#(the point being mizuki suffering)

[crescentmoonrider]

Hands

"He did not know who she was, would not remember her face once he woke up. Even now, trapped inside of memories he didn’t own anymore, he barely recognized her features. Her hands though, he knew as intimately as the shrapnel they had pulled from his shoulder. Soft and delicate, perfectly manicured, closed tight around Mizuki’s neck with a strength that wasn’t human anymore." For the prompt : Strangling [ @badthingshappenbingo ]

read on AO3

or under the Read More, I'm not your boss

.

Her hands were soft, delicate, obviously unused to manual labour. Nails perfectly manicured, with a subtle, transparent polish. She wanted to be pretty, wanted to be the little lady she was expected to be, play that role to perfection, find what little happiness in it that she could.

Oh, those were such small hands, so unsuited for the gruesome task her accursed fate had pushed her towards.

What a precious child. A little treasure, dressed in beautiful silks, shining eyes so full of deserved rage at her world.

At Mizuki.

He did not know who she was, would not remember her face once he woke up. Even now, trapped inside of memories he didn’t own anymore, he barely recognized her features.

Her hands though, he knew as intimately as the shrapnel they had pulled from his shoulder. Soft and delicate, perfectly manicured, closed tight around Mizuki’s neck with a strength that wasn’t human anymore. He couldn’t feel the ground under his feet, so strong she was, so high she held him up in all her broken hopes and rage.

She hated this world she was born into, and it deserved all the fire and blood she brought onto it.

She hated Mizuki, too, in those last moments. He deserved it.

He deserved so much more still.

She deserved so much more, deserved the world, deserved a place to live that wouldn’t dull her shine, wouldn’t taint her hands and soul in blood far too much like her own.

Ah, Mizuki’s hands were so cold now, so numb. Blood pulsed loudly inside his ears, his skull, his face warm and his throat so sore already.

Her eyes were starting to blur in front of him, melting into such a beautiful ember, highlighted by the fire around them. Mizuki couldn’t make out her face anymore. He knew she was crying anyway, even as her sobs were drowned out by the gurgles and the screams and the crackling fire.

Drowned out by the thumping in Mizuki’s head. The high-pitched noise that could only be heard from the inside of his brain, emerging from his windpipe and into his bones, into his ears, the blood flowing inside of him sounding like the stream he had spent an evening at, listening to truths that sounded so much like the tales of his grandmother, just as much as he listened to the rippling of water against the bedrock.

Who was it that told him these, again ?

Just as the pain of her hands, of her rage, of his sins, was starting to fade, replaced by sweet oblivion and the end of his self, she dropped him.

Mizuki’s lungs burned as he came to at S̶̛͍̺̘̳̜̠̙̟̤̝͆̓̄̒̕͜ä̷̮̟̳̗̩̑̆͊̽̀̀̚͝ÿ̴̡̙͙̯́͐̄̈ö̷̧̯́̐̇̋̍̎̄̍́̂’s screams of agony – no, as he wakes up to Kitarou’s wailing.

He coughs. Feels his knuckles creak as he unwinds them from his own throat. Feels the fire inside his lungs strengthen as air starts to fill them again.

They’re not the right hands, he thinks. Too rough, too big.

He wonders for an instant why this thought would ever come to mind. But Kitarou is crying and it doesn’t matter what Mizuki thinks of his own hands or his own life, not when he has a child to care for.

He will need to wear a scarf to work again today.

[emanation-aura]

I was wondering if you had any thoughts on how little Genshin touches on the traveler & and the abyss sibling? As someone who absolutely adores those characters but who isn’t especially attached to Khanriah I have always found the lack of content about them confusing

mmmm Yeah Traveler and Abyss Twin is possibly my favourite plotline in the game, here are my thoughts:

Traveler is often constrained by the need to be a self-insert, which to some extent, is understandable; Genshin has clearly been set up as a story to be filled by a silent protagonist a la the Player, so trying to ask the devs to change the direction and make Traveler more independent of the player would go against the story they're trying to tell, and I understand this even if I find it a little cheap; it's a staple of the genre.

However, at the same time, Traveler isn't a total blank slate either. Their care and longing for the Abyss Twin has been repeatedly broadcast— first, majorly in We Will Be Reunited, then scattered throughout more story beats and plot points as Genshin has gone on. The most recent examples I can note are: Mualani's Tribal Chronicle (by exploring the meaning of 'the journey' in the context of not being able to find your sibling, which was your original goal):

Arlecchino's SQ (forgive the horrible editing, but I needed to make a point about why 'saying a proper goodbye' is so important to them):

Mizuki's SQ and Citlali's Tribal Chronicle also do similar things, although I won't dither here too long. Other notable examples were the 2.7 Dainsleif Chasm quest (if you recall, the 1% success vs 99% suffering and death regarding hilichurl purification), and Bedtime Story (on moving on from Teyvat, the Sea of Flowers, and about speaking true names). The longing, and the impact of their separation, has been demonstrated in quite a few ways.

(Following from Caribert, which makes the yearning explicitly clear:)

My point being, I think at this point the devs have made the divergence in their paths increasingly obvious through their worldviews and experiences, drip-fed and accumulated over a long period of time. Whatever went down in Khaenri'ah (implied to be some Abyss sorcery/leeching by twin in Wings of Fate's Course Intertwined) inevitably has to be important, because if what our Traveler has experienced in their Teyvat journey has shaped their worldview, then whatever horrible things the Abyss Twin suffered in Khaenri'ah clearly shaped their view enough to do what they are currently doing now. And right now, our journey is more than just finding the Twin; it's more about understanding them, just like we've understood this world.

So while Genshin can't certainly be said to contain a lot of direct content about Traveler and Abyss Twin, I don't think it necessarily... has to? Which is strange for a liker of this plotline, admittedly, because obviously I'd want more (and I do, from a purely personal perspective). But I also understand that the yearning for the sibling is no longer the point of the Traveler's journey; WWBR clearly set out new parameters for why we traverse Teyvat (to experience the world, its cultures, its people, and to love and despair aside them); the true epitome of 'the journey is more important than the destination'.

Most of this plotline is therefore subtextual rather than textual because the direct relationship with the Twin is not the foreground of the story; rather, the desire to Reunite With The Twin forms the background which serves to add narrative tension and tragedy to Teyvat as a whole, whose story is drawing them to an inevitable clash of ideals. It's there, lurking subtly in the background, quietly churning away to periodically remind you of your twin, setting up for higher stakes in the future.

I apologise if this wasn't the answer you were looking for— although I could make a joke about the Traveler's journey and that the answer they were looking for (reuniting) is not actually the true answer to their journey— personally, I'm fine with their current approach, as long as it ramps up towards the end-game (which, it may or may not, but would be useless to speculate on now; whether the stakes are being set up well can't be determined right now because we don't yet have the pay-off).

The fact there's no solid content addressing their relationship seems to also be done under the assumption that the audience automatically understands the bond between siblings (which, for those of you win good relationships to your siblings, yeah), which is fairly natural in my opinion, even if it could probably stand to be expanded more since we barely get any backstory... or if nothing else for the sake of the cynical I don't care about my sibling anymore folks, who are taking away a more extreme version of the "it's not about just the sibling anymore" idea that Genshin is broadcasting. But I digress.

[ace-and-the-rpg-horrors]

a highly ridiculous PJSK event idea

"The Best Day of Akito's Life" except the title is absolute sarcasm. because the other event members are An, Mizuki, Ena and Airi.

the "plot" of the event story is just him being forced to accompany them shopping. that is it. just him suffering and being teased left right and centre. An casually telling Ena about all the subjects he's shit at. Mizuki driving him up the wall as per usual. they probably call Rui at some point to help provide blackmail. even AIRI gets the message to mildly join in. not to mention, he'd be fifth-wheeling Mizuan and Airiena while carrying their bags. he daydreams about fucking off to Sekai the entire time (though his hopes and dreams are shattered when he realises An will know exactly where to find him and drag him back </3)

AND at the end of it, they FORGET him at the bus stop. Ena just doesn't take him home. she spends the entire evening wondering "hmm, i feel like i'm forgetting something... oh shit, there was a sale at that one shop, wasn't there... oh well. next time <3"

meanwhile Akito is sopping wet and cold in the rain. still waiting for them. he nipped into a little bookshop for ONE second and returned like "sure hope Toya'll like this novel i got hi- where the actual FUCK did The Lesbians GO-"

and. why not make Akito the. THE EVENT 2* while we're at it. <3 (3* Airi and 4* Ena, Mizuki and An)

[mizuki-foreshadowing]

What Lies Behind / What Lies Ahead, Episode 8

Ena corners Mizuki on the rooftop. Mizuki running away from her feelings, and herself, has been killing her, and Ena needs Mizuki to know that she's there for her, no matter what, and no matter how long it takes. Mizuki, ashamed, takes advantage of her vow.

At the end of Episode 7, Ena exclaims how hard it was to find Mizuki. She had to go to Mizuki's class during the daytime to get it out of An where Mizuki could be running away to, since Mizuki wouldn't answer her phone or Nightcord messages. Mizuki, in her despair, dreads that Ena found out her secret, either from An who may disclose it if Mizuki is in danger, or from talking about Mizuki in front of her classmates, and that Ena may have come to the rooftop to confront her about her being trans. It isn't the case that Ena knows, and Mizuki puts her mask back on, if Ena is still in the dark.

Ena is sick of Mizuki's shameless excuses to throw her off track or distract her. Mizuki is causing her real distress at this point, and can no longer avoid a serious conversation.

Ena dredges back up the moment in Secret Distance, where she woke up on the train and caught a glimpse of Mizuki in deep emotional distress. Mizuki has tried to sweep that moment under the rug; it is her choice to self-destructively keep her Nightcord friends at an emotional distance, to live in a brief, happy world where people interact with her having no idea she's trans, a world she's content to lose eventually if that's the cost.

Mizuki retorts that whatever was going on that day does not concern Ena specifically, and to let it rest. But that's where Mizuki's wrong; she's is an important part of Ena's life whether either of them want her to be or not. Mizuki hurting herself is now something that hurts Ena, so Ena can't let it lie.

Mizuki doesn't want to be responsible for Ena wanting to help her, but Ena tells Mizuki that Ena has seen the same behavior from Mizuki. Mizuki gets involved with Mafuyu's and Kanade's lives; she wants to help them and there's no trouble as long as she's able to maintain her own distance while doing it, so the connection is comfortably one-way. Whether Mizuki teaching Miku cat's cradle had anything to do with Miku cutting the strings off the marionette, Mizuki also helps Mafuyu reach her breakthrough in Mirage of Light, and Mizuki jumps to sincerely help Kanade out of her low point in Carnation Recollection. Ena is telling Mizuki that Mizuki is a part of this now, whether she wants to be or not, and that this today is Mizuki being in danger and Ena being moved to help her. Mizuki may want to stay distant, but she failed. The true feelings she's been afraid to face since Secret Distance is that she wants lifelong friends.

Mizuki stumbles on Ena's word 'friend' said with complete conviction, finally revealing Mizuki indeed does not consider Ena close enough to be a friend. There are two dimensions to this; Mizuki is faced with the truth that Ena is attached to her even if she isn't, and that Ena is certain they're friends despite having knowing that she has no idea who Mizuki really is. Ena knows now that she has a different picture of who Mizuki is because of how much of herself she hides, but she still believes she knows enough about her to say with conviction that they're friends. This doubles back to Episode 3, where Mizuki hates herself feeling like she's deceiving people who she could be having deep bonds with; she is deceiving Ena but Ena wants to have a deep bond regardless.

Mizuki has risked confiding to people her secret before, and Ena has, finally, proven to Mizuki that she is someone who wants to be her friend no matter what her secret is. She's ready.

However, what stops her is her counterpart in SEKAI, Meiko, who suffers from the same paralyzing indecision and worry that Mizuki does. Despite Meiko reflecting in Episode 6 that her methods won't be able to save Mizuki, and instead trying out Luka's approach, sending Ena with no information to recklessly try to get something else to happen, Meiko's own advice she still saw fit to give, ends up sabotaging her.

"Sometimes, talking can make things worse." is the worst thing that Mizuki could hear right now. She needs to do what Meiko and herself are fundamentally opposed to do: take a leap of faith and to risk the unknowable consequences. But sometimes, talking can make things worse. Mizuki shies away from the moment, and doesn't tell Ena her secret.

Ena makes, perhaps knowingly, the same promise Kanade made to Mafuyu, to never give up on Mizuki and to wait for her to be ready to confide her secret to her when she's finally ready to. Like Kanade, Ena is terrified Mizuki will disappear if she doesn't do something drastic.

Does this narratively highlight that Mizuki and Mafuyu have different needs emotionally and that what saves one harms the other? Or does Mizuki's reaction to Ena's promise draw a parallel to the much more elusive thought pattern in Mafuyu? I can't say, but it's always been in the back of my mind whether Mafuyu would finally say it when a new song Kanade wrote for her saves her.

Ena shows Mizuki she does not make that kind of promise lightly, and Mizuki believes her. But the promise Ena made was wrong for Mizuki; being promised time, for Mizuki, will only feed into her doubts and freeze her in indecision. Mizuki is once more, precisely where she was five episodes ago in Episode 3: she knows in her heart that Ena will accept her but the next step is one that only she can decide to take.

And the result is precisely the same.

The promise was wrong for Ena as well. She meant it when she made it, but waiting for Mizuki to open up is what's been causing Ena so much pain. I don't know whether Ena expected her promise to be what got Mizuki to confide the secret to her, but when Mizuki finally refuses to give it then, it's Ena who runs away.

The promise was wrong, because, Mizuki lies to Ena's face that she'll confide her secret once she's finally ready to. Ena's promise, which Mizuki knows Ena is serious about and willing to honor, means the same as the promise Kanade made to Mafuyu: until Mafuyu tells Kanade that a song has saved her, Kanade will never give up on trying to reach through to her.

In other words, Ena has promised to give Mizuki the deeper bond she's been yearning for without requiring her to give up her secret; in Mizuki's own words she'll stay her friend forever if she never tells her. Mizuki would never need to risk the idea of rejection or to ever leave her comfort zone.

Mizuki knows she can't stop herself from taking advantage of that, and she wishes, for Ena's sake, that somebody else reveal her secret for her.

[mimikyuno]

no but the more i think about it the more i realize how fundamentally different mizu5 was from ANYTHING ELSE in the and i think it’s no coincidence that it was the FIRST event to happen right after the 4th anni event

first of, the visual storytelling had such a different vibe compared to previous events. just look at this scene: the flashbacks, the zooming in, the camera movements, the heartbeat etc. also they zoomed in on mizuki’s 2D model during the confrontation in the corridor, and for the first time a character’s 2D model turned their head to the audience. the most obvious novelty was however the pop up warning before reading ch 8, and mizuki’s subsequent disappearance from the “real world”, the sparkle disappearing, her having new voicelines, and her chibi now isn’t smiling anymore.

the way this event affects the actual game is in my opinion mind blowing – when mafuyu was struggling with masking and was going through it, her chibi was always smiling no matter where we were in the story. but more on this in a second.

in my opinion, even the song and cards feel different somehow, tho i cant rly put my finger on it tbh!! i think the song feels different bc like the actors were allowed even more freedom to sing completely in character? and the lyrics are linked to the story more directly than bf imo! though in all fairness, this might be my recency bias and forgetting being mindblown by how well certain producers captured the story (theater….)

but yeah i genuinely do not think it is a coincidence that all of these new storytelling gimmicks are introduced in the first event after 4th anni. i genuinely think mizuki’s event might mark a new era when it comes to prsk event, with more dynamic storytelling and affecting the real world that the kids inhabit. and i think mizuki5 was the PERFECT event to kickstart this as it was A. long due and B. it’s key relevance in niigo’s story.

and all this got me thinking about how in niigo’s story, mafuyu was the central catalyst – she’s the reason they all meet irl for the first time, her suffering brings them all closer together, and by helping her, the other girls also get character development; mizuki understands that running away was her salvation, but also that it is not the final solution, and finds the resolution to come out (sobsob), kanade finds purpose in “saving” mafuyu, but also now that mafuyu is healing at her place, she’s starting to be able to think of herself, while ena slowly learns to get over her insecurities (she felt threatened by mafuyu bc she was so talented and ena felt so worthless, and getting over her complex helps gain courage and confidence). however, after mizu5, mizuki becomes the “protagonist” (allow me the term) of niigo. and im wondering if this is how the devs will keep the story running even as the kids grow up. i wonder if at some points we’ll get a new game-breaking event that switches the main focus in niigo in a couple of years. i wonder if some characters that are given a bit less backstory in other units will get a similar treatment… also i rly want to see all these kids go to uni 😭

in other words, i wonder if this is just a new era in the storytelling and gameplay of prsk!! bc i genuinely cant see the game ending any time soon, as it’s still so very popular and getting even more popular if that is possible (and like, mizu5 actually brought in lots of new players!). also, ngl it would be a bit weird if mizuki were the only character, out of a cast of 20, to get this treatment (tho she deserves it uwu)

and idk im just very excited to see how the storytelling and gameplay related to the stories evolve from here on!

[shiraishi-kanade]

Interactions that I want to see in proseka: An Shiraishi edition

Buckle up, folks. This is gonna be a long one.

New interactions

An & Kanade: this is actually more of a biased one (in a "I want to see two of my favourite characters interact" way), but I really hope to see more of them. An and Kanade are aware of each other's existence through Mizuki and the Twilight Festival event, but it's very surface level and I really want their potential to be explored more.

Despite appearing very different on the surface level and leading very different lifestyles, An and Kanade have been foils to each other basically since launch. They both grew up surrounded by music; they both have, and have shown since a very young age, a prominent talent in it (singing and composing respectively); they're both extremely passionate about what they do and are very hardworking, to the point of sacrificing their own well-being to it (a trait that, interestingly, more like early Kanade, but more recent An), and they also have a shared topic of grief.

Both An and Kanade suffered a loss of a loved one that impacted them deeply, and both of them choose to, at least to some extent, repress their own feelings regarding that. While I don't think their interaction/event should necessarily touch on that topic, I think it would be good for the both of them to have a friend who can relate to something that horrifying and personal.

(Additionally, while we didn't know what killed Kanade's mom, we know it was some kind of illness, and chances are it'll be same/similar to what killed Nagi. If Kanade shared how it was for her to witness her mom slowly fading away... I think that would make for an interesting conversation.)

Honestly, I'd take just about anything with those two, from grief and angst to composing and potentially even light-hearted event like Spojoy Park. I just really want them to meet properly.

An & Emu: Genki girls!! They are very dear to me personally despite not having met properly yet. They're also the reason I'm upset An has moved on from disciplinary committee: missed opportunity for her to catch Emu sneaking in! They would be fun to be around each other, I think, once An would get used to Emu's manner of speech (which she also somewhat shares, as shown in Nuanced Language sidestory. An being able to understand Emu-language from the get go would be a hilarious twist)

On the more serious note! Emu and An have a lot of shared themes, especially those of loneliness and abandonment issues, and also the way they chose to deal with those feelings. A lot of people say they're suppressing their emotions; I'm rather inclined to say they're avoiding them. If faced with each other who are, in a way, a reflection of their flaws, they might not be able to avoid it anymore - I think that would potentially be a very insightful interaction for them.

Moreover, they (along with a couple other characters, like Touya and Kanade, although for them it's much more minor) share the topic of legacy. Both of them lost a close one that has left behind a dream and both of them, voluntarily, stepped up to keep it alive. I think in that regard An and Emu would be able to understand each other in a very unique way. They have way more to their possible friendship than it seems on a surface level.

An & Mafuyu: one of An's most defining character traits is being a good friend and accepting of everyone - more than that, she earnestly believes she could accept all people if she tried hard enough. I think, for Mafuyu, having a friend, or even an acquaintance like that, someone who is put off by her behaviour and overall mannerisms but actively tries to understand her and be friends with her despite that, as well as someone who is so passionate about a dream she has she build her whole life around it, would be very useful.

(this is also the reason I hold a grudge with 2024 White Day event. It's beautiful and fun and all but An's not had a limited card for over a year and haven't had neither Valentine's nor White day, I thought FOR SURE this one. We could have had it all :( )

An & Saki: similar to An and Emu, both of them have a lot of both serious and comedic potential. They're lively, they're athletic, they're passionate about music - there is no feasible reason for them to not hit it off right away when they meet. I don't quite imagine the rest of their groups being able to keep up with their energy.

Still, underneath that energy, there is an underlying topic of loneliness that they both went through, and although An's is incomparable to Saki's, I think there would be this kind of understanding between them, too. While being extroverted and having a lot of friends, An has spend years searching for "her" person without success up until main story. I don't think she had any actual, deep bonds with peers going on in her life aside Haruka. Having a close-knit, big friend group might just be what both An and Saki have missed out on in middle school. That's an interesting observation, isn't it?

More of That, please (Already know each other but I want to see them More)

An & Haruka: in terms of Haruka and An, I really want to see more backstory for them. I know we've already seen it briefly, but there is so much more to it. How close were they? Did Haruka know Nagi in person or from description? What is Haruka's relationship with Vivid Street? Did she go to WEG to sort her thoughts out because An was there, or because it has a connection to her, too (The Non-Idol Me sidestory)? Did they grow more distant throughout Junior High? There is much to unpack here still!

And also, I just like their friendship overall and think we're really lacking their area interactions and accidental meetings, stuff like that. There should definitely be more.

An & Rui: the sillies. Now that An isn't a hall monitor I expect her to take absolute delight in Rui's antics.

They've performed together a total of three times (if we count the New Year show, even though it was more of a Tsukasa stage) and all of them went spectacularly. An is just the right amount of impulsive and reckless to be someone who's able to meet Rui's ideas halfway and match his energy, even though she's normally skeptical about it when she isn't a part of the performance. Hell, An even jokingly mentions becoming an actress!

I think they definitely should interact more and I want it to be utterly ridiculous. It's a shame it didn't happen a little earlier in Rui's story, but, for example, An (together with some other characters) doing acting gigs for Rui could be extremely fun.

An & Tsukasa: both the comedic and the serious angst potential is there; An's and Tsukasa's recent arcs do align quite nicely even though they're not exactly the same. They could probably have a nice conversation about it.

I think it's also fun to see An not realising that she comes off just as loud and pushy to other people as Tsukasa seems to her. But they definitely do have the same energy! I really liked Let's Study Hard and the New Year's Show for that; they're extremely passionate and Tsukasa admires An's passion and skill - I wish they elaborated on this more!

Also, An should definitely have something going on with Tsukasa with her passing the role of the hall monitor to him, especially with Rui around. No way they won't even mention it.

An & Shiho: they had an awesome time together during the In The Corner of Resonant Town and I'm BEGGING for them to get closer as friends. From fashion sense to music to their personal issues, they have a lot in common. I think they've had their share of deep talks and I'm not exactly looking for that anymore; something more relaxed like a jam session or just hanging out is another thing, thought.

An & Ichika: I'm biased in a way that I love them and I also think it would be very funny for Ichika to have a second vocal teacher. Ichika & Nene are very dear to my heart, but as things stand, An should canonically be more skilled in vocals (while Nene is definitely a superior actor) and her skillset probably fits Ichika's genre better. And An was teaching Kohane at the start, so we know she knows how to! There is no particular motive behind it other than I want to see them together more and I think that would be a perfect way for them to get closer.

Additionally, Shiho mentioned how An must be experienced in MCing and how there must be a lot they can learn from her. That. I want that to happen so badly.

An & Nene: no thought head empty just please more of them. Especially singing. I want them to sing together again, I loved hearing Nene's little monologue and I like the way Nene was able to give An tips on acting and singing while acting; they're extremely sweet, they're polar opposites while also being similar in a bizarre way, and I really want the writers to go all in with the classmates thing.

[silverteacups]

The Metamorphosis and Nightcord at 25

FAIRLY LONG POST!

Part 2

LYRICS "How do I look like now? Am I unsightly? Of course I am."

This doesn't just represent Mizuki, but Mafuyu. This is also why they were the two to sing Villain - and no, I'm not talking about the trans Mafuyu headcanons. I'd love for that to happen, but I don't think that's what it's about. For Mizuki, it's about how people feel about their secret. They disgust people by being themself, and if Mafuyu were her "true self", she'd probably do the same. A lot of people - namely her mum - accept as the person she's forced to be, not the person she is. In the 3DMV, Mizuki holds up their hand, looks at it, then faces the camera and smiles. I am still human. I am still myself. I can see it clearly. What do you see that I don't? ""I beg you, please don't throw the apples at me." They Lock up, Lock up to themselves-""

In The Metamorphosis, Gregor Samsa's father throws apples at him. One badly injures him, and this line is referring to exactly that. Don't hurt me. Don't turn your backs on me. Don't treat me like filth.

"Of course, I couldn't even have a proper fight with you."

This, obviously, refers to Mafuyu and her mum. When it comes to Gregor Samsa, it might refer to how he can't even communicate with his family. He has no way to defend himself, to explain what he's doing, to explain how much he's struggling. He is suffering, his family is pretty much shaming him for it, and he can't even tell them.

"It's not a joke! Don't eat my dreams away!"

Ena and Mafuyu both got the full line, just to clarify (+ KAITO). I'm not gonna link it to Gregor this time, just point out how this links to Mafuyu's mum not letting her have the career she wants, and Ena's dad discouraging her in terms of her art.

"It's as if you're biting into the apple, Sa-sa-Samsa."

Again, Mafuyu and Mizuki both sang the full line (+ KAITO). Gregor never took out that apple, I don't think - he left it to rot. To me, this symbolises self-sabotage, feeding off something that has hurt you beyond repair. Mafuyu and her mum, for instance - despite everything leading up to the events in Immiscible Discord (and then Saying Goodbye to My Masked Self), she can't hate her. In fact, multiple times before this event, Mafuyu has tried to make it clear that she still very much loves her.

"Even if I'll become a shadow of my former self, I'm right here."

Kanade got this line, but I still think it suits Mafuyu more. Even if she's not the person she acted like she was, even if she'll never be seen the same way, she's still Mafuyu. She can change her name, she can change her appearance, whatever she wants, but that shouldn't change how people feel about her. That shouldn't make her mum turn on her. That shouldn't change anything. In the 3DMV, for this and the next line, the focus is on Kanade and Mafuyu only. These lines are about them. What I've said about Mafuyu, but also Kanade's determination to save her.

"Even if I'm poisoned by the fringed iris."

I spoke about this here. TL;DR: The fringed iris (otherwise know as the butterfly flower) is poisonous and was used around castles to slow enemies. Here, it could refer to Mafuyu's mum again. Putting up walls to protect herself will only do so much, and eventually they'll come crashing down, and it'll only hurt her more. In the 3DMV, she also does a motion like eating an apple, which links back to the biting into the apple point I made. "The light is there, at 25:00 (1 a.m.). Now drag along your tail, Sa-sa-sa-sa-Samsa."

Again, the Samsa is sang by everyone at the same time. Gregor Samsa, as time goes on, finds it far harder to even move. Struggle through your pain, basically, because you'll find that light at the end, at 25:00 - when their group meets up. Again, probably a reference to Kanade trying to save her. Also, During her line, Ena's the only one shown reaching for the light. This could be because she's the only one who's been really and truly saved. Does her art frustrate her? Does she still encounter hardships? Of course she does. But she can face them now, properly. She doesn't have that desire to disappear anymore. Look at I nandesu - she sees beauty in the world, in herself, in love, in her art, in everything.

CARDS

I've already pointed out the fringed iris, but also that it could be a japanese iris, which represents hope. Then you have Mafuyu, the butterfly. Unlike Samsa, she hasn't changed into a "hideous" creature. She's a beautiful one, in fact. There are other butterflies put on display. I don't think this represents Mafuyu's true self - it shows her "masked self". The one that everyone admires. In this event, Kanade is trying to save Mafuyu from her mum, but from the perspective of her mum, she's not doing that. She's only holding her back. Trapping her. The way I see it, this set is seeing them the way Mafuyu's mum would. Kanade, the charwoman, with her white hair and the almost completely vertical feathers in her hat. At first, the charwoman is the only one not disgusted by Gregor, the only one who has seen the worst and isn't fazed by him, but she turns his room into a dump. A cave. That's what Mafuyu's mum is seeing - someone with good intentions, maybe, but she is ruining Mafuyu's life by making music with her and distracting her from her studies, and Mafuyu sees it only as kindness. Also, unlike the charwoman, she's kept the furniture there. She's keeping what makes Mafuyu comfortable, even if (at least in her mum's eyes) it restricts her.

When Mafuyu's mum interacted with Ena, she actually got a good impression of her. Ena had to force herself to mention her dad. She told her mum she'd be using Mafuyu as a model. Ena doesn't represent someone from the Metamorphosis, I don't think. Rather, she draws what Mafuyu's mum can't see - her daughter's pain. The fringed iris that keeps her mother from her true self. The apples she's thrown at her so many times. The mirror that Mafuyu has looked into so many times, and seen the same thing each time. She draws these in books, because Mafuyu's studying, the pressure from her mum, all of it, that's where a lot of that pain comes from.

Don't think they've ever interacted with Mafuyu's mum, but if she knew their secret, this is what she'd see. Someone who seems like a friend, trying to poison her. The opposite of Kanade, basically. This is also a good way to show how people in general see Mizuki, or, certainly, trans people. Mizuki and Mafuyu are both Samsa, and Ena and Kanade are both the charwoman (if you ignore the part where she dehumanises Gregor and such). Also, note the spider necklace. Ena is the only other one with this, with some sort of insect. Gregor finds, at some point, that he can just climb up walls and onto ceilings. In fact, he quite enjoys it. Even then, though space would help, part of him didn't want to have the furniture taken because he's still attached to it. He's still human. That's the thing here. Mizuki has been dehumanised. Mizuki has disgusted people for being themself. They're no less human, yet people continue to act like that's the case.

Samsa, Mafuyu and Mafuyu's Mum

Mafuyu's mum is everyone, really, who isn't Samsa. Maybe not all to start with, but definitely towards the end of the story. I'll go through the list:

Grete, his sister - she started to see taking care of him as a chore, and was the one to propose letting him die.

His dad - after a series of events, he mistakes Gregor's actions for being harmful, throws the apples at him like I mentioned previously. He never cared about his son - he cared about the man who made them money, who provided for them, who was a human. Not the man who didn't appear human, nor the man who loved him even if he couldn't say so, even if he could do nothing to show it.

His mum - so desperate to see him, but disgusted when she did. She loved him still, but she didn't grieve his loss. Rather, she was relieved.

The charwoman later on - She's blunt. She doesn't care about how Gregor feels, because he's been reduced to just a thing. He's dead? Happens to every other insect. No big deal.

And then Mafuyu, of course is Samsa.

Even if other people can accept who she is, what about her parents? Her mum, especially. Will she ever see her the same? Will she ever love her again? Will she ever get that approval again? What happens if she stops meeting the high expectations she set? What happens when she tries to run, when she tries to talk, when she tries to rebel? Will she die thinking of her mum, still, rather than those who truly care for her, and herself? Will her mum continue to hurt her? Is it even intentional? If she could just speak properly, find the right words, could that solve everything, or will it never be enough? If she gives herself away, does that erase any chance she ever had of coming back from it, if that chance was even there to begin with?

[amiya-shirou]

The other day I made a small post comparing Friston from Arknights to the Master of the Crypt from the manga version of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. It's time for the sequel: the Seaborn and the Ohmu (again, huge spoilers for both series).

At the beginning I thought it was mostly surface similarities: all the insects from the Sea of Corruption share a hive mind and can feel the pain and suffering of their kin, caring about their own to the point that swarms of insects go into a frenzy and attack humans if they hurt any of them, which is enough to compare them with Seaborn on a very basic level, probably shared by many such creatures in fantasy and sci-fi. But as the story goes on, the Ohmu start sharing more and more points with the Seaborn's deeper lore.

Let's start with the big stuff: it's revealed that the Ohmu were created by the super-advanced science of the old world, and their main goal is to spread the Sea of Corruption, a huge forest able to purify all the poisons and toxins present in the very earth itself and over the course of millennia restore the post-apocalyptic planet of Nausicaä to an uncontaminated paradise. The way they do spread the Sea of Corruption is with their death: their carcasses become food for the fungi while also acting as the forest floor for the plants to take root, thus they are "eaten" by the fungi which are in turn "eaten" by the trees. Not only is this form of progression and proliferation of life through consumption very Seaborn-core, the end result resembles what we see in the 4th Ending for Mizuki & Caerula Arbor.

While not as bad as the world of Nausicaä, a major component of Arknights' wordbuilding is that Terra is overall a very inhospitable place to mankind, plagued by catastrophes and the never-ending threat of Originium corrupting everything and everyone it touches. Yet the sea not only resists its powers (fun fact: the titular Valley of the Wind is also said to be safe from the toxins due to the clean winds coming from the sea), the Seaborn have been shown to be capable of completely neutralizing it, which is a big deal since finding a cure for Oripathy is Rhodes Island's ultimate objective. And in the hypothetical ending where the Seaborn expand their dominion to the land, forcing humanity to live isolated and secluded to escape them (just like in Nausicaä), at the end of their evolutionary cycle they heal the entire world, just like the Sea of Corruption aims to do, leaving a paradise for the remnants of humanity to live in. In both cases it's at the same time a symbol of "nature" (with all the good and bad it entails for the human race) prevailing on the technology that had doomed the world and a sign of hope for the remnants of civilization that reached a good ending after so many years of suffering and resisting.

But even without delving into the hypotheticals of IS3, a thematic connection can be seen as soon as Stultifera Navis. Despite its more antagonistic nature, the Church of the Deep shares a similarity with the Forest People who chose to live amidst the Sea of Corruption and renounced civilization, with the insects seemingly extending their concept of kinship to them, even allowing the Forest People to eat some of their eggs to survive; the same way in which the Seaborn allow humans to become their kin, going as far as letting themselves or parts of themselves be eaten by them. Nausicaä herself, despite being a kind person with endless love and compassion for her fellow humans, feels extremely close to the Ohmu and is able to communicate with them, seeing them as nobler than mankind. Which is understandable, considering that despite the hostility of the earth itself, the world she lives in is still plagued by wars and all the violence humans insist on inflicting on each other, with the foolishness of war being a core theme of the manga. And not only does Arknights share the same message, it's very likely the reason why Amaia chose to side with the Seaborn, and in general why so many humans side with them: in the sea there are no boundaries, no nations, no classes, no categories. The level of kinship acquired by the Seaborn is something mankind envies, no matter how much of a danger they pose to us, and indeed forming some kind of instinctual hive mind or deeper connection between individuals in order to stop such conflicts is a desire that has manifested in Arknights in many forms, ranging from Dorothy's Transmitter to the Law of Laterano to the Black Crown, and is also Arturia's ultimate objective.

TL;DR I want to see how someone like Nausicaä would choose to interact with the Seaborn, since they're a much more active threat to humans compared to the Ohmu despite sharing so many things with them.

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

KOTORI MIZUKI/TORI MEADOWS (YU-GI-OH! ZEXAL)

1.) first: ygo zexal is directed (and partially written) by known misogynist shin yoshida who is on record as saying that he would Never write female characters if he wasn’t being forced to by higher-ups. kotori’s voice actor signed a legal contract forcing him to include her character in Every Single Episode. she gets no duels that aren’t tag duels (2v2 duels), one of those is interrupted in the middle and all others she both loses, aren’t even shown in full, and all happen in the same episode. she is literally contractually required to be a major character and the dude in charge still point blank refuses to do anything with her despite the fact that she’s supposed to be the female lead of the series. please take pity on her for being handed to one of the worst people in the world and how despite the active attempts by other people to make her relevant in the story she was still denied that

2.) She only dueled once in the whole show and it was when she was brainwashed. Her main role is to only cheer the male protag on and say his name during his duels I guess.

IRIS SAGAN (AI: THE SOMNIUM FILES) (CW: Inappropriate Age Gaps)

1.) Listen I'm sure other ladies have it worse but Iris… and as an extension several other girls in AITSF… she deserves so much better. First of all she's a DANCER and she's wearing HEELS AND A TINY SKIRT character designer can you please go easy on her. She's suffering. Give her shorts at least. Second of all she's 18 and she has not one but TWO adult men who want to date her and constantly make comments about it!!!

This is… emblematic of a writing problem, because they KEEP MAKING MEN WHO WANT TO DATE 18 YEAR OLDS. This is partially a character trait thing for the two men, sure, but like. The game also makes jokes about her forcing the main character Date (who is 30) on dates even though she's later revealed to (unknowingly to either of them) be his relative slash daughter figure, kind of sort of. It's complicated. And like, part of the game is recovering his lost memories from amnesia and he gets these rapid heartbeats whenever he remembers, and because his past is tied to Iris I've had to reassure people playing the game the first time that his heart is NOT rapidly beating around her because he's attracted to her. I shouldn't HAVE to do that because the game should be NORMAL about her, but. no. The writing of the game is very clear that men in their mid-20s and later are attracted to this girl, so how should we expect Date be different? Astounding how shitty the writing is regarding that, especially because one of those men (Moma) isn't even creepy until the epilogue AND THEN IN THE SEQUEL HIS ENTIRE PERSONALITY IS THAT HE WANTS TO MARRY HER. SHE'S HALF HIS AGE.

As for her writing itself… She does get a lot of focus overall in the first game (she has an entire route of the game focused on her! Yippee!) but a lot of it is based on said forcing Date to date her, and she dies at the end of her route. I actually like her route but it IS the least conclusive of the route in the first game. In the SEQUEL though oh my god. I'm still bitter that they HEAVILY advertised her as being in the game and then she was BARELY IN IT she was just there to a) have her shitty father be relevant for 0.5 seconds and b) have men creep on her. Okay maybe that's an exaggeration but ONE OF THE MAIN CHARACTERS IS SOMEONE SHE SEES AS A SISTER. TWO OF THE OTHER MAJOR CHARACTERS ARE HER BEST FRIENDS. WHERE DID SHE GO. They barely show her with her friends too like her friends are hanging out ALSO with shitty adult men with romantic interest in them (see. writing problem.) BUT LIKE I'M SO PISSED OFF FOR IRIS ESPECIALLY BECAUSE I LOVE HER. The first game literally has her have delusions about a secret society Naix hunting her down. The second game has The Real Naix be a major organization and antagonistic force. It just feels wrong to not have her… be important… at all… when she's the only reason Naix was mentioned in the first game at all…….

But like. Mostly the issue is that JESUS CHRIST THESE ADULT MEN NEED TO LEAVE HER ALONE AND THE WRITERS WON'T LET HER TELL THEM OFF OR EVEN REALIZE THEY'RE INTERESTED IN HER HALF THE TIME. IRIS PLEASE GET BETTER PEOPLE TO HANG OUT AROUND, LIKE YOUR FRIENDS WHO YOU'RE ONLY SEEN ONSCREEN WITH FOR 5 MINUTES.

2.) (AITSF Spoilers) The male characters often make unnecessary and uncomfortable sexual remarks towards Iris, especially with her status as an 18-year-old internet idol. These men include her close friend (24), an ally yakuza boss (48), and the protagonist (42), who is later revealed to have been her surrogate father figure.

There are also smaller but baffling choices around her writing, such as her framing tagging along with the protagonist as a date, and her route centering conspiracy theories in contrast to the relatively grounded and emotional stories of the other characters. (The latter part is contextualized in-game but is still a jarring tonal shift for the first-time player).

3.) Iris, like almost all returning characters from AITSF, is a victim of the sequel - The Nirvana Initiative - being afraid of spoiling the first game and letting the characters keep their development from the first game and grow past that. It just so happens that the hit Iris' character takes makes elements of misogyny from the first game all the worse. So, Iris in the first game at first glance can be dismissed as a dumb internet idol. This is particularly reinforced by her belief in outlandish conspiracy theories. However, the game gives her depth by revealing that she has a brain tumor (which has caused delusions) and knows that her time is limited as well as delving into her backstory and the impact it has had on her. She gets the tumor healed at the end of the first game, there's a 6-year time skip in the second, and she… acts the complete same and has basically the same beliefs. And she has so few scenes that she really is reduced to a shallow, vapid character. I'm not even sure she had a chance to react to her father figure 'dying.' The first game had an issue with male characters being creepily into Iris the idol. Ota, who is 24, endears himself to the 18-year-old Iris by making sock puppet social media accounts that insult her only for him to swoop in with his main account and defend her. The main character does not think that it is important to tell her about this breach in trust. Moma, who is 48 years old, is also a big fan of hers. While it's mostly (mostly) an endearing character trait in the first game, in Nirvana Initiative, Moma has mainly been reduced to his interest in Iris (who he refers to once as his "future wife"). His only plot significant contribution is made by using a voice changer to sound like her. The implications of his original plan for that voice changer skeeves me out. The other characters, by the way, are pretty ambivalent about this.

[mimiso-soup]

Sekai character parallels I think about a lot in the game. Very long rambling, so more under the cut! If I'm wrong about anything, please correct me! It's been a while since I've read some of the stories in Sekai, so I'm going based off on memory.

(I'm learning how to use Tumblr and I wanted to try to use "Read More". This is so neat :D!)

- Saki & Emu = They both had something majorly depressing in their lives: for Saki, it was not being able to see her friends properly and missing a lot of experiences in her youth: meanwhile, Emu lost her grandfather, the only person who really understood her, and trying to go against her father & brothers who had different views on 'Phoenix Wonderland' than her (then about the whole Wanshow disbanding thing, but that's a later thing).

Despite all this, they try to hide their troubles and negativity under genuine smiles and pure happiness. This doesn't necessarily mean they are depressed, but sometimes they have their times when they get really sad over such things. This happens at times where something really negative happens (like most of Saki's L/n focus events and I believe Emu's first event as well, but it's been a while since I've read that story so I can't really remember. But she does cry in her fourth event, too, so that counts for something), but the thing is, that suck at hiding their sadness tbh. (Again, I don't believe it's them hiding any sort of depression. It's them getting overwhelmed with negativity and not wanting to hurt others with it.) Fortunately, they have close friends who care a lot about them and get them through their troubles!

- Honami & Mafuyu = I remember seeing someone talk about this on Twitter, and I've spoken about this parallel friends a lot. They both help other people, but at the beginning of their stories, neither would say they were truly close to anyone until Honami properly reunited with L/n while Mafuyu gradually becomes closer with Niigo.

The difference is that Mafuyu never had an identity of who she really is that she made herself while Honami has one, but she's a people pleaser and afraid of being disliked. (Like me-)

What a lot of people seem to forget about Honami that she was asked by Kanade if she ever thought about "disappearing." She said yes, meaning at some point, she had depression. Gradually, with the help of her friends, Honami has become stronger in herself. She still says yes to things (like the event where she was helping at the kindergarten for art despite being unable to draw herself), but she's growing stronger with the help of her friends and does truly enjoy helping others because that's who she is.

Meanwhile, Mafuyu is not there yet and can't exactly heal at the moment since she is still suffering due to her mother. Not to mention, she needs to put on an entire "good girl face" whenever she's talking to others outside of Niigo because she's still being seen as "the ideal girl."

- Tsukasa & Minori = I think it's interesting how they're so similar yet not many people mention it. They are both a positive manifestation of "We'll get rejected multiple times, but we won't let it bring us down! We'll keep pushing forward and one day, we will be rewarded with something even better than we dreamed of!"

For Minori, she had dreams of being an idol, but it was beyond her dreams to be in an idol group with three former idols who all regained the love for being an idol they thought she had lost and want to be an idol group together. Meanwhile, with Tsukasa, he aims to be a star, and while he's still aiming to be one, he managed to find a theater troupe who he can be himself with and still grow bigger together.

- Mizuki and Ena & Rui and Nene = I saw an amazing thread on Twitter comparing MizuEna & RuiNene parallels where MizuRui stubbornly hide themselves and their feelings because they know what it's like to be hurt for being different and they care too much about those they are close with and not wanting to hurt others. This is different from Saki & Emu because while you can tell something is wrong with MizuRui, they refuse to say anything at all.

The only difference is that Minori doesn't always have confidence in herself (not tonsay that she doesn't have any at all, it's just there are times where she lacks it) while Tsukasa has too much and needed to be humbled.

With Ena & Nene, they are both different in their ways since Ena is as equally stubborn in helping others and can be a bit forceful at times, but she has learned that it takes time for some to open up and that "she'll wait for whenever Mizuki is ready." With Nene, she can tell when something is wrong with Rui because even when they grew distant for a while, they're childhood friends and neighbours. It feels that whenever Nene asks, Rui denies his feelings, and she doesn't exactly push but still watches over him.

This is interesting because you can tell that MizuRui care so much about EnaNene especially (not saying they don't care abt the others in their units, it's just those two in particular due to their relationship).

- Airi & Akito = The Shinonomes are already quite similar, so I wanted to talk about others.

When we're first introduced to Airi & Akito, they both have a "mean front" with Airi saying, "What makes you think you're fit for being an idol?" and Akito asking, "Are you really putting your all into it?" to Minori & Kohane specifically.

This is because they want others to be putting their all into things that they share equal passion in and not those who are only putting in "minimum effort" due to their own self-worth issues of Airi being an idol but her agency trying to turn her morn into a "TV personality" while Akito wants to prove his worth in music.

This is interesting because with the person they're closest to (Shizuku & Toya), they fight with them because they care so much, and they resolve it because they do care so much. They prove to be friendly and amusing afterwards with many times both AiriAki having moments going "Guys, we have to be reasonable, nO DON'T DO THAT-"

And that's all I have for now! This is a super long ramble so thank you for taking the time to read!

[nijigasakilove]

Weekly dose of my fave totally not lesbians!! So proud of Hana for overcoming her anxiety and having a good radio broadcast with Kyoko!

I think she suffers from something a lot of naturally gifted people do. When you’re so used to being told you’re good at something and then you get to a place where everyone else is good, you sometimes retreat into your shell and get insecure. Not that Hana is jealous of the other members, but just seeing how good Mizuki, Kyoko and the others are definitely made her a bit insecure and nervous. Mizuki is a great senpai who wants to help Hana grow, but sometimes you need a different tool for a different situation. Kyoko was a much better advisor for the radio broadcast itself as she helped Hana settle in and just be herself.

I thought this was about to become Shokugeki no soma when Kyoko started having a fangasm over classic literature lmao. She really brings up a good point about just reading what you like reading for the NHK cup. Don’t overthink it. Yea, sure the story being interesting might help a bit, but ultimately people are listening for the reader. You got this Hana! Play to your strengths

I loved how Hana shouted out her new friend too on the broadcast aw that was so cute!! Love this show sm, great ep

[frakts1ya]

hiii, i really love your writing so i would like to request.. uhhh reader is having troubles, up to the point it's messing with her routine (which she strictly follows) but she doesn't ask for help or tell her bandmates because she doesn't want to burden them with her feelings, so she kept quiet and suffered until the vocaloids (kaito or luka) confronts them and reader cried.

if you can't do the vocaloids then, you can write how one of her bandmates found her breaking down in the empty SEKAI when she thought that they weren't anyone except for the vocaloids to see her crying..

IM SORRY IF ITS TOO LONG —THANK YOU!!!! XOX.

Ok I will write vocaloid, but I would prefer if you specify which one next time! (/nm) i will write the nightcord one tho, so I hope you like it!

Nightcord at 25:00 finding reader breaking down in sekai

《☆ KANADE ☆》

•-> she noticed some signs of you not being ok, but she didn't say anything

•-> when she saw you breaking down in the sekai though, she called out to you softly and sat down beside you.

"L/N, do you want to talk about it?"

•-> she listens, patting you on the back softly

•-> she has experience comforting Mafuyu, so she knows her stuff

《● MAFUYU ●》

•-> because she has experience of masking her own feelings, she notices when you're not feeling too well

•-> but when she sees you breaking down in the sekai, she freezes up, not knowing what to do

•-> but then she goes to confront you, seeing your face wet with tears reminds her of when she was like that, disappeared into the sekai for a few days

•-> she knows what your talking about and gives you rational advice

《♡ ENA ♡》

•-> when she goes into the sekai and sees you crying, she's surprised, but goes up to you anyways

•-> when you tell her about your troubles, she gets super worried and angry at whatever made you feel that way

•-> she might not be the best at comforting, but she tries her best!

《★ MIZUKI ★》

•-> they definitely know what's up, and when they find you crying in the sekai, they immediately rush over to you

•-> they're the most mature member of niigo, so they're able to understand what you're saying and give you advice if you need it

•-> invites you to skip school with them and go to the mall to get your mind off what's bugging you

[aresmarked]

knmf cohabiting arc? /hj but really, what do u think will happen now? will Mafuyu stay away from home or return sooner than later?

i've talked about it a bit with some folk I know on discord so genuine, TL;DR answer:

While I do think Mafuyu will try to stay away from home, I genuinely don't know with who or how, but i trust the writers to continue relying on the bonds that they've cultivated throughout the story so far to keep her safe.

I think staying with Kanade could be viable for a short term. Because let's be honest, Kanade is in no way really in a place to be taking care of another person's needs. Absolutely the guardian of Mafuyu's emotional needs. but physical/physiological? girl needs honami just to not eat cup noodles all the time.

And while Ena and Mizuki are a bit more equipped family-wise to be like 'hey we gotta help this friend of ours can she stay with us a bit'... it would probably necessitate questions into Mafuyu's home life that I don't think Mafuyu wants/is prepared yet for happening, and. this is me being a bit 'meta' here but the timing isn't quite right narratively? I feel, personally, Mafuyu's story needs a bit of a breather before they'd probably go 'hey, we gotta see, if, legally and morally, it's right for you to be with your parents'. that's going to be A Lot for Mafuyu to go through at this point especially.

of course, if the writers did choose to actually explore this sort of story i'd be awed in the same way the exploration of Mizuki's identity wowed me when I started playing PSekai. from a bit of basic research i did with some folk, child welfare cases have been a bit of an issue in Japan! And children getting out of abusive homes, specifically, what age children and teens can apply to be independent or the equivalent is still unclear. But it feels like a 'if so, not yet' sort of situation.

What we do know is Mafuyu is just, waaay too fragile to be going home, both narratively and just where her head is now. it would set her back, and her whole arc to this point has been, well, getting her to this point of speaking about all she's suffered to try making her mother happy. for the writers to be like 'oh actually there's not anything anyone can do she has to go home!' to start the next arc would be infuriating on so many levels.

there's the rest of niigo of course, there to help her. there's the people, shizuku and emu at school, who are a bit more aware and who'd love nothing more to support her and bring her ease too. and there's the people who have even less sense of the situation, but have come to know mafuyu a little and do care about her, and would try to help, if they were brought in.

one of the strongest parts of PSekai's writing is the character relationships, and it'd not only run counter to Mafuyu's development, but I'd say the soul of their stories, to not have Mafuyu be honest with a few more people and rely on them more.

[localplaguenurse]

Considering that Chibana was let down by the people who were supposed to support her, it makes sense why she would be hesitant to open up to others.

So if they disowned her, I’m guessing she got kicked out of the house? If Mizuki also dumped her, where the heck was she staying at the time? Maybe Hana’s but you said that at that point they weren’t that close.

Or was Chibana already living by herself? Kinda curious because she was saving up financially and was struggling to do so when she discovered her pregnancy.

I am imagining Chibana crying on the streets after her purse was stolen as she’s discovered by the civilian who helped her out.

And yeah. Being disowned by your parents in a society that already looks down on single parenthood probably was the deepest cut for her. No doubt shattered her trust with them even though they managed to rebuild something once her parents decided to be supportive.

Hana despite her rocky introduction went above and beyond by not only being supportive of someone but also getting her a job. No wonder Chibana trusts her.

I can’t wait to see how Zhongli feels after hearing about what she went through after their night together. No doubt he’ll feel guilty because she had to deal with the aftermath of what happened that faithful night but also angry because Chibana suffered unnecessarily as a result of outdated views and beliefs and it’s turned her into an anxious wreck.

Definitely looking forward to it.

And oh… Chibana’s anxiety is impacting Kei? Makes sense. It’s probably why he’s quite protective of her- he’s proven to be incredibly smart and observant so seeing his mother anxious probably makes him feel he has to protect her… which is what I think. I don’t think I’m actually right but it’s what I think.

Mama was living on her own and was doing okay, not struggling but not thriving either, y’know? Suddenly budgeting for a baby is rough, especially when those closest to you refuse to lend a hand. Mama loves her parents, but she resents what went down. They did wanna be grandparents but didn’t approve of the timing and circumstances. Mama feels they only came around to it was because they wouldn’t be allowed near any current or future grandkids if they didn’t step up. They still fumbled the ball hard but like... Mama wasn’t in a position to tell them to kick rocks, and she just wants what’s best for her son.

Mama’s anxiety has had an affect on him, but he’s also super protective because, well, of course he would be! Mama’s his whole world, so naturally he’s gonna be a mama’s boy. Then you throw in his dragon instincts, which make him hyper protective of his family and things he holds precious. If he had a tail he would’ve wrapped it around her leg in the scene where he growled at Childe.

[mizuki-foreshadowing]

On This Blank Canvas I Paint, Episode 3

Ena is worried she's not growing in her artistry in the ways Kanade and Mafuyu each are. While they're becoming more able to express themselves, Ena's art has stayed in the same place, because her technique stopped improving after she quit Mr. Yukihira's art classes after five years. Mizuki doesn't know what it is that's wrong but is moved to get to the bottom of it.

Mizuki picks up that something is wrong, and asks if this is more than an art block. This isn't too unusual for her; she isn't uncomfortable getting into the other member's personal issues, only when others might get into her own. She readily helped Kanade through Carnation Recollection and Mafuyu during Mirage of Light.

What happened with Ena after she got rejected by the art contest her father mocked her for submitting a piece for had snuck up on Mizuki. In fact, N25 being blindsided by Ena being in danger of disappearing then was part of Mizuki's motivation to get to know her bandmates better in Secret Distance.

So, unlike Kanade and Mafuyu, this is the first Ena is seeing of this side of Mizuki, the first time it's her on the receiving end. As with both of those times, Mizuki only shows this side of herself when she's alone with the other person. On the contrary, Ena's interaction with Mizuki has been one of chasing her down and forcing her to stop suffering in silence when she has friends who love her. She's surprised by this side of Mizuki.

Mizuki reminds Ena that something like this happened before, during Insatiable Pale Color, and in doing so, shows the progress she's made since then in picking up on the early warning signs of these sort of scares, since we know from Episodes 1 and 2 that Ena was heading there.

Mizuki has a little fun teasing Ena that, Why is Ena surprised; Mizuki is doing for Ena the exact same thing Ena spent an entire arc doing for Mizuki. Mizuki even reuses the same sort of things Ena had been the one telling to her in What Lies Behind / What Lies Ahead, in saying she's willing to wait for Ena to feel ready to confide in her as well as the reassurance that talking about it may make her feel better. Mizuki of course says this knowing she personally will not finally confide in Ena when she herself is ready, but that's another issue.

Ena recognizes that talking here, even if it's difficult and shares her burden with a friend, is what she asks of Mizuki, and tells her story.

Ena gives the full story and we see Mizuki's reaction to Ena is different from Mizuki's reaction to Kanade's story in Carnation Recollection. In that story, Mizuki reflected that she thought Kanade is being too hard on herself feeling like she must atone for what she did to her dad, but decided it'd be pointless to say that. But here, she does say to Ena that she's being too hard on herself.

As for why, the distinction may have something to do with Kanade and Ena being so different; everyone in N25 has seen how receptive to praise Ena is. Being told she's being too hard on herself could make her feel better, even though like Kanade she's convinced she deserves to feel that way.

But, this event is Ena's turning point. Not only did her dad and Mr. Yukihira lose faith in her as an artist after five years of high-end art classes, not only did she get rejected outright from entering that contest after having to grapple with the reality that none of the people who comment on N25 songs particular care for the art quality, and not only does her illustrations account get no interaction, she's now painfully aware she is unable to improve in any meaningful way where she is now. Ena rejects Mizuki's sympathy in the same way Mizuki had known Kanade would if she'd said the same to her.

After her halfhearted thanks, she insists she's dragging N25 down and that she needs to do something different in order to make good art. She talks about Mr. Yukihira's art class she quit two years ago, but also that she never liked it there.

Mizuki relates to how Ena's feeling from how she felt grappling with the impasse that she can't grow as a person without confiding who she is to her friends back in What Lies Behind / What Lies Ahead. Likewise, Mizuki knows Ena needs to be distracted right now.

Ena reads Mizuki's change in mood putting on her mask as Mizuki making fun of her; that, What? Ena's taken professional lessons for art?

Ena takes the bait and talks about art with Mizuki and all the little things those classes helped broaden her perspective as an artist with.

Mizuki keeps her talking and Ena finds her way back to music. Before she ever met Kanade or heard anything she wrote, she would get inspired to make art while listening to music. Mizuki seems to relate but what she actually says is she only draws inspiration for music videos from the song she's making the video for, and specifically as part of her work for N25. But Ena doesn't notice; she's talking and Mizuki knows how to keep the conversation going.

Ena mentions she included drawings of cosmetics in her scrapbook portfolio project and that Mr. Yukihira made fun of her for it. For whatever reason, Mizuki says he may have had a point, but very quickly moves the topic along.

As part of being an insta sensation, Ena is very good with makeup and is frequently shown in Area Conversations and interactions with Airi as being interested in trending makeup products. We see a bit of her insecurity with her appearance in her irritated reaction to learning Shizuku looks so beautiful without using any makeup, when they first met in What's On Your Mind - Exciting Picnic. And, of course, Ena's account she posts selfies on is one she uses in moments of distress when she needs to feel better about herself, the instant validation and shallow praise taking her mind off things.

If Mizuki were saying that she can see where Yukihira was coming from as part of teasing Ena, she would have dwelled on it, and if she thought it would be hurtful for Ena to hear, she's never had any problems simply lying about such small things. I think Mizuki's picked up on makeup being part of Ena's self-loathing.

Mizuki reveals to Ena that she did in fact enjoy those art classes, and has been happily reminiscing about them with Mizuki the whole time.

Ena goes silent as she reflects that she was wrong about hating Mr. Yukihira's art classes. Mizuki worries Ena's mood is dropping, but she had nothing to worry about.

Mizuki helps Ena take the step to revisiting the classes, and she makes plans to attend the Spring semester after a two-year absence. Mizuki remarks, What are friends for, but I think she actually means it; that Ena is her friend.

[xtinacherry]

Tatsumi's "Goodbye" and Muzuki's "Onward To Our Noble Deaths" Blog Post 1/29

Well, Tatsumi’s" "Goodbye" took a turn at the end that I did not expect nor enjoyed. However, I think the reading wanted to touch on the rise of prostitution in the postwar era and the effect it had on Japan and its women. As we learned in the last reading, prostitution, and the rise of it, especially made more viable and normalized through the R.A.A, was a way to make ends meet for women who were left homeless and poor after being repatriated or financially destroyed by the war. It discussed how women were left to cater mostly to the occupying foreign soldiers. We see this in "Goodbye," implying that she sees several soldiers to support herself. She loses faith in all men, such as the soldier, Joe, she was seeing that promised her marriage but ended up having a wife and children back home. Even in her father in the disturbing incest scene, she makes the point to note that all men are the same, and now he falls under the category of just a man. I found it hard to find the significance of the scene. However, I feel like her father represents Japan. He is a deadbeat, does not have much money, is very nonchalant over her daughter’s work, and depicts sadness over the loss of the war. This could reflect the state of Japan during this time. So I believe this scene shows how Mary, representing the women and overall people in Japan, resent and begrudge Japan in terms of the lack of support for their citizens in their postwar conditions, and its grotesque actions following the occupation period. 

In Mizuki’s “Onward To Our Noble Deaths”, we truly get a look into the reality and tragedy behind the war. Seeing them run out of food, suffer countless deaths through battle and illness, all leading to a suicide mission was hard to read. While there was comedic relief throughout the reading, Mizuki makes sure to pull us back into reality with more realistic drawings of the soldiers on their death beds and actually dead on the ground.