slashbluegreen | Reading

lee_bella posting in

Reposting from my DW blog.

Summer solstice is almost here, which means a new anime season is about to start. This is the most stacked summer anime season I've ever seen, with at least 60 series airing this season. We have high profile sequels (Dandadan, Sono Bisque Doll wa Koi wo Suru, Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun, Kaijuu 8-gou), reboots of old classic (Jigoku Sensei Nube, Cat's♥Eye), horror (Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu), an all new KyoAni series (City the Animation), a potential big hit (Gachiakuta), etc. Strangely enough, there are four series this season that will only run for 4 to 6 episodes (because the source manga are only one to two volumes long).

As usual, I'm only previewing the series I'm interested in. For a full list of series airing in the summer, see AniChart.

( My 2025 Summer Anime Season Preview. )

What will you be watching this summer? Old series? New series?

cimorene

Wow, the author of this fanfiction fully does not realize how fountain pens work at all. Which is fine: all you had to do was not touch on how the pen worked and nobody would have noticed! Or you could've looked it up.

Or anything other than describing red ink writing that was done with a fountain pen as "a red fountain pen".

Bonus info: fountain pen ink dries up in the pen, which can ruin it if you're not lucky, if it lies unused for long enough (how long to dry up depends on the pen, and it's longer if stored point-down, but it can be as little as less than a week; it takes longer than that to ruin a pen, though). Fountain pen ink in the bottle also degrades over time. It can spoil or grow micro organisms and also can break down chemically, but evaporation is perhaps the biggest risk. The hobbyist sphere seems to agree that typical shelf life is "ten to sixty years" (optimally: in glass, sealed as airtight as possible, protected from heat and light and no contaminants introduced), so it's not impossible you could still use ink from a bottle from the 1940s, but it's highly unlikely.

cimorene

I ran out of OTC antihistamines last week (loratidine) and it's getting a bit uncomfortable. I went over the bedroom floor with a static dust cloth but I can still smell dust in there especially, and it's maddening. I don't usually have this problem in there, and it's not like I'm usually great at dusting, so idk what changed— sinuses just annoyed by going so long without relief? I could have walked to the pharmacy on any weekday, but I don't like to contemplate more than one intimidating task at a time.

There are also flowers now (though I don't think I'm allergic to pollen probably, or not much), although I wish there were more of them. Some of our tulips are finished, and the cowslips, and the last of the daffodils, but the daylilies are opening and forget-me-nots and veronicas are open. A foxglove came back this year - in the same corner where there was one before, so it must've been planted by the old lady who owned this house at least fifteen years ago and planted so many perennials; but apparently it's biennial, so this is a descendant of the one we last saw four years ago perhaps. Possibly we should plant some more there to give them a better chance of continuing to self-seed. Also the striped tulips from the bag of 100 bulbs we planted two years ago are just at the end of their lives, and they're so cool. There are only four of them, and we would love to have more, maybe a whole bed, but I can't figure out what variety they are. I was comparing pictures at the nursery where we bought the bulbs, but they don't look quite right. They sort of look like Tulipa "Hemisphere" based on a web search, and that's a Triumph variety. (Nursery website doesn't list those, but they might not have sold them last year?)

Kind of close shot of a striated red and white tulip in our yard

mific posting in

fanart_recs

Fandom: Kaos
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Caeneus & Photis
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: digital art
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: pukaon on tumblr
Why this piece is awesome: I'm a sucker for a dog, and this one has three heads to pat! Nice contrast between the underworld denizens being grayscale and the meadow in colour.
Link: Canaeus and Photis (not sure what the point of the YT video is - it's a music track, maybe for atmosphere? Anyway, I'm just reccing the Caeneus pic)

pandarus

(Thanks to NetGalley for access to an advance copy of All Of Us Murderers in exchange for an honest review)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/All-Us-Murderers-Kj-Charles/dp/1464227527

While the adage that you should never judge a book by its cover is generally good advice, in the case of “All Of Us Murderers” the cover art is an excellent guide to the contents of the book: a gloriously over the top piece of escapism created as a love letter to the genre.

This is an unrepentantly gothic confection, and it was, as anticipated, a wittily tropetastic delight rife with nefarious villains, misty moors, blood-drenched ruins, cursed fortunes, wide-eyed nubile heiresses and mysterious ghostly figures, ALL of which our hero (a precious ADHD cinnamon roll, and - provided one doesn’t find The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name to be a source of wickedness - very much the white sheep of his unpleasant family) is desperately trying to avoid, bless him.

Zebedee Wyckham is the impoverished grandson of a successful gothic novelist, and having found himself once again between jobs he has unwisely accepted an invitation to pay a visit to a wealthy uncle whom he hasn’t seen in decades - only to find himself trapped in the most ghastly houseparty since…well, since the LAST hilariously ghastly (and murderous) house party to grace the pages of a KJ Charles novel.

Finding that the lover whom he inadvertently ruined a year ago is now working as his uncle’s secretary comes as a mortifying shock, but this is the least of the unwelcome surprises that his uncle’s faux-gothic home has in store.

Zeb may be the innocent Cinderella figure amongst the variously unpleasant scions of the Wyckham family, but he’s no fool: having grown up on the works of Mrs Radcliffe, Horace Walpole and his own respected ancestor, Zeb can spot a gothic novel cliche at fifty paces and he has absolutely no intention of ending up sacrificed on a pagan altar, walled up in a cellar, drowned in a well or otherwise disposed of: think “Scream”, but make it gay and a period piece.

He is, in short, the polar opposite of Austen’s Catherine Morland: far from imagining spectral figures and dark secrets where none exist, Zeb is a pragmatic soul with a kind (if battered) heart who wasn’t born yesterday & has no interest in rushing headlong into danger if it can possibly be avoided.

Can Zeb escape the unwelcome attentions of the various spectral figures, blackmailers, marriageable heiresses and spider-filled rooms that await him at Lackaday House, and persuade his bitter ex to forgive him for past offences?

(Of course he can! This isn’t LitFic! You know that the starcrossed lovers will escape the villains’ clutches in the nick of time, foil their iniquitous plans, and finally achieve their happily ever after - but it’s still *thoroughly* enjoyable watching KJ Charles get them there.)

cimorene

I have an appointment with the private doctor to get the driving fitness certificate now. In theory we expect it to go smoothly from this point (apart from the unfair fact that I have to pay an extra hundred-something euros for this dubiously-useful medical certificate, but that isn't a logistical problem), and I can start driving lessons the week after next.

cimorene

Last week Wax and I both noticed a low, constant noise coming from the toaster. Sort of high insect humming? This toaster was Wax's mom's and we've been using it since our last toaster broke shortly after her mom died (2020?), but I think her mom had it for quite a long time (2016ish?). It's definitely pretty old for a toaster, so I guess it retires honorably.

We've bought several toasters that broke very suddenly after comparatively short lives before. I went through a period when Smeg appliances started appearing more on social media of wanting one of theirs, though never enough to have paid as much as they cost; but then I read a bunch of reviews of them and concluded they're totally not worth it. And we definitely are not intensive enough toast users to justify the cost of a professional one. I resent the unnecessary ugliness of basic appliances though! There's no reason they couldn't all be reasonably cute, instead of half of them looking like they're trying to blend in on the men's hygiene aisle!

The other night I dreamed we were baking a coffee-flavored layer cake with chocolate icing. I told Wax, and yesterday she made a boiled chocolate cake with half the chocolate replaced with espresso, with 70% dark ganache instead of icing. It came out denser than usual, each of the layers only a few cm high after baking, but it did cook all the way through. Eating a piece is a bit like eating chocolate cake, and a bit like eating a handmade chocolate truffle.

We still haven't managed to take a walk yet on any day that didn't already require an emergency trip to the store in the last... month? Our goal remains walking together every day weather permits, and we continue to not make progress. Forming habits is very hard for people with ADHD, but it's quite frustrating.

thepasteldyke posting in

anime_manga

Hi, I made a few icons, the anime/manga ones are specifically Super Sonico and Mars Red. =)

Preview!
same image as previous, but with a yellow border

Super Sonico with pocky in her mouth, a bat wing next to her

Mars Red Takeuchi pulling down his lower eyelid and sticking out his tongue

(Link to the rest)

cimorene

One thing about updating the decorative arts and design history blog is that my kneejerk loathing of the term "inspo" has me struggling multiple times a week with the strong impulse to block everyone who reblogs my posts with that tag.

It's good for me somehow, probably.

I'm currently exhausted because the spring that pushes the latch bolt out of the kitchen-hall door broke last night after midnight and we spent several hours fixing it this afternoon. Wax took the equivalent spring out of the lockbox of the dining-livingroom door because unfortunately the lockbox is a pre-1940 model and the springs are not manufactured anymore, nor are the parts interchangeable with the later springs from the 40s- model that are still in production, nor can the whole lockbox be easily switched (because the spindle and hole for it are not the same circumference and the boxes themselves can be different sizes). However, the two lockboxes aren't identical. In fact, it looks like the one that broke is the oldest one in the house. She had to squish the spring a bit to get it in, and it wasn't exactly the same shape and size, so we are nervous that it may break soon. (She did all the hard bits with tools, not trusting me not to injure myself, and I cleaned the insides of the lockboxes with q-tips dipped in vinegar and then oiled them with q-tips dipped in mineral oil.) Wax hopes we can get the blacksmith to make a new spring for the spot when that happens, rather than having to replace the entire mechanism, but we don't know how plausible that is.

We can't do without this door and its latch, but the lockboxes on the other doors are all other sizes so they can't be swapped. We need it latched to keep the cats apart! They're making progress, and they've touched noses now, but Tristana still retreats any time Sipuli gets a little excited, and they are only meeting with Sipuli on the leash.

rushlight75

( You're about to view content that the journal owner has marked as possibly inappropriate for anyone under the age of 18. )

cimorene

The other day I saw a post about American politics on Tumblr that was just a screenshot of someone's tweet that said something like, "Fascism won't make America great. Universal healthcare, universal preschool, housing the homeless, and free higher education would make America great." By this standard, I'm living in utopia! (Or, well, living in Greatness-ia.) Finland has all that.

AND YET...

My efforts to get a driver's licence continue. Basically,

Signed up for driving school for lessons in how to drive stick. My US license expired more than ten years ago and I've never driven in Finland.

Online information indicates I should have to apply in person, but the customer service rep told me that I can disregard that and just apply for a first licence the normal way.

The normal way: a brief online form that will instantly issue a printable and downloadable permit that allows you to take the theory test and to drive with an instructor in a car.

But you can't do that if you have any of a list of health conditions which require a doctor's certificate. And the list includes ADHD.

There's a new law which seems to say you can't get these certificates from the health center anymore, but I called to check. The booking nurse at the health center thought they didn't do them anymore, but she also agreed that it seemed unfair. But she checked with two people and no, the public health service really aren't issuing certificates for driving for ANYBODY anymore.

I called the one private doctor center in town. According to their website, the minimum cost of one of these certificates is over 100€, just like waxjism predicted. Their receptionist didn't even know who to book me with (does ADHD require a specialist)? She'll call me back.

If it does, it will be like at least 150€ instead, because that's the base price for specialists.

And even worse, the list of conditions that now require EVERY SINGLE PERSON who has ever been diagnosed with them to get a certificate from a private doctor - which means in most cases also a NEW doctor, not their own GP who has treated them before - is not just ADHD. Everybody with any of these conditions (this is not the entire list either) is now taxed, at minimum, an extra hundred bucks for the privilege of getting a driver's licence in Finland, as of two months ago:

diabetes

any cardio issues including hypertension or a heart murmur

sleep apnea or insomnia or any other sleep disorders

any past severe depressions or recurrent panic disorders, or personality disorders

dyslexia

autism spectrum

any neurological conditions or injuries including migraines or any past brain or spinal injury

Insane. It's not just the financial burden for all these people, either; a brand-new doctor, a stranger, is at a disadvantage for determining if most of the conditions meant here are a danger or not.

So I'm waiting for a call back and Sipuli really doesn't understand why I won't take her outside in the sunshine.

mific posting in

fanart_recs

Fandom: Kaos
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Prometheus
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: digital art
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: dxcstrange-stuff on tumblr
Why this piece is awesome: dxcstrange-stuff really likes Prometheus and has drawn him several times. I like this one especially, where he's giving humanity the gift of fire. Nice movement in the swirling lines, and lighting from the fire.
Link: Prometheus

sakuramod posting in

anime_manga

sakuraexchange is a spring exchange for relationships in Japanese media, run on Dreamwidth and AO3. Participants create a fic or art piece for one of their assigned recipient's requested fandoms and relationships, and receive in return a fic or art piece for one of their requested fandoms and relationships. Detailed exchange guidelines are here, at our DW community.

We have several pinch hits (unfilled requests) currently in need of creators. If you might be able to fill one of these requests by the current due date (June 20, 11:59PM UTC / 7:59PM EDT), please comment on the pinch hit post with your AO3 name and the number of the pinch hit you'd like to claim.

The minimum requirements are 1000 words for fic, or clean lineart on unlined paper for art.

Available pinch hits (click through for details):

PH 2 - Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses, 殺し愛 | Koroshi Ai (Manga), 2.5次元の誘惑 | 2.5-jigen no Ririsa | 2.5 Dimensional Seduction (Anime)

PH 4 - 爆上戦隊ブンブンジャー | Bakuage Sentai Boonboomger (TV), 魔法つかいプリキュア！ | Mahou Tsukai Pretty Cure! | Mahou Girls PreCure!, 仮面ライダーギーツ | Kamen Rider Geats, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne | Phantom-Thief Jeanne (manga), Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne | Phantom-Thief Jeanne (Anime)

PH 10 - わんだふるぷりきゅあ! | Wonderful PreCure! (Anime), Crossover Fandom, Show By Rock!! (Video Games), 美男高校地球防衛部HAPPY KISS! | Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu Happy Kiss!, Tokyo Mew Mew Olé (Manga), Fairy蘭丸~あなたの心お助けします~ | Fairy Ranmaru: Anata no Kokoro Otasuke Shimasu (Anime)

PH 16 - 終ノ空 remake | Tsui no Sora Remake, Tsukihime (Visual Novel & Anime), Kara no Kyoukai | The Garden of Sinners

Thank you very much!

cimorene

Currently, Wax and I are the little old ladies who only drive once a week. We live in a tiny town whose downtown is only a few streets across, on a small island, and we typically drive to the supermarket to get groceries once a week, not because walking there takes more than ten minutes, but because bringing a week's worth of groceries home (without a sled and a bunch of snow, or a little red wagon that we don't have) is uncomfortable on foot. Several winters in a row we have caused problems for our poor car by not driving often enough or for long enough when it was cold.

On the other hand, we have to have the car now for when we do need to leave town (buses into Kaarina and Turku from here are a pain; the regional 24h veterinary ER is on the other side of Turku, so we definitely did drive there at like 3 am one time when Snookums had a seizure).

I used to kind of enjoy driving, and I drove frequently aged 16-21, but only automatic transmissions.

waxjism had an old car when I first moved here, but it was stick shift and I couldn't drive it and she couldn't teach me. We eventually got rid of it, and I never swapped my US driver's licence for a Finnish one (you can when it it hasn't expired yet).

Wax, who has never liked driving, has been urging me to learn to drive and get a license since we moved here and got the car.

Well, apparently, because I have at one time had a driver's licence from another country it's impossible to apply online for a learning-to-drive permit like everyone else can; I have to go in person to the office in Turku. I guess I'm doing that this week.

thepasteldyke posting in

anime_manga

I keep forgetting to crosspost, and I don't want to spam, but I also don't want to make the post overly long, so I'm using a table to minimize the length.

Title: Amber, like the colour of her eyes Fandom: Paradise Kiss Pairing: Hayasaka Yukari/Sakurada Miwako Rating: G Word Count: 511 Summary: Yukari didn't realise her eyes would become an integral part of Miwako's latest creation. dreamwidth, AO3, website	Title: The final beep. Fandom: Jujutsu Kaisen Pairing: n/a, Satoru & Shoko friendship fic Rating: G Word Count: 492 Summary: Satoru's tamagotchi dies. It's more painful than he expected. dreamwidth, AO3, website
Title: And the cherry blossoms bloom Fandom: Show By Rock!! Pairing: Sumomone/Uiui Rating: G Word Count: 344 Summary: Sumomone catches Rararin talking to a cute girl she's never met before. dreamwidth, AO3, website	Title: Hikkoshi Soba Fandom: Show By Rock!! Pairing: Sumomone/Uiui Rating: T Word Count: 453 Summary: Sumomone and Uiui finally get an apartment of their very own. dreamwidth, AO3, website
Title: She took my heart and my number Fandom: :REverSAL Pairing: Koizumi Ayame/Matsuyuki Ayame Rating: T Word Count: 765 Summary: Ayame is talked into going to a Halloween party at a club for the first time, and she manages to get Ayame-han and Takayuki to come with her. She didn't expect the emotions it would cause her. dreamwidth, AO3, website	Title: Don't wait for the tide just to dip both your feet in Fandom: Yatamomo Pairing: Yata/Momo Rating: M Word Count: 1166 Warnings: Referenced Underage Prostitution, Referenced Rape/Non-con, Trauma, Asphyxiation Summary: Yata takes Momo to the beach so Momo can finally learn how to swim. Not everything goes quite as planned. dreamwidth, AO3, website

dr_zook posting in

anime_manga

Author:

dr_zook
Fandom: Wild Adapter (manga)
Characters: Kubota Makoto, Tokito Minoru
Rating: Teen & Mature, m/m
Word count: 1,307 & 1,480
Notes: Two years ago I wrote a fic for Yuletide and promised my beta reader a raunchy sequel, so here we go.

Read them over at AO3! And/or chat me up at my DW. :D

hide the fuel that's gathered here is set right after their escape in vol. 6! Click the link for further notes and tags.

Soaked in Fire Two Paths Collide is the promised raunchy coda for above fic. Things are heating up here. ;)

Current Mood: accomplished

pastelpom posting in

anime_manga

Fandom: Death Note
Author/Artist: pastelpom
Title: Swimming Upstream Into the Mouth of a Bear
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,346
Highlight for Warnings: *Suicide mention, death, canon typical misogyny, etc*
Disclaimer: This is a fanwork, I do not own the characters and no profit has been made from this work
Summary:

The world was not built for you. The world does nothing to accommodate you. Think of yourself like an insect evolved to resist pesticide - you grow in spite of, not because of, the narrative of the world. God's mighty hand inks you in the same way he would an extra in a crowd shot. Fuzzy, indistinct, vague.

You are tired of it.

Why not try something new?

A/N: a little meta thing about misa becoming aware of her place in the narrative :3 still tweaking things here and there but overall im happy with it!

AO3 Link

mific posting in

fanart_recs

Fandom: Kaos
Characters/Pairing/Other Subject: Hera
Content Notes/Warnings: none
Medium: digital art
Artist on DW/LJ: n/a
Artist Website/Gallery: uncertified-disaster on tumblr
Why this piece is awesome: The TV show KAOS was cancelled by Netflix after only one season, but it gathered a lot of fans in that time, and some great art. This is Janet McTeer as Hera, Zeus's wife. I love the green-gold glow, the pattern details, and her expression.
Link: Hera

Fat Cats and Friends

I'll have the Dancing Boys, now

My 2025 Summer Anime Season Preview

"Are you reading fanfiction and critiquing its pen portrayal?" Yes

I guess flowers could be contributing as well

Caeneus and Photis by pukaon (SFW)

Book Review: All of us Murderers

driving-related questions settled

no toaster could match the one from technology connections anyway

Icons! (Super Sonico & Mars Red)

unfortunately even though we accomplished Task we still have to do the shopping

New M/M Novella!

"This is the REAL ADHD tax!"

Prometheus by dxcstrange-stuff (SFW)

Pinch Hits Available for Sakura Exchange

This is the overall driving/car situation in our household:

Fic bundle (ParaKiss, JJK, SB69, :REverSAL, Yatamomo)

Anyone still remember magnificent manga Wild Adapter?

Swimming Upstream Into the Mouth of a Bear [Death Note]

Hera by uncertified-disaster (SFW)

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