#This one is certainly

[tariah23]

Oh…. Well, it’s over for Crunchyroll I guess

[hinamie]

spins him around trying to understand the pink mop he calls hair

[stromblessed]

Mizu, femininity, and fallen sparrows

In my last post about Mizu and Akemi, I feel like I came across as overly critical of Mizu given that Mizu is a woman who - in her own words - has to live as a man in order to go down the path of revenge.

If she is ever discovered to be female by the wrong person, she will not only be unable to complete her quest, but there's a good chance that she'll be arrested or killed.

So it makes complete sense for Mizu to distance herself as much as possible from any behavior that she feels like would make someone question her sex.

I felt so indignant toward Mizu on my first couple watchthroughs for this moment. Why couldn't Mizu bribe the woman and her child's way into the city too? If Mizu is presenting as a man, couldn't she claim to be the woman's escort?

However, this moment makes things pretty clear. Mizu knows all too well the plight of women in her society. She knows it so well that she cannot risk ever finding herself back in their position again. She helps in what little way she can - without drawing attention to herself.

Mizu is not a hero and she is not one to make of herself a martyr - she will not set herself on fire to keep others warm. There's room to argue that Mizu shouldn't prioritize her quest over people's lives, but given the collateral damage Mizu can live with in almost every episode of season 1, Mizu is simply not operating under that kind of morality at this point. ("You don't know what I've done to reach you," Mizu tells Fowler.)

And while I still feel like Mizu has an obvious and established blind spot when it comes to Akemi because of their differences in station, such that Mizu's judgment of Akemi and actions in episode 5 are the result of prejudice rather than the result of Mizu's caution, I also want to establish that Mizu is just as caged as Akemi is, despite her technically having more freedom while living as a man.

Mizu can hide her mixed race identity some of the time, and she can hide her sex almost all of the time, but being able to operate outside of her society's strict rules for women does not mean she cannot see their plight.

It does not mean she doesn't hurt for them.

Back to Mizu and collateral damage, remember that sparrow?

While Mizu is breaking into Boss Hamata's manse, she gets startled by a bird and kills it on reflex. She then cradles it in her hands - much more tenderly than we've seen Mizu treat almost anything up to this point in the season:

She then puts it in its nest, with its unhatched eggs. Almost like she's trying to make the death look natural. Or like an accident.

You see where I'm going with this.

When Mizu kills Kinuyo, Mizu lingers in the moment, holding the body tenderly:

And btw a lot of stuff about this show hit me hard, but this remains the biggest gut punch of them all for me, Mizu holding that poor girl's body close, GOD

When Mizu arranges the "scene of the crime," Kinuyo's body is delicate, birdlike. And Mizu is so shaken afterward that she gets sloppy. She's horrified at this kill to the point that she can't bring herself to take another innocent life - the boy who rats her out.

MIZU'S ONE MOMENT OF SOFTNESS AND MERCY, COMING ON THE HEELS OF HER NEEDING TO KILL A GIRL TO SPARE HER THE WORST FATE THAT THIS RIGID SOCIETY HAS TO OFFER WOMEN, AND TO SPARE A BROTHEL FULL OF INNOCENT WOMEN WHO ARE THE CASTOFFS OF SOCIETY, NEARLY RESULTS IN ALL OF THEIR DEATHS

No wonder Mizu is as stoic and cold as she is.

And no wonder Mizu has no patience for Akemi whatsoever right before the terrible reveal and the fight breaks out:

Speaking of Akemi - guess who else is compared to a bird!

The plumage is more colorful, a bit flashier. But a bird is a bird.

And, uh

Yeah.

I like to think that Mizu killing the sparrow is not only foreshadowing for what she must do to Kinuyo, but is also a representation of the choice she makes on Akemi's behalf. She decides to cage the bird because she believes the bird is "better off." Better off caged than... dead.

But because Mizu doesn't know Akemi or her situation, she of course doesn't realize that the bird is fated to die if it is caged and sent back home.

Mizu is clearly not happy, or pleased, or satisfied by allowing Akemi to be dragged back to her father:

But softness and mercy haven't gotten Mizu anywhere good, recently.

There is so much tragedy layered into Mizu's character, and it includes the things she has to witness and the choices she makes - or believes she has to make - involving women, when she herself can skirt around a lot of what her society throws at women. Although, I do believe that it comes at the cost of a part of Mizu's soul.

After all, I'm gonna be haunted for the rest of this show by Mizu's very first prayer in episode 1:

"LET" her die. Because as Ringo points out, she doesn't "know how" to die.

Kind of like another bird in this show:

[corvicyak-art]

[ID from ALT: Digital painting of Stan from Gravity Falls as a young adult with a mullet. He's carrying a duffel bag and looking forward with a worried expression, with his mouth slightly open. There's red lighting striking him. End ID]

But I'm more than a need or a thing you believe or a word that you leave unsaid

[uncanny-tranny]

Honestly, there is a certain type of fetishizing of violence that occurs when you are the victim of abuse - wherein people talk directly to you about how much they fantasize about your abuser/s dying and being killed - "all abusers must be killed!" they say.

As a victim of prolonged abuse, I never felt cared for when people indulged that information to me. It often feels like my abuse is being exploited for others to enact their own violent fantasies and secret desires - my abuse means nothing to them in the same way that I didn't matter to my abusers. It's not support - it's just another cycle of violence.

I'm begging people to care more about victims and survivors than they do about retribution of abusers. Nowhere along the way should your focus on the abuser outweigh the people affected by their abuse. If you truly want to support abuse victims and survivors, start with us

[newttxt]

happy bday law. u cant say i never give u anything…

[ghoulbats]

well….it finally happened

[markscherz]

Behold, the European platonic ideal of a frog.

[axiondelta]

I wanted to try my hand at animation and decided some scribbly walk and run cycles would be a fun way to do it. I’ve always liked to imagine that, based on Soundwave’s body structure and the fact that he’s already a delightfully eldritch cryptid of a Cybertronian, he could walk and run on all fours with ease.

[rhad-barks]

everyone abstaining from voting or voting third party because both main candidates are awful are absolutely losing the plot i'm sorry. the two party system is so horribly huge that if you don't vote blue you're basically voting for trump, and it might not seem like it matters when both him and kamala are horrible, it really does. which one do you think will be easier to organize for a better country under: the one who's openly trying to lock the country into a totalitarian regime where as many minorities' rights as possible are stripped away, or the one that is still awful but with a much subtler impact?

under kamala there is a much greater chance we can rise up together and put a stop to israel's genocidal rampage. under trump we will be crushed like bugs. you do not have to support kamala to understand which one is the more survivable choice.

[zorangezest]

shattered glass

[hinamie]

wanted to practice some more intense angry expressions and what better excuse to further my agenda of giving megumi the emotional catharsis he deserves

[lemongrad]

I drive between Massachusetts and New York with some frequency, and not too long ago Connecticut put up a sign on I-84 south welcoming people to the state, and declaring it the "basketball capital of the world". This seemed a weird statement, as the Boston Celtics have the most championship titles in the NBA, and Springfield MA is the birthplace of basketball and home to the hall of fame, but whatever.

Driving back from New York today I noticed the "pizza capital of the united states" sign, and realized they are picking fights on purpose.

[jonnywaistcoat]

Greetings Mr waistcoat

So I run these ghost story periods at the summer camp I work at. Last time I read Do Not Open (with a few tweaks because kids) and the cabin was not impressed (no taste ig). What statement would you reccomend for 10-13 year olds for ghost stories?

I dunno, mate, honestly. I wrote Archives for depressed, burned out millenials like me and the fact that it took off in a bunch of high schools will forever be slightly baffling to me. I try to write good, interesting Horror and I like to think I broadly succeed, but as far as figuring out whats gonna be a hit with The Demographics, your guess is as good as mine!

I would say you don't need to tone em down, though. Kids are absolute sickos, in my experience, and can't get enough of the gruesome shit.

[time-woods]

doing these drawing pages is fun but they always end up getting more and morequeer

[grand-line-shenanigans]

For those of us who cannot comprehend big numbers (me) I have done the math. FOUR FUCKING YEARS. SECUNIT WHAT THE FUCK.