#I want to cry I forget how much I love the conclusion of Arc 1

[thelimecrimes]

In Dragonspyre with my Myth wiz

[irontragedyreview]

Ok, so I read the chapter with the official translation because if I'm going to say that Horikoshi is mediocre writer, that this arc was completely rushed and a shit show in general I'm going to use the official translations. It should be noted that honestly nothing can fix this chapter so meh, the relevant points would be

AFO loves Yoichi, some criticism focused on Afo saying this didn't make sense but  from the beginning of the arc we see AFO declaring that he loves his brother, since we know the story of OFA/AFO we know that he wantsYoichi by his side, but even beyond his methods of locking him up and wanting to break his will, the truth is that he wants Yoichi's decision to be by his side to be of his own free will. Even though he’s willing to break Yoichi, he didn’t want him to be by his side through some quirk manipulating his will, because that could have been an option, what he wanted when Yoichi was alive is for him to finally stand by his side.On the other hand, AFO's love isn’t healthy, it’s twisted and toxic because he considers Yoichi his, his first gift, the first object he had, so yeah, AFO loves his brother but no one is saying that this love is good or healthy.

Some people interpret that Kurogiri is dead, I'm honestly not interested in his character and the truth is I'm not very clear about what happened, I suppose it will be something that It will name above in the following chapters.

Midoriya showing empathy or compression for AFO? I've seen some comments saying that Midoriya's words are an attempt to show empathy towards AFO. Personally I think it’s completely wrong, if anything Izuku is telling him how small and pathetic he is, pointing out that he isn’t a demon king, he isn’t an incomprehensible monster, just a lonely man. There is no understanding or empathy but rather it’s establishing that he isn’t the terrible threat that AFO wants to think he represents but that he is ultimately a pathetic and lonely being.

AFO wanting to transmit his quirk to live in another body as a parasite, he says that Midoriya or anyone would do, this isn’t really true because although we know that a person can withstand a certain amount of quirks at some point it will fry their brain, Nagant handled her quirk well and one more, Spinner from what we saw became more irrational due to the quirk he received from AFO since his system was overloaded. So far the only one who has endured more than one quirk is Midoriya, although we can assume that he wanted to pass his quirk to another body and then if that body failed he could always look for another one.

bakugou is there, again nothing about horikoshi surprises me anymore.

Izuku and Tomura's talk, if those pathetic panels can be called that. Midoriya impassive, the only difference I find in the unofficial translations Izuku directly said he couldn’t forgive him, in the official one it isn’t so much the word forgiveness and more like he couldn't stand there just watching what he was doing. I use the official translations because 1) I don't know Japanese; 2) People usually argue that to discuss the points of story one should take the official translations. Since I don't know Japanese and the fandom is picky, I'll use these. Obviously it can be interpreted as that he can’t forgive what he did or forget it but well the truth is that I honestly don't think anything improves the talk. Tomura asking Midoriya to pass the message and telling him to tell Spinner that his convictions never changed, which it’s true I guess, although he also accepts that he couldn't destroy anything and that it may be that in the end he is that crying child that Izuku said, this line is interesting and something that a good author would surely seek to expand on, but considering that we’re talking about Horikoshi, we can leave it to the conclusion that hopefully the topic will be touched upon again or that nothing will ever be said.

Having said all the above, I imagine that there are only a few chapters left that make up a very long epilogue. At this point I doubt that Horikoshi will make a plot twist by reviving AFO a fourth time, I honestly hope not, some are talking about Tomura appearing in the form of Tenko? which at this point wouldn't fix anything either because you screwed up any chance of the save idea when you kept Izuku's plot going without a single introspective thought and ended it with him killing AFO in Tomura's body. The explanation would have to be very good to fix the shit show that was the chapter.

Some also say that Tomura isn’t dead, this is mostly because Horikoshi has used the resource of death and revived so many times that many no longer believe that he’s capable of killing a character, but I don't believe it if he’s saying goodbye, I doubt that miraculously appears alive. I would say that the chapters to come can’t be worse than this one but I fear that Horikoshi will take it as a personal challenge and do it.

[kori-xo]

MY MIGUEL REDEMPTION CARD PT. 1 😀

(OK LET ME JUST SAY FIRST THAT I AM SO SO SO SO SORRY FOR NOT WRITING THIS SOONER- I swear I didn’t forget, I’m just kinda sick rn and going through a writer’s crisis, but ANYWAYS-) 

=

Onto the topic of giving Miguel O’Hara a more in-depth reading and explanation for his actions, let me make one thing briefly clear. I am NOT excusing his actions, especially the ones of aggression towards Miles, as many think. I’m just simply stating some of the reasons as to why he did what he did, and to try and get others to see him as the “good guy who makes the wrong choices” kinda trope his character portrays.  

So, to begin, let’s start with his behavior towards Miles. 

Miguel has stated that Miles Morales is, in fact, the “original anomaly,” which is in a way true. Not the statement that he was a mistake, as it’s never okay to tell a child that, but I’m talking about the fact that Miles really wasn’t supposed to be Spider-Man, bc Miles from Earth-42 was supposed to have that role. 

I don’t think he necessarily meant it in a mean manner, bc let’s face it, the man has SEVERE anger issues

ALSO in regards to the fact that Miguel was not initially too aggressive with Miles. Imo, he could’ve just locked Miles up first, handed out info later, and let his dad die without saying or telling him anything about it until after it happened. But he did try to explain everything beforehand, the multiverse, the canon, the consequences of breaking canon, etc. 

I like to think that Miguel is rather caring towards children/younger people, because after all, he did sort of have a child, that’s why he took Gwen in and let her into the Spider Society. 

The only thing is, he’s also plagued with this burden of the multiverse and feeling like he’s the only person strong enough to carry the task of protecting it, and that the guilt of what happened to his daughter’s and dead variant’s dimension eats away at him so much that he feel like he has to do whatever it takes to ensure that safety. 

“I don’t always like what I have to do. But I know I have to be the one to do it.”

This quote also has such a heavy weight to it bc of everything this man has experienced, he’s traumatized fr 

HE STILL HAS A CONSCIENCE 

But again, that continuous mentality to do everything and anything needed for the multiverse kinda clouds that good judgement and led him to acting rashly, not to mention that the Spot can literally dimension hop at will and potentially destroy everything he so hopes to preserve? It’s giving STRESS-

He also projects a lot of his own stuff onto others ngl

“Being Spider-Man is a sacrifice. That’s the job. That’s what you signed up for.”

So like, pay attention to that very first sentence, okay? That being a spider-person is a sacrifice. 

In this statement, Miguel is projecting his own mentality. Remember, Miguel was lonely and unhappy at first. Then he found the dimension where he had Gabriella, and felt like he would sacrifice anything to get that life. And to finally get that life, only for it to fall to pieces, gave him the idea that as Spider-Man, he had to sacrifice his own life and happiness, things he wanted, people he wanted and loved, all of that had to be sacrificed, else worlds crumble, the multiverse collapses, and everyone’s wiped out of existence. 

Therefore, he projects that onto everyone else, that those type of sacrifices have to be made, that they have to live to lose people and be unhappy, because that’s who they’re meant to be, that’s how their life is supposed to go. 

IN CONCLUSION- 

Miguel isn’t a bad guy. He’s been through things, he’s suffered, he needs a hug for crying out loud, it’s just the way he went abt doing things that I think makes a lot of people hate his character 

It’s a lot to unpack, but I just hope they give him a good redemption arc in BTSV 🫶🏽🫶🏽

THAT CONCLUDES MY 12am DEBATE THOOO 

(If any part of this you didn’t understand or need me to elaborate more on, pls lmk, and I’ll do my best 🥰)

@dramatic-delirium

[angstbabyjae]

DSMP Tier List

This tier list was shared in a discord server I’m in, so I thought I’d give it a go. Not entirely satisfied with the section titles, so I used them quite liberally. I will explain why I put people where I did. On the tier itself I didn’t order them by preference but in my explanation I will. Please not that they will be ranked from favorite to least favorite per category (for example: I put Sapnap technically above Niki despite liking her character more) and not by how much they deserve to be in each category (for example: I prefer Technoblade to Phil but I believe people excuse Technoblade’s actions more than Phil’s). I encourage healthy suggestion in the comments since I only joined the fandom around the Green Festival and haven’t seen the history/POV’s of every character, though I try. Enjoy.

Gonna slap on a big ol’ “/rp” here just to be safe.

You've done nothing wrong come here (holds you gently)

So the thing about this section is that I don't believe any dream smp character is completely innocent, so I used this section more like a top of tier than as it's title implies.

1. TommyInnit

Ngl, Tommy is my favorite character in the Dream SMP. As a fellow Loud Person I relate to him a lot and his feelings that nobody really likes him. His mental health struggles are close to my heart and (SPOILERS) his death just made me so devastated. I really hope they don't end his arc like this. Not when he was just starting to heal, please. Tommy has certainly done a lot of things wrong. I'd highly recommend watching the exile decision from both Tubbo and Tommy's POV's because you can really get a grasp of their mindsets. Despite this, he is my fave.

2. Ranboo

Until recently I preferred Tubbo to Ranboo, but cc!Ranboo just totally outdid himself on lore and acting to the point where I couldn't deny it anymore. Ranboo did do *some* things wrong, but they are less extreme than many on this list (I don't count things he might have done under Dream's control since he wasn't conscious). Ranboo's character makes me go into protecc mode. So yeah, very good enderboi.

3. Tubbo_

Tubbo doesn't have much lore for his character, but like I do with many others on this list, I like to overanalyze and interpret certain characters to be deeper than they are. The Tubbo I have in my head is a lot more complex than what cc!Tubbo probably meant to portray. There is so much angst potential with his character, similar to many others, but what puts him top tier for me is the emotional connection I have to his character and how I relate to getting so much put on my shoulders and having to make tough decisions.

you're an amazing character

Okay so technically Schlatt should be on this list if we are speaking from a narrative standpoint, but seeing as the way OP labelled the other sections on this chart I'm guessing they meant morally as well.

4. Alex Quackity

Quackity is my favorite adult character. I don't even know why, I just love the idea of this comic relief character becoming such a catalyst for plot and more serious as time goes on. I love taking the dream smp characters and making them deeper than they probably are, as I do with Tubbo, but now it seems cc!Quackity is fully taking his character to the height of his potential and I can't wait to see what he does with him next.

5. AweSamDude

(SPOILERS) As such a big Tommy fan I must admit, my first thought when Tommy died was that Sam was partly responsible. If Dream told him what he did to Tommy in exile like he claims then he would have at least put up the obsidian barrier between them or something. After watching Ranboo's most recent stream (right now it's March 3rd) I understand why Sam did what he did more. My initial anger towards him has dissipated a bit. I still love his character so much. He really did care about Tommy and now... dang. I can't wait to see what happens with him next.

6. Captain Puffy

It was very close between ranking her or Sam higher, but given all the in depth character stuff we're getting from Sam right now, I'd have to rank him above. Despite this, Puffy is a character that I started out not knowing anything about and am now feeling her climb the ranks in my books. Sometimes I feel like she's the only adult who actually put Tommy's well-being above other things, despite them not interacting often. I wasn't around for the whole "duckling" thing with Dream and have yet to watch the VODs, but I just want her to visit him now and punish him for the Tommy stuff. (SPOILERS) I can feel Dream's next ploy being trying to convince someone to let him out in exchange for bringing back Tommy and if Sam doesn't cave then Puffy probably will. Also, I really hope that her and Niki's relationship isn't forgotten. There's so much angst potential there. Also, I need sapphics to survive.

7. Eret

So, I wasn't a fan of the SMP during season one. I hadn't even heard of it except for like my friend referencing Technoblade now and then. After watching some VODs of Eret's I am slowly starting to fall in love with her characterization. I am so soft for their redemption arc, for the regret he feels. Now that cc!Eret is back from their mental health break I am so ready for more.

8. Fundy

Fundy's a character that I will forget how much I love until he goes live again, or until I reread his old quotes. He has a lot of lore to him that surprises you every time you remember. Whether its his last speech to Schlatt to COCONUT 2020, Fundy always gives the audience something more to think about.

9. "Ghostbur"

Ghostbur is one of the few characters who genuinely make me want to cry. cc!Wilbur's performance was both hilarious and immaculate. I really want to find out more about his lore, though. Do all dead people with unfinished business get an alternate version of themselves to roam the Earth while you stay in the afterlife unable to make contact unless the veil is thin? Was Ghostbur just Wilbur pretending the whole time? (SPOILERS) Is Tommy going to get one? Is Glatt canon? Much to think about.

10. BadBoyHalo

While I despise egg-possessed BBH, normal BBH has my entire heart. The fact he gave up his mind for Skeppy is *chef's kiss*. I am very impressed with everything cc!BBH is writing right now.

11. Karl Jacobs

My second favorite polyamorous dimension hopper after Star Butterfly (let me have Startomco please)! TFTSMP just gets better and better each week. His time travel shenanigans are so fun and mysterious. Karlnapity is just a big ol' pot of angst just waiting to happen. WEDDING SOON PLEASE!

no intense opinion

While I do have opinions on some of these characters, they aren't intense enough to place them anywhere else.

12. Ponk

I don't watch him all that often since he's live during my school time, but what I've seen I love. Him starting that whole side plot expanding on that one TFTSMP episode intrigues me and I can see it tying into the egg somehow. Him and Sam are really cute together (/rp) and I want him to become more plot relevant again.

13. Antfrost

GAY CAT GAY CAT GAY CAT! In all seriousness, I really want him to do stuff with his character to make him more than just BBH's second-in-command (I have similar feelings with Skeppy, but I know he isn't very big on lore). Side note, but I really love the hc that RedVelvetCake is inside the egg. I want him to join so bad.

14. Purpled

I've only just started watching the actual clips from pre-L'Manberg times and Purpled was once much more plot involved than I thought. Him planning on getting his revenge on Tommy at the same time as the "police" investigating the Camarvan back in early season one was comedy gold. Shout out to BlueberryTV on YouTube for making it so easy to watch. In conclusion, we stan an underage mercenary.

15. GeorgeNotFound

Idk if this is a hot take or not, but I feel a good portion of people who love George's character are just DNF shippers who want to turn his crumbs into an angst factory, but you know what? Valid. While I am not a DNF shipper, I have seen the angst y'all have brought to the table and very much appreciate it.

16. ConnorEatsPants

The most I think I've seen of Connor has been the hostage scene and the non-canon party scene from this season. I don't have much to say except that his small speech to Tommy after he was let go about him not being a bad person despite traumatizing him hit surprisingly hard in the feels.

17. Skeppy

cc!Skeppy is not a big roleplayer, and I get that, it's just sometimes his character feels a little like an accessory to Bad's character. Please link me some good Skeppy moments in the comments if you can, I want to try and learn more about his character. His angst with Bad right now is top tier, though, and I choose to believe that Big Daddy Island is canon and that Bad took him there to keep him free from the egg. I actually wrote a fic about this if you want to check it out! Mind the tags, though, I went a little macabre with it.

18. HBomb

When I first learned about the SMP it was two nights before the green festival and I was up until 3am at my aunt's house reading the plot summary. The first clip of the smp I saw was the election VOD, where HBomb joined for the first time. I don't know much about him other than the fact he was Fundy's maid for a time and it was absolutely hilarious. I saw the recent stuff with him leaving Greater SMP to start over and enjoyed it. Hope we get more stuff like that with him.

19. Callahan

Gets all the ladies. What else can I say?

you're trying your best and I respect that

20. Sapnap

I put Sapnap here because he's on his way to becoming an amazing character. The angst stuff with Dream is the stuff George fans can only dream of (pun unintended). I like how he went from the cop, the pet killer, Dream's right hand man, to mushroom cottegecore gay living his best life and dealing with the pain of losing his best friend. The whole "Dream's bitch" conversation with Tommy that I saw an animatic for some time ago made me hurt so good. Also #KarlnapityWedding2021.

you're redeemable, thin fucking ice though

These are characters who I somewhat dislike to a degree, but still have hope for. In my opinion this section should be switched with the one after it in terms of which is worse, but oh well.

21. Wilbur Soot

I know he's already dead but if he's brought back to life I want a redemption arc from him back. (SPOILERS) If neither him nor Tommy come back to life then dsmp has a horrible track record with killing off their mentally ill and (tw) suicidal characters. Wilbur has done some awful things, but if he's brought back I don't think he'd be beyond saving.

22. Jack Manifold

I need to say something about Jack. He is so very very close to being in the "you're trying your best" section right now after his most recent stream. His redemption arc is so close I can taste it and if he is redeemed right I can see him joining my faves. His most recent stream was just so well acted that my heart just wants to forgive him already... until my brain remembers he tried to nuke a child. Don’t know if this is also a hot take, but I think he had more of a right to be mad at Tommy than Niki did, but I know for Niki it's more complicated than that.

23. Niki Nihachu

There was a time that I adored Niki Nihachu and a part of me still does, but she has gone a little bit off the deep end. I do understand it's a trauma response, though. cc!Niki said that her villain arc is almost over, which disappointed me a bit because we kinda barely got to see it since it was so overshadowed, but I am also relieved. I just want my wlw baker back :(

people excuse your actions more than you deserve

I am just going to pretend that this section doesn't say "love". I still like these characters a lot even though they get away with a lot of shit.

24. Technoblade

I love Technoblade too much for him to be ranked this low, but like I said this ranking is based on fitting the section descriptions, not how much I love them. Technoblade's POV is understandable but also that doesn't excuse the pain he's caused so many people. L'Manberg was more than it's a government as much as Techno is more than a weapon.

25. Philza Minecraft

Philza deserves to be in this section a little less than Technoblade because I actually agree with a lot of what Philza fans say. Tommy is not Philza's kid. Phil has a lot of trauma around killing Wilbur, yes. I just don't see how you could watch Ghostbur's Friend speech during Doomsday and think he was in the right for doing it.

i don't like you

26. JSchlatt

JSchlatt is an amazing character in many ways. The acting? Glorious. The dialogue? Spot on. With that being said, YAYY HE'S DEAD!!! I really like leaning into the abusive relationship hc with him and his cabinet. He was probably the most fun villain we've ever had, though.

I WANT THIS MOTHER FUCKER DEAD

27. DreamWasTaken

Come on, do I even have to explain?

[cadykeus-clay]

Would you mind sharing your thoughts about vex and Beau being cross campaign foils?

so!!!! first things first: apologies for taking weeks to answer this, finals + having adhd sometimes makes my brain turn to mush and forget every ask ive ever recieved. second of all, i’m assuming you sent me this bc of what i said in my vm vs. m9 how they view the world meta. and i’ll be real with you. i have exactly 0 memory of what was going through my head when i wrote that line, so i am simply going to type out a bunch of thoughts that i have on the similarities and differences between beau and vex and i hope that lives up to what you were expecting jsdflksjdksld

I'll detail some specifics in a moment, but overall, I think beau and vex share a very similar kind of trauma of exclusion in their formative years, that's caused them to have a lot of similar traits that manifest in different ways - for vex, she maintains control through her material posessions and beau finds an emotional control in her asshole-ness. I've broken this down into 5 points on which I think comparing the two really emphasizes that claim:

1. daddy issues: both beau and vex have awful no good terrible very bad dads. both syldor and thoreau can suck my ass. they both raised their kids with little love and impossible-to-meet expectations, alientating them and leaving them with lifelong feelings of inferiority and unbelonging. If beau and vex were to meet, i think they would have a very friendly toast to shitty dads, and then have a good drunk vent about it an hour later.

but, at the same time, the actual minutae of their trauma and the ways it manifests are nearly polar opposites. syldor wanted nothing to do with vex, or else wanted her to somehow become a full elf. her issue was that she would never be able to belong, despite her desire to, and as she grew up it lead to her being overly protective and even possessive of the people she found who DID accept her as she was. 

With beau, rather than exclusion, her father created an environment of toxic inclusion. He created a role for beau to belong in, disregarding her distate for actually fulfilling it. And, as such, she ended up making herself into someone who could have no expectations and pushed away anyone who tried to set them up for her. In the end, they both came to love themselves by abandoning the woman their father wanted them to be but for vex it was the laying down of an impossible dream and for beau it was the picking up of a mantle she had feared to wear.

2. brothers: now, on the topic of family, I also think its really interesting how their interactions with their brothers play out. We've got vex and vax, tied at the hip til the very end and then some; and then we've got beau and TJ - decades apart and with beau barely acknolwedging TJ's existence. But, even that distance between beau and TJ didn't stop her caring for him when they actually met. She gave him lucky Jade, and she entertained the idea of kidnapping him to get him away from her stinko dad. 

And I'd espeically like to talk about what she said outside the hag's hut - "I think Luc and TJ could be best friends", in comparison to the way Vex reacted when Vax told her was going to Zephrah with Keyleth for the year break. There's an aspect to the way they interact with their brothers that lets them slip back into those bad habits they formed growing up (NOT that i'm claiming vex and vax were like toxic for each other. but even good relationships can have unhealthy moments). 

With Beau, when she offers to give her happiness so TJ can grow up safe, she's trying to take on the role she's ""supposed"" to fill - the big sister, the protector - because she failed to fill the one her father set out. And with Vex, when she grows jealous of Vax, it's because she's afraid that his leaving with keyleth is a sign that she no longer belongs in his inner circle, and she falls back on that childish, desperate desire to do anything to be accepted unconditionally. 

3. romance: spoilers for 5 or so most recent m9 eps (115-120)  if you haven't watched them ahead!!!! at this point, both vex and beau have an endgame romance - percy and yasha respectively. Obviously as the m9's campaign is still playing out, that could change, but like. yasha wrote her a love letter and they're officially going on a date so i'm counting that as at least endgame-track rather than just random flirting. What's interesting to me is that they both seem to flip between the SAME roles between their (in-game) general perception and their actual pursual of romance. 

Vex gets characterized as a pretty big flirt, right? She's got the winks, the casual "darling". She's flashed grog her boobs on multiple instances with little prompting. Beau, similarly, has easily the most game out of anyone in the m9. She's slept with two guest characters and at least one more npc in the events of the game. Caleb made her a fuck mirror in her room in the mansion. And yet, in both of their actual romantic endeavors, they became the shy, uncertain type. 

Vex only confessed her feelings when Percy was laying dead before her, and not an hour of game play before percy kissed her in the woods, she had a talk with vax about how she was pretty sure he didn't like her that way and she didn't want to pursue it. Beau, similarly, spent a very long time convinced that yasha wasn't looking for love after zuala, especially not in anyone like her, asked everyone in the party if they thought yasha ACTUALLY liked her, just to be safe, and then still terrified to ask her out after recieving a literal love letter. I'd argue this shift comes from that same sense of unbelonging - they're very good at pretending they fit a role but doubt their actual right to take it when the opportunity is presented. This time, the role is the lover rather than the daughter.

4. authority: Both vex and beau grew up shunned by the upper crust of society, and grew to mistrust those kinds of people. And yet, both of their arcs result in them assuming such a position. Vex, thrown out of high society gets her place as a baronness, and Beau, running from leadership of her father's business ends up a top member of the Cobalt Soul. There's not a lot here, but I find it interesting how both of their stories involve them shedding their baggage regarding authority and power and assuming it in a way that they feel comfortable in - invitation by someone she trusts for vex, and a promise of freedom of will and control for beau.

5. their deadliest sins: this is the point at which their similarities culminate and transform to a fundamental difference. despite everything they share - shitty childhoods, the small piece of family that's still good, flirtiness masking shy love, and a mistrust of those in power - vex and beau are such different characters because of their biggest vices. Vex, both in game and out, is "the greedy one". She's stingy with money, she haggles for everything, she mourns the loss of physical objects. Beau is "the mean one". She cares little for people's feelings if they're not in her immediate circle, she focuses on her tough guy image, she laughs at things she knows she shouldn't. 

And, over the course of the campaign, as they find unconditional acceptance, they grow away from these traits (I won't say they grow out of them) because they heal from the things causing these vices to begin with. I've always been vocal about vex's greed being a manifestation of her class insecurity, and beau's asshole-ness stemming from her fear of being forced back into another position of complacency. And I stand by that now - all the similarities in their backstories are what tally up to these different women.

Despite her careful tally of party funds and her reflexive bargaining, vex is not cruel. she is not angry on her own behalf. She saves two boys from the market in the city of brass at great personal cost, she relinquishes an entire dragon's hoard to the devastated city of Westruun, she took the time to save a baby bear from a cage when she could have just cut and run after escaping her own. She's the first one most people go to when they need a shoulder to cry on, and she's devastated when they don't (thinkin about when Scanlan left). She carved "forgiveness" into the bow she stole from a man after killing him by proclaiming how much she loved someone, because she knew anger had no place in her heart.

And Beau, Beau is a bitch and she's harsh, but she doesn't hoard or protect like vex did. she spends her money without much of a second thought. She pitches in to help her friends buy a ton of glowsticks, and she loves to indulge in material desires like drink and good food and the nicer inn room. She's a member of an organization that's about making knowledge public rather than guarding it. And, though this may be controversial, I think her position with bowlgate of "its not our problem what cali wants to do with it", her long-standing mistrust of their alliance with the bright queen and  and more recently with the tomb takers of "i want to go in and talk, rather than assuming they're antagonistic, even if it puts us at a disadvantage" are both examples of this non-possessiveness too - she has no need or desire to get involved in controlling what other people are doing.

so, i guess the general conclusion here is: vex struggles to let go of things, of money, of people. beau struggles to let herself be known in case she gets wrongly interpreted again. they both fight feelings of inadequacy, they both fight the feelings of not belonging, of 'doing it wrong', they fight the perception of them as shitty people because of the shells they hide in despite their absolute hearts of gold.  but at the end of the day, vex's story is one of having to lay down what could never be hers so she can carry what is, and beau's story is one of allowing herself to be known so a place can be made for her.

[obiyuki-beebs]

I found this in chapter 56 and I thought it was kinda interesting. While Zen is comforting Shirayuki as she's crying, Mitsuhide says,"But this is about Zen and Shirayuki. I don't think this sudden distance is a big problem. It's not like being apart would cause their existence to become smaller in each other's lives." Maybe it's foreshadowing they will separate? What are your thoughts on this? Do you think ObiYuki still has a chance or is it just the author toying with us?

hi anon!!  (￣ω￣)

Short answer:

Yes, Whoaboy get ready I have some THOUGHTS, YESS!! and No.

I have been sitting on this ask for a long time sorry for le wait

The vast majority of this post is below the cut. I hope it is not too much / addresses what you meant. 

Here are some notes before I subject whoever reads this to my madness:

These little moments of “It’s okay to do what you want to do” always strike me, and I think about them when I’m considering Zen v Obi endgame because it opens up the possibility that things can change.

Yes it’s a shojo and shojo protagonists tend to stick with their initial love interest... blah blah blah. I don’t think this preconceived notion of how shojo manga ‘always goes’ is a valid point anymore.

So .... I think the comments we are both thinking of usually refer to Shirayuki’s Path and how she must be able to Stand By Zen’s Side as an Ally, etc. So I’ll kind of be thinking of this from the angle of a Journey. 

Everything discussed is also after The Play We Believe is Foreshadowing (except for the panels pulled from ch 9 and 20) which I think should be considered for the context of the plot. 

If it is actually foreshadowing for an eventual Obi & Shirayuki story arc -- which tbh we might be in the midst of (currently) at ch 117 without realizing it -- then it’s relevant to how we frame the comments made afterwards. At the end of the day, Akizuki-sensei is an author. She is telling us a story. I think it’s reasonable to seek out clues to foreshadowing in fictional stories. So I’m operating under a 90% certainty that the play is foreshadowing.

I have found that the best (fictional) stories are ones that have been planned carefully. I have no way of verifying if AnS has been so precisely crafted to weave in so much foreshadowing that we speculate over, but damn it sure feels like it was. 

The manga was originally just the first chapter, so we can assume that after writing that chapter and deciding to make it into a series, there was some planning done.

ANyway............... strong speculation ahead. I think I was ~60% thorough in my search to find material relevant to Foreshadowing of a Separation.

Please enjoy! 

1) So we’ll start with a panel from ch 9, 

where Zen is considering his relationship with Shirayuki and his growing crush. 

This panel is, as stated above, part of the story that Akizuki expanded on after the original one-shot. In the first chapter, we get a lot of cute fate-chitchat between Zen and Shirayuki, but I think -- after deciding to continue the story -- Akizuki changed the tone to allow for more character development, and to challenge the Fate tropes often seen in romance. 

Thus, the statement above from Zen that they may not always be together.

foreshadowing ?!   ( ˙▿˙ )

___________________________ 

2) In Chapter 28,

we have the crew essentially saying they are all growing stronger for the sake of each other, and lending their strength as needed.

Within the story, Akizuki-sensei has established a theme of moving forward and changing as needed as a way to get stronger.

Mitsuhide says this to Shirayuki, also in Ch 28:

Why .... does Mitsuhide look so serious as he says this to her? Is he reconciling the fact that Shirayuki and Zens paths may diverge at some point, as they do for the Lyrias arc?

He follows up the above statement with:

He goes on to say, 

“I want you to follow your heart so you can stand on your own wherever Zen takes you.” 

So... maybe that context takes away some of the significance for fellow lovers of AnS. But I don’t think we should just ignore the statement.

I think she’s being given permission to change her mind; that it’s okay for her to have feelings for Zen, but it’s also okay if she chooses to end things. Mitsuhide will support her either way.

Even though the the full remark still has to do with Zen, she is being encouraged to stand on her own. She is her own person. She has friends who will still be there even if she chooses something different from what people expect of her.

In this case -- pertaining to AnS as a whole, from the perspective of everyone who ‘knows’ about ZenYuki in-story and also (meta!) the manga readers -- Shirayuki is expected to someday marry Zen. 

After this, in Chapter 29, Izana is a bit derisive to Shirayuki after she gets the title from Tanbarun. I think his comments are intentionally made to make her uncomfortable. He says,

“Hahahaha! What an unusual title! Amazing!”

- cue confusion from Zen and Shirayuki -

“I wasn’t poking fun at it, it’s just a bit strange. Hmm... before, I said a nobody like her at your side would sully your name, Zen, but with this you can be friends without any such worry, right?

“Shirayuki, I’ve never asked what kind of relationship you want to have with Zen. And I don’t know if it’s something that can be said.”

Alrighty. So. Izana says in front of Shirayuki that he had described her as a nobody. This seems like something said meant to disquiet her, and her initial reaction is, “taken aback,” so we can safely say it was at least temporarily disconcerting for her to hear. I imagine it’s hurtful to hear you were once thought of as someone unworthy of notice.

Don’t get me wrong, I think most of what Izana says and does is in relatively good faith. I think the fandom has come to a general conclusion that he’s testing their relationship. 

Obi finds her in the early morning and he notices that she’s upset, commenting that she’s making a strange face. She is still thinking about what Izana said, and Obi asks,

“Is it about the path you want to take?”

“....No. It’s that I haven’t given it any thought.”

Zen already wishes (though I don’t think he’s explicitly stated it the way he does later in ch 33) to marry Shirayuki, and we see her here facing emotional turmoil because that part of her future isn’t something she has thought about yet. Interesting, to say the least.

I’m not really sure about this, but it seems like she either means where Zen is taking her and / or where she can stand on her own.

And then .......

“Obi, will you lend me a hand?”

“Didn’t I tell you before that I’ll take you wherever you want to go?”

This part of the story is still heavy ZenYuki, but I think Obi saying this to her right now is significant. Akizuki has repeatedly weaved Shirayuki’s path into the themes of the story so far, while contrasting that Zen will meet her at her destination, while Obi will be at her side for the journey. 

Zen and Shirayuki meet and talk. They basically address that Shirayuki doesn’t really know what the future holds, but that she still wants to stand by his side, and says that even though he’s a prince she wants to think it’s okay for her to feel that way. 

You almost forget about the significance of Obi and Shirayuki’s relationship when it’s followed up by this ZenYuki scene. I wonder about the aforementioned nature-of-planning involved in the story and the future of the characters at this point.

gnah how did this post get so long already

___________________________

3) Zen has presumably given his blessing for Obi to be happy in love

In chapter 31, while the group is stranded outside Wistal due to rain, Zen and Obi are in the bath talking about the possibility of Kiki and Mitsuhide getting married.

“It’s fine with me as long as they can say that they’re happy. I intend to make sure of that.”

“You’ll make sure of that?”

“The same applies to you too, Obi.”

More foreshadowing? Presently it seems that the MitsuKiki ship has sunk, so contrasting this conversation to current-manga-events is titillating to me. ESPECIALLY because Zen says that he wants to make sure Obi is happy when Zen knows how Obi feels about Shirayuki. So it’s established that they will support one another as friends.

Later, Kiki and Mitsuhide are talking after dinner and discuss how the nature of Zen and Shirauki’s friendship never changes (that’s the impression I got from it). Mitsuhide recalls when he and Zen talked about the same thing:

I think what Kiki and Mitsuhide are referring to is that Zen and Shirayuki have made a conscious effort to become friends despite the barriers they’ve encountered so far, by way of them showing the strength of their mutual respect and desire to aid one another. I get a similar feel from the conversation between Zen and Mitsuhide. 

And then .....

“The two of us will always be friends.”

ahem

Zen saying this -- in context to everything from the past four chapters -- implies that Zen is okay if their relationship is not romantic. If it is true that the mangas plot was deliberately planned out, these chapters will become increasingly interesting to look back on as the plot progresses. 

The direction of the story has changed since then if we are only looking at the big turning point of Mitsuhide rejecting Kiki.

And despite that rejection, the group is still a group despite their physical distance. 

___________________________ 

Brief note to say that in Ch 33 Izana says to Zen,

“Let me be an ally as you and Shirayuki follow your own path.”

While this is a ZenYuki comment, I see it as Akizuki reinforcing that each character is following their own path and they will be supported as they do.

___________________________

3.5) After this point is the first Lyrias arc, 

where obiyuki shippers are starting to salivate over how much is packed in just for their relationship. I mean .... remember when she pushed him to the ground because she thought he would get hit by snow? And he gives her those moony eyes just like it didn’t stop ... my heart

UGH JUST SAYING IT BECAUSE context! Shirayuki’s path is changing slowly, and Obi is still by her side.

___________________________

4) A period of transition

I think this is around the time the Bergatt arc is actually beginning, leading up even to current-manga-events.

In Chapter 53

And thus, they head towards the path that a new wind blows upon.

The times are changing.

While Shirayuki is preparing for her and Ryuu’s move to Lyrias, Zen and co. are at Wilant meeting with Haruto, who describes fools aiming to throw the country into turmoil. This is a seed for the plot that develops, ie, the Bergatt arc that was not actually resolved when Touka gets taken down at Sereg in ch (?) 86. I bring this up because I think it shows the level of planning that Akizuki has put into the story at this point.

In chapter 55, after Shirayuki has finally been able to tell Zen she’ll be away from Wistal for 2 years, and they have this conversation (slightly paraphrased) after he’s processed for a short time:

Zen -

“Sorry. The fact that you would be leaving the castle was something that I’d never considered. So my reaction was a little slow.

“I’ll hear it. I’m sure there was more you wanted to say.”

Shirayuki -

“I’m really glad that I got to meet you and come to the castle! I’m where I am now because I wanted to become Zen’s ally; and i achieved that by coming to the castle and becoming a royal pharmacist.

“I’m sure that, like how it’s always been, there’s something ahead connecting to my path now. That’s why, because there’s a place I have yet to go, I want to be there.”

This is Zen’s face after she says the above:

What is he thinking? Is he worried about their romantic relationship? I interpret it as preemptive disappointment that they may not stay together.

Shortly after we get to the point you made in your ask (sweet anon) re ch 56 with Mitsuhides comment. This adds to the reinforced theme that change is okay and they will all still be friends and allies regardless of where life takes them.

BUT IMMEDIATELY AFTER Mitsuhide says that in reference to Zen and Shirayuki, Obi responds:

Is Akizuki drawing a parallel between MitsuKiki and ZenYuki? No idea. maybe. But somehow I do not find it coincidental.

This seems like a MitsuKiki hint, meant to fuel the ultra-shippable pair that we all loved... but after the rejected proposal, it’s hard not to see the whole situation differently re: zenyuki / obiyuki and mitsukiki / hisakiki.

Then the first true ObiYuki hug, and this:

“It feels as though Obi might suddenly appear in Lyrias!”

girl you already knew. Shirayuki knows that Obi will follow her.

Obi deliberately postpones going to Lyrias, though, in order to consider his feelings for Shirayuki and how to tell Zen.

Then!! in 58-59 we get long-awaited confirmation from Obi that he has feelings for Shirayuki, and after this beautiful moment Obi goes to Lyrias to be at Shirayuki’s side, and after everything that has happened so far that is a clincher for me regarding our beloved Foreshadowing.

While discussing Obi’s crush on Shirayuki, Obi asks Zen

“Aren’t you going to propose?”

“.......................Well, I’m.. making her .. wait.”

“Master ... I don’t recommend postponing it, you know.”

I wonder about this comment. Is this a clue for us that Zen postponing engagement is going to be a negative thing in the future? 

idk maybe ╮(￣ω￣)╭

Either way ........ This transition period, in between Lyrias 1 and 2, shows us that the story is changing.

___________________________ 

I have definitely not covered all of the possible moments of foreshadowing and am actually going to leave off on that topic for the time being. I might do a part 2 as its own post. 

But for now I will switch to previously mentioned point that...

5) Obi and Shirayuki’s paths are walked together

I think the following two panels are a great way to frame their relationship. Chapter 20 in early Tanbarun arc:  

And then, much later in chapter 106 as they stand by the fire and Shirayuki tells Obi he’s handsome in the light:

“... because you come with me.” ( ╥ω╥ )

And then more delightful talk from chapter 104 that I think is ... gasp 

foreshadowing !!!!!

They are having this discussion after they’ve found out about Kiki becoming engaged to Hisame.

“It’s necessary to have the courage to make a decision and take a step down that path, isn’t it?”

Shirayuki is possibly saying this due to the implications of Kiki’s letter. Kiki has made the choice to take a new path from the one she had been on by marrying Hisame. 

So what about Shirayuki’s journey? Has her growth led her to a path she didn’t expect, and now it will take courage to step down it?

In recent chapters Shirayuki is shown to be seeing Obi differently and as a man:

overhearing him calling her beautiful and being surprised that he is embarrassed she heard

witnessing him going to a marriage meeting

that little moment where he is holding her wrist as a Lyrias knight tells him that the knights sister wishes him luck in love

the firelight comment oh my god

realizing she lost the pin Obi gave her and tearing up as she literally stared at him; upset that the gift she cherished is now missing and potentially realizing how very dear to her Obi actually is

fake dating and the 10 seconds of ... just... I still cant even 

Obi is the one who is by Shirayuki’s side. They developed a bond through years friendship that is now being reframed by Akizuki. The nature of their relationship has been slowly changing and I think we approaching a time in the manga where Shirayuki will realize it.

___________________________

To answer your last question ... I do think ObiYuki has a chance and I do not think the author is just toying with us. I’ve talked a lot about my ObiYuki Endgame feels in previous posts/asks. I could probably talk about it forever but this post is absurdly long .... sorry

Thank you so much for the ask! and wow thank you so much if you actually read this whole thing! 

<3 beebs <3

[aspoonofsugar]

What do you think of Q?

Hello anon!

I think Q is a character with the potential of being very rich symbolically and I hope they come back soon.

It is clear from their appearance that they are a character who represents duality:

Their hair are half-white and half-black and after seeing them for the first time Dazai is unable to define their gender. This duality emerges also by their profile where it is stated that Yumeno both loves and hates themselves.

Especially this last contradiction says something about Yumeno’s interiority and this something is made clear in the story itself:

Q might act sadistically, but deep down it is obvious that they are just reacting to a world which has been tormenting and dehumanizing them because of their diversity. This dehumanization appears also in the way other characters refer to them. As a matter of fact the other mafia members prefer to use the letter Q to call them, despite them having a proper name. What is more, the way basically every adult has reacted to Q so far clearly shows that Q really represents for the other characters what they repress.

This is made clear by their ability as well:

Their power is called by Dazai mind-control, but what it does is actually to let every person face the things they refuse to accept about themselves. This is perfectly shown when Atsushi is cursed.

The whole scene is pretty well made and explicative, so I hope you don’t mind if I take the chance to comment it a little.

First of all, Q opens their attack by chanting a song which is used in a game:

According to the translator’s notes, the game has a group of people surrounding a person who has their eyes closed. They are the oni and while they can’t see the others start moving in a circle chanting the song. When the song is over, the oni has to guess who is the person behind them.

The description of the game is meaningful for the battle on multiple levels. On one hand the song talking about the person behind Atsushi seems to underline the fact that Haruno is brainwashed, so it is as if Yumeno is telling Atsushi to watch his back. On the other hand Atsushi is immediately put in the position of the Oni who is blind. In other words, it is clear that the song foreshadows that Atsushi is really the one who can’t see properly and can’t recognize neither himself nor his surroundings:

At the same time, Oni means demon in Japanese (if I am not wrong) and this could be a reference to Atsushi’s violent side. We can also say that the whole scene shows Atsushi’s way to cope with his own violence. As a matter of fact Atsushi justifies it only if necessary to protect others. This is why Yumeno’s illusion tricking him into attacking his two colleagues is especially fitting to show the limits of such a mindset.

On one hand Atsushi frames himself as heroic because he is trying to protect others. On the other hand we are clearly shown how this is hypocritical to an extent:

Even if Haruno and Naomi were brainwashed Atsushi would have still used violence and even his ability against two people with no combat experience and far weaker than him. At the same time, the fact that he hurt them doesn’t change the fact that he was animated by the best intentions and that it was not his fault that he was brainwashed. However, he is fast to justify his violence when he thinks that the others are the ones manipulated, but he immediately blames himself when he turns out to have been the target. This highlights Atsushi’s complicated relationship with strength and weakness and his need to feel in the right.

Atsushi falls in the illusion’s trap because of his bias in perceiving both himself and others and this is what he must overcome with time.

So this example makes clear that Q is so hated because they represent what people want to forget about. This is probably true for Dazai as well, despite the fact that Q’s ability doesn’t work on him:

We don’t have many details, but it is easy to infer that Dazai used to be close to Q probably because he was the only person who could go near them without fearing Dogra Magra. However, something happened and Q ended up misusing their power, so Dazai “sealed them away”. It is not a secret that a part of Dazai’s arc will be about facing his past in the mafia and Q represents a part of this past Dazai would very much like to leave behind.

Generally speaking, Yumeno is the child nobody wants to save because it is too troublesome. Dazai left them behind, the mafia imprisoned them and weaponized them and nobody seems to care. Because of this, it is fitting that it is Yumeno’s ability the one which risks to destroy the city:

What Steinbeck says here perfectly shows the problem. He is in front of a child who is crying and screaming and who is asking why they have to suffer and all Steinbeck has to offer as a reply is that it is because it has been decided this way. This is a very fatalistic outlook which fits with this character who says to hate capitalism, but accepts to work for a capitalist and takes on the renmants of said capitalist’s organization. Steinbeck might dislike some parts of society, but rather than trying to change them he has accepted them as unavoidable and has tried to modify his social standing to be on the side of those who use others rather than on the one of those who get used.

In short, it is because of the way society works that Q has been suffering and so it makes perfect sense that society risks to be destroyed by them. All the people who unknowingly get cursed by them are people who have hurt them without realizing it. This is perfect to metaphorically show that it is the citizens not caring which lets mechanisms damaging the weak survive. Q almost destroys the city because the city has almost destroyed them with its indifference.

This is why it is interesting and potentially meaningful the fact that Yumeno is finally saved by an alliance born between two enemy organizations and by two people who seem to have been connected with them in some way:

However, even if they are saved, they are not really safe because the two people who should take care of them are still stuck in their own limitations:

Chuuya is still too blinded by his emotions to recognize in Q a person who needs help and Dazai still leaves them behind. In other words, these two adults are still too wrapped up in their respective extreme perspectives and do not really manage to integrate them. On one hand Chuuya is animated by deep emotions, but he is limited by the fact that he applies them only to his little group of loved ones. On the other hand Dazai has a better rational understanding of the fact that people of different groups are still people, but he has trouble expressing healthy feelings towards them and so he goes back to logical solutions which make sense, but are also pretty cold.

In short, Q is a person who is not given the help they need and this is why they are who they are. As a matter of fact it is obvious that Q’s ability which targets people after they have been hurt is meant to be read as a defense mechanism. Q will hurt the people who make them suffer and not others. However, Q uses their ability in an overly-sensitive way and doesn’t discriminate among their targets. Yumeno puts themselves in a situation where they will always be wounded, no matter what others do. Q is so scared and diffident towards people that they have chosen to consider every person an enemy. This is something which ends up hurting them more than what it helps them. This is made obvious both symbolically and plot-wise.

1) The symbolic representation of Yumeno’s complicated situation is highlighted by their doll. The doll appears as a monstruous version of Q themselves since they wear similar clothes. This means that the doll being broken to unleash the curse represents Q themselves being hurt by this whole vicious cycle  which keeps damaging them.

2) Yumeno ends up in a dire situation because of their own actions. As a matter of fact they provoke Lovecraft and end up paying the price for this. This is important because of several reasons.

First of all, both Yumeno and Lovecraft are representative of the horror genre and they are both associated with the montrousity, but in different ways. Yumeno’s monstrousity is linked to the mind and to one’s interioriy, while Lovecraft is monstrous because he is not properly human and so he is far stronger than humans and somehow difficult to properly understand.

Because of this, Yumeno’s meeting with Lovecraft shows how the former can’t expect to face the world alone helped only by their power because Dogra Magra has limits and there are forces against which it won’t work.

At the same time, Yumeno is also punished because of their insensitivity towards others. They have fun torturing people with the things they are mostly tormented by, but Lovecraft shows them that a person’s darkest side can be dangerous not only for the person themselves, but for Yumeno too. Because of that, Yumeno should show empathy towards people’s struggle and not approach them in a light-hearted way.

In conclusion, it is true that people must learn to face their fears and short-comings, but Yumeno too should learn not to toy with these things because it could be dangerous and it won’t let them develop healthy relationships and they need them.

I hope this answer your question!

Thank you for the ask!

[ae0nx]

FRUITS BASKET ‘19 EPISODE 24 VS FRUITS BASKET ‘01 24-26 (PART 2)

Link to Part 1 here

So just to start it off again... I just wanna reiterate...

When I think of the True Form Arc, I think three simple points are vital to be shown:

Kyo’s true form is to be revealed to the audience and to Tohru

Kyo’s past with Kazuma and his mother/(partly)father

Tohru still accepting Kyo and declaring her love need for them to be together and share each other’s pain and joy

Also, if you’re more invested in my review of the 2019 version, scroll further down as most of this is gonna be the 2001 rewritten bits recap. Sorry?

-------------------------------

- Again, I really appreciate that the 2001 version left us with that pre-transformation cliffhanger. It’s a really great separation and keeps us on the edge of our seats. Plus, gives the horror and effects of Kyo’s transformation much needed time. I love the 2019 version too but it could’ve been excellent with a WHOLE episode dedicated to Kyo’s true form transformation rather than just half of one... Plus, aren’t these events are supposed to take course during an entire night leading into morning? 

I can’t decide which iteration of the Kyo transformation I like the most. I just know that the manga version doesn’t live up to the animated versions...

They’re both pretty horrifying and scary and look incredibly painful. I’d probably give it to ‘19 cos Kyo had tears in his eyes as he was transforming which hurt my heart and also just cos you know it’s in high def andddd the transformation isn’t a cloud, it’s fire embers. This is great gore-y content and I’m a little desensitised cos I had to watch/read this scene three times in one sitting so... 

I loveeee Tohru’s resilience. Kazuma’s here saying soliloquies and philosophical questions and Tohru just takes off after Kyo! And the manga and ‘19 version definitely wanted to highlight this message to the upmost: Tohru’s love is so STRONG. And BADASS. But, a part of me also loves the time ‘01!Tohru takes to evaluate the situation cos in all fairness... it is a very shocking reveal (if Tohru wasn’t already shocked enough from them turning into animals)

I like how in ‘01 anime we don’t get the inner monologue of Tohru evaluating what she saw. It leaves the whole notion of Tohru chasing after Kyo a little more mysterious as to whether she will or not. And the silence says it all anyway. Only the sound of the falling rain... I like it better. I tend to lean towards scenes with more action and less dialogue as someone who apparently learns better through visuals rather than dialogue. 

Akito appearing like a fuckin ghoul out of nowhere is still ridiculous haha but I have to give kudos to the ‘01 English VA Chad Cline. He definitely elevates the scene when he says this one sentence:

- I also like that this event (and also Akito) feeds into Tohru’s insecurity of not truly being a part of specifically Kyo and Yuki’s world. Not truly understanding them. She’s been living with them for almost a year by now(?) and I’m sure she felt because she knew the worst secret of them already there couldn’t have been anything even worse. And in a way, she feels cheated? ALSO KYO JUST TURNED INTO A FREAKIN ALIEN CAT MONSTER. I know Tohru’s very much aware that she still has much to learn about them but she couldn’t have predicted this. And it kinda puts her on the level of being an outsider once again. I like that it concentrates on Tohru’s own feelings towards her place rather than just her feelings towards Kyo. 

...I’m gonna get into some heavy 2001!Shigure defending, so I’m sorry if you don’t favour this iteration - stick with me for a sec lol

I’m ignoring all the ‘it’s not accurate, it’s not real’ chants in my head because... LOOK HOW DEJECTED HE LOOKS.

...

2001 gave me everything I wanted from Shigure as a character. Yes, he’s very interesting and conniving and fun as he was originally depicted. But... this Shigure has emotions and is fully showing them! That’s all I FUCKIN WANT. I just want him to show that even though he’s making these dangerous moves and manipulating people for his own benefit, that he has a conscious that is eating away at him and eventually will break. It may be too early in the story for an event like this to take place but I do appreciate that it’s shown. I get very frustrated with the fact that Shigure stays somewhat the same throughout the course of the manga but I guess the only person who does stay the same in the story is the narrator...

- I don’t know if the director of the 2001 version knew that they only had one season to translate Fruits Basket somewhere in the making of these three episodes, or even before. But, it definitely shows with the choices they make with the inclusion of Shigure, Uo, Hana, Kagura and Yuki in the search for Kyo. It’s almost as if they read future arcs and felt to just mash an iteration (or bastardisation) of it to try and conclude the whole story... which was quite a desperate move.

I also like the way this scene closes.

👌🏾

I actually really like this moment from Kagura! She’s actually being mature! And rational... and sort of letting go of Kyo at the same time. I do think if Fruits Basket ‘01 was given another season, it would’ve been fleshed out (obviously) but it’s such a great moment. Again, these are all signs that the end was nigh and they felt they had to tie up all the character arcs that were involved very quickly and I don’t necessarily blame them for trying. It just made them look a bit silly when looking from a 2019 view.

- But yeah, Yuki being involved is a no-no. He felt the most out of place when it comes to ‘characters that should’ve not been involved’. He makes a point when he finds Kyo about how they should both stop running away but it’s not fully fleshed out enough before this event for me or anyone else to care about. It’s kind of unfortunate cos I quite like the concept of Yuki being there especially tying in to how Yuki comes to a realisation of himself and Tohru’s relationship. 

- Also, are Yuki and Kagura tight like that? Lol for him to go rushing after Kyo basically cos she asked? mmmm.... 😓

This is actually my favourite moment from the 2001 version of the True Form Arc! It’s visually stunning and haunting and just... interesting. I like that they included the cats. Cats that would normally gravitate to Kyo but are now taking the voices of haunted figures of his past. Whether it’s in his head or not. 

In general, I felt Kyo’s mental anguish in the ‘01 version was a lot more artistically styled and creative. Very creepy and even more sad.

I do like that Tohru went to her mother’s grave for comfort/guidance before finding Kyo. I probably would’ve included a scene like that myself in the 2019 version as it adds a preliminary to Tohru’s future conflict between her love for her mother and her love for Kyo. AND it also adds time between the night Kyo transforms and the eventual sunrise when she finds Kyo. How far is Kyoko’s grave from the Sohma house? Lol

But yep, Uo and Hana being there was irrelevant but it’s pretty funny that Hana’s waves were used as a last minute explanation as to why they felt they had to attend Kyoko’s grave. But, I guesss the writers wanted to use this as a moment of Uo and Hana letting go of their ‘daughter’ to let her become a woman (reminds me of Yuki’s comment of how he saw Tohru as a woman when she ran after Kyo) and go after her man. It’s a conclusion... but it’s meshed with so many other themes and conclusions that it ALL DOESN’T MATTER. Plus, I don’t really like this as a thing; Uo and Hana will always be Tohru’s surrogate parents. ALWAYS.

Anyway, look at this beautifully depressing visual that ‘01 gave us for THREE EPISODES *sips wine*:

But seriously, while the visuals are so drastically dark compared to rest of the ‘01 season and are dragged out for sooooo longg, it is a very beautifully, depressing design. I love the way that all background music is edited out. Everyone is crying. Everyone is confused. The sound of rain is a constant throughout it. Honestly? It almost broke me cos the heaviness of it is exhausting, haha. And I have to commend it on pure shock value cos ‘01 Fruits Basket was barely dark until this arc. I think that’s what essentially made me adore it when I first discovered the ‘01 anime. I hadn’t read the manga so I didn’t know any better, but the darkness and pain in this arc is so beautifully shown and I feel like people forget that when critiquing the ‘01 version.

They jam packed a whole lot of character arcs in here when really the story should be focused on Kyo and Tohru’s reaction to Kyo. And I honestly, don’t blame them. It’s just too much at once that you don’t get to appreciate any arc at all because it’s not pushed to it’s full potential. It’s mostly just a feeling of sadness... that you later equate into genius...  because it’s sad? Which, I guess, could be seen as manipulatively clever? But now that we have the 2019 version, I think people will be more likely to decipher the bad from the good. Like, I have :)

- BACK TO 2019 VERSION: Wow, Kyo, really took out a whole cliff, huh?

I honestly got impression from the manga that Kyo did push and injure Tohru enough for her to get a huge amount away from him but not so far that she fuckin DIVES INTO A LAKE. My God, this was a bit dramatic lol

Ouch... that wound looks worse in the anime than the manga...

QUEEN TOHRU. I love everything about this.

You guys know I LOVE a good parallel and look at this couple meeting each other’s needs and taking their first steps. I can’t. I’m going to be crying into my wine soon. Nothing needs to be said about this scene, except excellence in ALL AREAS.

🎵TEARS STREAM.

 🎵DOWN YOUUURRR FAAACEEEE

🎵AND IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII....

I can’t get over Kyo’s face in this moment. I just- MY HEARRRTTTT. GOD TAKE ME. PLEASE. Couples that cry together, stay together. Omggg.

Even if we can’t agree on much when it comes to 2001 vs 2019, we can both agree that Tohru stays being an ethereal goddess. OUTFIT APPRECIATION. LIFE APPRECIATION. I’m so tired. haha.

So in conclusion, I think 2001 succeeded at showing all the three main points of the True Form Arc. I just think it got the message of this being a Kyo/Tohru centric tail a bit misconstrued because they wanted to make this a general zodiac tale of them finding freedom and release through Tohru. And it definitely takes away from the Kyoru centric storyline that runs through the True Form Arc. And while I think the True Form Arc could’ve used another episode in the 2019 version, it’s quite clear that 2019 wins this battle in all areas of it being a more whole and complete yet emotional and stunning version of the True Form Arc.

I would go into what happens at the end of episode 26 in the ‘01 version but it honestly kinda angers and frustrates me? And I’m mentally exhausted soooo, I might go into it some time next week before the next 2019 episode drop. Also, I’ll tie up some thoughts of the ‘01 version of Kyo and Kagura’s date. This was fun! Only took half a day to organise my thoughts, ahaaaa.

[just-like-playing-tag]

TPN Tag Game

Thank you @temporoom, @x-supernova and @yiulee for tagging me, you are the best!

Thank you @bluelric for creating this cute thing and for tagging me! Happy one year into tpn!!!!!

1. Did you start with the manga or the anime?

Anime! It was my sister's birthday, and I was like: "Let's spend some time together! You chose what we watch!" And she went: "wanna try this serie I'm really passionate about?" "Aight why not"

My sister has good taste.

2. Wich one do you like more?

Ahh that's a taugh one! Because you know, I'm positive there's things you can't convey through anime, but also things you can't convey through manga, so they both end up lacking something to my eyes.

Manga's art style is gorgeous and incredibly unique... It has my respect for originating all the character designs. Also, some of its visuals are truly breathtaking. And there's chapter covers I'd spend hours admiring! Not to mention all the details in said covers... The foreshadowing is insanely great and well made. Plus, it's part of the very small list of shonen mangas illustrated by women, that is something I really cherish.

Anime gets bonus points for the soundtrack and how it builds up tension. One thing that I really really love about the anime is how the character look younger compared to their manga equivalent, and thus more their age: I think that really sets off to the plot and makes the whole thing more terrifying and tragic. And even though Demizu's art is simply spectacular, anime's style is lovely too! Oh, and let's not forget about the voice acting, it's so good???? Especially Emma's va, she's amazingly talented.

(I mean, I know anime is often putted down for not including internal monologues but like- since I already know them from the manga, I can play them in my head while watching the anime, so I'm not really feeling like I'm missing anything out ahah)

OH and the anime has this opening sequence where Norman and Ray put on these stuns totally at random and it makes me laugh so much it's just so random and funny

I don't know I *may* prefere the anime because it's been my first approach to the serie so I'm very emotionally attached to it.

But then again there's this panels in the manga that are so gorgeous and expressive and powerful...

But also! Since I've entered the fandom it's been so nice to hear the comments from everyone each time a new chapter is released, no matter if it's positive takes or harsh criticism. Even if the fandom got progressively smaller, there's still the same bunch of people that from time to time like to share thoughts and jokes on the latest chapter, and that's so nice!! It feels like reading it together with everyone, it's made such a precious memory.

So uhm nah I can't possibly choose.

3. Favourite arc?

Grace Field Arc is just so great?? I mean my absolutely favourite chapter is in the King of Paradise Arc, but then again seeing the trio work together, overcome almost every difficulty together, saving each other reciprocally, rejoicing together when something worked out and crying together when the situation seemed the most disperate... But then again giving each other the strength to get up and keep fighting... That. That was some great stuff.

I mean, I actually feel really sorry to choose only one. Goldy Pond arc was awesome. Search For Minerva Arc was awesome. Seven Walls Arc was awesome (most of it). I just love this manga very much.

But here, if I have to chose only one, that must be it! (I mean. Is anybody going to choose any other one?)

4. Favourite character?

Ah-ah. Norman.

5. Favourite volume cover? 

Probably the 2nd volume's one! Grace Field holds a very special place in my heart. And it's just so nice to look at, with all its warm colours and domestic feeling... I love Emma's excited childish face, and how the cover includes Don, Gilda and Phil. It's one of the most evident examples of Demizu's fisheye perspective, and the way the circle conveys love and energy is stunning.

The one from the 13th volume is incredibly beautiful too!!! All the bright yellow lights give an almost mystical feeling to it, sorta recreating the atmosphere of a cathedral. I really like it.

Besides from that, I really like some of the most recent covers, especially the ones from volumes 15 and 16.

Also, my favourite chapter cover is the one from chapter 131.

6. Any good memory related to tpn that you want to share? 

Uh there's many I guess? I think the dearest memory has to be like... Having the serie, through its story / character / fandom, being able to light up my day. That's really cool. Other than that...

As @temporoom nicely revoked, counting the beds was glorious indeed. It was so nice to collaborate to reach more solid conclusions, that's a really sweet memory!

Receiving this adorable fanart as a gift. It still makes me smile to this day, that was so sweet.

ALSO meeting that Don cosplay back in November at my country's con was a 1000/10 experience. Would totally recommend. (Please @that Don cosplay if you exist dm me)

Do I have to tag someone? Hey @neverlandstrio @holy-mantequilla @emmasantenna @fangirl78123 @pitiful-panini wanna do this?

[takadasaiko]

All the odd numbered ones 👀👀

Oh wow. That’s a lot lol. 

Some I’ve already answered, but I can copy and past those answers here. I’m going with original works on this, but the same basics hold true for me with fan fiction as well :D

1. Where do you typically get your ideas?

All over the place. I have an Evernote folder that I keep half-baked ideas in for my original works. I’ll jot down whatever it is that sparked it and then, if/when more comes, I’ll add plot points under it until it builds into something interesting that I can work with.

So, for the pilot I’m working on now, the idea started with the premise: a privatized, covert organization that keeps its secrets by bringing in operatives that will either be fully devoted to the organization and move up in the ranks or will be taken out. When an operative becomes obsolete or a danger to the organization, another operative with a similar skillset is brought in to try to take them out. If they can, that new operative takes their place. If they can’t, the original stays on.  From there, I started building outward with character and the types of individuals that would be connected to that organization and others within the world setting.

For my Codename: Grey series, that started with characters. I was coming off of a novel that I really wasn’t getting anywhere with and knew I needed to find a new story to tell. I started looking at what I enjoyed writing fan fiction-wise, the types of characters and stories that I gravitate to, and ended up with Jake Riley and Cassandra Smith. From there, I started developing a world and plot to better explore the story I wanted to tell with them.

TLDR; everywhere.

3. How do you know when a scene is “done”?

I don’t always. One of the pieces of advice I see repeated again and again for script writing is ‘come into the scene as late as you can, leave as soon as it’s done’

I’m still finding that balance. 

5. How do you know when a story is “done”?

More times than not I know about where I want it to end when I start.  I may have a detailed scene or at least a general idea of the feeling I’d like to end with. 

It’s the final lines that get me though, especially in prose.

7. How do you feel about prologues?

They have a time and a place. I’m a big fan of Teaser acts though. Those are the 2-5(ish) minutes that open up an episode before the title card. 

9. Do you tend to have an external narrator or use one of the characters?

I’m not a fan of first person narratives. 

11. What punctuation do you love too much?

Dashes. I love dashes. 

13. What grammar tends to cause problems when you’re writing?

Effect vs Affect kills me every time. I don’t know what it is, but I’m always looking it up to make sure I’ve chosen wisely. 

15. How do you write a really good metaphor?

Ehh…. Not sure I’m the best to offer that advice. 

17. What is your best piece of advice for writing hurt/comfort scenes?

Make them earn it, but once they have, don’t you dare forget the comfort. 

19. What is your best piece of advice for writing action scenes?

Just keep writing them. I used to avoid them like the plague because they always felt stiff and difficult to me. Somewhere along the way I realized I’d gotten much better at them and now I enjoy writing them. Who’d have known?

Also, keep them tight. Show the blows you need to show, avoid overwriting them, and keep the lines snappy like the movement. Personally, I like short lines of action for it. Sometimes they’re not even full sentences, and as long as it’s clear you’re using it for stylistic effect rather than out of ignorance, that’s totally okay. It’ll keep the readers’ eyes moving as fast as the action itself.  

21. What is your best piece of advice for writing romance scenes?

I’m very much a fade-to-black writer, but I think it has to be right for the characters. You may have a set that their love language is in grand gestures, another that expresses their affection in small and maybe even missed gestures. For one couple a kiss may be the height of their romantic moment, another it’ll be pressing their foreheads together, and another may be a moment of honesty where their partner reaches out. Honestly, it just depends on the character. 

23. How do you balance your characters in an ensemble story?

So, this is something I feel very strongly about. It all depends on the story you’re telling, how many lead characters you have, etc etc…

A, B, and C stories help with that, at least for me.

Using Codename: Grey for an example I have my two leads (Jake and Cas) and their individual teams that share the case of the week 99% of the time. So the A story would probably be that A story (the goal that they all have). The B story would be a conflict or opposing goal that one of the teams has that’s going to blow it all to chaos, and the C (and maybe D story) will be a smaller character arc.

I think, after you have all that laid out, it’s about making sure that if a character is in the scene they’re doing something. Quinn isn’t just standing there twiddling his thumbs because he hasn’t been in a scene for a while. He’s there because someone has to be the voice of reason when Jake tosses caution to the wind. 

That’s the theory, at any rate. How well I actually follow through on it depends on the story and the day :P

25.  How do you create an original character?

Oh wow… that just depends. I think I find them more than create them. Jake and Cas came about because I needed a new story to focus on. I started with the bare basics: what kind of characters do I enjoy writing? Strong, dangerous women that are consistently underestimated. Emotionally compromised men that just want to protect their families that they’ve sort of tumbled into. I have types. So sue me.

Sometimes I start with the characters and sometimes I start with a scenario and find characters that fit into that world. 

27. Do you try to do most of your research ahead of writing (when research is necessary) or do you do it as things come up?

It really depends. For scripts, I’ve gotten into the habit of outlining with plot points and those tend to be pretty fleshed out. I’ll do a lot of research at that point in my writing.

When I get into the script itself, though, things change. Just as an example, I had a whole scene plotted out with a character looking at her conspiracy evidence board and coming to a conclusion. When I got to the actual writing I realized that it wasn’t nearly as engaging as I thought it’d be, so a character I hadn’t even thought about yet was introduced on the fly. That kind of stuff happens all the time with my writing. It’s pretty fluid, so when research is needed along the way, it happens then too.

What I try to avoid (if I can help it) is using research as a way to procrastinate the actual writing process. It’s a bad habit of mine.

29. How do you plot your stories?

I start with plot points.

Act

Setting

details

I work through the story while working through those plot points, usually with just a vague notion of where I’m going until I jump in and start on this.

Then I write the script, find out all the many things wrong with it, and reassess the plot/events to make it better.

Rinse and repeat until I have something that doesn’t make me want to cry without ceasing. 

Author Asks

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 180: Deku VS Gentle ~Conclusion~

Previously on BnHA: The U.A. cultural festival kicked off. Gentle and Deku continued to duke it out. Gentle was still powered up with La Brava’s love quirk, but it wasn’t enough to really give him an edge; the two of them were pretty much going toe to toe and not dealing any real damage. Gentle tried to squish Deku under some stretchy air, but Deku unleashed his inner hobbit and fucking burrowed his way free. There was a lot of other ridiculous stuff like jacket-pulling and a lot of rough and tumble nonsense, and then Gentle had a tragic flashback. Basically he wanted to be a hero back in high school, but was something of a disaster, and was eventually expelled after a botched rescue attempt. Four years later he ran into an old classmate who had become a successful hero himself. Said classmate had no idea who Gentle was. The sting of this incident gave Gentle the motivation to study and train until he mastered his quirk, tired of being a failure. Back in the present, Deku’s attempts at trying to talk sense into him fell on deaf ears, and we were promised a conclusion in the next chapter. Which is this chapter! So bring it on!

Today on BnHA: Gentle and Deku stare at each other angrily while gripping each other’s hands and kind of pushing each other back and forth aggressively. It’s pretty intense but also ridiculous. Meanwhile La Brava flees into the woods with her laptop, desperate to hack U.A.’s security and complete Gentle’s mission. Gentle is all “I have to finish this quickly!” and starts bouncing around not really doing anything. Finally, Deku finishes him off with a shoot style roundhouse kick. He sportingly tells Gentle it was a difficult fight (which is a straight up lie but Deku is a nice person okay), right as La Brava comes running back and realizes Gentle has lost. She starts cutely beating Deku with her fists while crying, and Gentle realizes the situation he’s put her in, and that his failure means that she’ll be arrested as well. So he flings Deku away, attempting to make it look like the battle never occurred, and then he hugs La Brava, and then the pros arrive and he surrenders.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 206 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

holy

wtf is happening to him

Deku’s struggling to hold him off, and he seems to be losing his damn mind

yikes

fucking look at this limbo champ right here. how the fuck is he still on his feet

now Gentle is asking Deku why he aspires to be a hero

funny that you should ask that, Gentle! because the thing is, Deku doesn’t actually care about recognition at all. he just wants to be a hero so that he can help others. imagine that

not that there’s anything wrong with wanting recognition. but if that’s the only thing you want, and you’re unable to be satisfied by anything else, you might want to prepare yourself for a lot of disappointment in life. and for the inevitable crisis you’ll have if and when you do ever finally achieve it, only to realize that it doesn’t really change anything and that you’ll still feel hollow inside until you finally realize that what you really wanted was ~love~

which you already have, apparently. so that’s great, dude. (again, just so long as it’s platonic??) I just wish you’d fucking figure it out already

maybe Deku can help him out. Deku?

okay, first of all, HOW DARE YOU with that shot of Nighteye. I DON’T NEED THIS

but on the other hand, having All Might and Inko side by side is A++. like, he genuinely thinks of them as his mom and dad. those are his parents. this is great. All Might, your proposal had better be real classy. don’t try any of that cheesy surprise proposal in public in front of dozens of other people bullshit. she will get super shy and embarrassed. what you should do is take her on a romantic nighttime walk on Dagobah Beach, and tell her this is where you trained with Izuku before giving him OFA, and you’re so grateful that the two of them came into your life, and you can’t imagine it without them. and then you drop down on one knee and you whip out the ring and that’s when you pop the question, bro

anyways I got swept up in my fantasies, but Deku is still continuing his speech here

very nice callback to that “you can be a hero” moment. you know what, I haven’t listened to the OST in a while. I’m gonna put that on

and Gentle seems to be smiling and he’s all “the same, huh”

and now he’s fucking flinging Deku into a nearby tree. rude

wow, La Brava is still committed to the plan and telling herself that Gentle will definitely win, and she’s actually setting up her fucking laptop in the middle of the woods and trying to connect to U.A.’s wireless network

but apparently she is “just barely” out of range

holy shit how far does U.A.’s network extend. is there a reason they need wifi all the way out in the middle of the damn woods? probably so the teachers can dick around on their phones while the students do survival exercises

so she’s picking up the laptop and running!

oh my god lol I almost said “you can do it!!” out loud and then I remembered that I’m supposed to be rooting against her lol

Gentle’s calling after her not to go and that it’s too dangerous on her own

that’s right, there is a werewolf prowling these here woods, don’t forget

anyway, so now Gentle is all “I have to finish this quickly!”

and yes, you do! because Deku has a fucking concert to get to!!

lol. yeah he’s a right pain in the ass, this one, isn’t he

now Gentle is losing his damn mind and he’s all “I’LL BEAT YOU EVEN IF IT MEANS DISREGARDING EVERYTHING THAT I STAND FOR, BASICALLY!!”

I was going to be all sarcastic and like “yes, nothing says respect like trying to beat the shit out of someone.” but then I remembered that this is shounen and that actually is how people show respect, like, all the time. so okay, yeah, that’s fair

AHHHHH YESSSSS

HOUNDDOG AND ECTO TO THE RESCUE

sorry my cute lil bean, looks like the jig is up

LMAOOOOOOO

THIS IS MY NEW FAVORITE PANEL IN THE ENTIRE FUCKING SERIES. RIP KOUTA PUNCHING DEKU IN THE NUTS, 2018-2019

holy shit I keep looking at it and cracking the fuck up. his face. HIS DRAMATIC HAND GESTURES. DEKU OUT HERE LOSING HIS GD MIND AND I’M LIVING FOR IT

anyway, so it’s about time he fired an air gun with his left hand! yeesh

and now he’s finally finishing him off!!

this is a total Katsuki move. rotating in midair. and then finishing with an Iida move. I like this. I like this a lot

Deku there’s no need to try and spare his feelings. why you lyin bro. “of all the battles I’ve fought till now, this was... one of them”

(ETA: but seriously though. this has to be the first fight he’s ever been in where he didn’t even need any patching up afterwards. this was not even remotely a challenge for him. this was more like a Disney Channel Original Movie fight where he was more concerned about finishing up in time for the big dance competition)

nooooo now La Brava is running back out of the woods and she’s all like “GENTLE THE HEROES ARE COMING--”

nooooooooo

ah so there is a limit. as I thought

and yes, run away La Brava! you’re still so young! you have your whole life ahead of you, don’t throw it all away for this sad old man who flunked out of school 50 years ago and is now trying to be famous. he could have escaped, after all. he’s the one who decided he had to do this for some inexplicable reason

ffff she’s sobbing and telling Deku to “knock it off” and let him go

do you think he’s just going to shrug his shoulders and be like, “oh, sure thing, my bad”

oh my god

definitely one of them. one of the battles. but uh. most difficult? nahhh

listen kid. sometimes people try really hard and they still fail. it happens. maybe next time don’t pour your heart and soul into an assault on a school if you want people to feel bad when you fail

she’s saying Gentle is everything to her and her only light

okay I really want La Brava to make some nicer, more age-appropriate friends who don’t commit as many crimes

(ETA: well okay, the age thing is apparently not an issue, so that’s good. hopefully the two of them have learned their lesson and will be good citizens after they’ve done their time. maybe they’ll let them off with community service)

this is like fucking Zabuza and Haku in the fucking Wave Arc. holy shit. how many years ago was that

(ETA: 19. 19 fucking years ago. holy shit. that is a whole generation)

and now Gentle is belatedly realizing that even though La Brava is innocent (I guess “innocent” here is a relative term), if she gets caught now then she’ll be charged as an accomplice

why didn’t you fucking think about stuff like this before you made a teenage girl your evil sidekick

omg

did he just fucking yeet Deku into the air behind his back

and Deku landed in another one of those elastic air pockets it looks like

so what, you tried to make it look like you didn’t fight Deku and you just somehow happened to end up in the woods outside U.A. all beat up? lol okay then

that was pretty dumb but also hilarious. at any rate, I guess we get to go onto the festival now! BRING ME MY BAND AU AND MY HAPPY ERI’S SMILING FACE

no bonus, but look, Deku survived a 1-on-1 villain fight with no lasting damage, the villain learned a valuable lesson about love and friendship, class A is about to slay the entire U.A. campus with their sound, and All Might is proposing to Inko on the beach. basically life is pretty good.

[ghostmartyr]

"and give her fucking themes a chance to actually fucking matter to the fucking plot you fucking fucked up story" thank you for being a constant voice of reason in this fucking fandom i'm never Not going to be mad about historia's story playing out beautifully and then having it all be undone. sometimes it feels like the CD skipped and reset all the progress in the story so we have to learn, AGAIN, that freedom is good and raising kids to serve you and your ideals is BAD, etc etc

Technically I left the fandom my home is the void.

(To no one’s surprise, this got angry. I should maybe consider shutting up about this, but as you can see by the number of times I use the word “fuck” in the quoted material, I have lost the self-control battle here many times.)

The part of it I always come back to when I’ve made the mistake of thinking about it and getting angry all over again is that if we learn that lesson again this arc, what we’ve really learned is that nothing that happens to these characters matters.

If their arcs can be undone by a time skip, there is zero reason to believe that any of what happens to them will stick. The entire Reiss cavern debacle is this exact thing, of Historia telling tradition to go fuck itself because it’s not a tradition worth keeping. That’s the watered down version, but for crying out loud, Historia’s whole damn arc leads to her changing the world.

Not because of any noble reason. Because she doesn’t want to die. She wants to stay herself, and for that she obliterates centuries of children eating each other. She’s her family’s bastard child who refuses to take part in what’s kept them broken for so long.

Yes, let’s have that character be shoved back into the cycle off-screen. Let’s have the girl who grows up unloved and unwanted, who breaks her family’s curse because she finally feels in her bones how wrong it is, go along with a plan to curse another child.

Historia being. fucking Historia enough to snap out a yes to cutting her life short if it saves the world does not bother me. The girl is a dumbass Gryffindor; it takes up until she’s taking her first step off the bridge to realize oh hey, maybe this is actually bad. She’s not an Idiot Hero, but try telling that to some of her decisions.

But her whole arc, as it is introduced and as Ymir’s soaks in, is about how if fate’s fucking you over this badly, maybe consider telling it to go fuck itself and use your own good qualities to carve out something better.

Nine seconds later we’re scrubbing that lesson off because the stakes have clearly changed.

Same story, only bigger. Now that it’s bigger the rules are different. Let’s have one page of Historia not looking miserable to remind everyone how the story’s shooting her directly back to being miserable.

There is no point to this. The one person who knows what it’s like to be seen as a curse and a tool, turning another child into a curse and a tool? After her entire character denouement is about picking up unwanted orphans and treating them as people?

Forget every single other part of this:

If things are as written, Historia has consented to selling away a child’s future. Several more generations, actually. She’s consented to passing on that feeling Frieda has when the weight of the world crushes her and she’s collapsed in tears in between a fence and her baby sister.

The torture that Frieda goes through is not the driving force of Historia’s resolution to give a damn about her life, but it’s something she knows just as keenly as her own pain, and it helps guide her speech to Eren. Her raison d'être comes from her entire family’s exploitation at their own hands.

There are ways to have characters become everything they hate. Those stories can even be interesting and very well done.

Interesting and well written ways do not include the literary equivalent of a character checking the Yes box on becoming everything their arc says they never want to be. Historia has like. Twenty pages where she’s drawn in between her arc’s conclusion and 107. Six of them have her saying anything, and four of those six are her reacting to Ymir’s letter and telling EMA she sure is golly chuffed to see how they aren’t permanently scarred.

Then 107 happens.

You can’t hit the undo button on a character’s arc that efficiently and still pretend like anything they go through has a lasting impact. Ymir’s choice to turn herself in is cut from the same contrived cloth, with every single new thing we find out about the world only making her decision somehow looking worse in addition to the character mutilation thing.

There’s a lot to what’s going on that skeeves the ever-loving fuck out of me. In the realm of squick, this is where my brain will never willingly live.

But it’s the complete bastardization of Historia’s arc that pisses me off.

Would the stupid kid agree to die in thirteen years five seconds after hearing that’s an option?

Yes, she’s a fucking idiot. All the growth in the world won’t ever undo that.

Would the stupid kid agree to have a child so its child, and its child after that, could eat their parent to become a tool of war?

…

“Everything That My Personal Arc Stands Against, I choose you!”

Thank you, I’m so glad we sat through all your parental and existential angst to have land you in a place that would come much closer to making sense if those pages had never been written. Brava.

-takes a very deep breath-

And that’s why I’m still clinging to hope that things aren’t as they seem. Because this story has always cared about character. When something doesn’t make sense, it’s because something is missing, not because the story didn’t care.

In theory.

Historia’s thing is the strongest test to that theory since Ymir’s thing, and as loud as I am about the latter, that hasn’t actually been resolved yet either.

Paradis agreeing to use children to fuel their survival is the kind of permanent marker stain that is hard to go back on, but it’s also nearly impossible to move forward with, because it would mean that Our Heroes’ one truly heroic trait is bunk.

They are the ones meant to break the damaging cycles, no matter the personal cost.

This is where they’ve chosen perpetuating them to escape personal cost.

Hence my growing opinion that they can all go ahead and die if this is where they’re at. If they’re growing more of these cycles, they’re just another villain, and I’d rather watch them all be wiped out while they’re still trying to be heroic and failing than what comes if they keep up with this.

So.

I’d like to think the story isn’t really doing this.

That it is threatening this, and driving itself deep into the muck, but will ultimately call out the illusion of this much darkness as an illusion.

I really don’t want to read a story where it goes, “our themes matter! …unless we don’t think the plot progresses the way we want when we let them matter.”

Character should determine story, or story should determine character. Pick one, but they shouldn’t ever be at war. If a character’s arc is about telling fate to go fuck itself, but fate fucks them, you can’t expect the audience to buy it when any other character fights fate–but for real this time!!1!

Hell this makes me so frustrated.

I really, really would like to believe it will turn out fine, because you legitimately could not write something that flew more in the face of everything Historia’s grown into, and despite this story’s eccentricities, its character work is some of the best I’ve ever seen.

Eren’s out murdering children and making Mikasa cry, and it’s a given that something more is behind it.

Historia’s pregnancy breaks essential themes of the entire story, but yeah, it is totally what it looks like.

(inb4 it’s not what it looks like but somehow manages to be even worse because that’s the kind of bloody trail it’s been)

I don’t mean to keep beating this horse, because I’m guessing most everyone is sick of me losing my temper about it by now, but it drives me up the wall. I obviously have a personal interest in Historia’s arc, but I like the manga, and part of the appeal of Historia’s arc is how it is singing directly to the beauty that’s to be found in the cruel world instead of bowing to that cruelty.

Now one of the voices of that appears to be on bended knee and just. pleeeeease be a ploy. Please don’t turn into one of those series where I have to get out MS Paint and draw a bad graph about where a really great story gave up on itself.

Honestly, one of my dearest hopes is that I’m going to feel like a massive idiot for getting this worked up over this because it’s all going to be fine.

Time will tell, I guess.

For the time being…

-twitch-

[kingofattolia]

hi grace im rewatching the mortis arc and I want very specifically to get uhhh literally all your thoughts on it please go off

OKAY UHHHHHHHH BOY WHAT A QUESTION. SO i love Mortis honestly. it makes no sense and allows me to do WHATEVER i want with theories and fanfiction and have it be canonically plausible. 

absolute random thoughts:

1. when Obi-Wan goes “hello there” as soon as the Daughter shows up 👌👌 i hate him.

2. BOY I SURE DO LOVE THAT SHOWDOWN WHERE ANAKIN GRIPS BOTH THE DAUGHTER AND THE SON IN A FORCE GRIP AND THE LIGHT GOES OUT AND STARLIGHT SURROUNDS THEM IN A COSMIC SHOW OF POWER

3. kind of really uncomfortable with the whole dark!Ahsoka part. the Son, in his guise as a sniveling weird animal, makes me REAL uncomfortable and also is it just me or do they make dark!Ahsoka act in an ooc, overly sexy~~ way. like i know it’s a trope that all evil females have to be femme fatale sex objects but Ahsoka is what, FIFTEEN? and Anakin doesn’t act ooc when he’s using the Dark Side – he acts just like himself, but angrier. don’t like this at all

4. HOWEVER i am very interested in the fact that the Son poisoned Ahsoka with the Dark Side and i think that potentially has a lot of strange implications. so how you use the Force isn’t always a choice? if you can be poisoned with the dark, can you be poisoned with the light? we know about normal sith poison that just increases negative emotion & encourages rage, making someone weaker to the dark side and more likely to use it. but it seemed like the Son’s poison was more than just that? interesting that he didn’t poison Anakin

5. the part where dark!Anakin clomps onto the ship and Ahsoka hides from him and then escapes. it gives me the shivers every time because honestly the possibility of Anakin hurting Ahsoka feels REALLY bad. also it is very interesting to me how Ahsoka doesn’t even seem that surprised. maybe im wrong or maybe its the surreality of Mortis as a whole? but it always seems like she’s not particularly shocked by dark!Anakin for some reason

6. forever astounded & confused that all it took for the Son to turn Anakin was showing him a vision of the future.

anakin: *sees a vision of himself killing everyone* NO!!!

anakin 2 seconds later: i have seen that it is THE JEDI who will stand in the way of peace

like??? it’s a constant of both Falls that he wants to end the war and bring peace. its a constant that he wants the power to protect people he loves from harm. it ALSO seems to be a constant that mere instants after falling to the Dark Side he forgets his original aims and becomes unhinged. he literally sees a vision of HIMSELF, specifically, individually, standing in the way of peace. and then is inexplicably like RAUGUGHRHFJHGHF THE JEDI. 

this seems to be the same transition that happens at the end of ROTS between him leaving for mustafar and when Obi-Wan finds him there. is this a facet of the corrupting, perverse nature of the Dark Side itself? i assume its like drugs or something where you’re like “yeah just wanna get buzzed once” and then suddenly a year later you find yourself homeless and stealing from all your relatives?

7. when the Son visits Anakin and pretends to be Shmi?? Anakin’s like “the only love in my heart is haunted by what would happen should i let go” and Shmi/the Son is like “then it is not love. it is a prison.” LIKE WOW UH? the Son is apparently a true bro, dishing out some solid therapeutic advice. i cry because Anakin is genuinely trying so hard & also needs mental health support

8. love it when Anakin just stabs the Son in the back and kills him

9. WHEN THE FATHER RESTORES ANAKIN TO THE LIGHT BY WIPING HIS MEMORIES. RRHGJGJRHFJFJGHFJRVHGghhHH. i hate moments like this. like in “thrawn: alliances” when thrawn tells anakin “you’ll want to watch out for someone messing with your clone troopers. that’s gonna be really dangerous to you” and anakin is just like “yeah yeah, whatever.” OH MY GGGOSH HE LITERALLY JUST TOLD YOU ABOUT ORDER 66.

theoretical speculations:

first of all, it’s absolutely iconic that the way Anakin brings balance to Mortis is by leaving no one there alive. which is basically the same way he later brings balance to the galaxy. classic Anakin.

what’s weird to me is that the Father seems to think balance NEEDS to be kept between the Son and Daughter on Mortis for the galaxy itself to not fall out of balance. this would make one think that all three of the Ones are simply personified manifestations of the Force itself, right? but: 

a) they straight up died and thus were mortal 

b) the lore seems to indicate they began life as mortals way way way way way back at the beginning of time and just drank some elixir of life that turned them into Force demigods

c) according to some dumb legends book about Luke Skywalker, all three of them were necessary to entrap and defeat some hideous primordial dark side force beast called Abeloth that lived in the Maw and escaped every so often. except when Abeloth escaped during luke’s lifetime, oh whoops, the Ones are all dead (thanks dad)

obviously this last is not canon anymore, but the combination of all of this still makes me think that they were actually just massively OP individual beings who drank the wrooong magic elixir five thousand years ago and had a theory of Force balance influenced by their own lived experiences. 

i’m not convinced by the theory that they were never real and were just Force apparitions the whole time. as a “shared vision” Mortis kind of makes sense, except for the fact that it makes NO sense at all?!? what kind of a useless vision, honestly. the Force is going to impart something monumental to three of the most important players in the whole “balance” storyline SIMULTANEOUSLY, and it chooses THIS?!?! that’s like trying to deliver an urgent message by just yelling GRHKEAHAAAAAGRGHRHAHGHHRGHAAAA in the person’s ear.

the Force isn’t exactly known for delivering explicitly clear visions, but i’ve never heard of one this complex and weirdly, pointlessly creative either. to me, it makes much more sense that the Ones were all real individuals. and if the whole thing was just a vision, that means they’re all having visions inside of visions inside of visions, when Ahsoka sees herself and Obi-Wan sees Qui-Gon, plus Anakin’s vision of the future from the Son. that’s pretty wack and OTT. 

maybe ALL OF REALITY IS SIMPLY A SHARED VISION 

my inclination is simply to think of them as crazily powerful, insanely old Force users that died when they met Anakin Skywalker (a very universal experience) and evidence of the diversity of how the Force manifests in the galaxy. the biggest problem with this is the gosh darn time travel episode from Rebels.

the ~world between worlds~ and access to every moment in time, past present and future, is entered through a mystical portal painting of the Ones. why the HECK would this be the case?! did they create the portal? did they discover it? they clearly had some knowledge of weird dimension stuff, given that Mortis itself was kind of an alternate dimension. are they ACTUALLY Force gods of some kind? technically, everyone is a manifestation of the Force! what makes them different?!

what secrets do they know about “the balance”? it seems like they must know SOMETHING to be so powerful and so inextricably linked to time and space itself. and yet….. everything they CLAIMED about the balance in the actual Mortis episodes seems a) stupid and b) mostly wrong. so…….. WHAT then? 

honestly, i have no idea what conclusion to take away from Mortis. we JUST don’t KNOW and it drives me nuts. on the one hand, why is all of star wars about the Force and yet we have no information about the Force that makes sense?!?! on the other hand, it is absolutely accurate to irl theology to have no real concrete answers and all of it is just “well some say this” or “some interpret it this way.” 

tbqh Mortis is the blank check Dave Filoni wrote me so that i can make up whatever the heck i want and it’s not wrong

[valamerys]

I really enjoy your blog so is it okay if I ask you top 10 pet peeves in novels? It can be tropes or even a niche moment in a particular book. I like writing myself and would appreciate the help.

hmmMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM sure, I can come up with some things! bear in mind I read almost exclusively fantasy, and mostly “low” ie not game of thrones fantasy at that, including a loooot of YA, so my items will reflect that.

Top (YA, Fantasy) Fiction Pet Peeves:

1) Unnecessary post-apocalyptic setting  WHY THE FUCK. DO PEOPLE KEEP DOING THIS. WHAT DOES THIS GAIN ANYONE. WHAT IS THE POINT. Red Queen, The Selection, The Queen of the Tearling, and that weird TV show The Shanarananaharahahananaaa Chronicles all do this. It’s, frankly, a cheap-ass bid for Dark and Gritty points, and also an excuse to set things in America But Fantasy, and it’s always bad and awkward. This isn’t planet of the apes, just make your damn fantasy world; you don’t have to try to make it more ~realistic~ by putting the ruins of the statue of liberty in the background. That’s stupid and you’re stupid.

2) One-note characters  Mostly present via The Bitch or The Bully stereotype, but also seen in The Bratty Brother, The Sweet Sister, The Spacey DGAF Parent, and the Eccentric Wise Elder. I get that there’s not time to flesh out every single person your protagonist comes into contact with, but certain archetypes are so fucking boring and done to death that I tune out immediately. It’s not 2004 anymore. The game has evolved. We can do better. We can be more interesting.

Related to the sweet sister trope, I’d like to bring up this text post from my other blog:

3) When the protagonists’ actions/ choices do not affect the plot  Alright, this one isn’t even a pet peeve, it’s basic narrative construction. Your story is supposed to be about your protagonist (or your two or three protagonists, in a multi-pov story, but for simplicity’s sake we’ll talk about one) and their arc, how they change and grow. a) If their actions never have consequences, how the fuck do they, like, learn things? and b) if their actions have no bearing on the climax of the story, how the fuck does the story demonstrate that they’ve changed, or come to a meaningful conclusion that’s related to that? Sure there’s weird literary exceptions, and certainly some fantasy in particular is more plot than character driven, but if your character is honestly never proactive, particularly through the ending of the book, uh, i have a major problem and so should you.

4) The Mandatory Feminism Stuff  we should all know these by now. “Not Like Other Girls” is bad. Hating on corsets and other femme paraphernalia is bad (and moreover i personally resent it because I love corsets). A book with a female protagonist and no other important female characters (or only evil female characters) is bad. A high fantasy series that builds its worldbuilding on a raging patriarchy for the purpose of elevating a few specific women into positions of power for superficial RAH RAH FEMINISM points while not addressing systematic oppression is really, really bad. Defining female empowerment as only one thing (IE picking up a sword and Proving Yourself just as badass as all those scoffing men!!!) is bad. I’m very tired and I want to read about women-- different kinds of women, with different moral alignments and interests and abilities and ethnic backgrounds and ages and sexualities and beliefs-- helping each other and being forces in the world and in each others’ lives. That’s it. That’s all I want. I have no clue why that’s so elusive.

5) Characters being flippant to the point of stupidity because........ that’s cool, i guess?  Homygod, I am so sick to my teeth of characters who would get their asses kicked IRL for being obnoxious and overly glib be appraised with “wow, you’ve really got some nerve! I like you, kid!” or some variation therof. Mouthing off to superiors/ royalty? Charging into a fight on a stray heroic impulse despite everyone with a brain and their mom telling you you’re going to die because you just picked up swordfighting on tuesday? flagrantly and thoughtlessly disregarding engrained cultural things because they don’t align with your conveniently 2017 sense of social justice despite you living in an analogue-medieval world? Not cute. It will get you fucking killed. If your character doesn’t seem to grasp that, I’m going to think they’re a dumbshit, and if the book rewards rather than punishes that, I’m not going to take it very seriously. (obviously there are exceptions to this, particularly if your world doesn’t take itself very seriously, but if you expect to instill a real sense of danger in day-to-day life, your protagonist doesn’t get to be exempt from that because they’re hot and witty.)

6) Also, characters being stubborn. This goes with my last point, because it’s another trait people seem to think is like cool, or something? That stubborn people are stubborn because they’re Strong? that it’s a flaw but it’s actually a Cool Flaw, like in job interviews when they ask your weakness and you say “i’m just TOO hard of a worker, ha ha ha”? U see this a lot in female characters written by people who are uncomfortable writing female characters, i think because, again, it mistakenly reads as Strength on some really superficial level, and because the banter and petty conflict that arises from it temporarily distracts from weak overall characterization. If you’re going to write a character being stubborn, that’s great! But understand that a) it’s a real flaw that can genuinely blind them to good ideas and cause unnecessary friction that shouldn’t be treated as endearing, b) it’s not a replacement for other elements of characterization!! and c) it’s the flipside of being assertive, which is a good thing: no trait is only a flaw or a strength, and so any trait a character possess in abundance should both help and hinder them at different times, with maturity level tempering the bad, to a degree. stubbornness is no different.

7) Sexual assault (or the threat of it) all over the fucking place. Do i have to explain this one? Of course ownvoices books about sexual assault survivors are good and necessary but we are all sick to death of "fun” fantasy worlds where the female characters exist under the constant and unending threat of rape, where sexual assault is common as window dressing and the love interests are Super Special Feminist Snowflakes for being so revolutionary as to take consent into account. fuck that. that should be the bare fucking minimum. i am so tired.

8) The Six-Pack Sex Appeal Golem  Honestly, I am not here to hate on love triangles, because I am ALL ABOUT the romance and the more the merrier. But what i do really, really loathe is the incredibly narrow parameters that have come to exist for male love interests, to the point where they all tend to feel like the same guy in need of anger management: a little broody, smart, serious, jealous and protective to a fault, if we get his POV we get real creepy sexual thoughts out of nowhere while he acts vaguely standoffish and probably a little patronizing to a woman whose Attitude gives him a boner. This man does not experience emotions that can’t be interpreted as darkly sexual, or possibly A Little Bit Vulnerable, just for that one scene of mandatory backstory reveal. I recently reviewed a real bad romance novel and described the hero as “a barely-consistent golem of toxic masculine ideals” and that’s what I’m talking about here. MAKE YOUR LOVE INTERESTS WELL-ROUNDED AND UNIQUE CHARACTERS LIKE ALL YOUR OTHER CHARACTERS. Forget what’s “sexy,” I wanna see the male love interests be Soft and Weird and cry in an unattractive way. For further reading/ a great case study of the Masculine Golem, please just read this article about how abysmal the romance in ROAR is. (For what it’s worth, I actually think SJM manages to avoid this in the ACOTAR series. Rhys and Tamlin suck but they are still mostly consistent characters, not just shells inhabited by the spirit of heterosexuality. your mileage may vary, though.)

9) Secret Superpower/ She Was The Missing Princess/ Queen All Along  I think this is a trend that’s slowly but surely passing from YA, but for a while you couldn’t throw a rock in a bookstore without hitting a trilogy where a long-lost missing princess was established in chapter 1 and you spent the whole fucking first book knowing the orphaned heroine with a murky past was gonna turn out to be the princess and you were always right. Queens are also a huge fucking thing right now, although they don’t tend to follow that exact formula. See also the character’s discovery of a superpower catapulting them into a new exciting life-- basically any discovery of a Cool Sexy birthright as a catalyst for a plot is kind of played out and boring, at this point in time? This ties into my earlier point about wanting characters’ choices to shape the plot; it’s so much easier to have them reacting to external forces, especially dramatic, aesthetic ones, i get that, but you’ll get a more original and interesting story the more you resist that urge. And everyone is fucking tired of secret princesses and can spot them a mile away, y’all.

10) OMG magic is outlawed!!! BUT WAIT THE PROTAGONIST HAS SECRET MAGIC! CAN SHE RISE ABOVE PERSECUTION AND HER PROBABLE ROMANCE WITH THE PRINCE OF THIS POORLY-THOUGHT-OUT TOTALITARIAN REGIME TO LEAD ALL MAGIC-HAVERS TO FREEDOM AND ACCEPTANCE???? If you do this i’m going to come to your house and pour a cup of soda on your head. This is dumb and I can’t believe I’ve seen it multiple times. I’m not even explaining this it should be obvious.

Honorable mentions go to: Excessive mentions/ descriptions of eye color, really tired ways of describing kissing, elemental magic is super fucking overdone, instalove, and Training Montages

[ace-reviews]

Summer 2017 Watchlist

Time for this again. Since this is my second time doing this, we now have categories! Hooray!

Long-Running Mainstays

Case Closed

I’ve actually been skipping more episodes than I’ve been watching since this series moved to Saturdays, but I still like it a whole bunch. It’s just that this is the kind of show where it’s easy to skip a few episodes and not miss anything, so on days where I don’t have the time/energy to watch all the new episodes, it ends up being the natural choice to skip for the week.

Dragon Ball Super

So you know that part last week where Goku was training Caulifla? Wasn’t that awesome?! That scene was so good that I’m not actually going to spend this time complaining about how Freeza is a boring character and I wish they would stop bringing him back, as I was planning to do since the season began. I want Caulifla to go Super Saiyan Blue before the tournament ends. I really want Universe 6 to win the tournament so the Gaiyans can be Our New Heroes. I know it’s not gonna happen but I waaaaaaaaant it. Super Saiyan Blue Caulifla will be a great consolation prize.

Ninja Girl & Samurai Master

God, I’m so happy I get to put this here. If this series gets cancelled before it reaches it’s natural conclusion I’ll cry.

Shonen Ashibe Go! Go! Goma-chan

This anime is still cute and funny and that episode with the festival was adorable.

Cour Two Goodies

100% Teacher Pascal

I love this show. It’s fun. The “Pascalenglish Straight Outta America” bits alone are worth the price of admission. I said last season you should check this out, and I’m saying it again. Check this out. You probably won’t regret it.

My Hero Academia

I feel so blessed. I figured we’d just get 12 episodes a year. Studio BONES, you’re spoiling us. (Now when’s Mob Psycho Season 2 coming?)

Sakura Quest

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I have a bad habit of completely forgetting this anime exists, but that’s not really an indicator that it’s bad. It’s very good. I like it a lot. It’s just kinda low-energy and feels more like a live-action drama than an anime, so it tends to get overshadowed by the more showy anime-y stuff.

Returning Favorites

Hell Girl: Fourth Twilight

summary: people use the internet to curse their abusers/people who annoy them to hell

I wasn’t expecting a new Hell Girl, so it was a nice surprise. This is the first Hell Girl series I’m getting to watch on first run, and to be honest, I think I kinda prefer marathoning it? Every episode leaves me really wanting more, which is not at all a bad thing.

New Game!!

summary: recent high school graduate aoba gets a job at an all-female gaming company

Three cheers for sequels that continue the story and character development instead of resetting everything back to zero and making us watch Part One But Worse This Time!

Saiyuki Reload Blast

summary: our four favorite assholes continue their road trip to india

Oh, I knew this was comin’. I’ve been looking forward to it since last year. I don’t like the shaky cam (does anyone? why do they keep doing it? i thought it went away when 3d became a big thing), but aside from that it’s pretty Saiyuki. They even brought he Ura Sai bits back! Hooray!

Yamishibai: Japanese Ghost Stores

summary: a creepy dude in a mask tells scary picture stories

This is another returning series I wasn’t expecting. The first two seasons were summer anime, but then the next two moved around a bit. I wonder if this coming back to summer (which from what I understand is like prime time for horror in Japan) means last season did really well. I definitely enjoyed it. I mean, they still haven’t managed to top the umbrella woman or tormentor from season 1, but it’s still a cool show.

New Stuff

18if

summary: a guy with a mysterious past helps girls with their personal struggles through their dreams

I know a lot of people don’t like anime about the main dude "rescuing” a procession of girls from their hangups with the Power of Love, but I don’t mind ‘em. It’s at least better than anime where the protagonist treats the overwhelmingly female supporting cast like sentient underwear or tit support systems. And in this case, maybe all the witches are supposed to be falling in love with Haruto and I’m just not picking up on it, but only the third episode felt like it had any real romance, and it was largely one-sided. Plus there’s the fact that from the girls’ perspective, he’s just a figment of their imagination that showed up in their anxiety dreams. Not exactly the basis of a whirlwind romance.

Anyway, I like this show a lot. It’s well-made and funny and I like the cat man. His curry song in the last episode was cute.

A Centaur’s Life

summary: cute monster girl shenanigans... mostly

This show’s kind of a mixed bag. I mean, I like it, and there’s lesbians in it that they show outright states are lesbians, but sometimes it’s a bit too grounded in reality, and it makes me think about stuff like the logistics of sex with centaurs, which I don’t want to think about, thank you very much. It’s a bit too much like sex with horses and I’ve never even been to South Carolina.

Classroom of the Elite

summary: a classroom full of assholes find they have to work together to survive school life

I was initially worried that the amount of assholes in the cast would get draining, but it hasn’t. This is a clever show. The concept is played like your typical death battle school show, but instead of turning the kids against each other, it’s set up so they have to learn to cooperate. I also thought it was kinda funny that the kids reacted to the idea that their value as students is reflected in their paycheck like it was horrible injustice, even though that’s literally how paychecks work.

Elegant Yokai Apartment Life

summary: an orphan boy moves into a haunted apartment building while his school dorms are being rebuilt

I kind of expected the inevitable Yushi-has-to-move-out-but-then-realizes-he-was-happier-with-the-quirky-people-so-moves-back-after-much-drawn-out-angst arc to be the two-episode conclusion to the series, but they’re already doing that so that’s nice that they’re getting it over with. Would’ve preferred for him to save us the trouble of waiting for the inevitable conclusion by just deciding he was happy where is and not moving into the dorms to begin with, but maybe living in the dorms in required or something? I don’t know if they mentioned it and if they did I wasn’t paying attention.

Gamers!

summary: the most popular girl in school invites hapless nerd to join gaming club. he declines. hilarity ensues

This anime had a pretty solid first episode, then a great second episode, then back to a pretty solid third episode. I kinda wish it would’ve stayed great for more than one episode, but who knows. Maybe it’ll be able to get (and stay!) that good again.

In Another World With My Smartphone

summary: a 15-year old boy is in another world. with his smartphone

The second and third episodes weren’t quite as charming as the first, but the fact that they’re playing this overdone genre straight instead of trying to “deconstruct” it or winking and nudging at the audience every five minutes is still very refreshing. Not a huge fan of the running gag of Touya trying to get the girls to fight the clothing damage monster, but aside from that it’s refreshingly innocent, as well. This is just an overall refreshing series. Needs more God, though. 

MAGICAL CIRCLE GURU GURU

summary: DRAGON QUEST ANIMEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I’M STILL SO HAPPY THIS EXISTS. THANK YOU PRODUCTION IG YOU ARE MY FAVORITE NOW AND FOREVER.

Restaurant to Another World

summary: a normal japanese restaurant opens in anime fantasyland once a week

I’ve seen a few complaints that this show is boring, and while it kinda is, it’s the good kind of boring that’s relaxing and makes me very very very very very very hungry. I also really like that it’s basically a typical isekai story in reverse, where instead of a hapless nerd leaving boring old modern Japan for adventure and romance in Anime Fantasyland, Anime Fantasyland comes to Japan to make the mundane seem awesome. Which is a cool concept.

And have you seen that sexy-ass tomato?! I’m happy watching this show just to see that in the OP every week. Damn. That is a sexy-ass tomato.

On the Chopping Block

Clean Freak! Aoyama-kun

summary: a boy with crippling mental health issues plays badly animated soccer and this is apparently supposed to be funny

Still haven’t figured out why I like this show. Every week I tell myself this is the week I will drop it, and every week I watch it anyway (though this week I wasn’t paying attention and couldn’t tell ya what happened in it. Somethin about the butt guy). Just watch. I’m gonna end up droppin somethin up there and stickin with this all season. I can feel it in my bones.

The Reflection

summary: there are superheroes in new york cause of somethin they said in the second episode i wasn’t paying attention this anime is really boring

I said in my first impressions that I would give this three episodes but it’s just... so... boring. I don’t think I can sit through a third one. I’m gonna coin a term here. Please use it so it catches on: “gif-ime” (pronounced “gif-uh-may”). It’s basically anime (though you can feel free to use it to refer to any visual medium; I’m not gonna stop you) that reaches it’s full potential as a series of animated gifs. It’s really pretty to look at, but God there’s nothing else to it. I am so bored just thinking of this damn series. Not even Stan Lee doing the next episode previews can make this show entertaining. 

I might at least try to watch the third episode, and I’ll definitely be writing my follow-up review, but God I just... I don’t want to.

So there’s this season’s watchlist. There were a couple of series I said I’d be sticking with in my first impressions that aren’t here, but in both cases it’s because I got bored and don’t care.

[teamwynn]

The Night Voice Retrospective, Pt. 12

[Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 11.5 | Part 12]

Well, here we are. The final scene. The last precious few moments of the saga. And they are, naturally, utterly wasted. Please, join me in reviewing this thrilling conclusion, and marvel at how dead I am inside.

Welcome Home, Wherever That Is (I guess we’re just done now)

Okay, so now that Team Wynn is fucking decimated with one exiled, one dead, and one suicidal, let’s see if Team Magiere can swing a happier ending. Let’s return to where the prologue left off.

The unbelievably good news is that Team Magiere is still all together. And I mean that “unbelievably” literally, because Chap is now about 50 years old, which is 350 in dog years. I’ll chalk that up to being majay-hi or Fay or whatever, but Jesus. Chill, man. Anyway, they’ve returned home where Leesil--in this book’s shining moment of having someone actually be in-character--apparently just keeps adopting, like, hordes of children. This horde includes Wayfarer, but Magiere’s already made it clear that she was going to adopt Wayfarer, anyway, so no surprise here. It also includes, at this point, at least 6 unidentified boys. And we receive confirmation from what was hinted at in the prologue that Wayfarer and Osha, at some point between the main ending and the epilogue, got married--

Okay, you know what. You know the fuck what. Fucking.

I need a moment.

…

Okay.

So, if the series tried to pull this kind of thing in Between Their Worlds, I probably could have bought it. Without the knowledge of The Dark and the Dark through The Night Voice, I could have bought that Wayfarer and Osha were able to work their way through the bullshit that Osha pulled on her. If it had skipped from BTW to this epilogue, I could have reasonably believed that Osha apologized and made up for abandoning Wayfarer at the end of BTW and that she would forgive him.

But! That’s significantly harder to swallow knowing what we know from the rest of Series 3, which is:

Osha’s     motivation for abandoning Wayfarer was entirely centered on his effort to     get Wynn to make out with him again and no other reason

Osha     deadnamed Wayfarer multiple times in FaLS

Even     after Osha appeared to learn his lesson about why deadnaming Wayfarer was     wrong later in FaLS, he continued to do it in TNV

Wayfarer     pretty explicitly indicated in TNV that she no longer had a crush on Osha,     and not only that, but that she didn’t want to be friends or even speak to     him anymore

Their     last on-page interaction before the epilogue is Osha freaking out over     Wynn being blinded while Wayfarer is right there and basically going, “I     mean, I’m risking my life in the middle of the battle too, but yeah, no,     keep throwing a fit about this like Wynn’s the only person in mortal     danger here. Asshole.”

So how did we get from that to married? And could it possibly get worse?

Why do I even pretend to ask. Of course it could. This scene is like 3 pages long, but it somehow packs even more bullshit into fewer words than the previous scene.

So, not only are Wayfarer and Osha inexplicably married, but when Magiere asks about how Osha is doing, Wayfarer indicates in no uncertain terms that he’s still hung up about Wynn--30 years later and after seemingly not ever speaking to her in that entire time--and that he might be dying from that weird elven sexual-imprinting thing because of it. That’s alarming news! How is Magiere going to react to that?

Why, naturally by laughing it off and making oblique references to Osha’s current profession, which is something that is entirely unexplained, though it’s doubtful an explanation would clarify the nonsense that is Osha the Reindeer Farmer or whatever the fuck he’s doing with his life. Again, Magiere’s reference to his current occupation is pretty fucking vague beyond that it involves those magical deer that Osha hated. Oh, that wacky Osha! Always playing with deer and literally dying of heartbreak! What a scamp!

There’s not really much more detail beyond that for either Wayfarer or Osha’s endings that I haven’t already covered, except for these uncomfortable observations about how they fit into Team Magiere’s family structure:

Wayfarer,     who had a massive crush on Leesil in Rebel     Fay, is now calling him “Father.” NO THANKS.

If     Wayfarer is Magiere and Leesil’s daughter and Osha is her husband, that     makes Osha Magiere and Leesil’s son-in-law. What. The fuck. How is that an     actual thing that happened in canon???

Okay, now that we’re all sufficiently grossed out, let’s go more over the core team’s ending. Of course, returning to Miiska is something that has been a long time coming for Team Magiere. They haven’t been home since Child of a Dead God, when Magiere and Leesil had their wedding surrounded by loved ones and held the reception at the Sea Lion Tavern, the Ground Zero of all this vampire nonsense. So their ultimate return home should be at least as celebratory and communal as that, right?

Obviously this scene is set some time after they arrive back home, so it makes sense that they wouldn’t necessarily still be partying about that, but there’s still something suspiciously… I don’t know, absent about their homecoming. Like… all the people. And the town. And the tavern.

Did… did they even go back to Miiska? The town and the tavern were both mentioned by name at least once (maybe exactly once), but there’s not really any sense of the characters actually being there. And none of the townspeople (those minor characters from Dhampir, etc. that I mentioned a few posts back) are present at all, even though a number of them should still be perfectly alive to share in this happy (?) ending. What we get instead is Magiere and Leesil existing in this textureless void with their family of nameless, faceless young boys and Wayfarer on the side predicting the doom of Osha as well as Chap (both of whom are off-page this whole time, mind. Oh, did I forget to mention that Chap doesn’t even appear in the epilogue, despite somehow unbelievably surviving the entire saga? Because he doesn’t.) But Magiere gives about as much of a fuck about any of that as she did about Wynn dying, which is to say, not at all.

So, what is… even happening here?

Well, aside from Wayfarer helpfully reminding everyone that Death Comes For All, Magiere is just kind of blandly resigning herself to the reality that that includes Leesil, and that someday it’s just going to be her and Chane, eternally avoiding each other. (And Pawl, too, but obviously I’ll give Magiere a pass on not bringing him up because she never even found out that Pawl existed.) There’s also some weird musings on Magiere’s part about the fact that Chane probably has a soul, which has never been in question before so I don’t know why she’s so amazed by this probability. Like, vampires having or not having souls have never been a part of the lore in the series, and even if it was it doesn’t pertain to anything now. And for some reason she essentially lies to Leesil about not killing Chane--it’s neither clear why Leesil is gunning so hard for Chane to be dead at this point, nor why Magiere was unwilling to admit that she didn’t kill him again. She just kind of avoids Leesil’s questions about the matter and goes on blandly commentating for a few paragraphs about Osha and Leesil’s army of children. But I guess Magiere is happy with her existence in this vague void, waiting for the clock to run down on all her loved ones, comforted only by her smugness from seeing Chane cry. And… um…

No, seriously, what is happening here?

Did the epilogue already waste up all its emotional weight on contriving Team Wynn into the most melodramatically tragic situation possible that it’s just completely burnt out here? This whole scene just feels like a shadow-puppet of Magiere strolling across a completely blank background going, “I have family, death happens, sad but also happy, END.”

You know what, Magiere? You know what? I’m glad END. This book couldn’t fucking END too soon. Over 400-pages of complete fucking gibberish to cap off my favorite series of all time, because it wasn’t enough for the Noble Dead Saga to END poorly, but it had to make a goddamn show of it. I am genuinely amazed at how little this book delivered on actually ENDing anything. The number of plot holes and loose ends and retrograding character arcs is truly impressive, and on top of all that, this book had the audacity to not be audacious with all of that. This wild departure from the rest of the saga couldn’t have included alien invasions or dinosaur clones or any shit like that, no--this book managed to be an utterly convoluted counter-narrative to all the books that came before it while also maintaining a complete cardboard blandness. Truly astonishing that a book so contrived could also be so utterly ankle-deep shallow. This book fucking tangled itself in knots with teleportation trees and dog armies and battles in the center of il’Sanke’s mind and whatever the fuck either the wraith or the necromancer were doing in this book at all, and at the end of all of that, Magiere’s happy ending is just being kind of quietly pleased that her husband isn’t dead yet.

I am beyond myself in amazement. And I am so, so fucking tired.

Well, that’s it for every plot point in TNV that sent me into a frothing rage. Tomorrow I’ll be writing up a conclusion to all of this, because god damn I need some proper closure somewhere.