Hello! My name is Meli (Mel-E), I'm 17, and I'm your local LGBTQ+ neurodivergent artist who loves music a normal amount I promise :)
~ I have a lot of different interests, so expect this to be a multi-fandom blog, but this is mainly where I yap about my favorite music artists/music projects, draw them, and in some cases translate their lyrics into english! If you're interested in any of my mcyt art/yapping that can be found on my side blog which is @watercoloredpuppet
~ Most of my Translation work is for my favorite band from BanG Dream/Bandori, Mugendai Mewtype/Yumemita for short, if you want to know more about them or check out the song tls, check out the Yumemita Directory!
~ Asks are open for art requests, translation questions, and all other silly things, have fun in there lol
~ My commissions are open! If you want commission info, please check here!
~ No resposting any of my work to other sites without permission! This includes my translations and art. In addition, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES may my art or work be fed into AI.
~ DNI if: Proship/RPF, Bigotted (Homo/Transphobic, Racist, Ableist, etc.), Pro Gen-AI, Pro ICE
Heya!! I'm on Art Fight this year! Feel free to give me a follow (:
(I have my sona and vsmp oc posted for now I'll be posting my other ocs later!! Also pls ignore the old art i haven't used artfight in 2 years)
"Panic, in static, out-manic
Don't you find it all romantic, the way things used to be?"
Hermit a Day May, but I'm putting all the Hermits into Vocaloid songs!
Day 14 - Outfit Swap: Gem in Joels outfit, in Static by Flavor Foley!
Link to the original MV here! (CW: Bright Colors and Flashing Visuals)
Okay I watched the true ending of Yunyun Syndrome!? Rhythm Psychosis and (while I really don't think Yunyun syndrome is a game that is supposed to be analysed in a serious way) I also want to talk about how psychosis, and potentially DID, are presented in the game.
Legal disclaimer that the only credentials I have writing this are my own experiences as a psychotic person with DID, although I have tried to do research for this, I struggle to understand most academic papers due to my health issues.
Also this contains spoilers for the true ending- Which is the main ending I will be focusing on in this analysis.
The premise for those who haven't seen yunyun syndrome: It's a rhythm game about an abused woman called Qtie who begins to 'hallucinate' her favorite character as a desktop companion. Together they start making predictions about the world online (most of which come true), and they gain a large following while falling in love with each other (and denpa music).
In the true ending, Yunyun says that she as a hallucination must leave Qtie because she is causing her to drift deeper into the delusion that she exists. However, Qtie rejects this and insists that she doesn't care about anyone other than Yunyun, that they are one in the same and she cannot be happy without her. Swayed by her words, Yunyun does not leave and the pair stay together as one while the world falls apart around them.
So, the impression I was left with is that this game closely links to the concept of identity delusions. Qtie hears the voice of her favorite character, convinces herself that she is real, and then develops the delusion that she is actually Yunyun in the flesh. This is a perfectly real delusion, and one that I have seen discussed online in depth online- Which has also ironically been at the center of many discourses over the years, especially with little studies or official psychological term to call this specific delusion by.
Personally I have experienced this delusion myself when I was a teenager who was in deep psychological stress. However, my experience differed from Qtie's in the sense that, after a few years, I realised that my delusions don't talk to me. Yes, sometimes hallucinations do coincide with delusions which can push someone further into their delusions, but Personally I looked at Qtie and Yunyun and couldn't help but wonder if they were also a system.
To be clear I am not saying that they are 100% a system, or am I saying that they aren't actually psychotic. Both DID and psychosis portray themselves differently in everyone that has them, and frankly I would rather you see the main character of a game with psychosis in the title as someone that has psychosis if you must choose between the two.
That being said, it isn't impossible to have both- Here is an article on the similarities between the two, which are vast and many. Some people say that psychosis is 'on the outside' and dissociative disorders are 'on the inside' or that 'DID is formed by trauma and psychosis is organic' but due to both being a spectrum this isn't necessarily true.
Due to this and personal experience I couldn't help but wonder if Qtie has both like I do, I relate to her struggles and the way she doesn't know who or what she is. Her computer desktop could also be representitive of a headspace rather than the real world (an issue I bring up because Yunyun is seen making things happen in the real world as well as online). Qutie also has trauma in the form of an abusive mother and a father that left her, combined with anxiety, memory issues, reality perception, and a whole host of issues which can be associated with both psychosis and DID. Frankly the only way we would know if she has DID is the creator confirms it or if she went of antipsychotics (which doesn't happen afaik), so again, please don't take this as being canon compared to her psychosis.
Overall the take away I got from this is that Qtie is great rep for identity psychosis (and system rep if you choose to view her that way also), I am very pleasantly surprised with how well she and Yunyun were portrayed and written. Although there are glaring issues (namely that Yunyun's predictions can affect things in reality), I am overall satisfied with the mental health portrayal in this game.
When i finished the game, I also thought that it was very similar to what ive seen online about psychosis and DID, so im really happy to see someone break it down from that angle!!
i still need to get all the endings but I've been busy,,,but looking back and seeing my first ever yunyun art from when it was announced way back when has got me sentimental over my art progress so you get a qtie warm up sketch because I LOVE HER SMMMM
Free Freer Free by Sparkbird and its Connections to Double Life - An Analysis
Hello!! I finally have something to post on both my mcyt and my music yap blog YES. So Sparkbird recently released a new song, and I LOVE IT. But it also has a LOT of connections to Double Life, so I thought I'd try and analyze the song through that lense.
This is all just my interpretation of the song by the way! I wrote this for fun from 9-10 pm, I’m just sharing my thoughts lol. Feel free to share your own! Also, I discuss spoilers for Double Life mainly, but I do briefly bring up things from the other life series that could be seen as spoilery, so if you are new to the Life Series and don’t want to be spoiled, feel free to scroll on by or keep this in your pocket for later!
By the way this is a VERY LONG post i believe as I had to paste this into a google doc after a second because it got too big. Anyways here is 2k words of me being neurodivergent/hj
This Analysis is in chronological order of the song btw! Feel free to follow along with the MV
First off all, VERY IMPORTANT NOTE. The lyrics for this song do something really interesting, and that is that they are almost completely phrases with double meanings/wordplay! This of course is probably a nod to Double Life, but I also feel that fits double life in general. Double Life was a very messy game trust/alliance wise, you could look at one person one way, but the next day that image could look completely different, like an optical illusion of sorts. Overall, Sparkbird you cooked I fear. I will say, the MV is best for getting these Double Meanings, as just looking at the lyrics doesn't really get them across that well, and the MV points some of these out. Shout out the MV for helping me and my dyslexia write this!!
Starting out, we see a lot of dead plants, and a snail. Of course, the snail is a reference to Wild Life almost certainly, due to all of the snail shenanigans (snailnigans?) that took place there. We see this lil guy throughout the MV! I don’t think he is anyone in particular though lmao
Now the immediate thing I noticed is the use of the phrase "Till", as this is actually a direct reference to Double Life actually! In episode 1, when Pearl had just gotten Tilly, she was playing in a vegetable field, and Martyn made a joke that she should be called Tilly, as she was ‘tilling’ the soil. (Tilling is described on google (I'm not good at explaining things) as the “practice of aerating the soil to permit moisture and air to permeate, allowing seeds to germinate, encouraging root growth, controlling weed growth, and integrating fertilizers into the soil”. !) Till overall is a great phrase for double meanings as well, as it can be Till (as in to prepare soil for planting) It can also mean Till, as in Until in this case too, which is a really good choice of a word imo.
The next double phrase that gets used a lot is Sow ( to plant seeds in an area of ground) and So (I don't need to define this). And here’s where I bring up that this song is mainly from DL!Scar’s point of view (somewhat confirmed by Sparkbird??? they made this post man so I mean. yeah.) This part can be seen as Scar trying to put in the effort for Grian and his' relationship, literally sowing the seeds for the relationship, only for him to leave him behind and disregard all of the effort and things he's done. This is also shown at the same time as a double bed in the MV. I personally see this as another nod to Scar’s efforts being wasted, as we see the bed that was originally for him and Grian slowly becoming overgrown with weeds that Scar tried so hard to get rid of so their relationship could succeed, only for weeds to grow instead. In this case, it's not necessarily Big B who is the “weed” here in my opinion, as people I think are really quick to put the blame on one person in the Secret Soulmates, when I think it just represents the Secret Soulmates in general honestly. Also, something evil I just noticed is that the quilt on the bed is green and red, but the one corner that is turned is actually colored to look navy and red, which I’m sure is probably a reference to scar (green), grain (red), and Big B (navy). Evil.
The next verse I don't think is anything too metaphorical? To me it just seems to be about Scar and Grian’s past in the life series as Desert Duo on Monopoly Mountain. I don’t think there’s anything else there honestly.
The dew part I also don’t think is too pertinent either, but I love the lyrical decision of having the “doo”s be “dew” in the double meaning song that is very silly.
Now this next part I feel is in general those who have had their soulmates “leave” them honestly/what most people generally consider The Broken Hearts Club. Overall the lyrics give me the idea of waiting, hoping things could change, or they’d change their mind and come back to you, but not being able to do anything except hope and wish and howl to the moon. The meaning of this alone makes me think of Scar, but honestly all 4 of the broken hearts club in my eyes fit this verse really well! I get immediate Pearl vibes, not only because of the moon in the MV, but of course to the fact that she was alone in her tower for so long with only Tilly by her side, just the two of them howling at the moon together. I can also see a bit of Martyn and Ren in here too, Ren due to the bit about “howling” as well, and Martyn due to the clock themes since he is associated with time a lot since he did win both “time gimmick” seasons. Too, and the MV switches between the moon and clock, which is a fun little nod since Limited Life did take place directly after Double Life.
The bike I am very unsure about, because while typing this I do feel a bit like an English Teacher saying to find the deeper meaning behind why someone ate spaghetti, but hey writing it anyways! The bicycle verse for me is really interesting, as I think it could represent the cycle of the life series and the relationships formed in it in general. You want to desperately move on and get to a “field” in order to win or have a better chance in the next Life, but at the same time you can’t forget about the dirt in your cleats or the memories of the past and how you even got to the field in the first place. You wish to start anew in this life so you can finally get peace and maybe even win, but to start anew would mean to forget the things and connections that got you there. Overall this verse is VERY Desert Duo to me, but also because I’m so normal (lies) about Martyn and Ren I also cannot help but see it through my Treebark glasses. You wish to move on but you just can’t forget who got you to where you are, going back to them again and again.
Time for the most obvious of Double Life Imagery in general for the double helix part, (Note for those who don’t know, a double helix is a shape often seen in things such as DNA, which I think we can connect back to what I just talked about with the memories of the past and past connections and choosing to go back or move on.) Now of course we have to mention the Lilac and Poppy being shown on screen, an obvious connection back to third life when Scar gave Grian those flowers after turning Red, you can also connect the poppy back to Scott and Jimmy in third life as well! However, please note the fact that these flowers are falling here. They aren’t being held or kept somewhere safe anymore, the connection is being left out to dry/die here. Throughout the MV we do see a lot of flowers whose petals have all fallen off, so I think it's not too far a stretch to say that this is what happened. (Will say, sparkbird did say on instagram that the flowers were in fact a Poppy and Lilac, so thank you Sparkbird for helping with this one! I have no idea what the yellow flower could reference though. Honestly if it's another Scar and Grian reference this is out of my field and I do not know it sorry gang) Lyric also says Double Life straight up here, referencing the series but also the “Double Life” Grian led throughout the entire Secret Soulmate thing. This part I feel is Scar being self aware of the entire Secret Soulmate thing, he’s dealing with the troubles of not being able to say anything to Grian, but knowing about it anyways. Then the stairs fall apart, with it being decided to do what I would also do, and deal with it in another life.
Okay I had to do some research for the snail part. But basically Alkaline is referring to a specific pH level (7.2-8.4) that snails thrive in, and are naturally drawn too. However I will say, Alkaline/higher pH levels are apparently not the best for plants. Then of course, we see the tree with the engraving “G + B” which is obviously Grian and Big B, sparkbird themselves have basically confirmed that on instagram so I’m not dwelling on it too much? But once again it connects back to the idea of memories I think, more so because something like an engraving on a tree is a more physical thing that says that that connection existed. Also “bole” is referring to the part of the tree that they engraved the initials onto, but please note the phrasing, as it says “another”, which is most likely connecting back to the memories of Scar haunting Grian.
I can now yap about rocks!! Next we see panning down some rocks/dirt, and the deeper you go down in the dirt, the older the rocks and soil will be of course. Once again looking back on memories of connections/trying to have something good left of what once was. Looking for “ore” helps you forget about the mess of everything around you in the dying relationship.
Okay unlike Spark Sparkbird I do not have the bird tism, but I did decide to look up how blue jays act, as I believe that is the type of bird we are seeing? I will say, the words of my father, blue jays are quote “assholes”, which is a joke but also kind of true? They are very passive aggressive, and make a lot of noise. (according to wikipedia and my own knowledge from seeing them in my area) Despite this they are actually pretty smart, which makes sense since they are corvids, which are the same family as crows, ravens, and other notoriously smart birds. I am not sure how the bird symbolism connects back to Double Life, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it did somehow knowing Sparkbird lmao.
The rest of the song gives us some more double meanings, I feel this is very reminiscent of feeling hunted and not knowing who is friend or foe once again. This time we’re just asking if they are against us/going to betray to just do it already I feel.
Finally, we see an amalgamation of all the memories from the song/life so far, and the main point “You make an effort to care, but the ethics aren’t there”, this line, besides being a banger, definitely reminds me of Scar’s view of Grian. He’s showing Scar he does care, but still he’s going behind his back and seeing Big B at the same exact time, leading that Double Life. This line and the bed bit definitely sold it to me that this song is from Scar’s pov overall.
Smaller things I noticed! The beginning has a nod to boat boys maybe? The word ‘sail’ is used so that’s probably a fun easter egg if anything. Also on specifically spotify and also seen in Sparkbirds Insta is another animation of the snails on the staircase itself, and one is navy with a brown shell, and the other is teal with a red shell. Secret Soulmates…
Final notes!! Overall I love the song putting it on my playlist for my ocs and my Martyn one because I am very normal. I’m a sucker for double meanings and metaphors so this was really appealing to me!! Also note, feel free to have your own interpretations of some of the lyrics and imagery, this is just my opinion! I wrote this for fun at 10 pm lmao. Yippee :D
(side note the urge to draw lyric art of this song now is strong....we shall see)
Hiya!! Bit of an irregular post but my comms are open now! Details can be found on my toyhouse in the link below! Please contact me if your interested using my discord which is listed in the post below ty!
A community for collaborative character creation and trading, worldbuilding and roleplay.
My other account here, Comms are open! Check out my toyhouse for the deets winks (My style has changed a lot though, so check out the current refs so you know what you're getting! K that's it lol
Hello!!! Back in December Rolling Stone JP released an article on Mugendai Mewtype (Yumemita) and interviewed them about their thoughts on their recent album, "Progress Sign"! I have translated it into English which you can read below! Enjoy!
Thoughts on the demo after my first playthrough!!!
Demo was great!!! Love the game and cant wait for it to release!! Love all the details the wait seems to be worth it,,,eee
Anyways
OKAY SO I WAS RIGHT HER MOM IS ABUSIVE OH GOD. Yeah oh her home life isn't good. :(
As for her dad it sounds like he is dead, or divorced her mother, but with the tone of her dialouge, (at least in the eng version) it sounds more like dead to me, but still who knows
Also small note, it seems like Q-Tie dropped out of high school (? Unsure, but by the uniform bow in the trash it seems more in line with a high school uniform in Japan than a Middle School one, ill get the photo later), as seen by her school bag and I believe uniform bow in the sea of trash, however I should also mention she does say in one line that she is an adult, so safe to say at least a year has probably passed since that time
The little fan wiki for Yunyun was also a cute touch!! Loved that it was formatted like on too, also it says that YunYun was released in a multimedia franchise from the early 2000s (2003 and 2005 are listed as main content release years) so I wonder what year it actually is? I know there is slang terms and all that, but I still wonder if we are later or earlier in time at all tbh
Anyways overall I love the demo!!! My rhythm game heart also goes doki doki for YunYun...wah...anyways yeah AAAAA
HI CHAT i am avoiding yapping about yunyun because funfact uhh my keyboard broke a while back and I only remembered about the demo like yesterday and so agh,,,I will be playing the shit out of it soon though TRUST ME until then I shall be ominously waiting...