danimalx - Tumblr blog

[danimalx]

The scenes of Touga having sex with Miki in the light novel creep the heck out of me. The consent seems reaaaaaaaaaaalllllyyyy problematic and as a fan of Touga’s portrayal in the manga, movie manga, and movie seeing him as a borderline rapist makes my skin crawl(where in the manga, he is guilty of problematically kissing Utena without her consent and is certainly no virgin, but there’s no evidence of him having being anything close to a full-on rapist).

submitted by anonymous

[danimalx]

I believe that Series!Miki and Series!Touga had sex like they did in the light novels. The few times Touga flirts with him and his mental image of Touga in the bedroom suggests as much to me. And there are other canon occurrences in the series that are left ambiguous or otherwise unmentioned. Like Touga being raped, the story with the drowning girl, Utena/Anthy being officially romantic, Shiori’s feelings towards Juri.

submitted by anonymous

[danimalx]

I like to headcanon that mamoru is a trans woman. Thoughts?

I personally don’t see it (I think Haruka is the only main character who’s gender non-conforming), but everyone’s allowed to have their own headcanon! 

[danimalx]

The Problems with Kikyo’s Plan

I’m actually surprised that I didn’t do this earlier, Kikyo’s plan is by far one of the things that most irks me about Kikyo’s character. I like Kikyo as a character, I don’t care much for her attitude, I appreciate her slow growth over the course of the series (even if it is stubbornly slow on her part), and I do actually sympathize with a lot of the tragedy with her character… but this plan, I hate it and her motivation for it.

I get the idea, give the person the object to their destruction, I could appreciate that…  if there was a legitimate reason to do so.

For context, Kagome NEARLY killed Naraku in Chapter #111, by that point he was still very capable of being killed, even more-so after this because he needed the Kodoku in order create a new body for himself, and if Kagome had been just a bit closer to him by that point she would have killed him. Kikyo hands him the jewel in Chapter #124. Between that time, Kagome and Inuyasha got to visit Jinenji, there is the confrontation with Naraku after he creates a new body with the Kodoku, and then there is the Illusionary Death.

Nothing between the point where Kagome almost kills him, and Kikyo gives him the jewel changes. Naraku loses his old body, Naraku gets his new body, it’s debatable if the body is slightly stronger, but it’s clearly not strong enough because he doesn’t want to be anywhere near wherever Kagome is.

So what is her motive for giving the jewel to Naraku? She wanted to be the one to kill Naraku.

The round about tactic of killing Naraku wasn’t needed, clearly before this time Naraku could still be killed. The only reason for it was due to the fact that Kikyo as she was could not kill Naraku. She actually says as much when she steals the jewel from Kagome, because Kagome is a threat to both her (when it came to fighting Naraku and when it came to Inuyasha) and Naraku. She assumed she could take the jewel and then kill Kagome, which would leave her free to kill Naraku and then take Inuyasha’s life.

She says as much on two different occasions. After she runs away the giant soul collector she comes across Inuyasha. She tells him that she is the only one that can purify Naraku and kill him. Much later in the series after she uses Midoriko’s soul to sustain her body she repeats this very same logic to Inuyasha, telling him yet again that only she can defeat Naraku, and that he cannot be killed by a sword. Which as previous stated…  both are after the fact. After she gave him the jewel, at which point that she couldn’t kill him before, but now she can and builds herself as the only one who can, while making it vastly harder for anyone else to kill him.

In the former scene above… she averts the question about Naraku’s location when Inuyasha asks, then proceeds to visit Naraku right after she meets with Inuyasha to gloat. Showing she had no interest in letting anyone else near him, especially Inuyasha who could kill him.

Why did she want to be the one to defeat Naraku?

She felt obligated to protect and purify the jewel herself. She accepted the task of doing both, but ended up failing to do so. Someone as prideful as Kikyo is, she couldn’t live with the idea that she’d failed to do something, the idea of someone else doing makes her feel threatened. Knowing this she built up a plan that only she could be the one to end Naraku, while in the process of making it more difficult for others to do so.

She wanted leverage over Inuyasha. Every instance that she comes across Inuyasha and they talk about Naraku… there is a common theme. Not only does she say that she is the only one that can defeat Naraku, but she tries very hard to discourage Inuyasha from doing so himself. Whether it be her telling him to stay alive until she defeats Naraku (ironically forgetting that giving Naraku power could have killed Inuyasha, and if not for Kagome’s involvement during the battle with Kanna, he could have died), or telling him that his sword can’t do anything to Naraku, she never had faith in Inuyasha’s ability to do so, but honestly she didn’t want to have faith in him, or lying to him when she knew the location of Naraku. Kikyo understood Inuyasha’s obligation to her… and yeah… she did manipulate that. If Inuyasha was the one that killed Naraku (I mean maybe if Kagome did it, it would be similar since regardless Kikyo’s death is avenged, but it wouldn’t have the same impact as Inuyasha doing it), he wouldn’t have any obligation to her anymore, he wouldn’t owe her. If Kikyo was the one to kill Naraku, she would still have a claim on Inuyasha’s life and he couldn’t have easily backed out of that obligation.

She wanted to prevent Kagome from being able to kill Naraku. Mind you this wouldn’t have been as bad as Inuyasha doing it, but imagine being usurped by Kagome, a person she shows little respect for and believes is just a reincarnation. A person that she sees getting closer to Inuyasha, and who Naraku views as a threat? The person that could be a threat to her claiming Inuyasha’s life and killing Naraku?

Then there is the casualties… Kikyo ironically included in that. Before Naraku received the jewel he could be a threat, he could be dangerous, based on his first confrontation with Inuyasha and Kagome where he could have won, if Kagome had not stood up and blasted him to pieces. However, before this most of what he did involved merely puppets and manipulation on his part, taking down the Demon Slayers for instance was no easy feat, but he did that by manipulating Kohaku. He was still capable of being killed by that point, so he wasn’t nearly as upfront with the carnage that he caused… naturally that changed with the jewel, thousands were killed by Naraku and his incarnations and the people that he recruited. The death toll that could be calculated on this plan (that wasn’t required to kill Naraku in the first place), is by far one of the most incredible aspects of this plan.

Kikyo was of course a casualty of her own plan, she finds a means in order to protect herself, she knew that Onigumo couldn’t kill her, and thus, Naraku couldn’t kill her. She was largely safe from the entire situation, until Naraku naturally found a way to get around that with the power.

So why didn’t the plan work out as intended in the end?

Because Naraku wasn’t as simple-minded as she assumed he was. She assumed that he would never be able to do anything to her and she’d walk around without a problem. After she gives him the jewel she even tauntingly tells him that she’ll still be around the area, assuming he wouldn’t do anything after she gave him the jewel. When he almost manages to kill her with the giant soul collector, she decides to use the soil from Onigumo’s grave in order to further herself from him, and continues to walk around without much of a worry about what he would do to her, again she goes to see him and taunts him for his attempt. She never assumed that he would get around Onigumo, she never believed he would actually actively searching for a means to do so, and never assumed that he would come close to killing her which required her to go into hiding for the latter course of the series. She underestimated what he could do, and overestimated what she could do.

But, the biggest part of why it didn’t work, Kikyo didn’t/couldn’t go through with it.

Part of that was because of her time around Sango and Kohaku allowed her to see first hand what the casualties of her plan were.  Part of it was realizing that she didn’t have the power to end Naraku, she already knew that she was going to die before Kagome purified her, if not due to the injuries she’d sustained but also because she knew that trying to purify Naraku would end up killing her, a sacrifice on her part. Finally she realized something she’d denied throughout most of the series, Inuyasha and Kagome would be the ones to kill Naraku. The light in the shard now made Inuyasha a bigger threat to Naraku, Kagome would later us it in order to finish Naraku off when Naraku attempted to hide it from her.

So the plan didn’t work, she wasn’t willing go through with it, the light in the shard was meant to salvage something out it and it served as redemption what her plan did do. She was able to make amends with Kagome and accept that Kagome would be the one to defeat Naraku, and with Inuyasha before she passed on.

After all of it, after everything, she doesn’t go through with it which is by far the most irksome thing about it all. Clearly I had no interest of seeing Kohaku or Koga die if she did attempt it, but then again, the entire plan didn’t have to be done to begin with.

[danimalx]

Do you think Bkg is completly in the right when he said All Might and Deku shouldn't be together at all or does it stand more in a gray area? I have seen some people saying AM was enabling Dk's unhealthy behaviour and I don't really agree but I also see their point. I'm conflicted, so could u please give us some insight in the whole thing? Your analysis are very well explained so I wanted to know your insight

Well it's important to note how it’s not that Katsuki thinks All Might and Izuku should be kept apart--he thinks they shouldn't be together alone.

It’s also important to note that Katsuki isn’t the first person to point out the "madness” of Izuku and All Might.

(long post; image-heavy manga spoilers under the cut)

Nighteye

Aizawa

Recovery Girl

And Katsuki is correct. All Might has failed at every turn to talk Izuku out of his self-destruction.

All Might cannot provide Izuku with a balanced perspective.

A lot of people have talked about how Izuku in this latest arc has become something more like the victory-centric mindset of Katsuki from the early chapters, but actually what he has become is All Might, the symbol of peace.

It’s not that All Might has enabled unhealthy behavior; it’s that All Might has enabled the behavior of a “superhero,” as the Second OFA user puts it. But the standard of superhero All Might uses...is inhuman. Unrealistic. Hell, it’s a lie.

All Might may be a symbol, but he’s also a farcical one played by the quirkless Toshinori Yagi.

All Might is missing the same perspective about quirks that Izuku is missing. They are missing the perspective of quirks as liabilities, as dangerous to both victims and users that those with quirks get to learn as children, a perspective Katsuki was never able to impart onto Izuku in their youth.

And it’s all quite ironic, because if anyone represents “natural-born” heroic talent, it’s Katsuki Bakugou.

Katsuki wasn’t given his quirk and made to present himself as something he isn’t (even if...people have tried to force him to) like Izuku, and he wasn’t engineered to be a powerful hero like Shouto. He was just born this way entirely by chance, by luck. It’s who he is, his very nature.

And of course, that was something that left Katsuki without a certain perspective either. That left him just as imbalanced. And All Might was imbalanced in that same way. All Might is ridiculously competent to the point where he cannot relate with others, making him a terrible instructor when Izuku is learning how to use OFA.

And also, just like with Izuku, All Might was unable to talk Katsuki out of his egotism.

It’s only when Katsuki comes to understand Izuku’s perspective that he snaps out of that mindset.

So, of course, Katsuki’s perspective is just as instrumental in correcting Izuku’s current trajectory.

That’s a big part of why the narrative rewards Izuku for imitating Katsuki.

And I actually think this is the reason why Katsuki bats away All Might’s hand when All Might tries to comfort him with a hug in Deku vs. Kacchan, Part 2.

I think Katsuki wants the comfort but resents All Might for not giving Izuku the same, for not treating them both the same way. All Might can acknowledge Katsuki’s humanity, Katsuki’s weakness, but why can’t he do it for Izuku? Izuku can’t be “only a boy” once he becomes the next symbol of peace, not if he does it the same way All Might did.

That blindness of All Might’s is the source of Katsuki’s distrust in him. If Katsuki keeps Izuku at arm’s length for his inability to consider himself, Katsuki logically would do the same to All Might. Katsuki is worried about them both. He cares about them both.

We take Katsuki’s silence as a “yes” answer to All Might’s questions, but it feels like there’s something he’s not saying, like All Might’s assumptions may be a half-step off from the truth. I think it’s because Katsuki is realizing All Might lacks self-awareness as he says all these things.

Katsuki is testing the waters with All Might. All Might is Katsuki’s practice-run for when he makes his next attempt at beating his own perspective into Izuku’s head.

And on the meta level, what better way for Katsuki to surpass All Might than to tear down the man’s whole isolating Symbol of Peace concept?

[danimalx]

let me tell you the story of a man.

he’s a powerful super hero who half the world looks up to for guarding and guidance.

this man has a son/protégé who he specifically made to be his successor.

he purposefully arranges it so the boy inherits his powers.

he trains him hard to take his place, and through action and words makes it clear that this is how the boy can earn his recognition.

but it turns out that the powers don’t work the same for the protégé as the man. they end up hurting, even disfiguring the boy every time he uses them.

what starts out as the boy trying to prove himself…

turns into the boy spiralling into physical and psychological self-destruction.

the man tries to keep the protégé from continuing down this path

but he has lit these feelings inside his protégé a long time ago.

and it’s too late to the say the words the boy needed to hear all this time ago.

now the question is, can someone help the boy snap out of this self-destructive death spiral?

or will the story end with

[danimalx]

This is still one of my favourite posts 🤦

this guy in my personal finance class pointed at my water bottle and asked me “why are girls always drinking that” and i was like “water?” he asked me why girls are always drinking water

[danimalx]

Women in suits

A Woman wearing a suit hasn’t always been considered a classy option. Ladies were supposed to look and act feminine, even helpless at times and the wardrobe consisted only of ladylike dresses and skirts. It was first the legendary Coco Chanel who wore trousers and of course gained a lot of criticism with the act. But Coco was never the woman society wanted her to be. She often dressed herself in her boyfriend’s suits and she began to design pants for women to wear while doing sports and other activities. She also is the one who designed horseback riding trousers for women, who had previously ridden in sidesaddle in heavy skirts. And in the end - all the revolutionaries have always been the ones who see the world differently. So we can say she was one of the most influential fashion designers out there and the one we can be thankful for widening our choice of wardrobe essentials.

(Actress Jessica Alba)

And although pants were still shocking to many, it was the glamorous actresses Marlene Dietrich and Katharine Hepburn who kept loving the androgynous suits and made these more fascinating to the wider audience.

After Coco Chanel it was all in the hands of another worldwide famous fashion designer to make women love and desire wearing an outfit that was always considered to be the staple of the mens wardrobe - Le Smoking by Yves Saint Laurent. Le Smoking was a dressy and classy pantsuit for women created by the designer in 1966. Le Smoking is a tuxedo suit for women. It was the first of its kind and earned a lot of attention in the fashion world and in popular culture. This was the beginning of power suits for women. Saint Laurent was seen by many as having empowered women by giving them the option to wear clothes that were normally worn by men with influence and power. Only by the late 1960s pants on women became completely accepted, first for casual wear and finally for the workplace.

(Le Smoking by Yves Saint Laurent)

The suit has continued to influence fashion design worldwide until today and is been named a classic. It is not considered androgynous anymore, many believe it to be powerfully feminine with a touch of seriousness. Even today many powerful and influential women (think of Angelina Jolie, Jessica Alba, Rihanna, Eva Longoria etc.) worldwide choose to wear the suit even on the red carpet.

No matter if the power suit is from cobalt silk or muted tweed and cut in a handful of silhouettes like the 70’s “flowy” or skinny and cropped - the suit must always be perfectly tailored and make a lady wearing it look absolutely amazing - and just, well, stylish.

Power suit is always an elegant and classy statement: for finding which style, cut and color combination is perfect for you to make your own statement go to: www.lgfgfashionhouse.com

[danimalx]

Misconceptions I wish people would stop repeating about Steven Universe

That Steven “is” Pink Diamond in some way even though they made it very clear he isn’t

That Amethyst was horny for Greg and jealous he chose Rose

That the closer a Fusion is to humanoid, the better/more stable their relationship is

That “So Many Birthdays” was somehow Steven’s thirteenth birthday, the division between when he is 12 and when he is 13 on the show

That Steven’s “real” last name is DeMayo even though his father’s name was changed to “Universe” before he was even born

That Sunstone’s Gems are on their lower Garnet-like hands–they’re not, they’re on the top hands

That Prosecutor Zircon is green (she’s yellow) and that Yellow Diamond wears a helmet (that’s her hair)

That our Pearl was made for/initially belonged to White Diamond–she’s been confirmed several times to have been made for and “owned” only by Pink

That Steven “is” Pink Diamond in some way even though they made it very clear he isn’t

That the comics are canon to the show and can be mined for info on truths/background for the history and culture

That any of Steven’s Fusions with Gems exclusively use a binary pronoun (yes, Smoky, Rainbow, Sunstone, and Obsidian all accept they/them, even though in a some cases there are other sets that are OK too), or that pronouns mean a character is male, female, or nonbinary

That Rainbow Quartz’s name is somehow more of a misnomer than any other Fusion’s name just because neither of their components is actually a Quartz (no one ever seems to have a problem with Garnet, a silicate, being formed from two corundum stones, but I’ve seen DOZENS of complaints that Rainbow Quartz should be Rainbow Diamond–this just has never been how Fusions are named, folks)

That Rose fusing with anyone but Pearl should have revealed her secret (Fusions only know what the components shared or would share in their relationship)

THAT STEVEN “IS” PINK DIAMOND IN SOME WAY EVEN THOUGH THEY MADE IT VERY CLEAR HE ISN’T

PEOPLE!! Steven is Steven. Pink Steven is not Pink Diamond. Pink Steven is not Pink/Rose pretending to be Steven. Pink Steven is not a separate entity from Steven. Steven getting more Diamond powers, looking/acting like his mom, or exhibiting her traits is NOT Steven “turning into” his mother, nor is it his mother reviving and expressing her frustration, nor is it a sign that she has re-arisen because of the rejuvenator, nor do any of Steven’s powers, feelings, or tendencies belong to anyone but him.

Heredity is a thing y’all and just because I sing like my grandma and probably got my talents from her doesn’t mean her name goes in the program when I’m on stage, OK?

[danimalx]

simple portraits for some anime ive watched recently

[danimalx]

Utena-posting.

[danimalx]

y'all think anthy and utena shit like this

[danimalx]

[danimalx]

Scenery from Revolutionary Girl Utena

[danimalx]

"Because I am the Rose Bride, because I am a doll with no heart."

[danimalx]

And suddenly everything is different. They have looked at each other.

[danimalx]

Patreon request

(first one is a redraw of that one episode, of course)