#I mean even the color palettes are paralleled

[wield-the-mighty-pen]

“We have to recreate the moment you first fell in love”

[calmlb]

It’s been clear that the Tanizakis aren’t siblings from the very beginning

here’s some evidence now that it’s been confirmed canon…

everyone who’s read irl Tanizaki’s book knew that Junichiro & Naomi weren’t siblings as soon as they introduced themselves

BUT just because the Tanizakis aren’t siblings doesn’t mean you can’t feel uncomfortable about them. if you feel uncomfortable, GOOD. that’s exactly what they want

the Tanizakis, Mori— they all use these disturbing ruses to disarm or distract people in order to protect themselves, or to accomplish their goals. this is a writing device that asagiri commonly employs as a way to parallel the irl literature (it’s actually ingenious)

there are 4 main indicators that have always made it clear to me that Junichiro & Naomi are not siblings:

1. most obviously— their character designs. Harukawa is extremely intentional with character designs, & she very intentionally made Naomi & Junichiro look nothing alike

their eye shapes are purposely different

their color palettes are contrasting

even their differing styles of clothing have meaning

this was all done so that the audience could PLAINLY see that they’re not related— so that WE know that they’re lying when they say they ARE related

2. how the people around them respond to their act.

the general reaction is “don’t question it”— which is exactly what they want. “be distracted by how uncomfortable you feel so that you look away from what we’re hiding” (this is likely a protective measure)

3. most importantly, this is meant to parallel irl Tanizaki’s book “Naomi,” where the main character Joji picks up Naomi to raise her into his ideal woman, but since she's so young (& a minor) they call each other cousins (Joji makes no sexual advances on young Naomi btw)

however, his plan backfires because when Naomi gets older & they get married, she flips the script on him & manipulates HIM so that he's under her thumb (which is why bsd Tanizaki is at a domineering Naomi's mercy). Joji let her have her way because of his masochistic tendencies

4. lastly is the emphasis that Asagiri and the Tanizakis themselves put on calling each other siblings.

over & over, it’s “my brother this” & “my sister that”

like they’re desperately trying to convince us that it’s true (“don’t let your lying eyes deceive you”)

here are just a few of many examples from the light novels…

again, if you’ve read “Naomi” you knew that Junichiro & Naomi weren’t siblings as soon as they introduced themselves

just like if you’ve read irl Mori’s works, it’s clear that bsd Mori isn’t a pedophile

just like if you’ve read No Longer Human you know that Dazai’s an unreliable narrator. he makes you think he’s a bad person bc he believes he’s a bad person, but those around him see him differently (btw this doesn’t mean he’s never done anything “bad,” though bsd isn’t about morality— but that’s another discussion)

anyway, i’m so excited for the Tanizakis backstory to be revealed so that we can better understand why they use this defense!!

also let this be a reminder to READ THE LITERATURE if you’re able to!! even reading synopses & analyses of the coordinating books makes bsd make much more sense 🥹

reminder that this how you’re supposed to react while reading bsd:

also, if you’re interested in a post explaining how Mori isn’t a pedo, i wrote this analysis on twt. OR you can read this document that one of my moots sent me (remember: analyzing a character does NOT mean you condone any actions they may or may not commit!)

[lover-of-mine]

Welcome to Anna writes another color meta because she's losing her mind.

I made half this point before, but season 7 has more evidence, so I'm gonna make it again, just stay with me. Buck wears a lot of red, right? Staple color for him.

And, well, the coma dream has many elements that make it uncomfortable even if we don't fully realize it, one of them is the way that Buck is wearing green.

(something else is the way he's wearing black vans when he usually wears white hightops, but that's not important right now, but 911 costume department, I worship you)

Why is the green part relevant? Well, red and green are complementary colors, that means they are on opposite sides of the color wheel, and the whole thing with complementary colors is to create contrast. So, since he's usually on this part of the color wheel, the green stands out, even if we don't fully register why.

But the thing is, they put Buck in green when something is wrong. The coma dream, yeah, but the talk with Ali that leads to the breakup, the whole thing with taking Red to see Cindy that completely backfires, and subsequently the conversation with Maddie about being the one who gets left behind, telling Taylor he cheated, talking to Eddie about how he's avoiding Taylor after the Jonah thing, breaking up with Taylor, the cemetery scene, the gym scene in 705.

Those are all scenes where something is wrong, Ali doesn't understand who he is, the whole thing with Red is Buck deciding to do the wrong thing over his idea of what Red needs, the Taylor arc is very self-explanatory, the cemetery feels like he's trying to convince himself of what he's saying a lot more than it sounds like that's something he actually believes, the gym scene he's stressed because he lied to Eddie, it's all at least Buck doing misguided stuff. I feel like at this point, it is very clear that they put Buck in green for this purpose. If Buck is in green, something is most likely wrong.

So, Buck has a something is wrong color. During season 7, I offered the possibility of the show using maroon with Eddie for a similar purpose. But where Buck is about doing misguided stuff most of the time, Eddie is about lying. In a sense.

Eddie's color palette is very earthy. I don't wanna say green is as much of a staple color for him as red is for Buck, but he is usually in army colors, he does wear his fair share of green, greyish-green stuff, it's enough to make sense to some degree if they use maroon to say something is wrong in a direct parallel of what they do with Buck, just going the other way.

But why the maroon during season 7? He's wearing maroon while daydreaming about an idealized Shannon and during the date with Kim. Both situations involve lying to himself, Buck, or whatever. There's also the maroon when Chris leaves. He's not lying, but to say he's pretending to be okay with the situation because it is what Chris wants is not that much of a stretch.

But, I just noticed this dude is wearing maroon when Lena takes him to the first fight, which triggers something dangerous for him. So now we're talking. We have bad shit happening to him and bad shit being triggered by him while he's in maroon.

It opens up a lot in the possibility of them using red in this way for him in other scenes he's wearing reddish stuff. First date with Ana, the nondate with Vanessa, the 612 talk, and I'm gonna throw in the Carla thing too because I need another screenshot lol

Granted, as long as the show doesn't come right out and say Eddie is gay or Eddie was lying about remembering the shooting, these are just speculation and wishful thinking for the most part, but Eddie is peer pressured into the relationship with Ana and ends up admitting he liked the idea of them more than he liked her, so lying to himself, and the Vanessa one, he just plain doesn't want to be there and is agreeing to lie to Pepa so, it's a stretch but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ the Carla thing, Eddie is at least hiding the Shannon of it all and he was lied to to get there, and while Buck does offer him the answer to a problem that scene, it is a problem he was struggling a lot with and pretending he had it under control. And I will live in a land where Eddie has been aware of his feelings since the shooting and it is lying to Buck about not remembering until the show explicitly proves me wrong, so in my head he is lying to Buck in 612. I'm not nearly as confident on this one as I am with the green and Buck when it comes to the whole show, but at least during s7, they did use it like that, and considering the way he was mostly in black or white during s7, the maroon has to mean something.

Now that we got that out of the way. Why am I telling you all this? It is not just because I think this is yet another way the show makes Buck and Eddie exist as mirrors of each other. It is because of the bachelor party.

Because Buck is in mint green and Eddie is in baby pink.

Buck is absolutely being misguided about what Chim actually wants during this, but I have no idea what Eddie would be lying about though. The interesting thing is that Buck loses the green and Eddie has the darker pink quite literally ripped out of him. Which is an interesting choice all things considered. And they get back to it once we find out Chim is missing.

This is pure speculation that even made me write a fic (self-promo if you feel like reading a confrontation about them almost kissing at the party), but the thing is, everyone involved in this damn show talked too much about this bachelor party for it to be a minute long montage with no lasting consequences and me to feel satisfied with it (rip karaoke scene you will always be wanted). Especially considering with the way we know the episode was actually 2 episodes long and they had to trim everything down (the fact that they tried to shove 18 episodes worth of plot into 10 is gonna make me mad forever, it was a reduced season, make a reduced season) and the ideal world madney's wedding would've been the 2 episode event it deserved to be and we would've gotten more. Do I think the show wanted something to actually happen between them, like a full-blown kiss? No. Do I think a "we are drunk and getting too close" situation was completely plausible? Yes. I mean, Buck was practically pulling Eddie to his lap. And it's not like this is something that can't come back to if they feel like it. Sudden triggers making them remember shit is a perfectly acceptable way to add some tension, push some realizations.

I don't know why, but Buck wearing green there will forever bother me. And with the added layer of Eddie and the maroon, I feel like there has to have a point for that particular costume besides making me want to make The Fairly OddParents jokes.

If we wanna go full conspiracy theory, considering the way the early renewal changed the way they dealt with 7b, I wouldn't be surprised if that party was going to trigger something and they decided against it. We'll never know unless they come back to it, but, nice to think about.

As always, if you read this, I love you.

Other color metas if you like my brand of crazy: blue and green masterpost, red and blue post, blue and yellow theory part one and part two.

[m4rs-ex3]

the visuals for the last like 20 minutes of atsv are my favorite things ever

specifically: the color theory

earth-42 is obviously striking on a whole nother level

we tend to automatically think of red as the color of danger, but that's loud and passionate and angry. this haunting, sickening green feels more conniving and threatening and apocalyptic.

(if you think of color in disney movies, all the scariest, most cunning villains--maleficent, scar, ursula, evil queen, facilier, gothel--have either palettes or grand moments or motifs heavily utilizing green)

and something i always notice is that rio 42 looks just a little off, and it's because they reflect so much green in her eyes they look almost entirely green

and, if this is your first time watching, you have no idea why the environment is made to be so deeply unsettling. let's look at gwen's dimension for a sec

being home is a really bad thing to gwen. while miles was doing everything he could to get home, gwen was literally dragged there--because gwen views her dimension as unsafe (ignore the trans parallels ignore the trans parallels ingore the tra

it's dark. it has the same ominous rain. but you can tell it's 65. that bisexual lighting is unmistakable

i can't even go into the colors of gwen and george's argument because there is an image limit and i am lazy. but we know it's insane. the emotional peak of the scene is also where we see the colors most vibrant and changing the most abruptly

and when they have their beautiful lil moment, this is what happens

not only is it blindingly bright and trans colored all of a sudden, but the characters don their "true" coloring

and even after gwen leaves, the scene is still bright, and familiar

miles should be safe in his dimension. but we know he's not.

back to earth-42. well i mean we have these absolute visual bangers what do i need to say u get it

and then there's this absolutely incredible moment where i would say miles is at his emotional peak (manic peak as well; i mean spot's hands and the infamous revenge line...yoikes.) and just like with gwen, the emotional high is where we see the most dynamic colors so coincidence i think not

this next sequence is just one of the coolest fuckin chase-esq scenes i've ever seen. like the mumbattan one slapped but the pacing and direction and elements and epicness together here are just immaculate

another thing--miguel/ben's post is heavily shrouded in red. he's supposed to be ominously looming over exactly where miles is headed. buttttttttt~ when miles first crash lands, there is quite a bit of red, and as he gets closer to home, the city gets bluer and bluer with less and less red, bc yk he's not actually headed towards miguel/ben. woah. i make sense guys. i am a fart smella. i mean smart smella. i mean fart fella. i mean fart smella. i mea

[awhoreintheory]

Okay okay I have. Two thoughts that have been in my brain for a while that could go together if you want:

1. Peter, both as Spider-Man and his civilian identity, meets Red Hood/Jason first, and Jason, much to his dismay, gets attached REALLY quickly. This snarky, acrobatic shithead is adorable and reminds him of Dick, and to his horror, himself. Depending on how old Peter is, whether his actual age or he's deaged, Jason is either going "new baby brother" or "my child now". He signed the mental adoption papers SO fast and he's mad as hell about it, and he knows the heart attacks Peter gives him are karma

2. Peter is shockingly similar to Jason in a lot of ways; bonus points if Ben is an alternate version of Jason. He grew up poor, had issues with Tony in Homecoming because Tony wasn't trusting him and Peter believed Tony didn't care/was too controlling (parallels to both Jason *and* Dicks relationship with Bruce), died at 15, was betrayed by a sort of mentor/parental figure he was just getting to know, traumatized deeply by a green and purple themed crazy guy who killed his mother figure in an explosion he tried protecting her from, 100% has trust issues after all that... yeah the similarities are definitely there and you KNOW that would pain Jason. In general I think Peter is a mix of Dick and Jason in terms of personality (i mean, Peter was worried about homework in Civil War, that's such a kid Jason thing) and... well a lot of ways, really. The parallels run deep lol. Oh also Peter in Homecoming had a similar color palette to Robin (mostly red suit with the yellow jacket) and in Far From Home/No Way Home he had the red and black suit. Idk!! Similarities. Oh oh you could pull Harley into this too if you want, since Tony knew Harley first and for way longer than Peter

Just... gestures. Everyone talks abt Peter and Dick parallels but no one discusses the Peter and Jason parallels

You're right. I was a down right FOOL to not see these downright gorgeous parallels???

And you KNOW that while Jason seeing their similarities hurts, imagine how Bruce, Dick, and even Alfred would feel about that? How they would feel about getting a glimpse of the happy-go-lucky kid that Jason used to be?

That's another similarity! Jason and Peter both started out as pretty optimistic and happy. Like, Jason was going around saying "Robin gives me magic!", how cute it that? And Peter started swinging around in homemade suits when he was 14, and is just generally hard to get down. Spider-man always gets back up, right?

So for Jason, Peter is nostalgic. He reminds him a little of himself, maybe how Jason could've turned out if he'd spent more time with Dick. Jason sees this kid so like himself but with the chance to turn out different, and he's gonna take that opportunity damnit!

Bruce and Dick? They see a ghost of the past at first. Bruce doesn't see many of Jason's smiles anymore, if ever, but he could've sworn they looked just like that. Dick is a bit more privy to a relaxed Jason, so he hears it in how Peter speaks, his laugh, and how he gets when he's passionate about something. No one else really sees it besides Alfred, because they didn't get to see Jason without his anger.

I love me some Harley!! He's a cutie patootie. And would also add amazing angst,,, giving only child, orphaned Peter Parker middle kid syndrome was actually a therapeutic recommendation by my therapist, scouts honor. Because hello! Harley and Morgen? I need more siblings content of them.

[biblically-accurate-dca]

overanalyzing (nitpicking) these pins (under the cut)

sun's hanging pin: printing error on the ribbon on sun's right hand (yellow instead of red)

this has since been fixed but it's really funny LMAOOOO how did that happen

moon's hanging pin: the ribbons and the hat are going different directions in the artwork (moon's hat falls down but the ribbons don't, most likely because this is essentially just an edited version of sun's artwork)

this one's a little hard to explain. the colors for The Sun and the stars on sun's hanging pin share the same color palette as sun, but the colors of The Moon and stars on moon's pin don't relate to moon's color palette as easily. the star's are the same color as their teeth, but The Moon itself has it's own unique color. it's actually the clouds surrounding The Moon that share a color with moon (same color as their face)

this makes me think that the clouds were added for the sake of sharing colors from moon's face so it's like sun's? but idk that's just a theory lol. imo it's an odd choice to add clouds to it but it's honestly the prettiest part of the pin so i shouldn't complain too much i guess..

"sun and moon" hanging pin: this is obviously based off of eclipse so why are they calling it "sun and moon"? is it because it's not technically ruin eclipse and therefore they can't call it that? that's odd to me. maybe it's for a legal reason. who knows? i certainly don't

the pants don't have any stars even though the hat has them. and this was a purposeful choice. is it because it'd overcomplicate the design? is it a restriction required to make the pin? it's just an odd choice considering it's such a noticeably empty space now

all the dark parts that are meant to represent moon are a weird grey color now and it looks really odd to me. i'm guessing this is just to differentiate them but it's kind of ugly HFJSJGJD

their button's are blue? even though moon's aren't? why

the crators on The Moon on this pin are positioned slightly differently than the ones on moon's. i thought the design was just copy pasted onto this pin but i guess i was wrong? i'm not sure if this even means anything JDJSJFKDG

the bobble head pins: i think their poses are the same as the other's but they've been flipped and edited to differentiate them. this is probably a really obvious observation. regardless i do think it's fun when they parallel each other so i guess i can't complain about how cheap it feels HFJZJGK

there's a weird space between their arm and their ruffles? for sun it's on the left and for moon it's on the right but i can't really figure out why it's there... my guess is that it might've too hard to cut out since it's enclosed in the design, but it's too large of a space to hide it by coloring it in so they had to leave it like that. there's a space like that on the ribbons too so that's probably it. oh well, nothing's perfect

speaking of the ribbons: they're drawn differently between sun and moon! i thought it was just the hands that were changed but i guess the ribbons were too

moon's bobble pin: according to the art for the pin moon's secondary body color is supposed to be a dark blue, however it's so dark that it just looks black on the pin... it's probably more of an oversight than anything but i honestly think it looks kind of cool. i wanna draw it

i think moon's primary body color on the pin is honestly kind of ugly. the color on the art is ok even if it's a little dark but the cyan tint on the pin combined with how dark it is makes it look ugly to me

sun's bobble pin: sun's colors are... a little too yellow for my tastes but are otherwise fine. the colors on the art itself look nicer but i'm aware that the physical coloring doesn't always line up with digital color codes so you can't be too picky about it i guess

sun's secondary body color is technically incorrect (it should be the same secondary color as the face) but it does look nicer like this so just consider this as an observation rather than a complaint lol

the candy shaker pins: i dont have much to say about these (i think theyre nice but a little boring) but i do like how the designs for the bags match the time of day for each of them. the moondrops have a moon with stars and the sunnydrops have a sun with rays of light. it's charming

overall: they're cute i guess... but the fact that there's an entire collection of dca pins makes it so obvious who they're marketing to lmaooooo

[jabberwockprince]

SPINA VENATORES A small organization of mercenaries working for Manus Vindictae, tasked with erasing people from history as a way to call upon the "Storm". Their targets' names, families, influence and connections to this world will be dragged into oblivion.

Individual profiles and some more info/ramblings under the cut <3

The whole point of Spina Venatores is to be a parallel to Vertin's own independent group of Arcanists - the same way St. Pavlov's Foundation has her, Manus Vindictae has Venison and Spina. They're the mouth and teeth of Manus.

But whereas Vertin aims to create a safe, neutral space for Arcanists to thrive without human influence despite being tied to the Foundation, Venison is aiming to create a paradise for those they care about and no one else due to the heavy influence Arcana and Manus have on them.

Spinas Venatores is, at its core, a cult that was allowed to grow thanks to Venison's codependent and obsessive mindset - with them as the leader, all the troublesome and rebellious members of Manus Vindictae (that are much too powerful to get rid of or who are still clinging on to their former lives) will simply be assimilated into Spina or pressured to comply with Manus Vindictae as a whole. The third secret option is dying <3.

They also serve as a narrative device to remind everyone of the fact that, no matter how hard one may try, there's no way EVERYONE can be saved from the "Storm" - all five main members are related in some way or another to Arcanists that Vertin has met, they're people that weren't lucky enough to be taken in, who found themselves in the right time and place for Manus Vindictae to take advantage of their vulnerable state.

R1999 also portrays a LOT of oppression from various minorities that overlap with each other in very interesting ways, so I also wanted them to tackle similar things that mean so much to me - they're problematic queers is what I'm trying to say lmfao

The thing they share is that all of them are delusional to a degree, and that they're constantly haunted and defined by their relationships to others. The loss and discovery of the self through another, Ship of Theseus, cannibalism, body horror, being transgender as a really visceral and intimate experience, an obsession for love in all of its forms etc etc.

I don't have the FULL scope of their backstories, but I do know who they're tied to!

Venison was Pavia's coworker in a constant, obsessive loop of wanting to kill and save each other. Mutton was part of Schneider's mafia and romantically involved with one of her oldest sisters. Chevon was a regular visitor in Necrologist's museum and a friend of hers, she later went on to exhibit his many, many tombstones. Poultry is the "Lilian" mentioned in Darley Clatter's Stories. And Veal is a mystery even to me </3

Their uniforms are meant to look outrageous and outlandish, entirely out of place with the setting and their respective eras/times, inspired by fantasy - just BARELY reminiscent of Manus Vindictae by virtue of using a similar palette, as a way to drive that feeling of not belonging and delusion even harder.

Whereas everyone else is dealing with very real issues, all members of Spina Venatores live pretty much in their own heads (similar to Forget Me Not and how Manus Vindictae causes their recruits to become... YEAH.....THOSE MONSTERS....)

Venison gets the BIG COAT and the biggest silhouette because they're responsible for pretty much 80% of what happens within Spina Venatores! Veal gets the more simple design to allude to their whole unassuming, shapeshifter/Doppelganger thing.

They all have ribcage/bone motifs in one way or another, most of their jewels are meant to look like rosaries, they wear the Manus Vindictae silver cross and Arcana's blue color more often than regular members of Manus. Also! Hands!! Love the fuckin hands!! DID YOU GUYS SEE DIGGERS' MANUS VINDICTAE SKIN???? YEAH.

The naming convention being. types of different meats. is entirely because of Venison, you can ALSO blame that entirely on them <3

[italoniponic]

I never thought much about it but ever since Kalim's Sultan card dropped, I've been bombarded with these concepts and all. But the gist of it is that we don't talk about how impressive and important the Light Trio (Kalim, Rook and Silver) serve as "palette cleansers" of their dorms own aesthetic and it's all in their color association

in this TED talk lol I'll focus mainly on Kalim tho, so spoilers for his card!

I'll warn that it's been months since I wrote something other than a story and I tend to tangle myself in my own words. So I hope it's comprehensible enough... if you want to add a new detail, feel free to do so in the replies!

I MEAN look at my boy here. Scarabia's main colors are literally red (or deep wine red, if you will) and black and normally Kalim already challenges this color palette with his normal student wear but here he's full out

*boom* blue and white!! the only thing connecting both universes is the gold which is really important bc of the ambience in the desert, palaces and the magic of wishes

the original animators were so right to go with these colors for the characters, especially the good ones in contrast with the villain, bc it's an easy indicator if you think about it. And when everybody gets together, you see the harmony between the forces

blue & white against red & black... or anything in the similar tones

that's why Jamil was also exceptionally well drawn bc he's 100% the aesthetic embodiment of Jafar, one of the best ones in the overblot boys! and in the other hand, that's why Kalim functions so well with his main sultan colors bc it all goes back to Scarabia having this whole thing going up with parallels

[the insanity that analysing Scarabia cards back to back brings to me... is unwritten. unravelled. unspoken of.]

talking about all of that bc it all goes back in the way the Light Trio (here, only Kalim) kinda "breaks" their dorm format with their different color eschemes

I haven't analyzed much of Rook's but Kalim and Silver have a lot more to speak bc they are based of actually "good characters" (Sultan and Aurora/Philip), so just imagine this: red, black, red, black, red, black... oh hi, blue and white!

same with Silver and his literal silver hair clashing with Malleus and Lilia (black hair) and Sebek (green hair, the color dorm)

Jamil and Kalim are mutually different even in the smallest of details and it serves a lot for the dorm concept and their character dynamics as well. Although I think using the word "palette cleanser" wasn't the rightest choice on my part, the feeling I want to portray is how these characters "breaking" the aesthetic for a solid minute brings a sense of dept to the world building

it makes you wonder how the Magic Mirror accepted them in the first place but also, the story wouldn't be the same without them

[kydoesthings1]

McGillis and the Pied Piper

because February 24th’s Wordle was piper and I am procrastinating on school work

At 16:57 of S2E21 (E46) Gaelio says this to McGillis before charging him.

(Gaelio is speaking through the comms offscreen.)

(Apparently this line was also used in a game. I forgot which one. I don't play Gundam games.)

Gaelio literally says something along the lines of "Are you still going to play the pipe of Hamelin even when the battle is going like this?" Not sure why this is the subtitle. But they mostly mean the same thing so maybe I'm just nitpicking.

To refresh your memory a little, this is when the Revolutionary Fleet is very clearly losing to Arianrhod, and McGillis just made his pep talk and this iconic frame. They are preparing to retreat and regroup when Gaelio shows up to fight McGillis.

Gaelio referencing the Pied Piper of Hamelin (Hameln, same thing) is of course connected to McGillis's and thus his love of myth/folk tales. Because of McGillis's influence, Gaelio also has a strong liking for stories. He names himself and Gundam Vidar/Kimaris Vidar after Vidar, the Norse god of revenge and silence, son of Odin and slayer of Fenrir (Fenris, same thing but IBO uses Fenrir) the monster wolf son of Loki during Ragnarok. The same side story 'Eve of Vidar' also tells us he used to hit on girls using Norse mythology fun facts, including Yamazin Toka when he was a test pilot for the Schwalbe Graze.

Although these are relatively common knowledge for us, the viewers, they are probably niche facts however many years in the future the Post Disaster timeline is (in UC0079 Hitler and WW2 is considered "middle ages" despite being historically quite recent for us). This is one thing Gaelio and McGillis have in common and it is because of McGillis.

(Also this is kind of a weak diss? Like if you're gonna insult McGillis why compare him to something so cool. "Snake on the moon" - now that's an insult. But I digress.)

But what is the Pied Piper exactly? The Pied Piper, or the Ratcatcher (der Rattenfänger) is a legend of the town Hamelin in Lower Saxony of Germany. There are dozens of variations of this tale, but I'll only be talking about the most popular versions that relate to the events of IBO.

In 1284, Hamelin had a rat problem. Basically there were a whole bunch of rats, and they made life suck for the townspeople, as large numbers of rats tend to do. According to Robert Browning's poem, the people were mad at the mayor for not being able to solve the problem, and were about to kick him out. Then a man wearing a coat of many bright colors (Browning's version says yellow and red, both in McGillis's palette at some point) and holding a pipe showed up. The Piper promised to get rid of all the rats in exchange for 1000 guilders. He then played his pipe and all the rats came out and followed him into the river Weser and drowned.

The townspeople did not follow through on their end, however, and came up with all sorts of excuses to not give him the promised 1000 guilders. This angered the Piper, and he played his pipe again, and this time all 130 of the town's children came out and followed him away dancing and they never returned, nor were they ever seen again. Versions disagree on what happened to the children. In the Grimm Brothers and Browning's versions they went to Transylvania. Others say they went to a land like paradise in a cave. Others say they drowned in the river like the rats.

So how does this relate to McGillis and IBO? Well actually it's pretty obvious - Gaelio is simply saying McGillis is luring Isurugi, the Revolutionary Fleet and Tekkadan to their doom with false promises.

However, the point of this post is to point out some interesting details of this parallel. The Piper lured the children of Hamelin away as an act of revenge on the adults of the town because they didn't pay him what was rightfully his for his service. McGillis's coup can be framed as revenge on the corrupt system of the world Gjallarhorn maintains, and those who personally victimized him.

Interestingly, some accounts describe the Piper as "a miracle of God" and that he was sent to test the townspeople, and punish them when they didn't keep their word. Others call him the devil in disguise, who intended to trick the people and take their children. This is like how McGillis can be seen as a charismatic leader aiming to change the world for the better, or a ruthless, cold-blooded, lying, backstabbing, power-hungry traitor who will stop at nothing.

Additionally, Bael, the demon king, is a fallen angel who was cast out with Lucifer for rebelling against God, and Gundam Bael's gunpla box describes it as "a demon with the appearance of an angel" (this could also apply to McGillis himself).

In many versions of the story, some children are left behind. Which ones exactly vary, but Browning's focuses on a boy with a broken leg who couldn't keep up with the other children, so he was able to tell the villagers where he saw them go. The boy said they went into a portal on the side of the mountain, and on the other side was a paradise where everything was beautiful and peaceful. The boy was very sad he couldn't join his friends there because now he was all alone and couldn't return to that land.

Sounds kind of familiar, doesn't it?

In the epilogue, Gaelio is in a wheelchair and his bandaged neck suggests that his Alaya-Vijnana implants had been removed fairly recently. Supplemental info reveals that McGillis injured his spine during their fight at Edmonton, and Gaelio was only able to be up and about in S2 thanks to his AVS.

If the land the Piper and the children went to is Heaven, then this could be read as Gaelio being the only one not to follow McGillis into death, and being the sole survivor of his friends (for the sake of this argument Julieta doesn't count because Gaelio wasn't fighting for or against her).

An important difference is the boy longed to follow the Piper, while Gaelio rejected McGillis because he schemed to kill him and his friends.

The Piper's other name, the Ratcatcher? Tekkadan are space rats?

Also McGillis's true name Montag, presumably his surname before Iznario's adoption, is German for Monday, hinting at his heritage, and the Piper is a German story (obviously).

The Pied Piper is a legend that originated in the Middle Ages, and Gjallarhorn's leadership, ideology and overall aesthetic is reminiscent of that.

There is a version of the story that the Piper will return in 300 years. Which he did not do, but 300 years? McGillis, the self-proclaimed successor to Agnika Kaieru after 300 years?

I can't be bothered to write a separate piece on Gaelio's legs so I should also mention that Vidar, the Norse god defeats Fenrir by stepping on his lower jaw with his shoe made from all the collected pieces of leather people cut from their own shoes, and grabbing his upper jaw and ripping him apart at the mouth.

Vidar's special shoes are like how Gaelio says he’s carrying all the wishes of Carta and Ein, and the AVS Type-E also serves as his literal feet. (Also he wears very striking white thigh-high boots that are very hot. What they're not is part of the Gjallarhorn uniform, just to make this connection, in addition to exacting revenge in style.)

In many carvings, Vidar is shown stabbing Fenrir through the heart also, and Gaelio/Kimaris Vidar defeats McGillis by pinning him against the Arianrhod flagship and stabbing him/Bael through the torso.

Proposed origins of the Pied Piper

Now obviously there was no piper guy dressed in goofy clothes that stole all the children of a town with magic music. There are several theories about what the legend is based on. This has nothing to do with IBO anymore and I just thought it was fun so feel free to stop reading if you don't agree.

Plague: According to this theory, all the children died because of illness and the place they went to is a mass grave. The Piper's many-colored clothing represents the sores and discoloration of skin of those who contracted the illness, and he is the personification of the plague/death. Rats are carriers of fleas, which spread the plague. 1284 is a bit too early for the Bubonic Plague (Black Death) though, so it may have been something else.

Emigration: The emigration theory suggests that much of the people of Hamelin moved to eastern Europe in search of better opportunities as only the eldest son had inheritance and the others could only be serfs. In this theory, "children of Hamelin" are not actual children, and it's just a figure of speech to say they were of a certain place. This correlates with some versions where the Piper and the children he took were sighted in Transylvania.

Human trafficking/the Children's Crusades: In these two theories the Piper is the recruiter/trafficker and the story was made up by the town to please their officials.

Dancing mania: There have been records of dancing mania in about the same time period in the surrounding region, and children were among the affected. Dancing mania can sometimes result in death due to exhaustion. It was originally attributed to a curse by a saint (St. John or St. Vitus) and you had to pray to them to lift the curse. Modern explanations for dancing mania are neurological disorders or collective mental disorders.

Pagan ritual: supposedly the pipe music and dancing children are part of this ritual that took place in the mountains, and the children died from a landslide or similar accident.

"You're reading way too much into Gaelio's one line" no actually I am reading exactly the right amount into it and everyone else isn't reading into it enough

[huntermanor]

'Barbie' is a transgender masterpiece

I'm going to go away from my usual clown related content for this post, but i've watched Barbie twice now, and aside from the movie painting a beautiful portrait about men's rol in feminism as well as reivindicating being a mother is ok, the movie has proven to be a transgender masterpiece in many ways, just like Barbie as a figure! Buckle up because this is going to be a long, long post.

For startes, fashion dolls, and specifically Barbie as the most important of them, has been a queer icon more than a feminist icon. Feminism has distanced itself from Barbie as a figure because her representation of womanhood was faulty (something i disagree on, since Barbie was a powerful successful woman who didn't let that make her not be interested in fashion and other feminine hobbies and interests!!), but the queer community has, i feel, a different appreciation for Barbie as a character and doll. Gay men, drag queens and transfemme folks mostly share memories of playing with Barbie and dreaming, via the doll, about the lifes we could have as adults. Barbie was a very important role for many drag queens who loved the glamour and fashion, it helped gay men relate to female friends who where more friendly and safe (usually although not always) than other boys, and it helped us trans women and femme enby folks to distance ourselves from the masculinity society tried to force on us. Barbie has also proven to be an icon for lesbians since, i mean, nobody ever bought a Ken doll, and even for some trans men who used Barbie dolls transitioned into boy dolls to enact heteroromantic fantasies! The union between Barbie and feminism is a faulty one, and i can't blame the feminist movement for it, but the relationship between Barbie and the queer community is very real and strong. It's no surprise that many trans women and drag queens use the term 'doll' to refer to themselves, or that Ken has always been a sort of feminine and, let's be honest, queer man.

So how is the new Greta Gerwig Barbie movie transgender ? Well, Barbie herself, as a protagonist, is such a real transfemme experience! Barbie moves from Barbieland to the real world, learning what it really is to be a woman in the real life world of California, much like many trans women have to look at the world around them to learn and internalize their new lifes at the beginning of their transitions. Barbie also says, explicitly, that she doesn't have a vagina, or genitals, and by the end of the movie she decides to turn into a human, and goes to her gynecologist, which implies she went from not having a vagina to having one. Isn't this the most trans thing ever ?? Of course there are some problematic implications in this reading of the movie, because Barbie turns into 'a real woman' and gets a vagina, which is not what being a real woman is, but i also think this is a very powerful messaging. Consider also some minor details like the fact the color palette used for Barbie is one with blue and white added to her always bright Barbie Pink, which isn't odd since Barbie has used this combo before, but it cannot be a coincidence. Barbie going from a hyperfeminine woman to a more laidback woman is also very parallel to a lot of trans women's experiences, since many of us behave and are hyperfeminine from an early stage in our transitions because of dysphoria but then we become more comfortable in ourselves and realize that we don't own anyone hyperfemininity (even though i am, still, a hyperfeminine woman, but it's more in my own terms of femininity!!) Of course, we also have Hari Neff, a trans actress, as a Barbie in Barbieland, which is amazing, and in one scene we see that, in the Mattel headquarters, there's a small transgender sign in the wall, which is subtle, but still there.

This movie has so many queer undertones and experiences, showing Ken dolls that were queer coded in the market like Magic Ring Ken and also proving how patriarchal relationships between men are very homoerotic in a way, which is shown in how Ken interacts with other Kens and viceversa. Weird Barbie is also a very much queer character, being played by a lesbian actress, and i feel like the movie is so campy and has such an aesthetic that reminds us of queer movies like But I'm a Cheerleader. We also have to aknowledge the references to big queer favourite and queer films like Matrix and Wizard of Oz. I think this reading of the movie is definetly plausible and i hope to hear some of your thoughts!

[cyberdragoninfinity]

A while ago, you did a thread on Yugioh rival symbolism, but it was early enough in your Arc-V watch that you didn't have anything major to say on Reiji/Declan. Now that you've experienced Arc-V in full, what do you think about Declan and his symbolism?

OHHH GOOD QUESTION!! god i love declan so much. i feel like i still need to Really Ruminate on him to fully grip all of the potential symbolism he's got but there's definitely some stuff I'm already locked on that I really like.

I dont think I realized until someone pointed it out that the Akabas all have a card suite motif but it rules so hard; Declan's definitely got such a kickass design especially with that in ind... the diamond earrings, his bangs, the red in his color palette. It's subtle, it's tasteful, I really like it. I like that his character goes hand in hand with what the Diamond suite tends to symbolize too (progress, prosperity, career advancement--diamonds are also apparently associated with the element of air sometimes too, which is insanely funny considering Declan's scarf that can achieve flight in the manga (?!??!).)

In general it's really funny to me that Declan kind of has this "business and corporate hierarchy" motif, with the diamond symbolism and also that thing where D/D/Ds have like corporate titles and are just as much about the landscape of business as they are about Sickass Demons. And I think it's fun how even though Declan is a businessman first and foremost, he isn't really like.... a corrupt businessman, especially not in the way businessmen in yugioh can be. i could write an essay and a half about how declan is such a genuinely caring person but that's it's own story for another time. He's crafted his wealth and business connections into a weapon to fight his father and his deck also weaponizes contracts and businessmen to destroy opponent, it's a cool parallel.

GOD SO MUCH OF THIS IS JUST "WHY DO D/D/DS HAVE LIKE 8 MOTIFS GOING ON WITH THEM" but like practically all of them relate back to Declan as a character in some way! It's so cool! Cuz you have these Different Dimension Demons, but theyre all named after ancient kings and warriors and great scientists, and Declan in general has such a vast Medieval Warrior King/Prince/Royalty type symbolism. The Lancers are his knights right down to the logo. He assumes the 'throne' (LID Presidency) after his father fucks off to Evil Duel Academy. He fights a goddamn dragon (Zarc). Hell even the paler grey in his hair looks very crown like. It's making me a little sicko mode to think about especially through the lens of viewing Arc-V itself as a creation myth or a fairy tale. BUT THAT AGAIN IS ANOTHER KETTLE OF FISH.

hang on wtf is the symbolism of the King of Diamonds, actually

OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ALRIGHT!!!!! YEA THAT'S DECLAN BABEYYYY

hey haha also i didn't know Akaba means 'red horse.' hahah which horseman was that again

AH.

also. one more thing. does make me a bit ill thinking about how his deck is entirely Fiends and he uses them to spar with Yuya (who of course has devil motifs whether he wants them or not)....something in there maybe....blinks wet eyes

[sasoxichomoshi]

are the pathless and abzu related? yes, and this connection is way more important than people give credit for (i will be rambling now)

visual cues are everywhere; the beheaded shark statue right at the start of the game, the purification process and the spirit realm architecture all nods to the previous game as the shells and the locked door at cerno's domain are literal imports from abzu, which are all sweet references present in the pathless

everything that concerns the spiritual realm has a touch of abzu (pantone abzu blue when)

i'd also add that i have autistic urges to just write about how the pathless feels like this result from accumulated knowledge/experience from past Nava games - the pathless has both the 'myth of creation' and the journey of the hero combined in order to tell this lil story with these silly characters (i see it all as if giant squid team woke up one day and said "what if we made like a fancy fanfic yknow" really best decision ever), however knowing myself it''d just feel like nonsense rambling (even worse than this) and a bit off topic, but i had to mention or my skin wouldn't stop itching

anyway back to the two games -

i have this recurring impression that abzu allegories and symbolism are woven in the fabric of reality in the pathless - it's not about them directly, but are foundational for whatever is being told here and now

you cannot, in full consciousness, tell me that these are just easter eggs in the pathless that giant squid introduced because it's a past title from the studio; not when there was giant effort in blending the two games sensibly - abzu is brought up in the symbolism, the color palette (red/blue), in the environment, and it's even present in the soundtrack

in short, tying the universe of the two games together was intentional

but despite visually tied, it still made no sense to me; ok we share the color palette, we wander around with the help of a tall one, we defeat the bad one, what else there's to it? is it just the start of the giant squid MCU? giant squid cinematic universe? or gaming universe? (i feel stupid)

regardless, as i answered the question to how, i wanted to understand why - and to make sense out of it all, i resorted to a feature unique to the pathless: written text

what is so important to tell the player that you need written text, something you were avoiding in all your past games but that suddenly you bring back out of nowhere to tell a story in a way you havent done before? i can just assume some topics were too necessary to just left it implied (at best), or never explained (at worst)

one of the reasons i have written this blog post until this point (the main reason, actually) is that i feel there's a bit of an overlook of an essential part in the established the pathless n abzu crossover (can i call it that?), something that permeates everything, but it's not really visible in a literal way

--

as i played the game, godslayer perspective and motives stood out - they are the focus of a good part of all the tablets and dead people's memories - and as i dived deeper into the abzu connections (pun not intended) certain lines got too remarkable:

so,,, godslayer deems this world broken because it's made out of pure chaos, ok i guess it makes sense uhhh wait wait im having flashbacks i have seen this befo-

uhh oooooohhh ok ok get it i can see some parallels ughhh woooow just wow omg

the underlying factor here is that chaos is origin, foundation for both games universes (tho we can all see that at this point it's the same universe)

in abzu, by ordaining chaos the diver brings back life; in the pathless the ordained chaos, the one that constitutes all life, is at risk because someone decided that having everything made out of (essentially) chaos wasnt really suitable for the second industrial revolution i guess

note: if you know nothing about abzu i recommend reading this post cause it explains a bit about what chaos means in abzu, hence it's relevant to the pathless too

and understanding the chaos that impregnates existence as a whole is central in the pathless, which brings us to another focal point the game brings up: religion

you see religion a big deal in the pathless in the sense that it defines factions; you pick a side, and it's what drives the line of action of almost everyone in the island - the pathfinder quest against the tall ones, the godslayer followers vs the tall ones followers, entire communities dedicated to their local gods, and so on

superficially, it's easier to go to the "bad vs good" route where godslayer must be defeated to keep the order and the light and tall ones good guys whatever, the problem of this line of thought is: too much black and white and no gray to be seen

the pathless final message speaks about decision making: you are free to trace your own path (and this message is reinforced through game design and the title and at the final boss fight, you can name it) however, here lies the detail: similar to the chaos surrounding us, it goes unnoticed that the will to take a determined path comes from within

that's why religion is a hot topic in the pathless, it's what allows people to trace a path in a chaotic world, literally

the myth of creation - the eagle mother, the branch, her children - in itself is a form of understanding reality, religion - prayers, sacrifices, lines of conduct, contemplation - is also a form of grasping the real, and from this understanding, this particular view of the world, you are invited to take action; you cultivate the land and you build temples dedicated to your god

you take action based in what you believe, and you can see it better in the dead followers you can commune with through the island, they are fierce in their beliefs, which leads them to make a stand or fight back

it also stands out how the tall ones are imbued with negative traits; nimue shifts moods like summer rain, kumo is terribly jealous and childish, sauro despite everything will resort to violence, cernos is too shy, heck even eagle mother as gentle as she is let atrocities took place before any meaningful action was considered

all the tall ones have their virtues and imperfections because in the end they are also made out of chaos, essentially they are not that different from any tree on the plateaus; but, as the tablets about the masks state, they see things beyond this realm, and with this knowledge they try to guide those that dont see it - it's like this for their followers, and hunter is also guided by them

godslayer is no different, he took a path lead by his beliefs, beliefs those that reject the idea of having life from chaos, which lead to his obsession of fixing what he deemed broken; from his perspective, he suffered in the hands of the tall ones and their followers which made him believe that anything of their nature was treacherous - he failed tho, failed to understand that a single path would lead to perpetual suffering (as some memories states, "i was not meant to bloodshed"), which was a fate his followers had bittersweetly tasted

in this scenario, hunter is special: she's an outsider, she doesn't comprehend her mission just yet neither knows those lands; she's facing chaos in its pure form and in order to make sense of her new reality, she takes the eagle mothers advices; upon taking on the trials of the island she witnessed chaos in its many forms, and she assimilates it, not good nor bad but a 'in between' - that's why (from my understanding), on purifying the godslayer final form, her eyes glow in bright blue not because she's some 'declared since birth' allied of the tall ones, but because it signals purpose, she understands the chaos, the one that causes life and death, and she embraces that view from within and translates it into strength to fight back and endure

there's not a single creature in this world that doesnt feel lost and be it whatever creature - human, tall ones, demons, animals, everyone is trying to make sense of this confusing world we live in, be it through any path at hand - and religion is just one of the possible ways in the sea of infinite available paths

as hunter explores deeper into the island, she bonds with the tall ones but make no mistake, she's not really a faithful follower - and she doesn't need to be - cause she has the understanding that the tall ones represent this organized chaos necessary to the flux of life, she respects them

pathfinder, unfairly treated, will look at the tall ones and see just lies, refusing their guidance, he will strive for a new path not taken before and ignore any previous knowledge about the world, he will build up a single vision for a brand new reality absent of chaos because that's how he was conditioned to see and absorb the world around him

(and that makes godslayer feels even more tragic, having the possibility of seeing the world through new lenses by wearing the mask of the ancients yet he persisted in his views and ignored the reality as it was - chaos neatly woven - perhaps out of hate and sorrow for all past injustices; even in the end he resisted to accept the world that nurtured him, as he too was made out of chaos - and for that he's forgiven)

you and i can both worship sauro, but in the end we will look at the surrounding chaos from different perspectives and i will decide that pottery is the way to go while you see the sword as the suitable option; as the truth stands, this is a pathless land - there's no defined answer

the pathless, beyond the 'pathless land' lesson, has something more to tell - that perhaps the path is already established and to you is given the choice of going forward that path or re-evaluate and change directions;

if i had to define the pathless i'd say it's about what touches the eye and where you rest you hand (which can also explains why the eye is an ever present image throughout the game); through perception you grasp the world around you, you create your views and based on it you take action - will you release the bow string? will you strike with your sword? will you cultivate the land? or will you shed blood? what have you seen that made you act like this?

what a chaotic world

anyway, i have too much to say and no one to listen so my only options are write Big Blog Post or bang my head against the wall if you read until here (complete madness) thanks for enduring until the end

(cant wait to see the pathless references in sword of the sea i have faith)

[lover-of-mine]

Just saw a BT blog saying that the deleted scene is Tim reinforcing Eddie as straight, that Tim last week saying that "You shouldn't be writing to appease people just because they're mean to you" was him mentioning us and that he's scrapping Buddie because we're so mean...at the same time they're harassing half of the cast and making a public 4 hour rant about how much they hate Oliver now 😂😂😂 What are these people smoking?

I love the way that everyone decided that scene was Eddie saying he's straight. Even I, an avid Eddie in love with Shannon defender, can look at the scene and be like "huh?" The dude didn't talk about wanting to kiss her or touch her, he liked watching her and listening to her talk. And that's what he does with Buck too, like, they added more parallels between Buck and Shannon, added context to Kim in relation to Buck on top of the way she has Buck's color palette and the birthmark in her hair and the way that Eddie was lying to Buck about her. And well, if he's punishing anyone (which is stupid since punishing us would be punishing the show because we remember the last time they tried to separate Buck and Eddie and we are not the ones bringing every person involved in the show into this), he's punishing both sides and, well, at least we know we are keeping our guy no matter what ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

[lovelopmon]

So, your DF sequel has those four kids in Episodes 40 & 41. Which Spirits will each one get and why? Where are Takuya, Koji, Zoe, JP, and Koichi in all this?

First ask, woo!

When deciding what spirits went to what kids, my main deciding factor was color palettes.

Lmao, it sounds silly but look:

Each of our protagonists' color palettes reflect the spirit they're assigned to (though a first time viewer who looks at this picture could guess that Koji, J.P, or maybe Zoe were associated with water due to the blues in their ensemble).

With that in mind, Chiaki gets the Spirit of Water and Teppei gets the Spirit of Earth.

And if we're going to follow that rule strictly, then that would mean Katsuharu gets the Spirit of Wood and Teruo gets the Spirit Steel, since Katsuharu's color palette has more hues of brown than Teruo's...

HOWEVER

Given that we know the most about Katsuharu, and the fact that he's a leader, a bit self-aggrandizing, and a former bully, his personality parallels Mercurymon, who manipulated others into getting his desires fulfilled, acted on his own accord, is the most notorious, and although he wasn't the leader of the Corrupted Spirits, he was arguably the most capable.

So instead, I wanted to give Katsuharu the Spirit of Steel and Teruo the Spirit of Wood.

But at the same time, it'd be interesting to give the Spirit of Steel to Teruo, a character we know little about. It's tempting, if I change it last minute, no I didn't lmao.

The premise might need a bit of reworking, but initially, the six Digidestined had received messages on their cell phones telling them to meet at the Shibuya Station four years later after the events of Frontier. However, for reasons, Tommy doesn't make it and the others wait for as long as they can before heading off.

A year passes and Takuya, Koji, Zoe, J.P, and Koichi are still missing. Tommy not only is worried, but suspicious. Time didn't pass during the first visit to the Digital World, so why now? What's even more strange is that other unidentifiable creatures seem to be teleporting in and out all over the world, as if they're fading out like a hologram. So when he receives a second message calling him to the Shibuya Station, he doesn't hesitate.

Long story short, he and the gang find out later that their spirits have been corrupted by the new big bad. Sort of like the popular Swap AUs I see floating around, however, this time they've got Tommy leading the charge (and a double agent who might be used to a certain darkness and might have had an aversion to it).

[noildoof]

Hello Ive seen that ur into a lot of like "obscure" media and was wondering what anime, cartoons and comics u were into or what u'd recommend , Im very curious , love your art!!!!!

There's a lot, tbh I'm not even sure where to start, but let's see...

Angel's Egg isn't really that obscure anymore, but at the time I first watched it and got obsessed, it was. I still consider it to be a masterpiece and my favorite movie of all time, tied with Alien.

If you're over 18, I highly recommend Malice@Doll. It's a surreal, disturbing 3D anime that moves a lot like stop-motion. It has a lot of parallels to the Biblical story of the garden of Eden, with humans in the role of an absent God and machines doing the same things they've always done because... well, that's what they were made to do. They don't have free will. There's a lot of really interesting stuff to think about - the tradeoff of innocence for knowledge, trading an immortal mechanical body that can't feel for a flesh one that can feel pleasure but also pain. Again though, this anime gets pretty disturbing, and although it's not meant to be arousing it does have sexual content. It's not appropriate for minors.

My favorite bad anime is The Humanoid. It's very campy and one of the most 80's anime I've ever seen. The characters (mostly Alan) talk a lot about coffee, for some reason. Enough that you can make a drinking game out of it. The soundtrack is actually really good, I have it on vinyl.

Go watch Chargeman Ken right now. I mean it. Each episode is only 5 minutes long, so you have no excuse not to. You'll understand why I'm recommending this anime once you've watched it, it simply has to be seen to be believed. My favorite episodes are Dynamite in the Brain and When the Cuckoo Clock Strikes 3.

A lot of people seem to hate Bounty Dog, but I will unironically defend this anime to the death. I think it's good, or at least perfectly serviceable for a 90's direct-to-video anime. It has a weird piss-yellow color palette though, and it's not a filter - those are the actual colors used in the paint, I would know having cels from this.

This is very particular to my tastes (people who know me will understand why), but I binged Brigadoon not long ago and loved it. It's a very strange series in a way that's kind of hard to describe. Fundamentally, it's about a relationship between a girl and a mecha that develops into a romance, so I guess it's shoujo. But it's also an action series. And a comedy series. And a drama series. And a horror series at times. It defies genre categorization in a way I don't see very often. The closest thing I can compare it to is The Ancient Magus's Bride, as the relationship between Marin and Melan is pretty similar. With Dr. Seuss and Evangelion thrown into a blender.

Cool World is... not a good movie. At all. But damn, are those backgrounds nice. It has a particular "look" to it that is awesome as fuck, I just wish the actual story wasn't so stupid. I implore the people who say dumb shit like "Hazbin Hotel is just "SEX! LAUGH NOW!"" to watch Cool World, because that is literally what Cool World is. It's pretty to look at, but the entire plot and all the jokes are just "Don't have sex with cartoon characters---- OHHHH he just had sex with the cartoon character." But if you can get past the painfully unfunny "comedy" and stupid nonsensical plot, it's very nice to look at and has a great soundtrack.

... that got really long-winded, damn. Here's some other recommendations:

Anime:

Weathering Continent (also an untranslated light novel series) Laughing Target (also a manga) Mermaid Forest (also a manga) Mermaid's Scar (also a manga) Curse of Kazuo Umezu (also a manga, untranslated) California Crisis Twinkle Nora Rock Me (so bad it's amazing, also an untranslated manga) Nayuta (also a manga, untranslated) King of Thorn (also a manga) Umi no Yami, Tsuki no Kage (also a manga, but not fully translated) Dragon's Heaven (also a manga, untranslated) Lily-C.A.T. Magnetic Rose (not really that obscure but it's a masterpiece) They Were 11 (also a manga, dunno if it was translated) E.Y.E.S. of Mars Iblard Time Venus Wars (also a manga)

Manga:

Eko Eko Azarak (haven't seen much of it but I like what I've seen) Any of Rumiko Takahashi's short stories Black Jack (definitely not obscure if you're an oldtaku like me) Anything by Kazuo Umezu, especially Drifting Classroom

Movies:

The Banshee Chapter Space Mutiny (watch the Mystery Science Theater version) Yellow Brick Road

Misc:

Mary (Scissor Sisters music video) Daicon IV (anime Electric Light Orchestra music video) Apollo 20 hoax videos Cybersix (Argentine animated series) Skydoll (Italian comic, adult-only) Yoko Tsuno (Belgian comic)

[sailorsplatoon]

It's Saturday! You know what that means? New dedfour chapter! I hope you all enjoy chapter two!

First (prologue)

Previous

Next

Read it on ao3!

(fanfic under cut)

The world was blindingly bright, like someone had just turned fluorescent lights on in a room that had been dark for a very long time. And there was a loud ringing; there had been no noise at all and then suddenly an explosion of sound. Parallel Canon didn’t know where they were, they didn’t know why they were awake. As long as the mask stayed on, they shouldn’t have even needed to think. So the mask must have been off. Why was the mask off? They never took it off, so someone else must have. They knew that they were supposed to fight the person who did. But they were just so tired and everything was so bright that they could barely see and their ears hurt so bad. 

As their eyes slowly adjusted, they began to notice the silhouettes of three octolings and a drone. They didn’t hear much of their conversation—the ringing in their ears would not stop— but they did pick up on the fact that they were supposed to climb to the top of the Spire of Order with a palette. They had their orders, now all they needed to do was carry them out. Normally following orders didn’t take this much thought. Normally it didn’t take any thought at all. Normally they didn’t even need to be conscious. But they would do what they were told nevertheless.

They made it to 1F and set the color chip into their palette. Something changed. A memory forced its way into the blissful emptiness of their mind. 

“Hmm… the Octarians…” a woman dressed in a dark grey kimono with her tentacles up in a bow turned to face them. The memory faded before she said any more. 

That was strange. They weren’t supposed to have any memories at all. It was probably just a glitch. It would be better to ignore it. They had orders to attend to. They went out onto the floor and completed it in just a few seconds.

Moments later, Parallel Canon had finished 5F. For every color chip they set into their palette, they got more memories back. It was torture. 

“Why,” they groaned. They wanted to say “Why are you tormenting me?” But they could only make one word come out. That was not good. They weren’t supposed to talk at all. They’d broken so many rules. They’d destroyed the order. What would happen to them now?

It only got worse from there. After 10F, they started crying. They didn’t even know why, but they couldn’t stop. Everything hurt so much. At 15F they hunched down on the floor unable to control their heart rate or their breathing. They felt like they were having a heart attack and drowning at the same time. They were only halfway to the top, and they already felt so much pain. On the ride to 16F they were now fully aware of the other people in the elevator, though they didn’t know who any of them were.

“Am I real?” They didn’t mean to speak. They weren’t trying to. But their thoughts had become so loud that they ended up saying them.

“Yes, you never weren’t. Everything here might be digital but your mind is very real, and you have a physical body too,” said an octoling who was holding a laptop.

“What if I’m like this forever?” They’d started asking questions now, why not keep going? They had so many, and this one felt so important. They were tired of hurting. Everything felt wrong and they wanted it to stop.

“You won’t be, we’re gonna take you to the top of the Spire and you’ll be all better!” Now it was the drone who spoke. Would the pain really go away once they reached the top?

“How do I know who’s telling the truth?” The words of Order screamed in their mind, but someone else’s words screamed back, fighting against it. They didn’t know which was right anymore. They were afraid.

“We would never lie to you. We care about you,” another octoling stepped in, he seemed like he might start crying.

“It broke me.” They weren’t sure what they meant when they said that, but they knew they were broken.

“Me too.” The octoling who said this was green and did not look at anyone in the elevator as they spoke. 

****

Parallel Canon was at 19F now, they set their chip into the palette and prepared for another memory to appear in their head. They weren’t sure how much they hated it anymore. It was almost nice having some of their memories back, having some of themself back. They knew they weren’t supposed to, but was breaking the rules really that bad? What were they saying, of course it was. Something was really wrong with them. 

“Ahem… I need you to go get the Great Zapfish back from those slimy Octarians. What do you say? Are you in?” It was another memory of the woman in the kimono. Parallel Canon had learned by now that her name was Marie. “Soooooooo…” she continued. “I’ll take your awkward silence as a yes. Welcome aboard! You are now Agent 4 of the New Squidbeak Splatoon!” 

That was it. Their name. They weren’t Parallel Canon. They were Agent 4.

“Agent 4? Yo, Agent 4? ‘Rina you sure they can hear me?”

“They should be able to. I don’t know, they’re supposed to be a lot better by now.”

“Why do you know my name… where am I?” Agent 4 looked around the elevator, disoriented. They felt like this was their first time being fully awake in their entire life. 

“You’re in the elevator in the Spire of Order. In the Memverse. We know your name because we’re your friends. Are you okay?” The octoling with the laptop sounded concerned.

“I think so…? I don’t know. What happened to me?”

“You—” Laptop Octoling interrupted herself with a long sigh— “You were greyscaled by Order. You lost your memories, personality, all of what makes you who you are. I’m so sorry, this is all my fault. I created the Memverse, if I had put more time into making sure this didn’t happen maybe you wouldn’t have to go through all this. I am so so sorry, Agent 4.”

“Oh wow umm okay.” Four’s voice shook. They didn’t know what emotion they were feeling, but it certainly was’t a positive one. “I’m going to be honest I can’t really remember who any of you are right now. I’m sorry if I’m supposed to. I’m struggling remembering a lot.”

“Yeah, that’s totally okay. Normal for your situation, even. I’m Marina. This is Pearl, Eight, and Acht. We’re all going to help you ascend the Spire. The higher you go and the more color chips you collect, the more your memories will return.”

“Okay, that makes sense. So I should probably go complete this floor then.”

“Yeah, good idea. Good luck!”

With that, Agent 4 walked out onto the floor, now determined to climb as high up the spire as they could. They were already on floor 19 out of 30, so they were more than halfway there. This one gave them more difficulty than the others had, though that made sense since it was labeled rigorous. But something changed this time, they fought so much different than they normally did. Their movements were random and haphazard, almost chaotic. But that wasn’t possible. They were probably just over exaggerating.

They cleared the floor and moved on to the boss at 20F, it was Asynchronous Rondo. They knew the trick to beating this one. They’d never fought it themself, but they’d seen one of the octolings— Marina had introduced him as Eight— fighting it several times. They were nearly splatted, but they managed to pull through. Again, their fighting felt strange, wrong somehow. Marina said that they had been greyscaled and were still recovering, so it was probably because of that. But they still weren’t sure if they wanted to be fully cured or if they would rather to go back to the way they were. 

21F offered them a vending machine corner. They took the opportunity for a break the instant they could. They sat there next to the machine, their head in their knees. They didn’t know how long they were there, just sitting with their thoughts. 

All Parallel Canon wanted was to go back down the tower. To give up. To let the emptiness take them once more.

But all Agent 4 wanted was to keep going. Keep climbing. To remember who they were.

They thought they knew already, but maybe not. 

Then they felt something cold around their shoulders, like someone’s arm but not warm enough to be a living person’s. They looked over to whoever had sat down next to them. It was Acht, the green octoling who operated the elevator. Them being there was somehow comforting. It felt good to have someone with them. 

“I’m… not the greatest at this. Emotions aren’t really my thing. Yet, I guess. I don’t know.” They seemed anxious, like they weren’t used to talking about how they feel. Though, Four wasn’t sure if they were used to it either. “What I’m trying to say is, I’ve been where you are. It’s scary, I know. But if you let fear win then you’re not going to get any better. And sometimes it’s hard to know if you even want to get better. And it takes a long time, I’m still recovering, but you’ve made so much progress so fast and you can’t give up now. Please don’t give up now.”

Four wasn’t sure what to say. Did Acht really know what they were going through? If they had managed to survive it, maybe Four could too.

“I won’t. I promise. Thank you.”