Things I've Been Interested in Lately
I just wanted to talk about the things I've been interested in lately, I dunno.
First section is basically just "I love Hundred Line", you can skip that if you want shorter stuff about the other things I'm doing right now. Sorry lmao
I've been playing a lot of Hundred Line lately (partially to get far enough ahead that my bf can play without spoiling me/forcing me into exile to avoid spoilers) and it's fucking crazy. I'm enjoying (almost) every second of it. There's been a few plotlines that I haven't enjoyed as much, but it's only because the bar was set SO high by the rest of the game. I'm at the point where a lot of major things have been revealed to me and it's always so stressful to watch the characters exist without that knowledge when moving to a different timeline. I hate that everybody keeps comparing it to the Danganronpa franchise. I love Danganronpa, it's genuinely such an interesting series of games (the fandom is tricking you, they're annoying. The games are good, I promise)...but I think this game should be allowed to be judged on its own merits. It is much more ambitious than the DR games ever were. The team did a phenomenal job and I'm glad it didn't end up bankrupting them (to my knowledge). I am genuinely invested in this team of developers now, I cannot wait to see what they put out in the future.
For the silly fandom stuff (no spoiler ver.)...I love Takumi. I liked the protagonists of the other games by this team (Naegi being my favorite of the DR franchise), but Takumi is the best one in my opinion. I disagree with the fans who call him an asshole. I think he's just imperfect and makes selfish decisions sometimes -- he's just being a person. There's a few routes where I'm inclined to agree, but I'm also going to be a huge Takumi apologist. His heart, ultimately, is in the right place. Even if he is misguided, he just wants to help his friends survive and to help the girl he loves get the future be believes she deserves.
I'm also quite fond of Yugamu. He's so fucking weird. After that, my favorites are (in no particular order): Kurara, Kyoshika, Eva. Nozomi is growing on me though. I need to know more about Eva.
Main ships are probably Yugamu/Takumi, Kurara/Kyoshika/Nozomi and Takumi/Eito (but in a way that nobody else is understanding. I hate most EiTaku stuff I see. You guys don't get it...)
!! Here's where the Hundred Line stuff ends, back to me being "normal" !!
I've also been playing a lot of Dead By Daylight and Phasmophobia with my friends/partner. I was playing a little bit of White Day, but I got frustrated with a part I'm on because I keep dying so, I'm giving that a bit before revisiting it.
As for other interests...I recently realized that I don't know much about Islam and I've been trying to remedy that. The issue is that...I'm having a hard time finding any books that seem...not Islamophobic OR aren't aimed towards people who are already Muslim. I have no intention on converting to Islam and I don't feel like it's particularly likely that I'll change my mind. But I want to learn more. I don't know much about Muslim beliefs beyond their views on God in particular (that's quite easy to find) and...this might be weird, but I don't care about that when learning about religions because everybody's experiences of divinity are different (or maybe non-existent!). I want to know what behaviors and rituals are done and why they are done. I could just look on Wikipedia, but I want this information directly from Muslims and explained by somebody who actually finds these practices fulfilling. I could tell you about what Catholics do and why, but I won't ever be able to convey the significance because, while I was (more or less) raised Catholic, I am a pagan.
It's just so fucked up to me that the only things I ever learned about Muslims were from people who absolutely despise them.
I've also been curious about Japanese history. I was getting recommended YouTube shorts from some guy who studied, from what I can tell, the Sengoku and Edo periods and a lot of it was incredibly interesting to me and got me curious.
I've also been passively curious about Shinto and Buddhism. While that is standard, considering my partner practices both, I've been pretty actively curious recently.
I've also been trying to get back into studying Japanese consistently.
I've also been thinking about modern attributes for pagan deities. I think Hermes would be a natural choice for an internet deity, as a messenger god. Just as an example.
Back to history for a second, I've also been wanting to read more about the Soviet Union. I haven't looked very hard though, to be entirely honest. I'm trying to save some money...but, y'know. I'll take recommendations anyway.
I collect old things, just generally, and I've been considering narrowing my focus just to things related to Socialism, Communism and Anarchism. I have a few odds and ends that my mom has gifted me over the years, but I think I wanna get really invested in this. I don't think I'd be able to resist picking up random bullshit on occasion though. I have a vintage Las Vegas lighter that doesn't even work. I just thought it looked cool.