So adorable, these two.
Junglepenguin
joined 2 years ago
DUGONG DUGONG
That was a special era indeed.
You're in for a great time. It has one of my favourite side character glow-ups in any manga I've read, and you'll know when the time comes. I'm hoping you'll grow to love that character too!
If I had a say, I'd hope for MORE manhwa and manhua, to add to the variety of content and discussion that we get here. The manga subreddit in its current state is so homogeneous and stale, it's an absolute slog to find anything remotely unique or noteworthy there, and I've been a bit burnt out by manga as a result.
Nothing much to add, I just wanna say DAMN, MangaRock, now that's a throwback.
It's been awhile since I've had the time and motivation to read manga, and even more since I've written about it, but I'm in the mood to procrastinate so here's something I've re-binged recently:
Ore no Himekutsu o Haite Kure is about a skilled shoemaker struggling with a foot fetish and a chance encounter with a high school girl who wants a special pair of shoes restored.
That's right, there's romantic tension involving an age gap. No, it's not erotica (but it is ecchi). No doubt about it, the subject and context are straight up taboo, but I ended up adoring this little series that seems to have never appeared on anybody's radar. It's an uncomplicated story - the set-ups are straightforward, the characters aren't convoluted, the twists and conclusion are almost predictable - and it makes for a very mellow and pleasant read.
I really, REALLY don't like romance stories with age gaps - many of them involve the older party knowingly manipulating the younger one, or just making irresponsible decisions as the adult in the situation - but I've a soft spot for this one and how benign and tender this story turned out. I've read it several times since its serialization and I'm glad to say it hasn't lost its charm.
Have you read Mousou Telepathy by any chance?
Agreed on your second point - how did these things happen in an international tournament involving large amounts of prize money in the first place? And was this something that other TOs had successfully prevented, that the current one dropped the ball on? Or was this always a security and integrity lapse that existed and that we've only just spotted, which would imply the possibility of this happening in previous tournaments or even the DPC without being detected? They can't ALL be THAT incompetent, right...?
About the penalty that BB received, I'd be fine with it if it didn't seem like it was pulled out from thin air, but it does so it irks me a little. Again, just a lack of prep that makes the officials look incompetent, and really doesn't inspire confidence in the state of future tournaments.
Another very personal and maybe uninformed opinion is that I think he was a very stupid and immature kid when the previous incident happened and barely any different now, but with both cases I feel like there's no malice involved - Hanlon's razor.
Pinning responsibility on Valve seems like the easiest thing to do, but I think they should be the ones deciding if he should be allowed to play in pro tournaments - organizers differ in their rules books and stances but the common denominator is that they're playing Valve's game.
There's a lack of consistency in the principles behind many of the things said and actions made by TOs, teams, players and spectators, and I may be asking too much here - iTs JuSt A gAmE - but it'd do so much good for the image and reputation of everyone involved if a decent amount of effort were put into running things professionally and consistently.
Personally, I think the response by many spectators have has been unnecessarily toxic and double-standard at best, and inflammatory, discriminatory and intentionally career-ending at worst.
No doubt what he did was astoundingly silly, but until it has been proven that he was intentionally using another stream to cheat during that g2, branding him a cheater is just not right.
What makes this worse is that people are conflating his previous action with his Z drawing with this, as if this makes him more guilty of cheating, or that it's alright for everyone to rag on him now, even if this time around it may just be an honest mistake.
We know that there are consequences in leaping to conclusions without verified information, from the situation with Taiga to the mess with the T2 NA DPC. I think the state of professional dota only stands to lose if the spectators don't stop this mindset of vigilante justice and crucifying dota figures before they even get a chance to prove themselves innocent.
I wonder if the response to this by the dota audience (and maybe even the players on Azure Ray) would be any different if this incident had happened to anyone other than Pure.
Glad you enjoyed it! Yeah, it got frustrating at times watching Nakano and Toda fumble and agonize over a couple of silly things, but things worked out, and more importantly - Mana-chan! What a turnaround from what she was at the beginning! Hands down one of my favorite characters.