#MANIFESTING HER FOR U !!!

[haysgrove]

NOOO I USED THOSE TOO!!! I HAD 13 COOKIE CUTTERS AND I USED GEMS AND I STILL DIDNT GET HER 😭

NOOOO

[bacchuschucklefuck]

they tried to rebrand as The Criminals but riz is literally the city council's treasurer and also turns out people in their late 20s don't really name their friend groups. so now they're The Intrepid Heroes

[neyafromfrance95]

the storytelling in nosferatu 2024 is multilayered, it is full of symbolism and metaphors and should be analyzed within the framework of the gothic medium and context.

orlok is the manifestation of ellen's desires. and in this sense, orlok *is* ellen. or at least the part of her spirit that she has been repressing since her desires are viewed as inherently sinful and impure in the puritanical victorian society.

orlok assaults ellen, yes, but this too should be viewed as a metaphor within the context of the storyline.

the desires that ellen has are viewed as dark, thus she perceives them as violent since she fights to tame her own identity that hungers to be freed. orlok coming to her during her puberty is a metaphor for her sexual awakening. it is viewed as dirty, so she experiences it with shame and as if it's unwelcome.

orlok is an appetite. whose appetite? ellen's. it's not simply an appetite for sex. it's an appetite for life and power. this underlying conflict within ellen is revealed when she is talking to anna on the beach and confesses that she hungers for smtng beyond what is given to her.

speaking of anna, the film hints at her love for ellen being more than platonic friendship. so, it's notable that orlok afflicts anna after she sleeps with ellen. what does this mean metaphorically? well, perhaps anna's feelings for ellen have grown to the point where she starts feeling discomfort in the life she is living, and the inability to face and accept her feelings manifests into the sickness. the four rats on her body represent her family and the darkness that befalls anna represents the crumbling of her false idyllic life. in this case, orlok is anna's appetite for ellen.

so, what happens in the end? yes, ellen sacrifices herself but what happens on a deeper level?

by succumbing to her desires (orlok) willingly, she embraces her own self and accepts her hunger, thus freeing herself of shame - purging the darkness. her desire is dark no more, it's basked in the sunlight and surrounded by the lilacs. she dies bc she transcends into one with own self!

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

you want a new kind of guy, fine, i raise you: the lady i was briefly roommates with in college who once smoked a blunt at a party and then spent an hour confessing earnestly to me that she genuinely preferred reading detailed episode recaps over actually watching the tv show in question

[ash-and-starlight]

modern au and esen’s honkers are haunting the instagram feed

[a-chaotic-dumbass]

so when house lannister has beef with children its all chill but when I, CATELYN STARK,

[harbingersecho]

they had to pause their morning workout to drive wash to the ER at 7 am bc he somehow got hit by a car while getting mail. there's traffic. maine fiddles with the radio and carolina is imagining herself parkouring over the other cars

[dorkfruit]

i thought itd be funny if, aside from just getting the eyes like everyone else, naberius keeps giving ianthe a cleft chin (like he's got) and no matter how many times she tries to get rid of it, it keeps coming back and it looks so out of place on her and she hates it . psychological warfare

[marmaladeclown]

art request of mei in her dragon form!! @thebritishdragon

[soupthatistohot]

BSD 110: An Absurdist Analysis

The fate of Aya Kōda

Since my post analyzing BSD 109 in accordance with Asagiri's absurdist storytelling got so much love, I've decided to continue analyzing the chapters thru an absurdist lens when I deem it relevant, and making predictions accordingly. I think that not only is it an effective way of reading BSD, it gives us readers a bit more hope that things will turn out okay when the plot is... like it is right now (lol).

I recommend checking out my BSD 109 post if you haven't already this since I explain the philosophy of the absurd in depth there :)

BSD 110 spoilers below!! Obviously! Also TW for discussion of suicide.

So. I really don't think the ten year-old girl is going to die.

On top of Aya being "the last hope" (more on that later), suicide is one of those things that absurdists really frown upon.

Aya's plan as I understand it right now is to add her weight to the table in order to pull the sword from Bram's body, this is why she jumps. If this works, the sword will be dislodged and she, the sword and the table would fall to the ground, which is very far below -- she would likely die upon impact.

Absurdists really don't like suicide as a solution to hopeless situations, most absurdist storytellers have their characters commit suicide because they have "given up". It's submission, giving into the meaninglessness of our reality rather than rebelling against and embracing the absurd.

We see this with Oda in Dark Era, his suicide mission is framed as him giving up on life because the orphans were killed. Of course, it also served as catalyst for Dazai's character development, compelling him to escape a situation that would have likely ended up in his own eventual suicide. All this to say that even though Asagiri chose to make Oda go on a suicide mission, the overall narrative purpose still lent itself to absurdism through Dazai's decision to defect. It needed to happen for the story to move forward as it has (and as we know from BEAST, there literally cannot be a universe in which both Oda and Dazai are alive).

So, if Aya dies now, what message does this send? It's almost certain that the world will literally end if she does, meaning that everyone's efforts up until this point have all been for naught, which, as I explained in my BSD 109 post, is the opposite of the entire point of BSD as an absurdist text. Aya is really the "last hope" right now, with all our other main characters pretty much screwed or just not present.

"Nothing is impossible for a warrior of justice. We beat the bad guys and save the world, no matter what happens."

What Aya says right here is something I'd liken to the Dazai quote I brought up with my BSD 109 analysis: "The ones who actually make the world turn are those who scream within the storm of uncertainty and run with flowing blood." Both communicate the idea that there's never an acceptable point in time to give up (suicide), that there's always something more that you can do, even when things seem bleak. Those who "make the world turn" are one in the same with Aya's concept of "warriors of justice."

Aya may not succeed exactly the way we expect her to, but she absolutely is not dying like this. On top of the absurdist storytelling reasons, she's just a child. Of course, we know Asagiri isn't above killing kids, but Aya is a bit different than the other children we've met in BSD. Her character has been built up and developed, she has a fleshed-out backstory, and we've spent a lot of time with her. To kill off a little girl we've come to care about a lot would just be cruel, plus her death wouldn't really serve a narrative purpose right now.

So, what could happen?

One prediction is that Aya adding her weight to the table does dislodge the sword and she falls, but she is saved by another character. We know Kenji and Tecchou are out there right now, we haven't seen Yosano or Kyouka in ages, etc. etc.. Basically, there are definitely people out there that could come to her rescue.

But there's an option I like a lot better: Aya's ability manifests.

Aya Kōda was a 20th century Japanese novelist and essayist, and the namesake for the Aya we know in BSD. As far as we know, all the characters who are named after real-life authors possess an ability inspired by the life/work of said author. Aya doesn't have an ability yet, so logic follows that she will develop one by the end of the series.

I'm not sure where I read this, so take it with a grain of salt, but I believe that in BSD the character's abilities manifest because of trauma. Not only does Aya live in a somewhat emotionally abusive household, but she's literally been thrust into the middle of a conflict in which the world could literally end and has decided to jump off of a tall building to try to save the world -- I'd say that's pretty traumatizing!

I'm not familiar with the irl Aya Kōda's works enough to speculate about what her ability would actually do, but there's a decent chance that because of the current situation, her special ability will manifest in order to prevent her from dying and/or dislodge the sword from Bram. This would also fit absurdist storytelling very well, she's literally doing jumping off a building as a complete last ditch effort, it's a crazy plan that probably won't work -- but her other option is to just accept death, and that's not acceptable. If she were to manifest her ability in this moment, it would reinforce the idea that rebelling against the absurd has value, that even when things seem at their worst there's always something you can do.

Anyway, these are just my thoughts! Please feel free to add anything you find relevant, especially if you're familiar with Aya's irl counterpart! See you next month ;)

Here's the BSD 110 translation I pulled the panels from.

[canongf]

one of my friends offered to connect me with his friend’s agency… i don’t want to get my hopes up too high but please please please please please

[shalomniscient]

I need Arlecchino to return in 5.3, during her banner I lost 50/50 thank to Qiqi and now I have 100 wishes waiting just for her

Father please come home with the milk

i mean i have arle c1r1 but ofc i want constellations... but if mavu is right before her I'M GONNA BE TURBO BROKE. BROKE LIKE NEVER BEFORE sobsssss like apparently mavu's weapon is also really good in general... crying weeping wailing i might just have to swipe

[badscientist]

clive enjoys the following: harassing vermeil especially if it entails inflicting pain, books, smoking & other addictive substances, food and very intense stimuli, whether that be physical pleasures or pain.

[sleepyminty]

When the rabbit motif woman from the previous game meet the rabbit motif woman of the sequel

(Disclaimer: op is not an artist)

[aroaceleovaldez]

doodle page from a couple months ago of Nico having way too many immortal friends

also yes i did just use Nyx’s Hades design. it’s a good design.

[orcelito]

Tally still isn't quite back to 100% yet, but she's recovered a lot in general. Every time she does one of her normal habits that she'd stopped doing while she was sick, my heart just squeezes with gratefulness. Stuff like her yowling like I died after I go to bed, her climbing onto my lap while I'm sitting on the toilet and/or watching me from on top of her litter box, her jumping onto furniture, her getting up in my face and sniffing my breath as I slowly blow air at her, her trying to eat the plants, her PLAYING.... and of course, her eating.

I also discovered the coat rack toppled over onto the couch after getting out of bed today - surely her doing. Didn't break anything so im just glad she's back to being at least some semblance of a chaos demon, even if she's not totally recovered yet.

It's the little things, sometimes. All her little habits, some harmless and some annoying, that make up who she is and her presence in my life. When all of these stop, so she's just a lump on the couch, barely eating and barely getting up... it was unsettling. And worrisome.

But I've got my baby back. She's still not super high energy, but she's got enough to feel like herself again. And I'm so, so grateful.