#Is this to say all Christians are bad people?

[le-fruit-de-la-passion]

I keep seeing people worship Christian Linke for some shit he’s said and ignore the fact this man is antisemetic and heavily insensitive towards non white and straight characters HE IS NOT YOUR ALLY

I genuinely think people just don't know how much of a shitty person he is. Seriously, that dude was quite possibly the worst person to put in charge of a project like Arcane. Here are just some of things he's said that you should know of:

• Linke said the death of every character in Arcane was a direct result of their own actions : "Every single big beat in the end with our characters, whether it’s a death or not, is a consequence of their choices."

So, I'd like you to explain to me how Vander's death was his fault, because I don't quite remember him agreeing to becoming Warwick. Also, maybe having the three characters portrayed as suicidal in the show (Jinx, Viktor, and Jayce) all die, and go on to say it was just the consequences of their own actions... isn't a good message?

• Linke has declared Viktor as asexual on his own, with the sole purpose of discouraging JayVik shippers : "There is a love. I don't think it's romantic [...]. To me, Viktor was always asexual".

Now, the issue here isn't having an asexual character, its having chosen VIKTOR, one of the most important characters for disabled rep in animation and popular media, to be asexual. I've went on and on about how infantalizing that is to disabled/chronically ill fans, because we NEVER get to be perceived as sexual beings. Having a body that's visibly different from the norm, or limits on certain abilities, turns off people, makes them uncomfortable. That's why you just never see a sexually active or a sex positive disabled character on screen. That's why, in all his "sexy" skins in LoL, Viktor is given a six pack, has no visible marks of illness on his body (scars, fatigue lines), and has no medical brace or crutch.

Viktor was always intended to have a sexual swagger in season 1 ("this isnt my bedroom") and that was EXTREMELY important to a lot of us in the community. I've seen a very similar response from the asexual community as well, who feel like Linke is using their identity and experience as a shield from fan interractions he dislikes, and without actual care for what it means to the characters. Don't fall for rep that isn't actually meant to represent you.

• Linke has directly and openly compared the Zaun and Piltover conflict to the left and right in the United States, and put both sides on equal moral footing : "If you’re asking me whether we were inspired by two sides of one nation who are incapable of even talking to each other anymore at a certain point, yes."

So, I don't think I need to explain how bad this is. Remember that Piltover is the city of wealth and enforcers, and that they've gazed the district of Zaun, dumped chemicals around their water suplies, directed brutal and deadly repressions of civil uprising and protest, offered no financial support to the struggling communities of addicts, disabled people, and orphans, refused Zaun any implication or decisional seat in the city political life, AND THAT'S JUST ON TOP OF MY HEAD. Now, think about what that means with the USA politics comparison, and the idea that they should "just listen to each other". Yeah.

Now, if you know me a bit, you know I live in Canada, so maybe you think this doesn't affect me personally, or that it doesn't affect you because you live outside the US. To that, I want to tell you about a neighbour of mine, who lives on the street parallel to my house, and this truck he owns. The truck has a whole lot of fun stickers and flags on it: the quotes "TRUDEAU ARREST TRUMP" and "CANADIANS FOR TRUMP", the israeli flag, the confederate flag, christian crosses, the blue lives matter flag, and an anti BLM sticker. Now, I'm sure theres more cool things, I've just never gotten close enough to look at the smaller stickers and ornaments because, as a very openly bi arabic woman, I'm scared to death of that man. But maybe I should just hear him out, right?

Tldr, do not think that the state of american politics doesn’t affect the rest of the world.

• Linke has called the people of Zaun and specifically Silco "Svengali", which is an antisemitic name that implies Jewish people are crooks / dirty / thiefs / sexual degenerates. There's a great post on Tumblr that goes more into detail about this (https://www.tumblr.com/endearing-dalliance/769693230696677376/another-blow-against-arcane-anti-semitism?source=share). I'd just like to insist on how bad calling someone "svengali" is. His character was used in many pieces of propaganda in Nazi Germany to picture the "Evil Jew", and to dehumanize Jewish communities by portraying them as ressembling Satan (forked beard, can do unholy hypnosis, targets women...). Linke could have chosen ANY other term to talk about Zaunites, the oppressed community getting gazed by a police state, but he chose that one. That was not an unconscious decision.

I'm a firm believer that it is possible to separate art from artist/studio/company, and to appreciate something while still being aware the person behind it is not a great individual. However, if you're defending all the decisions made in season 2, these are things you HAVE to be aware of.

[genderqueerdykes]

Being a religious queer (particularly Christian) is so annoyingly confusing. Like, all your life you've been told what 'those guys' are doing is wrong and learn to not despise their practices.

Then all of a sudden something just happens to make you question your identity.

You're not sure what you're doing is wrong or sinful, because some people's Bibles have it translated that homosexuality is a sin and some don't. Personally, I have multiple Bibles and they different things not added or added about it.

Sometimes I wonder if LGBTQ+ was a sin, why did I cry when I watched a video about a parent making a poem for their trans son, saying that they'll always be proud of them? Why did I smile when in a game or series two female characters get together? Why does it feel so affirming listening to 'The Village' by The Wrabel?

I don't get it. Like if it's a sin and if I'm just faking it (that's how I feel sometimes ngl) why do I react so much to it, and why do I feel even happier and have more hope if it really a bad thing? Heck, I feel even more in contact with him when I see these things.

Even though I'm not out yet, it feels like I'm uncovering a part of me that I've been trying to suppress for years.

i'm not a religious person in the slightest, but i do know a thing or two about catholic guilt, as someone whose grandmother immigrated from italy. i personally do not believe that god would create so many queer people if it were a sin. i do not think god toys with people like that. i do not think that god creates people with the goal of making them hate themselves. i do not view god as that cruel of an entity. i think god is far kinder and loving than that.

i don't think god would have put you on this earth like that if you weren't meant to embrace it. it's not hurting anyone- how could it be a sin? that's my 2 cents anyways

[elvashayam]

like it's difficult, as a man-shaped enby.

on the one hand, i thought i was a woman until i was ~26 and thus understand why women fear men. even tho i managed (somehow) to avoid physical sexual harassment i wasn't unaffected! i was 12/13 the first time i remember being cat-called, walking home along a main road with another girl; a carful of young guys drove past, one of them leaning out a window to stare back at us. i remember my friend saying something like "i take it as a compliment" but i personally felt extraordinarily uncomfortable.

otherwise i was pretty lucky and avoided anything worse, which i put down to

my total inability to comprehend subtext (i'm so autistic yall lol),

my extreme romance-repulsion,

feeling far more comfortable with friends younger than me (i'm the oldest of 5),

being a MASSIVE tomboy, and

being socially isolated cuz i was homeschooled.

on the other hand, tho. all of my worst abusers have been women or woman-shaped.

mum, for one. then all the girls in my teens who mocked and ostracised me for being different (weird) and for always being friends with boys, and then the leader of my uni christian group who i adored and spilled my heart out to only to learn that she found me annoying, and then the young enby i helped out of a terrible situation only to have them turn on me (i went to hospital cuz of them).

so the "men bad women good" rhetoric is indescribably painful; it's why so many people downplayed my mum's abused when i was first escaping her, why i felt like a traitor to womanhood for transitioning.

Not a hot take exactly but the whole “I’m bi but I haaaaaaaate dating men” thing just fucking sucks. Like it just sucks. I have a coworker who has a huge sticker that nearly covers the rear window of her car that says “SORRY BOYS I ONLY GET WITH GIRLS” or some shit and she literally has a boyfriend. Like fucking what. Why does your boyfriend put up with that at all

[gay-jewish-bucky]

can we stop calling far-right extremists who pretend to care about israel and jews in hopes of bringing about the second coming by forcing all jews into israel 'christian zionists'?

it goes without saying these beliefs are in no way compatible with zionism, so why humour it and call it zionism?

these beliefs are generally held by people who are incredibly disconnected from basic christian teachings, so they're not exactly christian either

like many other other bad faith applications of zionism, it equates zionism with racist extremism and lets people hide behind 'oh i mean christian zionism'

further still, it's ubiquitousness erases the valuble existence of many christians who actually support jewish self-determination without this motive

'end times accelerationists' is right there and is far more reflective of the actual beliefs at play

[dollebee]

ᶻ 𝗓 𐰁 a gentle reminder that at its core harry potter is a christian children’s book series :

i recently began to reread the chronicles of narnia and i was completely taken off guard by the amount of negativity aimed at aslan and in a way it reminded me so deeply of this fandom’s treatment of albus :(

˚₊‧꒰ა 𓂋 ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

there are some parallels between the two series and characters that aren’t subtle in the slightest the most obvious being the two characters ‘deaths’ :

aslan is accompanied to his death place by susan and lucy, he allows them only to travel with him so far before walking the rest of the journey by himself, before his death he is mocked and degraded while the girls sob and wish to come to his rescue but remain frozen by fear hidden behind trees and shrubs :

᧔•᧓ "oh, children, children. here you must stop. and whatever happens, do not let yourselves be seen. farewell."

and both the girls cried bitterly (though they hardly knew why) and clung to the lion and kissed his mane and his nose and his paws and his great, sad eyes. then he turned from them and walked out on to the top of the hill. and lucy and susan, crouching in the bushes, looked after him, and this is what they saw.

᧔•᧓"why, he's only a great cat after all!" cried one.

"is that what we were afraid of?" said another.

and they surged round aslan, jeering at him, saying things like

"puss, puss! poor pussy," and "how many mice have you caught today, cat?" and "would you like a saucer of milk, pussums?"

"oh, how can they?" said lucy, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"the brutes, the brutes!" for now that the first shock was over the shorn face of aslan looked to her braver, and more beautiful, and more patient than ever.

this is very similar to albus’ death in harry potter where harry walks with albus to the astronomy tower only to be told to hide under his invisibility cloak and not to walk the rest of the journey with albus, albus is then mocked and degraded by the death eaters while harry wishes to save him unable to due to being immobilised :

᧔•᧓ "go and wake severus," said dumbledore faintly but clearly. "tell him what has happened and bring him to me. do nothing else, speak to nobody else, and do not remove your cloak. i shall wait here.”

“but—"

"you swore to obey me, harry — go!"

᧔•᧓ "pleased to see me, dumbledore?"

"no, i cannot say that i am."

greyback grinned, showing pointed teeth. blood trickled down his chin

and he licked his lips slowly, obscenely.

"but you know how much i like kids, dumbledore."

ultimately both aslan and albus fall under the category of characters inspired by jesus, while aslan’s is more explicit, albus is deemed a godlike man in the wizarding world though he is mortal and therefore not omnipotent…

the biggest complaint against aslan is that he isn’t always there when he’s needed, he allowed the residents of narnia to live in terror for an extensive amount of time, while he eventually shows his face and ends the season of winter his original absence is often held against him by the fandom, albus is treated in a similar manner after all why does it matter what good he does when he also allowed bad things to happen ?

this is genuinely most people’s problem with religion, the idea that god allows bad things to happen, that god allows innocent people to suffer… while we may never know why it’s important to reflect on free will, it is believed that god provided us with the ability to make our own choices and that those choices are ours and ours alone, the idea of heaven is also important, all suffering on earth is for a mere moment though long in may seem when we are living it but heaven and peace are eternal.

˚₊‧꒰ა 𓂋 ໒꒱ ‧₊˚

aslan allows his people to exercise their free will, he allows people to shut him out, he allows people to be cruel and callous but when he is needed, when he is truly needed he helps the individuals who love him and live by his rules of kindness and righteousness.

this idea is reflected in harry potter by albus’ line :

᧔•᧓ “help will always be given at hogwarts to those who ask for it”

my point is that harry potter is a christian book series and its characters reflect this, tom riddle wasn’t a victim of albus he reflects someone who shuts god out, albus reaches out to him at the orphanage by offering to take him to diagon alley but tom refuses this. he eats fruit from the garden of eden (he creates horcruxes) like queen jadis does in narnia, they both are rewarded with eternal life but whatever remains of their souls are destroyed, heaven may never be reached.

the route to heaven is through forgiveness, it is through remorse… gellert grindelwald is absolved of his sins because he has known love, he feels love and he feels shame, he rights his wrongs and so he is forgiven… tom is unable to do this and so he dies a sinner, he has shunned god, he is unable to feel sorry for what he has done.

death was a mercy for a soul who had forced himself to live a life of nothing but greed and cruelty

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

y'all need to get a grip. you blab all day about how much you hate bigots and hateful people and how evil it is to dehumanize anyone and then you turn around and say "kys" and "i think [x] should all just kill themselves" and other disgusting, violent and childish trash

so many people on here are just full of hatred and vitriol and turn into frenzied sharks anytime the target 'deserves it' and they think they can get away with it and not be called bad people. then they whine about how sad it is that we can't all just get along and if only all the evil people in the world would stop doing evil things wouldn't that be nicer

you're just as vicious, hypocritical and fanatically puritanical as the caricature you have made in your minds of the people you think you have nothing in common with. if you've ever told someone, ANYONE to kill themselves you're not advocates of justice, you're not artisans of peace, and you certainly don't have any moral high ground that would allow you to pass judgment on others

[skrunksthatwunk]

actually i'm still thinking about the moral orel finale.

he has a cross on his wall. do you know how much i think about that bc it's a lot.

a lot of stories ((auto)biographical or fictional) centering escape from abusive/fundamentalist christianity result in the lead characters leaving behind christianity entirely. and that makes complete sense! people often grow disillusioned with the associated systems and beliefs, and when it was something used to hurt them or something so inseparable from their abuse that they can't engage with it without hurting, it makes total sense that they would disengage entirely. and sometimes they just figure out that they don't really believe in god/a christian god/etc. a healthy deconstruction process can sometimes look like becoming an atheist or converting to another religion. it's all case by case. (note: i'm sure this happens with other religions as well, i'm just most familiar with christian versions of this phenomenon).

but in orel's case, his faith was one of the few things that actually brought him comfort and joy. he loved god, y'know? genuinely. and he felt loved by god and supported by him when he had no one else. and the abuses he faced were in how the people in his life twisted religion to control others, to run away from themselves, to shield them from others, etc. and often, orel's conflicts with how they acted out christianity come as a direct result of his purer understanding of god/jesus/whatever ("aren't we supposed to be like this/do that?" met with an adult's excuse for their own behavior or the fastest way they could think of to get orel to leave them alone (i.e. orel saying i thought we weren't supposed to lie? and clay saying uhhh it doesn't count if you're lying to yourself)). the little guy played catch with god instead of his dad, like.. his faith was real, and his love was real. and i think it's a good choice to have orel maintain something that was so important to him and such a grounding, comforting force in the midst of. All That Stuff Moralton Was Up To/Put Him Through. being all about jesus was not the problem, in orel's case.

and i know i'm mostly assuming that orel ended up in a healthier, less rigid version of christianity, but i feel like that's something that was hinted at a lot through the series, that that's the direction he'd go. when he meditates during the prayer bee and accepts stephanie's different way to communicate, incorporating elements of buddhism into his faith; when he has his I AM A CHURCH breakdown (removing himself from the institution and realizing he can be like,, the center of his own faith? taking a more individualistic approach? but Truly Going Through It at the same time), his acceptance (...sometimes) of those who are different from him and condemned by the adults of moralton (stephanie (lesbian icon stephanie my beloved), christina (who's like. just a slightly different form of fundie protestant from him), dr chosenberg (the jewish doctor from otherton in holy visage)). his track record on this isn't perfect, but it gets better as orel starts maturing and picking up on what an absolute shitfest moralton is. it's all ways of questioning the things he's been taught, and it makes sense that it would lead to a bigger questioning as he puts those pieces together more. anyway i think part of his growth is weeding out all the lost commandments of his upbringing and focusing on what faith means to him, and what he thinks it should mean. how he wants to see the world and how he wants to treat people and what he thinks is okay and right, and looking to religion for guidance in that, not as like. a way to justify hurting those he's afraid or resentful of, as his role models did.

he's coming to his own conclusions rather than obediently, unquestioningly taking in what others say. but he's still listening to pick out the parts that make sense to him. (edit/note: and it's his compassion and his faith that are the primary motivations for this questioning and revisal process, both of individual cases and, eventually, the final boss that is christianity.) it makes perfect sense as the conclusion to his character arc and it fits the overall approach of the show far better. it's good is what i'm saying.

and i think it's important to show that kind of ending, because that's a pretty common and equally valid result of deconstruction. and i think it cements the show's treatment of christianity as something that's often (and maybe even easily) exploited, but not something inherently bad. something that can be very positive, even. guys he even has a dog he's not afraid of loving anymore. he's not afraid of loving anyone more than jesus and i don't think it's because he loves this dog less than bartholomew (though he was probably far more desperate for healthy affection and companionship when he was younger). i think it's because he figures god would want him to love that dog. he's choosing to believe that god would want him to love and to be happy and to be kind. he's not afraid of loving in the wrong way do you know how cool that is he's taking back control he's taking back something he loves from his abusers im so normal

[fortes-fortuna-iogurtum]

I've been reading Exodus lately and I've just gotten to the portions where God gives the first commands to the people via Moses (twice), and then goes on to give detailed instructions about the tabernacle and how it should be built, and I'm just... we think art is unimportant?? we think things only mean as much as their functionality?? we so easily fall into the trap of believing that beauty means nothing, that it's cheap and only worth whatever mindless distraction it brings, that it's barely more than a cheap sensual thrill, that buildings should just be practical and plain and cheap, that everything should be functional but ultimately disposable, that paintings and dresses and mugs and curtains and carpets are just pretty but have no real value, that beauty is fleeting and vain and therefore shouldn't be thought about too much, if even looked for at all... we fall into these traps so easily, and we forget that there are chapters upon chapters of painstakingly detailed plans to build one portable worship tent, and those plans have been handed down through thousands of years of human history, because beauty and art and skill in craft is important

[timeisacephalopod]

The type of Christian who asks atheists how they don't like, murder people on the reg are so funny to me because they seem to think their religion makes them the Peak of Morality when statements like "if you don't believe in God how comes you don't do X thing" all but outright state they have no idea why shit like murder and rape is bad except that God doesn't like it lmao. Like way to admit you have no intrinsic sense of morality and need to be afraid of a higher power to be a decent person, but I promise if you're not a piece of shit it's actually very natural not to want to do heinous evil shit all the time potential punishment from a higher power or not 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️

[prettyvintageafternoon]

I would also like to add that the concept of "innocent until proven guilty" is not a religious concept, but a secular one which does not align with Christian theology at all. The Christian religion itself literally revolves around the idea of original sin - Eve biting the apple Satan give her while in snake form and then spreading that sin to Adam by convincing him to do the same.

This story is significant because when God punished Adam & Eve by casting them out of the garden of Eden, the rest of humanity following behind them is born into sin - which they have to make up for by worshipping God.

This is literally Christianity 101.

Also, the presumption of innocence does not necessarily protect people - especially women, within religious system. Women were literally hanged for "witchcraft" because they were presumed guilty of it - not because witchcraft is real per se, but because hysteria ran rampant centuries ago and it was easy to get your neighbor convicted and killed if you wanted them gone for any reason (especially in an environment dictated by certain religious rules). And that's just one example.

It's also the fact that many Christian communities did not even consider abortion to be an issue until right-wingers galvanized them to be concerned about it after racial segregation in schools was dismantled.

It has also been the view of many Christians to segregate and dehumanize other people based on their race - a phenomenon reaching all the way back to the days of transatlantic slavery, which was legal for a long time even after the American Civil War. White christians literally felt that God gave them the right to own anyone who wasn't white. Also, this concept is something leaks into other religious belief systems, like Mormonism - which holds that dark skin is a sign of the mark of Cain or a sign of religious disobedience or negativity.

If all human life has 'equal value' and all babies are born "innocent," none of this history would have taken place at the hands of Christians.

People were literally birthed into suffering because Christians used their Bible as justification to do whatever they want to various groups of people. And the legal system at the time justified that (and still does, if you commit a crime).

So no, our legal system is not "based on Christian values." And that's a good thing.

Also, saying that humans are just "bags of meat without any rights" without discussing religion is whose fault exactly? Perhaps the people who want the entire legal system that everyone lives under to work based on their pick-and-choose interpretation of their religion? It is conservative Christians who want to tie the concept of having rights as a person to their interpretation of God, leaving everyone else as a pariah if they do not conform to that interpretation.

Also, if "law itself is abstract" then why is everyone required to obey your interpretation of it?

Also - let's say that souls exist, theoretically. How would the soul of an 'Unborn child' be harmed if a woman got an abortion?

It's not a physical thing so it wouldn't be "murdered" if a woman got an abortion procedure of any kind.

And - according to Christian belief, the soul of the fetus would be sent to heaven because it's "innocent" - which Christians believe is a good thing.

So, if unborn babies' souls exist, then isn't abortion ultimately positive?

[demonic-ninja-cat]

call me crazy or a bigot, but I think that the phrases/ideas "islamophobia is bad, and it's wrong and fucked-up for people to attack muslims, and pull off their headscarves, and other forms of bigotry against them, and plenty of muslims are perfectly nice normal people who aren't bigots" AND "islam can be toxic for some people, it can and has been used to hurt some people, it can have the same sorts of toxic bigotry found in christianity, and ex-muslims are valid to leave the religion and critique it" can and should co-exist!

[your-fave-is-christian]

I have a dumb question, and I really hope this doesn’t sound rude. What’s the logic for some of the characters? Like, if they’re the “hero” in their storyline, but they don’t seem to follow Biblical doctrine… does that even count? I’m sorry if that sounds snotty; I don’t mean to have an attitude.

No, you're fine!!

Short answer: I don't know, I'm not the one sending in the characters 😂

But really I would say there's not necessarily a consistent logic that they have to fit. That's part of the beauty of Christianity, isn't it? Anyone who repents and believes is welcome; it's not limited to any certain type of people. For the characters people are sending in here, I think there are a few categories. There are some that fit what you said, who already hold Christian morals and who one could easily headcanon as being Christian within the story. Sometimes people send in villains who they want to have redemption arcs and become Christian. Sometimes it's characters who are Christian; mostly it's characters people would like to see become Christian.

[solsthiems]

Leftists get comfortable with religion and religious people. No shut up do it.

[starlit-mansion]

i liked the fact that hbomb pointed out that in the absence of money, social capital still drove copying and stealing. a lot of times, you get the "(pulls mask of bad thing) it was capitalism the whole time!!!" moment in video essays but it really doesn't cover like. the general human capacity to do these things at small scale for no or negative monetary benefit

[ghosts-devilman-wip]

Dumping out devilman thoughts today.

I know I'm far from the first person to think about this, but I don't feel like it's given enough attention. What I'm talking about is the really noticeable lack of discussion about god as a character/driving force throughout the story (and I mean the lack of discussion on the fandom's end as well as within the stories.)

Like, you really have the all-powerful being who is the only thing in existence with the true ability to completely stop the war - to completely halt the cycle of violence. But they never intervene. Not until humans and devils have all destroyed one another. Not until Lucifer has finally killed Akira, and he's all that's left, alone on a rock on a decimated earth, watching the stars and expounding on the concept of love to a cooling corpse.

THEN god intervenes. To scorch it all and start it over again, only for the same story to play out time and time again. The only consistent exception to this, really, is whenever divine force is shot down in the beginning phases of the war. Though usually, this just ends up causing destruction in a different way. It never saves anyone, it just overpowers a show of force from the devil's side.

You could make the argument that god isn't the same all-powerful being here that he's seen as being in a larger cultural sense outside of this story. But I'd both disagree and say that's a bad take. He clearly carries more power than anyone else, as again, when he does intervene it overpowers everything else. And yeah there's the idea that he didn't make devils, but that doesn't make sense to me either. So much of this story is based both on christian mythology (or dantes inferno, but still).

To rewrite the concept of god in this way. And to practically ignore this character's existence. ESPECIALLY in a story that is so much about the cycle of violence and the failings of humanity. It does the whole thing such an injustice.

In devilman, the war between devils and humans is ultimately constructed by god himself. Because it all comes back to the fact that he had to have created the devils in some manner - how else would they have come about? - and then tossed them aside to make room for humans. Running parallel to the way he tossed aside one of his own angels for going against god's authority. An angel who then went to the devils, joined with them and led them toward liberation.

What else were the devils supposed to do? What else was Lucifer supposed to do?

God is absent from the story until there's nothing left. Then he does it all over again. For what? To punish lucifer and the devils? Again and again for their refusal to lay down and die quietly? And it's not to protect humans - how many human lives are destroyed in the process?

God is absent from this story and we continue to let him be. We focus so much on Akira and Ryo, and on trying to save them and rewrite their connection into something that can be saved. We try to rewrite it so Miki lives, and the war is averted. But that doesn't make sense to me.

This story has already been written to be a tragedy. The omniscient, all-powerful god of the story has decided that's what it's meant to be.

As long as lucifer lives to the end of the story, it will be scrapped and retold again and again. And if lucifer were to die? That would still be a tragedy, let's be honest.

The cycle of violence has already been set in motion, and it will not be stopped so easily. That's important to me. Because ultimately, erasing the tragedy of it suggests there would be an easy solution to the world's problems - that escaping oppression is as simple as being kind and quiet in the face of your own eradication, that stopping a war is as simple as crying in front of the right person, and that making the right choices are as easy as listening to what you're told is "good."

Devilman is a tragedy, but I don't think that's inherently nihilistic. I think it can make you think and ask questions and consider layers to the problem. It will not give answers, because it's not that easy - because if we had those answers then the world wouldn't be the way it is. What we see at the end isn't meant to be a prediction, or even a threat. It's simply null - this is complex and painful, and our characters were not able to figure it out, because of that. Possibly, very likely, because they were not able to see outside of their own perspectives and drives (who could? At a certain point, that would mean abandoning feeling. There's a reason Michael is the most unsettling character in any of the stories to me.)

I mean, sure. God always had an easy answer. He probably wants the story to go this way.

[sweetangelanon]

Local teenager who's ability to stomp on her fathers last nerve grows with each day. I think he tried to beat her for getting her hair dyed and cut like that, but she ended up knocking him out and saying she's not taking his shit anymore. Argument with his wife happened since he'd want to kick her out on the street "let her go be a whore for all I care!" vs his wife who finally stands up for smth in her life is like "nooo honey nooo if we do that she'll never come back to god" So now he just has to live with it cuz of how geriatric he is.