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izzy's playlists!

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2025 on Tumblr: Trends That Defined the Year
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if i look back, i am lost

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@thinksimplicity
like a rice ball in a fruits basket!
person: reanimating corpses for use in battle is unethical
necromancer: I am recycling
person: now someone has to go and fight the corpses
necromancer: I am also, consequently, creating jobs
you laugh, but some necromancer is out there setting up a PowerPoint presentation
what are you doing next?
I'm dreaming past 29
and I'm just glad to say--
I'm alive.
Xndnnd… 😭😭
Literally my husband ruining moments but also making me laugh
If corals get stressed they die, so if I was coral I would be dead
what do coral even get stressed about
Current events
Get out.
Happy 10th birthday to the stressed coral post
Okaeri: a Natsume Yuujinchou fanbook is live and available for POs via the link below 🌸presented by @ginkohs and @karamokita thank you for everyone’s patience and love! https://ginkohs.bigcartel.com/
this is so pretty
Adult friendships be like “I miss you bro, let's hang out in November"
Come Back to Me: BELLE is a journey of rediscovery
I cried in the theater. Ugly cried. I was by myself in a one o'clock showing on a weekday, so I figured I had every reason to be as loud as I wanted, and I did not hold back.
I'm an avid fan of Mamoru Hosoda and Studio Chizu's work. That, with the combination of Beauty and the Beast being my favorite fairytale princess story of all time, made the anticipation of Belle unbearable.
I've been waiting for this movie to come to the US since its announcement in December of 2020. I watched The Boy and the Beast in 2016, a trip that forced my sister to drive me some odd 50 miles to the nearest theater that was showing it. Mirai was an emotional force of nature (part nightmare fuel with that top-of-second-act train nonsense) that I enjoyed in the comforts of my own bed. We don't need to mention Summer Wars or Wolf Children or The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. We know.
These gorgeous films are just a few of the many that have risen in the wake of Studio Ghibli's success, and each one tells emotion-driven stories of rediscovery and family and wonder. Actually, I shouldn't compare them to Studio Ghibli; Hosoda has once again proven that his style and storytelling is more than capable of standing apart on its own two legs, and fantastically so.
GKIDS tagline for Belle, for those unfamiliar:
Suzu is a shy, everyday high school student living in a rural village. For years, she has only been a shadow of herself. But when she enters “U”, a massive virtual world, she escapes into her online persona as Belle, a gorgeous and globally-beloved singer. One day, her concert is interrupted by a monstrous creature chased by vigilantes. As their hunt escalates, Suzu embarks on an emotional and epic quest to uncover the identity of this mysterious “beast” and to discover her true self in a world where you can be anyone.
At the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, Belle received fourteen minutes of standing ovation. And rightly so. Belle tackles a heart-wrenching narrative of a freckled princess and her beast that have faced both trials and the need to escape them, and as much as this is a story of coming together to overcome obstacles, this is also a story of rediscovery, healing, and personal growth.
Buckle up for a very long and thorough deep dive as to why this movie was such a special experience for me!
THE FOLLOWING CONTENT WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS OF BELLE.
from Rafael Motamayor’s interview with Mamoru Hosoda (and if you like me reached your limit on “free articles”)
Ryuu to Sobakasu no Hime or Belle (Dir. Mamoru Hosoda, 2021) tells an incredibly sweet story with profound emotional depth that is better understood when it's not viewed through the lens of romance. More specifically, it's crucial that you detach notions of romance from your understanding of love in order to understand the film.
Because although the film draws from the established story of Beauty and the Beast, Belle itself does not hinge on the transformative nature of "true love" as a core theme. That theme is one conventional and popularized understanding of the original tale. This is a new interpretation and a new story. And in this story, it's love as compassion for another that is the central focus. The character Belle, and by extension Suzu, did not have a rushed romantic relationship with the Dragon. She did not meet a "bad boy with a heart of gold" as was joked about in the film, and then suddenly wrote a song to confess her feelings. Her relationship with the Dragon was formed on the basis of seeing another person in pain, and then reaching out and connecting with his suffering. Her heart went out to him even though they had no prior connection, and she couldn't bring herself to abandon someone in need. Just like her mother. None of those actions are inherently romantic. In taking a chance to help him, she was the catalyst for changing both their lives as they opened up to one another and found it in themselves to trust again, which for Suzu had the added nuanced of giving her the strength to actually process her grief and insecurities, and allow her to live as her authentic self. That trust, that kindness, and that self sacrifice for someone vulnerable forms the core of the film's narrative and its tension. Belle is an inherently compassionate narrative. Compassion is the root of the film, rather than something that stems from romance alone. Even when they have that moment in the rain together and he told her that he loved Belle, the subtext of the film showed that it wasn't a confession. It was instead an expression of admiration and gratitude for her courage and compassion. It was a thank you for reaching out despite all the obstacles. Because she really did stay "by his heart's side" (as per the original title of the song, "心のそばに") despite who he was and the ugliness of his trauma and situation, just like she promised she would in her song! She thanked him too, not as a rejection of interest, but because he inspired her to stand up to her fears. It also shows that she's capable of accepting kindness as well. The film ends with Suzu choosing to take initiative and singing as herself with her friends, family, and community. It was such a tender scene where you could see how it was she who transformed and was moving forward. It's important to note how the film doesn't end with the triumphant concert in U, because U served as the place where she could leave her emotional baggage behind and supposedly feel whole again. However, in reality she was just hiding from her grief and insecurities. She was stuck in place. At the end of the film, she can talk to the people she pushed away. In doing so, her interpersonal relationships can finally progress. She's starting again, but in the real world. Seeing her committed to living as herself is what resolves her character arc. So the question of whether she returns to U or adopts her persona again isn't exactly narratively important to ask or answer despite her singing ability and true self being affirmed. To me, the feelings expressed within the film was very reminiscent of how Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli tries to portray love and relationships. He had famously said that he hoped to write characters that "mutually inspire each other to live," which speaks to all kinds of relationships. This sentiment really showed through in the film. Consequently, it's quite a disservice to understand love in Belle through the lens of romance alone. Although the film does have some problems with pacing and could have resolved certain plotlines better, I believe it was a complete story. And a wonderful one at that.
For everyone complaining that the romance in Belle was a let down, let me clarify:
THAT WASNT THE POINT!
The main plot of Belle was not falling in love, it focused on grief, trauma, and healing❤️🩹! And how you can find that in some of the unlikeliest places like the Internet even with its constant toxicity and multiple personas. You can love without falling in love, you can hug without being amorous, and you can connect without being romantic!
If you are looking for a love story with the Beauty and the Beast trope, I’m sorry! Belle is clearly not for you! So stop hating on the movie, saying you’d change or do it this way if you missed the entire plot! Life isn’t about romance, but love! Love of your self, family, friends, neighbors, community, the world, heck even school! This movie explores all the ranges of love except literally the romantic one on PURPOSE!
NORMALIZE ROMANCE AS A SIDE PLOT!!!!!!
(but high key ruka and kamishin were OTP, so cute & adorable 🥰 ❤️)
this was a great read. “Laziness Does Not Exist” by Devon Price
Read the rest on twitter... or below the cut:
She played a great deal better than either of the Miss Musgroves; but having no voice, no knowledge of the harp, and no fond parents to sit by and fancy themselves delighted, her performance was little thought of, only out of civility, or to refresh the others, as she was well aware. She knew that when she played she was giving pleasure only to herself; but this was no new sensation: excepting one short period of her life, she had never, since the age of fourteen, never since the loss of her dear mother, known the happiness of being listened to, or encouraged by any just appreciation or real taste. —Jane Austen, Persuasion, Volume 1, Chapter 6
Reasons I love Anne Elliot 3/?
Oof this one hurts. Wow, the layers in one paragraph.
The simple, matter of fact way that Anne acknowledges that no one listens to her, (which we’ve seen in household matters, etc), but that not even for this, something she’s really good at. The Musgroves are perfectly happy to go to Anne for help with all of their problems, but never to really acknowledge her talent. And add to that the subtle implication that the only time she was listened to, the only person who ever encouraged her, save her own mother, was Wentworth. It’s so heartbreaking.
But what I really love about this is Anne’s attitude. Yes, it’s an example, maybe, of her continually accepting far less than she deserves, but she refuses to let these attitudes bother her. She refuses to let it ruin the enjoyment of something she loves - playing the piano. That’s not an easy feat, continuing to find enjoyment in something wholly for the joy it brings you without accolades from others. And yet that’s the only way to really enjoy a craft - it has to bring you joy in and of itself, not its consequences. For Anne to live among others who constantly overlook her and continue to play her piano with joy for herself is inspiring. The wisdom, optimism, and strength of character to do that again and again, for years. Would compliments be nice? Sure. But she doesn’t need them to be happy and that’s what makes her different and challenging and pretty incredible.
Louisa Musgrove: Yeah I can never get persuaded into anything.
Captain Wentworth, still salty about Anne: That’s great!
Louisa: *jumps off a wall and almost dies*
Wentworth:
“no one... so capable as Anne”
HOW DOES WENTWORTH KNOW?
Only capslock can express my feelings at this point. Their period of exquisite felicity, over eight years ago, was brief. And at that point, Anne was only 19 years old, the neglected middle daughter of a prosperous family. Am I convinced that Anne did try to help educate and guide Mary after their mother died? Sure. Was she appealed to by the staff as the most sensible person in the house? Quite possibly, although she would have been only fairly recently returned from school, where she was miserable. Still: her opportunities for demonstrating capability would have been strictly limited.
Which leads me to the conclusion that he knows because of observing her in the preceding days and weeks. He knows because of watching her manage Mary’s moods. He knows because of watching her take care of her nephews, and play dances for an informal assembly, and be kind to Mrs. Musgrove and Captain Benwick alike. And this lets us as the readers know that no matter what she may believe, and no matter what he may tell himself, Frederick Wentworth has not ever stopped being hyper-aware of what Anne Elliot is doing at all times.