Hey, Don’t Cry. Make The Honey Drink From Ponyo, Okay?

Fucking. I keep getting comments like ‘How would you know his character better than the author?’ And ‘Just cause you don’t have the kink doesn’t make it heteronormative:/‘ and I don’t vibe with it. I realise y’all couldn’t utilise reading comprehension enough to get through the original post, so this might not help cause you’re still illiterate, but maybe it’ll send you in the right direction.

(Yeah it was only two people and three comments, but I’m nipping this in the bud because I would rather rip my own eyes out of my head and bury them in my garden than actually try and debate barely-literate heterosexuals.)

Firstly, I don’t claim to know MXTX’s characters better than they do. What I do claim to know, however, is how character writing works. I fucking hate the claim of ‘But how would you know it’s ooc better than the AUTHOR?’ like. An author is fully capable of writing their own characters in a way that doesn’t line up with their established personality traits. While Hua Cheng is MXTX’s character and I can’t tell them what to write, I am well within my rights to point out how little sense it makes with Hua Cheng’s established character to be some rough dom sex bully. He’s literally the most caring, devoted, protective person on the planet toward Xie Lian. Not to mention, MXTX didn’t even write him like that even in the uncensored version. There’s a way more concise explanation (with a screenshot) of this in the reblogs, but I’ll explain briefly. While there is one scene in the uncensored version where Hua Cheng is acting rough and handsy, it’s also a scene where he’s blatantly acting outside of his own control. With his normal personality, he would never even touch Xie Lian without assured consent, let along make out with him like that. Also, he was handsy. No mention of bullying, cruelty or weird dom vibes. I was misinformed when I made my original post, because of everyone’s immediate gushing about him being a borderline sexual batterer, and that’s my bad. Also see the screenshot in the aforementioned reblog, where Xie Lian recalls Hua Cheng’s voice as being gentle and without coercion. Rough dom bully top abuser Hua Cheng is not and was never confirmed- but back to the original point, yes. An audience has full rights to point out inconsistent character writing where it exist. What, do I need to flash my media literacy license. Let me on the crime scene, I work for the FBI (Fans of Book Investigation).

Secondly, what kinks I have is irrelevant to my interpretation of media. I’m actually pretty fucking kinky, and I’m super into the whole rough sex, dom top, bullying thing. I think it’s hot as shit. That being said, I was still uncomfortable with this characterisation. Why? Because the idea of the designated ‘guy’ of the relationship (to explain that, while MXTX didn’t write either of them as the ‘guy’ or ‘girl’ in the relationship -thank god- fandoms often latch onto the idea that one character, usually the one who’s taller and less meek or polite, is the guy in the relationship. That’s why the shorter and nicer one gets feminised so violently) being sexually violent and insatiable is neither new, nor a foreign idea in heteronormativity. It happens a lot; the designated ‘man’ in the relationship is constantly horny and super sexually brutish, because tHe bOyFrIeNd wAnTs sEx bUt tHe gIrLfRiEnD sAyS nO cAuSe gIrLs dOn’T gEt hOrNy oR kInKy. It’s bullshit, and y’all need to stop pretending not to notice so your faves can stay unproblematic UwU.

I don’t care what the new, uncensored versions say. Hua Cheng being a rough bully dom top in bed is too heteronormative for me to ignore how it makes no sense for his character, sorry.

I got two of the tgcf books for my birthday yesterday, and I just…

How the shit did he say that out loud

TELL ME THESE FUCKERS WERE NOT IMPLYING HE WEARS FUCKING JORDANS

drawing fanart is so funny cause you notice details that you wouldn’t notice normally but make you actively murderous. Like what the fuck do you mean my wife walks around with these on his feet.

I am about to end up with an entire list of countries in which I am not welcome while in possession of my head and pulse

Ykw I usually praise franchises for the fact that a trans character will be trans and nobody will make a big deal about it, but I’m actually quite married to the fact that tgcf doesn’t hesitate to show that being trans actually does suck through Shi Qingxuan (and yes, sqx is trans, eat my ass). It wasn’t some individual scene that tries to hammer down intense and violent trans suffering as hard-hittingly as humanly possible, to the point of triggering trauma, just to never bring it up again like most shows- it’s more subtle than that. Shi Qingxuan is frequently subtly mocked for switching between genders. Their brother scolds them publicly for being in their female form and demands they switch back. People frequently make fun of them for being ‘shameless’ and imply that they’re just a cross dresser. They’re never bothered by it, and never bring it up. They’re perfectly content with their existence, if a little intimidated by their brother. That’s such a nice portrayal of things like this. Sometimes transphobia isn’t violence or slurs, sometimes it’s subtle snideness and the bare minimum of respect. Mxtx doesn’t shy away from these topics, but doesn’t exaggerate them cruelly either (mind you, I’m not sure how deliberate this representation is on their part). They’re portrayed in a realistically subtle way.

I know damn well Shorter would be the most IRRITATING older brother type, and it’d be so cute

maybe dont go on a date at the exact restaurant shorter works at next time

Watching Nana for the first time and I can’t believe that as soon as she heard Hachi was having relationship problems, Nana was like ‘Omg the cute femme with the cottagecore aesthetic might be single soon’ and immediately chose to share an apartment with her. Peak lesbian dumbass.

I am absolutely anti ‘watering characters down to just being a femboy’ and all that, but some people need to be more normal about people just calling fictional characters twinks. It isn’t an insult, it’s not crude, it’s literally just a genre of gay and some characters fit that.

AAAAAAUUUUUUURRRRRRRGGGHHHH

quotes and lyrics that make me think of asheiji:

I was in pain putting this together

creds:

Herakles - Euripides// art by @ana--pudim// Seventy years of sleep - Nikka Ursula// art by @edamammy// writing prompts for the broken-hearted - Eden Robinson// the Great War - Taylor Swift// ivy - Taylor Swift// autumn - Patty Dickson Pieczka// art by @bigansa// good light - Andrea Gibson// Euripides - Anne Carson// art by @ana--pudim// peace - Taylor Swift// sweet nothing - Taylor Swift// the fear - Clementine Von Radics// art by @shira47a// king the colour of space/tower of molasses & marrow// art by @ginkohs// love letter from Zelda Fitzgerald// banana fish// Eurydice - Sarah Ruhl// banana fish

Sometimes I can spend hours thinking about how a lot of gay stereotypes (fast walking, weird sitting, struggling with numbers, weird fashion, etc.) are just symptoms of neurodivergence, because neurodivergent people are more likely to be open about their sexualities due to not giving a fuck about social norms and have accidentally shaped straight people’s perception of gay people by just being rad as fuck.

Can’t drink to forget my troubles. Not cause of any moral thing, it’s just that I just tried and now I’m just troubled and dizzy