#;it becomes kind of rambly but i hope that doesn't affect it's clarity

[domnorian]

Hello again! I hope you are doing well. Honestly keep falling in love with how you thoughtfully handle the DC mythos, and after going through Kon and Match's tags again, it got the wheels turning about Match and it lead to this ramblely train of thought/theory on him aging, his lack of empathy and his relationship with Kon:

While Match doesn't have empathy in the traditional sense, he does kind of care about those who help/care for him. For example, he watches out for Thad because Thad has watched out for him; he may be reluctant to hurt Mercy since she trained him, etc. As long as that person doesn't hurt or betray him, he's willing to care for them. It's hard to do because he only understands emotions and caring more as a concept than as something he fully experiences, but for those that watch out for him, he's willing to try.

However, as he grows older, this becomes harder to do since he's having a harder time keeping his sanity and remembering who's friend or foe. So as he reaches adulthood, he's alone, isolated, and caged by his mind, which is ironic considering how brilliant it is when he's thinking clearly. Speaking of thinking clearly, I think when he has those moments of clarity, he reflects on his life and realizes that considering how his condition is screwing him over, that he wasted his time on his feud with Kon. He may want to find to bury the hatchet, if not for the fact that Kon was the first person to actually care about him and give him genuine affection, just so he is able to live in some sort of peace with whatever time he has left. But between so many years of bad blood and his declining heath, he doesn't really know what to do about it. So he's just kind of stuck in this awkward state of sort of leaving Kon alone but not being upfront with why, leading to some shenanigans due to some confused suspicion. Will he actually figure out how to make peace with Kon? Who knows but at the process will be interesting.

What do you think of this theory? Does it hold any water?

And I'm sorry for this being...well, a lot and how ramblely it kind of is. The wheels got turning and it didn't stop until this was done. Anyway thank you for everything that you've done and for reading this. Have a great day/night!

Ok. This is... exactly how I envisionned it... but put into the right words since I haven't reached a scene with Match yet in my script. It's like you peered directly into my brain.

It's fascinating how much you connected yourself (or we connected) to my view without knowing much about what I had planned. I think it's awesome since its proof that my stuff is logical enough... and wow. I lack to words to describe how touched I am by this. I think I'm gonna cry of happiness now.

[amaryllisblackthorn]

 i’m finally making a post to kind of refute the sort of common idea that victor just completely stood by and let justine take the wrap without doing anything? it’s something i’ve been meaning to do for a long time but haven’t been able to gather all my thoughts together to do it. this isn’t to say that how he handed the situation wasn’t problematic or anything, but rather just a refutation of a very particular criticism i’ve seen before regarding it that i think is misinformed? like i said you can still criticize how he handled it and everything but i feel like a lot of peeps misremember exactly what happened. 

My first thought was to discover what I knew of the murderer, and cause instant pursuit to be made. But I paused when I reflected on the story that I had to tell. A being whom I myself had formed, and endued with life, had met me at midnight among the precipices of an inaccessible mountain. I remembered also the nervous fever with which I had been seized just at the time that I dated my creation, and which would give an air of delirium to a tale otherwise so utterly improbable. I well knew that if any other had communicated such a relation to me, I should have looked upon it as the ravings of insanity. Besides, the strange nature of the animal would elude all pursuit, even if I were so far credited as to persuade my relatives to commence it. [And then]/[Besides,] of what use would be pursuit? Who could arrest a creature capable of scaling the overhanging sides of Mont Salêve? These reflections determined me, and I resolved to remain silent.

   "But since the murderer has been discovered--"    "The murderer discovered! Good God! how can that be? who could attempt to pursue him? it is impossible; one might as well try to overtake the winds, or confine a mountain-stream with a straw. [I saw him too; he was free last night!]"

   "Justine Moritz! Poor, poor girl, is she the accused? But it is wrongfully; every one knows that; no one believes it, surely, Ernest?"

   This was a strange tale, but it did not shake my faith; and I replied earnestly, "You are all mistaken; I know the murderer. Justine, poor, good Justine, is innocent."

[...] Ernest exclaimed, "Good God, [P]apa! Victor says that he knows who was the murderer of poor William."    "We do also, unfortunately," replied my father; "for indeed I had rather have been for ever ignorant than have discovered so much depravity and ingratitude in one I valued so highly."    "My dear father, you are mistaken; Justine is innocent."     "If she is, God forbid that she should suffer as guilty. She is to be tried to-day, and I hope, I sincerely hope, that she will be acquitted."    This speech calmed me. I was firmly convinced in my own mind that Justine, and indeed every human being, was guiltless of this murder. I had no fear, therefore, that any circumstantial evidence could be brought forward strong enough to convict her. [My tale was not one to announce publicly; its astounding horror would be looked upon as madness by the vulgar. Did any one indeed exist, except I, the creator, who would believe, unless his senses convinced him, in the existence of the living monument of presumption and rash ignorance which I had let loose upon the world?]/[ and, in this assurance, I calmed myself, expecting the trial with eagerness, but without prognosticating an evil result.]

   "She is innocent, my Elizabeth," said I, "and that shall be proved; fear nothing, but let your spirits be cheered by the assurance of her acquittal."

A thousand times rather would I have confessed myself guilty of the crime ascribed to Justine; but I was absent when it was committed, and such a declaration would have been considered as the ravings of a madman, and would not have exculpated her who suffered through me.

My own agitation and anguish was extreme during the whole trial. I believed in her innocence; I knew it. Could the dæmon, who had (I did not for a minute doubt) murdered my brother, also in his hellish sport have betrayed the innocent to death and ignominy? I could not sustain the horror of my situation; and when I perceived that the popular voice, and the countenances of the judges, had already condemned my unhappy victim, I rushed out of the court in agony. The tortures of the accused did not equal mine; she was sustained by innocence, but the fangs of remorse tore my bosom, and would not forego their hold.    I passed a night of unmingled wretchedness. In the morning I went to the court; my lips and throat were parched. I dared not ask the fatal question; but I was known, and the officer guessed the cause of my visit. The ballots had been thrown; they were all black, and Justine was condemned. I cannot pretend to describe what I then felt. I had before experienced sensations of horror; and I have endeavoured to bestow upon them adequate expressions, but words cannot convey an idea of the heart-sickening despair that I then endured. The person to whom I addressed myself added, that Justine had already confessed her guilt. "That evidence," he observed, "was hardly required in so glaring a case, but I am glad of it; and, indeed, none of our judges like to condemn a criminal upon circumstantial evidence, be it ever so decisive."    [This was strange and unexpected intelligence; what could it mean? Had my eyes deceived me? and was I really as mad as the whole world would believe me to be, if I disclosed the object of my suspicions?]

Justine started. When she saw who it was, she approached me, and said, "Dear [S]ir, you are very kind to visit me; you, I hope, do not believe that I am guilty[?]"    I could not answer. "No, Justine," said Elizabeth; "he is more convinced of your innocence than I was; for even when he heard that you had confessed, he did not credit it."

   Thus the poor sufferer tried to comfort others and herself. She indeed gained the resignation she desired. But I, the true murderer, felt the never-dying worm alive in my bosom, which allowed of no hope or consolation. Elizabeth also wept, and was unhappy; but hers also was the misery of innocence, which, like a cloud that passes over the fair moon, for a while hides but cannot tarnish its brightness. Anguish and despair had penetrated into the core of my heart; I bore a hell within me, which nothing could extinguish. We stayed several hours with Justine; and it was with great difficulty that Elizabeth could tear herself away.

   [And on the morrow Justine died. Elizabeth's heart-rending eloquence failed to move the judges from their settled conviction in the criminality of the saintly sufferer. My passionate and indignant appeals were lost upon them. And when I received their cold answers, and heard the harsh unfeeling reasoning of these men, my purposed avowal died away on my lips. Thus I might proclaim myself a madman, but not revoke the sentence passed upon my wretched victim. She perished on the scaffold as a murderess!]

   [From the tortures of my own heart, I turned to contemplate the deep and voiceless grief of my Elizabeth. This also was my doing! And my father's woe, and the desolation of that late so smiling home—all was the work of my thrice-accursed hands! Ye weep, unhappy ones; but these are not your last tears! Again shall you raise the funeral wail, and the sound of your lamentations shall again and again be heard! Frankenstein, your son, your kinsman, your early, much-loved friend; he who would spend each vital drop of blood for your sakes—who has no thought nor sense of joy, except as it is mirrored also in your dear countenances—who would fill the air with blessings, and spend his life in serving you—he bids you weep—to shed countless tears; happy beyond his hopes, if thus inexorable fate be satisfied, and if the destruction pause before the peace of the grave have succeeded to your sad torments!   Thus spoke my prophetic soul, as, torn by remorse, horror, and despair, I beheld those l loved spend vain sorrow upon the graves of William and Justine, the first hapless victims to my unhallowed arts.]

basically:

victor vocally insists that justine is innocent consistently

victor initially wants to reveal what he knows but figures that he’ll be considered insane and pursuit of the creature would be useless (this is before he knows about justine)

this is literally what ends up happening near the end of the novel when victor goes to a criminal judge and formally accuses the creature of being the destroyer of his family !! (end of Chapter 23 in 1831 ed)

victor has faith in the justice system !! and believes it’ll be impossible to convict justine since she’s innocent

victor was willing to ‘admit’ he killed william to save justine if it hadn’t been for the fact that he had an alibi 

he was willing to be "more dreadfully murdered, with every aggravation of infamy that could make the murder memorable in horror"

victor passionately and indignantly appealed/fought for justine after her confession and death sentence in the 1831 version

victor seemed to intend to tell the judges everything after meeting with justine but figured it wouldn’t do any good when he realized how set the judges were on making justine pay in the 1831 version

victor did indeed deeply and strongly blame himself for justine’s (and william’s) death; he felt severe guilt over it 

like a lot of this is also supposed to be, i believe, criticism of the justice system  ( "all judges had rather that ten innocent should suffer, than that one guilty should escape" etc). not to mention they pressured justine into (falsely) confessing, which can be done as sealing the deal. i feel like the novel kind of makes it clear, though, that justine was found guilty because the court wanted her to be because she was an easy scapegoat and they’d rather make it seem like they got who was accountable than actually get who was accountable. this is just, i think, an important thing to keep in mind.

like, you can still argue that victor’s ‘reasons’ for keeping quiet are really just ‘rationalizations’, but i do think that the fact that when he goes to the criminal judge later in the book to accuse the creature and demand he be brought to justice that the criminal judge both says that if there really is a creature it’ll probably be impossible to pursue and seize him, and eventually settled on being incredulous and indeed viewing victor as having “the appearance of madness”. so like victor’s concerns back during the justine stuff weren’t like unfounded. still, you can argue that he should have at least tried and failed instead of not trying because it would probably fail. and that’s fair! but i feel like a  lot of people make victor out to be like cold during all of this, and like selfish and uncaring? like sure, victor didn’t confess what he knew, but it wasn’t because he didn’t want anyone to know about his ‘mistake’/what he had done, and it’s not like he didn’t do  anything to help justine out. he wasn’t completely silent. he wasn’t quiet at all regarding her innocence and told basically anyone who would listen that she was. and yeah you can argue that doesn’t do a lot of good when he withholds how he knows she’s innocent but like, at least concede that victor didn’t just stand by and watch justine go down for what the creature did without doing anything. you can argue about /how much/ he actually did, but like, let’s at least acknowledge that he didn’t do absolutely nothing. 

also i feel like there’s a criticism somewhere that victor feels sorry for himself way too much (like saying he’s suffering more than justine is) which like, isn’t necessarily untrue, but i feel like, that victor feels a lot and strongly is a thing. like i wouldn’t be surprised if he had like emotional dysregulation or something? but that’s a whole other meta (that i likewise have been meaning to write up for a long time but would be much much longer and thus more difficult to organize my thoughts down for than this one) but i digress

the point is, is victor problematic? yeah. but like he’s problematic in certain ways and he’s not a complete heartless selfish monster and like sure you can argue how he handled the stuff with justine’s trial was problematic but again it’s problematic in certain ways i feel and i feel like a lot of people accuse it of being problematic in ways i feel it isn’t and maybe im getting caught up in particulars but i cant really help it that much and hopefully you guys can find some worth in this write up. thanks. 

((also with the quotes i used both 1818 and 1831 versions and used brackets and sometimes slashes to try to mark discrepancies. quotes that are entirely in brackets like the last two are from the 1831 version.))

[trashahime]

Anon, sorry for taking so long and the length. There was a lot to address and I tend to ramble. Due to the length I am going to divide your ask in chunks and respond to each paragraph individually for clarity's sake.

I'm curious as to why you have addressed this to Sesskagu shippers both here and later. TBH, this alone will make many doubt that you are truly neutral because you seem to have fallen for the common but false claim that the anti sentiment has it's roots in bitterness over a lost ship war.

Those supporting the end are made up of a variety of people who are simply united in their dislike/disappointment. Among them are shippers and non-shippers, antis, neutrals and even some SR fans who are bothered by how their ship is portrayed.

Personally, I don't think it takes any kind of mental gymnastics to have a problem with how Sessrin is depicted in Yashahime. There are some antis who probably do purposely make the worst possible interpretations to fuel their disgust/anger. But most are being completely sincere in their belief that Rin was married and pregnant by the time she was 15. You have probably already seen and dismissed all the anti arguments to support this view so it would be pointless to rehash them. You can believe it's just about disliking Sessrin but there were many antis like myself who were willing to accept the relationship even if we found it distasteful had Sunrise gone about things differently.

Each "hater" has their own reason for continuing to watch the show and I can't speak for them. Or as a "hater" either as I enjoyed the show. But I also think it's a trainwreck with many issues and problematic portrayals.

If people are targeting individuals and maliciously interacting with their posts then that is definitely harassment. However, I suspect you also mean the general posts made by antis criticizing those who watch the show.

The belief that watching/supporting Yashahime equals supporting a p*dophilic portrayal of Sessrin and other unsavory stuff is an opinion I disagree with. But I also disagree that expressing that opinion is harassment.

I get why you find it to be extremely harsh and hurtful but I also think you are taking it very personally when you needn't.

Consider my position. I'm an anti that still enjoys Yashahime. Most of those posts are made by my moots, some of which I have very friendly interactions with. I have even more reason to feel personally attacked by them but I don't. Just because I respect someone's right to an opinion that doesn't mean I am obligated to agree with it and make it apply it to myself. Unless you agree that liking Yashahime means condoning p*dophilia, then I'd advise you to take the view that those posts don't pertain to you at all.

As for petitions, bad reviews, being glad Yashahime is almost over... Well that's some of the least offensive actions an anti can take. Two of the three are against corporations, not fellow fandom members and the other is just a celebration amongst themselves.

They don't affect anyone else unless the petitions and bad reviews are substantial enough to put the shows future in jeopardy. IMO, the correct counter action is good reviews and supportive petitions, not telling antis to stop. They have the right to express their opinions.

I have seen many grooming and csa survivors say they also don't view Sessrin as having those aspects. However, there are many survivors on the anti side that strongly disagree. While I think that the opinions of those who have endured similar circumstances have more weight, it also creates kind of a never ending tug of war situation where neither side can really "win" the argument because they are equally balanced. For every survivor saying it is, there is one saying it's not.

Generally, I choose not to use the words p*dophilia or grooming when describing the Sessrin relationship or say that everyone who likes the pairing is a P&G apologist.

Many antis don't agree on this, but I think it's possible to have headcanons and scenarios that result in a version of Sessrin in which those things are not present. Fanonwise anyway. To me, the canon situation can definitely be interpreted to believe that they are present.

Mostly, I tend not to use the terms because they have specific psychological and legal definitions. That makes it very easy for SR fans to completely dismiss the idea that they could apply to Sessrin because it's not a perfect fit. I think if it turns out to be part of actual canon or if it's just part of one's own headcanon that Sesshomaru was "waiting" for Rin to grow up and courting her with gifts like the kimonos then that means he had a romantic interest in her when she was too young for it to be acceptable.

He might not be a technical p*do in that he is attracted to children, but his thoughts and actions are of one with regards to Rin. I agree with those that say Sesshomaru would never intentionally manipulate or pressure Rin to be with him, thus not "technically" grooming.

However, informing her via courting that he wants to be with her when she is older does put a type of manipulative pressure on her. For years, she will have to live with the knowledge that her literal savior, the most important person to her in the world, someone she loves and doesn't want to disappoint, is waiting for her. It will absolutely influence her life choices and who she becomes.

No need to apologise, I don't mind being vented at and am clearly prone to long-ass messages myself.

I think you do have some valid frustrations but I don't think they all are.

It's often forgotten that antis are major fans too. Many wanted to love Yashahime but in their eyes Yashahime "bashes" the OG and it's characters. It's ruined something they held near and dear. And they are highly upset about it.

Think about it, that's probably why you and others are so angry at the criticism. It's bashing something you all enjoy or maybe even love and it's making you highly upset. You all are more alike then you realize.

You can let it all impact your fandom experience or realise there is very little you can do about it because that criticism, even if you find it unfounded, harsh or extreme has the right to exist provided it doesn't break the rules of the website. You won't be able to block it all away.

it's a tired old cliche but it's true that you can't control what others do, only your own reaction to it. And frankly I think some of your reactions are as extreme as to what you ascribe to antis. I mean, you want them to stop celebrating the end of Yashahime. How does that really personally affect you?

A change in perspective as I described earlier goes a long way in not taking anti criticism personally. It even works when you are being personally attacked. I have seen posts about me specifically saying I am a deluded and deranged individual with real life mental health issues just because I think Kagura is the mom. Those people don't know me and I know the truth about myself. So why let someone's unfounded false world view affect me or my fandom experience?

Anyway, you probably just wanted to rant and weren't expecting or wanting this massive response. I hope you find a way to deal with the negativity because it's not completely avoidable but it will die down eventually.