âYouâre so annoyingâ and âheh, youâre lyingâ in a conversation that ends with an accidental confession he thinks sheâs cuteâŠ. I hope they never lose this I hope they get married and still annoy each other so bad I hope theyâre like 40somethings with a needy cat and a wise ass kid and Mika still puts her cold hands on the small of Mukaiâs back just to scare him when she comes in from outside
she hand on my jumper til i rapidly become more and more consumed by my powers to the point of believing that consequences such as the permanence of death no longer apply to me and start undoing not only genuinely dangerous situations but also simple conversations therefore abolishing the need to take accountability for my words and actions as they can simply be taken back all while the value of human life subconsciously decreases in the back of my mind by seeing the people around me as nothing more than chess pieces i need to place correctly to achieve my own selfish goals that i dress up as being for the good of society
snapbackâs so crazy what do you mean every time sayeon thinks about giving a piece of her humanity to the godling ryujin snaps her out of it. oh sheâs not my girlfriend sheâs just the hot headed red to my calculated blue and my tether to humanity and im obsessed with figuring her out OHHH MY YURI. some could even say ryujin snaps her back to reality⊠(the audience pelts me with tomatoes for my bad joke)
for those who need more context: fatale game is about a mangaka who gets assigned to a new editor with an interesting strategy for motivating her assignees: acting as though she's completely smitten with every single one of them. clearly, this can only foster the healthiest, most supportive relationships between these poor suckers. i like to say that if battan's last hit was run away with me girl, this one can be most succinctly described as: GIRL RUN!!!
the art is gorgeous and features some incredibly clever panelling, use of negative space, expression work--and ofc battan's signature dazzling lights. it's leaps and bounds from run away with me girl, which itself was already a treat. in so many of these pages you can just feel battan flexing. reading it as an artist felt like fireworks going off in my head.
please support fatale game. i need to know if seri can fix her
considering it'll be pride month soon, for the occasion heres a bunch of more manga i really love i think everyone should check out đ a couple of these i don't see anyone talk about too often so i'd love it if more people give em a shot :'> (though i mostly read yuri so youll find a lot of these here kjgsdhds)
Kemutai Hanashi by Fumiya Hayashi
Bakajo 26-ji by Meza Touno & Urasuke Ayano
Kohaku no Yume de Yoimashou by Masoho Murano, Nodoka Yoda & Ken Sugimura
Con Cafe Jou wa Koi wo Kiru by Uhana Ririka
Oshikoi Capriccio by Choco Miray
Josoushite Mendokusai Koto ni Natteru Nekura to Yankee no Ryou Kataomoi by Toru
Aki wa Haru to Gohan wo Tabetai by Taji Makoto
Iki Dekinai no wa Kimi no Sei by Zeniko Sumiya
Sasaki to Miyano / Hirano to Kagiura by Harusono Shou
Kyou wa Mada Futsuu ni Narenai by u-temo
Amayo no Tsuki by Kuzushiro
Idolatry by Shin Ootaka & Homare
Futaribeya by Yukiko
Wicked Spot by Sal Jiang
Maitsuki Niwatsuki Ooyatsuki by Yodokawa
Kimi ga Shinu Made Koi wo Shitai by Aono Nachi
Itsuka, Kazoku ni Naru Made by Fujitobi
Mietemasu yo! Aizawa-san by Odoro Dorothy
more rambling under the cut cause id discovered in the process of making this post theres apparently a tag limit sdkjgsdkhgd.
for some of these picks theres a criteria i had in mind being more ambiguous intimate relationships that rly scratch the itch in my aroace brain or titles with established queer characters beyond just the "oh i just happen to like this person because its this person not because of my orientation" and whatnot because theres plenty of those, or are written by queer authors ! (though for a couple its also just me really wishing more people read it so đ)
im not the greatest at explaining these premises but i will. do what i can LOL
kemutai hanashi is a suuuuuper great slice of life, the mcs' unlabeled relationship makes my aroace ass way too happy. two adult men reconnect after graduation and stick together and its a really nice story overall on understanding (or the inability to) each other and how the latter can still be okay while breaking free of specific labels when it comes to relationships. gorgeous art here too
bakajo 26ji is a really fun one about two women who were former high school classmates that run away to vietnam together after one of them murders the other's abusive husband!!! its such a funny one ive been loving it a lot
kohayoi is one of my favorite hyperspecific cooking adjacent manga (its abt craft beer!) with rly great characters and dynamics ! the mc is really aro lesbian and the author is an active lgbtqia+ supporter so i cant recommend it enough o7 (though tls are pretty behind but understandable i will wait forever if i must
concafe is one of my favorite and unfortunately axed yuris.... an aspiring designer college student stumbles into a concept cafe based around haute couture and starts working there as well as getting close to all the other girls there!!! polyamory is alive and well and the subtle trans rep is written w a lot of care and clear intent i liked it a lot
ive talked abt oshicap before but a fujoshi gyaru and a yuri fanboy become friends in order to mutually support each others' gay crushes!! its so adorable theres only one chap translated rn (TS by yours truly) but i hope more ppl check it out.....
nekuyan/crossplay love ive also talked about plenty but essentially a gloomy otaku working in a maid cafe and a delinquent who always visits mutually pine as girls not knowing they couldn't stand each other as guys its one of my favorite manga ever
aki wa haru to gohan wo tabetai is super cute... ok i actually like cooking manga a lot so this one was a super fun read, college roommate life with a shared love of food is always a nice theme
i actually knew this author from a yuri oneshot of hers and had no idea she went on to write a BL and i liked it a lot more than i thought kjsdgkjsdhgsdh. two men from the same brass band in a FWB relationship start catching feelings and you can guess the rest!! i really love their relationship in the subsequent volumes as well theyre a super fun duo
sasamiya and hirakagi! definitely my favorite BLs, most have probably heard of this one already but theyre both really sweet senior-junior relationships, sasamiya's stemming from miyano's love of BL (though his initial avoidance on becoming part of one himself is real fun in the beginning) as sasaki gradually starts to fall for him too, and hirakagi's as a roommates to best friends to lovers story. personally i really love how hrkg is done, esp reading it from an acespec hirano perspective watching them slowly meet in the middle is the best... i love them.....
kyou wa mada futsuu ni narenai is super lovely and kinda in a similar theme to kemuhana's has that ambiguity that i really love to read in relationships in fiction ^^
amayo no tsuki's mc, very much a lesbian and kind of tortured about it meets a HoH girl on her way to lessons who she finds to be her classmate soon after. this one's a pretty long slow burn (12 volumes as of right now!) but watching them get closer has been everything to me, it depicts the love interest's disability pretty well too!
okay to be honest idolatry is more of a self indulgent addition because i need more people to see how much of a freak this mc is. she's kind of insane. her fave idol's group got disbanded and she has made it her mission to ensure she gets to re-debut in a very high level idol audition survival show that she infiltrated and i cant get enough of her fanaticisms and just how utterly unhinged she is. and i love her so much
futaribeya is a pretty wholesome slice of life about two girls growing closer as roommates and best friends, and follows along the years they spent after high school as roommates into college and employment after! one thing abt yukikos works i really love (and in yuri overall) is less the ideal "romance" but seeing how characters gravitate towards each other and want to just be together and this one was a really cute one at that
in wicked spot, a "witch" escapes her isolated mountain life to live as free as possible in human society. the mc is unabashedly living her best life and getting all the attention she desires, shes a delight to read <3 and eventually gets mixed up with a regular girl as other "witches" come onto the scene. absolutely rad character design either i love sal jiang everybody go read more sal jiang
maitsuki niwatsuki ooyatsuki has the mc, a manga editor fresh from being dumped by her most recent girlfriend, setting out to enjoy her single life only to get entangled with her new "live-in landlord" in her new house that also happens to be a former idol! very silly adult yuri
kimi ga shinu made koi wo shitai tells of a school that trains orphans in magic in order to send them off as child soldiers in a centuries-long war against an unknown country. in an incredibly unfair world all these girls find a way to live and love regardless and it breaks my heart every time i read (its another favorite of mine)
itsuka kazoku ni naru made is a lovely story about a widower and his coworker very much in love with him growing close! together with the former's son its a very cute story, i love a bunch of fujitobis works but this one is definitely up there as well
ive talked about aizawa san but i will talk abt it here again. girl falls for her dead idol classmate whos currently haunting her school and classroom and watching the mysteries slowly pile up surrounding the titular aizawa's death has been utterly fascinating i adore this manga greatly
and there you have it!! if one or two of them pique your interest thatd mean a lot to me o7
Iâm not super proud of how this turned out but after 11 hours I finally finished it!! One of these days Iâll get better at drawing environments and backgrounds
One thing I really like about movie!Stratt is her leadership style. Which, I think, is pretty distinct from her book counterpart.
Because, basically, I'm not sure I find it realistic that a woman (or man) appointed to this role would last long if she was terribly abrasive or confrontational. It would be counterproductive and distracting for everyone involved. (It serves a purpose in the book, but I prefer how the movie did it.)
Movie!Stratt creates the appearance of being very consensus-oriented. She doesn't even acknowledge the concept of power games or sexism for that matter. Authority doesn't live in confrontation or visible status markers but in the visible support and deference of everyone around her, because she made sure they are all pulling in the same direction to begin with.
She's absolutely has a lot of power but she's keeping it understated. Nothing flashy. Business casual, always moving, flat shoes, calm voice, always questions, honest answers. She's consulting the room (while leading the conversation), she is to the point but reasonably polite, she works in tandem with others, creates a sense of shared experience. "Applause!" Carl knows exactly when to jump into the conversation while deferring to her authority, "Talk to her", "Just answer the question", "I would take the three". He clearly really knows her and can pick up his end of that game. The "We don't know" chorus. The "What's the alternative" centrifuge discussion. "Thank you so much" to the underling with the coffees. Seemingly flat hierarchies.
She lets people talk and then gleans what she needs. She gives credit.
Her job is to make the decisions and take responsibility, to keep the momentum going. People are unsurprisingly okay with handing it off. She points, they march.
No one considers opposing her because they all trust her. Because they feel involved in the process. It's not hard to ask, after all, when everyone knows what it's for.
Even in the end, she has the entire team on her side when confronting Grace with his choice. Because none of it is about power or ego. Only about the mission.
The lack of future international cooperation gets her most emotional utterance out of the entire film. "Which they won't."
At every point she is pulling for a team effort. And it works. (Except one time.)
âQifrey is the tradwifeâ this, âOlruggio is the breadwinnerâ that, whatâs the point of wanting more queer representation if we constantly try to push and restrict characters into traditional binary roles? Yâall sound like those people asking âwhoâs the manâ to wlw couples. Pls letâs be queer and free from patriarchal stereotypes together!