#*taps the sign*

[troutreznor]

voting for Biden is supporting genocide pointblank no way arround it like idgaf how you FEEL about it you are materially, politically, literally supporting and aiding in genocide and you have to fucking live with that

[grantaires-and-graces]

Don’t make me tap the Joly/Bossuet/Grantaire shenanigans sign again

[crosbyism]

they should give these out as a double pack when you sign up to social media

[dasmores237]

Bisexuals in Bisexual lighting dressed as Pearl and Marina from Splatoon? Now this is how you live.

[i-am-trans-gwender]

I'm sorry sapphic peeps but *taps sign*

[xray-vex]

Any time there is drama in The Fandom, it's a good idea for everyone to brush up on the classics

[fieldmedicine]

[krakenshaped]

Alright I've had like 5 hours of sleep but it's fine, let's talk about the parallels between Ryo Marufuji and D.D, the importance of Sho Marufuji to the themes GX tries to convey - whether you wanna admit of not - and as our queen Gaga describes it: The Fame Machine™️

More under read more

So. On one hand. Ryo Marufuji. He's truly a specimen. A divisive and fascinating character. He's the embodiment of a downward spiral that only gets more and more dire as the series goes on. On the other, D.D. Edo Phoenix' narcissistic adoptive father. These two shouldn't really have any correlation, after all while Ryo and Edo have their conflict, Ryo has nothing to do with D.D or Edo's character arc during the finale of season 2.

Except that D.D's backstory lines up relatively well with Ryo's descent to Hell Kaiserhood. It's just that D.D went the extra mile. And in the end it says a lot about GX's minor themes - that being an exploration of what it means to be successful, how negative influences in your childhood can affect you and liberating yourself from those negative influences.

Let's dive a little bit more into themes. Because all media have themes and purposes no matter how mundane and pointless those purposes are. While ygo GX's purposes is undoubtedly to sell trading cards to teens, its main theme centres around growing up - something a lot of the shounen's primary demographic will heavily relate to. Yugioh GX is a coming of age story about a schoolboy and his friends as they explore the world and grow and change, their pursuit for success and glory and the grief of losing your naive view on the world but coming out a stronger, better person because of it. A lot of that is explored via character arcs and sub-themes, such as Manjoume's season 1 character arc emphasising how much toxic/abusive family members can change and affect how you present yourself to the world and the liberation that comes with cutting them off. Similarly, D.D contributes to this theme via his treatment of Edo and the role he plays in Edo's story as well as weaving a cautionary tale of what can happen to a person when they become so desperate for fame and success that they change permanently for the worse.

But Ryo also follows this theme. Not to the same extreme or in the exact same way, but he does.

Ryo Marufuji starts the series as a 3rd year high school student - just on the cusp of graduation. He's the top of his class. He has it all. He was handpicked and trained by his mentor and trusted with cards of sacred value - ultimately promised success. And did he work hard for that success. He worked so hard he isolated himself from his family and spent every waking moment in the mountains, training.

And then he graduates. His debut duel is with Edo Phoenix. The cycle begins.

Edo crushes Ryo. As in completely destroys him. Nukes him. Ryo doesn't even have a chance. Humiliates him publicly just because he can. Behaviour he learned from D.D - to crush all threats to your career underfoot because nothing else matters. Ryo goes down a spiral. He flunks so hard from the pro leagues he falls all the way down to where even amateurs mock him. He's become the laughing stock of the dueling industry. He hits the underground dueling ring. He has a truly horrific, traumatising experience where he's almost electrocuted to death on top of being humiliated once more. And he comes out a different person. A person who has abandoned all moral compass and dignity and cares only about one thing.

Success.

The cycle has passed from D.D's narcissistic treatment of Edo, to Edo' learned behaviours, to Ryo's Hell Kaiser transformation. In mere episodes to come, Ryo would carry on this cycle in his treatment of Sho, attempting to humiliate, crush and ultimately severely injure him. Even if this act was in an attempt to scare Sho out the entertainment industry, he has contributed to the cycle of abuse and has attempted to inflict his learned ideals of "nothing but success/victory matters anymore". It's this duel that D.D and Ryo truly become parallels.

Like how D.D goes mad over fame, stole precious cards and begins to manipulate and emotionally abuse Edo, Ryo (through Edo's influence) does the same. He goes mad over fame and power, steals the cyberdarks, and comes back to berate and hurt Sho.

The major difference between D.D and Edo vs Ryo and Sho is that while Edo doesn't break the cycle until the damage has been done, Sho manages to successfully break this cycle from the start. Even if he comes out of it zapped half to death and degraded beyond belief, he refuses to let go of the way of life Ryo taught him before he fell from grace. That respect is of utmost importantance.

And when the time comes when Ryo faces the consequences of his insane new lifestyle, Sho steps up to take care of him despite how vile Ryo was to him. Sho takes that step to try and heal their relationship. The cycle of abuse ended with him. And Ryo begins his own personal healing journey as a result. It shows Sho's inner strength - strength he earned from trial and error through the show. Because it takes a lot to break that cycle - after all. Look at Edo.

Honestly if GX was a seinen instead of a shounen and these themes were dwelled into a little more it could have been so profound. Whether the parallel was there on purpose or not, I think they had a good idea going for it if only they went into a little more detail. I could talk about Ryo and how STRANGE his character arc is for an anime who's demographic is like 13-16 year olds or something with his weird exploration of trauma, being failed by the education system (especially as a character that's autistic coded) and weirdly enough?? Borderline hypersexuality?? (That is its OWN can of worms which will require trigger warnings relating to S/H and im not getting into that here, I've rambled enough)

GX is a fucking drug trip.

[ghuleh-recs]

you’re gifs suck

^your

and you’re either 13 or an idiot ♡

[urfavssins]

[awryen-nyx]

+ I am not your mother or your PAID babysitter.

+ Curate your own space.

+ I personally do not care about minors seeing things on my page.

+ If you are uncomfortable, leave/block/what have you.

+ If you start shit, you will be reported and blocked.

About Me page for more info.

[donnovien]

Schrodinger's Asshole: the guy who says awful shit, and decides if he was "only kidding" depending on your reaction.

[creepiefarm]

a lot of people still believe what media has been telling people for years, that male characters are relatable to everyone because male is default. whereas no one other than women can relate to a character that is a woman.

which is absolutely ridiculous and misogynistic. if you are saying to yourself "well i prefer male characters because i relate to them better" i have some news for you; there are female characters written the exact same way, having the exact same experiences that made you relate to the male ones.

gender doesn't prevent you from relating to others, including in media. just misogyny.

relating to a character doesn't mean you Are the same as every aspect of them. relating to a character that is a woman doesn't make you a woman, any more than relating to a character that's a man makes you a man.

of course there are aspects of a character's experience with gender that are relatable when you share that gender, and some that aren't. but gender is just one part of every character or real person. (and you can relate to someone's experience with gender even when it is different from your own too)

like if you can find common ground and similar experiences with friends that are women (and i sure hope you do and can), you can do the same with characters too.

im saying all this because every time we talk about the way female characters are treated in fandom spaces, someone's always saying "i relate to male characters more bc gender" and it's like you are So Close to understanding the conversation but you still haven't unpacked this other part of socialized misogyny yet.

[xanderscollection]

Surprise boops from main to followers here lmao I'm almost at 500 boops

[more-like-rocksiu]

everytime i see a new variation of the "haha you call that heatwave you weakling, we have it here all the time-" i lose 30 years.

[delphientropy]

i block freely btw 🔥🔥