouldn't have bothered people as much.

Video Link to show it better

I included the older Clone Wars version of Ahsoka in here because I believe they mixed her looks together to come up with the live-action design. - We saw Shaak Ti in live-action years ago and many people are pointing to that as what they should have gone with for Ahsoka. A reminder that was done for a film, not a TV show, so there will be differences in quality and style. I do think they could have used that as a model to base Ahsoka on, they should have access to old headpiece unless it just deteriorated with time. Here’s a video that includes behind the scenes looks of Shaak Ti, Youtube Link Here

Also here’s a look of Ayla from the Prequels and from the original trilogy of the Jaba palace Twi’lek to compare how they look with the Twi’lek in the Mandalorian.

I think the original trilogy looked better than the lekku in The Mandalorian so if they’re using similar material to keep it more fitting to that time, maybe they need to make them longer to hold more weight and look like actual flesh and not foamy rubber.

They could have also gone the route of making different headpieces with other material depending on what they were being used for. Again it's a TV show, not sure if they have the time or money to do this or think it's worth it for just one episode. But they could have had one made of that foamy material for action scenes, and then one that looked more like Shaak Ti's for scenes where she just talked or moved some. Honestly, this would have been their best option, and as far as I can tell, that wasn't done. I see people mention they could have done no action or less action and made better lekku, but there are already people complaining that there wasn't enough action or movement in her action scenes. You can't please everyone, and I think they struck a good balance.

----------------

Other opinions of mine on her live-action version. I think Ashley Eckstein should have been the one to play Ahsoka in live-action, or I think they should have dubbed the voice. The actress playing her in this wasn't bad, but honestly, she brought nothing new to the role and didn't do enough to capture the smaller nuances of Ahsoka's character. Some of these problems could have been fixed by dubbing her voice, even if she didn't move or look like how people wanted Ahsoka to in live-action, having her voice would have made a big difference. I don't know if Ashley was brought in on this; she hasn't mentioned anything as far as I have seen. I would find it strange if she wasn't involved since Dave and her are friends. Both really love the character, but he doesn't have full control over the show and maybe she wasn't made a part of it for one reason or another. But if she wasn’t, I think that was a bad choice, she’s the one who brought her to life in the Clone Wars. - I also think that we don't always need a big name or famous person playing a character, we could have a dubbed voice and had someone performing it who was a stunt woman or an actor who isn't as well known, this has been done in Star Wars before.

Also look at this cute cosplay of Ashley as Ahsoka:

--------------------- TLDR: Lekku and Montral are not easy to make or look real, I think the creators did the best they could with the style they try to achieve (again we don’t know behind the scenes stuff or their choices), there is stuff that could have maybe improved the look. Many people don’t understand the amount of work that goes into something like this and that sometimes choices are made for a design that you may not like, but that doesn’t make it wrong. Art is a creative thing which includes taking risks, putting a unique spin on something that exists, and sometimes making choices that not everyone will like.

--------------------

But still I’m happy we got to see live action Ahsoka and I’m glad she was able to bring joy to so many people. I’ve watched the Clone Wars since I was a kid and have always loved Ahsoka and while I have my nitpicks about her live action version, overall, I think they did a good job. I was disappointed at first, but now not so much, and instead I just view her as a different version and that she’s unique in her own ways. I remember when Rebels Ahsoka came out a lot of people hated that version, personally I loved it, there are aspects of her design I didn’t like as much tho.

I also feel this was her only appearance in The Mandalorian, I don’t think she will return again, as far as the story goes, I don’t think there is a need for her to return either. I personally would prefer to have Ahsoka stay as an animated character if she got her own show, animation suits her better and has fewer limitations for the creators.

#enjoy my long info dump #about the new episode of the mandalorian #also spoilers below the cut #sorry info dumping is a thing i like doing lol #i spent way too long on this and should actually be sleeping #whoops #the mandalorian spoilers #manod spoilers #mandalorian spoilers #mandalorian season 2 #mando s2 #the mandalorian #spoilers #ahsoka tano #live action ahsoka tano #shira info dumps #at 2 am lmao

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genesisrose74 · 3 years

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here’s the thing, gen. i low key really wanna watch haikyuu, have for a while (and more so now and it’s totally not because sapnap has mentioned it a few times and i’m a simp or anything) but my high school had a volleyball team. that was our school sport in a sense.

in australia we don’t have a school sport culture like in the us. honestly school sport culture from the us terrifies me. but my high school was the one you went to if you wanted to play volleyball. one guy from my graduating class played for australia in thailand in 2018 (also the year i graduated lmao). anyway off topic

high school was not poggers for me, and volleyball being a major-ish thing for my school i can’t not associate the sport (which i actually kinda enjoy playing and am not bad at. head of department for PE, plus the volleyball team coach asked me once to play for the school. i did not want to)

this is a long ass winded way to say, please convince me to watch the show. i wanna but not enough to just... watch it. i need to be convinced. i am like techno. i easily succumb to mild amounts of peer pressure. just yell at me to watch it and i probably will tbh

- <3

Oh wow, your school must’ve been pretty well known for its team :0 well I am totally and completely in love with this show and here’s a bit of why to possibly convince you about giving it a try!

Why You Should Watch Haikyuu!!

Here’s a little short summary first:

Japan is pretty big on volleyball (especially recently) because their team is one of the world’s best, but while there’s absolutely competitive elements in the show for sure, it’s incredibly heartfelt, funny, and built upon the foundation of enjoying the things one loves. The main character is Shoyo Hinata (my fav, the bestest boi 🥺), who originally plays soccer but becomes inspired by a talented high school volleyball player and decides to take up the sport. His school doesn’t have a boy’s volleyball team, but he’s absolutely in love with the sport and decides to try practicing with his friends and as many people as possible. Eventually he gets enough people to play in the last tournament of their middle school year, and despite the fact that his team is clearly not great, he has lots of drive and enthusiasm to where he isn’t deterred. He’s very agile and can jump like a beast, but clearly has a lack of real game experience.

Fast forward to the first year of high school, Shoyo is at his dream school and realizes that one of the team members he encountered at the tournament - Kageyama - is on his team. Kags is incredibly competitive and has some character flaws that have to do with teamwork, and he and Hinata are very competitive with each other and bicker all the time. The story basically follows their high school team and their attempt to get to Nationals, while also showing the character growth of Hinata, Kageyama, and all their friends along the way.

Now to some of the reasons I personally adore this show, down to every last detail:

One of the reasons I love this show so much is because of the fact that it’s realistic in more ways than one. It doesn’t follow this perspective that “volleyball is the one and only thing that all these characters can care about”, but keeps a consistent focus on the plotline while exploring different aspects of life. No one individual or team is especially overpowered or given insane plot armor either, which many sports shows can sometimes resort to.

The manga author and original creator of the story, Haruichi Furudate, was a volleyball player in high school himself, and puts a lot of his own realistic perspective into the plot. The anime itself is incredibly well done animation wise, to the point where professional players on the college and national scale have praised its accuracy, and it depicts common struggles of athletes (honestly any athlete or performer) in a real way: performance anxiety, health, not being a natural prodigy at something, injuries, you name it. One of USC’s liberos even said that she experienced similar performance anxiety to what’s depicted in certain episodes of the show. I resonated with it especially, as I’ve played volleyball and performed in multiple other sports/extracurriculars and felt similarly. It does it in a comfortable, tasteful, and impactful way that doesn’t devoid the show of its overall emotion or humor.

Additionally, Haikyuu is one of the only shows so far that has gotten me so immersed in what’s going on that I’ll be sitting on the edge of my couch to see what happens - even when I’ve seen that episode or clip before. I’ve gotten multiple friends into the show as well, and they’ve all felt the same. You want to root for these characters (and even some of the ones not on the main team, if you’d believe it), becoming elated when they discover something about themselves or break past a boundary. When I say I’ve gotten emotional over this freaking show, I mean it.

The original soundtrack is one of the best I’ve ever seen in an anime. God tier insane. Makes you feel chills as you experience exactly what the characters are at the same time you’re watching it. The intro and outro music is also incredible. You never skip an opening because it’s that good.

Nothing goes forgotten, each character is thoroughly and intricately developed, and it can make me both laugh my ass off and cry my heart out. I might just be more emotional lol, but trust me when I say it’s immersive. I deeply, truly hope that you consider giving the first few episodes a shot to see if you like it, and let me know if you end up doing so! Season one is a little slower in early progression just to set a basic plot foundation, but it picks up very nicely as the episodes continue.

alsjfnsldksjd this is so fucking long but I could say so much more about how much I love Haikyuu. Please please please 🥺🙏 I implore you to watch and appreciate it!

#chat with genesis #haikyuu!!#haikyuu #hq #haikyuu anime #haikyuu to the top #karasuno #hinata shoyo #kageyama tobio #i love haikyuu #could rave about it all day #if there was only one show I could watch for the rest of my life #it would be this one #deadass #idk might just be me #but yeah I would

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alwaysahiccupandastrid · 5 years

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Is it bad that I’m praying DreamWorks don’t try to remake the HTTYD movies? Not just because I’m sick of Hollywood live action remakes but also because I just feel it’s perfect as it is and doing a live action of it will be nowhere near as good as the animated movies are.

The storyline of the Dragon movies work better in animation because it allowed the filmmakers to be more creative about showing dragon flights and races as well as dragon behavior

I mean I can’t imagine a live action version of the Toothless/Night Fury mating dance, like it just works as an animation

The reason that the dragons can be both terrifying and cute is because of the animation style - trying to remake them in live action just wouldn’t have that same effect. Some of the dragons communicate with facial expressions as well, and we all know how terrible certain live action remakes have made animal facial expressions look (ie. They’re either TOO human and uncanny or they’re emotionless)

Frankly, I don’t think I could bear to see anyone else play Hiccup or Astrid. Even though they start off as 15 year olds and are voiced by adults throughout, their voices work as they are. I cannot imagine anyone other than Jay Baruchel as Hiccup or America Ferrera as Astrid because they’ve both voiced their characters constantly throughout the movies and the television shows, and they’ve both expressed how much the characters mean to them. Maybe it’s a bit silly on my part but for me, they ARE the characters and anyone else playing their parts would be too much for me. Jay especially because he’s even done a couple of the video games (well, I know he did the first one)

By extension, Christopher Mintz-Plasse has also voiced Fishlegs throughout the shows and movies, and I can’t help but think about Fishlegs whenever I hear his voice. I would also add TJ Miller as Tuffnut because, frankly, he was one of the best voices on the cast and also another one who voiced his character in the TV show (and his improv was fantastic too, he steals the show), but given the whole controversy about him, plus him being replaced in the Hidden World, I’m feeling that’s not as firm a point.

Honestly, I just REALLY do not want to see one of Twitter’s white boys of the month cast as Hiccup. They’ll cast someone like Noah Centipede or Timothee Chalamet whatever their names are and all the fangirls will lose it. That’s NOT Hiccup - the reason we love Hiccup is because he’s a skinny, runt-ish awkward bean of a boy who doesn’t fit in.

The colours of the movies would undoubtedly be dullened down to be more realistic (eg, The Lion King remake) - the locations of the series are bright and colorful and vibrant for good reason.

I can only imagine how they will butcher Astrid if they made a live action remake. They’ll add some bogus plot lines to be more feminist (and trust me, I’m a feminist myself) but it’ll change the plot/relationships. Like they’d probably have Astrid involved in the Red Death battle in the clouds or some shit. Like no, you don’t need to do that - Astrid is awesome and strong as a female character the way she is.

Look, I am all for not offending people and all that, but there’s a limit between “adding diversity/being less offensive” and “let’s be overly Politically Correct to the point where it’s not fun anymore”.

God knows how they would portray Ruffnut, I mean honestly, knowing the way Hollywood is going I wouldn’t shocked if they just cast Jake Paul and Logan Paul as Ruff and Tuff, making Ruff a boy or some shit. Or maybe they’d cast JoJo Siwa or whatever her name is, who even knows at this point.

To be quite honest, I feel that if DreamWorks wants to do more with the How To Train Your Dragon name, they should consider adapting the books into an animated television show. Granted, I know Hiccup would have to be voiced by a kid because he’s 10 in the books, and there’s the issue of how to show Hiccup speaking Dragonese whilst the others don’t understand it (would they speak English for the Dragonese parts and just act like the other humans can’t understand? Or would they actually have them speak actual Dragonese and then have subtitles?). I know that it didn’t work out as a film (the original film plot being much closer to the books) but perhaps as a television show on Netflix or something they could take their time with it. They could adapt like three or four of the books per season.

Better yet, if they did make it into a Netflix show, they could have David Tennant voice the prologue/epilogue parts where Hiccup is an old man and looking back at his life. I think that would be a beautiful way of linking the books and everything together.

But overall, I’m really hoping that DreamWorks doesn’t decide to jump on the live action remake bandwagon like Disney. I’d prefer that they left the movies as they are.

#httyd #how to train your dragon #dreamworks #how to train your dragon 3 #httyd 3 #httyd 2 #how to train your dragon 2 #hiccup haddock #hiccup horrendous haddock iii

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spaceorphan18 · 4 years

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Brother Bear

Alright - I’m going to just get it out. I didn’t like this movie. I don’t think it’s a bad movie, I don’t think it’s terrible -- it holds together decently, the plot is, well, what it is, the animation is nice, the music is... okay the music is pretty terrible, but that’s an entirely different thought. Anyway, it’s fine as a cohesive movie, and I’m sure there are kids everywhere who enjoy it. But the main conflict of this film just does not work for me.

So, the film takes place way back in the day with Native Alaskans (I was kinda bummed to find out they weren’t Canadian - Disney needs to do a Canadian film.) It was originally supposed to be a King Lear type film (!!! - that would have been fascinating) because these were the creators of Lion King and wanted to recapture that magic, and oh god does it try to mimic a lot of Lion King’s style.

But the plot is of these three brothers -- and you can tell right off the bat this is a ‘boy movie’. (rolls eyes, that isn’t even what bothers me.) I did like the opening bit and the dynamic of the three brothers -- I kinda wish the film had been about them and not about animals at all because there’s an interesting set-up that kind of goes in a different direction entirely once the film gets into its plot.

The film is about a boy who needs to learn how to love. He ends up killing a bear, because a bear was semi-responsible for his brother’s death. So he ends up a bear, and a surrogate big brother to a smaller bear, who happens to be the son of the mother bear he killed. And... I just can’t get over that twist. It doesn’t work. It just feels dumb. And I feel like the main character can’t really come back from that, even when the film tries. And then the guy decides to stay a bear. Which is... ug.

On top of that, the entire time he’s a bear, his brother is hunting him down because the brother thinks that he was responsible for killing himself. But the brother doesn’t have to go through the same thing nor learn the same lessons? I feel like this film contradicts itself all over the place.

In general, too, the film feels a little overwrought -- hitting you over the head with the whole ‘love all creatures’ theme (except salmon - that’s okay to eat). Everything feels a little too on the nose, and that would be fine if the characters were a bit more engaging but I don’t think they ever really work.

Anyway -- the animation is nice. I like the opening, more realistic style better than when they went straight up cartoony for when he’s turned into a bear, but it’s never bad, which is a nice element.

The music, oh god... They got Phil Collins back, which isn’t a bad idea when it worked so well for Tarzan but here, man.... The must have told Phil Collins -- okay write a bunch of songs that literally say what’s going on on screen while invoking everything from the Lion King. Seriously. This film feels like it’s trying so hard to capture what the Lion King had going for it that it’s almost painful at times. The music is easily the worst aspect of this film, and that’s including the weak plot.

Oh my god, Disney, why??

Other Thoughts:

This film has only two-ish female characters. One is the spirit lady at the beginning, who doesn’t really stick around - she’s just there to be mystical. The other is a kinda hilarious older female there who’s just there for a joke.

There are a bunch of side character-animals in here that are really quite hilarious, including a couple of really dumb moose. I kinda wish the film had been, also, about these random characters living their lives in Canada Alaska, because it would have been hilarious.

One of the moose was voiced by Rick Moranis! I haven’t heard him in ages, and yet I still recognized the voice.

The other bear characters sitting around doing their bear things was kind of cute, and yet another thing this film could have been about but was not.

FWIW - Kenai, the main character, was voiced by Joaquin Phoenix. There’s nothing profound about that - just thought I’d mention it.

Seriously - this movie is trying to be the Lion King. The music does feel like rip-off Lion King stuff, as well as some of the imagery is the same. I kinda wish they hadn’t tried so hard, because comparisons are inevitable.

I don’t have much to say about this film beyond that it’s frustrating to watch.

Final Thoughts: It’s a perfectly passable, albeit annoying, film. I think plopping a kid in front of it - they’ll be fine. But I think it’s over reliance of cheesy themes and a plot that just doesn’t work at the end of it brings the whole thing down. That said -- a) still better than Sword in the Stone and Dinosaur and b) the next two are supposed to be some of Disney’s worst, and gotta say, I’m looking forward to them!

#thoughts on disney

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rusalkii · 5 years

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Not worst than average for the past month or so but I don't particularly like average recently.

I have dived down so many SCA rabbit holes this week. So many. For instance, expert consensus on what causes the waist wrinkles and skirt pleats in a bliaut seems to be "well, it's either pleating, really light fabric, tight side-lacing, or some combination". These are really different effects! I've seen someone in a bliaut with a pleated skirt and that just looks weird, but "looks weird" is not actually a justification. Also, I can't afford silk in the yardage it takes to make a Tang era dress the name of which I forgot and that's tragic. Also also, I want to make a map with all the temple ring finds and the estimated year and see what that looks like, cause I bet it's really cool. Unrelatedly, I'm apparently good at throwing axes at things, but this is not a skill that's very easy to practice. And I’m sort of weaving? Though this warp has gone through some exciting adventures.

Anyway, uh, on the bright side my "do something other than stare at a phone" goal has been going pretty well? Aside from SCA things I've been getting to dance consistently and generally doing less of my defaults. On the less bright side it is generally advisable to do homework before the night it's due and show up to classes other than the fun ones occasionally.

Did very well on my Discrete exam, surprisingly okay on the other CS exam, haven't gotten it back but felt better than expected but a lot worse than I should be in Stat. My researchish class once I got caught up in I did very well with the paper draft I submitted, but my partners, uh, did not do as well on his part. I shouldn't feel smug cause the being behind on data collection was my fault but I absolutely do, it's sort of obvious I'm the reason this paper is remotely interesting. And the result is not completely boring, though if I was to redo it I'd do the less precise but quicker method and get more data points, I feel completely terrible trying to generalize from the sample we have. In any case grade-wise the lesson from this is not to trust anything I haven't at least skimmed over, the professor hasn't said a word about the sample size and frankly it's probably more rigorous than anyone else's because I have any standards. The skeleton's good and it should be relatively easy to expand it if I decide I care. (Which, realistically, would be if I talk to the professor and she decides it's worth trying to publish).

In my other classes: Discrete is good, keep doing what you're doing. Need to study for the other CS class (notes, work through problems) and make any effort at all to keep up with Stat. It's not hard! I just need to keep up with the lecture material, make sure I do all the homeworks correctly, and ... honestly everything else is a stretch goal? If I have notes on everything we've covered and understand the homework I'll do fine. There's no good excuse not to get an A in this class, it's easy and I've covered similar material before.

Having specific goals (have notes done) is much better for me than time-based ones, keeping that. Also, moved lists to todoist, which has actual features. I am not sending some very important emails because ugh field. I have also failed very badly at answering messages or talking to... anyone. Sorry, if you're reading this and we talk, I still like you, I'm just an anxietyball lately. (In general me not responding to messages is not a signal of... anything. I like people! I really do! Please talk to me! It's just that sometimes the notification will hang out for a week before I get to it and sometimes I swipe it away by accident and then I will never get to it because I don't have a memory). Slightly tempted to make a giant list of people it'd be nice to talk to more, randomize it once a day, and talk to the person it spits out. Unfortunately this is not any less stressful than the usual way unless people know about it, and then for some of the people I'd want to talk to more that's weird. I dunno. Possibly I should work on not treating social anxiety as a signal, in the same way I can do for other anxiety? "Ah, yep, that sure is the physical sensation of tightness in my chest and shortness of breath, time to do the mediation-ish thing that helps it go away". My social anxiety manifests differently, less physical panic and more a mix of being sure that if I say something awkward/stupid/out of place/etc people'll judge me and being judged is The Worst and just... not having "talk to people" be an available action. The thing I suggested initially would help with the second but not the first. All of the non-partner people I talk to regularly I have some sort of recurring thing scheduled that I interact with them at.

Okay, new tack: why do I want to talk to people?

- It's fun

- They have interesting ideas and perspectives

- Sometimes people are shiny and then talking to them is the best! thing! ever! for no particular objective reason other than !shiny!

- It's social skills practice, the better I get at the easier it'll be and the less it'll cost

- When I don't interact with people enough I get bitter and lonely and that's bad, actually

- Building connections to my community (s), making myself a known entity, unlocking more interesting interactions with groups/people

- Almost everyone is more interesting once you get to know them

- Among moderately interesting people a few will be very very interesting and potentially important to your life but the only way to know who is go deeper

- Local community is very very good for me

To synthesize:

(1) Fun! Shiny! Cool conversations! That fun buzzy feeling from a really good interaction!

(2) Community is good for me, loneliness bad for social animals.

(3) Finding very interesting people/groups requires getting to know them deeper.

(4) Social skills practice.

What can I do that accomplishes these goals? (1) Happens either when I'm talking to a shiny person, someone I like a lot, or occasionally at good group events. (2) Discord/tumblr helps with any, not having close friends on/near campus hurts a lot, not feeling - integrated with? any local community hurts, despite being pretty central to the local rats. I guess some of it is a sort of "can I randomly invite people over to watch a movie or something?" and the answer feels like no. I could... have a personal channel on one of the rat discord servers, this is a superficial kind of community but it’s a very low-stress sort of social interaction that makes me more of a know entity (3) Deeper involves initiating one-on-one interactions. Those are... hard. I know what needs to happen I just don't know how. (4) Happens naturally as a side effect of any of the above. Maybe take up E on the old offer to watch movies and take them apart? I should look people in the eye more and do riskier social moves when the cost of failure is low.

Unfortunately social things take energy and everything I could do here takes energy. ...these were some productive thoughts but I'm going to let them stew for a bit first.

As an aside, it'd be good to schedule a time to go through all of these and review. Once a month is too often, once a year too rare. Every two months? It's been about two months but I don't feel like doing it this week and I'd want a round numbers. Last Friday in October, then.

#the work of the world is as common as mud

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comicteaparty · 4 years

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February 12th-February 18th, 2020 Reader Favorites Archive

The archive for the Reader Favorites chat that occurred from February 12th, 2020 to February 18th, 2020. The chat focused on the following question:

When applicable, what about a creator’s art might convince you to check out their comic?

carcarchu

I like a wide range of art styles so it's hard to pinpoint specifics but if an artist is able to draw very attractive looking characters (recognizable character designs, outfits that don't look like they came out of 2004 gap catalogue, characters that can still be recognized even when they change their hair style) then i find that very appealing. beyond that how well an artist can integrate the characters with the actual space they exist in is something i find very important as well. a bunch of floating heads can only carry a series so far. if the artist can make the characters feel like they properly exist in the space i think it can really elevate the series although in practice this is something very difficult to do.

Deo101 [Millennium]

For me, honestly some art styles are very inspiring to me and that will sometimes get me to read just because I want to see the art more and learn from it. Things like textures, colors, character design... It can draw me in just by exciting me as a learning opportunity

chalcara

For me art‘s the hook and story the line. Come for the art, stay for the story, you know?

Funnily I‘m looking less for pretty art and more for good visual story telling. I want the art to show whats going on without having to rely on dialogue.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I'm honestly very picky about art styles when it comes to comics, and that's a personal issue It has some to do with art styles being attractive to me, but honestly, the most important aspects of a creator's style to me are (1) consistency of style and anatomy, (2) level of completion, and (3) clear communication of what's happening. When it comes to whether or not I check out the comic initially, the main things that come into play with the promotional materials, covers, and/or thumbnails are contrast of the image and cleanness of the rendering. Of course, obviously, my personal tastes play into it. (I tend to like semi-realistic styles, sort of anime-ish but with a twist, or painted styles that may resemble concept art.) But honestly, probably more important than grabbing me initially to begin reading is readership retention. And that's where the 3 qualities I look for come into play: (1) Consistency of style and anatomy: This is probably the most important part for me as a reader. If I can't tell who is who because the characters change appearance from panel to panel, I'm ducking out, because that affects the clarity of storytelling. I also cringe everytime I see a particularly egregious anatomy error. I know what people look like. I see them every day. If I feel pain from looking at an artist's work, I'm not sticking around. (To be fair, everyone makes some kind of anatomy mistakes, but really it's if the anatomy mistakes are really awful to me and aren't as a result of a deliberate style CHOICE. Keyword, C H O I C E.) (2) Level of completion: This really just means that if it looks like the artist rushed through the panels or they were being lazy, I feel like their comic isn't worth my time. I mean, if an artist themselves doesn't care about their work, why should I?(edited)

. (3) Clear communication of what's happening: Once again clarity of storytelling is absolutely essential. If the composition of a large portion of the panels don't clearly show the actions of the characters, I can't follow the story. Aaaaaand as a bonus: Please, please, for the love of all powers that be, please, make your fonts legible. If I can't read the comic without squinting because your text is too tiny or hard to read, I'm not going to try. I have bad eyesight as it is. Take pity on your readers. I'm not going to suffer for your work. I have dropped far too many comics to count because the creator didn't care enough to make sure that the font was legible. And this applies to both desktop view, mobile view, scrolling format, and page to page format. Just.... Make your fonts big and clear.(edited)

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

That's interesting to think about how recognizable characters are when their hair style changes. I might try to use that as a character building exercise

Deo101 [Millennium]

Solid excercise: can you tell them all apart when they're bald and naked?

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

OoooooooOOOOOOOOOOHHHH

Might partake that challenge

Deo101 [Millennium]

Also it's really fun to draw characters in all sorts of hair and clothes so idk what id do if I couldn't tell them apart when doing that!!! That's like 40% of my art!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

This just convinces me more and more to do AU art

Deo101 [Millennium]

Yeah aus are another 20% of what i draw LOL

Look im drawing the comic most of the time so I wish to partake in non canon things the rest

carcarchu

@sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD) i've read series before where the character gets a hair cut / dyes it and i'm like WHO ARE YOU? IS THIS A NEW CHARACTER?

Deo101 [Millennium]

Oh another good excercise is drawing your Characters in many different styles and seeing if they remain unique when not in yours.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I want to do all of this

This is stuff I hardly ever have time for

So I am extra attracted to it

Also, there IS a time later in the comic where a certain character's hair gets partially burned off

And then he cuts it pretty short to get rid of the singed edges

And I feel like his hair is like 80% of his character design

So I'm just a little scared about that

Deo101 [Millennium]

Also, @Cronaj (Whispers of the Past) , I am unsure what you mean by "readership retention" with something that makes you interested in a comic, could you explain?(edited)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

By readership retention, I mean aspects of the art that decide whether I'll continue reading past the first few pages

(obviously story comes into play as well, but I won't pretend that the art in the first few pages of a comic don't contribute)

Deo101 [Millennium]

Oh okay, I thought you meant like how many readers have unfollowed or something

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Nah

More like, "oh cool! Your cover and blurb seem interesting. Lemme check out the comic!"

And then after reading the first few pages/chapter:

"ah... Not for me." Or "Nice, I'll keep reading!"

Deo101 [Millennium]

Gotcha

Capitania do Azar

Ohh I don't feel like dissing particular artsyle choices, but I know a few aren't for me. I'm no big fan of ultra realistic, hyper detailed stuff you usually see in super hero comics (other genres pick that style too sometimes and I still don't really appreciate). I particularly like artstyles that are distinct and recognizable, I have a hard time with stuff from different authors that just looks... Like a carbon copy (sometimes, the style being referenced is waaay too obvious and that is always a big no for me) Good use of color is key. Give me some good values too. I want colors to make sense and I am very tired of pink. I also appreciate consistency. If you give me artwork with a more paintery style but then the comic is cellshaded, that might tip me off. But not necessarily (tho I appreciate inner consistency inside the comic itself). Rushed stuff, like mentioned above, is also not a good look, but only insofar as it distracts me from what's happening in the story. Consistency is a very important word here, because I love seeing a common line that is able to take in all the differences that are necessary in character design and backgrounds, but also make me believe that they all could live in the same world.

Oh! And also: if the artstyle involves using lineart, I am really fond of sharp, clear lines with weight variation

sagaholmgaard

I'm curious about what you guys mean with consistency- do you guys not like if an artist's art style changes over the several years it might take to make a finished webcomic? Is it that it peeves you when the backgrounds are done in, say, a painterly style while the characters are done with lineart? Is it when the artists makes ordinary illustration work in a completely different style from their comic pages? (This is genuine curiosity I hope no one's feeling attacked rn ^^)

carcarchu

i personally really like seeing an artist's skills improve and evolve over the many years it takes to draw a series

even at the expense of a more "consistent" final product

sagaholmgaard

Yeah me too, it's one thing i really like about webcomics

chalcara

Can‘t talk about the others, but I get thrown off when one page is sprite comic, the next painterly, third cell-shaded without having a in-story-reasons for those style changes, like flashbacks or pov-changes. But more commonly, the issue’s the classic „comic‘s usually coloured, but oops, this time you only get the pencils because I had no time to update“. If that happens too often and/or doesn‘t get fixed for the archive I just lose investment in the comic.

Art evolution is natural, both in webcomic and published work with a dedicated artist.

Ah, that‘s another source of inconsistency - people switching colourists or even artists around. Once in a while is fine, but if it happens every month or so, I tend to get annoyed by it. It‘s actually why I killed my first webcomic twenty years ago; it was a collaberation and life kept getting in the way forcing me to switch colourists every five pages or so.

carcarchu

oh actually i have read a webcomic where they changed artist's 18 chapters in. i really fell in love with the magical and dark tone of the original artist and was engrossed in the world that they set up. they had a painterly style and it really set the atmosphere of the entire series but then the new artist had a super clean and cutesy art style and the sudden tonal shift really threw me off. in the long run the new artist was actually extremely consistent and better at actually releasing long chapters and very good quality chapters and the writing actually improved too because of it but it was never able to recapture what it was that i really loved about the original art style. also the new artist changed the character designs a little so the heroine was no longer even recognizable as the same person

since it was relatively early in the series i definitely would have preferred if they just got the new artist to actually redraw the first 18 chapters in the new style just so the change wouldnt be so incredibly jarring

chalcara

Any harsh breaks like that will cause some people to break away from the comic, I found. I dumped one of my favourite-for-years comic because the creator got bored by their main character and completely sidelined her in favour of a group of minor characters I had absolutely no interest in.

Didn‘t mean the comic got worse - by all accounts its still beloved by quite a sizable audience - it just wasn‘t for me anymore.

sagaholmgaard

Ahh that I can relate to. I get super attached to the main character and usually have a hard time getting into any spinoffs with the rest of the cast, even if I want to (and im a hypocrite because i also want to make spinoffs for ever side character in my own comic LOL) i guess if the style changed a LOT from page to page that would throw me off too. that feels like the artist is trying to experiment, maybe making sort comedic comic strips would be more acceptable then? Every style would at least be contained to one strip at least

DanitheCarutor

That's... actually a really good question. I don't really go for a specific aesthetic. Sometimes what's going on in the thumbnail attracts me, or it could be the use of color, the style, a character design. I'll check out a comic with just about any art style. I guess maybe if I have an idea of what the creator is going for with their art? Like, the art may have a lot of kinks, but maybe being able to tell what style they're trying to go for makes me want to check out their work? Honestly, I don't have a really strong art bias, as long as the comic is readable I'll go for almost anything. Maybe I won't check something out if the style looks extremely uninspired... like if it were the most generic, based off Japanese cartoons, style ever then I might give it a pass. But even then I do sometimes check it out anyway, so I really don't know! This question is surprisingly hard to answer! To give my last quip about last week's topic, since I don't want to derail the current one. I feel the creator's personal life is no one's business. I understand if they're a legit bad person, but digging into a creator's life to see if they qualify to be supported is... I dunno. This mindset makes me feel that if someone who liked my work ever tried to get to know me, they would be doing it solely to see if I'm good enough for them, which feels really invasive and predatory. I fully understand most people can't just enjoy something, that's how the world is, it just kinda sucks sometimes. The world kind sucks sometimes. Alright! I'm doing with giving my final thoughts on that subject.(edited)

Deo101 [Millennium]

The question is specifically about what draws you to art, rather than what turns you away so if you don't want to rag on any art styles that's not what it was asking for I think! Though yes it's very closely related (and it's not bad to say what you don't like)

Eilidh (Lady Changeling)

I definitely am more likely to read a comic that has a distinctive style - no particular style preferences, really. Interesting use of colour/value is definitely a bonus. But as long as it's engaging and the composition is good/readable, I don't really mind whether the art is "good" or not.

DanitheCarutor

@Deo101 [Millennium] I wasn't trying to rag on anything. I couldn't specify what about someone's art would draw me to their comic, it was easier to the one thing that might not, but I still said that I may be drawn in regardless. Sorry if I came off like a douchebag, totally not my intention. <_<'

Deo101 [Millennium]

No I know, someone earlier said "I don't feel like dissi g particular styles" I'll be honest I was typing my post as you were and so I didn't even read yours til after I said something(edited)

Just kind of a general thing! Feels like it went to what turns us away instead of what draws us in so just kinda a reminder of the op

sagaholmgaard

Readability is definitely important for me to want to continue following a comic, but what about the art that makes me want to read something...? I definitely have a preference toward cartoony styles overall. A solid character design will make me wanna check out a comic. If the main character has a recognizable silhouette and interesting shape language. I also love really bold lineart, especially if it's used to create shadow and contrast. Interesting color schemes too. I think how the background is drawn can really make me want to read something as well. I know BGs aren't people's favorite thing to draw but to me if the setting looks very well though out and designed, that definitely motivates me to check something out. And awe-inspiring sceneries are always hella cool! I read a lot of things outside of my artistic preferences though, but I think these are the things that might make me pick something up based only on the art itself.

keii4ii

I think I tend to find more appeal in certain compositions, which is a more subtle aspect of style. I am a major sucker for evocative use of backshots/ not-showing-the-(whole)-face, for one thing. Compositions that make full use of the three dimensional space around the figure(s) is another (this doesn't necessarily mean putting a lot of stuff around the character; you can have a mostly empty space and still make it feel very 3D).

(I hope both of those things show in my own works... I just love those things soooo much )

Deo101 [Millennium]

Oh I LOVE when a panel like... Cuts a face. Something about it makes me lose my mind every time

DanitheCarutor

@Deo101 [Millennium] Ooh! Lol sorry about that! I was so caught up with off computer stuff that I didn't notice anything else typing while I was. I haven't read the whole conversation yet, but I can see how it would turn to that. "What draws you in" is a hard topic to stay on. At least I imagine it would be since it's hard for me to talk about.

Ah! I admit I really like shots focused on scale, specifically ones were you can feel how tiny the MC is compared to what the camera is focused on. Does that make sense? Like the panel shows this ginormous thing, and it has the MC in it to show how massive it really is. That's awesome when done right.

Deo101 [Millennium]

Tiny little person. Yes. Very good

DanitheCarutor

Tiny people in giant worlds are the best!

keii4ii

I love those too!

DanitheCarutor

Oh, also this isn't a webcomic, but I've been interested in reading Vinland Saga after seeing this page on Twitter.(edited)

Something about extremely hideous expressions on semi-realistic faces jives with me.

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

What draws me in easiest is the design aspect of characters, environment and the webcomic title! It's a bit of a turn off when the title doesn't look polished. That's one of the main draws for me is an intriguingly designed logo with a catchy name that follows through their chosen aesthetic. I've seen many comics that stand apart from the title image they chose and it's a bit jarring to see! Great examples of wonderful execution of these aesthetics are BlackOut City, O'Sarilho, Sink Your HookTeeth and Shadrunners(obvs there are many more) I have to agree with @sagaholmgaard about backgrounds! There are quite a few creators who avoid them and stick to simple colours and gradients that just dont keep me in the comic- though my fave genres include a lot of world building, so BGs in a romance may not be emphasized as much. Lastly, dynamic character design!! I love a wonderfully crafted cast that allows me to read the characters easily no matter what setting or outfit they're in. Also it's really random but i do love an artist who can draw really good shoes?? That is always a draw in for me (edited)

Capitania do Azar

Oh I meant it in the way that if you spend a lot of time experimenting with different styles and techniques, you'll never be good at any of them. Style and approach changing over time is, imo, inevitable and good :) @sagaholmgaard(edited)

@@FeatherNotes(Krispy) I constantly think my logo looks like crap next to other webcomics', so thank you (edited)

DanitheCarutor

Oh god, @FeatherNotes(Krispy). Titles and logos are legit my weakest point, that part of the comic creation process is the worst! I have this cosmic-horror/fantasy comic I've been developing since 2005, and it took me till just last year to come up with a decent title. It'll probably take another 14 years to come up with a passable logo. Lmao!

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

It is really hard! Because that image/logo and name represents the body of work so firmly, its also got to stand strong with what it's representing and stand up to other titles too! Basically, i like to think of something that will help generate top results when i search on google for the title, which to me helps it stand on its own on the web, and sound catchy enough for pitches in person! I don't want to steer the convo away too much from the prompt, but there is definitely more to discuss about titles and their chosen aesthetics

varethane

@DanitheCarutor have you read Golden Kamuy? If you love hilariously hideous expressions in manga, it seems like it may be your jam lol

(it's also set in a specific historical period and contains a lot of really interesting material about the time/place it takes place in)

Also I feel like I have never, even one time in my life, come up with a good title for anything-- both Chirault and Wychwood are placeholder titles that I used just to kinda name the story for myself, which I initially intended to change when something better came along, and then nothing ever did

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I know I'm generally drawn into a comic if it's just... generally a visual feast? And it doesn't even have to be a beautiful feast - just... a feast! A super intriguing artstyle, beautiful or not, is something for my brain to pick apart and enjoy. Detailed backgrounds, intricate costumes, fascinating presentation/layout... all the way to crazy expressions and fun asides, and even some gory or scary bits to make me go EEK. Basically, if I'm reading it, and my hand is twitching with the prospect of drawing fan art, then I'm in for good.

DanitheCarutor

@FeatherNotes(Krispy) Urg that is such a nightmare! And there are only so many different styles you can do for a logo, and so many variations of words, it's like how there aren't any truly original stories anymore. I got lucky with the title for my current comic, it's the most generic thing ever, but fits in a tongue-in-cheek way. @varethane I've never heard of it, but the face compilations I'm seeing are intriguing! Man, I love stupid facial expressions.

Capitania do Azar

@varethane golden kamuy, I see you are a fellow of taste as well

varethane

(I love it so much)

Capitania do Azar

@DanitheCarutor oh idk about the "only so many things you can do with logos", I've seen amazing things in this world, if there's a limit I'm not seeing it

varethane

(I can always tell exactly when I was binging it because there's a big chunk of my phone's photo gallery that's all screencaps of Asirpa making dumb faces)

Capitania do Azar

@varethane guys shooting each other in the woods? I'm always in for that

DanitheCarutor

@Capitania do Azar Lol I guess? I can't see how you can have an infinite number of designs for writing, while still trying to keep it vaguely readable. But I really don't like lettering, so my imagination is hardcore lacking in that department.

Capitania do Azar

Lettering and logo design are their own fields of expertise, it's ok

meek

Hmm I'm similar to a lot of previous responses where I can't pinpoint a specific style or trend of art work that draws me in because the styles of comics I read differ incredibly. That being said, there are some things that I do look for to keep me coming back: 1) Consistency of style/anatomy: unless there's a specific reason for the general art style to change (not including semi-deformed or chibi versions of characters), I appreciate characters staying proportionate or just otherwise consistent throughout the comic. And art evolution isn't something that's at odds with consistency, it can actually help that by making characters more distinct and easier to distinguish from each other. 2) Potential for art evolution: Almost the opposite of the previous point lmao but if I find a new comic and I see the latest page is of a much higher skill level than the first page, I'm immediately hooked. I want to see the journey. And I want to see how far that journey goes, even past the point where the art "gets good". There's at least one comic that I can think of where once it hit the style that it wanted to, the art has stayed consistent for the past several years but so much so it's almost plateaued and become stagnant. It's still good art, by all means! But I want to see it grow and evolve more. 3) Good panel/speech layout: Okay it's not quite art in the same sense but someone else mentioned this above and I think it's important too? There are so many comics I can think of that I couldn't read or I dropped off at a point because reading was a chore, either because of giant or unsightly speech bubbles, tiny or ill-fitting font, a combination of the two, etc. Sure, graphic design and layout is a skillset completely different from pure illustration, but it's one worth knowing because otherwise you could do a disservice to your art and your story.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

@meek Seriously, the text is so important to me, and I consider it a large part of page layout and design

meek

Agreed!! It's something that bothers me with printed comics all the time. I've tried to read so many "classic" graphic novels and I just.. I can't get past the giant text boxes with small font with miniscule kerning and ESPECIALLY if they then add color to it. Please, keep in mind your readers with reading difficulties But to turn this into a positive One of my favorite things that also helps make a comic feel more personal is when the creator turns their handwriting into a font or otherwise have FUN with the speech bubbles

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

YES. As someone with bad eyesight, typography is one of my favorite aspects of finishing a comic page.

Deo101 [Millennium]

It also is super important for me with ADHD, reading is hard enough as is! so bubble layout and clarity can really bring the whole thing together and elevate a comic

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I tried that but got the feedback that my text is hard to read and the way i format my speech bubbles is distracting (: But some people have said they really like it so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Though I do think I could have done better with the font. I have good eyesight and bad handwriting do I think i have a much easier time reading weird text than many. Since you guys care so much about text, would you mind taking a quick glance at my comic and telling me how readable it is? It'd be nice getting feedback from random people as opposed to only my readers who felt strongly enough to leave a comment unprompted

meek

Oh man I have this specific panel in mind from some early 2006 Avengers comic of like.. what not to do Basically it was a bright yellow text box with this white/light blue font. It was just. It was a nightmare to read Oh sure!! Definitely send me a link

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Yep! Send me a link too! I'd love to help you out

I also have a good typography book to recommend if you're interested. I can drop it into #art_resources(edited)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Here is link: https://www.webtoons.comen/challenge/puppeteer/list?title_no=290620

Thanks for taking the time to give me critique!

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

The link's not working, but I can probably find it on Webtoon

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

And I think i dould find a typography book interesting, so yes please do send the link

Sorry, i think the link is missing a slash

Did we both delete the link

Deo101 [Millennium]

did we both delete a

yah

i got it

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Lol

Deo101 [Millennium]

https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/puppeteer/list?title_no=290620

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Thanks

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I found it

(The font is a bit small on mobile, but the font is fine?)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Wait can we move to shop talk?

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

(maybe we can have this discussion on shop talk channel? )

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Sure

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

OH LOL

DanitheCarutor

@Capitania do Azar Oh god, they so are! I envy anyone who enjoys that craft, I'm a lot better than I was, but lettering is still so hard. ;v; At least the fancy stuff is hard, regular speechbubble lettering is easy as long as my hand cooperates.

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

There's a book I had to read for a web design course I took, and it is seriously a life saver

It put text in a whole new perspective

DanitheCarutor

I do all my lettering traditionally, but maybe that book would be helpful, I legit hate doing it no matter what medium I use. (sorry for continuing to derail the channel.)

Capitania do Azar

@DanitheCarutor i used a website that converts handwriting to fonts + font forge for tweaks to get personalised fonts

DanitheCarutor

I used to type bubbles out, and I've thought about it for my current comic but I mix up words and letters really bad, and I forget to add words entirely while typing. It wouldn't be so bad if my brain saw the mistakes while rereading everything, although sometimes it takes a couple days or another set of eyes for me to actually see them. When I write the bubbles in with a pen I make a lot less mistakes since it takes more effort to write out each letter, also my brain can keep better track of the ones I do make. I feel like that's an excuse that makes no sense.

Deo101 [Millennium]

no it totally makes sense

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

I can't say I'm ever especially drawn in by art? Besides the sense of "it looks like a lighthearted action story and I like lighthearted action stories", not much catches my eye. Though, I will drop a comic if I'm put off by the art. Like I can forgive if some things look janky at the start of the comic, but if that jankiness doesn't improve over time, I'll drop the comic. I'll also drop the comic if the character designs are bad (i.e. indistinguishable from each other, or in rare cases just too gross to look at). But again, I can't exactly say "good character designs draw me into the comic" because a lot of comic banners/thumbnails don't really show off full character designs.

chalcara

Varied bodytypes are catnip for me. And I like comics with expressive characters over comics that limit expressiveness to keep the characters pretty.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Oh, definitely agree with that second part. Comics where it looks like everyone has had a ton of Botox is a huge pet peeve of mine

Like, eyebrows are not the only part of the face that can move.

Do more

renieplayerone

Yeah i agree with the janky art thought. I think it helps me follow through the jank if i see that the later pages, the artist has shown growth, and i dont want to force anyone into a "gotta redraw it" loop if thats not something they want (of course everyone has their reasons and theyre also valid af) Ill tend to be more forgiving about the jank if i know its someones first webcomic or first comic in general, because you cant learn how to make comics without actually sitting down and making the dang thing. So yeah, the jank can be a double edged sword(edited)

What super draws me in is comics with a great sense of color. While i love anything vibrant, if the softer watercolors are done well, they're chefs kiss. Prime example of that is Stand Still Stay Silent

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I've been thinking about this question all week and I think I finally boiled my answer down to something short, sweet, and to the point. It's gotta be some kind of spooky and some kind of cute I have a pretty broad range of art styles I like and I definitely also read stuff that doesn't fall under those categories, but I think my favorite stories or artists are some blend of those two things. I don't really have a preference between color and greyscale. Like I definitely love a good color feast comic, but if you know how to use your grey tones or even just black and white well it's just as good for me. Maybe that's also just me trying to justify being mostly a greyscale artist to myself TuT

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

@mariah (rainy day dreams) devils candy would def be up your alley then!

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Devil's candy v good

renieplayerone

Devils Candy is amazing

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I love to combination of cute monsters and action also.

DanitheCarutor

@renieplayerone I'm not sure if it fits totally with your preference, but if you're looking for watercolor Lost Honey is gorgeous! https://www.losthoney.com/

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Lost Honey is another great comic great to look at, really interesting world

DanitheCarutor

It's one of my faves! ;v; There is another comic that was half watercolor half digital that I used to love reading (if I remember right pages set in the current time were digital, and backstory stuff was in watercolor.), but it has been discontinued for years now. It was called Toilet Genie/D00R, a comic about a genie who was locked in a public toilet and was awakened by a pug that got thrown out by her owners. It was so pretty, with such an interesting style!

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Oh wow I haven't thought about that comic in 5 years! X'D I didn't read much of it, because I don't think there was much of it available at the time, but yeah, that one was also very pretty (edited)

renieplayerone

Oh those colors are really pretty!!

DanitheCarutor

Right? Lost Honey is total eye candy. @mariah (rainy day dreams) Yeah, it's sad the creator never got to finish it. I think about it every so often since it's one of the extremely rare (semi)watercolor webcomics out there.

Also I'm extra attached to traditional mediums since I work in a traditional medium myself.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Same. Got that ink wash/watercolor bias.

Eilidh (Lady Changeling)

My current comic is marker shaded but I so want to do something with ink wash after this one...

DanitheCarutor

Yeah, right now I'm working with color pencils since they're cheap but I want to give gouache or acrylic a try for my next project, depending on which story I do.

Kabocha

Hm, the question is... a lil' challenging to answer. I think in a lot of cases, the art isn't necessarily what gets me, but when it does -- Sometimes it's when someone uses a resource I like/made and I can go "OOOH! I know that thing you used!" Screentones are another one that gets my attention pretty quick. Sparkles... And probably effective spot color use. As much as I enjoy many full color webcomics, there are many that get tiring to try to read for one reason or another (usually it's either a font or a saturation issue - too many similarly saturated colors near one another gets tiring to read). Also, soft coloring. Oooh, just... when the art feels like it ought to be printed on those soft-touch covers... Yeah, that gets my attention. ...and watercolor/inkwash, too. ... okay that's a lot of things that grab my attention, but tl;dr: oh hey look at all that cool stuff that people can do!

mariah (rainy day dreams)

That was part of what was so hard for me thinking about this question cuz really, a lot of things get my attention X') and the more I thought about it the more I was like "I like when a comic is like X, but oh also Y is great and I do really enjoy Z as well!" I just ... like so many things. But I think that's better than being really picky. I've meet some folks that are super picky about art and basically only like one style and I'm just like... you're missing out on so many amazing things!

Kabocha

Right? And heck, even in some comics where the style would normally be unappealing (to me), there's just something about the art and the aesthetic that clicks to make it all work together for that project.(edited)

I do think, though, that there's always going to be a special place in my heart for greyscale or screentoned comics. There's just something about art that knows how to effectively make use of shading and contrast to make their work... well, work for me.

kayotics

Art is probably the first thing that draws me in to read a comic. The top, top tier thing that gets me to pay attention to a comic is really strong inks. I love inking, and unusual inking styles. To those who know me, that's probably incredibly unsurprising. I also love really angular styles. Some other stuff I gravitate towards: cartoony styles, expressive faces, and kind of ugly characters. I enjoy seeing characters that might be described as plain or are drawn in a bit of an ugly way. The last thing that draws me in? Hands. If an art style pays attention to hands, then I'm all for it.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Does a comic have characters with big, crooked, toothy grins? I'm down for the count X'D https://media.tenor.com/images/618576ebcc4f6d2a12438624be77c54f/tenor.gif

varethane

oh hey, did someone mention webcomics done in ink wash/marker?

Chirault was that!

1367 pages of..... ink with greyscale marker..........

FeatherNotes(Krispy)

honestly blows me away that you toned it traditionally like, all of GJS is inked trad, but to ink AND tone in marker is just.....damn

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I love ugly characters

RebelVampire

When it comes to art, I'd say there are about four factors that will draw me in. First, readability. Can I visually follow wtf is going on in the comic? I have no interest in the visuals if I can't understand what action characters are taking. So the first point is always for if that is true. Second, character distinguishability. Can I tell one character from another? I am notoriously bad even in real life at being able to tell people apart, so when reading for fun, it's super important to me that I don't have to put a lot of effort into telling characters apart (exceptions for identical twins, of course). Third, personal appeal. Do I think the art is pretty or cute? Like, obviously this is subjective so I can't really put into words why I'd find one style appealing and the other not. But ya know, I like stuff I think is pretty to look at. Fourth, backgrounds. If a creator puts a lot of effort into their background scenery, I'm very sold on it. I love beautiful backgrounds, and the effort put into them give me an overall better impression of the comic as a whole. Since it takes some real passion to take care with backgrounds. All this being said, I'm not much of a stickler for art. If a comic is well-written enough, they can fail all these points and I'll still read it. This is just a list of what aspects have to be in the art for it to draw me in.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

My points are pretty much the same as Rebel's, with the addition of a few things: I adore comics with dramatic facial expressions and consistently excellent anatomy. Also, if the art style is unique? If I feel like I've never seen someone draw that way before? That's ++. So good. I've read comics where I thought the art was good but the story was mediocre, but I've never read a comic where the art met all my points (and Rebel's), where it made me go, "holy fuck," audibly, and then had the story disappoint. Comics where the art made me go "holy fuck" audibly: Excecutioner's Academy: The art is so pointy and colorful and detailed and weird. It's full of personality and life and so are the characters. Warning: hiatus comic ): https://tapas.io/series/Ex-Ac Ava's Demon: You guys know about Ava's Demon, right? With original music and animations ending every chapter, this might be the most effortful comic I've ever seen. https://www.avasdemon.com/pages.php#2611 Sfeer Theory: Everyone looks so different from each other, it's fantastic. Some characters are not conventionally beautiful, yet they're still so appealing. And backgrounds! And a thought-out and unique magic system! https://sfeertheory.com/comic/01-00/ Electric Bones: Backgrounds! Banter! http://electricbonescomic.com/index.php/comic/page-001/ I also loved Prague Race, but unfortunately it was cancelled ):

If anyone else has recommendations for comics with amazing art, I'd love to hear them!

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

For me, it just has to be an art style I like to attract my attention. I generally like realistic art, stylised art, or pretty much any style that hasn’t been done to death (like generic anime art; much as I love manga, I’m really tired of the over-saturation of bland and soulless anime-inspired art). Pretty much anything unique and well executed will grab my attention. I especially like greyscale and limited palettes.(edited)

And just to clarify, I do like anime-style art when it has expression and/or skill behind it; just not when it looks generic and manufactured. Overall, though, it’s the writing that’s ultimately the most important thing to me in a comic, so I’ll enjoy comics for their writing even if I’m not a fan of the art.

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #comic tea party #ctp #reader favorites

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mucky-puddler · 5 years

Text

Here is Kubrick blog no. 2

So, this week I’ll be looking at Kubrick’s early work (again), Paths of Glory, and the introduction of Depth of Field; Stanley Kubrick, film, and the uses of history – yes, that is the whole title.

The first thing Nathan had us all do was shout out any themes we could think of that Kubrick had used in the films we had watched so far. This list ended up being ridiculously long and appeared to contain every film under the sun (which is something I never understood – creatives don’t really think about themes when creating things, it just kinda happens, so what is the point in listing themes to look at?). Here are a few examples of themes we named;

- Madness

- Masculinity

- Obsession

- Photography

- Chess

- Brutality

- Violence

- Animalism

- Sport

- Fathers/mothers

We then reviewed the Seafarers (again) and looked deeper at the shot composition used; one of the more obvious ones was the shot change from machinery to people, suggesting that within the seafarer community the people are simply machines designed to complete certain tasks.

Let’s move on to the man himself. It has been suggested that Kubrick makes his films for men, and the evidence is as such – his characters fulfilled the stereotypes of having the damsel in distress and the knight in shining armour, making his female characters weaker and in need of assistance, he would often utilise the male gaze to sexualise women (as seen in the Seafarers when the camera pans up and holds on the image of a naked calendar), all of which makes him seem misogynistic. Alternatively, Kubrick could just be representing the world around him – personally, I think we give people who grew up during the 40’s and 50s much more credit than they deserve – there is no way we can assume that so many people during that time felt the way we all feel now, because the times have changed so much and we don’t want to ruin our idealised, romanticised perspective of a different time. I’m not saying that there weren’t people that thought this way, I have no doubt that there were, I just don’t believe that everyone thought that way. In every single piece of media I have studied where there is some injustice, the argument has always been made that they were “representing the views of the time”, inferring that the creators did not have the same views when it is entirely possible that their own views aligned with the unjust perspective they present.

Okay, rant over for now.

Something else I picked up on, that is somewhat related to what I’ve said above, is how Kubrick used his camera to give himself as much freedom as possible. Kubrick was commissioned to film the Seafarers as a promotional piece, meaning there was very little creative liberty given to Kubrick – what he did have control over was the camera movement. It would appear that his favourite were the long tracking shots, giving the audience long takes of the food hall (and the food itself, to a pornographic extent).

Another clear feature is Kubrick’s sense of humour – his sense of humour was young, like that of a teenage boy (hence the calendar shot). He would sneak as much suggestive evocative imagery through the loopholes into his films to entertain his audience.

And now for our word of the week – Gematria; Greek for geometry, turning letters into numbers, giving the numbers power, meaning texts have hidden codes.

It has been suggested that Kubrick used gematria in his films – critics and fanatics have spent hours poring over his films, trying to discover the hidden meanings behind the numbers and text he leaves in the shots. The numbers 7 and 3 are said to be popular numbers in Kubrick’s films but no one has figured out why yet. I personally don’t see the point in obsessing over every pixel in a shot to mangle it into an alternative meaning, but some people enjoy it, so you do you.

The last thing I took from the lecture was that theme and style should be considered together, especially over the many films brought to life by a single director. For Kubrick, we should look at similar themes through films like 2001 and Spartacus and Lolita, just to name a few.

Now onto the film – the film we watched this week was Paths of Glory. Like all of Kubrick’s films so far, it starts with a lovely bit of narration and a somewhat boring long shot – expositional, some would call it. Both these features together let us know that we are in for a war-time film. For almost the entirety of the rest of the film, I couldn’t understand what these characters were saying, So I had to gather the deeper plotlines from context. Something I drew from the film was how realistic it was for a film of that era; it does not romanticise war like others have, it is a good example of strong men being scared to obey orders, then suffering the consequences.

Here is something about the film that confused me – there is a single shot that pans around the characters to watch them leave, and a washing bowl that was used at the beginning of the scene comes back into the shot – why? It is not referenced at all in the scene, or even the rest of the film. Why was that shot included? Was it because it looks cool? Thinking about it deeper, the character played by Kirk Douglas was using it at the beginning of the scene – this character goes on to defend the men who get called to trial for ‘not following orders’ but assigning their deaths anyway because of the the decision of the court. To someone who grew up religious, this sounds familiar (that’s right, we got Jesus imagery right here). Kirk Douglas’ character could be reflected as Pontius Pilot – he washes his hands of the blood of the men under his command (as demonstrated by the washing bow) – making the men that were sacrificed as an example to the rest a reflection of Jesus – they were strung up to poles.

Let’s now talk about authority, an obvious theme in this film. There appears to be two types of authority – those who care about the mission, and those who care about the people. The general, who is the former of these two authorities, could be considered obsessed with winning the battle and then the war, and does not consider casualties (he’s a bit of a dickhead). On the other hand, the colonel’s concern is for the men and the logic behind why they did not obey orders (which makes sense). There is, as there is with reality, challenge and contention within and between the ranks; everyone wants to either impress their superiors or undermine them. Within the theme of authority, I’m going to make up a sub-theme – authority vs reality; those in higher authority have an idea that they want to execute, and put it into action without thinking about the factors that could make it possible e.g. the men that would have to die to make their ideas a success. The reality of the ideas is that it most likely isn’t possible, and hundreds of men would die in the process before the authority would begin to realise. One of my favourite scenes from the film is when the fate of the selected men are being decided by the colonel and two generals, one of whom is for killing them in a court-martial, the other hearing reason and willing to give them a fair(ish) trial. The colonel is framed between the two generals, and at first, I thought it would have made more sense to have the more neutral general framed between the two arguing parties. However, after a second thought, the colonel is the one frames between two opposing but equal forces – they are the angel and devil on his shoulders (hell year).

Ah yes, we love a courtroom drama, a turn I did not expect this film to make – it reminded me of the courtroom scene in Hacksaw Ridge (such a good film), and I feel this is a fair comparison; the intensity was continual and high, there was a ‘will they, won’t they’ vibe to it, and an all-round good scene for both films. Only with “Paths of Glory”, I hated the son-of-a-bitch prosecutor and the court for clearly favouring him, giving way to another sub-authority theme – humanity vs the court. Like the overbearing general, the court sides with the authority rather than reason – I thought the defence was not given the opportunity to give their case to the fullest extent, even though their evidence was solid.

The final theme I’m going to look at is religion (catholic flavour) – there isn’t a whole lot to say here as it doesn’t play a huge role in the film, the only religious figure (other than the Jesus imagery) is the father that comes to bless those who were chosen to be sacrificed as an example to the others.

Okay, onto the reading – this reading doesn’t really have anything to do with the film specifically, and I only got through the introduction again. These people really need to calm down with their intros because I’m never going to actually read something of merit if they keep their intro’s long. The book I read is called “Depth of Field: Stanley Kubrick, Film, and the uses of History”. One of the first things it discusses is the phrase ‘depth of field’, because it’s meaning it two-fold; the first is concerning photography, as depth of field refers to how sharp and in focus parts of a shot are (which is relevant to Kubrick because he loved photography, so would be able to use depth of field to his advantage), and the second is in reference to researching and trying to understand as much about an area of expertise as possible (this could be Kubrick researching for his films, or could be these critics learning as much as they can about Kubrick – I suspect it’s the latter).

Also, they spoke very briefly about how what is in the frame is the only thing that can “portray the world of human emotion/feeling and action realistically”. I completely disagree with this statement – there are so many elements that goes into portraying human emotion, like music, rhythm, acting lighting, just to mention a few.

Something else I don’t quite understand is how/why directors are praised for working in multiple genres over their career – how is it different to a student having to do multiple courses or modules at the same time? Surely, they just work in whatever genre they want to at the time?

This might just become a list of things I don’t understand because we already know that Kubrick liked to have control over every single aspect of the film, but according to this introduction, he let the cast and crew experiment with their tasks? How does that work?

A quote I found interesting is this – “…seen as bringing the terrible news of the twentieth-century history…to a mass audience” – sorry what? What is this even saying? Is he translating what was happening around him into film for other people to better understand? But if that is the case, then the ‘terrible news’ would have already passed because of how long it takes to make and distribute a film. Why aren’t these people reading the news? Surely no one relies solely on film to give them ‘terrible news of the twentieth-century history’? Or does this mean the people outside of America, seeing as global news was not yet prevalent?

Anyway.

Adorno is a man that pops up a few times in this intro and is said to have said “art and ideology are becoming one and the same thing” and I honestly love that because it’s kinda true. This is also the same guy that said “poetry became impossible after Auschwitz” which is the kind of deep, philosophical shit I enjoy.

This intro really does jump all over the place because then they discuss how Kubrick primarily adapted texts that weren’t already popular, with the exceptions of The Shining and Lolita, so his audience could judge his work as his own rather than an adaptation. This seems a little selfish to me. Like he’s not acknowledging the fact that it’s someone else’s work?

I do plan on reading more than just the intro’s to the actual readings, but it’s so difficult because the intros are so long! Also, somehow this blog ended up being longer than the last one, I don’t know how that happened, please don’t hate me.

#film student #kubrick #stanley kubrick #paths of glory

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iamconstantine · 5 years

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RWBY CHAPTER 12: BLACK & WHITE (I SUCK AT COMMITMENT)

* Okay so we are leaping RIGHT into Sun and Blake talking together * Sun actually kinda-sorta sounds like Jaune with a deeper voice tbh but I’m sure it’s not the same VA * I was going to make a joke about Blake suspiciously sipping her cup while Sun smack talks the White Fang but then she actually did it * And there it is * I just noticed that Sun’s hair is yellow and his eyes are dark while Blake’s eyes are yellow and her hair is dark. Interesting contrast. * (Insert LOST flashback woosh) * YEEEESSS Different animation style! * The White Fang originally being a sort of “peace group” is actually way more compelling than just an all-out terrorist group. It’s a repeating cycle of hate of one side against the other. The things they do are way, way overkill, of course, but it’s also a reminder that things aren’t always b-- * I just realized why this episode is called “Black and White.” * ._. * Lil kitten Blake. Baby. * “And the New Leader’s first decree was that the old symbol wasn’t edgy enough, so we gave the animal fangs and claw marks and we made it red and people took us more seriously” * The image of the signs becoming weapons was very nice * The portrayal of prejudice and response and related topics are presented pretty realistically in the show, and honestly, credit to them for not doing some weird sugary stuff with it. Usually I see this kind of stuff as like “The other group had their fewings hurt so they hurt peopwe too but that’s not okay uwu” but here it’s just like “Yeah man we started being violent instead of peaceful and people started listening which was good but they were also afraid of us which is bad” * Blake’s explanation of why she left gives newer context to her fight with Weiss. It isn’t just that she has to once again experienced hatred just because she’s a Faunus, and it isn’t just that she has to keep her mouth shut about who she is out of fear. Blake left the White Fang because she hated how violent they were becoming, but after doing the right thing, she once again has to deal with discrimination just for being...Blake * No Sun she hasn’t told anyone but I think they know * Also HOW did Sun know she was a Faunus? Did I miss something? * The way Ruby hisses “Ugh...Weiss” was so acidic like she is 110% done with Weiss’ crap * Yang is trying to hard to be peacekeeper poor thing * Penny returns and everyone is scared * I’m assuming that either A) Penny actually SAW Blake’s ears, or B) Penny saw the bow and just said “yeah there some ears under there” which would kind of explain how Sun knew but not really * I didn’t hear what Ruby said at first but then I put on subtitles and “She does like tuna a lot” almost made me WHEEZE. Ruby’s VA has a really good grasp on comedic delivery * Ruby was like “fam?” but Yang and Weiss were like “peace” * Penny noting on how windy it is is funny but honestly is no one going to comment on the tumbleweeds? * Sun and Blake immediately teaming up is kind of heartwarming; I imagine Blake hasn’t met another Faunus who she could be open with in a while * That said isn’t Sun supposed to be hiding from police? Aren’t they just wandering around? * I still don’t side with Weiss but her line about how the innocent don’t run does remind me that she believes Blake is some kind of criminal. Yes, Weiss has a definite prejudice against Faunus people, but again, I think she’s been ingrained with the lie that all of them are dangerous terrorits * “Is she a MAN?” girl what * Ruby’s outlook on the situation makes a lot of sense. She’s not mad at Blake, not at all, and she’s definitely against Weiss in the argument. That said, she doesn’t know what to make of Blake just running off. I’m sure as the team leader she expects everyone to trust each other on top of being friends, so learning that Blake doesn’t trust her enough to talk to her must her. Of course, Blake has every reason in the world to keep her secret, but I get where Ruby is coming from * I admire Blake and Sun deciding to investigate but what is there plan there’s only two of them * I was fully expecting Sun to respond to Blake with some kind of cheesy pick-up line but him just clapping back with “Weren’t you in a cult or something?” honestly surprised and pleased me * Also Blake’s pout * Oh that animation isn’t...good...not bad, just...not good... * Speaking of animation I’m noticing a kind of recurring thing where characters are technically “walking” but they’re also sliding at the same time. I really, REALLY am not trying to nitpick but it is noticeable. * Speaking off the detail of Sun’s hair, his necklace, and his abs are all pretty good. Definitely a great character design * “See I told you our new logo was cool and edgy” “man u right” * I know I just commented on the whole slide-walk think but at least a few seconds ago it was kind of hidden by the ramp just now it was all up in my face * He’s baaaaaack * So is Blake implying that Torchwick might actually be a Faunus, or is something else amiss? * On the one hand I know Blake can take on countless robots and a giant bird monster but on the other hand I’m with Sun. What is she doing? * Was Torchwick about to drop the f bomb? * Blake talking to the WF as one of them is pretty clever * Torchwick’s VA is doing a good job but he still has that teeth-talk problem * I’m sorry did this guy just blast an actual star at her? * This once again brings me to my upcoming study: “RWBY: Everything is Gun” * Sun’s attack on Torchwick was animated very well, a definite step up from last episode where he seemed too restrained * Torchwick just spoke my thoughts. I do admire everyone’s bravery but come on. The bad guys WILL have backup. * Holy CRAAAAP Sun beating all the WFs with his bo staff is AWESOME and it is animated AMAZINGLY * On top of that Blake’s...I don’t know, “teleport” effect is really cool to look at * What I appreciate mostly about the fights in this show is that even though it’s all very energetic and fast-paced you can keep up with what’s happening. It’s not just trying to look “fight-ish”, it’s real and you can follow every movement * Sun’s bo staff splitting into nunchuks are really cool I wonder if it’s also a--

* There it is. * I also like that the fights make use of the environments * I felt like Torchwick laughing was a little too on the nose but the subtitles saying (evil laugh) just confirms it * Penny is not mad muffin * Let me guess Penny’s about to do a murder * Excuse me

* OH YEEEEAAAAH PENNY’S OFF THE CHAIN * SHE MOWING THESE GUYS DOWN LIKE GRASS * OH * MY GOSH * How is Ruby just mildly pleased and not losing her mind right now * Is Penny about to do a Captain America? * Ruby your question is legitimate but how is that your first one? * Bout time the police showed up * Okay. Moment of truth. How is Weiss going to handle this? * Gooooood. Good girl. * At the same time I appreciate (?) that Weiss almost slipped up on calling Sun something there. She’s going to turn over a leaf to accept Blake as a teammate but that doesn’t mean she’s cured, and she’s still super suspicious of Sun because, well, he is technically a criminal * Is Penny?? A criminal too? * “Hey Ozpin what cha doing” “Oh you know stalking students again; not getting involved or helping in any way” * Oh!! Qrow!! Ruby’s uncle!! * And so the season concludes! * Overall? Not bad. Did it blow my mind? Well, not necessarily. Am I impressed? Absolutely! * I still stand by what I said before about the pacing being a bit off for this first volume. * I do like Jaune. I like his arc and his relationship with Pyrrha and his struggle to be a leader. At the same time, the fact that he gets an arc before Yang or Blake, despite both of them being two of the titular characters, doesn’t feel right. If Weiss and Blake’s storyline had been running alongside it, I think that would have paced things better. Giving Jaune focus without stealing the spotlight from the leads. * Jaune’s arc also has the side effect of bringing things to a halt. It was an enjoyable arc, but following Ruby and Weiss dealing with their feelings on their new team, it more or less feels like a sudden roadblock than anything else. The fact that it really only includes Jaune, Pyrrha, and Cardin (who I wonder will show up again, creepy little sh*t) and not Ren or Nora is something I’ll get to in a second. * Yang herself didn’t get much attention at all, which is very disappointing to me. I don’t know very much about her other than that she’s a thrillseeker, a peacekeeper, and is just nice in general (as long as she’s not angry). I feel like she kind of got robbed here. * I also still believe that the lack of background characters, though explainable and really not that big a deal, is not a “good” thing. To me, it makes Beacon feel really, really empty, not the giant of a school it really is. Cardin’s team were shown, thankfully, but even then their designs are pretty bland and suffer from “Guess Who’s the Main Character?” syndrome * The animation has some highs and some lows, and I’m going to take a guess that most focus was given to the fights, which I will say again look absolutely fantastic. I completely admire the animation team’s work and direction, while at the same time I think other animations feel a bit rough and incomplete. It’s nothing that absolutely breaks my immersion, but there are times when it seems something is supposed to have a lot of energy and instead is too rigid or even too “smooth”, i.e. no sense of gravity or weight. * The designs of every character are always very nice to see--and I would like to once again reaffirm my opinion that character designs don’t always have to be realistically practical and “grounded”. I’d much rather Ruby be wearing see Yang wearing kerchiefs and short shorts than have her be in a completely unnotable outfit with muted colors. Each design also serves the character well. Even Jaune’s very simplistic design highlights how he doesn’t quite fit in at Beacon, and is just “average” compared to everyone else. * The VAs all did very well, even if I did feel at times that they were holding back. * Ren and Nora also did not get very much attention and more or less just feel like filler on Jaune’s team for now. Not absolutely boring, but they don’t nearly play as much of a part as everyone else. I haven’t even seen Jaune interact with either of them that much, which lessens the impact of his struggle to be their leader. * The backgrounds are a bit hit-and-miss at times. Beacon itself looks amazing and grandious, a fairytale castle mixed with a bit of a futuristic edge. Other times, the backgrounds are flat and textureless and don’t feel very real. * I really do wish the first season was able to do episodes of “average episode length” (18~ minutes), as opposed to snippets that could range from 3 to 15 minutes. Even though I felt that “The Stray” ended in a very nice place and set up the next episode well, the season finale doesn’t really feel like a season finale. It just feels like the ending of a typical episode. The only thing that tipped me off that it was a finale was the longer credits. * This is on top of the fact that a few of the episodes were very short and really only progressed one or two things. * I still don’t quite get Auras or what the point of them is. This is the first season, of course, but thus far I really can’t tell how Auras change anything about fighting. I guess it does kind of explain why everyone isn’t bleeding and bruised by the end of every fight, but still. Right now, it feels that if Pyrrha’s explanation of what an Aura is was snipped out, I wouldn’t notice a difference. * Just speaking broadly, even though I think RWBY has a lot of things going for it--design, fight animations, character writing, etc--they’re kind of like a bunch of different candies all jumbled into the same bowl. On their own, they’re good and I can appreciate them. Together, stuffed into the same season in uneven episode lengths, they don’t really work all that well together. * Anyhoodle I’ll be starting season 2 soon and I look forward to it.

#rwby #my thoughts

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natsthinkitythinkthinkthonk · 5 years

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Dec. 12 - Anime Log

Since I started/finished a few anime today, I decided that I wanted to list my thoughts for each of them. I was debating whether I should’ve put this on my spam account, but I decided that this account might be better.

Anime:

Dame x Prince (started and finished)

Kamisama Hajimemashita (finished)

Zetman (started)

I’m going to work backwards starting with Zetman’s first impression.

The art was pretty good. TMS Entertainment is a studio I don’t actively search through, but I found out that I watched a lot of their anime. They definitely have a lot of hits including the Detective Conan series, Yowamushi Pedal, Megalo Box, and since we’re talking about it, they did Kamisama too.

The music didn’t stand out too much, but it’ll take some time to grow on me. This part always goes like that since I find that a score grows more with the progression of a series.

Okay, but the biggest letdown was probably me finding out that Romi Paku was going to be replaced with Daisuke Namikawa for the main character’s child vs adult voice. If Romi can be Edward, she can be Jin. Besides that, Mamo and Kana Hanazawa are solid picks for literally any roles.

The story, characters, and presentation seem a bit like a mix of Code Geass and Devilman. Hear me out. Devilman is probably more obvious (I’m referring to Devilman Crybaby). They both are a bit on the explicit side, they both depict violence with demon-like creatures, and they both use the common thing of, “You see this mortal you like? It would be a shame if something were to happen.” Code Geass was brought up because of the two protagonists. One is a bit of an anti-hero while the other has an arguably warped sense of justice. Let’s just see how this plays out. So far, this seems like a far more palatable but different version of Devilman. I couldn’t even finish that series because it scared and scarred me too much.

Kamisama took me a really long time to finish. I kept picking it up and dropping it because I found the characters to be a bit... lacking. I heard this was a classic shoujo anime, and I’m not necessarily the target audience, but I find myself enjoying it from time to time.

I find that art palettes always look a bit pale for some reason. I find a lot of anime during those years did though. The character designs made a lot of characters look more emo than they needed to be, and their eyes look like they have that pencil stuff (edit: eyeliner). Their eyes are also already very large.

The story is more on the lighthearted side. There are some overarching stories, but it’s mostly episodic with outside conflicts. Like a lot of shoujo anime, it’s mostly about the growth of the relationship with the two romantic interests and the futile efforts of anyone who isn’t the main love interest.

We have the cold-tsundere-ish Tomoe, the playful seems-like-they-can-be-a-cutesy-yandere Mizuki, the average heroine Nanami that becomes head-over-heels for the main character, and a few other side characters here and there including that dad who went out to buy milk and never came back and the feminine guy who fabulously wrecks things up. Other characters appear episodically. There’s also a fish guy with the underappreciated wife (that episode made me laugh a little), a purple-haired supernaturally being who falls in love with that mortal who’s voiced by Ryohei Kimura.

I paused watching it three episodes in then stopped again after episode seven then took it to the end. It really wrapped up nicely at the ending, and I really like series that end well. That usually boosts it up in my books.

Score: 7.7/10

I wanted to save Dame x Prince for last because it’s something that surpassed my expectations, and that’s because I thought it was going to be terrible.

Just like many reverse harems, it’s based off an otome game which means it’s about a bunch of ideal guys with the same faces competing for the same girl while trying to remain true to their trope.

But this anime doesn’t take itself seriously, and that’s where it makes itself different. None of these guys are ideal except for maybe... Teo? But even then, he’s not even listed in the main cast. Let’s go through some cast introduction:

Not Your Typical Otome Protagonist (VA: Sayuri Yahagi) - She’s realistic, she calls out these guys on their bullshit, and she even says to the guy, “I don’t want your self-portrait.” She’s immune to all the guys’ so-called “handsomeness”.

Feather Boa (VA: Kaito Ishikawa) - egotistical bastard who has servants follow him to give him lighting, mirrors, and confetti. He’s the first in line to the throne, but all he cares about is making women swoon and getting an artist portrait of him literally every month.

Flower Boi (VA: Yuichiro Umehara) - take a shot every time he says, “My little flower (ohana-chan)” then you will die from alcohol intoxication. Personally, I prefer Umehara’s lower voice because it sounds more badass, but this role was... something else. He’s a womanizer as well. Also, if you call everyone pet names like that, you don’t have to remember their actual names. Good to know.

Sunny Child (VA: Soma Saito) - I thought he was a girl. I was wrong. Even the main character thought he was a girl. He’s so bright that they didn’t even censor his dick, he just censored his whole body in a glowing light. He looks creepy.

Every Tumblr User Ever (VA: Ryohei Kimura) - He complains about the sunlight melting him, he has a waifu, he’s directly creepy regarding his waifu, he would protect his waifu at all costs, he stays up reading manga, and he is socially awkward. Yes, Ryohei voices both his character and his puppet waifu.

Manure (VA: Tomoaki Maeno) - He’s the only normal otome-standard guy here, and he’s supposed to be like that. He also fills in the childhood friend trope.

Ugly Blob (VA: Ayaka Saito) - She’s supposed to be the cute mascot, but the protagonist summons her through a self-described vague (seriously, the characters say, “This stuff is vague as hell”) process. She even says, “You’re ugly... in a cute way though!”

Most episodes actually made me laugh because of the writing and how stupid it was. They don’t have an actual overarching story until... maybe near the end? Everything is mostly antics and whatnot. There’s a stereotypical onsen episode in there too. They even say, “Great, a hot springs episode. Just what this anime needed.”

Music was pleasant enough. The OP was standard and forgettable, and the EDs were too (but they were sung by certain seiyuu). I don’t remember much about the score. The animation wasn’t bad because it didn’t demand that much. Usually, these adaptations have ridiculously bad animation quality anyways.

Seiyuu did a good job. This was probably due to the fact that the writing wasn’t something straight of a Twilight fanfic or something. Pretty much all the seiyuu that were cast have a good amount of experience, so I’m really not surprised.

Score: 7.4/10 (that’s pretty darn good considering the genre)

#anime thoughts #anime review #anime opinion #dame x prince #dame x prince anime caravan #kamisama hajimemashita #kamisama kiss #zetman

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uozlulu · 6 years

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Banana Fish episode 10 reaction post. Spoilers

Overall, I think I preferred the manga version better, but the anime really would have needed the luxury of either double length episodes or double the episode count to give me what I wanted I think. I went in with realistic expectations and I was not disappointed. The escape from and trashing of Golzine’s mansion has to be one of my favorite things in the manga. I love the Rambo aesthetic, I love the over the top weaponry, I love the emotional impact of the scenes that unfold. We lost some of our emotional impact in the anime translation, but that was a given considering where they’ve short changed us in other episodes. Like while I’m glad that we did manage to get a lot of iconic scenes, I could have lived with some time shaving to happen with Ash and Eiji if that meant the scene in the autopsy room had gotten a few extra pauses for emotional impact that it lacked.

Please be aware that there are spoilers below.

I remember when I first read the manga Ash and Alex were confusing me at first until I got used to Alex’s design since they both lacked tone in their hair. While my facial recognition has improved over the years, it’s nice to see them give Alex brown hair to help clear that up even farther. Also, I have to lol at Bones’ rattail in 2018, but at the same time, I can’t imagine him without it.

I know people miss Griff’s longer hair (and tbh I do too) but wow does he look like a lot of the guys I went to school with his hair like that.

I always liked that Yut-Lung approaches Ash cautiously and gets a feel for his state of mind before deciding how to give him the key. This scene between them really illustrates how they’re so very similar but different at the same time, but I think part of that is because I know Yut-Lung’s backstory from the manga, which makes it easier to see this, like the moon trying to talk to the sun, for lack of a less cliché way to put it.

It’s nice to see the flip in motion. I like how it seems like they gave Ash a proper form to make it seem more plausible.

I miss Ash saying “You too” to Max when Max says, “Don’t die.” Although I do kind of see why it got cut since it will give Ash a longer time to process what just happened with Shorter and open him up to forgiving Max about Griff now that he can see Max’s perspective.

Kind of you know makes you think about Arthur being a part of the government. In the manga timeline he’d be a viable presidential candidate or something. He could talk a good game about pulling himself from the streets and jeez. Like seriously just imagine that. Worst boy as some groomed politician.

I think in some ways I liked the dirtier, bloodier aesthetic for Ash in the manga, but I think that it would be harder to achieving in the anime since part of that is conveyed by lines that you wouldn’t really use here.

”I’m going to bust the lock!” and proceeds to bust the door down. I love it.

I’m not sure what music I was imagining for Eiji and Ash reuniting but this was not it. Something about the use of the base makes it seem kind of club-ish, though I can see why it’s being used so that the entire sequence can have a drive to it.

Of course Ashe is going to take the flashiest car with the flashiest color. That said I like the little details that remind us he’s seventeen. It adds to the horror element of the series.

Audio Alex: Okay, Boss. Translation Alex: Sure thing, Boss.

I prefer Eiji shouting “I will wait for your always!” from a moving car while Ash gazes after him (as per the manga). That said, I do like that we get to see the gang’s reaction to all of this because their faces are priceless.

I’m just glad Ibe got to see that Eiji is all right. I can’t imagine what all of this must be like for him. He must feel a lot of guilt and responsibility.

And here we are yet again, not taking a moment to breathe and let a death really sink in. I mean we let Shorter’s death sink in last week, but I feel like Ash falling to the floor in shock and horror should have had a pause to it that we just didn’t get/couldn’t have.

One of the biggest, biggest drawbacks to this animation style is the tears become near-invisible or invisible against flesh tones. I noticed this a few episodes ago when Eiji exited Ash’s hospital room and you could almost see the tears but there just wasn’t enough definition that it looked weird on his face. Here we have Ash with tears streaming down as he fires the rest of his bullets into the man responsible for all this loss and pain in his life and I just had to print screen it and zoom in in Paint because I couldn’t tell if he was actually crying or not. Maybe it’s my color vision issues, but I hope when they retool their frames for the BluRay/DVD releases that they’ll find a way to make tears pop more.

Actually, I think we really should have had a touch longer on the emptying of the gun and the scream. It’s really a shame they don’t have the length of episode or length of series to really underscore these things.

GDI, Sing, you really are fourteen.

I think I liked Sing’s line from the manga translation that went something like, “Is he planning to join Shorter?” a little better.

#reaction post #banana fish reaction posts #banana fish spoilers #ymmv #death talk #murder talk #gun talk #banana fish

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beneaththetangles · 6 years

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BtT Light Novel Club, Chapter 2: Walking My Second Path in Life! (Volume 1)

The second meeting of the Beneath the Tangles Light Novel Club has officially begun! We’re already doing something a big different with this session. Last time, we stayed with the tried and true by starting with a classic light novel, but today, we’re trying out Walking My Second Path in Life, a series published by the J-Novel Club that has already earned some strong reviews in its tale of Princess Fie disguising herself as a boy and becoming a squire. But what did our members—Frank, Teresa Christina, Samuru, and me (TWWK)—think of it? Read through our discussion below to find out, and then chime in as well by giving your opinions or answering the questions at the bottom of this piece!

TWWK: So that was completely different from our last selection…what did y’all think of the first volume?

Samuru: I haven’t finished the book, but so far I have enjoyed it! It was very different than any fiction I have read. I liked how they setup Fie as a stranded princess. As for the negative of the novel… It’s hard to describe, and I am not sure how to write it in words, but I feel that the book has parts that aren’t written well. For example, there are times where the story is just flung into some situation without any preparation or description. For example, during the fight with Gormus (I think that’s his name), the dialogue announced that the fight was over, then they continued fighting? I thought it was over…and there was no line that got you back into it. It’s just weird, I notice that throughout. Not enough setup to the next scene.

TWWK: You’re right, especially for the first half. It took a while for the writer to find his way.

Teresa Christina: I agree with Samaru, too. There didn’t seem to be a clear direction to the story; it wasn’t terribly written well. It couldn’t decide what it was going to be about. It followed a girl who didn’t act like a girl at all, so the element of her secret gender wasn’t as powerful as it could have been. The plot was more of a collection of stories of things that happened to Fie instead of one feat she had to overcome. That made the story drag on terribly.

Samuru: I wish there was more details, background, setting, even character development of Fie. I know she’s a princess, but I feel that her character is written like a guy. I sometimes forget that she’s a girl from the way she is described.

TWWK: It definitely was less a “novel” and more, in my mind, an anime on paper. The book read like season one of a series, with each chapter having and ebb and flow that felt like an episode.

Teresa Christina: It did feel more like an anime then a story, and I suppose that in itself is not a bad thing—I just didn’t expect it. I don’t tend to like stories that have no destination. Some anime are like that and can get away with it. I thought Sweetness and Lightning was a very cute anime that didn’t need a real story; it was just character development. If the light novel focused on the characters a little more like Sweetness and Lightning did, then I think I could appreciate it more. I really want to be fond of it since I loved the setting and catalyst, but as a writer myself, I couldn’t let go of being irked by the lack of plot.

stardf29: While I do agree that the plot never really goes anywhere in particular, I actually kind of liked that about the story. It gives more of a “slice-of-life” feel to it, and I think that works well with the story’s overall theme of a “second path in life.” Fie isn’t taking this path because there’s a particular destination she wants to go; she’s taking it because the journey itself is more fulfilling than what her life had been before.

TWWK: I definitely feel the same as you, stardf—I thought it was actually pretty ingenious how the format of the light novel fit Fie’s personality and her goal. I know people like Fie, who are at once serious and fly-by-the-seat, and the book took on that same personality and added to it. I don’t think I would have had any interest if the story was more straight-forward. That meandering, slice of life feel is refreshing. The story takes its time to develop, and I think that’s a strength. Any other thoughts?

stardf29: One thing about the setting that I found interesting is that while it has many of the trappings of a fantasy setting—medieval castles and society and whatnot—as far as we know, there is absolutely no magic. In a way it’s almost more of a historical fiction story, albeit with made-up places.

TWWK: That’s an interesting point—the lack of magic. I think that, along with the setting, adds this layer of realism to a story that doesn’t feel like it’s meant to be realistic. It’s very anime-ish, very fairy tale-ish, very suspend-your-realism-ish, but the grounding in reality keeps it from being too cartoony, and I appreciate that.

It’s also interesting that you bring up magic because I felt a Harry Potter vibe, minus the magic. The dormitory is the squires’ Hogwarts, and Fie is developing a wide range of friendships, has a few teachers, and several mentors in the 18th. But it was definitely hard to get to know the other squires…they started kind of melding into the 18th knights for me (I think the author realized this because at one point, she specifically compares one of the squires to one of the knights to differentiate them), except for Gormus, whose developing relationship with Fie was a high point for me, too. I think he was my favorite character in volume one.

stardf29: I particularly like the friendship she’s built up with Gormus after their tryout battle, with Gormus coming to respect her even though she lost. And then there’s Fie and Queen… I’ll admit, I was kind of uncomfortable with how she basically blackmailed him into being her servant. Unfortunately, since it happened pretty much right at the end of the volume their relationship doesn’t get much chance to develop past that, at least here, but it does mean that there’s plenty of opportunity for improving their relationship in volume 2.

Her relationships with the 18th Platoon are fun, too, with Crow taking her as a “little brother,” and seeing what he thinks of “him” from his journal entries… and there’s Yore, who has taken well to her, not knowing she’s technically one of his wives. If we ever get to a point where that fact gets revealed to him… that’s going to be fun.

TWWK: Also interesting that you brought up Queen—in the final few chapters, we shift from Fie’s point of view towards those of others characters like Queen, Cain, Lynette, and even the chef! I thought that was so smart, and it helped develop Fie’s character all the more. What do you think of Fie as a character?

stardf29: While she’s definitely a lot of fun, she also has some notable flaws, and in particular, she’s not exactly the most “noble” character and has a side to her that is willing to do some questionable things to achieve her goals. I do think, though, that while that might make her less “likable,” it does make her more interesting.

TWWK: That’s a good point—in media, and especially in books, the less admirable some characters are, the more interesting they end up being.

stardf29: Whatever I might like or dislike about Fie as a person, I do think she’s a great protagonist, story-wise. It plays into a certain schematic I have for fictional characters, in that they can be likable, interesting, or relatable, or some combination thereof. Any given character will have some degree of likability, interesting-ness, or relatability, and that makes me see that character in different ways…(…actually, you know what, maybe I’ll talk about this for my next blog post. I need something a bit more fun to talk about next month.)

TWWK: For what’s been thus far a very breezy story, there’s some depth to Fie’s characterization. We didn’t even get to the swap in gender role in the story!

Teresa Christina: I could see the direct correlation to Milan and Joan of Arc. There is something fascinating about challenging gender roles.

Samuru: Ahhh I hadn’t thought of Joan of Arc good point!

TWWK: What of the other characters? If you could switch Fie out and make her a side character in this volume, who would you like to see at the protagonist instead?

stardf29: Hmm… one choice would definitely be Yore, basically putting him in the position of “guy who gets along with another guy, unaware that said guy is actually a girl and someone he knows.”

TWWK: That would be fun! And you wouldn’t even have to change the title to the series, hehe.

As you can see, we barely scratched the surface with our discussion—we want to hear from you, dear readers! What were your impressions of volume one of Walking My Second Path in Life? Did you agree with our assessments? Disagree entirely? Let us know! And if you need more kindling, here are some questions you might answer about the volume—we talked about the first but didn’t get a chance to dive into the others:

If you could switch Fie out and make her a side character in this volume, who would you like to see at the protagonist instead?

Did this light novel remind you of any other stories? Perhaps another anime or a fairy tale?

We spoke of some of Fie’s questionable qualities, but what are some of her redeeming ones? What did you think of her as a character?

The first volume had quite a large cast—did you enjoy getting to know the supporting characters or were there too many?

Where do you think the story is headed?

If you could cast a movie based on this volume, who would want to fill the roles?

That’s it for this edition of the light novel club! Thanks for reading along and be anticipating our next selection—we’ll let you know the title very soon!

#Light Novels #BtT Light Novel Club #Walking My Second Path in Life #Watashi wa Futatsume no Jinsei wo Aruku!#Articles

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she-toadmask · 3 years

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So the post I literally just reblogged I didn’t feel like rambling in the tags and making a mess for anyone looking for something else

(Fuck I went on forever under the cut this goes everywhere fast)

Before Sword and Shield came out, during their hype season, I had this really silly fic idea where 3 girls that were kind of versions of myself and also kind of not (like one of them was going to be Asian at one point which...I have no idea why it just was what I was planning, if I did it now they would be all as white as my indoor ass) would just suddenly be in Pokemon and it kind of went between being Galar and not being Galar

The youngest was kind of mostly an Ash expy, just really quick to do things and really energetic and excited; the oldest was just this very serious girl who was very strategic and stern and did not agree with the middle; the middle was just kind of...not exactly my depression but just way less into all of this and was kind of just following because she didn’t have anything else to do.

I thought of it again recently and thought about how their battle styles would be different if they were doing the gym circuit, though how the middle got in and what her starter would be (kind of thinking she would end up with a Blipbug somehow and I had another Pokemon in mind but I don’t remember what it was) because the young one would get Grookey because energy and loud, Hop would have Scorbunny because fire type like Leon, and the oldest would have Sobble and I eventually decided the other day when I was thinking about the idea again that it was because she had done copious amounts of research and decided that Inteleon had a battle style close to what she wanted to do. The young one would just go head-on into battles like Ash does because young and dumb, she would just be super enthusiastic and a little performative, and she would get team members just the way most people do, just encountering a Pokemon (or sometimes getting a fun interaction with energy n shit) and now they’re part of the team. The oldest would be super strategic and, instead of just ramming into the problem with the most force she could like the younger, would look at more detailed strategies. Less ‘spam your strongest move and then also do the anime style shit’ and more ‘strategic planning based on the species’ strengths and the opponent’s style and team’. She would look for strong Pokemon and have what she wants in mind before catching. The middle just...I haven’t really gotten her thing down yet? I know she just kind of catches Pokemon who seem to vibe with her on an emotional level (hence Blipbug, starts small and nervous and then ends up pretty dang cool, I think another was a female Kirlia who wanted to evolve into Gallade but couldn’t so she gave the Kirlia a necklace with an Everstone and helped Kirlia train to fight like a Gallade and there’s a bit of a theme with self-acceptance and growth but idk) and she more just kind of goes with the flow in battle and tries to just get the vibes n stuff. She’s the least likely to dynamax of the three, though if I were to watch the recent anime I might get a different idea. The story would be from the middle’s perspective (probably third but still focusing on her) just because she’s not as enthusiastic about all this as the others are and is just going along because it feels like that’s what she’s supposed to do. None of them really nickname their Pokemon probably, but the middle probably has unofficial nicknames like calling her Kirlia ‘kid’ a lot of the time, but that isn’t really a thing so much as I thought it would make sense.

I don’t know most of the stuff other than at the beginning the youngest rushes off to meet Leon and get her starter and the oldest is not too long after, but she doesn’t bother to wake the middle one up so the middle one doesn’t get a trio starter, hence the likely Blipbug partner. The youngest apologizes but is too excited to really talk too much, the oldest is just rude like ‘well you should have gotten up then.’ Also in the mines, the oldest and youngest split off to explore or look for Pokemon, but the middle just wants to get through and rest so she encounters Bede. There has to be an encounter later on when Kirlia should have long evolved if she was going to, and Bede is kind of mocking about it and the middle just wipes his team with Kirlia because that’s just a dick move. Also middle at some point when they hear that Bede beat Hop in a battle and just ruined his self-esteem, the youngest challenges him to a battle, the oldest probably is acting as ref, and it’s the middle one who goes to find Hop and check on him and stuff. If I were to actually write it, there would probably be some really good talk about living up to expectations and stuff and it doesn’t fix everything but it makes Hop feel less like he’s a disgrace to his brother.

There would also probably be more plot ish stuff? Like Rose actually doing bad shit? And I can tell you that the fact that the region is so linear can totally be spun as a control thing and I can pull back in that pre-release (and sometimes still in some content I’m certain) theory of Rose rigging matches so Leon would go undefeated. Otherwise we just get the gang calling him out on his bullshit with the 1000 years away, but both is good.

In the same vein of Pokemon fanfic but totally unrelated, I had some idea about a human from our world dropping into the Pokemon world and the thought about durability. Like in the anime we regularly see Team Rocket getting yeeted with the twinkle and they’re right as rain next we see them, and the number of times Ash has gotten shocked or burnt or whatever is absurd, so Pokemon world humans have to be way more durable than we are. I just had the thought that the human dropping in would realize that everyone is way more durable than they were and just try to avoid battles and stuff as much as they could because their body just can’t take the beatings that some trainers take. And like they would have to try and figure out how to dodge the fact that they’re always so distant from Pokemon when they aren’t calm and stuff. A tackle that might just take the breath out of a Pokemon world human could break one of their ribs. It was just a weird idea I had once.

Pokemon isekai again, I was thinking at one point that if I were to go into Pokemon I probably wouldn’t want to be a trainer or a professor, like I had these ideas of what I might do instead that was still really positive and involved Pokemon. The more wishful one was me being basically a crazy cat lady except with Eevee and the kids in the town would get them as starters. Aside from the Eevee themselves I would have a Flareon, an Espeon, an Umbreon, and probably a Leafeon. Flareon and Leafeon being the parents of most of the Eevee, and Espeon and Umbreon being accidental friendship evolutions before I started giving all the Eevee Everstone collars to prevent more accidents. The other was also kinda wishful but more feasible probably and was just like me being a berry farmer. (I just found my notes so I can give the Pokemon I wanted: Eevee because it’s my favorite Pokemon and it’s small and cute, a Tropius because neck fruit and also can reach berries and help harvest, a Flareon to cook berries apparently, and a Squirtle to help water and harvest.) Super wishful stuff and it still resonates, despite the fact that I’m even less active now than I was when I first thought of this stuff. I just want to have a nice peaceful life with nice Pokemon and be able to just be calm and happy. Yeah some evil team might try to destroy the world or something, but more often than not, someone comes along and helps out.

Unrelatedly my friend said the other day when we were talking that if we were to move in together in an apartment because we’re best friends and it’s cheaper to live together (also it wouldn’t be dating because even if she does turn out to be bi her girl type is buff girls and I am a twig) that she would cook and I would bake and just the idea of us living together and having stable jobs and having a cat if they were allowed and just...it sounds so nice and so many things if I think realistically like my current mental health struggles and the US being a dumpster fire and the pandemic and the US being fucking insane it just feels like it couldn’t happen and it’s just

(IT GETS REALLY BAD BELOW HERE JUST A WARNING SERIOUSLY ITS REALLY BAD)

I want to be happy but it feels like I can’t do that and I have so much shit piled up that I have to do and my medicine isn’t doing what it did at first so I guess my body got used to it like how people can get caffeine tolerance but ive had it less than a month so idk am i just fucking up that much it just fucking sucks i just wish i could stop having to worry and just live in a hole with my safe corners of the internet and my video games and a couple people online to talk to so i dont get too too lonely and just im not doing well and college is bad because my depresso is being super bad now and tonight i feel like im wasting my parents’ money because im just not doing what i need to do to exist as a student and it just feels like too much and i dont want to do any of it anymore

#untagged #delete later #vent

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