#But I can't do it anymore I don't understand how people don't see this

[danisbrainrot]

ugh, there is just something delicious about the parallel between mistynat and jackieshauna in the first two episodes of the new season. i barely know where to start.

obviously, misty and shauna lose their best friends. they're both to blame/blame themselves for nat and jackie's death, because essentially, they killed them.

misty actively kills nat whereas shauna passively kills jackie, which shows the difference in their relationship. but at the end of the day, once they realised what they'd done, they have a similar reaction. screaming 'no' in disbelief and holding them in their arms. they refuse to believe not only their best friend is dead, but they've killed them.

OH! and they're both too late to save them. shauna is too late to save jackie from the cold and misty cries, 'it's too late' when tai asks her how to save nat. i can't believe i almost forgot this!

another obvious parallel, misty wearing nat's jacket!! we see that shauna can't seem to let go of jackie's butterfly top, treating it as a security blanket, and now in the adult timeline misty clings onto nat's jacket. both items of clothing are physical reminders of their 'best friend' that they lost.

finally, what parallel stuck out to me the most: misty and shauna became the versions of their friends they THOUGHT they were. shauna marries jeff and becomes a suburban housewife, misty dresses like nat and goes to a bar to do whisky shots and pick bar fights.

however, nat was more than an alcoholic, despite being reduced by misty to a caricature. she feels purposeless after the woods, she's broken and from what we've seen, isolated. nat barely leaves her hotel room except to do risky shit like chase the blackmailer or help shauna dispose of adam's body. the most we see her reach out is to kevyn, who she immediately pushes away when he tries to break down her walls. she's built up this alcholic, uncaring, asshole wall to keep people out.

so when misty plays her as some rough, badass femme fatale, she's demonstrating to the audience that she hardly knows nat. she only knew nat's exterior, and nothing like her true character. to put it frankly, misty never truly knew nat because nat didn't want her to. so when misty 'becomes nat' she's becoming the shallow understanding she has of her best friend.

this ties into shauna never truly understanding jackie's true character. not because jackie hid it from her, but shauna's resentment of her did. every action we see from jackie is protective of shauna—giving her valium to calm down, saving her from the plane explosion, and even 'allowing shauna to eat her.'

however, shauna can't see how much jackie loves her because of her own bitter resentment. even as a ghost jackie is seemingly punishing shauna for letting her die, but most importantly, for hating her while she was alive.

'i don't know who you are anymore shauna.'

'maybe you never did.'

if anything, it should be completely switched around. shauna doesn't know anything about jackie. shauna is projecting this mean girl persona on jackie that just isn't there.

misty is projecting this badass, gets in bar fights and tries to light men's dicks on fire persona onto nat. sure, nat has done those things, but that isn't who she is at the core. just like how being a mean girl isn't who jackie is at her core (i've gone more into depth before, here).

i love mistynat as much as the next yellowjacket fan, but we have to be honest, for the most part, nat was always cagey with misty. something happened out in the woods that made her distrust misty, and i think they're going to explore that this season. especially with the whole, misty telling shauna that nat knows where coach ben is.

both misty and shauna make up these fantasies about their best friends to connect with them after their deaths. it's just so fascinating the writer's have decided to parallel these characters, because when i think about it, misty has always been written as this desperate character, craving attention and love. . . but so has shauna.

they've been narrative foils this entire time and it took natalie dying for me to realise it.

[yoiiyoii]

Akaza and Giyuu parallels post cause I can't stand how little it's discussed:

"You are not weak"

First few panels of the fight: Both of them talking about how Tanjirou is not weak anymore. Because of that, he gets to keep his dignity (and yeah, both Akaza and Giyuu do directly equate strength with dignity - explained more later).

Fighting Enthusiasm

We all saw just how enthusiastic Akaza gets about fighting, in contrast to Giyuu, who directly says "I don't want to wield my blade to the best of my ability".

The "End Style - Chaotic Blue Metal Afterflow" vs Dead Calm

An attack that Giyuu's Dead Calm negates directly against - an all-over random attack, similar to Rui's "Cutting Thread Rotation" attack. The only problem was that Giyuu's sword was broken, and yet, he survived it. Really impressive.

Strong vs Weak

Strength is what they both yearn for, to protect the ones they love. Akaza loves fighting. He especially loves when his opponents can match him. Because of that, he asked the names of Kyoujurou and Giyuu to remember them, as a way of showing respect to the strong. While he easily dismisses people who he deems weak, he gives respect to those who he deems strong.

In Mugen Train Arc, Kyoujurou and Akaza debated on this. In Kyoujurou's heroic view, it's not just the strong that deserve respect. It is the duty of the strong members of society to protect the weak ones. It opposes Akaza's view, who thinks the weak should be eliminated.

Giyuu too demonstrated a thinking similar to Akaza, while less radical. The weak have no rights or options, their only fate is to get trampled by the strong. Obviously, Giyuu performes his duties in the same ideology as Kyoujurou, but he's hopeless regarding it. Kyoujurou and Giyuu are opposites like that - one is entirely positive and provides everyone else with hope, while Giyuu... does not do that.

It doesn't change his actions, however. Giyuu put his life on the line for Tanjirou and Nezuko, who are much weaker than him, who couldn't protect themselves against the corps wanting to kill Nezuko. His ideology is not to trample on the weak or make fun of it, it is merely a result of his own impostor's syndrome due to his past, manifesting as self-hatred. Giyuu hence projected all this onto his first encounter with Tanjirou, provoking him to fight for protection's sake. In the end, Tanjirou looks up to both Kyoujurou and Giyuu, as both protected others sacrificing themselves.

Akaza on the other hand, he's a demon, and has killed countless people. His hatred of the weak goes further than simply projection and self-hatred, he detests it. He's on the demon side because his weakness was not proved over and over because of demons, it was humans. Humans penalized him for stealing for medicine, humans poisoned the well to Keizo's dojo. Furthermore, he was recruited by Muzan at his most vulnerable.

I do like the portrayal of this better in Giyuu vs Akaza then Kyoujurou vs Akaza. That's not to say I have a little qualms about the writing of Giyuu vs Akaza. I think a little moment of talking and conversation would have benefitted, similar to Kyoujurou vs Akaza, or hell even Tanjirou in Infinity Castle Arc. I know it's obvious to all the Demon Slayer fans, but I find that outside of a little bubble, because of the whole "Demon Slayer isn't deep it's just cool animation fights" crowd, a lot of people don't understand why it was Giyuu who fought Akaza, unlike, say, Mitsuri, who's a woman and we'd see some interesting moments regarding Akaza not killing women. And yes, while that is interesting, Akaza and Giyuu are one of the greatest foils in Demon Slayer. I think people dismiss that greatly.

Protection

Giyuu's and Akaza's main theme: Protection. To summarize, Giyuu's impostor's syndrome comes from being unable to protect Tsutako and Sabito, while they were the ones who protected him instead. Akaza's backstory lays down the fact that he was unable to protect his dad, Keizo, or Koyuki. Over and over again, he's not been present during the deaths of them.

And that's the case with Giyuu too - he regrets not being there to save people. He puts the blame on Tanjirou for "showing his back" and not fighting. For Giyuu, his anger comes from himself and his own weaknesses. His motivation for becoming a demon slayer has to do with being able to protect his loved ones more than anything. Let's just say, he contrasts Sanemi - someone who has "Kill" written on the back of his haori to symbolize his anger against the existence of demons.

As for Akaza, we learn that the name "Hakuji" comes from "Komainu" - the statues in front of the door of shrines, a symbol of protection. His destiny is entirely to protect, and yet he failed, over and over.

This also gives us one of the greatest panels of Giyuu:

He's the Komainu here, he's standing as a guard for Tanjirou. I particularly like this translation, "you'll have to get through me first". Since Komainus are right outside the door or on walkways of shrines, you must get through them first to enter the shrine. That's what Giyuu is standing as in this moment.

He's also fulfilling his theme of protection. He failed previously to protect either Tsutako or Sabito, but won't fail once again for Tanjirou. He's putting his life on the line for Tanjirou. They both succeed in this fight - both Giyuu and Tanjirou succeed in protecting each other.

Can't paste a picture since I reached the picture limit unfortunately but, there's a specific moment where Giyuu says "I will protect Tanjirou, just as he would have done for me". It's a mutual thing for them, but Giyuu is still a senior, with responsibility to protect Tanjirou.

Contrasting that, Akaza kills himself. He declares it fair that Tanjirou defeated him while slashing his head off. In that way, he respects true strength, one that Tanjirou had attained since their last encounter. The visions of his loved ones - his dad, Keizo, and Koyuki, overpower even Muzan's control.

The fight pretty much ended with Giyuu not being a "useless komainu". Giyuu firmly stood on his role as the protector. It's Giyuu's main goal - protecting his loved ones. Though obviously he hadn't accepted himself as strong in general (that came about later against Muzan), it cemented Giyuu's main theme of protection (and yeahhh that's why he created the 11th form Dead Calm, so that no one would have to protect him, he'd defend himself, and he'd also defend others).

HADDD to make this post after seeing someone complain about how Giyuu's biggest character trait and writing is simply his depression lmfao. There's a lot more to him!!! His sad backstory is not the extent of his writing!!!! But also feel free to add anything if I've missed it, I'll enjoy learning more too🫶 I think you CAN pull some other parallels like snow/water or blue attack colour palettes or Akaza fighting the Flame and Water Pillars of this generation, but I didn't see enough of a reason to make separate points regarding them.

[bonebabbles]

What IS a redemption arc to these writers, exactly?

Because the ONLY thing that Clear Sky has changed about his behavior, by A Forest Divided, is that he's not actively murdering people. He's controlling. He's a bully. He's misconstruing the words of the StarClan cats to create a justification for why he should be in power.

He's even physically abusive again when he gets upset, later. And that's not even counting his sadistic, self-absorbed behavior in sequel books.

We keep getting passages like this;

Which keeps turning his murder and abuse into "Just A Little Mistake," explicitly PART OF LIVING.

Ghosts are tumbling out of the fucking heavens to powder his ass, forcing his mom to forgive him for absolutely nonsensical reasons, saying that killing Rainswept Flower was "predestined" and "just an accident" and he had no control over it, anyway(???). And now, here is the hollowed-out shell of Storm, who was driven out of the Clan while pregnant because Clear Sky's actions were getting innocent cats MAULED AND KILLED, insisting her abusive husband's behavior never drove anyone away and they just had their own paths to walk.

So what IS a redemption arc supposed to be to these writers?

If Clear Sky was NEVER actually that bad, in the 5 books we saw where he's a controlling, power-hungry monster who constantly resorts to physical violence, that what IS the change he needs to make? If it's both a mistake he's totally learned from, YET ALSO he's never done anything wrong??

Do you SEE how these are contradictory ideas? They can't exist together. It's like the writers are just grasping at whatever insane bullshit they can think up and throwing it on the page, because at the end of the day, what they do is write Fundamentally Good and Fundamentally Evil characters.

Because Clear Sky is one of their Fundamentally Good cats, he has nothing to confront. They try to say "the guilt is the worst punishment for him!" and also "He shouldn't feel guilty for anything he did!" and it leaves us with absolutely nothing.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

if dorian didn't show up, do you think louis would have shot minnie?

I do. I know some people think either he wouldn't have or he would've missed so that's why the writers had him shoot Dorian instead, but mmmmmm no, I don't personally think so. I like to think that if he had taken the shot, his shaky hands would've caused him to shoot her fatally.

Mostly because I'm already so normal about the fact that of the Ericson crew, Marlon and Louis are the only ones with a body count. Well, that we know of, but shown to us in the game, at least. Plus, we know it's Louis' first kill.

Like yeah, Clementine and AJ become part of the crew and they have bigger body counts, and if we're counting indirect kills caused by actions, then Tenn has a count... and I guess everyone has blood on their hands for blowing up the boat... but I'm talking about killed directly with a weapon like....... I lied, I'm not normal about that at all, Louis and Marlon are the ones who have killed someone in Louis' route. I'm also not normal about the fact that Louis kills Dorian and then even as he's clearly in shock, he tries to go with Clementine to get AJ, and then later on when they talk about it, he says it feels like bile but not quite and he's glad he has it in him to do it.... listen, listen, listen... I'm obsessed with that.

Anyway, so if Louis shot Minerva, I think he would've accidentally killed her and can you imagine? He's already enough of a mess after killing the woman who pinned him down and tried to cut his finger off [or succeeded] but he knew Minerva, they were friends before the twins were taken. Even Violet couldn't kill her even though that would've been the smarter thing to do, and we know thanks to meta knowledge that killing her would've saved lives, but Violet couldn't, and I don't think Louis would intentionally either.

Speaking of Violet, if Louis killed Minerva, I hate to think about what that would've done to Vi. I think she might've actually left at that point, like what was planned before it got changed to her being burned. I don't think she would've attacked Louis over it, though, like yeah she attacked Clementine in the cell but Louis? I don't know, but I don't think so just because it's Louis and he'd be a mess about it anyway.

Though if he did kill her, it would be a neat parallel to draw... y'know, because Louis forgave AJ for killing Marlon even though he was pissed and heartbroken, and Violet was annoyed with him the entire time... but could she ever forgive Louis for killing Minerva? Y'know? We already have a similar parallel with AJ shooting Tenn, but still.

If Clementine killed Minerva in that moment, though, then I could see Violet attacking her since in her eyes, Clem proved her right.

So yeah, I get why they added the Dorian kill to his route. It adds another compelling element to Louis as a character, but we also need Minerva alive for episode 4; Louis can't kill her, he can't miss, and he's not going to stay with her because we need Violet to stay on the boat and him to be on shore for all routes.

[savyir-genesizz-the-wizard]

Actually hot take today. I wish there was a way to hide posts about USA problems but for it to be possible Americans would have to tag them as American which they'll never do in any setting ever exactly because they are Americans

[happyk44]

Chewing on my thoughts like a feral dog because I'm running on like three hours of sleep and the brain be tornadoing, but like!!! Lewin and Renzou being opposite sides of the same coin or whatever. So similar in their inability to relate to other people, and yet Lewin being incapable of disliking himself over it because, despite everything Osceola taught him and knowing there's something wrong and different about him, he is unbothered by it. He accepts his deficits for what they are, violence and all. He knows he's off compared to everyone else, but that's just how it is. It's not a big deal. He makes due.

And then there's Renzou who grew up loved and isn't violent, doesn't really have those urges or curiosities, but he knows something's wrong with him, something that separates him from everyone else around him and it makes him hate himself and he gets mad about that too because it's not like he's hurting anyone so why is he so mad about it? Why does he care so much? Why does he want to fit in with his family? They fucking suck! But they love and care about each other and he doesn't and it drives him up the wall because their lives are the same, so why is he the only one who's broken?

[vaguely-concerned]

peter benson as henry vi adding a mirthless little laugh after the second half of 'may god forgive my sins, and pardon thee', as if to add on the sentiment of lmao fat chance!! on his way out, was such an inspired choice hfkjdsah. also very sad of course. (in the 1965 version henry seems so genuine when he says that, and it's just like... what a quiet triumph it is, in the middle of black despair, that what's gentle and good in him somehow survived through everything right to the end. he's lost everything, but it hasn't changed who he fundamentally is. and what other victory can we hope for in this life when it comes right down to it. while in the 1983 version there is the sense that something has broken inside him with this last blow, with the death of his son.)

[the-way-astray]

if kotlc book ten isn't the last kotlc book, i'm throwing hands

[larrysballetslippers]

.

[paintalyx]

i don't talk about this all that often, but it's damn miserable having to live with a special needs kid who isn't getting the necessary means of support knowing damn well that you can't do anything about it. it's frustrating, it's hard, it's messing up the entire family, and you have to suck it up if you want to do anything in life

i mean, i was forced to be a third parent since i was like ten, and i don't mind it as much as some people in my place would, but i can't replace that kid's deadbeat father or neurotic mother.

how many times have i bent over backwards trying to help or introduce new hobbies only to get left midway through without even an acknowledgement that we did something fun and meaningful together? it pains me because i do love spending time with kids but i have to constantly flipflop between being a cool older brother that i want to be and an authority figure that i have to be when push comes to shove (which is almost daily at this point). and god, i don't even want to think about how often i'm forced to mediate between family members screaming and hurling insults at each other

this has no great grandiose point. there is likely an ideal world in which my father stops beeing an asshole, my youngest sibling receives the necessary professional help, my mother stops trying to compete for having the world's biggest martyr complex and my sister stops wailing about being neglected to me every single day, but this isn't that kind of a world. i'm probably an asshole for thinking like this, but frankly, everyone in the house is always taking everything too personally, and always reacting too emotionally, and it's only getting worse with years

[indi-glo-archive]

Primink's latest video about internet sweetheart going "because it's all fake, he's creating these narratives, which makes the way he portrays certain groups seem malicious" >>>

[larryslutlinson]

.

[vitunhienokivi]

.

[jarognieva]

I need to vent

[apple-os]

if one more thing goes wrong im fucking gone this is not a joke anymore

this is mostly a joke for the record

ive been having so many problems it's literally unfair why can I not just be HAPPY

every effort I make means nothing

every effort towards mine or others happiness literally means jack fucking shit like it's literally just pointless I don't even know why I try

i always end up feeling like

nobody loves me and I'm gonna end up alone or in an early grave or both

and that maybe that's for the best

[falesten-iw]

Warning: Long Post No one reads long texts anymore, but despite everything I've been through with my country, my family, and recently my son, I need to get this off my chest. It's completely unbelievable to me that so many people still don't understand the background of the genocide in Palestine. What kind of journalists or influencers do we have today? Are they too afraid to report and remind their audiences about the real story behind what's happening now? No, it's not just one year of suffering! It's outrageous how the media consistently ignores what Palestinians have been enduring for decades. Have they, or you, even bothered to look at the statistics of how many Palestinians have been killed by Israel since 1948? How many children have been killed? Who holds the responsibility for what's happening now? I often wonder: what if the situation Palestinians face was applied somewhere else? For example, what if, after World War II, the West had decided that all Jews should have a state in the USA—let’s say Chicago—how would the people of Chicago have reacted? Imagine the people there being driven off the land their families had worked for generations, stripped of their rights, and harassed or persecuted if they resisted. Do international laws simply not apply when ### is involved? Do you know that people in Gaza are killed simply for fun? Yes, for fun! Israeli soldiers have been known to shoot women, children, and even animals on the spot, then walk away. Did you feel the wind when those shots were fired? Or was it too far away for you? Do you understand what death means? Good. Do you know why there are so many Palestinians living in different countries, or maybe even right next door to you, even though they smell like hummus, garlic, za'atar, and other traditional foods? Do you know why your neighbors are Palestinian and not Israeli? It's because we've been forced to flee since 1948. Our cities were erased then, and more are still being erased—through violence, through apartheid laws, through genocide, through different methods. Ilan Pappe, an Israeli historian, wrote a book about hundreds of Palestinian cities that were erased to create the Israel you know today. This isn't a war that started a few days ago or even a year ago—this has been going on since at least 1948. More than 45,000 have been killed in Gaza just in the past year alone. 17 000 of them are children, and 13 000 are women. Do you even know what that means? How it feels to lose your children or part of your family? Are you going to tell us how it feels? Do you have no empathy? Is your heart so closed that you can't see the pain around you? Are you really so blind to the suffering of others? How can you ignore these realities? Do you know that the Israeli military has cut off all electricity and completely halted the import of food, water, fuel, and other necessities? There are no hospitals and no medicines left, and 85% of people in Gaza are living in makeshift tents. Yes, tents—but not like the ones you see in movies. These are handmade from plastic scraps. Do you know that my family is suffering from all of this, and I will lose them in this cold weather if you don't act now? Please help us and donate now!

Vetted and shared by @90-ghost: Link.

Verified and shared by @el-shab-hussein: Link

Listed as number 282 in "The Vetted Gaza Evacuation Fundraiser Spreadsheet" compiled by @el-shab-hussein and @nabulsi : Link

Listed on the Butterfly Effect Project, number 957: Link

Additionally, Al Jazeera News has documented apart of my family's case: Link

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