#Japanese Anarchism

[all-things-are-nothing-to-me]

A fresh zine order.

Left to right.

1. From a Matter of Principle to a Matter of Tactics by Anonymous

2. It All Goes or It All Stays the Same, by Spindrift

3. Vegan Cooking is Easy (Recipe Zine)

4. Counter-Info: A "How-To" Guide

5. An Herbal Medicine-Making Primer, by Simon the Simpler

6. The Cloak & Dagger Compendium Issue #2 - Lockpicking: A Handbook of Practical Skills and Invaluable Knowledge for Thieves, Rogues, Scallywags, & Other Disreputable Persons

7. Museifushugi: A Brief History of Anarchism in Pre-War Japan

8. Mutinies: Vietnam

9. The Diary of Bobby Sands

10. Illegalism: Why Pay for a Revolution on the Installment Plan…When You Can Steal One?, by Paul Z. Simons

11. Beyond the “Movement” – Anarchy!

12. Subversive Anarchy Past and Present, by Renzo Connors

13. Professional Anarchy and Theoretical Disarmament: On Insurrectionism, by Miguel Amorós

14. Illegal Anarchism: The false dichotomy, by Gustavo Rodriguez

15. Antagonistic violence: Approaches to the armed struggle in urban environments from an anarchist perspective, by Gustavo Rodriguez

16. Revolutionary Solidarity

17. Together We Can Break These Chains: Art & Writing by Trans Prisoners in Texas

18. Heart of A Warrior: 2 texts by NC prison rebel Joseph Shine White [You can write to Shine White at:

Joseph Stewart #0802041

Maury Correctional

PO BOX 247

Phoenix, MD 21131]

19. STG, Good Time, and the Malicious Demons of Coercion, by Jonathan Summers [ You can write Summers at: Jonathan Summers #459083

Chippewa Correctional Facility (URF)

4269 W. M-80

Kincheloe, MI 49784]

20. It's Time to Turn Up the Heat, by Dan Baker

[autonomoustweekazoid]

"And for those representatives of power who trample upon the lives of the naturally equal humans on the earth, those lumps of meat equal to lumps of dirt called the Emperor and Crown Prince, the poor people they’ve deceived give them an exaggerated holiness and provide them superior, inviolate positions while they’re being exploited. And it’s there that I wanted to show the people clearly that those being impressed upon them then as sacred inviolate power, the Emperor and Crown Prince, are in truth empty lumps of meat among lumps of meat, nothing but puppets, to show those being exploited that they’re nothing more than marionettes and foolish dummies used by the privileged few to enrich themselves by deceiving the people who serve as their source of wealth, and through this to show that the mountain of long-held traditions that bestow the Emperor with divinity are purely empty superstitions."

- Kaneko Fumiko

Because I Wanted To

Translated by the homie Max Res of Viscera Providence (now Viscera Philly)

[alephskoteinos]

The worst thing about the samurai is that they devoted everything towards obedience and loyalty to their master. When I think about the idea of the freedom of action that comes from the death drive they embraced, I think "imagine what they could be without obedience".

When reading the Hagakure, you get many expressions of the idea of death, meditation upon death, or to live as if you are already dead, as the key to unlimited freedom of action. The way of the samurai is even more broadly described as "desperation" or even "insanity". There's even a section where Tsunemoto talks about people who were brave and rowdy because they had "vitality", versus people who were gentle because they lacked it, but the latter was not inferior to the former because they would still be "crazy to die".

But the only thing is, in the context of Bushido, all of that is wrapped in the idea that this was all meant to facilitate total obedience to master. The samurai had to act instantaneously so as to fulfill the commands of their lord without faltering.

What I'm saying is, imagine if you could have something of what the Hagakure hints at, in terms of how it figures full mental freedom of action, but in pursuit of the fulfillment of an anarchist insurrectionary agent rather than cultivating complete obedience to any lord?

[ancientpillarsoflori]

Hane, Mikiso. 1993. Reflections on the Way to the Gallows: Rebel Women in Prewar Japan. 1st paperback ed. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Reflections on the Way to the Gallows is a compilation of translated and edited primary sources from communist, socialist, and anarchist women of Meiji (1868-1911) and Taishō (1912-1926) era Japan. It has been on my tbr for a long time, and I was lucky enough to be able to sneak it into one of my history classes last winter.

After an introduction by the author, the featured women are Fukuda Hideko, Kanno Suga, Kaneko Fumiko, various members of the Sekirankai (Red Wave Society), Tanno Setsu, and Yamashiro Tomoe. It seemlessly builds up on other works by Hane that feature marginalized groups in modern(izing) Japanese society, albeit with a narrower focus determined by gender.

The accessability and readability of the documents fluctuate, depending on the woman's respective education and the circumstances in which the sources were obtained / written. Nevertheless, the importance of such sources is all too clear: Giving a voice to the marginalized, who (especially in the case of Kanno Suga!!) are too often characterised by the men around them.

(And while (pessimistic) nihilism could never fully caption me, I was screaming giggling kicking my feet at Pak Yeol and Kaneko Fumiko.)

[tastethebloodofmeatthawsmoth]

Osugi Sakae, one of Japan's leading anarchist figures in the Taisho era. In addition to the early Japanese anarchist Kotoku Shushui, Osugi was influenced by Kropotkin and Bakunin; he admired the latter immensely, saying he would "have been a rebel even in an anarchist society." Stirner, Nietzsche, Bergson, and Sorel were also important influences.

Osugi was not a systematic thinker, and many of his articles were written simply to fill space in one of his many periodicals or to make some quick cash. However, his principal theoretical statement appeared in a series of three articles published around 1913. In the first, “The Reality of Conquest,” Osugi explored the origin of what is now called “society” in conquest. Osugi’s theory is now dated, but still interesting and shares some similarities to modern anti-civilization anarchist thought. According to Osugi, pre-societal humanity lived in peaceful, nomadic groups, until overcrowding led to friction and, through an accident of military superiority, one group conquered the other, which is kept subjugated through more and more subtle mechanisms of social control: “Government! Laws! Religion! Education! Morality! Armies! Police! Courts! Parliament! Science! Philosophy! Literature! All other social systems!” According to Osugi, no one could understand anything about social matters without understanding the reality of this system of subjugation.

This first article was shortly followed by “The Expansion of Life.” Having established subjugation as an unnatural condition resulting from civilization, Osugi established life and the expansion of life as subjugation’s opposite. “Life and the expansion of life are, it goes without saying, the keynotes of modern thought.” I think that Osugi’s expansion of life can be considered as synonymous with the Stirnerian egoist’s self-enjoyment. The life of the individual overflows the limits of the self: “The joy of living begins to overflow…. The perfection of my life is at the same time the extension of my life. And at the same time, the extension of the life of mankind.” Osugi acknowledged that competition, of self-expansion at the expense of others, hindered others’ development. The conquered, unable to develop themselves, became degraded and corrupted as a result. However, “if there was a slavish depravity among the slaves, there was a masterly depravity among the masters.” (Here, the debt to Nietzsche is clear.) This degradation continued until the morals of both the slaves and the masters became so corrupt that a middle class revolted and established itself as the new ruling class. This cycle, argued Osugi, had continued throughout the course of civilization. The new task of the oppressed, Osugi said, was to end the repetition of history and lay the ax to the reality of conquest itself:

“Seeing the supreme beauty of life in the expansion of life, I see the supreme beauty of life today only in this rebellion and destruction. Today, when the reality of conquest is developed to its utmost, harmony is not beauty. Beauty exists only in discord. Harmony is a lie. Truth exists only in discord.

Now the expansion of life can only be gained through rebellion. Only through rebellion is there creation of new life, creation of a new society.”

The last article in this series, “The Creativity of Life,” was published in January of 1915. In it, Osugi highlighted the differences between his anarcho-syndicalist views and electoral socialism. Osgui believed that mainstream socialism was overly fixated on economic issues; throughout his career he always stressed that the workers’ movement was a “human movement for the self-mastery of the individual,” not just a movement for a full belly. Osugi also had his own very strong interpretation of the syndicalist idea of building the new world within the shell of the old. Osugi’s anarchism stressed a fundamental unity between action and goals, with the struggle for a free society aiming to prepare the workers mentally, physically, spiritually, and psychologically for a free society. “When the workers have completed these preparations themselves, that is to say, when they are able to administer their own society, then for the first time will come the social revolution. Thus the workers’ spiritual education is the essential thing. You must teach the workers what they themselves will, you must discipline them by action, you must reveal to them their own abilities. This is the entire mystery of socialist education.” 

[anarcho-catboyism]

I've been wanting to write a longer thread about this for awhile.

If you're new to the concept of Anarchy, even if you know the basics, you most likely have never heard of Anarcho-Nihilism. If you know basic leftist Ideologies, or just scrolled Political Compass pages, you know of Anarcho Communism, and most people understand there's other branches for marginalized groups like Queer Anarchy, Anarcha Feminism, etc.

This thread will go over Anarcho-Nihilism and the basics of what it is. It will talk to the reader as if you already understand the basic concepts of Anarchy, so if you don't, I recommend reading "Life Without Law" before coming back here.

Anarcho-Nihilism: A Beginners Text To How Fucked We Are

Anarcho-Nihilism is a post-left ideology, meaning that most of the substance of its standpoint are direct criticisms of not just Anarchy, but the leftist movement as a whole, which means Anarcho-Nihilists often reject the label of "Leftist" all-together.

Anarcho-Nihilism is also directly connected to Individualism and Egoism, with more modern Anarcho-Nihilists aligning into Eco-Extremism as well.

Post-Left criticisms, which includes Anarcho-Nihilist criticisms, of the Left include but are not limited to the Lefts view on Organization, Revolution, Unity of Ideologies, Fetishism of Work and Industry, and need of Popularity Politics. We will get into these shortly.

Brief History and Moments of Inspiration

Anarcho-Nihilism takes inspiration from a wide range of people and movements in history, but the earliest "creation" of Anarcho-Nihilism starts with the "Nihilist Movement", which was a Russian movement in the 1860s which focused on attacking traditional ideas of society such as morality, authority, traditionalism, and religion. This came from the growing divide between older radicals and the younger generation who were disillusioned towards older forms of leftist organization and ideas.

Russian anarchist Peter Kropotkin discussed the movement itself, stating "defined nihilism as the symbol of struggle against all forms tyranny, hypocrisy, and artificiality and for individual freedom".

Early forms of Russian Nihilist theory incorporated Egoist theory into its ideas, and saw that all morality, aesthetics, and social institutions were meaningless, but they did not see all ethics, knowledge, and human life as meaningless.

Russian Nihilism was characterized throughout Europe for being linked to Political Terrorism due to multiple assassinations and assassination attempts against politic officials, including the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881. Historian M. A. Gillespie concludes that Russian Nihilism was at the core of revolutionary thought in Russia throughout the lead up to the Russian Revolution.

Anarcho-Nihilism as a movement grew with voices like Kaneko Fumiko, a self identified Anarchist and Nihilist who was convicted of plotting to assassinate members of the Japanese Imperial Family.

Kaneko had many experiences from working with the notably Christian Salvation Army, to studying socialist movements and revolutionaries, anarchist theorists, and Nihilist movements. She only maintained a brief relationship with the Salvation Army, not compelled by their beliefs as well as being abandoned by a Christian friend after he felt his growing feelings towards her were threatening his beliefs. From the Salvation Army she jumped into the socialist movement, but was let down as she found Socialists would often behave in ways they directly advocated against.

Kaneko says her radical shift from Socialism to Anarchism and Nihilism came in 1922 when she met Hatsuyo Niiyama, who she considers her closet friend. Hatsuyo introduced her to thinkers like Max Stirner, Mikail Artsybashev, and Friedrich Nietzche. Kaneko also met Pak Yol, a Korean activist and anarchist who shared her belief systems.

Kaneko and Pak themselves helped continue to define a new set of Anarchism that aimed away from the common ideas of Syndicalism and Union Organizing, Kaneko herself writing about her views in a document made to the court in 1925 after she and Pak were convicted of attempted assassination, stating "formerly I said 'I negate life'... [but] my negation of all life was completely meaningless... The stronger the affirmation of life, the stronger the creation of life- negation together with rebellion. Therefore, I affirm life...Living is not synonymous with merely having movement. It is moving in accordance with one's will… one could say that with deeds, one begins to really live. Accordingly, when one moves by means of one's own will and this leads to the destruction of one's body, this is not a negation of life. It is an affirmation." Kaneko also claimed she wanted to "throw a bomb at the Emperor to show he, like everyone, will someday die" to deny his authority as all powerful.

One of Kaneko's main criticism of the Socialist Movement was the treatment of women, including her, in the movement itself, and this further pushed her into Anarchism and Nihilism as she believed that even these Socialist men would abuse their authority should it be granted.

Blessed is the Flame: The Anarcho-Nihilist Manifesto

"The anarcho-nihilist position is essentially that we are fucked. That the current manifestation of human society (civilization, leviathan, industrial society, global capitalism, whatever) is beyond salvation, and so our response to it should be one of unmitigated hostility. There are no demands to be made, no utopic visions to be upheld, no political programs to be followed — the path of resistance is one of pure negation." Serafinski "Blessed is the Flame"(2015)

Blessed is the Flame is considered one of if not the theory for Anarcho-Nihilism of the modern age, with its criticisms of organization and resistance during times of great tragedy.

Blessed is the Flame is a piece of text about not just Anarcho-Nihilism, but Negation through the lens of the Holocaust and Concentration Camp Resistance. The theory takes the time to explain to the reader just how bleak the reality of life was for concentration camp prisoners, and how the Nazis did everything in their power to snuff out rebellion at its core, and how people rebelled anyway, even when there was no hope to rebellion. Because of this perspective, and usage of a great tragedy, many have criticized Blessed is the Flame for romanticizing the struggles of camp prisoners, even if the author meant not to.

Blessed is the Flame, nonetheless, does the important task of putting what Anarcho-Nihilism is into digestible theory that can be spread and built upon.

Blessed is the Flame asserts that, as the quote says above, Anarcho-Nihilism is the belief that the world as we know it is fucked, to put it simply. That the current systems of domination such as white supremacy, patriarchy, colonialism, etc. have their roots too deep to be organized away, that we have reached past the point of no return for ecological destruction (Global Warming), and that we should meet this hopelessness with destruction.

Blessed is the Flame, and Anarcho-Nihilism, directly criticizes the Marxist idea of Progress. Progress, as in, the idea that Humanity overtime progresses in its worldviews and we will naturally get to a point where Humanity achieves some better world without hate or exploitation, away from the systems of domination. It is argued that history shows we do not progress up, even if we have moments things seem better, we keep crashing harder and harder as the systems of domination grow stronger and root themselves deeper into our lives and psyche. "The conception of history that came out of the Marxist tradition (dialectical materialism) dictated that the transformation of society would pass through capitalism... to transform into socialism and eventually communism. This meant that progressivism was embedded within this (the dominant) branch of socialism."

Blessed is the Flame also argues that, "This stands in direct contrast to other anarchist tendencies that place at least some emphasis on “positive programs” — aspirations to construct something ideal in the present world or to craft plans in preparation for the downfall of the current system. Anarcho-nihilism understands the positive program as “one that confuses desire with reality and extends that confusion into the future” by either making promises about what a revolutionary future might hold, or attempting to bring those conditions about from within the existing order."

To put it more plainly, Anarcho-Nihilists argue that whatever we try to build under these current systems will be co-opted, capitalized, and/or destroyed as they will be at odds with these systems. That our socialist programs, minority solidarity movements, etc. will always find their ways back to being assimilated into the death machine that is industrial civilization.

Imprisoned members of the CCF (Greek Conspiracy Cells of Fire) write, "We anarcho-nihilists ...don’t talk about ‘transformation of social relations’ towards a more liberated view, we promulgate their total destruction and absolute annihilation. Only through total destruction of the current world of power... will it be possible to build something new. The deeper we destroy, the more freely will we be able to build".

The argument is that if we meet the state with negation, with destruction, then our positive movements cannot be co-opted and destroyed. The further we dismantle the states control, the more freely we can take the time to build ways we can help each other.

In this same frame of argument, Anarcho-Nihilists, including the aforementioned imprisoned members of the CCF, argue that creating strict organization is "construction of a dam that tries to control the impetus of the abundant stream of Anarchy". Anarchy is fluid and will take many paths, and attempting to redirect Anarchy onto one path is undesirable.

Coming back to Post-Leftism, Anarcho-Nihilist (as well as Post-Leftism) critiques the lefts style of organization, the revolution, and a need for popularity politics. Blessed is the Flame brings up how the Nazis used this concept of "future time" to break the spirits of camp prisoners, through slogans such as "Freedom Through Work", being told they were being taken to Sweden only to end up in Auschwitz, taken to be Showered only to be stripped and put into prison clothes, told Work was Freedom only to be worked to death. The Nazis, cruelly, suspended the Prisoners in this Limbo of time between certain death and uncertain future, breaking their resolve to fight back as fighting back could cost them that possibility of freedom. The key to insurgency wasn't to open the curtain to reveal the lie of future time, as this lead to despondency and the further breaking of the soul. Blessed is the Flame argues that the key might lie between what is dubbed "Lager-Time" (future time) and Suicidal Despondency, something called "Suspension". In Suspension, there is no focus on the past nor future, but rather, the need to survive in the current moment. Breaking free of that suspension in the present, throwing away the chains of time, lead to violent uprisings and revolt even in the most hopeless of situations.

The paragraph above ties into Anarcho-Nihilisms critiques of the lefts view of the aforementioned 3, organization, revolution, and popularity politics. Anarcho-Nihilism argues that the left views organization as a non-violent house of cards that must be meticulously built up fully, no matter how many times it gets knocked down, and that our Revolution may only come after this house of cards is built. The left with also argue that this house of cards can only be built through their ideas becoming popularized, such as "workers of the world uniting", and once that happens then Revolution is an inevitable force. Leftists argue that revolution WILL happen, this precarious house of cards WILL be built, and there IS a better world and denying this is anti-revolutionary.

Anarcho-Nihilists reject this, viewing this as a form of Lager-Time, unable to act in the present because of uncertainty, or rather a false certainty, of the future. Given what was previously said about Anarcho-Nihilists view of Progress, they argue that radicals shouldn't wait for some Rapture like "revolution", that while we wait for workers to unite, fascism builds and global warming worsens and capitalism continues to evolve like an ever growing leviathan. The fact is, Anarcho-Nihilism claims, there isn't a reality where the workers of the world all wake up and unite against the common enemy. Even in socialist movements there lays bigotry against marginalized groups that chokes the life from these movements and further scatters the solidarity amongst each other.

Anarcho-Nihilists, as well as Blessed is the Flame, directly oppose the lefts modern form of organization, which is built on democratic circles and layers of policy and aesthetics. Needing to go through 3 different rings of people to do action just delays, and defangs, the action. Anarcho-Nihilism advocates for decentralized forms of organization, where the "org" is disconnected from each other except by name and motivation. If you want to do action, you just fucking do it, no bureaucracy bullshit. Examples of these modes of Organization is ELF (Earth Liberation Front), ALF (Animal Liberation Front), and the CCF (Conspiracy Cells of Fire). Each of these fronts is without leaders, without form, moving like water to serve the cause when needed. To be a part of groups like these, such as ELF and ALF, you need only to agree with the views, and that's it. You can create an ELF or ALF group right now with friends and go do shit.

At its core, the Anarcho-Nihilist critique is that of an Individualist one, of the collective vs. the individual. This critique argues that often, the will of the collective can overrule the freedom of the individual, stunting action and even self that the collective was supposed to foster (This specifically being a similar argument that Max Stirner, the "Father of Egoism", has discussed).

"...think back to 2012 when the CEO of an Italian nuclear power company was shot in the kneecap by two anarcho-nihilists who claimed the attack under the banner of the FAI. After the attack (which was partly inspired by the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima), the pair released a communique pointing to the various atrocities committed in the name of nuclear power and calling for an all-out attack on the nuclear industry. In response to that action, the Anarchist Federation in Italy (a formal Marxist organization with no relationship to the FAI) issued a response that condemned such a renegade action: “... we strongly criticize individualist and vanguardist tactics that do not come out of a broad-based class-struggle movement. We condemn actions that put workers in danger without their knowledge...” According to this perspective, the individual acting without the validation of a formal collective, and without respect for working class solidarity, has no place in an anarchist movement. In counter-response to this (and other condemnations), insurrectionary and nihilist keyboards ignited with scathing indictments of this breed of “civil anarchism” that tries to restrain individual attacks behind the “working class” banner." Blessed is the Flame.

So, if we are fucked, and Leftist modes of organization can strangle action, what is there to do? Why fight back?

Hope Is Not A Plan: Jouissance and Insurgency

 Jouissance is a French word for "enjoyment" but can have connotations related to "uncivilized desire".

"Jouissance is an ecstatic energy, felt but never captured, that pushes us away from any form of domination, representation, or restraint, and compels us towards fierce wildness and unmitigated recalcitrance. It is “the process that momentarily sets us free from our fear of death” and which manifests as a “blissful enjoyment of the present,” or a “joy which we cannot name.”[110] Jouissance is the richness of life evoked by resistance, the spirit that allowed Mária Jakobovics to continue her acts of sabotage despite the sting of the club or the threat of the noose, and the spirit that perhaps allows many of us to lead lives of resistance in absolutely overwhelming circumstances. It is the visceral experience of negation as ecstatic liberation." Blessed is the Flame

Jouissance, for Nihilists, is the core of Anarchism. The need, no, the Joy of resistance to keep us alive and going. Not fighting because we might win, not fighting because we might lose, but fighting because we can and we fucking will. "Inmates who physically confronted their oppressors were not engaged in a “rational political struggle for a better future,” but rather understood the futility of their situations and chose to fight back regardless."

Said from the CCF, "what really counts is the strength we feel every time we don’t bow our heads, every time we destroy the false idols of civilization, every time our eyes meet those of our comrades along illegal paths, every time that our hands set fire to the symbols of Power. In those moments we don’t ask ourselves: ‘Will we win? Will we lose?’ In those moments we just fight." Anarcho-Nihilists favor Insurgency and Insurrection, not Revolution. Anarcho-Nihilists are for short bursts of violent energy, of humans taking up arms not for some convoluted idea of politics, but for the goal of rebelling. Like the burning of the Minneapolis Precinct in 2020, letting the rage and rebellion of those of us still living shining through and proving we still have fight in us, we won't die quietly in the night. These short bursts of violent energy encouraging humans to negate the will of the systems of domination, and encouraging more radical action and eventual destruction of these systems entirely, because what else is there? We live under these impossible systems, we fight and possibly die or we don't fight and we DO die.

"The active nihilist sees in the unknown future and despair at our current situation, a call to arms. Meaning is found in approaching the void rather than in the false knowledge of what is on the other side of it." —Attentat

Embracing the Void: How We Can Use This

On a real level, I don't expect you to read this and instantly agree we are fucked. Embracing this idea that our world is gone is a difficult one, and a depressing one.

Instead we can focus on what Anarcho-Nihilism brings to the table regarding its critiques and ideas.

We can begin to embrace decentralized modes of organizing, instead of searching for some Vanguard party to get swallowed up into. When you have an idea, do it. Get with friends or peers and go out into the world.

We can embrace negating the system when at all possible, illegalism as a tactic.

We can embrace the uncertainty of the future and, instead of waiting for things to get better, we can take action NOW, in the present, outside of suspension to do what we can because we can. Our nihilism does not have to paralyze us, it can instead energize us.

Anarcho-Nihilism Reading List

Blessed is the Flame

Blessed is the Flame (Audiobook)

Desert

Desert (Audiobook)

The Insurrectional Project

The Economy is Suffering, Let it Die!

Uncivilized

Say You want an Insurrection

Anarchy: Civil or Subversive?

Armed Joy

Notes on Post-Left Anarchism

Accomplices not Allies: Abolishing the Ally Industrial Complex

Rethinking the Apocalypse: An Indigenous Anti-Futurist Manifesto

Voting is Not Harm Reduction - An Indigenous Perspective

[alpaca-clouds]

BELLE and the fantasy of a non-corporate internet

Just a little thing I kinda want to end out this week speaking about democratized media on. Because there is this little thing in Mamoru Hosoda's newest movie BELLE... I am honest: I am not entirely sure whether it is something Hosoda and his team thought about when making this movie. But... this movie has this wonderful little anarchist moment.

BELLE is all in all not really an anarchist movie. Nor is it Solarpunk. But it picks up this theme, that goes through several movies Hosoda has done. His "internet triology" how I like to call it:

Digimon Adventure: Bokura no Wargame

Summer Wars

BELLE

Three movies that are not only connected in aethetic, but also in theme. All three of them having a plot that takes place online for good chunks.

And that theme is of the internet connecting people all around the world. Of allowing people all around the world to connect.

The Digimon Adventure movie focuses on the idea of the young millennials in that movie having access and understanding of this new virtual world, that the older generation lacks. In the Japanese version of the movie there is a prolonged gag sequence of Yamato and Takeru trying to get access to the internet with a lot of confused adults thinking about whether or not they have this access.

This shifts in Summer Wars, where the internet suddenly is a place that everyone uses over a lot of different access points. In the finale we see people use the internet via phones, laptops, high end computers and video game consoles. Though it also gives a warning of us not relying on it too much.

And then we have BELLE, which focuses on the internet as a place where people can truly be themselves and connecting with each other, while being unable to connect in the real world (partly because of distance), as well as the internet of a place to rediscover yourself and as a medium to help each other.

But all three movies kinda have one scene in common. There is a scene towards the finale where all seems lost and the character outmatched by the antagonist. (I am gonna say something about the antagonists in a moment.) And then... everyone gets together. And by everyone I mean everyone. In Bokura no Wargame it is the emails of encouragement and the spirits of all those kids and teens watching the battle that allow War Greymon and Metal Garurumon to fuse into Omegamon. In Summer Wars it is the fact that everyone risks their accounts by handing them over to Natsuki that allows them to beat the AI in hanafuda. And in the finale of BELLE it is everyone banding together to sing and no longer supporting the self-appointed moderators that allows Suzu to make Kei hear her voice. It is the connection of people via the internet that allows people to succeed in these movies.

But there is one thing in which BELLE differs from the other two movies - or rather all three movies differ from each other.

Bokura no Wargame still very much is set in Web 1.0, before social media and the bottlenecking of the internet. Again, the movie makes this big thing out of the internet being a thing for the youth.

Meanwhile Summer Wars is set within a very corporate "everything platform". And while this movie does have some message about "yeah, maybe having all that data within one system is a bad thing, actually", there is not really a comment about the company running OZ and whether maybe one company should not own the one platform that in this world basically IS THE INTERNET.

BELLE is different in that regard. Because BELLE makes a point out of the fact that U is an open source platform that was created to... basically run anarchical. There was not supposed to be an central control. That the users were supposed to have control over their experience on the platform. But because the creators also did not want to have "control" over it, big companies just took over and devided U up between themselves, creating that moderation team that is seen as the antagonists within the movie. And here is the thing: That big scene of everyone coming together and singing? Yeah, that is the scene in which the users take the control over the platform back from the companies. And since U is basically the the internet in this world... Part of the finale is basically the users taking back their control over the internet.

And... I don't know. I have not seen people talk about this so far. But to me it is the nice and utopic part in this movie.

The internet is such a great thing to connect people. And that is something that Mamoru Hosoda has definitely understood better than many other film makers. And we just... should not let big coorporations take this from us.

[aibazuos]

My Brazilian ass is thinking way too much about a One Piece Brazilian military dictatorship AU and I need to put it out there or I will explode

Honestly, the only reason that's something I have such strong opinions about is bc Luffy is Brazilian and there's just so little Brazilian characters in media in general (There's more in Japanese media than in other places but I don't have the time to explain it, if you want to learn more about that you can watch this video).

I don't know how ethical it is to find parallels between a fictional work and very real events that caused the suffering and death of a lot of people. But I think that this is a way to share more of this very important moment in Brazilian history.

So, let's start with a bit of actual history before jumping into my strange attempt at mixing a media that I love and the history of my country.

(Tw: discussions of torture, death, abuse of power by the government, gun use, armed revolution, censorship and anything you can think about that has to do with a military dictatorship. I won't go into detail, but if that's something that triggers you be mindful of that)

Oh, not a TW but something you should know, there's a lot, and I mean a lot, of communism, socialism and anarchism, just so you know

The coup d'état

In 31th of March, 1964 the Brazilian President João Goulart was overthrown by the army. The coup would later be described as a "revolution" by Castelo Branco, one of the Presidents during de dictatorship. It was said to be revolution bc of the "threat of communism" that had been taking over Brazil.

I need to make this very clear, Brazil had at the time some communist and socialist party's, but there was no actual threat from them, since they weren't popular enough with the general population.

This anti-communism reasoning had been used before to instal dictatorships is Brazil, such as the Getulio Vargas government. And it's still being used to this day by far-right politicians to manipulate the public (no, I'll not be arguing about this, if you truly think Brazil has an actual communist threat you can go and find another blog for you, mine isn't the place. block me if you feel the need)

The coup, and the whole dictatorship, was funded by the US

The Institutional Acts

The Institutional Acts were extra-legal decrees that were issued. There were 17 of them and more than a 100 complementary acts.

The Institutional Act number 5 is considered the more violent one, it allowed: the revocation of mandate of any elected politician, the president to interfear in government of states and county's and it made possible for a citizen to lose their constitutional rights. This Act was the one that basically legalized the torture that was already happening.

The Torture and Assassinations

Again, not going into detail, but there was a lot of people who disappeared after being arrested. The most infamous case is of Vladimir Herzog who was found in his cell after "self deleting" with his tie. The photo of his body was sent to the news by the army, but it was questioned by the public, bc he used his tie, but his his legs could touch the floor, so not the most efficient way. I do not recommend looking for his name online unless you want to see the fake self deleting photo, there's no blood or gore, but it is a dead body.

You could be arrest for subversive behavior, basically anything that the government deemed to be against it. A lot of students and teachers were arrested, journalists, actual revolutionaries and people that they would call "communists" even if a lot of them weren't communists.

The Censorship

A lot of art was censored during the dictatorship. Some musicians, such as Chico Buarque , found ways to still criticize the government in their songs but in a more subtle way that wouldn't get them caught. But even then Chico Buarque had to flee the country at some point. (Construção, Cálice and A Banda are very good songs that he wrote during the dictatorship and that are seen a symbol of resistance, really recommend them)

Carlos Marighella

Carlos Marighella was at one point considered enemy number one by the government and was classified as a terrorist. He participated in the armed fight against the dictatorship and founded the Ação Libertadora Nacional (National Liberation Action)

Before the coup he was already part of the Communist Party and an atheist, getting arrested even before the coup bc of an offensive poem he wrote about the administration of Bahia.

The ALN was involved in the kidnapping of an American ambassador in 69, along side the MR-8, another revolutionary movement.

Later that year Marighella was killed in the back of a car after being shot multiple times by the police. The photo of his body would be sent to papers, and through that way his son, fifteen at the time, discovered about his father’s death.

His death would get the urban guerrilla slowed down, but the rural guerrillas still happen and it got more support.

In 1996 the Ministry of Justice would recognize Marighella’s death as the estate’s responsibility. In 2007 it was decided that his wife, Clara Charf was to have a lifetime pension from the government (she is still alive at 99 years old). And, in 2012, after investigations, the Ministry of Justice declared his amnesty post mortem.

(Again, be careful when searching about him, the pictures of his body are not hard to find, and it’s a very bloody image. He was shot multiple times)

The end

The dictatorship ended in 1985. At that point the military was having difficulties keeping itself in power, since the direct elections for governor in 1982 had already elected 10 governors that were in opposition to the dictatorship.

Along side that, during 1983 and 1984 there was a civil movement called “Diretas Já” that wanted the direct elections for the president back, since those stopped happening after the dictatorship took place. That movement was taken down, but even then in the indirect elections of 1985 the non-military candidate, Tancredo Neves, won the election, officially ending the dictatorship.

The end of the dictatorship had already been expected by the military. So in 1979 the president João Batista Figueiredo signed the amnesty for anyone who had committed political crimes, including the torturers. Dilma Rousseff, the first woman to be president of Brazil, elected in 2012, was one of the many people to be tortured by the military and one of the few that survived it. And the current president, Luís Inácio "Lula" da Silva, was part of the syndicalist movement during the dictatorship (not saying I like them, but they are very important figures today and I think it puts into perspective that this events weren't that long ago)

About 400 people were confirmed dead after the end of the dictatorship, but more than 20,000 were missing. It's very hard to find the information about the missing people, since even if files were made about them they are either hidden somewhere or they have been destroyed. To this day new information about this period is being discovered.

In 1988 the new constitution had been written and put into place. It still is the constitution that is being used to this day and is called the citizen constitution, since it was made for the new democratic government. It also made the presidential elections direct again.

WTF AM I DOING??? (AKA: the actual One Piece part)

(honestly there's still a lot of history during this part, I'm terrible at this)

The Marighella question

I just needed to work someone based on Marighella into this, he is such an important figure in all of this. I had two main ideas, either Gol D. Roger and Monkey D. Dragon could fulfill this role of a number one enemy but bc the main character is obviously Luffy i kinda want to make it Dragon.

I think I have some ideas abt their father-son relationship, or lack of it, that would make it interesting.

What I'm writing here is basically a pre-story and the very beginning of it, bc of it some characters are going to be left out (also I haven't watched all of one piece)

Monkey D. Garp

Born in 1904 in the city of Rio de Janeiro

Joined the military in 1922 at 18

Had Dragon in 1929 at 25

Fought in WWII as part of the cobras fumantes (smoking snakes)

Had a difficult time being there for Dragon when he was growing up since he at the time was to rising up the ranks

Tried to get Dragon to join the military

In 1951 when the Getúlio Vargas got into power again Dragon had been affiliated to the communist party for 5 years and Garp stated to hide their connection so that he wouldn't have to report his son.

Luffy is born in 1952 and Dragon takes care of him until 1955. Garp tries to take care of him for a few months, but bc he's a this point a Brigadier General he doesn't have the time to take care of a kid, so Luffy is sent to live with Dadan in Salvador.

When the coup happens Garp burns every file that has Dragon's full name

When Dragon is expelled from the communist party, in 1967, Garp thinks that he's going to calm down and stop, but a few months later more violent revolutionary actions start happening and Garp just knows that it is his son

Garp tries to disturb the investigations that are slowly getting closer to Dragon, but when the U.S starts putting more and more funds into finding and killing Dragon he is forced to stop or he'll be under suspicion of treason

When Dragon dies in 1969 Garp goes to Salvador to tell Luffy face to face abt his father's death

He again tries to get Luffy to join the military, trying to get his grandson to be safe, maybe that way he can resign

Luffy refuses and Garp knows that if he resigns he won't be able to protect Luffy, so he doesn't resign

When his colleagues start talking about this new traveling artists that are making subversive plays in the more rural areas Garp promises himself that no one will kill his grandson

Monkey D. Dragon

Born in 1929 in Salvador, Bahia

He remembers the fear that he felt every time a soldier came bearing news of his father's situation. Would this be the time they tell him he died while fighting the nazis?

The first time he learned about communism was by chance. Some activists had ran scared after the police arrived and left behind some copies of the communist manifesto. He was 14 and that was the first book he read through that wasn't for school

When WWII ended in 1945 Dragon was relieved to have his father back, but that didn't last long. Soon Garp was back to work

They moved to Rio de Janeiro after Garp came back

Since Rio was, at the time, the capital and Gétulio Vargas had just been deposed it wasn't particularly difficult for Dragon to start going to communist meetings

In 1946, when Dragon is 17, he officially joins de communist party

After he graduated high school in the end of that same year he officially moves out and start living in a college commune

He goes to the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ - Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) to get a sociology degree

He graduates in 1950

When Vargas becomes a President again in 1951 Dragon is arrested for subversion for the first time

He's in prison for a few months

When he sees Garp after that they both know that no one can know about their connection. Vargas is in power again and an active member of the communist party that is also the son of an important figure from the military has the biggest target in his back

They wouldn't see each other for years. Both still living in Rio de Janeiro, but no attempts at contact would be made

In 1952 Luffy is born, Dragon is his sole caretake

For his son he tries to lay low, he knows what is like to have an absent father, he doesn't want his son to have the same. He does more office work, publishing unsigned papers in various communist papers and that works

For 3 years that works, but then he's arrested in a violent way. He is shot in the stomach and 2 cops press him to side of the car while putting handcuff on him

Luffy sees everything

When he gets his one call he calls one of his friends and asks them to take Luffy to Garp's house in as many codes as he can use, trying to make sure that the cops didn't know he had a son.

This time his arrest lasts 2 years, he thinks that it would've lasted more if Vargas hadn't ended his own government by killing himself

He goes to visit Garp, to visit Luffy

But Luffy isn't there and Garp won't tell him where Luffy is

He's angry, furious, but at the same time he knows that Luffy is going to be safer away from him

He never sees Luffy again

Juscelino Kubitschek (JK) is elected President in 1955 and the construction of Brasília, the new capital, starts

Things calm down for a few years between JK's government, Jânio Quadros resignation from office and than João Goulart

But the coup happens

Everyone in the party knows that if things had been hard when Vargas was president they are about to get worse now

The younger members of the party, the ones that hadn't been there when Vargas was president, either get even more radicalized or leave the party

Dragon feels like they aren't doing enough, people are getting tortured and killed and they are writing articles that are never going to be published

He's expelled from the party, his colleagues see him as being way to violent, but he takes some people with them and makes his own revolutionary group

They finally get some world out there, but the military makes sure that none of it gets to the papers, censoring everything

The military gets more vicious in their search for Dragon, so Dragon gets more violent

Civillians are never to be killed, even if they are sometimes caught in the crossfire

They throw a grenade in an U.S building and things get harder, now the U.S wants Dragon's head too

He knows that he's going to die, that the police has found his colleagues, his friends. He knows that he is one of the few left and, maybe, if he dies first, the ones that are still alive can get away, maybe live normal lives

He writes letter and records messages in tapes, most os them are for Luffy

When he gets shot the first time he knows that this it, that he's going to die there in the backseat of a car

Quickly the other shots follow

Monkey D. Luffy

Born in 1952 in the city of Rio de Janeiro

His gramps sent him to live in Salvador when he was very young

For some reason he doesn't have many memories from before he went to live with Dadan... but he remembers someone being shot

He's 5 when he meets his brothers. He loves them

School is boring

Gramps wants him to join the army when he grows up

One day, when Luffy is 7 a band of traveling artists appear in town, the cops hate them but Luffy is immediately interested

Shanks is just so cool and so strong

Luffy wants to be like him when he grows up

They get into a fight with some low grade soldiers and Luffy tries to defend them

He fails

Shanks has to protect him and gets shot in his shoulder, he loses movement of his arm

Luffy promises himself that he would get strong enough to not let anyone he cares about get hurt

Shanks continues to tell him that it wasn't his fault, the cop should't have pointed at gun at a child

Just as sudden as they came the leave, Shanks gives Luffy his straw hat

Things go back to how they were before, except now Luffy knows he will never be part of the military

Gramps is angry when he hears that

When he's twelve his teachers start talking about how the military is now in power, they say it's a good thing "We'll finally get ride of the commies, there will be order in the country"

Luffy feels something sick in him

A month later Sabo dies

Luffy and Ace didn't go to school for a week

Ace graduated and left. He said he wanted to do something good, make their childhood dreams of changing the world into reality

Luffy wants to go with him but Ace refused

Luffy is now alone

School is still boring and now his teachers continue to praise the military in everything they do. Some of them seem scared of the military though

He's 15 when he hears whispers of this “commie bastard” that is been causing havoc in Rio de Janeiro

He's 16 when the papers now have the face and name of the commie bastard, a guy with a face tattoo, " THE TERRORIST DRAGON"

He's 17 when his gramps shows up in town, with a paper in hands that declared that Dragon was dead

"Your dad Luffy, he died"

Gramps begs him to join the military, to keep himself safe

Luffy can't agree to that, not after having see the military hurt so many people and stop them from being free

All Luffy wants is to be free

That is the first time he sees his Gramps cry

His gramps said that his dad left him tapes and letters

Luffy hears and reads all of them that night

When Dadan and gramps go to wake him up next day they find an empty bed

Okay, this post is already way to long and characters like Ace and Sabo are more interesting if I talk abt them at a later point

Honestly I really recommend taking pieces of the history of your country and characters you love and smash them. It doesn't need to be something so traumatic as my choice was, you can just use something that you think is interesting.

My choice was the dictatorship bc I think One Piece deals a lot with themes like these with the marines that it was the most obvious choice. Also communist Dragon, honestly that was a big part of it too

Less important, but like, I really do need to change the names of the IRL presidents and stuff like that. bc even the idea of "Monkey D. Dragon" and "Getúlio Vargas" being two people alive at the same time is weird

I don't know if this post will get attention, but I do plan on writing more of whatever this is

Also, this shit wasn't beta'd I just needed to get this out there as soon as possible

[dailyanarchistposts]

In the summer of 2018 I was at a movie night event with newly acquainted classmates from grad school. We were all still getting to know each other and one of them asked me something about my personal beliefs. I don’t remember the details but I remember admitting I was a Buddhist anarchist. I think the reason I put it in those terms had to do with the context of our discussion. Mind you, he is a Japanese classmate whom is fluent in English. But his response was something to the effect of, “How does that even make sense?” And his response filled me with the urge to lecture to him then and there about how Buddhism and anarchism are actually compatible if you really think about it. I was tempted to mention the Japanese Buddhist anarchist monk, Uchiyama Gudō (May 17, 1874 – January 24, 1911), and Emma Goldman’s personal friend from India, Har Dayal (14 October 1884 – 4 March 1939), but I resisted the urge. Instead I promised myself that I would write an essay expounding on this compatibility. So this essay is the result of that urge.

To be sure, I’m not saying Buddhism is to be conflated with anarchism prima facie. Many so-called Buddhist traditions did indeed serve as legitimators of tyrannical rulers and often fomented violent conflicts (e.g. the Genpei war, the Nanboku-chou conflicts, Ikko Ikki rebellions, and so on). And to explain what I mean by Anarchism, let me just first explain the source of my own anarchist convictions. Pyotr Kropotkin is possibly the most influential as he argued for peace and prosperity among humans in his Mutual Aid. The next proponent I draw from is Rudolf Rocker and his outline of Anarcho-Syndicalism as a communal answer to many of the problems that come with an imperfect world driven to subsistence should we fail to cultivate favorable conditions, agriculturally and infrastructurally. And third in my list of influencers would be Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, as he was instrumental in outlining the tyranny of property. And I personally define anarchism in the way atheists define atheism. Just as the prefix ‘a’ means “not” and ‘theist’ means “believer in god”- I am stating the prefix ‘an’ also means “not” and ‘archist’ is a catch-all for all things ending in “archy”: hierarchy, monarchy, oligarchy, patriarchy, etc. The objective of anarchism is to instill a sense of dignity in all people and to charge all with the agency to realize and defend their human rights.

I believe Buddhism and anarchism overlap from the start because both traditions aim to critique the status quo. Additionally, there are several key factors about the Buddhist dhamma and its relationship to political convention that I think makes it more compatible with anarchism than any other political ideology. These factors are expressed in five major juxtapositions: 1. Prince Siddhartha’s defiance against his father, Oligarch Śuddhodana; 2. The dhamma’s dissolution of the Hindu caste system in Northern India; 3. Specific texts accredited to the Buddha that speak against dogmatism; 4. The Sangha’s function as a commune living beyond the limits of monarchies and oligarchies (and often functioning as sanctuaries beyond political realms); 5. Tales of the Buddha and his discourses with the Hindu gods. There is a lot to explore here, so let’s get right into it.

[all-things-are-nothing-to-me]

[tochugesya]

my theories on kunikida’s childhood/backstory *·˚ ༘♡

kunikida is my favorite character (world shock) so i wanted to share my thoughts of it are taken from aspects i have annotated about him/he has said. these are theories!!! nothing confirmed. pd: i have taken some info from doppo kunikida’s irl life, asagiri has taken a lot of details of his life so i doubt he won’t now. please enjoy! :) i also apologize for any misspellings, english is not my first language.

1) kunikida & his family:

kunikida is one of the few characters that have confirmed families (as said in the mini novel kunikida & katai’s magnificent days), so the possibility of being an orphan is eliminated. it’s not mentioned if he has parents or not but he has a family. here are my options/theories abt his family

his dad/his mom (or both) work for the military/government. usually the “stick” personality is associated with having a military family, kunikida’s character trope (istj, moralist) fits in the “military family” stereotype and considering bsd has a lot of topics around the military (like the current arc), it’s a high possibility. this also explains kunikida’s hate of authorities (we will get into this later), and even if they’re not from the military they’re probably people with high prestige/on the traditional side (ex: the zenin’s in jjk).

on the opposite side, kunikida’s family are anti govt (anarchism). again this is mostly related to his authority hate. this also can be linked to the azure king (if you want me to elaborate please let me know!)

these are my main ideas. important to note that irl’s stepdad worked for the ministry of justice and was an ex samurai (which could connect him to one of the fukus). other small things i have noted:

kunikida cares a lot about reputation. maybe this need for the ada’s reputation to stay intact is a reflection of his family.

kunikida used to pass a lot of time with katai (more than with his own family) so they are probably busy people/weren't really present in his life

kunikida has a “motherly” behavior yet he has a strong personality that is usually linked with a strong patriarchal figure. i personally link this to the fact that kunikida’s household could have been more matriarchal. with this, kunikida could have conflicts with his mother possibly related to his idealism.

kunikida is the youngest child. don’t debate me on this.

kunikida’s family dedicates to save people’s lifes/bring justice to them. so he followed their footsteps in his own way.

2. kunikida’s young years

2.1) his possible relation to the great war:

(spoilers for bungo stray dogs manga chapters 65 and 66)

when you think about kunikida's potential childhood, most people assume he had the most "normal" childhood out of all of the ada members. however, kunikida could have (sadly) been involved similarly to how yosano was or in other ways. this section will be divided in two sections: kunikida doppo's irl relation to the sino japanese war (with a connection to irl mori) and kunikida and the usefulness of his ability in the war context.

kunikida doppo and the sino japanese war: for a little bit of context, the first sino japanese war (1894-1895) was a conflict between the japanese empire and china because both countries were looking for being the dominant influence in korea. in this time, multiple authors that were bsdfied participated as war correspondants with the exception of (surprise surprise) ogai mori, who enlisted in the japanese army as an army doctor.

kunikida doppo worked as a war correspondant along with his friend katai tayama in the sino-japanese war. there is no information about where kunikida worked in, but katai worked in taiwan in the same division as mori; this war correspondency was vital for kunikida's career, he got extremely popular due to his war journalism). both kunikida's (doppo and his brother shuuji) were disciples of soho tokutomi, a japanese historian and journalist; it was under him where he became a war correspondant, learnt german (similar to mori) and worked in the newspaper "Kokumin no Tomo" founded by soho, and where mori published "the dancing girl".

kunikida had a involvement in the russo-japanese war, but it's insignificant compared to his work in the sino japanese war. i put this in the post because, as mentioned, asagiri puts details from the irl's life in the story; this is not the reason why i believe he was in the great war, but it makes a little bit more possible.

as i keep rereading this arc, i noticed something yosano said that caught my attention:

doesn't this sound a little similar to mr. idealist "no one will die in front of me"? because it does to me. even if they don't mean the exact same thing, the general idea is the following: keeping people alive.

yosano truly values human life

kunikida's ability and his usefulness in the war:

here's why i believe kunikida may have been involved in the great war; his ability. kunikida's ability "doppo poet" consists of being able to create anything that comes from the notebook. kunikida's ability, even if doesn't look like a threat at first glance, it's a tricky one; if he wanted, he could use a bigger notebook he could summon bigger weapons (such a b0mbs, bigger guns) but he stays with a smaller notebook (which yes it's practical, but why would he use grenades when he could summon better weapons?)

kunikida, with a never ending pile of paper, could summon multiple useful weapons almost at the same time; for the great war, having someone that could create weapons in an instant is convenient. it's also important to remember that ability users' were searched at that time (+ mori's plan, that is explained in chapter 65 or 66).

but besides his ability, and with the past section focused on yosano's trauma and response due to going to the great war, it's not difficult to assume he could have been in a similar situation. kunikida's constant creation of weapons that killed people, that he didn't not want to do because he was a child, in front of him, with no way to stop it because he was forced to create those weapons and because he was a child... he couldn't save them all, kunikida's own experience as a child soldier/weapon during the great war, in this context, is why he's so attached to them, because he sees his little self in them, and in general, it may be possibly the main reason of ideals' being born, so “no one will die in front of me” is kunikida’s reaction to the cruelness of war, just like yosano’s (panel attached below) plus, kunikida's reaction to death is very emotional and raw, which is something that is not seen a lot in bsd (and it's one of his most important characteristics), and has been a theme around for a looong time now.

i wish i'm wrong in this one (please)

2.2) kunikida the rebel

as the name says (lol) kunikida could have been a rebel in high school as well. kunikida does not care about breaking laws (except the ones where he acts like a normal citizen). this could be the aftermath of years of trauma; it's not linked to why he is the way he is but is... more of a way to show he's not that much of a "stick"

ps: between all this mess, he met katai. i don't have a theory abt their meeting but i know those two find each other in the moment they needed it the most. :) following the war timeline, i think katai's family were also involved and they met when it finished and... trauma bonded (to put in blantly).

3. kunikida and the past (why does he not want to talk abt it?)

i want to dive into the most interesting part of kunikida's conversation abt his backstory. he does not want to talk about it.

there are multiple reasons this could be such as shame and trauma; i don't have an elaborate reason why (there could be MULTIPLE) but here are the ones i feel that are the most likely:

as i said before, kunikida could have been from a family of politicians and military members. as he's an idealist, and the topic of politicians and corruption could fit perfectly, he would want to disassociate himself from them.

> this doesn't have to be only abt having govt affiliated family btw. but just the idea that he doesn't want to associate himself with his family because they don't have the same ideals.

he got disowned. not much to mention here

trauma. again not a lot to say here.

rocky relationship with his family. or maybe they are just shitty people and doesn't want to be with them anymore.

othe stuff i have thought about is that kunikida is a liar. not exactly something possible considering ranpo should know by now but it’s still… there. it’s possible.

that's it! i hope you enjoyed. sorry if it's too long i love kunikida. :)♡ let me know what you think as well!

[brookstolemybrand]

I'm thinking about what Vegapunk said about the conflict between Joyboy's faction (and the Ancient Kingdom?) and the alliance of 20 monarchs being ideological

Because there are a lot of options for what that ideological conflict might have been, but the things we have hints for, as far as I can tell, are:

- technology (Ancient Kingdom)

- slavery (Celestial Dragons)

- piracy (Joyboy)

So possible ideological conflicts based on this:

- industrialisation vs tradition

- slavery vs abolitionism

- authoritarianism vs anarchism

I'm simplifying things a bit with the last one, it might not be literally anarchism but it's an easy shorthand

In any case, these are not actually that hard to combine, and there's actually a well-known historical example that does (although with a different outcome): the US civil war

In this case we have the north which was more industrialised and therefore didn't bother with slavery (instead they had capitalism and wage labour which itself had its many injustices but at least it wasn't literal slavery) and the south which was less industrialised and relied heavily on slavery to keep its economy running

And we have abolitionist figures trying to end slavery, including outlaw heroes like Harriet Tubman and John Brown actually taking action to save people and to fight the slave owners

So here are my thoughts:

The Ancient Kingdom is technologically advanced and either never had slavery or more realistically has abolished it

The 20 kingdoms are less technologically advanced and more traditional; they rely heavily on slavery to keep their countries flourishing (see the history of Dressrosa, as told by the Tontattas)

There's probably tension between these two sides because of these differences, but maybe they're trying to keep the peace and resolve these issues via negotiations

Enter Joyboy, a native of the Ancient Kingdom, who for whatever reasons of his own sets out to the sea and ends up coming into conflict with the slavers. Maybe he attacks some slave ships and frees the slaves, and this is why he is labeled a "pirate" by the 20 kingdoms (literally 海賊 "sea bandit" in Japanese), because he's "stealing" the precious "cargo" (enslaved people)

The 20 kingdoms create a navy force to "brign order to the seas" by hunting down this "pirate" and by protecting the slave ships from attacks (and from potential slave rebellions inspired by the stories or the warrior of liberation?)

These incidents then spark a war between the Ancient Kingdom (and their allies) and the Alliance of 20 which escalates into a horrific global conflict with all the consequences we already know of, whatever the exact course of events was

Also, my guess is that maybe the Nefertari family was initially fully on board with the Alliance but Lili and her brother decided to go against their successor (their father maybe?) and secretly allied with Joyboy?

That's what makes sense to me based on what we know of the story, but we'll see I guess

[rockingreads]

Julian Cope: Japrocksampler: How the Post-war Japanese Blew Their Minds on Rock 'n' Roll (2007)

Few music scribes are as educational AND entertaining as the self-described Arch-Drude, Julian Cope ...

He's the onetime vocalist of post-punk outfit The Teardrop Explodes who turned his back on mainstream music to share his seemingly boundless knowledge of obscure and underground sounds, with an emphasis on proto-metal, Kraut-rock, and Jap-rock.

And, no, I'm not sure any of those terms are sill politically correct.

Anyway, in time, Cope developed his own, Hunter S. Thompson-like gonzo writing style, which just so happened to be ideally suited to his innately peculiar, anti-establishment, and frequently chemically-altered musical subjects.

His deep-dive into the anarchic Japanese rock scene of the '60s and '70s via Japrock Sampler opened my eyes (and ears) to a treasure trove of exotic groups: Speed, Glue & Shinki, Blues Creation, Flied Egg, Far East Family Band, Food Brain, Gedo, Les Rallizes Denudes, and, of course, the incomparable Flower Travellin’ Band.

I strongly recommend the experience to my fellow music lovers, but good luck finding an affordable copy of this far-out book; if you do, pounce on it!

Featured Records:

Flower Travellin' Band: Anywhere (1970)

Speed, Glue & Shinki: Eve (1971)

Blues Creation: Demon & Eleven Children (1971)

Food Brain: Social Gathering (1970)

Buy from: Amazon

[fireburial]

A VERY DESCRIPTIVE PROFILE OF YOUR MUSE. Repost with the information of your muse, including headcanons, etc. if you fail to achieve some of the facts, add some other of your own!

NAME: Touya Todoroki

ALIAS/NICKNAME: Dabi, Blueflame, Mr Sleepyhead

AGE: 25 y/o

SPECIES: meta-human (human with abilities)

SEX: cis male

NATIONALITY: Japanese

INTERESTS: reading, astronomy, music, animals, belittling others, anarchism,

PROFESSION: unemployed. used to be a drug dealer and informant, now a wanted terrorist in a criminal organisation fighting against society.

BODY TYPE: lanky, tall with somewhat broader shoulders, but an overall slim build and narrow waist.

EYES: ice-blue colour, usually heavy-lidded

HAIR: crimson red (formerly), white (formerly); unruly, spiked and black-dyed (currently)

SKIN: pale white skin tone with gnarled, dark red/purple burnt patches that cover the area under his eyes, his ears and pretty much most of his lower face, including his entire neck and all the way down past his collarbones. both arms are almost completely burned till his shoulders, such as the area from his ankles up his thighs and some parts of his torso and back. the burnt skin is held together by staples and stitches, reminding of a grotesque "frankenstein's monster" look.

FACE: round face shape with burn scars underneath his eyes and the lower half of his face, including his ears which have both silver cartilage piercings. additionally, the rows of stitches extend from the corners of his mouth to above his ears, giving his face somewhat of a permanent grin. also has a triple nostril piercing on the left side of his nose. his tongue is halfway stitched too.

POSTURE: casual, hands in his pockets, head tilted slightly, laid back posture

HEIGHT: 5'9’’ (176cm)

VOICE: usually soft and calm-spoken despite his rude attitude, but almost always between a playful, smug, mocking tone or a display of boredom/disinterest. his voice goes higher or lower depending on his emotions and cracks when he grows too excited or laughs out loud.

SIGNATURE OUTFIT: long, black fire-proof leather coat with fringed edges at the back, usually with a white v-neck top underneath and matching black fireproof leather pants with white stitches sewn onto them. he wears long, black boots that almost reach his knees and are fire-proof as well.

SIGNIFICANT OTHER: @kettensaege

COMPANIONS: the League of Villains (terrorist organisation) consists of more than just a handful of people, but among the closest are Shigaraki (leader), Toga (member), Mr. Compress (member), Twice (member), Spinner (member), Giran (ally) and @kettensaege (member)

ANTAGONISTS: everyone who gets in his way (of reaching his goals), the Todoroki family, especially his father Enji, etc

STRENGTHS: Very pragmatic in battle and prefers long-distance fights due to his flames. He is rather savvy and analytical about how people operate and will exploit their weaknesses when found out. Not afraid of causing collateral destruction, rarely holding back in a fight, even if it puts his allies at risk. Cunning, manipulative, a good liar, observant and most of the time calm-minded and focused, he's determined to complete his given tasks and reach his goals no matter what. Can be cooperative despite not getting along with everyone.

WEAKNESSES: Intolerant of most people and can be very derisive, rude, and condescending to everyone with whom he interacts. Socially awkward, aloof and introverted. Has trouble controlling and dealing with his emotions due to his fragile mental health. Tends to take pleasure in taunting others, mostly his enemies or strangers, sadistically enjoying the pain he inflicts on others, including those he murders. Has a rather weak body, grows motion-sick and is quickly out of breath. His flames begin to eat away at him and burn his body should he use them for too long, which prevents him from fighting prolonged battles, his flames are also tied with his emotions. Has no proper education besides roughly a middle school degree. He can read and write, however and learned occasionally through reading books and having street smarts and other life experiences.

COLORS: black, purple and blue are among his favourites

FRUITS: strawberries, pineapple, oranges

DRINKS: tea and water mostly

ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES: soju, sometimes sake, beer or vodka

SMOKES/DRUGS: regularly in the mornings, sometimes spontaneously simple cigarettes with no preference for a specific brand. Used to smoke weed and take drugs more often in the past, but doesn't ever since he's stopped dealing and working in the underground.

DRIVER’S LICENSE: none.

tagged by @vikasgarden (thanks, flower girl.) tagging @kettensaege @discsters @vasted @nepnthc

[helmetkeeper]

hello! :3 may we request a playlist for enid sinclair and wednesday from the wednesday netflix series? we’re trying to make a joint playlist and it’s been difficult :’>

uhh, we like chappell roan! i really like her songs and wenny tolerates them- we’ve dubbed ‘our song’ as red wine supernova :)) also taste, by sabrina carpenter. we both like those. wednesday likes a bit of mother mother and the amazing devil, i also like those two bands. maybe bloody mary by lady gaga? oh and wednesday likes classical music, esp cello, but i don’t know if that would really fit.

hopefully that’s enough info ^^’ thank you so much! /gen,nf

hello!! i feel like i fell off somewhere near the middle XD, but i hope y'all like some of these regardless!

order: song ; artist (extra artists) [notes]

dividers by @/saradika and @/paradoxproductions

Talk Too Much ; Reneé Rapp

Born Again Teen ; Lucius

Suburban Blues ; The Aces

Touching Yourself ; The Japanese House [this one's a bit raunchy just from the title being a main lyric lmao]

Addictions ; Lucy Dacus

Honey ; Samia

boys, bugs and men ; Paris Paloma

Pink Light ; MUNA

Burn Alive ; The Last Dinner Party

Bloodline / Difficult Things ; Orla Gartland

Crush ; Ethel Cain

Drain Me! ; Towa Bird

Dream Girl Evil ; Florence + The Machine

girlfriend ; hemlocke springs [one of my favs <3]

heavun ; hemlocke springs

Strohmann ; Riki

Never Ending Song ; Conan Gray

16 ; Caroline Kingsbury

Hounds Of Love ; Kate Bush

GO! ; Santigold (Karen O)

Champagne Coast ; Blood Orange

Opening ; Dora Jar

Gender Is Boring ; She/Her/Hers

Milk Crates ; Pigeon Pit

I Listened ; Apes of the State

Nonbinary Fantasy Trash Babe ; Qfolk

I Forgot ; The Moldy Peaches

Armchair Anarchism ; Not Half Bad

Gender School Dropout ; Ankle Grease

Not at All ; Chad Hates George

Turpan Tango ; Zhen Chen (Jiaju Shen) (Feifei Yang)

Quadro per un giglio ; Aiezza Pasquale [title translates to "Framework for a lily" for me]

Down The Rabbit Hole ; Anna Phoebe (Nicholas Holland)

Stranded ; Antoinette Costa (Kevin Olusola) (Tara Kamangar)

Peculiar ; Chance's End

Give Me Everything - Stripped Down ; Archer Marsh

Espresso ; Vitamin String Quartet

Good Luck, Babe! ; Vitamin String Quartet

Die With A Smile ; Amber Tide

Come Inside Of My Heart ; IV Of Spades

She Knows My Name ; The Family Crest

Looking Out for You ; Joy Again

Dark Red ; Steve Lacy

COUNT THOSE FREAKS ; Whitey [this one's a nice surprise, IMO]

Insomniac ; Memo Boy (Chakra Efendi)

I Don't Wanna Be Your Friend ; Eyedress

Romantic Lover ; Eyedress

Like or Like Like ; Miniature Tigers

Hunnybee ; Unknown Mortal Orchestra

White Winter Hymnal ; Fleet Foxes

High School Poem ; The Knife

Don't Delete The Kisses ; Wolf Alice

Glory Box ; Portishead

Lullaby ; The Cure

Far From Any Road ; The Handsome Family

Eyes on Fire ; Blue Foundation

Into Dust ; Mazzy Star

Sleeping Sun ; Nightwish

Harsh Realm ; Widowspeak

NUMB ; SPIDER GANG [i've been listening to this for the past hour heeeeelp]

[tastethebloodofmeatthawsmoth]

"In Osugi's interpretation, anarchism provided a method for curing the social ills that plagued Japanese society. Further, it offered a method that gave the individual the responsibility and the ability to effect the cure.... Osugi's anarchism was not concerned exclusively with society and its organizational reform: it focused equally on the perfection of the individual by the individual's own action; by that means society too would be perfected. One is often left wondering whether he was not more interested in propagating individualism than anarchism. Anarchist theory, however, spans a wide spectrum of thought from individualism to collectivist syndicalism, and Osugi incorporated the seeming opposites, emphasizing them both." - Thomas Stanley, Osugi Sakae, Anarchist in Taisho Japan: The Creativity of the Ego