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I actually really love Jun Wu as a character, and wish I’d see more discussion on him! He’s so compelling and so well written. His motive and mission are just fascinating and his relationship with Xie Lian in all its forms has different meanings on all levels!

#Jun Wu is a great character and I want to dissect his story more #xie Lian wouldn’t be who he is without Jun Wu in both negative and positive respects #jun wu #xie lian #bai wuxiang #mxtx tgcf #tgcf spoilers #tgcf xie lian #tgcf

tgcf-sdeblog

There is the idea that it was a matter of not losing his spot in heaven when some talk about the blessed land dispute, that may be born from Mu Qing saying he "had no choice" and fandom taking that at face value. Just to be clear:

1) MQ was not in danger of losing his job.

2) He was not in danger of receiving some sort of punishment.

3) He was not in danger of being hated by every god in the heavens forever.

All the gods there were either lower court or lower-ranking upper court. Mu Qing's colleagues, not his bosses. When they called for him, they were asking (not ordering) him to help them, as they assumed camaraderie. None spoke to him in a way that implied they had power over Mu Qing's employment and livehood.

What the actual narration says is this.

He truly didn’t. He had been getting along so well with all those heavenly officials, and they might have thought he was on Xie Lian’s side if he just stood idly by and watched his colleagues get pulverized. And that would have made his life so much more difficult.

-Chapt 98

Nothing about Mu Qing losing his place in the Middle Court or receiving any form of serious retaliation. It says he had been getting along with this group and thus if their opinion of him changed that would make his life difficult. The crux of the issue is that he did not want his networking to go to waste.

What's more is that the whole fiasco would NOT have been well received by the rest of the heavens.

When it came to laying claim to blessed lands, there was a “first come, first served” rule. If Xie Lian was strong enough, he could simply state that he was there first and request they find somewhere else to train.

Heavenly officials were not allowed to attack a mortal who hadn’t committed any major sins lest they be punished. These heavenly officials couldn’t do anything to him.

-Chapt 98

The thirty-some heavenly officials wouldn’t have voluntarily told anyone that they stole someone’s spiritual land for cultivation; they would’ve either kept it completely secret or twisted the truth. And so, Xie Lian had never heard any talk about the incident.

-Chapt 125

Respecting Xie Lian's right to cultivate wasn't just the right thing to do morally, it was a by the book rule. The 30+ there were a group of bullies going out of their way to be malicious. Harassing a mortal, stealing blessed land from him when he had more rights to be there is taboo. We all know heaven is full of gossipers and also full of hypocrites. If word had gotten out, people would talk about the group, including MuQing. Those who were already riled up talking about the fall of Xianle may soon turn to the newest story of the newest martial god bullying his former prince out of cultivating. Regardless if they spoke of praise or judgement I doubt he would want to hear any of it. Yet he'd rather risk that, than risk gossip about him still feeling attached to XL?

Mu Qing is not evil so I do not see any way for him to have wanted a friendship or even cared about any of the gods in that classist, hypocritical group. So what did their opinion of him even do in the end? He knows it never mattered. Even when he knows this he still says he didn't have a choice, because in his mind once one of the gods implied he was sentimental about having been XL's attendant, he didn't have any other choice but to do as they say to prevent that line of thought from spreading.

peachran

Agreed, MQ was in a social dilemma while XL was in a survival dilemma. The two scenarios are not the same. He felt bad because he knew what he did was wrong, but instead of owning up to it later on, he doubled down and told himself every lie possible to validate treating XL like shit. Even when he did help his former friend, he didn’t want anyone to know he was helping, because everyone hated XL and that would have looked bad on him. It was more beneficial to him to have XL be reviled because he got pity points from people spreading the narrative of him being the fed up servant who left a derelict master. But he did feel bad about it.

#not a fan of MQ

Has anyone read the "Invisible Library" series by Genevieve Cogman? I'm dying to know if I'm the only one in wide radius who knows these books! I adored the first two, the third lost me for a second, the fourth was my favorite of them all and the fifth on kind of petered out. BUT that fourth book was amazing! It had such amazing potential!

#the invisible library #genevieve cogman #book reading #a series with great potential but didn't stick the landing #Still worth the first four reads though

Anime Opinions

I've come to the conclusion that it is okay to dislike Shounens likeOne Piece as an anime fan.

The whole story could have been told in a shorter format and did not need a good chunk of the plot lines. having over 1k episodes for an anime is ridiculous, and at that point its just rambling instead of plotting and actual development. Since when is it okay to tell someone "oh just watch 300+ episodes and THEN it gets good!" that's ridiculous. Also, I am not a Luffy fan. He annoys me. I find very little to be redeemable about characters who ignore their peers to go headlong into danger for no reason then act surprised when they're in danger when EVERYONE SAID THAT THEY WOULD BE IN DANGER IF HE DID THE STUPID THING.

This is also why I don't like Black Clover too much, it has a lot of good parts, but I can't warm up to the MC who's whole personality is self sacrifice and screaming and being arrogant. I just, it doesn't compute.

My dislike of JJK is the opposite of the two shows mentioned above. I loved the first season, but Gege went too far with the plot development and did a full 360 to end up with "underwhelming" as a story. It was almost like he focused more on trolling fans than actually making a cohesive story with a quality ending. I held off judgement until I could read the entire story, and I'm glad I did, because now I can genuinely say that he did too much and didn't get enough out of it.

People act like the above opinions are the end of the world, that people who agree have somehow murdered their families and did a profane dance upon their graves. When, at the end of the day, it is just preference. If anyone disagrees with me (which a lot do) that is okay!

You go and watch One Piece, Black Clover, JJK, Dragon Ball, Naruto, Inuyasha - and any of the other shounens that spark your imagination! My negative opinion of them won't change the passion you have for these stories, just like your negative opinions on my faves won't make me love them any less!

Go be a nerd and love the fuck out of it!

#Anime #anime opinions #jjk #one piece #to be a nerd is to be a child and be fucking proud of it #its okay to have opinions that differ from the masses #just don't be a dick about it #black clover

I absolutely love that Wind Breaker is NOT just fight - fight - fight fight - tiny bit of nearly irrelevant character growth - fight -fight. The fact that in the current volumes they’ve covered so many common teenage developmental challenges is amazing. Sakura is the obvious one, coming from a questionable background and potentially abused, he’s SLOWLY learning to open up. It is not normal to instantly flip a switch and suddenly be all rainbows and sunshine. Even if you feel safe, its hard to abandon the mask and defenses you developed to protect yourself. So his personality won’t change, he’ll just find ways to express himself differently! Nirei is slowly gaining confidence and learning to be strong. Suo has yet to reveal his full personality beyond his mask, but what we do see shows he’s fiercely protective of his loved ones! Then there are all the other boys in Furin, each one has a story and a life and a trauma that shapes them! It is so refreshing to see development for the sake of growth instead of getting to the next platform where the next fight is. Absolutely love it!

#wind breaker #Sakura #Haruka #Haruka Sakura #accurate mental health is always better than faked mental health #toxic positivity sets unrealistic expectations for people recovering from trauma

Officially can’t be on tumblr till I get a chance to watch the final episode of windbreaker. So many things have been spoiled just from scrolling 🥲

So many people think Suo is gonna be a traitor. I think he’s gonna get his ass kicked. Sakura made a point of saying “you’re the last person I’d expect to get beaten up” and then SPOILER in the latest chapter they put a lot of emphasis on the one Shishitoren guy who got beaten up so bad he was in a full body cast. I think Suo will be Sakura’s snap into his own beast mode like we saw with Ume in his fight on the roof.

#wind breaker #windbreaker theory #Sakura #Suo #just making stuff up but I think it tracks

sapphic-luthor

i’m going to hold your hands when i say this and i am only going to be kind about it once: ai does not belong in fandom spaces, ever. not in writing, not in art, not in video, not at all. it does not matter how bad you want to see your favourite characters kiss, or how much you need a bit of help finishing a chapter, or whatever.

make friends with artists. commission somebody. learn to draw yourself. ask for a beta read. try a writing partnership. fandom spaces are communities, so engage with them! it is about the journey and the fact that we all love something enough to create and build together about that thing.

spending 30 seconds to kill a tree and get an AI to push out some soulless empty piece of “content” is antithetical to the entire point of being engaged with fandom, and if you’ve taken to doing this you should really reconsider if you belong in these spaces with the rest of us.

frontmansdefender

shaming and making fun of people for still engaging in fandom activities once they reach a certain age is so embarrassing because why are you giving yourself an expiration date of time you have fun? why are you not-so-indirectly saying you will stop having fun once you reach a certain age? or do you really believe you have to stop engaging in fandom activities and having fun once you turn (x)? do you not think you will, what, live that long and turn that age too? do you think fun will suddenly stop for you and life will all of a sudden lose its meaning once you reach a certain age? how sad to be giving yourself an hourglass and just waiting for your time of having fun to run out.

adults can and should engage in fandom activities if it's what makes them happy.

adults can and should continue doing whatever they like doing as teenagers if it's what makes them happy.

age is just... part of life. it's a part of me and it's a part of you. shaming people for something you will have to go through (unless you don't think you will live that long) is such a loser behavior. indirectly saying you will stop having fun once you reach a certain age isn't the flex you think it is. it doesn't make you look "cool and edgy", it makes you look miserable.

caustic--soda

deleting this later but im sharing my two cents on tsubaki

tsubakis story is a universal queer experience. anyone who is queer is able to relate to it (myself included) to various extents. as such, certain aspects of his story can be interpreted as them representing a different identity (the most common being a trans female)

however, i feel like these views are counterintuitive to the message tsubakis story is trying to convey. the whole point of it is to show that the things you love don’t need to be restrict to an unnecessary gender binary. you are free to love the things you like, and present yourself however you want, because you’re you. assuming tsubaki is a girl just because they present themselves as feminine, likes things that are considered feminine, and has people address them with feminine terms even though the story explicitly states that things like these don’t need to be constricted into a specific gender binary is pretty… eh….

it just further reinforces the fact that if you like girly things you are a girl, which is just generally a terrible message to spread. tsubakis story subverts these societal norms; that boys and girls must like certain things, and if they like some thing that was ‘intended’ for the other gender binary, then they’re either part of that gender or are “weird”.

and before i see anything about the feminine terminology, drag queens (both cis and trans) also address themselves and their peers with feminine terminology. im not saying that tsubaki is a drag queen, but things like this are common even in real life

perhaps it can be argued that it’s counterintuitive to try to force tsubakino into these certain labels. but i ask you to ask yourselves this question: if tsubaki wasn’t male, then why would nii satoru write a character like them attending an all-boys school? it certainly wouldn’t harbor good implications if this was true, as it would imply the fact that even if they identify as another gender identity, they are ultimately male.

tsubakino has never used a label for themselves throughout the story, so it makes sense as to why the confusion exists. but then again, i dont think things like these need to be spelt out to the audience.

in essence, tsubaki is undoubtedly queer. his story and his character are both very important to me, and the same applies to many people in the fandom. wind breaker has not only amazing, but explicit queer representation; something which is very rare in ‘mainstream’ mangas, as nii sensei is upfront about his identity with no filter or censorship

although it is important to distinguish what exactly tsubaki represents and how it connects with queer identity and maybe even wbks themes, at the end of the day they are tsubaki. after all, gender is just a small part of who we are. im not trying to diminish their gender id, but i think people are too fixated on whether tsubaki was intended to be written as x or y, rather than understanding whats been presented in the text on an objective level and its overarching themes

in a similar vein, you are you, no matter if youre queer or not, no matter if you like to use labels for yourself or not. infighting like this is fucking stupid and pointless. lets all love tsubaki for his character and for who he is

psychicwavementality

Forcing Tsubaki to be transfem is not the progressive, "better", or more "politically correct" reading you think it is

Look.

I'm genuinely tired of people trying to canonically rewrite or force Tsubaki to be a trans female when he's explicitly written to be gender non-conforming, comfortable with what is traditionally seen as feminine, and open with expressing himself without conforming to rigid masculinity in Japan.

Making him a trans female is not the queer activism you think it is. Tsubaki is comfortable being a gender non-conforming man. Erasing his identity by forcing him to be a trans girl defeats his entire message of how men can be comfortable in their own bodies, even if they enjoy things not associated with their societal gender. I don't think making Tsubaki go to an all-boys school if he IDs as a trans female is any good writing either.

Forcing him to be transfem also completely erases the meaning of this scene:

They never say that lipstick is a "girl's thing", that makeup is a "girl's thing", that liking "cute and pretty things" (paraphrasing) is a "girl's thing". Because that's the whole point! Things you like don't need to be gendered! You like what you like, you can be what you are and break gender norms, you are your identity and nobody can take that expression from you. That's the fucking essence of being queer!

"Why do I like this? Normal boys don't like it" / "CUZ YOU'RE A GIRL!!!!" <- this is not the fucking progressivism you think it is!!! You are forcing him into the gender binary of being a female when he sees himself as a queer, gender non-conforming gay man!!!!

He doesn't see himself as a woman. He still accepts that he loves Umemiya. He is comfortable with both his sexuality and gender expression.

Tsubaki literally says he likes "cute and pretty" things, not "girly and feminine" things. He doesn't gender what is traditionally and societally framed as "feminine" because he isn't bound by the hierarchy of gender expectations.

People always say they want more gender non-conforming characters, that they want more men who are comfortable with traditionally feminine attire, but y'all couldn't even respect Tsubaki's identity and the outlying existence of Japan's otokonoko culture as a whole 🥸 Quoting Niisato's interview isn't a cop-out to be openly transphobic. Insisting Tsubaki is transfem does more queer erasure to his character as a gnc and openly gay man.

Like, sure, after you're done reading this and you still insist he's transfem, it means no matter what people say you're not going to change your mind, so go ahead with the queerphobia lol. Speaking as someone who's transneu and genderqueer myself, trans and gnc experience come hand in hand, I understand why people would read him like that even though it blatantly goes against what is established as his character, but I digress. But that doesn't excuse taking away Tsubaki's defiance of labels. That doesn't justify calling Niisato's writing of Tsubaki as a censored version of transness, or a refusal to commit to writing a trans character.

Tsubaki is an intentional and well-written character, he expresses everything he wants to express. He isn't a 'half-assed trans character' that Niisato didn't commit to, he is who he presents as on the tin: gnc, queer, and gay.

"He wants people to call him big sis" -> the whole concept of drag culture is tossed out of the window, I guess. And I suppose genderqueer people don't exist anymore. Anyone can do drag, but plenty of cisgender & queer men also don a drag queen/hyperfeminine identity when dressed up. That doesn't make them any less of a man. That doesn't make them a trans woman. You can also call girl 'dude, bro' and boys 'girlie'... does that change their gender? No lol 🥸

Western fandom has a serious problem of erasing people who present as gender non-conforming by forcing them to fit the binary of male/female. It's like the inverse of toxic masculinity: "this male/female character likes feminine/masculine things, so he/she must be a girl/boy!" <- how is this progressive? How is this better writing for Tsubaki? How is forcing him into another rigid box good for his character?

Let Tsubaki be a gay and genderqueer man, omfg. Gendering the things he likes into 'girly' and by default making him transfem is just an assassination of his character.

There's plenty of transfem anime characters out there that deserve your love. But Tsubaki—and on that note, all the otokonoko characters out there—are men who aren't restricted by the tight binary of gendered items/hobbies.

For the love of media literacy, please accept that men can be men while liking (unnecessarily-gendered) 'feminine' things, and in that vein, it's not that you like "girl's stuff" as a man—you like it because you like it.

Make-up, clothing, sparkly things, and long hair aren't gendered as 'feminine' to Tsubaki, even if he accepts that it is traditionally liked by girls. He likes it and that is it. That is final. He likes it so he wears it, he is honest and true to who he wants to be.