This is a personal blog run by a guy named Nick.
Most of the content on this blog is fandom-related. Some content may be NSFW,
This blog is not spoiler free. Spoilers will usually only be marked if something new happens in a fandom.
Have I really never made a post or reblogged anything related to The Amazing Digital Circus? I know I haven't used Tumblr much in recent years but I'm surprised I can't find anything on my blog related to it.
There is one post in particular I do want to make, but I wanted to wait until I saw the finale before I posted it, and funny enough that may have been a mistake because now I'm not entirely sure if my theories still work. I'll give it some more thought, but for now I'll just say that I was trying to think of what the possible themes are that may be represented in the show's two main leitmotifs. For the longest time I was thinking that the main theme, with its more circus-inspired sound and especially with the way it is used in the pilot, represented the circus itself and the fact that the characters are all trapped there and the hopelessness of the situation, while the other leitmotif represented something more like the general theme of the series of "finding meaning in a meaningless existence" (or perhaps something more simple like "hope," "reality," or even the concept of "humanity"). The problem with my analysis here is that, if anything, the finale seemed to flip them, at least for the one time I noticed the second leitmotif playing in full (the series ends on a brief snippet of that second leitmotif in more of the "hopeful" way that I interpreted it, but the whole motif plays when, you know... a certain character is literally about to die), while the first leitmotif is given a more positive reprise near the end.
But now that I think of it, in hindsight, I think the motifs were played around with before. The last line of the second leitmotif does sound a bit somber, even unsettling at times, and its use during that one Gangle scene was noticeably deceptive. Likewise, the credits theme for the show has always felt somewhat hopeful, and it obviously incorporates the main theme in it.
Of course, I could just be overthinking all of this. (And for all I know I could be way off on what the leitmotifs actually mean, if they even really have any concrete meaning attached to them at all.)
There's also another post I'd like to make, but I don't really know how to rip and edit videos anymore. But then again, the idea was a shitpost where I would put the "Isn't She Lovely?" cover from the finale over clips from both the Japanese film Sweet Home and its iconic video game adaptation (mostly focusing on Lady Mamiya, naturally, but of course no Sweet Home shitpost would be truly complete without at least one shot of the Famicom version of Yamamura's infamous death scene) so y'know... maybe it's for the best that I don't remember how to do that stuff. Also can you tell I've been on a Sweet Home kick lately?
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Hey, isn’t the Fog Cutters part of the Japanese title of the Kyoko Kirigiri game?
Sorry, I know this ask is old but I haven't been on Tumblr in a while.
If there's something else Danganronpa related called Fog Cutters I haven't heard of it. I just chose the name "Fog Cutters" for my fic idea. because that's more or less what the name "Kirigiri" translates to.
So I'm not all that much closer to rewriting The Fog Cutters yet. This past year hasn't exactly been inspiring me to write anything, let alone starting a big multi-fandom crossover fanfic project like that. But there are some more ideas I have that for some reason I feel compelled to share and maybe get some feedback for if possible. I will be drawing from this post a little bit, where I also mentioned some ideas I have for the fic. And just like that post, I will be putting it under the cut so if you aren't interested (or if you are interested in the fic but don't want potential spoilers for it) you can just skip it.
Since the main fandom for this crossover fic idea is Danganronpa, I will only be mentioning what series characters are from if they're from another series.
I'm going to split these ideas up into categories focusing on specific characters to make it easier to navigate.
Aoi Asahina (and by proxy Sakura Ogami and Yuta)
To add to the previous idea of Hina having unrequited feelings for Sakura, during their time at Hope's Peak Academy Sakura was under the impression that her and Hina's relationship was a Class S kind of relationship. When she finds out about Hina's feelings, Sakura ultimately turns her down as gently as possible because she already has a boyfriend and isn't sure if she's into women. The two remain close friends, but part of Hina's motivation to move to Towa City after winning the gold medal for Japan is to try to start a new chapter in her life, which she thinks might be more difficult for her if she is in a position where she's often wondering what could have been.
In my original attempt at The Fog Cutters, I had Sakura be Hina's roommate in Towa City, but she was currently wrestling in Mexico to help pay for their home (which is much larger than Makoto and Chihiro's apartment). This was originally meant to be a way to explain why Sakura wasn't there (the real life reasons being I'm not super confident in my abilities to write Sakura and also her being around would make much of the conflict super easy to resolve), but in hindsight it isn't really necessary because Sakura's family owns a dojo and she's the heir to it, so it makes more sense that she would just stay at her family's home. So in my eventual rewrite, that's where Sakura is going to be at least until I have a reason for her to appear in the story.
Because Sakura is staying at her family's home in Japan, I have decided that Hina will have moved to Towa City with her brother Yuta instead.
The Asahina siblings have some sort of agreement with the Towa Corporation that leads to the construction of the Asahina Sports Complex and Restaurant, a massive facility that hosts a number of different fields, courts, pools, etc. for different sports, as well as a restaurant that has many surprisingly unhealthy food options. Not sure if the Asahinas will be partial owners of the complex or if they just get royalties from it, but I think Yuta at least will work there in some fashion. If they aren't co-owners of the complex, I may have Hagire (Deadman Wonderland) be the owner, as I established him in my original attempt at the fic as someone who has his thumb in a lot of pies in Towa City. Either scenario could lead to any number of directions the story could go in, and I'm still on the fence about it.
Byakuya Togami/Polaris P. Polanski
To add on to my idea of Byakuya eventually coming out as either a transwoman or non-binary individual named Polaris P. Polanski, I also have an idea to have them basically be Magical Girl Batman, where at the start of the story they go by Byakuya Togami when fulfilling their duties as CEO of the Togami Corporation, but outside of that environment they fight crime with a pseudo magical girl persona as Polaris P. Polanski. At some point it would be revealed that they're the same person, and afterwards she/they would go by Polaris exclusively.
Polaris wants to put an end to the Togami family tradition of competing for the spot to become heir to the company, viewing it to be barbaric and beneath someone of their status. Hilariously, they still continue to take part in another fairly outdated tradition (though this is mostly just an excuse to include this other character into the story), which is marrying the heiress of another company as a sort of symbolic gesture of the merger the two companies are going through, not unlike the age old practice of royal families marrying each other to strengthen alliances between their kingdoms. The heiress in question? Yuma Mashiro (Zanki Zero). Notably, the relationship is just a formality; Polaris is ace and not particularly interested in romance, and Yuma is pretty much free to do whatever she wants and Polaris doesn't really care who she's seeing on the side or where they're taking her out to dinner. Also I think their dynamic could be really fun if I can write something decent with it.
This is already kind of a general headcanon that I have for Byakuya anyway, but since it's... sort of canon (maybe) that Byakuya was able to pose as a white girl for an indeterminate amount of time, I imagine there's a good possibility that Byakuya might be half-white, and I imagine "Polanski" had to come from somewhere, so part of Polaris's backstory is that Polanski is their mother's surname and that maybe they were born "Byakuya Polanski" or something similar.
Chihiro Fujisaki's Online Friend Group
Pidge (Voltron: Legendary Defender) and Futaba (Persona 5) at some point may bond over the fact that every one of their friends they try to date either views them as a little sister or a little gremlin. This may or may not lead to a crossover ship.
Pidge and Futaba also have nicknames for the people in their IRL lives when they're telling stories about them to Chihiro, Miu, and each other. Naturally, Futaba uses the codenames of her friends from Persona 5, while Pidge "color-codes" her friends (because what are we, animals?).
I haven't decided yet if Kazuichi is part of the group, but if he is, then everyone (except maybe Chihiro... maybe) calls him "Kaz."
Miu and Kazuichi have a hilarious amount of sexual tension. The question is will it lead anywhere? My current answer is "Maybe."
Fuyuhiko Kuzuryu
Fuyuhiko eventually did get one of those yakuza tattoos on his back. Currently picturing it as a nine-headed dragon fighting... something. Maybe a bear. Maybe a wolf. Maybe a horse. Maybe some combination of the three? Maybe.
The Shirogane Family
Due to their shared surname and similar hair colors, I've decided to make Naoto (Persona 4) and Tsumugi Shirogane distant cousins. (Yes, I'm aware that Naoto was an orphan, hence "distant.")
I have no plans to include Shiro from Voltron: Legendary Defender in this family tree even though Pidge is in the story. I'm chalking this up to the fact that he does not have blue hair.
Again, probably more than I should be sharing. Hopefully someday I will be able to actually write this fic and be happy about it instead of just posting ideas for it. But I've already abandoned it once and that part worries me a bit. I'm still on the fence on whether or not it's okay that I kept the old fic up as its own thing. Like I've said in the past, I'd feel bad if I just deleted it. But a part of me feels bad for just leaving it like that too. Needless to say, I am very conflicted about this, and honestly that's probably the main reason why I haven't gotten much closer to writing this rewrite. What if I'm not happy with it again? At least this time I'll have planned it out a bit more, but I don't think I could just restart again if I don't like it the second time around. So here's hoping that when/if I do write this rewrite, I will be happy with it. But it's probably going to be a while. Like I said, current events haven't exactly been inspiring for me.
In the meantime, if anyone has any feedback for this, please feel free to share! I also wouldn't mind getting some feedback on my decision to leave the old fic up. I still think it's fine to do so, given that AO3 is an archive, but I also worry about how that might come off to leave an unfinished fic up and start it over again elsewhere. So far, no one has weighed in on this, so I'm still not entirely sure how to move forward from here. If anyone has thoughts on this, please share.
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Do You Think Love Can Bloom, Even On a Battlefield?
Despite the title, this isn't a Metal Gear Solid fic, just a heads up.
I've come back from the grave to let you guys know that I have once again fulfilled my "try to write something at least once a year" quota on AO3 at the last minute to give you a one-shot about a rare pair that is probably only a rare pair because the fandom isn't big enough to have a ton of fics on AO3!
Do you like La-Mulana 2? Do you like cheesy yuri fics (written by a guy, just a heads up)? Do you think love can bloom, even on a battlefield?
Then here is a fic for you! I hope you like it. Enjoy!
I always wondered if Naegi was ever close to his classmates or ever had close friends before the start of THH. And I don't mean friends such as like classmates he hangs out with or listens to, but friends who took the time to get to know him, his opinions, and his life.
We don't get much mention of any of his friends prior to THH. Any mentions of his life are usually about his family (how his mom would usually do his laundry, or wanting to have food with his family), his school (talking about how he lost his pin at one time, or how he took care of animals), and the amounts of food he loves on the daily (such as Dr. Popper, Tab Clear, Aussie Beef, etc). The short story for him does mention him having friends, but it seems to be more of just classmates that he doesn't engage outside of school, not like anyone he would happily remember or remark about in Ultra Despair Girls or any other material compared to Komaru's grief over her own friends' disappearances.
Of course, all of this could be reasoned out-of-game that Naegi's conception was kept vague to allow players to integrate with him, however, the kicker that made me go down this inquiry would be how he responds to Fujisaki in their final FTE.
The FTE that explicitly states Naegi's confusion on being focused upon in personal conversations.
This conversation had always intrigued me. It's one of the few times (other than Maizono) we get insight into how adamant Naegi gets over his own identity, and how confused he gets over people wanting to be close to him.
This is on the last FTE for Fujisaki, so at this point, he has had a good deal of interactions with the group, especially now that Maizono has died, so it's interesting that Naegi seems adamant on not wanting to be the focus of attention still during this point in time.
In fact, he seems even hesitant towards having a whole session just to talk about himself, and there's implication that when he does discuss with the gang during FTEs, that he mainly focuses on asking about them in-general. The idea of ever bringing himself up doesn't come to mind unless it flows into the conversation, since he doesn't think he's that interesting to begin with. And I really want to dissect that.
Because Naegi has had similar responses of deflection throughout the story. He sees himself as ordinary, normal, and someone who people might not find that interesting compared to others. He says to people like Fujisaki (and Kiyotaka, to some extent) he is the lowest rung of masculinity, that he mainly just watches TV, lies around, doesn't study much, etc. In fact, he puts himself down a lot to a strong degree, to the point Fujisaki can't help but ask if he himself also has an inferiority complex.
Now, culture-wise, this can be because Naegi is trying to be humble over any accomplishments since that's the social norm within Japan, and — despite the societal expectations — he doesn't see his normalcy as bad either. He has explained to Togami that he does appreciate normalcy, and that he finds joy in living a life he wants regardless if it's mundane. He may not have much idea of his future, but he sure will take it in stride.
Even with Fujisaki, we can see that he trudges through these insecurities by moving forward, and distracting himself from hits to his self-esteem, which can be healthy. Accepting life for what it is and finding the silver linings rather than sitting with emotions for a long time can be a good way of circumventing stress, and giving yourself the ability to keep moving forward regardless of insecurities.
Despite going to HPA and feeling insecure over his average status amidst Ultimates, it all sounds like it's a temporary type of insecurity, one that he will get used to as something present, yet one he can handle well over time.
However, we then find in the short story "Makoto Naegi's Worst Day Ever" that this painful awareness over how normal he is didn't start with being invited to the school. Actually, it's been there ever since he got reminded of it by his friends and family. He gets reminded that nothing about his identity is that special, and while he admits that he can't change it, he still doubles down on the idea that he is just that painfully normal.
Even with Maizono, he calls himself so normal that even normal people or I guess the concept of "normal" would call him boring, which is a lot of downplaying than the usual kind you would see in humble Japanese exchanges. Although in this situation, it is a bit more understandable due to her being his crush, and a pop idol.
Other than this massive downplaying, we also know that Naegi has had numerous times during the series where he beats himself up over stuff despite him acknowledging that he doesn't have control over the situation or the trajectory of his life.
An example would be continuously saying that his only redeeming quality is his optimism, or berating himself for getting emotional about his dead friends and forcing himself to move forward. In a killing game, it makes sense to be emotionally stressed out, but he never really gives himself that kindness to grieve or give himself a break since the goals he places for himself are all about how he can help the people around him.
In the DR the Animation, he does get some solace in his bathroom, but in the game itself, there were only two times where he almost cries, before immediately forcing it down to hone on the goal (such as Sayaka's examination) or getting distracted (being told he smells like garbage after being rescued from the garbage pit). Another example can be seen in DR3 the anime, where he does beat up his legs to stop them from shaking at a corpse, and trying to furiously wipe his tears in a secluded hallway after Kirigiri died, all so he can showcase a persona of a leader in a time of crisis.
Even in his character song "KibĹŤ no Dangan", he spells it out that even if he's in immense suffering or not much of a talented person, he will do what he must to move forward, especially to save people (and when he means 'you', it's a safe bet that it's a reference to the first person he promised this to, being Sayaka).
While his philosophy of moving forward and throwing himself into work helps with distracting one's self from the cycle of insecurity and uncertainty, this doesn't stop him from making this coping mechanism into an unhealthy habit over time. Mainly that while he does have a lot more assertiveness in himself and what he wants (look at the two times he tried to physically beat up Monokuma, how he rejected Celeste's knight status in the FTEs, not wanting to chase down a robber, and every single instance with Hagakure's FTEs), the big thing is that he won't stop helping people.
He will never stop this inclination to give and give when it makes someone happy or listened to, and it makes me wonder if he ever had pre-HPA friends who ever looked out for him in return.
In the short story, the only time we ever get to see one of his so-called friends was him meeting at a park (with a whole bunch of that classmate's other friends he doesn't know), and then not being comforted by said friend as Naegi is tasked to get basically a whole gang's worth of food and drinks. Not even a helping hand or anything, and Naegi gloomily mentions the lack of comfort too as if it was a norm.
And the idea of him having to explain and apologize over to ten guys over what happened, even though his friend could definitely definitely vouch for his honesty if he even tried, just implies such a distant attitude. This isn't really someone Naegi internally knows he can confide in, and it makes it sound like he could do well in helping people, getting to know them on deep levels as a meaningful listener, but didn't really make connections that stayed with him for a long time.
Heck, he didn't even seem that sad over having to move away from the school, his family is mentioned more in misc location interactions than even one instance from that highschool.
He seems to have basically been an every man. If he did stick out to someone, it would be from him listening to their problems, for stuff that they need, to have someone they could talk about over the newest show, manga, or video game. Those interactions, of course, are valuable. There are friends who stay for a while, and some friends who can bond on only a few topics — after all, even with HPA, Class 78 has specific people who are closer than with others. But with how Naegi acts around people in the short story and THH, he values friendship, but he would prefer to be the vehicle of focusing on someone else rather than him.
You can see that this man, even when given a prompt all about Maizono asking about his dream, he completely redirects it back to her! It's incredible.
So then it makes this interesting contrast when you think about how Class 78 interacts with him as a whole. While a great deal of FTEs and interactions do have Naegi assisting or listening to others, his classmates seem to want to do more than just invite him into a space to listen to them.
They may all be eccentric, placed in a situation where they're forced to kill one another and be in paranoia, but there's these little glimpses of probably what life was like for Naegi during the HPA years.
He was with people who seemed interested in him too. He thinks he is average, but in a sea of ultimates, this makes even him stand out as someone to them. Sayaka even calls him remarking about his averageness as "strange", and this continued idea of Naegi being an enigma to people can also be found in the FTEs with Togami and Kirigiri.
Asahina even says he has this amazing ability of just going for it, and won't take his downplaying for an answer when he tries to do so. Due to their eccentric personalities, all of which go against the usual formalities in one way or another, it allows Naegi to be in this neat environment where people are just drawn to him.
Mondo asks him if he's a dog or cat person, and invites him to a bike ride when they leave HPA. Kiyotaka's ideals of wanting to work hard rather than be granted stuff from the get-go match his own, and he finds genuine value in being peers with Naegi. Asahina encourages him to workout with her and asks about his favorite foods. Kirigiri sees his optimism as a good thing, and finds him interesting to observe and ask questions to. Fujisaki too, before the inferiority complex discussion, genuinely got upset at the idea of never being able to learn about Naegi regarding his life and hobbies.
Maizono especially was someone who wanted to be his assistant, and his first friend. In retrospect, she probably would've been his first friend at HPA with how easily they connected due to their past school lives, and would've gotten him integrated into the class as a whole with how much she wanted to get to know him.
A very important thing too is that Maizono was the first person he felt comfortable and vulnerable around to say he is scared, that not only did Naegi save her, but Maizono's presence saved him as well. He usually keeps those types of thoughts to himself, so it's a big thing for him. He was that comfortable with her when times were tough, before he decided to push his fears down to hone in on the safety of other people.
There's these little pieces in these interactions where you can see how close and loved he was in this class, where there's people who genuinely wanted him in their lives, and valued him as a person rather than just a classmate who does errands willy nilly or a person who can fade into a crowd.
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like i literally had to google reaming just to make sure i wasn't somehow misinterpreting this as being about anything other than butt-fucking, but nope, that's exactly what it is
The music instrument samples used by Koji Kondo when he composed the Super Mario World soundtrack were all taken from commercially available sources, and simply reduced in quality to be playable on a SNES.
After many years of searching, video game music enthusiasts were able to track down all original samples in their source quality, allowing the tracks to be restored to the form they could have had if the SNES were able to use high-quality samples. In this post, the restored version of the Castle/Fortress music can be heard.
Main Blog | Patreon | Twitter | Bluesky | Small Findings | Source: ChurchofKondoh
I love learning about Dandadan's development, it's so funny.
So for those of you who don't know, apparently Yukinobu Tatsu wanted to write a shonen manga with a girl as the main character, but when he pitched it they were like "No, you gotta have a boy." So Tatsu was like "Okay" and added the boy, took away his junk, and pretty much still made the girl the main character.
Now this alone is really funny to me because it reminds me of the story behind Black Lagoon's development. Rei Hiroe was in a similar situation where he originally wanted to make Revy the main character, and IIRC he even made Revy Chinese-American to try to make her relatable to his audience, but when he pitched it he was told that she wasn't relatable enough and he needed a Japanese guy to be his audience surrogate protagonist. So Hiroe was like "Okay" and then proceeded to create one of the best audience surrogate characters in manga, and STILL made him co-protagonist alongside the character he wanted to make the protagonist in the first place.
And it's so crazy to think about. Like... what would Black Lagoon be without Rock? What would Dandadan be without Okarun? The two are so integral to their respective series that it's almost impossible to imagine what the story would have been instead.
And I haven't even mentioned the shojo manga story yet, which is arguably funnier. Apparently, Tatsu's initial pitch about the romance arc was so bad that he was told to read 100 shojo manga. Considering that Dandadan has what many consider to have one of the best romance arcs in shonen manga, it definitely worked, but that's still a LOT of fucking manga to read! And presumably in a short amount of time too, because I mean... dude's gotta eat. That's fucking wild! Honestly I'd say it ranks up there with Hideo Kojima and his Legos.
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