#thecryptographer

i had a naruto phase! and, although i read further than this, i think a lot of my interest dropped off around when shippuden started. I liked most of the canon het ships in theory, if not in practice, but the only ship I'd say I'm wholeheartedly interested in is InoSaku. Gaara and his siblings are also super cute tho~

InoSaku is an amazing ship !! o/ That’s one of my fave, the childhood faves made my heart ache before I even knew you could ship two girls (I was that young). Shippuden’s thematic shift caught me off-guard a lot...

haikyuumon: “psst who out of my followers likes naruto because that was baby’s...”

!!!!!!! So Many Ships, but honestly, my absolute Ultimate OTP from there is Madatobi and my main ships are Kakuhida and Kakaobi/Kakairu. I also like sakuoro and sasunaru a lot. I //adore// Tobirama, he’s my all-time favorite character. I love Gaara too! And obviously Naruto, because they’re such precious beans. ;u; But I really love Sakumo and Tsunade, and think of Madara, Obito and Orochimaru as complex characters, which makes me like them all the more even if they did everything wrong haha.

Oh gosh, I don’t know half those ships off-hand, I need to really catch up on some of this stuff, or I’ll never pass my Naruto Fan Credentials!

Naruto and Gaara are precious beans <3 

 “I find your blog thoughtful, interesting and sometimes really funny. I...”

well, damn. i'm not anon but now i'm curious. what's your background with Latin?

I studied Latin for five years, and have one credit certificate (I think it’s called) and two silver medals maximum cum laude from the classical league. I was never especially good at the language, but the exams included mythology and cultural questions which I always scored perfectly, which boosted my scores.

 “I’m going to cry though this fic is broken the plot is broken I’ve...”

if it's mine you can chillax and deep breaths and rest please. if it's not mine, idk, i still think chillax and deep breaths and rest is a good idea.

it’s the bigbang fic -flops onto ground- which is over a week late

 “It fascinates, and repels me that on an essay that is explicitly (says...”

i'm trying to think about how you could make it more clear and i'm drawing a bit of a blank. even when ppl use the word 'racism' on this site they're usually talking about the racism that exists entirely within the context of anglocentric societies rather than that that exists when Western culture looks and rationalises what is outside of it. add that the intersectionality with homophobia - a concept that Western society has dominated and codified the dialogue on...

I was also thinking about that? I kept wondering if perhaps I didn’t address it clearly enough in the essay-- and it’s repeated throughout with the main body discussing the contrasts. 

Maybe I didn’t fully conclude why to outright ignore this source context becomes reductionist and neglectful in analysis? I could have been harsher...?

But as you said, even when people use the word racism, again, there is that anglocentrism to the dynamic.

  the-cryptographer: “psst who out of my followers...

i’m really sorry about this but i feel the absurd anxious need to clarify that when i said ‘Gaara and his siblings are super cute tho’ I meant that as appreciation for your appreciation of Gaara and not as a shipping/OTP thing ; ^ ;

 “the-cryptographer  “It fascinates, and repels me that on an essay that...”

When ppl read your essay, it's maybe natural that they go - !!! yes, this makes sense to me because of the things that I know and have learned growing up in the West. rather than - yes, this makes sense to me because of all the things I don't know not having grown up in the West and not having grown up somewhere else. ...in any case, i think the comparison with PMMM is spot on and, i'm sorry, i don't even know where to begin on fixing the problem you're seeing.

You’re absolutely right though, thank you so much-- this is one of the best 4am conversations I’ve ever had-- it’s also the biggest barrier to good storytelling is research blindspots. It’s so hard to know what you even NEED to research after-all.

Thank you. I’m not sure either, and perhaps there’s no real way. Over-all, I’m still happy with the bones of that essay, and I had a lot of fun researching japanese history for it? So, ah- as much as a win as I might get.

Also I have a few people liking on this discussion, and your own commentary about it, which at least improves my perception of people’s perception of that analysis... sooo?

 “the-cryptographer  “It fascinates, and repels me that on an essay that...”

haha, of course you're also fighting against a whole bunch of self-centricism in the process. if you're taking a piece of media that's supposed to effect people on a personal and emotional level, people do that through relating it to their own personal experiences and observations.

1. What's the worst fanfic you've ever written/have thought about writing?

Hmm... I think it’s probably my Darkship wip, Spare Change.

2. Admit to a kink you're ashamed you like.

First smut I ever wrote was on an anonkink, and all the comments were like ‘ooh nice bite kink’ and I was like- bite kink...?

Yeah. FML.

10. Any fandoms you'd hate to admit you were a part of?