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I love talking to kids about disability bc

1. they often just Get It, and

2. they have 0 concept of disability as a tragedy or something pitiable.

I've watched kids get into an argument with a teacher bc they thought wheelchairs were cool. I told a kid that I can't stand for too long sometimes and they replied, "That's okay, I can't do cartwheels sometimes, but I just do other stuff then. You can sit down with me if you want". Today a girl asked me what the headphones on a classmate's desk were for and I told her that headphones are important for some kids because noises bother them, and she said she wished she had headphones at home, because her baby brothers make a lot of noise and it makes it hard to think. The idea that different people could use tools at different times is intuitive and simple and when accessibility aids are explained neutrally, kids don't see them as bad or unfortunate, they're just things that are useful.

Even mental disability!! In Kindergarten the other day one of the kids asked me why his table partner got stickers when nobody else did. I started off by saying, "Well, when you do your work well, it feels good, right? That's your brain giving you a reward," and the kid just right away went, "Oh, and the stickers are like his reward?" YES! You are 5 and have a better grasp on ADHD than most adults! Kids blow me away every day.

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I wonder if when Ichi the Witch eventually becomes an anime, people on YouTube are gonna flood the site with "How to write a strong female character!", "How to properly write women", "How not to write a Mary Sue", and "How to write complex female characters" videos.

I think that would be funny since the author of Ichi the Witch probably wasn't even trying to create some sort of "perfectly written complex female character model." They probably just tried to write a fun character that just happened to be a woman, but they did such a good job that people are gonna look at her and go "Okay... Now, how can I replicate this?" 🔎����

It's interesting to see people doing these essays and analyses and studies trying to figure out the secret formula to achieve some form of top-tier writing for women as if women were these mysterious beings from another planet whose secrets must be unraveled so they can be understood...

When the simple answer is probably just trying to have fun with the character you write.

Just make someone who gets you excited to tell a story about, someone who you feel is fun to follow and learn about.

Just make a person that makes you go "Okay, what kind of interesting stories I can tell with them?" 🤔 and go tell these stories.

It really should not be that complicated.

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The Last Judgment

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“the tallest” “the brit” “the ravenette” “the oldest” “the pinkette” “the colorblind” “the smallest”

Please I beg you just use names and pronouns

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Clara's Wings? Clara's Wings? Clara's Wings? Clara's-?

(Also Discussing How Clara's View on Usefulness Affects Her Ability to Grow Because I Can't Ever Stick to One Topic When It Comes To My Favorite Weird Girl)

For every chapter we ponder, "Is this where we get Azz's Bloodline Ability? Is this is? Is thi-?" every other chapter we ponder in equal measure, "Is this where we get to see Clara's wing's? Is this it? Is thi-?" And every time for both of these mysteries Nishi's always been like-

Since I already theorized about Azz's bloodline ability it's only fair to also discuss Clara's wings. This'll be the last M!IK post before the next chapter where everything will turn out FINE and Clara passes the terminus exam with flying colors and they all go to the muddy-buddy swamp!!!

Before chapter 384 we all kind of assumed that Clara's secret would involve her wings since out of all the demons in Iruma's school she's the only one who's never showed hers. It's kind of a big deal that demons have wings in this world. Like before Iruma told Balam he's human he was incredibly worried that he might not have wings, because a demon not having wings could be considered a danger to their health. Yet Clara never showed them, not even during the flying exam.

So it's surprising that her wings are not the big secret she's been hiding from Iruma and Azz...or at least it was at first. Now I kind of understand why it wasn't revealed. Here's a few reasons I can think of.

1: The Secret's Directly Related to Her Wicked Phase and Soulmates - While Clara ate the black candy that triggered her Wicked Phase she was struggling to study for the end-of-terminus exam. If she fails she'll be stuck doing the make-up classes and be left behind again. In fact given the sneak peak we got for the next chapter she's been worried about being left behind a lot recently, from her losing in the Heartbreaker Arc way faster and both her soulmates being at least a rank ahead of her (or in Iruma's case 1.5 ranks ahead if you count Mephisto's patented 5.5 rank.) Not to mention her soulmates going places where she can't be there for them or protect them from bad guys.

So the reason why her wicked phase is so possessive is in direct reaction to her current predicament and secret worries. It's her defense mechanism, the knot currently preventing her from moving forward, just how Ameri's worries about not be demure and sweet enough like the heroine of the forbidden texts prevented her from moving forward. So it makes sense that the secret Iruma and Azz needed to know is the one that's causing her current state-of-mind and involves them both. Her wings don't have anything to do with this at the moment.

2: Wings Still Gives Clara a Secret to Share - It's important to remember Iruma and Azz did not want to know about Clara's secret this way. Each soulmate wanted to eventually tell each other their secret on their own terms, and I wanted them to be able to say it on their own terms too! Unfortunately Clara's secret was forced open due to the circumstances, which while necessary for the story and her character development is still a bummer. BUT because Clara's wings weren't revealed she has something she could tell them on her own terms!

3: Clara's Wings Might Be Important to the Story, But Not to Clara Herself - The only time she was uncomfortable about her wings was when the girls were talking fashion and Elizabeth casually asked. Before that we never see Clara ever be put in a tight spot because of her wings, not even during the Flying Exam. This and her actual deep secret reveal makes me believe that she usually doesn't even think about her wings most days. She's acclimated to life without her wings, and her family seems to do the same, so there's no reason for her to be bothered by them.

So WHY are Clara's wings so hidden that most of the time she doesn't think about it? If the most popular theory is right, it's because her wings are a BIG deal in the demon world, and because of that her mom raised her kids so they never need to rely on them.

When Clara's mom introduced her to Babyls she emphasized it as a free and fun place, which Clara really gravitated toward. She also said that thanks to the people around her she's always enjoyed freedom.

What if her wings are hidden because it threatens her freedom? That it'll involve her and her family in not-so-fun stuff? Like if it's found out that Clara and her family have something powerful or threatening, higher-ranking demons might want to either use them to their advantage or get rid of a potential threat (we'll get to the word use later) Remember that we recently had an arc where a race of demons were threatened because their unique abilities were so essential to higher-ranking demons and that their independence threatens that access? There's good reason to not want to get involved in that power struggle.

Mind you this is if Clara's wings are what we think they are based on the lore of the Valac name. There's still a chance her wings may be very different from what we imagine....but since we're here let's talk about that option first.

The most popular and story-significant theory is that Clara has angel wings. Or technically wings of a deity, since deities been revealed to be a thing in M!IK and fill a similar role to angels. Reason this theory is so popular is due to Valac's lore in demonology, where the demon Valac has the appearance of an angelic boy who rides a two-headed serpent and has the power to find hidden treasure. He can also reveal where serpents can be found. Clara wears a pair of dragon slippers named Connor and Murf, and is capable of pulling anything she's seen from her pockets. She even called the place usually named Toybox her "Treasure Box" while in her Wicked Phase. And as for finding serpents...well....she did catch one.

All this to say a lot of Clara's appearance and powers is inspired by her demon namesake, so it's not that big of a stretch to say she could also have angelic wings. Not that she and her family are deities or angels, they might just have the wings and not the powers. But the wings themselves would be enough to stir things in the demon world, and we know someone who hates any race aside from demons, including deities.

I'd like to think if Clara has angel wings they'd be Purson-sized, tiny and cute and fluffy! That would also contrast with Balam's wings, which are feathery but more akin to wings of a predatory bird. Hers could also be more like Shura's appearance, who so far is the only deity we've physically seen. There is the room for Clara's growth that's flower-based, so maybe her wing are more...petally?

Now unlike any theories for Azz's bloodline ability (including my own) I think there's a lot more weight to the theory of Clara's having angel wings given her namesake...but I still don't think it's a guarantee. Like I'm placing my theory on Azz's bloodline ability being paralyzing at a 15% chance of happening (there's just not a lot to go by so far for ANY Azz theories at the moment. We don't even have any hints to what his dad is like!) and the angel/deity wings theory at a 50-55% chance. The chances are high compared to other theories, but it's not a 100% slam dunk. So if it turns out Clara doesn't have angelic/flowery wings don't be too disappointed.

The Angelic Wings are the most mainstream theory, and I haven't seen a lot of other ideas about her wings that go against it, so these next theories is more me just throwing some spaghetti on the wall.

One is maybe Clara's wings are "mysterious" in that it can't maintain a single form. Like the plant she accidentally made in the early chapters, strange and oddly shaped where the parts don't all match up. In that sense there'd be no point in Clara opening her wings because the wings don't make any sense for flying, and Clara would have to learn to use them in a unique and fun way, just like how she uses her bloodline abilities.

So when Clara was with the girls she was reluctant to show her wings because they weren't "pretty" like there's were, since one of the struggles Clara had in the beginning was not being attractive in a conventional way. She seemed to get over this, but as we've seen in Chapter 384 a lot of her previous worries were never really resolved, just tucked away quietly in her pocket.

The other theory I have is that instead of hiding wings Clara has yet to make her wings using her bloodline ability. After all one of Clara's biggest strength is her creativity, and she's able to pull out anything from her pockets. So if Clara sews a pair of pockets to the back of her shirt and is able to further develop her power, she could make any pair of wings using what she saw and her imagination. If she's able to do this I think it'd be a really interesting physical representation of her growth. There's also the chance that Iruma could learn to make his own pair of usable wings the same way he learned to create his bow which would be fun.

Back to the angel wing theory though if it is true it goes in line with my other talking point, which is that Clara's issues of being useful might be impeding on her ability to grow.

In a lot of manga and anime centered around a male lead there's always a female character or two that's deemed "useless" by viewers because they're always weaker compared to the main character. Sometimes this is due to the author never giving their female characters a chance to shine and a general unwillingness to ever make them even slightly stronger than the male lead, and sometimes this is due to just plain vitriol and not liking girls in general. Even when it's shown that the girl is powerful and does have importance to the story the viewers could still call them weak and worthless if the girl doesn't conform to their standards.

Clara though? Clara's the opposite. Anyone who's paid even slight attention to her abilities realizes her powers are not just strong, but has the potential to be ridiculously overpowered. Like for one she can make anything, anything, that she sees. Two if she can drag them into her costume she can trap them in her domain pocketworld, with no visible exit, and slowly drain their mana. This power got even stronger in her wicked phase, where she was able to drag Iruma and Azz into the pocketworld directly from her pockets without having to wear the costume. Like imagine for a second in a less hopeful universe that Clara Returned to Origins. She's seen the evil cycle candy. Guys, fellows and fellas, my gender neutrals, she can replicate the evil cycle candy!!!

If Clara utilized her ability properly along with her creativity she'd be a force to reckon with...but she's not. Well, I mean she is at the moment while in her wicked phase, but most of the time she's not.

Partially its thanks to THIS Loser, whose imagination was so small they could only think to use her as a snack machine. As shown when she was trapped in that illusion and this recent chapter, that fear of being used just for her ability was never erased. And while she knows her soulmates won't use her abilities...she's kind of placed herself in a different limit. That of the never-serious, always funtime Clara who cheers her friends.

Don't get me wrong, it's good that Clara is able to bring joy, it's good that Iruma said she uses her abilities for fun. The issue is that it's become a way for Clara to be useful again, where instead of being used for snacks she's used for joy and randomness. This isn't how Iruma and Azz see it, but it's how Clara chooses to be. She can't help but see herself on a value scale even with her friends. She's afraid of being used, and yet she feel she needs to somehow be useful in order to stay with them. Like when Iruma summoned her and Azz, she assigned herself immediately as the cheer captain.

I think the right trajectory would be for Clara to learn to love her abilities and realize what she really wants. Not just for her friends as funtime Clara, but for all of Clara. To be able to use her abilities fully on Clara's terms and not on anyone else's, not even her soulmates. After all magic is based one's own desire.

It's the same for Azz's progress actually. It's good that Iruma embraced his flames, it's good that his hard work was acknowledged and he's able to create something so beautiful and strong. But like Clara, he's put a real limit to his potential because of how he sees himself. Even as his friend, his soulmate, he still sees himself as a weapon for Iruma to use. So yeah maybe Azz should learn to expand his horizons too, be it through revealing his bloodline ability or discovering other ambitions outside of Iruma.

Back to Clara though the one fear I've always had long before these recent chapters is that if she's able to show her real potential and gain some notoriety like Iruma...there's a real danger others might try to use her again, and unlike her old bullies it won't just be for snacks and juice. Add that to the possibility of her having angelic wings and her potential as a chess piece skyrockets. The idea that Clara experiencing character growth and catching up to her soulmates will lead to more people trying to use her would be heartbreaking. But so long as her soulmates are around and she learns to love herself more I believe in her!

...I'm just really, really hoping a certain group never find out she went into her wicked phase or discovers her real potential. After all as stated before she can replicate evil cycle candy and is able to absorb others' mana...If Baal or Kirio so much as look at her I swear I'm gonna Isekai into the demon world and take them on myself!!!

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Every time a character enters their evil cycle, they are drawn in this absolutely gorgeous art style

And I AM ABSOLUTELY IN LOVE WITH IT

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Do you see the vision

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I have been made aware that this is not common knowledge and so wanted to announce that ChatGPT is not a search engine and not supposed to know answers to things. It's a language model- it's trained to talk like a person. Not to know information or understand how to do operations or really even reasoning

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"as someone who was into zoophobia, it kinda wierd how no one have connected the dots on how Vivies past writing mistakes connect to her recent ones like bad story pacing, forgetting the main female character for more male side characters, the over bloat of character details, the over promising of new characters and environments when forgeting basic world building. At least Zoophobia was excusable because it was a glorified tumblr comic. Hazbin and helluva are two shows that sre so much more supported and loved but yet features similar writing issues and pitfalls."

Submitted by anonymous

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Okay can I just say how thrilled I am that Azz is the one who seems to have the best shot at snapping Clara out of this. He and Iruma both know her better than anyone, but Iruma only knows how to reassure her. It takes Azz, whose care is more subtle than Iruma’s and who fought with her from the day they met (no matter how much he cherishes her now), to get her to stop and listen.

He used to be antagonistic towards her, but look at them now.

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ill never not be fucked up over mairimashita iruma kun chapter 308 and how clara's toybox isn't just a place for fun but also for healing iruma the kid who spent the first 14 years of his life as a slave and a doormat, who cried at his own birthday party after being told that he was loved, being given the chance to actually be a little kid who isn't fighting for his life and actually cry about things that make him sad or scared and is reassured that he does not have to feel guilty in any way over his own secrets. iruma never grew out of his inability to say no to people even up to the current releasing ch380s but in this moment he is being told that they will wait for him until HE feels ready its HIS choice and no one elses

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ok, but the connotations of the shepherd and hunter thing... THE CONNOTATIONS

i'll be honest with you, after ch. 18 & 19, i'm waaay more into the whole buddhist concept of non-attachment that seems to be the angle here but! that doesn't mean that there isn't any merit to the visual language there!!

like. itw has established already that it'll be going for environmentalism/anti-extractivism themes:

and ichi's whole "death for death" thing is a punchy way to frame it.

so giving whm the stupid little fluffy-floppy-eared hat and hooves is. such a choice?? like. yeah!!! let's give this character, who seems to be set on total annihilation of all life visual cues that connect them with an animal that basically only exists to be docilely slaughtered??? like!!! ms. nishi??? ms. usazaki???? your minds???

and it also ties into ichi's aforementioned "death for death"—with farm animals, the fight's rigged. lambs don't fight back.

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so! a bit back i made a post talking about how the world hater majik is a shepherd.

i based my theory on them (blatantly obviously) being set up as a parallel to ichi, and having sheep/goat-like design elements:

(the fluff, the hooves, the little bell and the staff (yes, yes, it's a shakujō but that's a different conversation(also including that wheel they have hanging from their hat)), you get the picture)

then chapters 19 & 20 came out. and. you're telling me??? that there's two lambs?? two lambs in this story??? two??

the lamb leading to the slaughter

and the lamb being led to slaughter.

i'm officially going to go in.sane. what a— what a fuckin design choice!!! hello????? helloooo???? you're telling me that the great big "evil"* that our protagonist will be sacrificed to defeat has a lamb motif??? you're telling me that that the hunter is being led to slaughter by the lamb??? you're telling me that these are the choices??? being made here??? that there are actually two lambs in this story??? hello???? hellooooo??? un.well.

*also, hello??? hello?? "the sole reason i exist"??? who are you, you goddamn twinky cephalophore, what is your deal??? who convinced you of that?? (no, seriously, all the other majiks we've met are like. chill and multifaceted, what is up with this one??)

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I’m going to call it now, Ichi isn’t the first person to sacrifice their life to stop the World Hater. We will find out that World Hater, Uroro, and the witches are part of a cycle.

The first chapters revealed a few bits of information: that majiks were around long before humans and that majiks are released when their collector dies.

So, why does Ichi “save the world” if his immediate death is just going to release the World Hater? Because it’s a cycle. The World Hater brings destruction, a witch claims Uroro, a witch then sacrifices themselves to banish World Hater for a period of time that stretches past human memory.

Rinse and repeat for eternity. I’m going to guess that majiks seek out humans because they have been desperate to stave off the end of the world since the World Hater came into being. Especially since the World Hater can straight up kill majiks. Something we have yet to see anything else manage.

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So Dana recently shared some more info about The Owl House. Here's a thread talking about what she said: https://x.com/kolapon_art/status/1893818989727334542 Any thoughts?

I want to focus on this particular part because it's ironic that Dana didn't want to tell his story because it would be "inappropriate" if people ended up sympathizing with him because this implies that there is something inherently sympathetic about his story.

And we have storyboards that suggest that other writers thought the same!

Sorry, it's just really galling when writers try to corral the audience into thinking a certain way about the characters. Try as you might, someone will find a way to blorboify the villain, so it's best to just focus on the story itself.

And if fans do sympathize with him, why is that bad? Seriously, what is this mindset? If the audience feels a connection with a character, then that is good, it means you've written a compelling story that has resonated with people! I feel like people have confused "sympathy" with "justification." You can still feel pity for a villain and have them pay for their actions (the Nowhere King anyone??).

Honestly, her words don't surprise me because of the one-note way she writes "redemption" arcs: previously antagonistic character was really manipulated by a cardboard cutout villain and is actually a sweet person. It seems that a character is only "worthy" of sympathy if they were somehow a victim and were never actually bad in the first place. (It's also the most boring-ass way to write a redemption arc and to apply it to three different characters is pure laziness).

It also seems contradictory to not want the audience to sympathize with Belos and have an out-of-focus backstory that would allow room for interpretation, as this would inevitably lead to different readings of his backstory. Just look at all the ways Belos fans have interpreted his story and character.

The main problem though, is that Dana has a lot of ideas but does a poor job executing them. She wants this creepy villain who represents Important Themes but the show doesn't actually delve into those themes. She wants the villain to not be one-dimensional and have an intriguing backstory but doesn't want to risk the audience actually feeling sorry for him for Reasons. (hint: you can write a backstory for a villain without woobifying them). She wants to play around with a creepy backstory and amplify the horror by leaving it to the audience's imagination but the irony is, is that she focused too much on it in season 3, setting the audience up for more content only for this backstory to never play a role in the finale. If the show just had the Hollow Mind portraits and left it that, then I don't think we would be seeing so many disappointed fans at how Belos turned out.

What do we ultimately learn about Belos whenever the show goes into his past? In Elsewhere and Elsewhen, we learn he's actually a jerk. In Hollow Mind, we learn he's a genocidal jerk. In Thanks to Them, we learn he's a possessive jerk. In For the Future we learn that even though he's literally falling apart and hallucinating, he's still a jerk. And we do learn new information about him, especially little bits that may give him more nuance but the show always pulls back from it because it's not interested. That's not creating a deliberately vague backstory to enhance the horror, that's leading the audience that maybe you'll do something different with this character other than revealing the same character traits, only to end up doing just that. It's boring and frustrating, especially when you've become invested with his character.

Ultimately, I think the show didn't realize the potential they had with Belos and made him a rather shallow villain despite all the ingredients being there to make him a great one.

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Can’t use the series’ magic system despite desperately wanting to, makes up for it by using magical tools and being absurdly physically strong

Black tank top

Hot, kinda androgynous

Welcome back, Maki Zenin

(Series is Ichi the witch, character is named Gokuraku)

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it's banger after banger characters every week how do they keep getting away with this