Maybe it was time.

 I don't know how to title this.

To the people who knows me well and my family, the GazettE has always been my favorite band since I was a teen. And while I still have a deep love for them, for the first time since then I can say I have a new all time favorite band.

 Bad Omens snuck up on me.

I kept hearing "Just Pretend" on tik tok so I gave it a listen. Thought that'd be the end of it like most songs I find on the clock app. Then I saw another tik tok where someone was cleaning to Bad omens songs so....I went to Spotify and began listening to more songs. 

Their album Death of Peace of Mind got me through some personal things. Then they got me through my official diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder/Anxiety/ADHD/Mild Ptsd.

Then Specter came out. I can't count how many times I've played that song. Or how many times I'll put their whole set of music in the background as I play games or write.

Seeing them this past Sunday really solidified my opinion. 

So while GazettE will always hold a special place in my heart (otherwise I wouldn't have my whole right arm tattooed dedicated to their albums), it's safe to say Bad Omens is my personal top band.

A shift in culture.

Ever since I was a preteen, I've been involved in fandom to some degree. It started with DBZ, then Saiyuki and so on and so forth.

The fandom spaces have always been unique in their own way, but much the same when it came to certain dynamic especially when it came to the fanfiction scene. If you didn't like a ship/character/storyline of said fanfiction-it was etiquette to move on. 'Don't like, don't read' was a common phrase I came upon scrolling through fanfiction.net and livejournal. (And Deviantart....yeah, I go that deep....I did purge my account of all deviations though.)

I've noticed recently however, especially after joining the Kimetsu no Yaiba/Demon Slayer fandom, that there are lot of those who get upset if you don't ship the popular/canon ships. Or they treat headcanons as canon. 

Browsing reddit I came upon someone's art post, and they happened to ship ObanaiXShinobu. While I didn't think much of it, as ObanaiXMitsuri is one of the few canon ships I love, a lot of fans were rude about it in the comments. And it made me wonder....

Are people not allowed to even crack-ship anymore?

Back in my Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler days, I had a lot of random crackships. BardXSebastian, BardXMeyrin, Charles GreyXMeyrin etc etc. It was harmless and I had a lot of fun with it, no one bothered me about it (my account had over 1,000 followers at the time.) But this was pre-2020, and I've noticed people on tik tok and tumblr talk about it before that covid is when things began to really shift within the fandoms.

I want to say I don't ship Shinobu with anyone, I headcanon her as aromantic/asexual (because of her circumstances). And yes, I do ship Sanegiyu, but I don't hate on anyone that doesn't. If someone ships ShinoGiyu in a post, I move on. 

Do fans not go by the 'don't like, don't read' rule anymore?

I just want to know if it's just my observation of someone who's semi-active in the DS fandom, or if this is just the norm for most fandoms especially Demon Slayer.

Surviving Mormonism, but it's me never truly fitting in.

 

I recently watched the Docuseries Surviving Mormonism, and honestly while it was quite triggering in some parts-it was a good watch. It really highlighted a lot of things I very well knew, but it was still hard to really watch.

Obviously when a piece of media comes out that criticizes the church, you'll get members who will deflect and make fun of it or 'say it isn't true'. They'll comment 'Well, I've been blessed to be raised/to have joined the church :) God loves you!'. It's very tone deaf and demeaning to comment that especially when somebody is speaking about the real trauma they've endured and the way the Church will sweep it under the rug to keep their reputation in tact.

I grew up a devout Mormon, on my Mother's side we could trace our Ancestry to the early Pioneers (according to my Aunt I think one of my Ancestors was a body guard to Joseph Smith? I never asked to comfirm.) We even had a family in our ward/city that we were distantly related to because we shared the same great-great-great Grandpa, but not the same Grandma. (I could've gone my whole life without knowing that, I hated one of the kids.)

My Mother was born and raised in the LDS faith, she's your typical Caucasian. My Father however, is not, he's Filipino.

The community we grew up in was a mix-up of different characters. Of course within each community you will get that, but the ward I grew up in felt very cliquey. If you didn't fit the narrative of a perfect family, there were those who tended to look down on you. There was a woman in our ward who refused to even speak to my Father, but she spoke to my Mother (and kids) just fine. 

Though my Father didn't really care, he's the type to shrug his shoulders if someone dislikes him. (I wish I were like that....unfortunately I am not.)

I was the last child of Seven kids, we were mixed kids and our parents both worked multiple jobs. They weren't high paying jobs, unlike some families who's fathers either owned Car Dealerships or a welding factory. (Those two family lived in Mansions......we even spent Girls camp one year in their back yard.)

We didn't go on vacations. We didn't get the latest toys, we didn't have the fanciest clothes. I wore a lot of my sister's hand me downs. And I didn't quite fit in with the young women who were all....white. (I don't even know if there was another POC in my group of Young Women.) My Father taught Sunday school to the adults, he was very educated of the teachings of the Gospel. 

Yet people looked down on us.

My Mother sometimes didn't get invites to relief society scrapbook events. A girl my grade didn't tell me about an Achievement day activity even though the leader asked her to tell me at school. I was told Black couldn't be my favorite color. 

When my second oldest brother left the church, another women made a snide comment when she thought none of us were around. "My kids would never leave the church like that."

And I'm not saying that this was the case for all the Ward. If you're going to live by the word of God, there were definitely those who did that in their way of believing. They were kind, sat with me during Girls Camp when the other girls wouldn't sit with me and never once stopped talking to me once I left the Church.

But despite all that, I never really fit in with the ward. My first really good friend in Mutual/Girl's camp was the Granddaughter of one of our neighbors. She didn't attend regular service, but we gravitated towards each other during church activities. 

She didn't seem to fit in, because she had a tongue piercing. (And...she was a POC.)

I was just....there. And then, I got a job at 16 and stopped going to Mutual altogether.

To the people commenting how much they love the church, and love their community-great! I'm so glad you get to have a good experience. 

Some of us didn't have that.

Ranking the GazettE albums.

 This might be a little controversial to some fans, but lately I've been thinking about my personal favorites of GazettE and thought since I haven't written a blog almost all year I'd end this one with a list.

As far as releases go, I am only doing full albums-leaving the singles out despite Remember the Urge being a standalone as well as UGLY/UNDYING.

And despite it just being a rehash-I am including Traces vol. 2 on this list after thinking hard about whether or not it belonged on this list. The songs have been altered enough, it's almost a new album [despite only rehashing old songs.]

With that said this is only my personal opinion, and though an album might rank lower than the others it doesn't mean I hate it entirely. 

So starting from the lowest number, let's get started.

   10. Disorder

To this day I still don't personally own Disorder, for whatever reason I've never got it. I remember the friend I once had burnt the CD for it, but between that and NIL I've always preferred NIL. It isn't necessarily bad, and I know a few fans who wish GazettE would go back to days like Disorder-but I suppose it really wasn't the album for me. I had to debate whether I'd put this above my next album on the list or not, but for now it'll sit at this spot.

   9. Division

Division isn't really an album I think to listen to a lot. For what it's worth I appreciate the band's need to experiment and it did give us DERANGEMENT and DRIPPING INSANITY. But Divsion hasn't always been my favorite album, and to this day I don't think to put it in. [Or play it on Spotify, since I do most of my listening on there.]

I know fans preferred Division to Toxic, but I suppose I was the opposite. 

  8.Traces Vol. 2

I was one of the few who didn't mind the changes of lyrics in Cassis, or how they changed Taion. But I do agree that despite being updated versions of the other ballads, that it sounded a little bit too....manufactured. Other than that I do like the addition of Aoi's live version of his ending solo in Cassis, plus the lyric changed. I know the old version had it's charm with Ruki's English, but it's kinda nice to see how he improved.

 7.Beautiful Deformity

This album gave us INSIDE BEAST, what more do you want? Like Division, despite having INSIDE BEAST and LAST HEAVEN, I don't really think to listen to this album a lot. It's probably the album that made me stick with GazettE even after Division, but after their next couple of releases I tend to stray away from it even now. 

 6. NIL

I really had a hard time putting NIL at number 6. It'll always have a special place in my heart, and honestly will always still be one of the first three albums I recommend to a friend who's interested in listening to the band. It's iconic, c'mon. It probably was one of the first albums I played all the way through, and I wish I could place it higher in my head due to Nausea&Shudder especially. 

 5. Toxic

Go ahead and hate me for putting Toxic above NIL, but I can't really place it lower than my top five in my own head. I just vibe with Vortex, and Venomous Spider Web too much for me to not put it in my top five, I even got a Vortex related Tattoo. As I said with Division, I really did appreciate the experiment they went with this album. A lot of fans didn't like it, but if the band did the same shit over and over honestly would be bored with them by now.

 4. NINTH

This album will probably always have sentimental value to me considering Phase 04. I really do love NINTH, the whole album really is good. I did like the era surrounding this album as well, despite Ruki's velvet suit. I still think of NINTH era a lot, and I'm glad it happened. 

 3. DIM

I really loved DIM, I think a fan said it before that DIM was really the album where Kai started to show his true....power. [I think they said it more snidely, like it was when he realized he was a drummer?? Whatever. LOL] I started to notice him a lot more in songs during this time, and I really appreciate him for it. I think he's really the one who shone in this album, so I'll give credit where credit is due. 

 2.DOGMA

In the past year alone, DOGMA has become my favorite album. Despite being only number 2 on this list, I've grown so attatched that DOGMA was probably my most played album from this band all year. I am also planning a tattoo around it, but I won't go into much detail about that. 

 1. Stacked Rubbish

This was the first album I ever got from them, so of course it's going to be number one. Plus it has a lot of great songs on it, especially Hyena and Burial Applicant. Chizuru is also by far one of my favorite ballads of the band, I wish they had at least touched it for the Traces album, but perhaps it was good enough that it didn't need an update.

---

Well I didn't have much to say in terms of why I chose this order, so I guess it really isn't much of a fun read. But I had fun talking about it anyways.

Until next year.

                                                                         

Naraku villagers.

Like almost everyone in the world right now, I have Animal Crossing New Horizons. I played Animal Crossing for a long time now, but the main games I worked hard on was New Leaf and now New Horizons. (I did play the original + City folk and Wild World; but those never felt like my games and I never really had a say on the villagers we had or kept.)

I've had villagers come and go in New Leaf, and probably will be the same with New Horizons. I'll probably even lose some villagers I love, but will try to keep them for as long as possible. So while thinking about this, I decided to voice my opinion on every villager (that I remember, there was a lot in New Leaf) I had in the town of Naraku.

Speaking of New Leaf, I still check on my town because I worked too hard on my town to let that game go.

So with that out of the way, let's go ahead with the list. (Also because I'm lazy, I'm not going to post pictures, but I will post what kind of villager they are -if I remember the personality I'll post that too.)

1. Frank the Cranky Eagle-Well, what can I say? Frank is my homeboy. Right now in New Leaf Frank is the only original Villager left, and I'm very sad that he is cause there were a few others I wish would have stayed. But Frank stuck with me for the 7 years I had the game, so he's the the most loyal of them all. He's also the one villager who I have the most pictures of, so I guess that says a lot for me. I know people say he's forgettable, but I don't care. Frank is one of the best villagers I've had and I can't wait to get him in New Horizons.
2. Lyman the jock Koala-Two of my friends have Lyman in their town and I am so Jealous. Like Frank he was an original and I really liked him. I guess a lot of people don't like him either, call him ugly, but he's seriously so adorable. I guess I'm not one of those players who only like the cute villagers, however I'm not going out of my way to put him on my island as I'm saving for something else. 
3. Broccolo the lazy Mouse/rat-To this day Broccolo remains one of my favorite mouse villagers, and he was the one OG villager I was sad to see go. I don't think I'll make an effort to have him on my island like Lyman, but if I see him on a random island I'll think about inviting him. (After kicking Chadder out.)
4. Gayle the alligator/croc-I think she was either a normal villager, or an uchi. But thinking about it now I doubt she was an uchi. She was super sweet and when she decided to move away, I let a friend have her so I hope they took care of her in their village. I would have her on my island in replacement of another villager too, so I might try to find her card. 
5. Fauna the deer-Out of all the female villagers I've had, other than the next one I'm going to list, Fauna is a favorite. I can see why a lot of players want her and like her. I don't think I'll have her on my island as I don't think she'll get along with one of my villagers, but I hope to have her anyway. (Said villager might be leaving soon anyway)
6. Diana another deer-I thought Diana was boring. I liked her at first, and she is cute, but I didn't really talk to her and didn't feel any sort of way when she moved away.
7. Bianca the Leopard-I would die for Bianca and I refuse to let her move away. I don't think she's an OG I don't remember, but she's also been in my town for a long time. I love her to bits.
8. Zucker the Octopus-Honestly the best boy. He looks like Takoyaki. I don't have anything else to say, he moved in while I lost my game and don't know him very well.
9. Shari the Monkey-Shari did nothing wrong.

I had more in my old New Leaf town, but the list is getting too long and I think I'll stop as far as New Leaf is concerned.

Now my current villagers on my island on New Horizons, now that I've spent quite a bit of time with most of them I'll rank them from 1-10, 1 being the best of the best.

1. Muffy the Uchi Sheep-She's the queen of the land, the realest of them all. I love her, she's so kind to everyone, but keeps it real. She doesn't understand why Anicotti is so stubborn either with friendships and tries to help her stop being so stubborn. I love her, and I'm glad she gets along with Knox too because that means she probably will get along with Frank when he comes to the Island finally.
2. Merengue the Normal Rhino-She certainly doesn't look normal. But really, I like Merengue, I think I made a good choice asking her to move to Naraku and I would probably die for her. 
3. Alfonso+Sly the adorable alligator/crocs-I listed them both together because they are both adorable and I can't pick one over the other. They naruto run a lot, I wonder if they watch the show together too. Sly is the buff one, and Alfonso is the Lazy one. I love them both and get mad when my snootier villagers insult them.
4. Knox the Cranky Chicken-I love Knox's concept to be honest, and when I saw his house I fell in love more. He has CASKETS in his house, he's so badass. And he's my bro, he's the only villager who's straight up given me medicine when I got stung by wasps. 
5. Norma the normal Cow-She's alright. She's been really snippy with Alfonso though, and now Sly so I don't know what to do with her. She does like to randomly gift me things, but I feel like she's only buttering me up. I'm watching you, Norma.
6. Annalise the snooty horse-She's snooty. And rude. But she's alright I guess, I just won't be sad if she goes.
7. Chadder the smug mouse-Who decided Chadder was a good idea and who decided he was going to be my camper? I want him to leave.

Welp, that's about it. I'll add on maybe as I get more villagers, but for now this will do.

Until next time.

Ruki+his pokemon

I really had a hard time deciding if Ruki would be a Psychic type gym leader, or a Dark type gym leader. The more I think about it, the more I think he'd lean more towards the Dark type pokemon.

Though I do see him sporting an Espeon sometimes.

Ruki-Dark type Gym Leader

Umbreon

• It's clear that Ruki favors umbreon out of the rest of his pokemon.
• Usually the first pokemon he sends out.
• Like Uruha, he had Umbreon since it was just an Eevee.

Thievul

• Because of his appearance, he secretly calls him Reita.
• Usually the third pokemon he throws out depending.
• Like with Umbreon, had him through his pre-evolution.

Houndoom

• Possibly his favorite pokemon second to Umbreon.
• Used a mega-evolution stone on him.
• Secretly calls him 'Aoi'.

Morpeko

• He honestly saw one in the wild one day and just had to have it regardless.
• This one he nicknames Kai.

Obstagoon

• Obstagoon is the only one of his pokemon who appreciates rock music like he does.
• Sometimes tries to teach him to sing, though never works out.

Alolan Persian

• Honestly like with Morpeko, when he saw the Meowth he had to have it.
• Persian likes to curl up close to Ruki while he relaxes.

---

As a trainer I feel like Ruki's biggest rival would be Reita, or Uruha. He doesn't take himself too seriously however, despite how serious he looks.

Uruha+his pokemon.

I'm continuing one with my GazettE+Pokemon teams with Uruha.

Uruha-Ice type Gym Leader

Alolan Ninetales

• I've always kind of seen Uruha with a Ninetales, but never with any other fire type pokemon so the Alolan form is perfect for him due to it's ice/fairy typing. 
• I feel like Uruha would have a very close relationship with this pokemon.

Dewdong

• Usually the first pokemon he sends out.
• Probably the easiest one to beat out of his crew however.

Glaceon

• Raised this pokemon since it was an Eevee. 
• Secretly calls her Ruki simply because he's so ICY COLD.
• I honestly just wanted a reason to put an Eeveelution on his team.

Frostmoth

• I honestly have no idea.
• He was lowkey glad when it evolved from snom because he wasn't too much of a fan of it's pre-evolution form.

Lapras

• Of course he'd have a Lapras on a team, she's just as majestic as he is.
• She's the one he dynamaxes at the end of every match.

--

I don't have much to say, I wanted to give Uruha a full team, but I feel like he'd have only five pokemon on his team when you battle him. Plus I don't know much about Ice Type pokemon as I usually don't have any on my team aside from Glaceon. I don't like the Ice typing to begin with competitive-wise, though I would like to use Lapras through one playthrough at least.

I'll do Ruki next, I wanted to do Aoi next but I'm having trouble deciding what type of pokemon Aoi would have.