the great thing about the wuxia genre is you can start a sect called the Evil Blood Cult in a place called Demon Mountain that’s a volcano full of poison and you all wear crazy gothic black and red hanfu and practice Sinister Backstabber Style kung fu and like. that’s not a deterrent to prospective disciples. do all that and a fuckton of bright eyed youngsters will still show up at your door and say hello i would like to join the demon mountain evil blood cult where do i sign up?
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Ok folks (shoutout @watanuki-chihiro) have talked abt how God of Death Duel Duet (G3D) parallels the Zenza Rensekai, and that got me thinking. Can we talk about Akane’s convo with Kaisei after losing? Because this scene was way more fucking loaded than any of us expected I think. Considering recent events.
like off the top of my head there’s
”The stage really isn’t the place to go searching for yourself” this is actually the most ironic thing homie could have said😭😭😭😭😭he didn’t know guys he didn’t knowwww
“I only encouraged her to perform at the Isshokai for my own goals” way back when, kaisei was actually the one to encourage her to participate in the selection event hmmm but that wasn’t for your own goals now was it? He did all that because that’s his fave kouhai lmao.
“I’m kinda in an hurry” and then proceeds to extend the conversation unprompted…..There’s this imagery of her chasing his back as he walks forward. But brother you are inventing reasons to look back 😭like we get it she’s your favorite kouhai and you see yourself in her we get it….
“It’s a real shame” is crazy bc from Akane’s perspective at the time, the words just remind her of her failure. She literally starts crying afterwards. But Kaisei was speaking genuinely. He would’ve liked to perform with her (as her senior lollll not as the underdog), AND it’s a shame she didn’t win with her Dad’s art, “the second half wasn’t bad.” He’s speaking to both points. This is kinda wild when we remember he’s a student of Issho.
An ISSHO OPINION would completely toss Akane’s performance at the Rensekai aside! “How can the Arakawa school entrust someone who doesn’t believe in his own art”Unlike Issho, Kaisei sees the worth in Akane’s “weakness,” and by extension Shinta’s weakness, and acknowledges it as such.
His behavior here reminds me a lot of how he acts at the start of the Isshokai. He empathizes with Akane’s fired up shonen protag mentality, but regretfully has to inform her that this event isn’t about their rivalry. It’s about rubbing elbows with rich people who barely even value rakugo as an art, as much as they do the idea of accessing the exclusive Issho Arakawa performance. Just like when he talked to Akane then, he all but admits how “It’s a real shame.”
It’s a real shame these people don’t really care about rakugo. It’s a real shame this event is all about Issho and the rest of them are just a fun side-piece, never quite able to leave his shadow. It’s a damn shame, but that’s how it is. How it always is.
Over and over, what Kaisei thinks is appropriate for rakugo, does not align with how he feels about rakugo. Kaisei has been showing signs of disagreeing with Issho’s ideals/methods. The conduit for all that was and is Akane.
Essentially, Kaisei is taking everything he felt regarding Akane’s “weakness” back then, and now redirecting that energy towards his own art.
This is all very nice to see come together. While Akane has been set up to follow her Master’s legacy despite coming into rakugo for o other reasons (though her dad admits Akane would have become a rakugoka regardless of if he made it to Shin’uchi), Kaisei has been set up to reject his Master’s legacy despite coming to rakugo specifically to be like Issho.
^^This is so funny now we literally had him admit he always felt like Akane might be able to understand him. And is another example of him using Issho’s ideals as a mask for his true feelings. “I’m not interested in you” after he basically channeled all his jealousy around Rokuro and Akane into his horror performance…..Most repressed man you’ve ever seen….no wonder he is Like That.
I’m also curious about his deeper opinions on Shiguma and Shiguma’s art. Pre-heartbreak Kaisei kept insisting he didn’t care and wouldn’t mind if Akane learned Shiguma’s Art, but since failing his Shin’uchi exam, it’s a lot more personal. He “can’t forgive” Shiguma’s Art, because of how it impacts his Master, but like, Issho is a grown man. Isn’t it actually that he can’t forgive Issho and doesn’t know where to direct all his feelings, because he is still ultimately playing his games by helping him with the Isshokai and what not??? The same Isshokai where he is resigned to be a show pony??? Hmm.
We don’t always get a lot of Kaisei scenes but what we do get…always seems to have a bunch of other sub plots attached I suppose. He’s a fun character to chew on.
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Here's some of the notes, starting with the things multiple people brought up:
SHRIMP COCKTAIL:
banahbanah: #flashback to that one fic where Peter Parker frets about drinking shrimp cocktail because of the alcohol
generaldeliciousness: adding: what a prawn/shrimp cocktail is
#why is your character turning it down because they're under 21 #do you think prawn cocktail is a cocktail #this lives in my brain rent-free constantly #the rest of the fic was so normal #and good enough that i'll still re-read it #but bro
And then many, MANY, people wondering if this was actually authour mistake, since Peter really would do this!
POMEGRANATES:
zhajhassa: #haha where's that post that was like someone describing someone eating a pomegranate but they ate it like an apple
thornhands: #once someone wrote persephone biting into a whole Pomegranate #had to stop and stare at a wall for a minute
sungsingsanguine: I once saw someone very confidently write about a character eating slices of pomegranate.
FRUIT TREES:
zagreuses-toast: #given a very endearing glimpse into a writers blindspots by seeing them describe someone sitting under a ''pineapple tree''
salatrash: I remember something about picking watermelons... OF A FUCKING TREE
baander: #cranberry trees
DOUGH/BATTER:
maycelium: #I'm a chef so I'm really used to people not accurately describing how to cook food #But I was surprisingly flabbergasted when someone was writing making a cake and was kneading it. Which uh #Not necessary for cake. It was interesting for sure but just bizarre
livebloggingmydescentintomadness: #the one that drove me nuts was when a character set aside a batch of PASTA DOUGH 'to rise' #pasta doesn't have yeast!! #it does need to REST but it will never RISE #you do not want an airy crumb on your noodles
lovesodeepandwideandwell: #THE ONE WHERE THEY MADE COOKIES BY LADLING BATTER INTO A TRAY
Some other topics:
ANIMALS:
catenarwhal: #mandatory 'how cows produce milk' mention#i'll never recover from that one I fear
piromantic: #one time i saw someone fake their way through describing how spiders behave
pluto-lichen: horses
misskittypotter: #stardew valley faking its way through what fresh fish smell like
pa-pa-plasma: #saw someone faking their way through knowing what a seal is once #i still am fucked up over that one to this day. they just straight up did not know #& they were NOT good at guessing it either like it was clear they had never googled that animal ever #& was only just now realizing via answering questions from anons that seals are not!! what they assumed. initially
SEX:
dykevandyke: #what a prostate is #and where it is located #as in. external.
dreamyeyedrose: #I remember back in the ff.net days reading an Ichigo/Renji fic where the writer assumed the penises go inside each other #and I was like “I mean I don't know how it works for sure I don't have one but idk if that's how it works”
SOME OTHER FOOD STUFF:
thetrekkiehasthephonebox: #add another one to the list bloggers#this character is cooking a salad
shosta: #still baffled about the published work that didn't know food could freeze
sun-dari: #once i read a fic where the author didn't understand cinnamon
alto-tenure: #read something recently where the author was just. blatantly wrong about spices
dramatic-dolphin: #i saw someone try to fake their way through what ramen is once. like 14 years ago.#but i remember.#i was very confused about ramen for a few months. they were writing it so authoritatively.
the-celery-stalks-at-midnight: #i will never ever forget someone putting leftover fries in the microwave to reheat them and setting the timer for five minutes
typeghost: #this sparked a memory of a hannibal fic where the author had to fake their way through writing about gravy
draculin: #the one fanfic where the author knows about coffee only as a concept wrote a character as a coffee drinker#was very interesting#I don't remember the fandom or the plot but I was mesmerized by the coffee actions and choices
11235811235811: #there's a lot of faking their way thru congee in the svsss fandom i'll also note
fishali3n: #read one where the person clearly didnt know what tofu is
emmy-everafter: #in the aftermath of shadow and bone s2 i saw a lot of people pretending to know what stroopwafels are #babes they are more like cookies than breakfast waffles #like yes there is a waffle pattern but you're not gonna cut into a stack of them with syrup and sugar#🤣🤣🤣
NON-FOOD STUFF:
red-umbrella-811: Shoutout to Dame Agatha Christie for faking her way through what a wrench is in a very popular published work.
bluebeetle: #once saw someone have a character put an entire phone book in their pocket
nonametis: #- sex talk in languages other than english #<- or just the petnames in a different language other than English
sadisticpony: #the fanfiction i saw this week where op DIDNT KNOW HOW AUTOMATIC DOORS WORKED #and that they arent in peoples homes!!! of course. also opening the automatic door for someone is unironically very funny but its not #its not like. grabbing the door handle to let someone in. helpppp
danmeichael: #reminds me of the fic with the figure drawing class where the character started with the feet. #i love you feet first figure drawing author
meowmix1100blr: #me watching this one fic absolutely obliterate what the board of directors does
vexedhexes: #one time i read an architect character making a doorway bigger by building a bigger door #what a beautiful world. #OH. also gravity falls fic where they go 'oh piedmont is in california so its warm all year round'
leveragehunters: #characters going to a beer garden #And it's literally a garden outside the pub#It was a very cute mistake
fitofpique: #yes! #grown men do not get blind drunk off two beers #but i am possibly guilty of the hypothermia one #assuming it does not make you very horny?
dadvans-likes: #always thinking abt the soup kitchen fic #the entire setting of the fic was 'soup kitchen' #and i very quickly realized #the author did not know what a soup kitchen was #and they thought that soup kitchens only served soup #fic
msmargaretmurry: #i love fanfiction #once read a fic where the characters played 20 questions #but the author seemed to not know how to play 20 questions and was just kind of winging it........ #immaculate
shakespeareaddict: #Look I know not all of us are hockey experts #But it takes about ten seconds of research or any attention paid to the show to realize #That the Stanley cup playoffs are not in fucking September
baejax-the-great: #the funniest one i saw #was someone faking what church is like #like 1. they really didn't have to write an entire church experience for their fic #and 2. they had clearly never even watched a show where people went to church #it was bonkers weird
twosunson: #things ive seen authors faking #knowing how to unclog a drain #knowing. literally any history #knowing what ketamine looks like (apparently- oregano) #(you know who you are)
waterhorseyblues-ao3: #beltane being celebrated in winter #wales being portrayed as a completely separated land from england (i wish) #characters getting up after weeks of bedrest like that dosnt completely fuck you up
violetfairydust: #i once read a fic where the flight time from london to seattle was 3 hours
purekesseltrash: One time, in a fic set specifically in Des Moines, IA, two of the characters casually drove 20 minutes to the ocean. The memory continues to delight me. I want to know where that author thought that Iowa was.
Okay, if you are tired then you won't be able to read. There I say it. No one else want to say it. It is strange. If you are tired, if you cannot finish a book that's a given. That's why you need to read...at work. You need to steal your reading time from your employers.
i was looking for the convenience stir-fry recipe from 3gatsu for a friend, but i thought that some people might find it useful! it's basically a little hack for an easy way to keep some nutrients and variety in your meal-prep.
it's also super versatile -- the manga takes the unseasoned route so you can customize it as you eat, but you can add whatever spices and sauces you like best (i do some with a gochujang sauce, some with just salt/pepper, and some with soy sauce) into the stir-fry while you're prepping, and they freeze up just as well! you can also play around with what to add in the stir-fry: lotus roots, broccoli, beans, and most root veggies work super well!
image ID in readmore
[IMAGE ID: a manga page from march comes in like a lion. the panel reads, in order:
rei, a young boy in glasses, asking: "uh, 'convenience stir-fry'?"
hina, a young girl, replies: "it's a lot of work to wash, cut, and saute food every time you want to eat, right? so if you divide up 'fried things' before you season them for next time you have a meal, then it'll be a lot easier next time you're eating."
the next panel has an image of food being stir-fried, with a list next to it reading:
chopped pork
onion
carrots
ginger
napa cabbage
garlic shoots
greater burdock
hina's explanation continues beside it: "the pork miso soup we make is kind of like hot pot -- you can cut up as much as you want of each of those and fry them in sesame oil. so you can fry up some extra, and then, before you put in the soup stock and stuff, you only leave in the stuff you're gonna eat today in the pot, and take the rest out and freeze it for next time you're cooking!"
a panel of ziploc bags full of food, and a fridge with an annotation reading 'make sure to cool it down before freezing it' beside it.
the next panel has hina and rei again, with hina saying: "and then you've got a shortcut for the washing, cutting, and frying part. it's super easy!"
and rei replying: "so that's why you call it convenience stir-fry?!!" with an 'i get it!' annotation over his head.
the last panel has a bunch of food on a table, described in hina's dialogue: "you like ramen, right, rei-chan? when you're boiling water, you can put this convenience stir-fry in and make it kinda decadent!"
a dialogue bubble of rei exclaiming 'oooh!!' with an annotation 'salt ramen can become 'meat and vegetable ramen'!!' over it.
hina's dialogue continues: "and also, just heat it up in the microwave and you can eat it as a snack!! you can even put seasoning on or add in anything else you feel like having!!"
beside the dialogue are pictures of various sauces like yakiniku and soy sauce beside a play of stir-fry and onigiri.
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We all know what erectile dysfunction is but literally no one is ever taught what vaginismus is and it can cause people to feel extremely lost, broken, and cause people to take their own lives.
Raise. Awareness.
For the uninformed, vaginismus is when the vagina painfully tightens and spasms when faced with pressure, usually from anything trying to insert into the vagina. It’s the reason I can’t wear tampons, and why many people can’t have vaginal sex without severe pain.
There’s not a lot of treatments, and there isn’t a single one that is for vaginismus exclusively - they’re all medications or treatments to treat symptoms, but not the causes. In fact, for a long time doctors waved off vaginismus as a purely psychological disorder in cis women.
Seriously, this is so unaddressed and uncared for in medical circles. Please spread awareness, even if all it’s for is to let those who have it but don’t have a name for it finally be able to understand what’s happening to their bodies.
Hi hello! This post is almost 10 years old and there ARE treatments for this. Vaginismus is otherwise known as pelvic hypertonia and it is a MUSCULAR condition that can be caused by many different factors including endometriosis, trauma, chronic UTIs, and connective tissue disorders.
It’s incredibly common! And it can be treated by physiotherapy.
I know this because I’m currently undergoing physio and although it can take months to recover, I’m already seeing improvement. A lot of the pelvic floor exercises are available online, but if you have these symptoms please TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR and see if you can get a physio referral (or investigation for underlying causes like endometriosis).
Also, my additions to posts never get reblogged so a note to my followers: this is SUPER IMPORTANT ISSUE that affects many people and is rarely talked about. Please reblog, and please share this info with as many people as possible.
Pelvic hypertonia/vaginismus is incredibly debilitating and psychologically damaging but it CAN BE TREATED. Spread the word, and you never know who you’ll be throwing a lifeline to.
Much like the Zuiun Cup was a callback to the Karaku Cup, the God of Death Duel Duet is a callback to the Selection Event. Except this time, they've switched positions: now it's Kaisei that's doubting himself while trying to chase after Akane.
Even though Akane reinforces her ideals while Kaisei rejects his, they still come to the same conclusion: being weak is not a fatal flaw. You are still capable of strength.
I am very excited to see Kaisei's performance and what this means for him from here on out.
I love how Akane banashi highlights the impact parents have on their children, for better or worse, and how the characters draw on those experiences in their rakugo performances.
Akane's father inspired her to become a rakugoka and introduced her to rakugo, but his influence was so strong that, at one point, she wanted to become just like him, even at the cost of her own individuality.
On the other hand, Hikaru's mother never truly believed in her daughter. She didn't support Hikaru's dream of becoming a voice actress, just as she hadn't supported her acting career before that. As a result, Hikaru was driven more by anger and the desire to prove herself than by a genuine love for performing.
Karashi's dad taught him from a young age to always think strategically and make sure whatever he did would pay off. Because of that, Karashi tends to play it safe and avoid taking risks. The problem is that by always staying in his comfort zone, he struggles to grow and evolve, even when taking a chance and failing might help him improve .
And now we can see Issho's influence as a father figure. By placing him at the top of the new generation of rakugo performers and constantly pushing him toward that role, he ends up taking away some of his individuality. In a way, it's similar to Akane, who spent so long chasing her father's shadow that she started losing sight of herself.
But then there's his mother. She's the one who's always been by his side, looking after him. Her poem has a completely different kind of influence on him. Instead of telling him who he should be, she encourages him to follow his own path and reminds him that, no matter how difficult or winding that path may be, he'll eventually reach his destination.
“Be Happy, You’ll Work More”: The Joy of Kaichi Arakawa
The moment Kaichi’s deal was revealed I was intrigued because it gave Issho more dimension. Up until then, I had theories about Issho that were superficial and made him a flatter character. “Issho wants complete dedication to the arts.” Explain Kaichi. “Issho takes issue with good father figures.” Explain Kaichi. Etc.
Importantly, Kaichi shows us how Issho is as a teacher towards a confident adult who has nothing personal for or against him. The confidence is key, and makes Kaichi an inverse of Shinta: the former was a successful salesman before he pursued rakugo and his experience as a salesman gave him a solid core that helped him avoid the inconsistency of the latter. Kaichi knows he’s good, he can do something else and have a perfectly good life, but rakugo lets him live a life he can be proud of; and that is what makes him so infuriatingly good at rakugo.
I once met a guy like Kaichi in an improv class. He even had a similar physique. Every time he was up, his instincts and choices left us all collapsing with laughter. One day he revealed that he did this for fun, that he didn’t need acting to earn a living, and the teacher let out a mock-exasperated sigh. “Oh god, you’re one of those.” His lack of desperation meant that he could commit to the bit, no matter how absurd, and we were all just along for the ride.
In short, Kaichi adds more levity to the Issho school and gives Issho a capable student who has enough calluses from corporate Japan to respond to his demonic instruction with “Oh you (> •́)ᕗ”
Bonus story: An acting teacher once lamented to the class that we were all such bad actors. I replied, “Of course we are, that’s why we’re taking your class.”
Months ago I saw something on Bluesky that said that people who are called geniuses aren’t that way because of innate talent but because they started young when their brains were more moldable. Examples cited include:
The Williams sisters and Naomi Osaka: Richard Williams wrote an 85-page plan to turn his daughters into tennis pros and started lessons when they were 4. Osaka’s father cited the same plan as inspiration for his daughter.
Michelangelo: At 6 he started living with his nanny and her stonecutter husband, and at 13 he apprenticed to a master artist.
The Polgár sisters: They were conceived to prove that geniuses are made, not born. All three became world class chess players, with the youngest considered the greatest female chess player of all time.
In the same vein, what makes Akane built different is that she started young. Her father was a rakugoka when she was born, she’s consciously absorbed his craft since she can remember, and soon after he was expelled she began training under Shiguma Arakawa. She’s ahead of Kaisei by an early childhood and ahead of Hikaru and Karashi by almost two decades. Rakugo is as much a part of Akane as the average person’s first language.
More than the quantity and quality of time Akane has spent with rakugo, however, is the support she’s had from both her parents and from Shiguma. Despite the cliche of the tortured artist with a horrible childhood, it’s easier to take risks and grow as an artist when you have a reliable support system*. Kaisei has his mom but his dad is deadbeat and Issho is an asshole, Hikaru’s mom didn’t believe her daughter had any talent, and Karashi’s dad did not approve of a riskier path in the arts when he had his future in business all but guaranteed.
Meanwhile, Akane has had Shinta’s example since the beginning and he still supports her as Tohru, Masaki tells her, “Go out and win this!”, and Shiguma knows how to teach her a lesson without inducing a nervous breakdown. No wonder Hikaru and Karashi continue to chase her while she’s just starting to run ahead of Kaisei.
*This is something Akane has in common with Kaichi, who is the subject of my next planned AkaBana essay, “Be Happy, You’ll Work More”.
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So you're Suenaga writing Akane-banashi and your protagonist begins to understand that all stories are based on the power of human connection via studying a very common story about strapping your child's name with as many wishes for longevity as possible so they don't die young. And then you write an antagonist who staunchly refuses to think about human connection and in fact, sees it as a weakness, who is also super passionate about giving his "children" meaningful names full of promise for their future.
and then you use the other famous story about avoiding death and assign that as the de facto antagonist trap card power move. your antagonist embodies the god of death now. and to really drive the point home, your antagonist Changes his Name That Was Given to Him By His Father (figure). The Name that Was Given to Him to Extend the Life of his Father's Legacy. As a Storyteller. The Legacy of His That is Based on Human Connection. His Art is His Humanity. And the Human Connection that impacted his Art the most was his Love for His Kids. He Gave Him That Name Because He Loved His Kid. You Know Kinda Like that Classic Story About A Parent's Love and Naming Your Child to Extend Their Life. You're doing this in the story about stories btw like just checking.
RIP Marjane Satrapi, author of the amazing graphic novels Persepolis about living during the fundamentalist revolution in Iran in the 70’s and 80’s. She also created the animated movie based on the graphic novels, which is where these gifs come from.
Reblogging in honor of Marjane Satrapi, one of THE great graphic novelists. Her comic Persepolis was a crucial text for shaping my belief that comics can deeply explore identity, culture, politics, and history.
