What's your hot takes about books, etc.?

The Chatters
162

Aww, man, I’ve come with another rant/hot take pertaining to anime/manga…again.

When the former two of The Big Three’s manga and anime were coming to an end, and even once it ended, the fandom was SOO grossly divided on how the ending should have ended.

Bleach:

It has been a while since I’ve read the manga and I don’t even know if I reached the ending of it, I probably stopped midway at some point.

But oh my freaking god, I would not stop hearing people bitch and moan on just how god-awful they found the ending. It wasn’t the whole “the ending was poorly written” thing either because it was mainly “the ending ended poorly, but hey, couples and lives were changed in the process for the better.”

Let me tell you just how pissed off people were when Ichigo chose Orihime to marry and start a family with instead of Rukia.

They were hella pissed and they are still pissed. To them it was more than Orihime was a poorly written female character and a walking fanservice to some people. It was Orihime is just an ordinary girl who gained powers who couldn’t even become a decent enough badass to save Ichigo in that Hueco Mundo arc.

After that, Orihime gained haters and I’m starting to think that no matter how much she “grew” as a female character, she continued to have those haters.

Rukia seems to be more well-rounded than Orihime and their eyes and at the same time, a badass to them. Didn’t matter that she was going to be executed that one time and needed to be saved by Ichigo. Nope, the girl more than made up for it in some way or form by being a badass.

Orihime did that too in her own way, but nobody really cares all that much.

Ichigo should have married and started a family with Rukia and leave the world of the living to become a member of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads instead of staying where he is with Orihime.

Ichigo and Rukia could have been a battle couple and their kid would have been a splitting image of them both.

Renji would either be with someone else or alone or dead or who cares and the very same applies to Orihime.

Maybe, I am reading WAY too into this, but I thought about it over the course of time and realized that the fandom is straight bonkers when they don’t get their way.

Naruto:

The fact that Naruto ended up with Hinata instead of Sakura and still became the Hokage, probably pisses people off still too.

Fans had a vision of how the final fight in Shippuden should have gone down. And as someone who stopped watching the anime AND reading the manga a forever ago, I know that there are people seething in silence over the ending that shouldn’t had happened for Naruto.

Either people were suppose to die and not gain a happy ending instead or people were not to gain a happy ending but rather die instead possibly upset people.

I am so sure that some people wanted Sasuke to die in some heroic way rather than start a family with Sakura. So, that Sakura can move on from him and fall for Naruto after finally accepting him in a way she hasn’t before.

Not to mentioned, Sakura was a crappy ass female character who most people felt didn’t deserve to even be in the presence of Naruto and Sasuke who are amazing in their own right.

Hinata was portrayed as the girl who had a major crush on Naruto but is weak and cowardly to do anything about it.

All in all, readers and fans who ham on when an author goes an entirely different direction than what they wanted or felt is necessary. Who care about what the creator wants? It has always been what we the fans/readers want.

Am I making sense or not at all?

163

And when One Piece finally ends both anime and manga, YOU BEST BELIEVE THE ENTIRE FANDOM WILL BE HIGHLY SEGREGATED IF IT IS NOT TO THEIR LIKING!!!

Stuff like that bothers and scares me when it hasn’t even happened yet but it will soon.

I can care less who ends up as a couple years or so after the Straw Hats find the One Piece and changes the world, that is different with the other fans.

I still remember a bit when Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan’s manga ended and the fans went fucking hostile over it. And I am talking about the relationship between Mikasa and Eren.

Sadly, this is all I am hearing in the fandom of Bleach, Naruto, and etc. Because I honestly have read it in a long time or watched it neither in a very long time.

I mean I know Bleach made a comeback that ended, Naruto’s son has his own anime and manga series, and Attack on Titan’s manga has ended, but the anime is about to be in it’s final season.

TL:DR: Fans are weird ass hell in that regard.

164

Fandoms is a big example why I keep saying people need to quit pretending that religion is the problem.

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165

LOL!

Humans are just crazy when they have a strong liking towards something that ISN’T EVEN HUMAN!

166

That exactly. We form tribes over very little: which is great for diversity, but then turn around and die on these hills made of absurdities, taking what was a great thing and making it into evil.

Fandoms just do it at such a high verbal temperature that it rarely comes to physical actions. Politics (which is sometimes hidden underneath religion)? That’s when you’re worried about sabotaging land and people because resources are tied up in it.

I’d expect it to be a lot worse if there was a Nation of Naruto.

Back to hot takes on writing? Most writers aren’t pessimistic enough to be real with this.

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167

I agree with this so damn much!

I would often hear people say how Naruto and Bleach and other shounen anime that were popular are ruined by the shipping and the crazed fanatical fandom.

And it is so nice knowing that there is truth to in that regard.

It’s also a catch-22 because when the mangaka does something that they believe will make them happy the fandom is still a bit divided. Yet when they do something that makes the fandom happy regardless of their happiness…the fandom is STILL divided.

You can’t please people or not please people without pissing someone off.

Which is the constant struggle with people in that profession.
Yeah, fanfiction and fanart exist in that regard, but imagine if it didn’t and the fans had NO choice but to accept it at face value.

Humans are batshit crazy!

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168

I’d like to read a story on this, but I fear that before this expanded idea of gender it wouldn’t be treated justly, and post this expansion, people will shoehorn their favorite modern stance into a situation that is extremely unique.

As it is, they made it very clear in this article that this person had to choose between their profession and their public identity, but chose to write this from the stance of wholly assuming an embraced public identity, especially when they had their chance to be themselves stripped from them.

Hell, I couldn’t even handle writing about this, I’d be snapping at everything in annoyance.

https://en.kardashiandish.com/view/?id=james-barry-story-kar&src=facebook&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=kar_a_us_jesselyn_kd14_127842_james-barry-story_all_conv-stv100_conv_both_18p_i-0_cost-low&utm_medium=23852051586220606&fbclid=IwAR0bxaaV9x-dOVagUdGGWi8orJ29JaPp50dvVF99i7QFL14HYptssryj27k&page=18

169

Me reading through this thread as I proceed to pirate all my music and textbooks because I have £20 to survive on for the next three weeks and that isn’t going on anything other than food:

Oops.

Anyway,

My hot take is that stories with overused or cliché plots are easily digestible and popular for a reason and we should stop being mean to authors who get popular by using them.

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170

I get that even though it does annoy me.
It’s one of those “I’m sick of cliches and overdone stuff” to “I’ll accept it in moderation”.

Not easy to be “original” these days and on top of that what does it even mean to be original in writing.

People have zero patience for the same thing and believes the author isn’t trying anymore. Does that author need to try for our sake or their own sake?

Food for thought???

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171

Actual hot take: Writing does not have a place as an actual job in the 21st century, unless you’re exceptionally lucky; all creative fields seem to be more relegated to hobbies, simply because they aren’t fundable without a stable income and don’t generate enough by themselves to fund a life. I wish it wasn’t like that, but I suppose it’s supply and demand in action.

In the end, if it’s marketing, then quite clearly it has an audience and, after all, isn’t that the goal of selling fiction? It’d be counterintuitive to make someone change their ways given that; they quite clearly found a market, no matter how subjectively ‘bad’ their work is and, I suppose, in that field, they’ve succeeded. Hating always came off as envy to me, ngl.

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172

True and makes sense.

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173

Lol. It took a turn. :upside_down_face:

I actually used to pirate music, and textbooks I understand because why the frick are they hundreds to thousands of dollars? IS IT MADE OF GOLD OR SOMETHING?

Agreed.

Most aren’t my forte, but I get why they’re popular. Plus, guilty pleasure kind of thing.

And 20 euros for three weeks?! Hooooww? :sadhug:

True, unfortunately.

Most writers barely see a decent paycheck from it, and those who have been able to make it a full-time career are either the minority (those who write series and get successful movie deals, etc.), they rely on family to pay most of the rent, or they have multiple outlets for income (social media, brand deals, affiliate marketing, freelancing, etc.)

Most writers I’ve come to know through social media are writing on the side, and have full-time jobs. Even if they’re published. Others have been using one of the two main methods (multiple incomes and family).

It’s definitely a dream one day, but a dream nonetheless.

Not to mention, it’s not even stable because you’ll have months where you sell tons of books, and months where there’s barely a sale. So, you definitely need backup plans in place to continue making an income.

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174

I think if subscription services for university textbooks didn’t exist then I’d be screwed. But even that doesn’t matter much when £10 a month is still way too much for you. :neutral_face:

Poverty will do that to you. Education and exams cost £5k, so it took everything I had, and then there’s accomodation costs because most schools won’t accept private candidates so you have to stay in a major city, which is expensive. It stacks quickly, all just to get a degree, which is basically essential for any stable employment nowadays.

Part of why I’m unfortunately going to defend (a lot of) piracy. You learn pretty quickly at the bottom that you only matter when you’re making someone else money. It’s hard enough already. Denying people recreation is just an extension of “Your only worth is making someone else money” and just addresses the symptom, not the cause. It’s often all people have as any form of entertainment in a constantly depressing environment.

I have more problems with the system than I do piraters.

Yup, welcome to having a society structured around economic worth rather than personal happiness. :blush:

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175

The food issue is why I sent my nephew off to college with a jar of dehydrated veggies for his ramen, and will likely pick him up a tiny little washing machine that can run in a 5 gallon bucket, soon.

I mean, his dad makes tons of money, but that’s his dad’s money and he’s going to be short at times–that’s a kid that has nothing to worry about.

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176

I never even heard of subscription libraries/services until recently and it’s kind of appalling that you have to pay a fee (monthly/yearly) to use a library. Like, that defeats the purpose of it… :melting_face:

Ah. Education definitely is expensive when it shouldn’t be. :confused:

I was thinking about becoming a librarian, but in the US, you need a master’s degree (six years of college). The average tuition for a community college is roughly 3-5K a year, but then other colleges will range even higher. The one I was “accepted” into was 6K a year, and it’d cost me like over 40K with everything else needed included. Sure, there’s grants and financial aid, but it only shaves off like maybe 2K? If not, less, from the total amount. It’s completely ridiculous. My sister was telling me to get a job at Starbucks for part-time just to use their scholarship/grant program. Nah. Not worth it.

Not to mention, librarians don’t even make enough anyway in this economy so what you pay, you won’t make back.

It’s really dumb.

Honestly, I still have no idea how my parents survived in extreme poverty conditions with five kids because there were multiple times where we were living on scraps and pennies. Though, truthfully, they asked for help in many ways (churches, panhandled, and government help until it ran out). It was tough, especially there wasn’t much more help to ask for until my mom could get a job.

And now that we’re all grown, I still live in poverty but not as bad. I just live paycheck to paycheck, using credit cards until they’re maxed out as another financial flotation device and cause myself to go into debt (like, I’m in 4K debt right now lol, though that doesn’t count the new car we bought that my sister will pay off because it’s a 15K loan—scary numbers). But I’m lucky to be in such a position to have these things because I know not many do. Like, I may have 7 dollars in my bank account right now and won’t be paid until the 28th of February, but I have dinner for tonight and tomorrow, and while I may not have actual food for the next two days, we have various things in our freezer and cabinets we can scramble up to make thanks to my sister’s friend who gave us a bunch of random meat from her personal farm.

But I know there are many out there who don’t even have anything for dinner, and it’s depressing.

The system sets us up for failure. That’s for sure… :confused:

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177

Omg I would’ve burned the student union down if I had to pay for any of my textbooks. Also apply for a hardship fund or something :flushed: I’m really concerned.

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178

Knowledge seems to cost a fee, unfortunately. Even though it shouldn’t, because it benefits everyone in society, but whatever I guess. :clap:

Honestly as much as I hate my country I am thankful I wasn’t born in America. As long as I can secure the level 3 qualifications I’m missing I can get my tuition covered pretty easily with loans with nice terms. The unfettered capitalism that is for-profit education and healthcare in the US is absolutely insane.

I’m hesitant to state this, because last time I did they tracked down all my social media, but my parents are both addicts and I’m going to jump ship and survive on estrangement support as soon as I can, so I can’t relate to having parents, lmao. Everything I’ve done has primarily been by myself. Apparently starvation is a good motivator.

But now I hold an offer for a Masters of Engineering at a top 100 global University, as long as I don’t fail my level 3 exams. Then I’m officially a Uni student in a highly demanded sector with high average salary, so everything should ease out. Then I’m reinvesting back into the system. No more poverty, damnit. No more abusive home situations. No more.

Lmaoo it’s okay. It’s only until June.

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179

It’s a little more complex for the US education system.

College? When I first started, my tuition and books was under $2K per semester. I qualified for both federal grants and a statewide scholarship. It was the first year it was offered, and so at first college was free. The cost went up dramatically each year because the State University was getting free State money and could pull more money out of the students. 10 years later, my brother is going to school with the same State scholarships, and the cost of tuition is easily $8K a semester, without books.

We would have been better off without the state investment, getting loans for $2K instead of the $6K it ballooned to to cover the cost difference.

So, it’s not just whether education is free or not, it’s that the government gives enough for it to be free and the colleges take that as an excuse to explode costs beyond reason, sometimes.

Yeah, State University, but it ran more like a college–that’e when it was affordable.

And this is still a cheaper university in the US.

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180

Alright, I know that fb ads come from spying on what you’re doing and I don’t mind ads for reads, but ever since I started working on ONC material, I’m getting hit hard for romance/smut novel ads on there.

It’s a bit jarring.

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181

I heard of free libraries on this thread-
I’ve legit never seen a single free library in my country. Didn’t know they existed. Still haven’t seen a single one.
Even the public ones require a fee - a small fee, but a few nonetheless