Randomness 1 (I Bit The Bullet)

I/V) Nostalgia Romp

Animated Barbie movies from the mid-2000's had the best child character designs. I'm especially talking about the triplets from 12 Dancing Princesses. They're fucking adorable. They really took the doll-like, offputting (to some people, not me) designs of the kids in Swan Lake and refined it into something incredibly endearing. Nowadays, the child designs look pretty soulless. Like the kids from 2023's "Barbie: Skipper and the Big Babysitting Adventure." They just look like Cocomelon but the kids are slightly older. The softness is gone and the kids just look plastic.

Content Warning: Reference to needles
Just remembered how I used to "inject myself" with mechanical pencil lead by pushing down the bottom button and making all the lead go back into the pencil while I pressed it lightly to my skin. I also rolled up pieces of paper and idly pretended it was a cigarette. I was a very weird child.

Mild Horimiya Spoilers
I adore how much Sengoku (platonically) loves Sakura. Like, obviously he loves Remi because they're dating. But he's so sweet to Sakura and always smiles when he sees people treating her well. It's obvious to him that everyone should love her and he tells her as such. It's kind of delightful. They're both just two people who find themselves somewhat inadequate but find each other wonderful. And Remi feels incredibly adequate (that is, when she's not cooking) and ALSO finds both of them wonderful. My point is, the student council fucking rocks.
Update: Oh my God, Sakura just told them "Don't worry, if no one wants (to marry) you, I'll marry you both" and my heart is full.

Oh my God guys so my nieces have been around and I've dug up the Backyardigans DVDs for the older one to watch. I still absolutely adore that show, even at 20 years old. And I found an Austin shirt and I want it so bad. You don't understand. I have to convince myself not to waste my money but all my heart longs for is the Nageki beanie and the Austin shirt.
Update: Just saw a sticker of Austin threateningly T-posing from a weird angle. I love the internet.

Content Warning: Very light mention of Doki Doki Literature Club (none of the horror)
I find it so weird how in anime or western things made to feel like anime, licking someone's finger is something romantic and cute. Like. What??? I think my first encounter with it was Yuri from DDLC. But it occasionally pops up in other things too. Like, Miyamura licking Hori's finger to get all the orange juice off after she fed him a piece. I don't really find it cute, I find it unsettling.

Mild Persona 5 Spoilers???
Y'know, I've come to realize that I get very protective of characters in general? Like, I get really, really sad when someone dislikes a character I have a strong fondness for. Shinya Oda doesn't need my support (I mean. He's not real.) And I don't even know if I can objectively say he deserves it. But I love him anyway. I love his stupid Care Bears-sounding voice acting. I love his fucking "Get Smoked" hat. He feels like a cocky little kid, and I love the way that you basically have to indulge him before you can actually correct his behavior. If kids don't think you're on their side, they're not gonna want to listen to you. I just love the little guy.

Lol YouTube commenters. "This type of story is garbage and anyone who likes it clearly hasn't consumed enough high-quality anime for their opinion to be valid to me." (That's pretty much word-for-word by the way) Like, seriously??? I don't care if The Dangers in my Heart is cliche, it makes me happy.