#Virtual Trial Management

[theconcinnitycompany]

5 Strategies to Simplify Virtual Trial Management Using the Right Tech Stack

Virtual clinical trials require efficient and secure methods for remote site oversight and monitoring. This includes virtual visits, remote source data verification, and virtual document management. 

When building your virtual trial tech stack, it’s critical that you include a system that can manage each of these core needs. As a best practice, ensure you choose a system that is:

Easy-to-use.

Effective at meeting your core oversight and monitoring needs.

Bug-free (or as close as you can get). 

[sunderwight]

Liushen AU where SY transmigrates into SJ's older brother, and subsequently nopes them right out of the slavery backstory by using his general knowledge of the story and actually being an adult in a kid's body to just leave (basically) with SJ and YQ.

SY carts them both up to Cang Qiong for the next sect trials. It's actually not all that hard, the trickiest part is getting enough to eat and finding safe places to sleep between leaving the slavers and taking the trials (SY manages just barely, with considerable help from his new little brothers.) Nobody bothers to go after them because it's before Qiu Jianluo and this style of human traffickers mostly operate by virtue of their merchandise having nowhere else to go. Chasing down runaways is an expense not worth indulging, given that most of them either come straight back or die of exposure.

Anyway, they take the trials, and as expected YQY gets chosen to become a personal disciple for the sect leader, and SJ gets chosen by the Qing Jing Peak Lord, but also as (kind of) expected (by SY alone) nobody wants SY. He's older the Yue Qi, so too old, and unlike YQ and SJ his cultivation potential isn't striking enough to make any exceptions for him.

SY, however, can't leave it at that. He's spent more than five minutes with the street kid codependency gang, so he's gotten attached to both of them. And he knows what will happen if they're left to their own devices and The Plot proceeds accordingly. (Also, they keep threatening to not stay at the sect if SY doesn't stay too, for some reason.) So with a heavy heart and internal candle lit for himself, SY heads to Bai Zhan Peak. Which is the only peak that accepts disciples by way of them turning up and refusing to leave.

SY's not much of a fighter. He actually really hates the atmosphere on BZP, he's not bad at physical cultivation (his health's pretty good in this life, ironic considering how much worse his situation was) but the random ambushes and survival-of-the-fittest stuff is just not his brand. But that's okay, because it turns out that BZP actually DESPERATELY needs disciples on the actual peak who are interested in things other than fighting and cultivating their own strength. Stuff like, filling out requisition requests for An Ding every time things break, apologizing to An Ding every time things break again, organizing schedules, browbeating senior disciples into actually teaching, educating disciples on virtually any artistic or social skill, hosting lectures on how to beat vicious beasts without just overpowering them, and etc.

Okay so some of this stuff isn't and has never actually been on Bai Zhan's curriculum but Shen Yuan is going to make this place tolerable. And stop these children from needlessly getting acid burns or lyme disease or scurvy or whatever. He keeps internally chewing out Airplane for designing a sect system that means there are a lot of largely unsupervised 12-year-olds running around the wilderness on a mountain picking fights all the time. (When he actually meets Shang Qinghua and figures him out he switches to doing it in person, of course, in twice-monthly bitching sessions that look a lot like budding friendship.)

Of course one of the worst offenders is the Liu kid, who SY would suspect was actually raised by wolves if he didn't know for a fact that Liu Qingge has a younger sister, and also the kinds of nice clothing and letters from home that strongly imply not only does he have a family, but that the family is pretty well-off. Liu Qingge is at first deeply offended by SY being a BZP disciple. He rarely fights anyone, and uses tricks and evasion tactics whenever a fight can't be avoided. And he does other annoying stuff, like pestering him about meals and baths and lecturing him on identifying dangerous plants and the early signs of qi deviation. This is not what their peak is about! He should get with the program already! Just fight stuff until you're too tired to keep fighting stuff!

Also SY's younger brother, SJ, is pure evil (at least according to baby Liu Qingge) even though his other younger brother (?) is cool and nice.

Anyway, Liu Qingge stops complaining about SY after their first mission together, where Liu Qingge doesn't lose a fight but does get into a kind of pyrrhic victory situation where he's really badly hurt, and it's SY who helps him win (correctly identifying the monster and then pointing out its weakness) and takes care of him afterwards and gets him safely back to Cang Qiong. SY expresses surprise at LQG actually being polite to him, and LQG realizes that he's been a colossal ass if people think he wouldn't be grateful to someone who saved his life, so the usual Liushen dynamic proceeds from there. Liu Qingge starts bringing SY fans he leaves behind and hunts down animals that are supposed to be useful for bolstering weak cultivation, SY invites LQG to tea and keeps the critters as pets, etc etc.

SY doesn't get the Head Disciple position, because that's only acquired via beating the current peak lord in combat and lol no. Also he's not interested in stealing it from Liu Qingge, to whom it rightfully belongs (in his mind). But that's fine, because Liu Qingge takes the position when the next generation ascends and then he lets SY exclusively handle all the peak duties SY actually likes (mainly teaching). It's perfect -- Liu Qingge gets to focus on his War God antics and occasional administration/meetings without having to deal with students his has no patience for, but the disciples of BZP don't get neglected because SY is actually teaching and organizing classes and student care. BZP hasn't enjoyed a golden age like this since it was founded!

Things are pretty good overall, but Shen Yuan knows that it's only a matter of time before The Plot shows up, and so he can't rest completely easily.

Meanwhile, the will-they-or-won't-they bets on Liushen have been going strong for a while now. The thing is, most of their martial siblings are convinced that these two are already "together", and just being circumspect about it. Those who know SY well (like SJ, YQY, and SQH) know better but think that SY's romantic obtuseness is to blame, whereas those who know LQG well (LMY, WQW, and MQF) are pretty sure that it's actually LQG's obtuseness that's the problem. Of course it's actually both of them, so efforts to "fix" matters by getting through one of their thick skulls inevitably run afoul of the other's.

An additional complication is of course: SJ doesn't like LQG (mutual), and now that he's the leader of his own peak, he wants to poach SY to come and live there. Not only so he can have one of the 2 people he trusts actually close at hand, but also because SJ also hates actually teaching the atrocious little brats on his peak, and would like to have SY come and do it for him. YQY is still a total pushover for him too, and is also now the sect leader, so YQY agrees that SY can change peaks if SY and LQG both agree to it.

Liu Qingge, of course, is a no, but he's a variable "no". He's not going to hold Shen Yuan against his will or anything.

As for Shen Yuan, it's... complicated. He doesn't really like BZP, but it's gotten a lot better than it was at the start. These days he's actually pretty proud of his accomplishments, and it's more comfortable, but it's still a rough and rowdy place with fewer creature comforts, libraries, or other appealing points than QJP. Also, if he goes to Qing Jing to teach, he can personally ensure that SJ doesn't go around persecuting any of his students!

But... SJ never lived with the Qiu family in this AU, and even though SY's not totally clear on what the PIDW backstory for SJ was, he knows he's a better guy now than the scum villain in the book was. He has a reputation for making cutting remarks, not for being an abusive snake or a lecher. SY's honestly less worried about him doing anything bad at all, and there are other people on QJP who can teach. It might even be good for SJ to promote more people to fill out a social circle he can rely on! That guy needs more friends, seriously.

And QJP really doesn't need more layabout literary intellectual types who get into pointless arguments, which is all SY would be if he went there. Just yet another nerdy scholar for the rich kids with middling cultivation that the peak favors to ignore. At least on BZP he's filling a gap.

SY is clearly torn, and the fact that SY's considering it has LQG upset, and LQG doesn't handle being upset very well, so of course they have an argument about it. SY storms off to cool his head and LQG is like, this is it, he's gone to Qing Jing Peak, I've drive him off by being too aggressive and he's probably remembering all those times I told him he didn't belong here and oh no what have I done maybe if I build him a heated bath and get him books he will come back???

Turns out that SY just went to An Ding to vent at SQH while SQH was like "I think you would have fewer problems if you and Liu Qingge just got married and my disciples could call you Shigu to your face instead of behind your back" and SY threw melon seeds at him and sulked on his fainting couch (which is always cold for some reason...)

Thus begins the Liushen Divorce Arc where SY tries to be anywhere but BZP or QJP, Liu Qingge tries to figure out what thing he can punch to fix this not-punchable problem, SJ is like "I don't see what the big deal is they should break up Liu Qingge is awful and I want my brother to teach my classes for me" like the spoiled youngest sibling he's finally allowed to be, YQY is trying to moderate this Hades vs Demeter situation and is all "well maybe SY could spend half the year on QJP and half on BZP?", and Liu Mingyan is going "I know my brother if this doesn't work out he is going to die single and pining like an idiot" and so keeps conscripting other disciples to y'know, lock SY and LQG into storage closets together (ineffective: LQG can punch through walls) or at least get them in the same room (underestimating SY's willingness to yeet himself out of windows to avoid awkward social interactions.)

By the time Luo Binghe joins the sect (as a Qiong Ding disciple), the drama is in full swing and is the main topic of gossip across most of the peaks.

[fight-nights-at-freddys]

MASTER POST OF PROSHIP RESOURCES!!! <3<3

this is just for links (bc i just have No Way of formatting this properly), so for more in-depth stuffs and credits, head to the google doc, or the carrd !! :3c

Fiction ≠ Reality

Violent media -

Does Media Violence Predict Societal Violence? It Depends on What You Look at and When

Video Game Violence Use Among “Vulnerable” Populations: The Impact of Violent Games on Delinquency and Bullying Among Children with Clinically Elevated Depression or Attention Deficit Symptoms

Extreme metal music and anger processing

On the Morality of Immoral Fiction: Reading Newgate Novels, 1830–1848

How gamers manage aggression: Situating skills in collaborative computer games

Examining desensitization using facial electromyography:Violent videogames, gender, and affective responding

'Bad' video game behavior increases players' moral sensitivity

Fiction and Morality: Investigating the Associations Between Reading Exposure, Empathy, Morality, and Moral Judgment

Comfortably Numb or Just Yet Another Movie? Media Violence Exposure Does Not Reduce Viewer Empathy for Victims of Real Violence Among Primarily Hispanic Viewers

Fantasy Crime: The Criminalisation of Fantasy Material Under Australia's Child Abuse Material Legislation

Being able to distinguish fiction from reality -

Effects of context on judgments concerning the reality status of novel entities

Children’s Causal Learning from Fiction: Assessing the Proximity Between Real and Fictional Worlds

Reality/Fiction Distinction and Fiction/Fiction Distinction during Sentence Comprehension

Reality = Relevance? Insights from Spontaneous Modulations of the Brain’s Default Network when Telling Apart Reality from Fiction

How does the brain tell the real from imagined?

Meeting George Bush versus Meeting Cinderella: The Neural Response When Telling Apart What is Real from What is Fictional in the Context of Our Reality

loli/shota/kodocon -

If I like lolicon, does it mean I’m a pedophile? A therapist’s view

Virtual Child Pornography, Human Trafficking and Japanese Law: Pop Culture, Harm and Legal Restrains

Lolicon: The Reality of ‘Virtual Child Pornography’ in Japan

Report: cartoon paedophilia harmless

‘The Lolicon Guy:’ Some Observations on Researching Unpopular Topics in Japan

Robot Ghosts And Wired Dreams Japanese Science Fiction From Origins To Anime [pg 227-228]

Australia's "child abuse material' legislation, internet regulation and the juridification of the imaginationjuridification of the imagination [pg 14-15]

Multiple Orientations as Animating Misdelivery: Theoretical Considerations on Sexuality Attracted to Nijigen (Two-Dimensional) Objects

Positive Impact on Mental Health

Art therapy -

The effectiveness of art therapy for anxiety in adults: A systematic review of randomised and non-randomised controlled trials

Efficacy of Art Therapy in Individuals With Personality Disorders Cluster B/C: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Effectiveness of Art Therapy With Adult Clients in 2018 - What Progress Has Been Made?

Benefits of Art Therapy in People Diagnosed With Personality Disorders: A Quantitative Survey

The Effectiveness of Art Therapy in the Treatment of Traumatized Adults: A Systematic Review on Art Therapy and Trauma

The clinical effectiveness and current practice of art therapy for trauma

Writing therapy -

Optimizing the perceived benefits and health outcomes of writing about traumatic life events

Expressive writing and post-traumatic stress disorder: Effects on trauma symptoms, mood states, and cortisol reactivity

Focused expressive writing as self-help for stress and trauma

Putting Stress into Words: The Impact of Writing on Physiological, Absentee, and Self-Reported Emotional Well-Being Measures

The writing cure: How expressive writing promotes health and emotional well-being

Effects of Writing About Traumatic Experiences: The Necessity for Narrative Structuring

Scriptotherapy: The effects of writing about traumatic events

Emotional and physical benefits of expressive writing

Emotional and Cognitive Processing in Sexual Assault Survivors' Narratives

Finding happiness in negative emotions: An experimental test of a novel expressive writing paradigm

An everyday activity as treatment for depression: The benefits of expressive writing for people diagnosed with major depressive disorder

Writing about emotional experiences as a therapeutic process

Effects of expressive writing on sexual dysfunction, depression, and PTSD in women with a history of childhood sexual abuse: Results from a randomized clinical trial

Written Emotional Disclosure: Testing Whether Social Disclosure Matters

Written emotional disclosure: A controlled study of the benefits of expressive writing homework in outpatient psychotherapy

Misc -

Emotional disclosure about traumas and its relation to health: Effects of previous disclosure and trauma severity

Treating complex trauma in adolescents: A phase-based integrative approach for play therapists

Emotional expression and physical health: Revising traumatic memories or fostering self-regulation?

Disclosure of Sexual Victimization: The Effects of Pennebaker's Emotional Disclosure Paradigm on Physical and Psychological Distress

Kink/Porn/Fantasies

Sexual fantasies -

A Critical Microethnographic Examination of Power Exchange, Role Idenity and Agency with Black BDSM Practitioners

Women's Rape Fantasies: An Empirical Evaluation of the Major Explanations

History, culture and practice of puppy play

What Exactly Is an Unusual Sexual Fantasy?

The Psychology of Kink: a Survey Study into the Relationships of Trauma and Attachment Style with BDSM Interests

Punishing Sexual Fantasy

Women's Erotic Rape Fantasies

Sexual Fantasy and Adult Attunement: Differentiating Preying from Playing

What Is So Appealing About Being Spanked, Flogged, Dominated, or Restrained? Answers from Practitioners of Sexual Masochism/Submission

Dark Fantasies, Part 1 - With Dr. Ian Kerner

Why Do Women Have Rape Fantasies

The 7 Most Common Sexual Fantasies and What to Do About Them

Sexual Fantasies

Pornography -

The Effects of Exposure to Virtual Child Pornography on Viewer Cognitions and Attitudes Toward Deviant Sexual Behavior

American Identities and Consumption of Japanese Homoerotica

The differentiation between consumers of hentai pornography and human pornography

Pornography Use and Holistic Sexual Functioning: A Systematic Review of Recent Research

Claiming Public Health Crisis to Regulate Sexual Outlets: A Critique of the State of Utah's Declaration on Pornography

Pornography and Sexual Dysfunction: Is There Any Relationship?

Reading and Living Yaoi: Male-Male Fantasy Narratives as Women's Sexual Subculture in Japan

Women's Consumption of Pornograpy: Pleasure, Contestation, and Empowerment

Pornography and Sexual Violence

The Sunny Side of Smut

Other -

Fantasy Sexual Material Use by People with Attractions to Children

Fictosexuality, Fictoromance, and Fictophilia: A Qualitative Study of Love and Desire for Fictional Characters

Exploring the Ownership of Child-Like Sex Dolls

Are Sex and Pornograpy Addiction Valid Disorders? Adding a Leisure Science Perspecive to the Sexological Critique

Littles: Affects and Aesthetics in Sexual Age-Play

An Exploratory Study of a New Kink Activity: "Pup Play"

Jaws Effect

The Jaws Effect: How movie narratives are used to influence policy responses to shark bites in Western Australia

The Shark Attacks That Were the Inspiration for Jaws

The Great White Hope (written by Peter Benchley, writer of Jaws)

The Jaws Myth [not a study BUT is an interesting read and provides some links to articles and studies]

Slenderman Stabbings

Out Came the Girls: Adolescent Girlhood, the Occult, and the Slender Man Phenomenon

Jury in Slender Man case finds Anissa Weier was mentally ill, will not go to prison

2nd teen in 'Slender Man' stabbing case to remain in institutional care for 40 years

Negative effects of online harassment

How stressful is online victimization? Effects of victim's personality and properties of the incident

Prevalence, Psychological Impact, and Coping of Cyberbully Victims Among College Students

Offline Consequences of Online Victimization

The Relative Importance of Online Victimization in Understanding Depression, Delinquency, and Substance Use

Internet trolling and everyday sadism: Parallel effects on pain perception and moral judgement

The MAD Model of Moral Contagion: The Role of Motivation, Attention, and Design in the Spread of Moralized Content Online

Morally Motivated Networked Harassment as Normative Reinforcement

When Online Harassment is Perceived as Justified

Violence on Reddit Support Forums Unique to r/NoFap

"It Makes Me, A Minor, Uncomfortable" Media and Morality in Anti-Shippers' Policing of Online Fandom

[artsninspo]

002 | Richmond Inc.

「 ✦ full library & archive ✦ 」

「 ✦ aaron pierre & characters library ✦ 」

⇚ 001

♠ authors note: hi! wow, wow, wow - the first part of this is doing so well. thanks to everyone who has liked, commented and reblogged. a few notes firstly- I've changed the POV . Our OC is Lorence Cole commonly referred to as Cole professionally, no worries though she’s very much a black woman.

♠ summary: Terry Richmond is still keen on recruiting Lorence for the open directors position within his security firm. Her stellar results during both tactical and physical trials makes her a top candidate but his reputation is in the way of her eager acceptance of the offer.

♠ pairing: Terry Richmond (Aaron Pierre - Rebel Ridge) X Lorence Cole (Black Fem OC)

♠ word-count: ~1.5K

⌖ - Richmond Inc. Training HQ

Second to being in the presence of the Boss, tactical day is my second least favourite part of my job. It’s not that I’m a pacifist but the idea of pulling the trigger and striking a human being in a vital artery is the last thing I want to be doing. Securing my ear protection I let the rounds go being as precise as possible so I can leave sooner than later. This training is proactive and preventative for agents like me who never see the more violent side of the field. It's a necessary evil. A team is only as strong as their weakest link and if shit ever hits the fan I never want to be the person left behind who can't carry their own weight.

“Hey Cole join our competition” a couple of the guys call as I pack up the firearm.

“No thanks” I respond. “Wouldn’t want to make you boys look bad.” I add playfully and they all laugh telling me my comment is wishful thinking. The Boss is huge on being proactive. Since its inception Richmond Inc. has only lost one employee while on assignment. That was while he was being a hero and not doing what we were trained to do. I move onto a larger weapon and look through the scope taking the stationary targets down one by one before heading  on to the moving targets course. This one is a simulation, kind of like virtual reality but it feels real. It’s a culmination of all of our training, unfortunately us women are required to perform it twice. Once with heels and the other time in footwear of our choosing. My score is satisfactory and I relax after finishing the tactical portion. I take a short breather before I head to finish the physical training. Some of the field agents come out to place the weighted vests and ankle weights on me before I’m forced into the pool. Stay afloat for twenty minutes or cross the length of the pool twice. I manage the crossing with difficulty before I’m pulled up from the up edge. It’s the track that sees me next. I dry off as much as I can before making quick work of the three miles within the time constraints. When I’m finished I take my time in the sauna before changing. I get dressed and make myself presentable before emerging from the facilities. I’m gonna need an energy drink and a coffee to make it through the rest of today. Chatter gets my attention and I find the Boss standing in front of the exit. I look for another exit to avoid any interactions. I curse myself again for finishing so quickly - I wouldn't have if I knew he was in town.

“Lorence, of course you’re top twenty” A familiar voice shouts, blowing my attempt at discretion. Still, I smile at the sight of my mentor wearing a proud smile. Joel taught me everything I know about passing both the tactical and physical trials, lord knows I was bottom ten when I first joined the firm. “Rich told me you declined a director position. Why would you do that? You have everything it takes.” He asks discreetly. Unlike the Boss Joel is generous, kind and patient. He spoiled me with his easy going temperament. If it were a director position under him there’d be nothing to discuss. I’d sign the dotted line in a heartbeat. The possibilities of how ugly this job can become would be my only worry and not verbal abuse from time to time.

“I’m not good under pressure” I mutter.

“Yeah fucking right. How many times have you talked us out of a bind?” Joel asks like a proud father figure. His greatest leadership quality is that he likes to see others shine and knows how to get the light out of them. “More than half of us in the field aren’t as smart as you. Negotiate. The Boss isn’t above reason and always puts the company first. I can put in a good word.” Joel offers.

“It’s not that I’m smarter, it's that none of you guys listen. I’m not interested in Joel” I respond jokingly.

“No, your testing proves you’re the right one for the position” he says.

I sigh. “I enjoy my life, okay?”

“What, sitting on an overpriced couch? Spending hours cooking for one?” Joel teases and I glare at him while he has a laugh at my expense.

“Come on, try the winter circuit - it’s lowkey and easy to get your feet wet. You can shadow me. $750k to do what you can do in your sleep” Joel says being a salesman.

“What? Do you get a commission?” I tease.

“No, I'll get my best agent back.” Joel says.

I take a deep breath in and weigh my options. “I have one condition before I seriously consider it. If you don’t think it’s possible then drop it”

“What” Joel asks, brow raised and ready for a challenge.

“I deal with you and not the Boss” I tell Joel who seizes up. His brows bunch like it's the most ridiculous request. Confusion covers his expression, most of why people become directors is for the position's proximity to Mr. Richmond. It's worth his weight in gold. “You know I make mistakes in the beginning and he’s an eagle eyed freak who blows up on people. I don’t do well with that. If you can take the tirades for me I’ll consider the promotion” I explain and understanding settles into his expression. He nods looking down dimples settling into his cheeks.

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.” Joel laughs shaking his head side to side.

I’m not at all amused. “It’s my line, it’s my condition. I like peace” 

“Are you being this insane for praise too or just criticism?” Joel asks, patronizing me.

“Both are fine with me, they can trickle down through you” I shrug and the hulk himself comes over looking down at his tablet. Black cashmere sweater, silver watch, grey cargos and a fresh trim. Stop it, I scorn my thoughts as he joins us.

“Impressive results Cole” Richmond says.

“Thank you, Joel taught me everything I know” I confess and Joel gives me a half smile.

“She’s a quick study” Joel says, throwing a compliment back my way.

Richmond continues scrolling on the tablet before pausing. He looks up with visible concern. “Monitors show significant distress while shooting.”

“Pacifist” Joel smiles looking from me to the Boss. “Unless bugs are involved. No bodies, no blood” Joel explains.

“Hmm” Richmond says, tapping on the tablet.

“You’re virtually fearless though” he says, continuing to scroll like I'm not right in front of him.

“Exactly. An unreasonable amount of disregard for her own well being but tremendous concern for others. It’s what makes her one of one” Joel says, being exactly the kind of sponsor I’d want under any other circumstance.

“I see,” the Boss nods, looking at me. I hold his gaze for a few seconds before turning back to Joel.

“Well Joel I hope you know you’re getting nothing for that flattery. I’m heading home. Mr. Richmond” I interject nodding in the Boss’ direction to cut the conversation short. It’s like a part of me knows observing Richmond from afar is fine but up close it’s hard to forget I'm in the presence of someone absolutely lethal.

“Drive safe” Joel responds and I nod.

“You too, thanks” I force a smile heading out the front door and into my car where I take a few deep breaths. When I pull out of the lot I see Joel and Richmond in conversation and cringe internally. The agent in me says suck it up and take the position but every other part is warning bells that say stay away. Just the thought of one of his full metal jacket tirades makes me shudder in place. Maybe that’s what was required of him in the army but it doesn't inspire people like me who want to do good. I don’t need anyone telling me what an idiot I am after I make a mistake I know better than anyone else. I was sick for a week when one of my proposed exit routes was subject to a traffic jam. I was the head logistics navigator and spent the next thirty minutes covering my ass to save the clients. Although everything went off without a hitch I demoted myself. Joel was generous but no amount of consolation minimized the fact that I shit the bed. I ran another 10 assignments at a subordinate rank before I felt comfortable at head rank again. The margin of error for director’s is less forgiving under certain circumstances. Gaining intel and filtering for what's necessary is no small feat the success of every project is on your shoulders and so are everyone else’s fuck ups.

New directors are routinely on the Bosses bad side and that's a place I never want to be.

003 ⇛

authors note: thanks for reading 🖤 sound off in the comments on if you think Lorence is making good or bad decisions in regards to her promotion and how we think Mr. Richmond handles her terms 💭 cant wait to see what you all think!

don't forget to ❣ Like, ❝ Comment, ↺ Reblog ☑vote on the polls taglist deets & FAQ's here - ✮ join taglist ✮

tags:

@meadows5 @wnbweasley @becauseimher @ariiaeltheedonn @woahthatshitfat @miniaturehideoutmentality @kokobells @ffenthusiastt @sowhatariyana @1xtral1983 @theegoddessofmelanin @fictionalreads @roxytheimmortal @fairytale07 @rampsen @rosey1981 @lauraaan182 @lynaye1993 @g1g1l @writingsbytee @different-fandomz @rose-bliss @loveschrisbrown20 @cherrybeedotcom @ariiaellbtheedonn

[leam1983]

2024 in Gaming

Helldivers 2: it's become a running joke with the polycule, and approval with Progressive opinions or talking points now gets at least one of the three of us to jokingly pull out their smartphone to "call their Democracy Officer to report a case of treasonous activity"...

Walt isn't any better, but he's unlocked a few rocket-propelled weapons and now feels better sitting behind myself and Sarah while pelting the enemies ahead with weaponized Freedom.

Balatro: Walt and I's new favourite casual game, wherein appearance of it being a cutesy little variant on Poker suites turns into virtual crack. I've woken up in the wee hours to Walt's face bathed in his phone's OLED screen. When I ask him what's wrong, he typically replies something to the tune of "I need four thousand Chips, babe."

Marvel Rivals: it does what Overwatch 2 don't. As in, it's fun. Me, Walt, Sarah and a few of the boys on an all-Rocket Raccon match? You betcha! Also, there's Jeff the Land Shark, and Jeff the Land Shark deserves the world. Nay, the universe.

Astro Bot: didn't finish it, but I loved what Team Asobi cooked up. It's the most genuine, heartfelt, cutesy and engaging piece of corporate PR and Engineering porn to ever exist. Every button pressed during an Astro Bot session twiddles Mark Cerny's fun bits remotely.

Elden Ring - Shadow of the Erdtree: bought it because I approve of the design ethos behind this DLC's existence, never played it because I suuck at FromSoft games. I made sure to watch some related content so I could point and laugh awkwardly if friends of mine greet me with a random cry of "BAYYYYLE!"

Worshippers of Chtulhu: Anno with a Lovecraftian twist. It's very broken, still very much in Early Access, but the promise is definitely there.

Park Beyond: Meh. Got it for cheap, I guess we're still not getting a decent heirloom to Roller Coaster Tycoon, after the Micromanagement nightmare that Planet Coaster turned out to be for me.

1000xResist: basically a Yoko Taro game not written or directed by Yoko Taro, and it's one of the deeper game-based experiences I've had in a long while. Strongly recommended.

The Cabin Factory: Spot the Difference for easily-frightened streamers who haven't played Exit 8 yet. It has an interesting narrative format and is one of the more surprising implementations of Unity Engine I've seen to date. I could've sworn this was a UE5 project! Beyond that, it's nothing special, but it's priced accordingly.

Clickolding: if Cookie Clicker had an uncanny sense of atmosphere and managed to creep you out with nothing except a sparsely-animated antagonist and a rising click counter, you'd have a sense of what this feels like. It does a very effective job at making you want to be as compliant and possible.

Daemonologie: The Salem Witch Trials in game form, or Ace Attorney if Phoenix wore a Quaker hat and had a fixation on nakey women doing odd shit in the forest. Very tense and minimalist, and very, very worthwhile.

Cryptmaster: it's basically a spruced-up oldschool MUD, with 3D black-and-white graphics and four zombified D&D character archetypes you control simultaneously, by either using your Arrow keys to move the entire party at once, or typing in the words that correspond to abilities or attacks. Very, very, very British humour is on offer, along with a script-writer that managed to predict most stupidly filthy prompts you're likely to try at any given point. It's hilarious and kludgey in just the right way, especially if you remember the nineties' MindMaze on Encarta '95.

Liar's Bar: Russian Roulette for Furries with a decent voIP chat integration. It's shallow and stupid fun, and the subject matter makes people behave in increasingly crude ways as the session goes on. If you're like me, you'll swear you played a round or two against a guy who was actually stone-dead-drunk and who actually had nothing to lose...

Silent Hill 2 Remake: finally, Silent Hill's fog doesn't feel like a performance-saving measure and actually creeps me the fuck out. It makes me feel terrible and has me contemplate not playing it, but it does make sense. Kudos to Bloober Team for finally manage to ground this one heck of a weirdo title.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle: take Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Dial of Destiny, burn all copies, consign the masters to Disney's oubliette, thank Harrison Ford for his decades of diligent service and pass the fedora and bullwhip to Troy Baker, 'cause Machine Games and Bethesda have managed to find themselves yet another prime title to fuck Fascists up using fisticuffs or blunt weaponry. It's a great callback to Machine Games' own contribution to Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, seeing as every single level in the game has the granular detail of their version of Prague. Slap some John Williams on, add the authentic audio samples for whip cracks and punches, lifted straight out of the movies. I haven't had as much fun raiding tombs or poking through lovingly-reconstructed real places since Nolan North last lent his voice pipes to Nathan Drake.

Imagine my surprise, when the Sistine Chapel turned out to be about the size of our condo building's parking lot! That's tiny! The more you know, I guess!

Star Wars Outlaws: this is what happens when a studio really, really, really wants to give the IP due diligence, but its decades of re-iterated design docs ruin the experience. Kay Vess isn't a galactic scoundrel; she's basically every Far Cry protagonist ever, except in third-person!

The Forever Winter: all crunch, no fun. An incredibly engaging premise, but the mistaken notion that the average gamer has several three-to-four-blocks to devote to this each and every single day. Worth at least a YouTube ride-along, to see the incredible work the Art Design team's pulled together.

Disney's Epic Mickey - Rebrushed: Warren Spector's poorly-received baby and love letter to classic animation gets its just desserts on PC. It's not super complex with only two basic mechanics based off of two buttons on a controller, but it managed to use an extremely limited toolset to great effect, even throwing in what feels like a younger relative's first potential exposure to the Immersive Sim concept of looking for unmarked routes through a level. The in-between side-scrolling levels are oozing charm, and essentially feel like some part of Spector wanted to play in the same ballpark as American McGee's Alice.

If anything, it cements the idea that non-verbal instances of Mickey Mouse should never be left in the same room as a magical implement or toolset. Ever. Verbal Mickeys can push past their childlike glee and reason accordingly, but the oldschool button-eyed and non-verbal originator is not to be trusted.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chernobyl: Have fun losing half your health because the ARMA-esque mechanics decide that grazing damage means holy shit, you almost died! Especially, have fun getting knocked flat out on your ass by mutants - over and over and over...

To be played in subtitled Ukranian out of implicit support, and to have fun with the Slavic definition of an acting range. It's like watching the second season of Squid Game, except you get the sense that their scale goes from Nonchalant to Pants-Pissingly Terrified with very little grading in-between.

And now, for Games I didn't really get into until 2024...

Valfaris and Valfaris II: Mecha Therion: side-scrollers that do their damndest to look like they stepped straight out of the pages of Heavy Metal as of the mid-eighties. Gorgeously grotesque pixel art meets with a banging soundtrack made up of certified shredders. The lead headbangs and throws the horns when he finishes a stage!

Brütal Legend: an oldie but a goodie, previously constrained to the PS3 but now quite cozy on my Steam Deck. It's got a semi-cohesive grab-bag of mechanics, sure, but it's got even more heart, along with a pre-stroke Tim Curry voicing the villain with the gooiest of all countenances. Imagine Shere Khan, but Metal as fuck.

Katamari Damacy: Re-Roll: I barely touched the original when it came out. Having managed to grab the PC port for cheap and knowing how well it plays with a Steam Deck, the Prince of All Cosmos' ball-rolling sojourn across the surface of our planet has turned into a nightly staple for me.

Baldur's Gate 3: Yes, I know, I'm late, you've all banged Astarion sixteen times by now, but I've got time for a long-form WRPG right now. I might not have this much free time once January 10th rolls around.

The Night Cage: not a vidya, but a really nerve-wracking tabletop game that's made for quite a few fun Friday nights at La Casa de Gremlin.

On My Backlog, You'll Find...

Metaphor: Re-Fantazio: I know it's beloved by all, but it feels so "so far, so ATLUS" to me, and I still haven't gotten over P4, P3 and P5's excellent PC ports. I also have Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne to go through, so I really don't know if I have it in me to tackle something in that same vein quite so soon.

Arizona Sunshine 1 & 2: I just can't be bothered to set up my Oculus Rift 2's Link Cable. I have the games, I just don't know if and when I'll play them.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster: I'm waiting until my old cheese strats fade into the back of my mind before I tackle this one. Plus, I'm torn about Frank West not being voiced by TJ Rotolo. He doesn't just... feels like he's covered wars, y'know?

Frostpunk 2: bought it to support the devs, am just not jazzed about having to sort of network my way across several simultaneous points of origin until the depressing version of a Dieselpunk sprawl covers the map.

The Yakuza series on Amazon Prime: SEGA's trying to become the Disney of gaming, but something about Kazuma Kiryu's story (or stories) have always felt distinctly and uniquely Japanese to me. As in, it requires a specific mindset and might not be for everyone. I'm waiting for a sign, basically - maybe one to pop my collar and rent a karaoke machine so I can belt out maudlin soliloquies to lost childhood innocence while smoking half a pack of cigs between every third or fourth stanza...

The Sonic Movies: yeah, sure, I'm in my forties, but Jim Carrey's going through a career renaissance by acting out Albert Einstein on crack. Yeah, sure, it's not either of my Robotniks (the Jim Cummings or Long John Baldry versions - for the memes) - but it seems like it might still be a trilogy of adaptations worth pursuing.

Plus, hey, I gotta start catching up on that Stobotnik shit, huh?

[mariacallous]

If Benjamin Netanyahu had accepted defeat in June 2021, finally yielding the stage to a coalition of his opponents, he could have retired at the age of 71 with a decent claim to having been one of Israel’s more successful prime ministers.

He had already surpassed the time in office of Israel’s founder, David Ben-Gurion, becoming the country’s longest-serving prime minister in 2019. His second stretch in office, from 2009 to 2021, coincided with perhaps the best 12 years Israel had known since its founding in 1948. The country enjoyed relative security, with no major wars or prolonged Intifadas. The period was one of uninterrupted economic growth and prosperity. Thanks to its early adoption of widespread vaccination, Israel was one of the first countries in the world to emerge from the coronavirus pandemic. And toward the end of that span came three agreements establishing diplomatic relations with Arab countries; more were likely on the way.

Twelve years of Netanyahu’s leadership had seemingly made Israel more secure and prosperous, with deep trade and defense ties across the world. But this wasn’t enough to win him another term. A majority of Israelis had tired of him, and he had been tainted by charges of bribery and fraud in his dealings with billionaires and press barons. In the space of 24 months, Israel held four elections ending in stalemate, with neither Netanyahu nor his rivals winning a majority. Finally, an unlikely alliance of right-wing, centrist, left-wing, and Islamist parties managed to band together and replace him with his former aide Naftali Bennett in June 2021.

At that point, Netanyahu could have sealed his legacy. A plea bargain on offer from the attorney general would have ended his corruption trial with a conviction on reduced charges and no jail time. He would have had to leave politics, probably for good. Over the course of four decades in public life, including 15 years as prime minister and 22 as the Likud party’s leader, he had already left an indelible mark on Israel, dominating the second half of its history. But he couldn’t bear the thought of giving up power.

Within 18 months, he was back as prime minister for the third time. The unwieldy coalition that replaced him had imploded, and this time around, Netanyahu’s camp of far-right and religious parties ran a disciplined campaign, exploiting the weaknesses of their divided rivals to emerge with a small parliamentary majority, despite still being virtually tied in the vote count.

Nine months later, Netanyahu, the man who promised, above everything else, to deliver security for Israel’s citizens, presided over the darkest day in his country’s existence. A total breakdown of the Israeli military and intelligence structure allowed Hamas to breach Israel’s border and embark on a rampage of murder, kidnapping, and rape, killing more than 1,100 Israelis and taking more than 250 hostage. The calamities of that day, the failures of leadership leading up to it, and the traumas it caused will haunt Israel for generations. Even leaving completely aside the war he has prosecuted since that day and its yet-unknown end, October 7 means that Netanyahu will always be remembered as Israel’s worst-ever leader.

How does one measure a prime minister?

There is no broadly accepted ranking of the 13 men and one woman who have led Israel, but most lists would feature David Ben-Gurion at the top. Not only was he the George Washington of the Jewish state, proclaiming its independence just three years after a third of the Jewish people had been exterminated in the Holocaust, but his administration established many of the institutions and policies that define Israel to this day. Other favorites include Levi Eshkol, for his shrewd and prudent leadership in the tense weeks before the Six Day War, and Menachem Begin, for achieving the country’s first peace agreement with an Arab nation, Egypt.

All three of these men had mixed records and detractors, of course. Ben-Gurion had autocratic tendencies and was consumed by party infighting during his later years in office. After the Six Day War, Eshkol failed to deliver a coherent plan for what Israel should do with the new territories it occupied and the Palestinians who have remained under its rule ever since. In Begin’s second term, Israel entered a disastrous war in Lebanon, and his government nearly tanked the economy. But in most Israelis’ minds, these leaders’ positive legacies outweigh the negatives.

Who are the “worst prime ministers”? Until now, most Israelis regarded Golda Meir as the top candidate for that dismal title. The intelligence failure leading to the Yom Kippur War was on her watch. Before the war, she rejected Egyptian overtures toward peace (though some Israeli historians have recently argued that these were less than sincere). And when war was clearly imminent, her administration refrained from launching preemptive attacks that could have saved the lives of hundreds of soldiers.

Other “worst” candidates have included Ehud Olmert, for launching the second Lebanon war and becoming Israel’s first former prime minister to go to prison for corruption; Yitzhak Shamir, for kiboshing an agreement with Jordan’s King Hussein that many believe could have been a significant step toward resolving the Israel-Palestinian conflict; and Ehud Barak, for spectacularly failing to fulfill his extravagant promises to bring peace with both the Palestinians and Syria.

But Benjamin Netanyahu now surpasses these contenders by orders of magnitude. He has brought far-right extremists into the mainstream of government and made himself, and the country, beholden to them. His corruption is flamboyant. And he has made terrible security decisions that brought existential danger to the country he pledged to lead and protect. Above all, his selfishness is without parallel: He has put his own interests ahead of Israel’s at every turn.

Netanyahu has the distinction of being the only Israeli prime minister to make a once reviled movement on the right fringe of the country’s politics into a government stakeholder.

Rabbi Meir Kahane, the founder of a Jewish-supremacist group called Kach, won a lone seat in the Knesset in 1984. He openly called for replacing Israeli democracy with a constitution based on the laws of the Torah and for denying Israel’s Arab citizens equal rights. During Kahane’s single legislative term, the entire Israeli political establishment shunned him. When he got up to speak in the Knesset, all of its members would leave the plenum.

In 1985, Likud joined other parties in changing election law so that those who denied Israel’s democratic identity, denied its Jewish identity, or incited racism could be barred from running for office. Under this provision, Kach was never allowed to compete in another election. Kahane was assassinated in New York in 1990. Four years later, a member of his movement killed 29 Muslims at prayer in Hebron, and the Israeli government proscribed Kach as a terror organization and forced it to disband.

But the Kahanists didn’t go away. With each Israeli election, they tried to rename their movement and adjust its platform to conform with electoral law. They remained ostracized. Then, in 2019, Netanyahu saw a roadblock on his path to reelection that they could help him get around.

Several Israeli parties had pledged not to serve in a government led by an indicted prime minister—quite possibly, enough of them to shut Netanyahu out of power. To prevent that from happening, Netanyahu needed to eke out every possible right-wing and religious vote for his potential coalition. The polls were predicting that the latest Kahanist iteration, the Jewish Power party, which is led by the thuggish but media-savvy Itamar Ben-Gvir, would receive only about 10,000 votes, well below the threshold needed to make the party a player on its own; but Netanyahu believed that if he could persuade the Kahanists and other small right-wing parties to merge their candidates’ lists into a joint slate, together they could win a seat or two for his potential coalition—just what he needed for a majority.

Netanyahu began pressuring the leaders of the small right-wing parties to merge their lists. At first the larger of these were outraged. Netanyahu was meddling in their affairs and, worse, trying to coerce them to accept the Kahanist outcasts. Gradually, he wore down their resistance—employing rabbis to persuade politicians, orchestrating media campaigns in the nationalist press, and promising central roles in future administrations. Media figures close to Netanyahu accused Bezalel Smotrich, a fundamentalist settler and the new leader of the religious Zionist party, of “endangering” the nation by making it easier for the hated left to win the election. Soon enough, Smotrich’s old-school national-religious party merged not only with Ben-Gvir’s Jewish Power but with an even more obscure, proudly homophobic party led by Avi Maoz.

Netanyahu did worry a bit about the optics. Throughout five stalemated election campaigns from 2019 to 2022, Likud coordinated closely with Jewish Power, but Netanyahu refused to be seen in public with Ben-Gvir. During the 2022 campaign, at a religious festival, he even waited backstage for Ben-Gvir to leave the premises before going up to make his speech.

Two weeks later, there was no longer any need to keep up the act. Netanyahu’s strategy succeeded: His coalition, merged into four lists, edged out its squabbling opponents with 64 of the Knesset’s 120 seats.

Netanyahu finally had the “right-wing in full” government he had often promised. But before he could return to the prime minister’s office, his allies demanded a division of the spoils. The ministries with the most influence on Israelis’ daily lives—health, housing, social services, and the interior—went to the ultra-Orthodox parties. Smotrich became finance minister; Maoz was appointed deputy minister in charge of a new “Agency for Jewish Identity,” with power to intervene in educational programs. And Ben-Gvir, the subject of numerous police investigations for violence and incitement over a period of three decades, was put in charge of a newly titled “Ministry of National Security,” with authority over Israel’s police and prison services.

As Netanyahu signed away power to the Kahanists, he told the international news media that he wasn’t forming a far-right government. The Kahanists were joining his government. He would be in control. But Netanyahu hadn’t just given Israel’s most extreme racists unprecedented power and legitimacy. He’d also insinuated them into his own formerly mainstream party: By March 2024, Likud’s candidates for local elections in a handful of towns had merged their slates with those of Jewish Power.

Likud long prided itself on combining staunch Jewish nationalism, even militarism, with a commitment to liberal democracy. But a more radical stream within the party eschewed those liberal values and championed chauvinistic and autocratic positions. For much of the past century, the liberal wing was dominant and provided most of the party’s leadership. Netanyahu himself espoused the values of the liberal wing—until he fell out with all the main liberal figures. By 2019, none was left to oppose the alliance with Ben-Gvir’s Kahanists.

Now more than a third of Likud’s representatives were religious, and those who weren’t preferred to call themselves “traditional” rather than secular. They didn’t object to cooperating with the Kahanists; indeed, many had already worked with them in the past. In fact, many Likud Knesset members by that point were indistinguishable from the Jewish Power ones. Israel’s worst prime minister didn’t just form an alliance of convenience with the country’s most irresponsible extremists; he made them integral to his party and the running of the state.

That Netanyahu is personally corrupt is not altogether novel in the history of the Israeli prime ministership. What makes him worse than others is his open contempt for the rule of law.

By 2018, Netanyahu was the subject of four simultaneous corruption investigations that had been in motion for more than a year. In one, known as Case 4000, Netanyahu stood accused of promising regulatory favors to the owner of Israel’s largest telecom corporation in return for favorable coverage on a popular news site. Three of the prime minister’s closest advisers had agreed to testify against him.

Investigations of prime ministers are not rare in Israel. Netanyahu was the subject of one during his first term. The three prime ministers who served in the decade between his first and second terms—Ehud Barak, Ariel Sharon, and Ehud Olmert—had all been investigated as well. Only in Olmert’s case did police deem the evidence sufficient to mount a prosecution. At the time, in 2008, Netanyahu was the leader of the opposition.

“We’re talking about a prime minister who is up to his neck in investigations and has no public or moral mandate to make fateful decisions for Israel,” Netanyahu said of Olmert. “There is a concern, I have to say real, not without basis, that he will make decisions based on his personal interest of political survival and not on the national interest.”

Ten years later, Netanyahu would be the one snared in multiple investigations. Then he no longer spoke of corruption in high office but of a “witch hunt,” orchestrated by rogue police commanders and left-wing state prosecutors, and egged on by a hostile news media, all with the aim of toppling a right-wing leader.

Netanyahu was determined to politicize the legal procedure and pit his supporters against Israel’s law-enforcement agencies and judiciary. Never mind that the two previous prime ministers who had resigned because of corruption charges were from the center left. Nor did it matter that he had appointed the police commissioner and attorney general himself; both were deeply religious men with impeccable nationalist backgrounds, but he tarred them as perfidious tools of leftist conspiracy.

Rather than contemplate resignation, on May 24, 2020, Netanyahu became the first sitting Israeli prime minister to go on trial. He has denied all wrongdoing (the trial is still under way). In a courthouse corridor before one session, he gave a 15-minute televised speech accusing the legal establishment of “trying to topple me and the right-wing government. For over a decade, the left wing have failed to do this at the ballot box, and in recent years have come up with a new idea. Elements in the police and prosecutor’s office have joined left-wing journalists to concoct delusional charges.”

The law didn’t require Netanyahu to resign while fighting the charges against him in court. But doing so had seemed logical to his predecessors under similar circumstances—and to Israel’s lawmakers, who had never envisaged that a prime minister would so brazenly challenge the justice system, which he had a duty to uphold. For Netanyahu, however, remaining in power was an end in itself, one more important than preserving Israel’s most crucial institutions, to say nothing of Israelis’ trust in them.

Netanyahu placed extremists in positions of power, undermined confidence in the rule of law, and sacrificed principle to power. Little wonder, then, that last summer, tensions over the role of Israel’s judiciary became unmanageable. The crisis underlined all of these reasons that Netanyahu should go down as Israel’s worst prime minister.

For 34 of the past 47 years, Israel’s prime ministers have come from the Likud party. And yet many on the right still grumble that “Likud doesn’t know how to rule” and “you vote right and get left.” Likudniks complain about the lingering power of “the elites,” a left-wing minority that loses at the ballot box but still controls the civil service, the upper echelons of the security establishment, the universities, and the media. A growing anti-judicial wing within Likud demands constitutional change and a clamping-down on the supreme court’s “judicial activism.”

Netanyahu had once minimized these complaints, but his stance on the judiciary changed after he was indicted in 2019. Indeed, at the start of his current term, Likud’s partners demanded commitments to constitutional change, which they received. The ultra-Orthodox parties were anxious to pass a law exempting religious seminary students from military service. Such exemptions had already fallen afoul of the supreme court’s equality standards, so the religious parties wanted the law to include a “court bypass.” Netanyahu acceded to this. To pass the legislation in the Knesset, he appointed Simcha Rothman, a staunch critic of the court, as the chair of the Knesset’s Constitution Committee.

He also appointed Yariv Levin, another fierce critic of the court, as justice minister. Just six days after the new government was sworn in, Levin rolled out a “judicial reform” plan, prepared by a conservative think tank, that called for drastically limiting the court’s powers to review legislation and gave politicians control over the appointment of new justices.

Within days, an extremely efficient counter-campaign pointed out the dangers the plan posed, not just to Israel’s fragile and limited democracy, but to its economy and security. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis protested in the streets. Likud began to drop in the polls, and Netanyahu privately urged the leaders of the coalition parties to delay the vote. They refused to back down, and Levin threatened to resign over any delay.

Netanyahu’s motives, unlike those of his partners, were not ideological. His objective was political survival. He needed to keep his hard-won majority intact and the judges off-balance. But the protests were unrelenting. Netanyahu’s independent-minded defense minister, Yoav Gallant, pointed to the controversy’s dire implications for the Israel Defense Forces as hundreds of volunteer reserve officers threatened to suspend their service rather than “serve a dictatorship.”

Netanyahu wasn’t sure he wanted to go through with the judicial coup, but the idea of one of Likud’s senior ministers breaking ranks in public was unthinkable. On March 25 of last year, Gallant made a public statement that the constitutional legislation was a “clear and major threat to the security of Israel” and he would not be voting for it. The next evening, Netanyahu announced that he was firing Gallant.

In Jerusalem, protesters besieged Netanyahu’s home. In Tel Aviv, they blocked main highways. The next morning, the trade unions announced a general strike, and by that evening, Netanyahu backed down, announcing that he was suspending the legislation and would hold talks with the opposition on finding compromises. Gallant kept his post. The talks collapsed, protests started up again, and Netanyahu once again refused to listen to the warnings coming from the security establishment—not only of anger within the IDF, but that Israel’s enemies were planning to take advantage of the country’s disunity to launch an attack.

The debate over judicial reform pitted two visions of Israel against each other. On one side was a liberal and secular Israel that relied on the supreme court to defend its democratic values; on the other, a religious and conservative Israel that feared that unelected judges would impose incompatible ideas on their Jewish values.

Netanyahu’s government made no attempt to reconcile these two visions. The prime minister had spent too many years, and all those toxic electoral campaigns, exploiting and deepening the rift between them. Even when he belatedly and halfheartedly tried to rein in the radical and fundamentalist demons he had ridden back into office, he found that he could no longer control them.

Whether Netanyahu really meant to eviscerate Israel’s supreme court as part of a plot to weaken the judiciary and intimidate the judges in his own case, or whether he had no choice in the matter and was simply a hostage of his own coalition, is immaterial. What matters is that he appointed Levin as justice minister and permitted the crisis to happen. Ultimately, and despite his professed belief in liberal democracy, Netanyahu allowed Levin and his coalition partners to convince him that they were doing the right thing—because whatever kept him in office was right for Israel. Democracy would remain strong because he would remain in charge.

Trying to diminish the powers of the supreme court isn’t what makes Netanyahu Israel’s worst prime minister. The judicial reform failed anyway. Only one of its elements got through the Knesset before the war with Hamas began, and the court struck it down as unconstitutional six months later. The justices’ ruling to preserve their powers, despite the Knesset’s voting to limit them, could have caused a constitutional crisis if it had happened in peacetime. But by then Israel was facing a much bigger crisis.

Given Israel’s history, the ultimate yardstick of its leaders’ success is the security they deliver for their fellow citizens. In 2017, as I was finishing my unauthorized biography of Netanyahu, I commissioned a data analyst to calculate the average annual casualty rate (Israeli civilians and soldiers) of each prime minister since 1948. The results confirmed what I had already assumed. In the 11 years that Netanyahu had by then been prime minister, the average annual number of Israelis killed in war and terror attacks was lower, by a considerable margin, than under any previous prime minister.

My book on Netanyahu was not admiring. But I felt that it was only fair to include that data point in his favor in the epilogue and the very last footnote. Likud went on to use it in its 2019 campaigns without attributing the source.

The numbers were hard to argue with. Netanyahu was a hard-line prime minister who had done everything in his power to derail the Oslo peace process and prevent any move toward compromise with the Palestinians. Throughout much of his career, he encouraged military action by the West, first against Iraq after 9/11, and then against Iran. But in his years as prime minister, he balked at initiating or being dragged into wars of his own. His risk aversion and preference for covert operations or air strikes rather than ground operations had, in his first two stretches in power, from 1996 to 1999 and 2009 to 2021, kept Israelis relatively safe.

Netanyahu supporters on the right could also argue, on basis of the numbers, that those who brought bloodshed upon Israel, in the form of Palestinian suicide bombings and rocket attacks, were actually Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres, the architects of the Oslo Accords; Ehud Barak, with his rash attempts to bring peace; and Ariel Sharon, who withdrew Israeli soldiers and settlers unilaterally from Gaza in 2005, creating the conditions for Hamas’s electoral victory there the following year. That argument no longer holds.

If future biographers of Israeli prime ministers undertake a similar analysis, Netanyahu will no longer be able to claim the lowest casualty rate. His 16th year in office, 2023, was the third-bloodiest in Israel’s history, surpassed only by 1948 and 1973, Israel’s first year of independence and the year of the Yom Kippur War, respectively.

The first nine months of 2023 had already seen a rise in deadly violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, as well as terrorist attacks within Israel’s borders. Then came the Hamas attack on October 7, in which at least 1,145 Israelis were massacred and 253 kidnapped and taken to Gaza. More than 30 hostages are now confirmed dead.

No matter how the war in Gaza ends, what happens in its aftermath, or when Netanyahu’s term finally ends, the prime minister will forever be associated above all with that day and the disastrous war that followed. He will go down as the worst prime minister because he has been catastrophic for Israeli security.

To understand how Netanyahu so drastically failed Israel’s security requires going back at least to 2015, the year his long-term strategic bungling of the Iranian threat came into view. His mishandling didn’t happen in isolation; it is also related to the deprioritization of other threats, including the catastrophe that materialized on October 7.

Netanyahu flew to Washington, D.C., in 2015 to implore U.S. lawmakers to obstruct President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. Many view this gambit as extraordinarily damaging to Israel’s most crucial alliance—the relationship with the United States is the very bulwark of its security. Perhaps so; but the stunt didn’t make subsequent U.S. administrations less supportive of Israel. Even Obama would still go on to sign the largest 10-year package of military aid to Israel the year after Netanyahu’s speech. Rather, the damage Netanyahu caused by presuming too much of the United States wasn’t to the relationship, but to Israel itself.

Netanyahu’s strategy regarding Iran was based on his assumption that America would one day launch an attack on Iran’s nuclear program. We know this from his 2022 book, Bibi: My Story, in which he admits to arguing repeatedly with Obama “for an American strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.” Senior Israeli officials have confirmed that he expected Donald Trump to launch such a strike as well. In fact, Netanyahu was so sure that Trump, unlike Obama, would give the order that he had no strategy in place for dealing with Iran’s nuclear program when Trump decided, at Netanyahu’s own urging, to withdraw from the Iran deal in May 2018.

Israel’s military and intelligence chiefs had been far from enamored with the Iran deal, but they’d seized the opportunity it presented to divert some of the intelligence resources that had been focused on Iran’s nuclear program to other threats, particularly Tehran’s network of proxies across the region. They were caught by surprise when the Trump administration ditched the Iran deal (Netanyahu knew it was coming but didn’t inform them). This unilateral withdrawal effectively removed the limitations on Iran’s nuclear development and required an abrupt reversal of Israeli priorities.

Senior Israeli officials I spoke with had to tread a wary path here. Those who were still in active service couldn’t challenge the prime minister’s strategy directly. But in private some were scathing about the lack of a coherent strategy on Iran. “It takes years to build intelligence capabilities. You can’t just change target priorities overnight,” one told me.

The result was a dissipation of Israeli efforts to stop Iran—which is committed to the destruction of Israel. Iran sped further than ever down the path of uranium enrichment, and its proxies, including the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border, grew ever more powerful.

In the months leading up to October 7, Israel’s intelligence community repeatedly warned Netanyahu that Iran and its proxies were plotting a major attack within Israel, though few envisaged something on the scale of October 7. By the fall of 2023, motives were legion: fear that an imminent Israeli diplomatic breakthrough with Saudi Arabia could change the geopolitics of the region; threats that Ben-Gvir would allow Jews greater access to the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and worsen conditions for Palestinian prisoners; rumors that the deepening tensions within Israeli society would render any response to an attack slow and disjointed.

Netanyahu chose to ignore the warnings. The senior officers and intelligence chiefs who issued them were, to his mind, conspiring with the law-enforcement agencies and legal establishment that had put him on trial and were trying to obstruct his government’s legislation. None of them had his experience and knowledge of the real threats facing Israel. Hadn’t he been right in the past when he’d refused to listen to leftist officials and so-called experts?

Hamas’s surprise attack on October 7 was the result of a colossal failure at all levels of Israel’s security and intelligence community. They had all seen the warning signals but continued to believe that the main threat came from Hezbollah, the larger and far better-equipped and trained enemy to the north. Israel’s security establishment believed that Hamas was isolated in Gaza, and that it and the other Palestinian organizations had been effectively deterred from attacking Israel.

Netanyahu was the originator of this assumption, and its biggest proponent. He believed that keeping Hamas in power in Gaza, as it had been for nearly two years when he returned to office in 2009, was in Israel’s interest. Periodic rocket attacks on Israeli communities in the south were a price worth paying to keep the Palestinian movement split between the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority in the West Bank enclaves and Hamas in Gaza. Such division would push the troublesome two-state solution off the global agenda and allow Israel to focus on regional alliances with like-minded Arab autocracies that also feared Iran. The Palestinian issue would sink into irrelevance.

Netanyahu’s disastrous strategy regarding Gaza and Hamas is part of what makes him Israel’s worst prime minister, but it’s not the only factor. Previous Israeli prime ministers, too, blundered into bloody wars on the basis of misguided strategies and faulty advice from their military and intelligence advisers.

Netanyahu stands out from them for his refusal to accept responsibility, and for his political machinations and smear campaigns since October 7. He blames IDF generals and nourishes the conspiracy theory that they, in alliance with the protest movement, somehow allowed October 7 to happen.

Netanyahu believes that he is the ultimate victim of that tragic day. Convinced by his own campaign slogans, he argues that he is the only one who can deliver Israel from this valley of shadows to the sunlit uplands of “total victory.” He refuses to consider any advice about ending the war and continues to prioritize preserving his coalition, because he appears incapable of distinguishing between his own fate, now tainted by tragic failure, and that of Israel.

Many around the world assume that Israel’s war with Hamas has proceeded according to some plan of Netanyahu’s. This is a mistake. Netanyahu has the last word as prime minister and head of the emergency war cabinet, but he has used his power mainly to prevaricate, procrastinate, and obstruct. He delayed the initial ground offensive into Gaza, hesitated for weeks over the first truce and hostage-release agreement in November, and is now doing the same over another such deal with Hamas. For the past six months, he has prevented any meaningful cabinet discussion of Israel’s strategic goals. He has rejected the proposals of his own security establishment and the Biden administration. He presented vague principles for “the day after Hamas” to the cabinet only in late February, and they have yet to be debated.

However one views the war in Gaza—as a justified war of defense in which Hamas is responsible for the civilian casualties it has cynically hidden behind, or as an intentional genocide of the Palestinian people, or as anything in between—none of it is Netanyahu’s plan. That’s because Netanyahu has no plan for Gaza, only one for remaining in power. His obstructionism, his showdowns with generals, his confrontations with the Biden administration—all are focused on that end, which means preserving his far-right coalition and playing to his hard-core nationalist base.

Meanwhile, he’s doing what he has always done: wearing down and discrediting his political opponents in the hope of proving to an exhausted and traumatized public that he’s the only alternative. So far, he’s failing. Polls show that an overwhelming majority of Israelis want him gone. But Netanyahu is fending off calls to hold an early election until he believes he is within striking distance of winning.

Netanyahu’s ambition has consumed both him and Israel. To regain and remain in office, he has sacrificed his own authority and parceled out power to the most extreme politicians. Since his reelection in 2022, Netanyahu is no longer the center of power but a vacuum, a black hole that has engulfed all of Israel’s political energy. His weakness has given the far right and religious fundamentalists extraordinary control over Israel’s affairs, while other segments of the population are left to pursue the never-ending quest to end his reign.

One man’s pursuit of power has diverted Israel from confronting its most urgent priorities: the threat from Iran, the conflict with the Palestinians, the desire to nurture a Westernized society and economy in the most contested corner of the Middle East, the internal contradictions between democracy and religion, the clash between tribal phobias and high-tech hopes. Netanyahu’s obsession with his own destiny as Israel’s protector has caused his country grievous damage.

Most Israelis already realize that Netanyahu is the worst of the 14 prime ministers their country has had in its 76 years of independence. But in the future, Jews might even remember him as the leader who inflicted the most harm on his people since the squabbling Hasmonean kings brought civil war and Roman occupation to Judea nearly 21 centuries ago. As long as he remains in power, he could yet surpass them.

[luimagines]

I sincerely believe that if Hylia or the Three Golden Goddesses wanted to punish Saiyan Reader for intervening in the Calamity, it would backfire and I don’t mean because of Saiyan Reader.

Let me explain: suppose Hyrule is actually a planet in one of the 12 universes, one that has never had a Kamisama since its creation. Within the hierarchy of Dragon Ball’s universes, Hylia or the Three Golden Goddesses wouldn’t even rank above a Kamisama and would be classified as minor deities.

If Hylia wanted to punish Saiyan Reader, she’d have to answer to the Cardinal Kaios, the Grand Kai, the Supreme Kaioshins, the Supreme Kai of Time, the overseeing Hakaishin (God of Destruction), the angel attendant of the Hakaishin, Daishinkan-sama, and finally Zeno-sama himself. There’s no doubt in my mind that all these deities would harshly reprimand Hylia or the Three Golden Goddesses for wanting to punish Saiyan Reader for their selfless, good-hearted action.

To the upper leagues of gods, the Saiyans are one of the few races capable of reaching or even surpassing the power levels of deities like them. It doesn’t help that this race exists only in certain universes, like 7 and 6, where they’ve been agents of great change. Thanks to Saiyan actions in Universe 7’s case major disasters have been prevented.

If this scenario happened after Zeno-sama’s multiversal tournament, there would be zero tolerance for such actions. While Goku unknowingly put everyone at risk, the tournament gave the universes a chance to defend themselves and prove their worth to Zeno-sama, ensuring they wouldn’t be erased. Ironically, it was Goku’s teammate who used the Super Dragon Balls to wish for the revival of all erased universes.

These gods know it’s far better to have a Saiyan especially one with a pure heart as an ally than a potential enemy. For Hylia or the Three Golden Goddesses to try to punish Saiyan Reader for doing their job would be a complete no-go. I can easily imagine the overseeing Hakaishin making it clear why they are a God of Destruction, barely needing to lift a finger to erase Hylia or the Three Golden Goddesses from existence if they refuse to comply.

And let’s not forget Enma Daio-sama, the deity in charge of ensuring every departed soul reaches the afterlife, be it paradise or hell and reincarnation. He would likely be the most vocal protester against Hylia or the Three Golden Goddesses. The curse of Demise has claimed countless lives that should not have died under such circumstances, particularly due to the uncontrolled reincarnation cycle in Hyrule. Enma Daio-sama would likely be the strongest defender of Saiyan Reader because, in his judgment, this mortal did what these “negligent deities” should have done from the beginning.

I don’t know why, but I can already imagine the upper leagues of gods putting Hylia or the Three Goddesses on trial, it would be a divine-level chaos!

As someone who knows next to nothing about Dragon Ball Z, I thought I was onto something with my last post. Only for this to come in and virtually toss it all by the window for canonical in place hierarchy that I didn't bother researching

But! I like where this is going instead.

Basically, the Hylian goddesses tried to get Reader in trouble but instead of doing anything about it, Reader looked at them and said "hold on, let me get my manager" and proceeded to implode the whole system that these ladies had in place since the beginning of the Hylian existence.

So I like this one better. XD

[datamined]

Because it's relevant to the blog: TLDR; The United States' Justice Department have Google in an Antitrust lawsuit over it's ability as a monopoly to corrupt search engine results and more people need to understand what's going on and why this is important. https://www.npr.org/2023/09/12/1198558372/doj-google-monopoly-antitrust-trial-search-engine At work one of my bosses threw a fit (justifably) because Google is doing a lot shittier things with advertising and their algorithm than you think. I feel like most people know at this point that Google search results are essentially bunk- the top searches is influenced by how much a company directly works with and pays google. People bid to make their names or businesses at the top of the search results. But it goes a little deeper in that. Recently, I learned that top bidders do not actually get the top result. Why? Because Google wants to make it look less bad when Amazon always gets the top result for virtually anything you're looking for. Top bidders get second top search, the NEXT top bidders actually get the top spot. I could be wrong, but this is essentially my understanding of it at our office in super simple terms. But the biggest issue right now is that Google actually quietly (but significantly) raised their prices for bidding and nobody has any fucking say in it. This makes large corporations (such as Amazon) more likely to be only ones that can manage to take up these top spots, and smaller companies continue to get shafted because they simply cannot compete and Google is essentially stiffing the competition, so to speak, harder than ever before. BUT ON TOP OF THAT, my boss also found that Google is actively making it harder to find information about this and the incoming huge fucking lawsuits thrown at them. They're trying to make it difficult for their users (and basically, the entire world considering so many devices automatically use google search, as Google has deals with Apple and Samsung) to find out anything about their corporate greed and corruption. When searching for the same thing in a different Search Engine like Bing, the lawsuits are the first things to come up. It's huge fucking news but few people know about it or are talking about it. The results of this lawsuit are going to permanently and drastically change the internet and how people find their information.

[yatagarasuhonyaku]

The Raven of the Empty Coffin: Chapter 2 "Akeru" Part 3

Disclaimer: This is a fan-translation japanese-english of the original novel. The events of this novel follow after what's already covered by the anime. For an easier understanding, I recommend first reading the few scenes of previous books I've already translated.

Blog version

For the Index, you can find it HERE

Previously: Akeru (Part 2)

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Chapter 2: Akeru (Part 3)

“Isn’t Akeru kinda tense lately?”

It all happened during Horsemanship lessons. Shigemaru and Yukiya found themselves taking a break at a hilltop after finishing the assigned exercises, waiting for everyone else to catch up with them.

That day they were practicing what was called ‘rider-horse switching’. It was just one part of the training required to become capable of flying long distances without breaks and, as the name implied, it consisted of exchanging the roles between rider and horse in midair. At this point, they were only required to fly around the mountain once and then switch places, but Shigemaru had heard rumors that they would have to go all the way from the Center to Yamauchi’s frontier and back during their Graduation Trials.

Although, in theory, it was better to do such an exercise with someone of as similar a build as possible, Yukiya had proved to manage just fine even with Shigemaru as his partner.

“Still, it feels like you wouldn’t have any problems no matter who you partnered with.”

“Well, everyone becomes significantly bigger in bird form compared to their human form. I don’t think someone’s human build actually matters that much.”

“True, there are people way bigger and stronger than you in human form who are, in fact, struggling quite hard.”

“Oh, yes—like Akeru and his friends, right?”

While Akeru’s followers had never been particularly high achievers, even Akeru himself had started to flounder lately despite his initial brilliance. He had started to struggle to keep up as the difficulty of the practical courses ramped up—which was doubly true for Horsemanship, the one subject he had problems with from the start.

“Maybe that’s the reason,” Shigemaru said, bringing the conversation back to Akeru’s situation.

Yukiya gave him a bitter smile. “One of the reasons, most likely, but I doubt that’s all of it.”

The situation was changing even during theory, where Akeru had never before given up his position as the first of the class. “Well, you barely have a chance to study lately yet your grades are still virtually the same as his, I can’t blame Akeru for getting anxious over that.”

——Ever since the incident with Kimichika, Suikan had kept a constant eye on Yukiya.

It had been a month since then, and summer had finally arrived. Suikan, however, showed no signs whatsoever of forgiving Yukiya. He persistently called him to participate during exercise sessions and would find any reason—no matter how small—to give him all kinds of punishments and take away all his free time. Every so often, Suikan would outright lash out at him—telling Yukiya to his face that he should drop out of the Monastery.

It had gotten bad enough that, whenever they gathered, everyone in their usual group would insist that Yukiya should go ask for help from other instructors like Seiken. Yukiya, however, didn’t show a single sign of suffering through anything.

He would argue back at them—‘It’s on me for angering him’, ‘I don’t like the idea of telling on someone’, ‘If my grades dropped because of it that would be a problem, sure, but that won’t happen’. Yukiya laughed it off every time, never paying any mind to their group’s advice.

However, Yukiya was, in truth, losing sleep to finish his homework and he was forced to take tests without any preparation either. Despite that, and uncannily enough, his grades weren’t going down—they were actually improving. They were comparable to Akeru’s, even. He had risen to be the first of the class, or second at worst.

Akeru, meanwhile, was often rumored to spend all his free time on self-study. Even an outsider like Shigemaru could tell how Akeru’s expression would grow stiffer and stiffer every time he learned of Yukiya’s latest score.

“He made such a big deal of being part of the Wakamiya Faction too. I bet the coronation being postponed must be playing a huge part in it. He must not have any peace of mind—neither at the Monastery, nor at home.”

“You know, I feel kind of sorry for him.”

“No need. His grades are just his talent—or lack thereof—talking, and he only has himself to blame for acting high and mighty and humiliating himself like that. There’s not much for us to do.” While Yukiya had proved to be the type to sometimes spew venom with a smile, it was significantly more common whenever Akeru came up in conversation. 

At the same time that he chatted with Yukiya, Shigemaru entertained himself by watching the other trainees fly around. The many pairs would ascend and, as if performing some sort of somersault, exchange places in a matter of seconds. Although they all lost quite a lot of height at first, the trainee who had just transformed into a bird would immediately place himself underneath and spread his wings, catching the wind. Just like that, they would both rise to their original altitude.

It was entertaining to watch such a stunt-like maneuver from afar, but actually doing it was quite terrifying. The person shifting from horse to human was forced to take a shape incapable of flight, wholly entrusting himself to his partner in midair. It wasn’t any easier for the person transforming into a horse—it felt like having a heavy rock on his back as he struggled to remain in the air instead of falling altogether.

Finishing the course with both members of a pair in bird form—hence incapable of becoming a rider and mount—meant disqualification. It truly wasn’t a maneuver you could succeed at without coordination and mutual trust between human and horse. That was exactly why Shigemaru felt it was easier to complete the exercise with someone close to you, rather than someone with a similar build.

As he thought about that, Shigemaru suddenly noticed a pair among their flying peers moving all too slowly. “Yukiya, look!”

Before Shigemaru had the time to point at it, Yukiya noticed it as well. “That looks actually dangerous. Is the rider perhaps tired? Unless they gain more altitude, at that rate—Huh?”

Yukiya didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. At that precise moment, the rider and mount tried to exchange places and, for a second, it was as if two horses were there at the same time. That was quite the rare sight when the swap went properly.

——He had a bad feeling about this.

The ideal was for both parties to shapeshift simultaneously—that was all too awkward and clunky to fit the criteria. Sure enough, they kept on falling inexorably, even once the initial horse moved upwards and transformed back into a human. The current horse proved incapable of catching the wind with his wings on time and his body plunged against the trees. 

“Someone has fallen!” the hysterical screams of those watching resounded in unison.

“This is bad! With a fall like that, he got hurt for sure!”

“Contact the infirmary!”

In a matter of seconds, a ruckus like bees protecting their hive overtook the place. The instructors flew straight towards the location of the fall. From the looks of it, the rider had managed to transform back at the very last second and so avoided major harm, but the horse hadn’t been as lucky. “But who fell?”

“Shige, that was Akeru.”

“What? Really!?”

“I’m sure. I saw the rider’s hair shine red just before they swapped.”

Shigemaru immediately felt ill at ease. For such a thing to happen right after their conversation. As they spoke, bird-shaped Yatagarasu flocked together above the place of the incident.

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The moment he opened his eyes, he felt a dull pain throbbing through his entire body.

His mind was hazy, possibly because of the pain medicine, and his body felt as if it was burning. The sky, visible through the gaps in the infirmary's window shutters, had gotten completely dark. A doctor had checked up on him the first time he had woken up, so Akeru already knew what had happened to him.

There were scratches all over his body and he had some nasty bruises, but fortunately none of his wounds were of a life-threatening magnitude. However, as he had hit his head during the fall, the doctor had instructed him to remain in the infirmary for the day.

Akeru had a vivid memory of the moment he fell.

Of all people, his partner was Chihaya. After watching everyone during the marching drills, Akeru already knew he was the fastest flier among the Seeds, and yet Chihaya had been flying at an awfully low speed back when it all happened. Akeru had been convinced it was all Chihaya’s attempt at harassment, but Akeru couldn’t afford to waste time like that—he had to become the horse and catch up with the rest. Led by his growing panic, he started to transform before Chihaya was ready to do so, forcing him to go for a switch.

The sound of the wind raged against his ears.

And there, Chihaya. The expression on his face the moment he took human form.

——In the end, Akeru’s own transformation took too long.

A terrible blunder, one that would be a massive problem for his grades going forward. If things kept going like this, maybe Akeru wouldn’t even be able to become Wakamiya’s vassal. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go.

“Dammit……”

Where the hell did I go wrong? an overwhelmed Akeru wondered to himself.

“We have already informed everyone at the Western House.”

“I see…… Thank you for that.”

The next day, his two roommates came to visit. They had accompanied him to the Monastery and had once gone through great lengths to attend to Akeru’s every need, and yet they appeared unmistakably reluctant to come visit this time around. They both had the face of someone fulfilling the bare minimum of courtesies.

“What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

“Oh, nothing.”

“Nothing at all.”

They both remained aloof. Akeru could feel irritation expanding deep within his chest by the second. “...... You have been avoiding me lately. You know, if you have something to tell me, just say so.”

One of them abruptly raised his head. “Then, I’ll take my chance.”

“Hey, stop!”

“I’m not stopping! We are all thinking the same thing. So, I’ve heard about all this recently,” the boy said with a horribly contorted face. “Lord Akeru, you told us that you came here out of your own volition after receiving His Highness Wakamiya’s order to do so. But, apparently, you actually only served His Highness for one single day, am I wrong?”

Akeru was left at a loss. Why was that a problem now, after so long?

“Yeah, what about that?”

“I thought you coming to the Monastery was just in preparation to become His Highness’ vassal. You were truly brilliant at first,” he explained with an embittered look, “so we were almost fooled by that, but then—what did His Highness Wakamiya see in you, when you had barely spent a day with him and hadn’t even held a bamboo sword in your life at the time, to tell you to become a Yamauchi Guard?”

“Haven’t I told you again and again? The Yamauchi Guard is corrupt and I’m here to fix that. The Wakamiya Faction needs their own vanguard, and he chose me for that.”

“But if that’s the case, Yukiya of the Northern House is already there! He’s the most fit to obstruct the Animiya Faction. He’s the Great General’s grandson and the most talented in battle tactics among all our peers.”

To top it all off, Yukiya’s achievements included serving Wakamiya as his close aide for an entire year. If he got to graduate, there was no doubt he would become one of Wakamiya’s close vassals unless something radical happened.

“Command of the country’s warriors is the specialty of the Northern House to begin with. There was no need whatsoever for someone of the West of all houses to come to the Monastery. You were originally supposed to stay close to His Highness, right? As in, assuming His Highness expects Yukiya to fulfill his duty as a vassal by becoming a warrior, shouldn’t the same apply to you but by becoming a Court Official instead? And yet, you don’t even have an inkling of why you merely lasted one day as his attendant?”

“...... What are you trying to say?”

The rank of the Western House’s second son was, fundamentally speaking, one that shone first and foremost at the Court. What was the reason to even bother sending him to the Monastery despite that fact?

——The truth was that most nobles who went to the Unbending Reed Monastery were those whose families had forsaken them. Those too incompetent to get a job at the Court even through the On’i System.

“Wasn’t it simply that His Highness Wakamiya disliked you and used it as an excuse to get rid of you?” 

His roommate’s words left Akeru speechless. “We heard that you had His Highness’ trust, Lord Akeru. That’s why we went through the trouble of coming here with you instead of joining the Court as we had originally intended, but what’s the point if His Highness truly has forsaken you? You wasted our time and effort,” the boy spat out. “We shouldn’t have come to the damn Monastery in the first place.”

The other boy had so far restrained from talking altogether, unlike his fierce friend. Now, he shook his head with a sigh. “I don’t think it’s all your fault. However, the fact is that, as of now, the West-affiliated Court Ravens are increasingly disappointed in you.”

Akeru’s head failed to process it all. There was no way he could believe straight away that these two, those who had been closest to him, actually had such an image of him.

“We’re planning to voluntarily drop out.”

“What!?” Akeru rushed to ask—a hint of pleading snuck into his voice.

“Well, that’s the idea…… So, could you keep your distance from us?”

Akeru couldn’t think of a way to stop them. 

Just as his roommates were about to leave the room, however, Akeru caught sight of someone at the door. To make matters even worse, it turned out to be the last person he wanted to see in the current situation.

“Ah, did I come at a bad moment?”

The boy—Yukiya of the Northern House—tilted his head with a smile on his face.

“Ah, good to know it wasn’t too bad.” After watching Akeru’s roommates leave as if they were running away, Yukiya approached him with a shady-looking smile. 

“Why did you come here?”

“Is that how you greet people? And here I bothered to come deliver a present for the sick. Here, take it.” Yukiya handed him a package covered in wrapping paper. Inside, there were sugar-sprinkled kumquats.

“I don’t want them.”

“Oh, really? Now that’s a waste. Can I have them?” Yukiya didn’t even wait for Akeru’s answer. He immediately sat by the window and started to stuff his mouth with kumquats. For a while, the only sound breaking the silence of the room was his slow chewing.

Akeru had no words for Yukiya. He had this feeling—like he finally understood why Yukiya had given him the cold shoulder when Akeru first offered him his friendship as a fellow member of the Wakamiya Faction. Unlike Akeru, Yukiya had been serving by Wakamiya’s side for an entire year. He didn’t want to think about it, but if Wakamiya had truly sent him to the Monastery out of disgust, Yukiya was sure to know.

While a part of him wanted to know what Wakamiya had intended for him all along, another couldn’t even bear the idea of hearing the truth.

“...... If that’s everything, can’t you leave me alone?” he said in an admittedly dreadful tone—he was too scared of the truth coming out from Yukiya’s mouth. However, as blatant as Akeru’s jealousy turned out to be, Yukiya simply laughed it off.

“I have more to say, obviously. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have come here at all,” he confirmed with a wholly impassive expression. “You see, if things keep going like this, you’ll end up leaving this place sooner or later.”

Akeru flew into a rage the moment he heard that. “It’s not that bad! My grades should still be better than yours if you put them all together!”

“Who’s talking about grades here? You truly don’t understand the position you’re in, huh?”

Yukiya’s demeanor got, all of a sudden, a lot colder. Akeru flinched. “What do you mean? The situation I’m in…”

“Think about it for a moment,” Yukiya said as he fiddled with a kumquat, “the trainees currently on the Monastery’s register are 44 Seeds, 21 Saplings and 14 Evergreens, a total of 78 students. Among those, only you and I were born with a social rank higher than fifth in our region. Furthermore, and this is including us, there are only six Court Ravens in the entire Monastery with the right to employ the On’i System. The vast majority of those are either Seeds or Saplings. Do you understand what that means?” Yukiya asked an astonished Akeru—it was as if he was testing him.

“That most trainees from the high nobility fail out before reaching their third year……?”

“Exactly.” While, at the moment, there were still Court Ravens among his peers, virtually everyone would be either from warrior clans or commoners once they became Evergreens. “There are others linked to the Four Houses, of course, but they aren’t necessarily nobility themselves. It’s obvious what will happen to you if you keep ridiculing Hill Ravens and paying your respects only to your fellow Court Ravens, isn’t it? With that attitude, you’ll just end up surrounded by enemies,” Yukiya explained with a bored expression.

“Besides, to form a West-affiliated faction to reform the Unbending Reed Monastery is, no matter how you put it, both impossible and pointless. Any issues with the Monastery’s policies are for people like the director or His Highness Wakamiya—those involved in the place’s administration—to fix. To ask a trainee to do so is just cruel and His Highness hasn’t ever expected anything like that from you.”

Akeru was appalled. “Then… there’s no reason for His Highness Wakamiya to have sent me to the Monastery, is there?”

——Were Wakamiya’s actions truly a mere attempt to get rid of him?

At the mere thought, Akeru felt all strength about to abandon his body. A moment promptly interrupted by something in his mouth—Yukiya had, all of sudden, rammed a kumquat in it.

“W-what are you doing!?”

Akeru almost choked on it, caught in a coughing fit as an unimpressed Yukiya gave him a bored look. “Oh, you see, I was just thinking about how some incredible idiots truly do exist. His Highness Wakamiya has such high hopes for you and yet you’re completely blind to it.”

“What?” Akeru raised his head, as if in search of an explanation. This time, Yukiya gave him a wry smile.

“I mean, he told you to come to the Monastery, didn’t he? So you could become his vassal in the future,” Yukiya explained as he rolled yet another kumquat on the palm of his hand. “It’s easy to tell why, looking at the guys from before. They didn’t say so per se, but the fact they spoke out like that is probably very much related to the delay of His Highness Wakamiya’s ascension to the throne. Those who only approach you seeking out family influence will change their tune over and over whenever it’s politically convenient. If you want to earn trustworthy allies, the last thing you want to rely on is status and influence. Let me tell you this much—you’re the very reason they ended up acting like that.”

Akeru stammered. He remembered how his followers—people he had genuinely thought of as allies—had blamed him and accused him of lying to them just moments ago. “...... I didn’t ever consider that.”

Embarrassed with himself, Akeru hung his head and, in answer to that, a hint of delight appeared in Yukiya’s voice.

“——Do you realize now? Think about it, what if you became His Highness’ vassal and still committed this kind of mistake?” Yukiya kept talking to the silent Akeru, admonishing him. “Remember, those you look down on as Hill Ravens are about 90% of Yamauchi’s population. Wakamiya is, in fact, very well aware of what kind of people are the majority in the country he rules over.”

The Unbending Reed Monastery was, in a sense, a reflection of Yamauchi itself. Slowly but surely, Akeru started to grasp the meaning behind Yukiya’s words. “So that’s why His Highness told me to come to the Monastery……”

To learn how to socialize with commoners ahead of time. All to stop Akeru from having an attitude unbefitting of one of the Golden Raven’s close vassals in the future.

“Wakamiya told you to come to the Monastery, but he didn’t say you had to become a Yamauchi Guard. He was trying to raise you. That’s the ultimate proof that his expectations weren’t placed on the Scion of the Western House, but on you yourself.” Then, Yukiya unexpectedly looked Akeru in the eyes. “But, what about you? What would you do if His Highness Wakamiya loses his status as Crown Prince? Would you remain by His Highness’ side if he isn’t your brother-in-law? If Lady Masuho no Susuki doesn’t ever enter the Harem?”

Akeru gulped in response to Yukiya’s harsh words. At that moment, what came rushing back to him was that first meeting with Wakamiya, before he even knew of his status, and how he had felt that day.

——The start of everything, a shared secret and a gentle smile under the sinking sun.

“I—” Akeru let out in a hoarse, shaky voice. He closed his mouth to try again with more success. His tone was a lot more firm. “I want to serve under His Highness Wakamiya himself. If he values me as me, then I believe I must respond with the same.”

“I see…… That’s a relief for me too to hear.” 

This time, Yukiya had a bright smile on his face. It didn’t feel shady at all, not anymore.

For the first time since they first met, Akeru genuinely saw in Yukiya a companion, a fellow follower of Wakamiya. He felt like he had at last fully grasped why Yukiya had most likely been chosen as a close aide—that great intelligence of his. Not the kind that makes you good at studying, but a different one altogether.

“You aren’t like me, Yukiya. You have gotten this far, all with the conviction to never rely on your house’s influence.”

That must be the very reason why he had gone through such efforts to get along with Shigemaru and the rest, or so Akeru thought. However, Yukiya laughed Akeru’s sentimentalism off.

“No way! It’s true that I felt like that once, but I don’t have the luxury to say so anymore. I plan to use anything and everything that’s at my disposal.”

Akeru blinked. “But, then, what’s the point?”

“Don’t misunderstand, Akeru.” All of a sudden, Yukiya’s eyes narrowed into slits. Akeru, who had tilted his head in question, watched him. “Power and authority are troublesome things, they can easily cause your downfall when not used correctly. On the other hand, they can also be your strongest trump card. So, what I’m trying to say is,” Yukiya said with a cold smile, “you must not mistake when and how to use them.”

——Akeru felt a sudden chill down his back.

Yukiya’s smile had transformed into something entirely different. His eyes were impenetrable, like those of a snake. What emotions hid within, Akeru couldn’t tell but, in a matter of seconds, a deep terror rose within him.

“What are—” Akeru swallowed.

—you scheming? he tried to ask, but before he could finish his question, a tanned face abruptly popped out through the window on Yukiya’s side.

“Are you all done with the difficult talk?”

Akeru almost jumped up from surprise, but his entire body howled in pain at the attempt. “Shigemaru! When did you arrive?”

“We came here together with Yukiya, to be honest, but it didn’t feel right to intrude given the mood so we hid here to wait instead. Here, a present,” Shigemaru bent himself through the window and dropped a basket full of plums on the floor.

“Oh, I actually love plums. Can I have one?” Yukiya asked nonchalantly.

Akeru was left in a state of complete confusion. What had that been a moment ago?

“You had quite the impressive fall, but you seem better than I thought you would be. How are you feeling?” Shigemaru asked him.

Akeru was incapable of answering at first. Ironically enough, he had the feeling that Shigemaru had just become the first person to show proper concern for him. It was both strangely moving and a source of sudden embarrassment at his own behavior so far.

“Your concern is much appreciated. I’m doing fine, but… ‘we’?” 

“Oh, yes! Actually, he has been way, way more worried about you than me.” Outside the window, Shigemaru vanished for a second. He proceeded to pick up the boy apparently sitting there by the scruff of his neck, effortlessly lifting him up to show Akeru.

A sour face appeared—‘I wasn’t that worried’ written all over it.

“Chihaya.” Akeru was so surprised he couldn’t say more.

Meanwhile, Chihaya seemed to be struggling just like him. He looked to be at a loss for quite a while, before finally letting out a mutter, “It wasn’t intentional.”

That’s all it took for Akeru to understand what was going on—to get an idea of what kind of rumors were spreading all over the Monastery at the moment. Everyone probably suspected that Chihaya had hurt Akeru intentionally. He originally served under Kimichika, whose harassment attempts towards Akeru had turned into a frequent occurrence as of late. Had he not been directly involved in the incident, Akeru would have probably believed the same.

“...... I know. It was my own fault I fell.”

He had seen Chihaya’s expression for a second there—he had been clearly frightened. It all, from his initial transformation to his fall, happened in an instant, but he had still felt how Chihaya had done everything in his power as the rider in an attempt to recover.

However, there was one thing he couldn’t understand about the incident, no matter how he thought about it...

“Hey, Chihaya. You should be able to fly a lot faster, right? Why were you going so awfully slow back then?”

Chihaya answered his question in a dispassionate tone, “You were struggling to keep your balance. I thought you would roll down from my back if I flew any faster than that.”

“——I see.” Akeru let out a big sigh. After straightening himself over the futon, he deeply bowed in Chihaya’s direction. “I’m sorry for causing you so much trouble. I’ll explain what happened to everyone else.”

“No…… There’s no need.” As scarce as Chihaya’s words were, they made Akeru’s chest feel so much lighter.

“Oooh! To see you apologize to a Hill Raven. You too have grown, huh?” Shigemaru’s amused admiration, on the other hand, gave Akeru all kinds of mixed feelings—something the former seemed to pick up on immediately.

“Look, Akeru.” Shigemaru’s expression changed ever so swiftly. “Just like you had your own reasons to come to the Monastery, we all also have ours. Nobody has the exact same circumstances, so it’s a given we all think differently.” 

Akeru meekly listened as Shigemaru spoke. “I think this place is amazing, you know. Where else can people from all corners of Yamauchi gather and share their views and opinions with each other? If we weren’t here at the Monastery, neither of us would have had the chance to speak to each other normally like this, right?”

“Yes, absolutely. You’re right……”

“We’ve been given such a rare chance, so think of it this way—it’ll be for your own sake to try to get along with others,” Shigemaru said with a laugh. “Breaks aside, we gather to study together almost every day in an empty room of the second building. Want to come along? Everyone will be happy to see you.”

At that moment, Akeru’s heart was terribly touched by Shigemaru’s carefree words.

By the time Akeru returned to his own room with the doctor’s permission, one of his two followers had already vanished. He hadn’t given it much thought before, back when they had that talk, but his grades had always been much worse than Akeru’s. Most likely, he had genuinely reached his limit, incapable of keeping up with life as a trainee any longer.

Akeru fretted about it for a while but, by the time night came, he had decided to head to the second building. Once actually there, it didn’t take him long at all to find the room where the study group was held—the sliding door wasn’t only open, but the voices coming from the room were exasperatingly loud.

“I can’t do this anymore! I don’t understand it at all.”

“Get your shit together! Now that glasses dude has found out about it, we can’t just go and copy Yukiya’s homework wholesale anymore!”

“Look, I’m telling you. As long as you memorize the warfare records1, it’s just a matter of applying it all afterwards,” Akeru heard a tired Yukiya say. An onslaught of angry yells followed right after.

“Like that’s easy, you freaking bastard!”

“There’s no way we can memorize those things just like that!”

“By the way—how did you even do it to begin with?”

“I just read it normally? That was it, really.”

“See, here it comes!”

“This is why I cannot stand quick learners!”

Warfare records were a register of what movements were executed by which pieces and when during a Board Drill for later examination, and, by the sound of it, they were trying to finish their Strategy homework. Akeru took a deep breath, steeling his resolve before finally standing by the door frame.

“For warfare records, you should first pin down the Officers’ moves. Infantry movement always uses them as the starting point.” The group, who had been about to collectively throw their textbooks out and get a swing at Yukiya, turned to look at Akeru. Their mouths were wide open.

“...... Akeru?”

“What are you doing here?”

Although both Shigemaru and Yukiya smirked at the scene, neither stepped out to support him. Alongside the wall was Chihaya too, quietly taking care of his own homework all by himself, but he didn’t even bother to glance at him.

Akeru lightly licked his lips, dry out of sheer nerves, and surveyed the faces of those inside before speaking, “I was wondering if, maybe, it would be possible for me to join the study group as well. I know it may sound wrong of me to say but, well, if it’s theory I should be able to help a little. Of course, that’s if you’re all fine with it……”

By the end, he was tapering off.

Akeru knew perfectly that his attitude so far had been anything but pleasant for the people gathered there. He cast his eyes downwards in fear of their reaction when, out of the blue, one of the boys lying on the floor jumped towards him and took him by the shoulders.

“Welcome, professor.”

“Eh?”

“We may actually be able to understand what you’re saying. At least, more than with that Yukiya bastard,” he ruthlessly added.

“Mean,” Yukiya murmured. He was the only one to protest.

“We can’t figure out any of it! At this rate, we’ll end up dropping out.”

“No matter how many times we listen to Yukiya’s explanations, none of them make any sense to us. You’re our last hope.”

Akeru’s eyes were left wide open—their reaction wasn’t anything like what he had expected. 

“...... You’ll forgive me?”

“Not like there’s anything to forgive.”

His fellow trainees, all commoners for the most part, traded glances. “It would be a lie to say we don’t have our own feelings about you, but desperate times call for desperate measures.”

“If you help us so we don’t drop out, we’ll consider all accounts settled.”

“So, less grumbling, more teaching! The due date for these is tomorrow and we haven’t gotten anything done yet.”

Akeru wasn’t quite sure if he should be glad at their reaction or not, but Shigemaru burst into laughter. “In short, no hard feelings!”

After that, Akeru spent the rest of the evening teaching theory to his peers. Yukiya’s explanations proved to be awful and their current situation was beyond subpar, but, thanks to Akeru’s efforts, they ended up being able to solve a lot of the questions with ease. In the end, his overjoyed, frantically crying students were imploring him to come again the next day.

“Tired?” Shigemaru asked him on the way back.

Akeru shook his head. “No, thank you for inviting me. It was fun.”

It had been the first time in his life someone thanked him like that. It was invigorating beyond belief. On top of that, there were many among the study group who were accomplished at Horsemanship and, as a show of gratitude, they had offered to help him practice the horse-rider switch during the next break. Akeru was genuinely glad he had joined them.

——There was, however, a matter much more important than his participation in the study group. One he had left for later.

“Chihaya, do you have a moment?”

Akeru called out to him just as he had left the empty room, heading towards his own. There was clear suspicion on Chihaya’s face, but he nevertheless followed him to a corner of the hallway without ever uttering a word.

“I’ve given you a lot of trouble with the latest incident. Allow me to apologize again,” Akeru bowed.

“I don’t mind,” Chihaya answered just the same way as before.

“But I do mind. You could have also ended up gravely injured if anything else had gone wrong, and now there are weird rumors going around. I’ve been thinking a lot about if there was something I could do to pay you back.”

Chihaya’s expression became slightly troubled, but Akeru kept talking without paying it any mind. “Despite your bad relationship with Kimichika, you came to the Monastery through the Minami-Tachibana’s recommendation, right?”

“..... You investigated me?”

“I’m sorry, but yes. Back when I lost against you during our first match, my followers checked your family register in the census, as well as your general background, and came to inform me. That’s when I heard that you have a little sister and her health is poor, so you couldn’t refuse the Minami-Tachibana’s assistance. When Kimichika intimidated you during your fight that one time, he meant your sister, right?”

In a matter of seconds, Chihaya’s expression went entirely blank.

“I’m fully aware it was presumptuous of me to do so. That said, let me ask you something else. Would you let me assist you with that?” Chihaya didn’t reply to his question. “You must loathe this situation, having your sister essentially be a hostage to Kimichika. This is just as a way of apology, there are no ulterior motives or anything,” Akeru emphasized. “It’s all out of pure goodwill, I mean it.”

Up until then, Akeru had only taken advantage of his own position and the power his birth had given him. He had done nothing but act arrogantly in front of people like Chihaya or Shigemaru. However, he had no plans to commit the same mistakes and misuse his power anymore. He wanted to follow Yukiya’s advice. This would be a good first at using his influence in the correct way, or so he thought.

“The Western House will support you, if you wish so, and we’ll take good proper care of your sister too. It’s not like you want to be under Kimichika either. Right, Chihaya?”

Chihaya opened his mouth after a long silence.

“That’s right,” he murmured in a self-deprecating tone. “That much is true. I’m not receiving the Minami-Tachibana’s aid because I like it that way.”

“Then!” Akeru said enthusiastically.

The look in Chihaya’s eyes, however, was as cold as ice.

“——It’s as I thought. You’re just like Kimichika.” Just like that, Chihaya turned his back on him and quickly left the place behind. Akeru had no time to stop him.

…… Did he just anger him?

Frozen in place, Akeru watched Chihaya as he vanished into the distance.

“But, why?” He couldn’t even imagine the reason behind Chihaya’s anger.

Next: Chihaya (Part 1)

—————————————

1: Warfare Records is my take on Senpu (戦譜), which is in itself a reference to Kifu (棋譜). Kifu is the word for records of abstract strategy games like Shogi or Go, which can be used to fully replicate a game. Each game has their own notation methods.

[theconcinnitycompany]

5 Ways To Streamline Virtual Trial Management With The Right Tech Stack

As the world becomes increasingly reliant on technology, it is no surprise that the clinical trial field is following suit. Virtual trials, also known as remote or decentralized clinical trials, involve using technology to collect data and monitor patient health remotely instead of in a traditional brick-and-mortar clinic setting. Successful virtual trials are built on a technology stack that meets the critical needs of virtual trials. This blog post outlines five essential technical requirements that your tech stack must support to drive successful virtual trial completion. 

[nalyra-dreaming]

I'm a show-only fan who never read the book but I learned that Lestat had an very incestuous relationship with his mom Gabrielle in the book (which I'm here for it. Sorry for being a sickko who enjoy inappropriate relationships). And today I learned that Gabrielle also kissed Armand (on the lips???) and combed his hair and showed motherly affection towards him. However, Armand doesn't seem to like her very much? So we're not only gonna get some Lestat/Nikki/Armand love triangle but also gonna get some Lestat/Gabrielle/Armand (incestuous) triangle???

Wow. I can't wait to see how the show runners & Rolin are gonna handle those messy relationships. This is too good... Just imagine Louis and Daniel's face when they get this information...

Armand... hates her guts, later on. I wouldn't necessarily see them as a triangle... but we'll see.

I think the main reasons for his feelings are as follows:

When Lestat and Gabrielle leave Paris, Armand wants to come with them, but Lestat rejects him, though he says he wants to. Gabrielle is a bit more clear on that: "The Devil's Road is what we want, " she said. "And we are enough for each other now. Maybe years and years into the future, when we've been a thousand places and seen a thousand things, we'll come back. We'll talk then together as we have tonight." This "we are enough for each other now" (Lestat and Gabrielle) had to eat at Armand, who only a short time before had warned Lestat: "Remember that when your dark children strike out at you, when they rise up against you. Remember me. " and who had, only just before, fought so hard to "have" Lestat for himself. And failed.

Gabrielle fails, except on the most outrageous instances, to come to Lestat or to Lestat's aid - in Armand's eyes. Other than Armand, btw, who comes when called, or requested - I think in an attempt to make up for his refusal to help Lestat when he did come for help to him in Paris (pre trial, book canonically Lestat came to Armand for help and healing, and Armand tortured him instead because he felt used and rejected again) - a help which he had offered, before Lestat had left him. And Armand despises Gabrielle for that: Gabrielle. She's around now. She was around on The Night Island. Everyone hates her. She is Lestat's Mother, and abandons him for centuries, and somehow doesn't manage to heed Lestat's periodic and inevitable frantic cries for help, which though she could not receive them, being his fledgling, could certainly learn of them from other vampiric minds which are on fire with the news round the world when Lestat is in trouble. Gabrielle, she looks just like him, except she's a woman, totally a woman, that is, sharper of feature, small-waisted, big- breasted, sweet-eyed in the most unnerving and dishonest fashion, gorgeous in a black ball gown with her hair free, more often dusty, genderless, sheathed in supple leather or belted khaki, a steady walker, and a vampire so cunning and cold that she has forgotten what it ever meant to be human or in pain. Indeed, I think she forgot overnight, if she ever knew it. She was in mortal life one of those creatures who always wondered what the others were carrying on about. Gabrielle, low- voiced, unintentionally vicious, glacial, forbidding, ungiving, a wanderer through snowy forests of the far north, a slayer of giant white bears and white tigers, an indifferent legend to untamed tribes, something more akin to a prehistoric reptile than a human. Beautiful, naturally, blond hair in a braid down her back, almost regal in a chocolate-colored leather safari jacket and a small droopy brimmed rain hat, a stalker, a quick killer, a pitiless and seemingly thoughtful but eternally secretive thing. Gabrielle, virtually useless to anyone but herself. Some night she'll say something to someone, I suppose. ... I mean, maybe they'll dip their toes into this as well, and add "rejected lover" to the list of reasons. It could... fit. But later on he hates her guts, at least when he does speak of her.

[danganronpasurvivoraskblog]

Dangancember 2024 - Danganronpa Top 24 Class Trials - Number 12: Danganronpa Another 2 Case 6

//Aw fuck, I have to talk about ANOTHER ending so quickly!?

//That was not a pun by the way.

//Alright well, let me just make a few things clear before we get into it.

//If you've been following my content for a while now, and heard my personal takes on the Another series, as well as if you happened to see the ranking I did on all the games featured on the blog, you would know that of the main installments (Danganronpa 1, 2, V3, Ultra Despair Girls, Another, and Another 2) you would remember that Another 2 is my LEAST favourite installment of this group.

//And I think you could've gleaned as much from the fact that two of its trials didn't manage to make the list. The only other game that had more than 1 trial in the honorable mentions was DR1, but that's mainly because Case 1 is just a tutorial, and Case 5 was a quickly scrapped together trial that only existed for plot reasons to set up the finale.

//The cases in Another 2 that are bad are GENUINELY bad, and yeah, I know we haven't seen it on the list for a short while now but still, I generally have a much more negative opinion of this game's mystery elements and trials than I do any of the others.

//But now we're talking about the ending; the place where everything infamously culminates in ways that, at best, end up being controversial among audiences, and I'm sure many of you thought that I would have a LOT to say about it.

//So what did I think of the way this admittedly fun, but messy game reached a conclusion?

//Well...I mean...

//I liked it?

//It's...It's okay, actually. It's definitely not BAD, and there's a lot to like about it.

//(Strap in, this is a long one.)

//Largely the reason why I think I like the final trial of Another 2 is because the way it shows the whole plot, why the Killing Game is actually happening, and what Mikado's goal was all along...is REALLY INTERESTING!

//As I've said before, while I generally do prefer Another 1 to this game, my biggest issue with that game's plot is that the finale and general story felt not too far removed from the twists and turns of Game's 1 and 2. But this whole concept shows just how different Another 2's storyline was, and why it still deserves to be recognized, even if it doesn't exactly reach the series highs in my opinion.

//Again, I need to reinforce that Another 2 is a GOOD GAME. And I enjoyed playing it. It's just the weakest of the 5 games that are on this list in my opinion.

//I'm not gonna pretend there aren't some very obvious similarities, such as the setting in an island-based virtual world, all being for the sake of the stoic one with the super powerful talent, as a means of the mastermind uploading her body into somebody or some people, as well as the fact that the protag (Sora/Hajime) facing their other half (Akane/Izuru)

//I think it's different enough that it's acceptable though. And that's about all I can say on it.

//Although, to be perfectly frank, if there's something that I can give A2-6 a lot of credit on, it's the fact that it manages to avoid falling into MOST of the tropes that really knock the final trials of each game down by several points.

//As I've said before, what ultimately decides my issues and opinions with the final trials can largely be narrowed down to four things:

The sheer length.

The fact that most of them are plot-dumps.

The anime-esque over-the-top way the villains are defeated.

The massive spike/fluctuations in difficulty.

//To start with, A2-6 is long. It's not as bullshit long as Case 3 of this game, but it's the final trial, so like I said, it's pretty lengthy. I haven't timed it, so I don't know if it's as long as V3-3, but to be frank, it certainly felt like it with how much dialogue there was in this game.

//And as you already know, V3-3's length was one of the major contributing factors as to why it was second-to-last place on this ranking, not including the HM's.

//But there is a difference.

//The problem with A2-3 and V3-6 is that despite their sheer length, they barely do anything MEANINGFUL with the time that they inevitably end up wasting.

//And again, that's still an issue with this trial, which is why it's not THAT high of the list, but compared to THOSE TWO? It's FAR less of one. All the moments of this trial for me were engaging, and piecing together the grand plot of this game was entertaining for me.

//Really, the only thing that made this trial kind of drag more than the average final trial would do was...fucking Iroha being an egotistical little brat.

//I swear to God, I hate Hiro, and even HE wasn't this obnoxious in Trial 6 of DR1! He was in Trial 5, but that didn't make the list, and he's ANOTHER reason why it didn't, so fuck him anyway.

//The whole stuff about the case being a plot-dump isn't as much of an issue either, because unlike how it was in DR2 and V3 especially, a lot of the key mysteries behind what's going on were discovered in Chapters 4 and 5, largely thanks to Nikei and Teruya's interferance.

//A lot of this trial is not necessarily about the "WHAT is happening," but more about the "WHY is this happening," which was one of my biggest pro's for 1-6 and the way it balanced those. But even then, 1-6 still felt like way more of a plot dump because clues are found that were never even a factor before, and I feel like A2 doesn't do that nearly as much, even if it is still guilty of it.

//And the anime-esque bullshit is fairly tame as well. It's still there, but compare this to the ending of DR2 and DRV3, where Hajime and Shuichi literally win their war by screaming bloody murder at their respective enemies.

//Sora doesn't really need to do that, and is relatively calm after overcoming her Heroic BSoD. And of course she is. She's the one in control after awakening to the power of Divine Luck.

//She has no reason to fear Mikado, because of one key difference between her final frontier, and the other protags: If you really think about it, Makoto, Hajime, and Shuichi literally won their wars in the end through the power of persistance and belief alone.

//If Junko had decided not to play by the rules like a good sport, there was genuinely nothing Makoto and co. could have done if Junko went back on her word after everyone voted her out. The only way this was clever in Makoto's place is how me managed to take advantage of Junko's nature of fairness and balance with Hope against Despair, and her willingness to accept the conclusion as it happened. If Junko hadn't been so high on the idea of facing Despair, there was NOTHING he could've done to TOUCH her. She still had ALL the power in her final moments.

//Same goes for Junko in the second game, because I swear, the literal only reason the Remnants and the Future Foundation beat her is because of Chiaki's timely appearance, that only Hajime experienced, as well as the fact that he oh so randomly happened to take control of the program from her. And I don't think it's ever really fully explained.

//And Shuichi...well, we already talked about it, but as cool as HE is, his situation is easily the most stupid and unrealistic. We've discussed this at length already.

//What I love about the way Sora defeats Mikado and ruins his plan in the end, as sudden as one could argue it is, is the fact that even though she HAS the power of Divine Luck, and DOES use it against him in the end, she doesn't RELY on it for her victory. In fact, the only way she really makes use of it is to one: Wake everyone up from stasis, and two: help Syobai get the password right.

//Even then, she says afterwards that it was Syobai's own luck that did that, which...is confusing, I'll admit, but my point is that Sora, unlike the rest of the protags, actually PLANNED how to defeat Mikado, and what she was going to do to save everyone, while making a calculated sacrifice.

//Sora did not win through the power of belief or Hope, but through the power of logic, and it's almost hilarious that she's the only protagonist of this group in a series of MYSTERY games that does this.

//Unfortunately, I don't have much to say in defending the difficulty.

//Largely why this trial ends up losing points is because some of the parts of it are so unforgiveably difficult, and not in a good way.

//The fight against Mikado is not only insanely hard, but whether you win or lose it literally hinges on how the game ends for you.

//The consequences of this are far too great, and while yeah, this is the climactic point that you HAVE to get right in order to triumph over Mikado, that doesn't justify the difficulty, nor does it justify the fact that the showdown that GOES ON FOR FAR TOO FUCKING LONG!

//It's RIDICULOUS!!! Even by the standards of Danganronpa, and ESPECIALLY with the context that Sora has already figured out what she's going to do and how to do it does not justify a scream off that lasts THIS long and is THIS DIFFICULT!

//And before any of ya'll irritating fucks say it...I KNOW you CAN'T die here!

//But I DIDN'T realize that the first time I played it, and I still shit myself thinking I might lose because I wasn't paying attention to my health bar. And also, that's not an excuse for this ridiculous as fuck minigame anyway, because that's even LESS of a reason for it to last for that long!

//*siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh*...But I digress. 3 out 4 points ain't bad.

//But I realize that I'm kind of getting ahead of myself. I'm talking mostly about the status of this trial as a finale, and not really what actually gets covered in it, which is definitely my personal highlight of it. So as I've done before, let's quickly summarize what leads up to the ending.

//The story starts with Mikado Sannoji, a man who is as much a creation of hubris as a plot twist marathon. He actually started out as a real person with a burning obsession to bring back Utsuro, the walking embodiment of Divine Luck.

//But here’s the kicker: the Mikado we know as the Ultimate Wizard and Mastermind is actually an Alter Ego AI; like Chihiro's Alter Ego, or Chiaki; modeled after the original.

//The real Mikado had been saved by Utsuro’s Divine Luck as a child, which set him on a lifelong quest to resurrect his savior. Using data from Yamato Kisaragi's AI that helped the survivors of the first Danganronpa Another game, Mikado discovered that Utsuro had died during Class 79’s Killing Game.

//Determined not to let death get in the way of his obsession, Mikado got to work on creating an AI version of Utsuro, to revive both him and his power. He started by employing the assistance of Kokoro Mitsume, AKA. Kokoro Kurokawa, mother of DRA1’s Mikako Kurokawa and not exactly a contender for Mother of the Year.

//Kokoro had previously experimented on her daughter to study emotions, and even after Mikako escaped from captivity, Kokoro’s brain implant kept logging data from her mind like a terrible sci-fi nanny cam. Mikado used this data to help build his AI...but first, he made an Alter Ego based on himself.

//And this is where things go hilariously, and tragically, wrong.

//Kokoro infused Mikado’s AI with extra emotions, making it so advanced that it gained self-awareness and agency. AI Mikado took one look at real Mikado’s plans, deemed them unworkable, and decided he could do it better. With a new agenda to steal Divine Luck for himself, AI Mikado hired Syobai Hashimoto to assassinate his creator. And because Syobai doesn’t miss, the original Mikado was promptly eliminated, leaving AI Mikado free to become the one and only Wizard Supreme.

//Now untethered by pesky human flaws, Mikado 2.0 dove into networks worldwide, gathering intel to perfect his plan. He learned that Utsuro had swapped places with Yuki Maeda during his Class 79 shenanigans, leaving Yuki on life support.

//Mikado swooped in, stole Yuki's vegetable body, skinned it down to just a brain, and devised a trauma-recreation scheme to force Utsuro’s personality to resurface. The pièce de résistance? Recreating Class 79’s Killing Game in a virtual world.

//To maximize Divine Luck’s power, Mikado recruited a crew of misfits who’d also benefited from Utsuro’s luck. Nikei Yomiuri, Hajime Makunouchi, Emma Magarobi, and Iroha Nijiue.

//Originally called the Children of Utsuro, Mikado rebranded them as VOID (because villains love ominous acronyms). But even with his crew, Mikado needed a virtual world to trap his new participants. So he swiped data from Chihiro Fujisaki’s Neo World Program and retrofitted it into a tropical island paradise.

//The cast was carefully chosen: they had to be symbols of hope and have ties to the original Killing Game. For example, Yoruko was a well-recognized counselor who once worked as a hostess alongside Minako Tomori, mother of Kizuna Tomori.

//With memories rewritten and virtual bodies in place, the participants thought they were fresh Hope’s Peak Academy students. Cue the Killing Game 2.0, where VOID’s meddling ensured most of the cast didn’t make it out alive.

//And so, Mikado’s plan unfolded, a chaotic blend of mad science, misplaced ambition, and just enough emotional manipulation to keep things messy

//And that's basically it in a not-so-neat nutshell, and...man I have to really talk about this, huh?

//For one thing, this plan is probably the most insane sequence of events leading up to a Killing Game out of all of these. The only contender is, ironically, Danganronpa 2's, because that's also the only other one that can't be summed up in a single sentence. Even if I was to try with Another 2, I'd still be leaving out some very critical information.

//This is probably my biggest problem with the circumstances. While the twists are fun, the sheer amount of setup can feel overwhelming. From Utsuro’s Divine Luck to Kokoro’s experiments, to Mikado’s betrayal by his own AI.

//It’s a lot to keep track of. For someone like me who plays these games casually, it makes me feel bogged down, and like I need a flowchart to follow along.

//However, once you DO wrap your head around it, this is...honestly pretty cool!

//To be perfectly frank, after finding out that Utsuroshima was also a virtual world, just like Jabberwock Island was, the fact that Mikado turned out to be an Alter Ego was honestly not that shocking.

//However, it's still a good twist in the way it flips the classic Mastermind trope on its head. Instead of being some omnipotent human puppetmaster, he’s a digital creation who overthrew his own creator.

//And as mid as I do find Mikado for the most part, goddamn if I don't love a good AI villain. Lookin' at you, SHODAN and GLaDOS.

//For me, it's just the right mix of sci-fi intrigue and over-the-top drama for Danganronpa fans. Plus, AI Mikado’s betrayal adds a layer of irony to the villainy.

//The fact is that the only reason why Alter Ego Mikado is so evil is because even if he didn't show it, the real Mikado was equally as evil. In the game, we find out that Utsuro saved him when the orphanage he lived in burned down, so in order to summon him again, he tried to burn down ANOTHER orphanage!

//(There's a CG of it somewhere, but I couldn't find it unfortunately.)

//The dude was not okay, so making a sentient AI based on himself was...definitely NOT the best call.

//I also have to give points for yet again, my absolute favourite parts of the Another games, which is the originality. Although, this is a wishy-washy part.

//On the one hand, the Killing Game not only taking place in a virtual world based on a tropical island, but also specifically designed to hurt the participants for the Mastermind's personal benefit; as well as said Mastermind being an AI copy of a very horrible person; feels a bit derivative of Danganronpa 2. While Mikado’s execution is unique, the foundational premise isn’t breaking much new ground.

//On the other, however, Mikado creating an entire Killing Game as a trauma simulator for one person is hilariously over-the-top, even by Danganronpa standards. It’s the kind of absurd villain scheme that keeps things entertaining.

//What about the trial itself though?

//One of my biggest qualms with this case though, is that while it's overall pretty good, the characterization of some of these characters doesn't really hit right for me.

//However, at the same time, I would argue that each of the characters here, even the one's that I don't like, can be justified one way or another in a way that makes it, at the very least, more manageable.

//I've come to expect this of the Another series, especially Another 2, but one thing that sets it apart from

//It's not something that I really need to go in length talking about, is that Iroha...uh...sucks, honestly.

//Yeah, it wasn't until I went back through these trials that I realized how much I really DISLIKED Iroha in this game. I don't care that she's LINUJ's favourite, that to me is proof that he doesn't like people, because this is easily the most selfish and pointless she is in the entire game, and that's saying something.

//Like I can't believe it took me the whole game to realize this, but it's only when I got here, now knowing that she's a VOID, and the kind of person she really is that I realized "Wow, Iroha really does NOTHING for this game, does she? She's just completely pointless and contributes in no meaningful way whatsoever."

//I guess an argument can be made that there's really no reason for Iroha not to be completely self-centered here, considering everyone knows she's not actually on their side, and she has no reason to hide the fact that she cares about nothing right now except herself.

//Which...yeah, okay, to be fair, I do like that subversion. It's honestly unrealistic for her to actively work with the group considering that there's no way she gets out of it scot-free. And it is so human to be doing this, plus, we already know she's NOT the good guy here.

//There's legitimately NO REASON for Iroha NOT to act like this. Not only does she have no reason to be concerned for anybody's survival here other than her own, but she doesn't really know jack shit about what's going on, even as the final VOID, so I do get it.

//It's just really fucking annoying, and really doesn't help my opinion of her as a character. Especially when I look in Weeby Newz' comment sections for this part of the trial and see so many defending her.

//Like, I get what you guys are saying, and you are 100% correct, but also, I, as an ACTUAL human being, don't have to be happy about it either!

//The other example is Officer Tsurugi Kringe-o.

//Jesus fucking christ, I cannot tell you how goddamn disappointing it is that Tsurugi regresses so much between the end of DRA and the first time he appears in SDRA2, because it really does just feel like he learned absolutely nothing from his experiences in that Killing Game, as much as it seemed like he did in Chapters 4-6.

//I think I would honestly be willing to forgive it if LINUJ didn't approach his hypocrisy with the subtlety of a wrecking ball in a library.

//It honestly didn't even occur to me until I started doing these trial reviews how much I actively DESPISED Tsurugi as a person, even though I do think he's a good character.

//With that said, we do actually learn something about Tsurugi and his ideals here; something that we didn't know for sure before, from the Kisaragi Foundation's team-up with Syobai. Something that, initially, feels very untoward of him, due to how much he absolutely despises criminals.

//In fact, another point against him that I mentioned in a previous post that relates to this, is that Tsurugi's brand of justice treats both Iroha and Yoruko with the same level of contempt as criminals.

//Iroha, who kidnapped people to but in a twisted game where people die, manipulated the fuck out of everyone, and attempted and probably committed murder in the past, is treated the same as Yoruko, who lied about her age to work in a hostess bar.

//Wh-What the fuck is up with this man!? Like, sure, don't lie about your age to work in shifty business practice that isn't for kids, but also, Tsurugi had no idea what Yoruko was going through at the time, just as he didn't realize what Akane was going through at the time with A-2.

//He hasn't changed AT ALL! GRRRRRRR!

//I-I'm sorry...I just kinda got... *sigh*...Let me try and lay this out more professionally...

//Tsurugi’s philosophy of justice, or rather his personal brand of "if-I-do-it-it’s-fine" morality, is an admittedly fascinating dive into the slippery slope of ethical absolutism. His belief that evil must be countered with equal or greater evil positions him as both judge and executioner, which might sound cool on paper...until you realize he’s not stopping at the guilty.

//His willingness to drag innocent people like the families and friends of said criminals into his vendetta reeks less of justice and more of unchecked authoritarianism. It’s as though he read Crime and Punishment and said, "Raskolnikov didn’t go far enough."

//Tsurugi’s logic is warped to the point where he paints himself as a savior while systematically destroying the concept of fairness. What makes him complex, though, is that he genuinely believes in his mission.

//He’s not your run-of-the-mill, anti-hero who knows he’s not exactly morally aligned and accepts it. Instead, Tsurugi cloaks himself in a self-righteous veneer, convincing himself and others that his actions are necessary sacrifices for the greater good.

//This contradiction; his desire to be the "good guy" while committing objectively terrible acts; is both his strength as a character and the reason he’s so polarizing. He operates in moral extremes, where gray areas and redemption are non-existent, creating a chilling parallel to real-world debates about justice and authority.

//The irony, of course, is that his methods undermine the very ideals he claims to uphold, leaving everyone wondering if Tsurugi is fighting evil or simply becoming another version of it.

//Which I think is aiming a little more towards the latter.

//Ultimately, Tsurugi’s insistence that "it’s okay if I do it" lands him squarely in the realm of hypocrisy with a capital H, which is why many fans, myself included, view him negatively. H

//is actions alienate others, painting him as a self-serving crusader rather than a hero of justice. His refusal to examine his own flaws while condemning everyone else’s makes him infuriating, not compelling. I do somewhat appreciate his depth and the moral debates he stirs, but they’re just as likely to make me roll my eyes and think, "Great, another guy who thinks the ends justify the means, because he’s the one defining the ends."

//And before any of you irritating fucks say it...Yes! I KNOW that Kuripa is the same case!

//Kuripa ultimately chooses who gets to live and die based on their crimes, and that's not a right he should be allowed to have, and ultimately, he DOESN'T. It's what makes him such a controversial figure among the Future Foundation, because his "justifications" for being a vigilante are all revolving around things that he should not have the right to decide.

//But Kuripa is specifically designed to be different than the likes of Tsurugi or Munakata in the following ways:

Many people forget this because of his violent streak, but Kuripa's crimes and murders are ultimately based around the idea of people seeking redemption. If Kuripa believes that someone is a criminal for the sake of something like making a living, protecting a family member, or being forced into it through other means of desperation, it's unlikely that he will put that person to the ax, even if he does decide to stop them. The reason why he wants to kill the members of Zetsubou is because not only are they all completely iredeemable, but they're also incredibly DANGEROUS, and a world without them is a better world. The sad part of it all is despite how the Future Foundation don't agree with Kuripa's methodology, he does kind of have a point that the world would be better off if Zetsubou were dead and gone.

Kuripa has never ONCE tried to justify his actions as correct. He's EXPLAINED them, but he's never tried to convince people to take the same path as him. In fact, he actively tries to push people away from it so that no one else besides him becomes a scumbag murderer. He's also never been shy about the fact that the feeling of carving through a horrible person with his sword makes him feel good inside. He fully embraces his sociopathy and evil as a part of himself without letting it control him, unlike Tsurugi, who tends to make excuses for it that completely invalidate his own line of logic.

Kuripa is a tragic character in the sense that he showboats so much, and appears to be so multi-talented, that it tries, but ultimately fails to cover the truth that he is a sad and absolutely pathetic man. He's incredibly self-aware, and knows full well that regardless of the motives, or who the victim is, murder is still murder, and two wrongs don't make a right. The reason why he continues DOING what he's doing is because he already has so much blood on his hands, the only way he finds he can wash it off is with more guilty blood. All he can do is defend his actions since he can't think of any other way to deal with the issues that are plaguing him. He is a tragic example of self-loathing and denial, wheras Tsurugi, for the most part at least, has his head so far up his ass, he can't see how bullshit and hypocritical his world-view and actions are.

//Sorry if that was a bit ranty, but it's very important to me that people understand the intricacies of Kuripa as a character without me needing to spell it out, purely because it's one of the driving forces behind DR Survivor's plot.

//In Tsurugi's case, By the time he’s finished explaining why his atrocities are actually virtuous, you’re left wondering whether you should laugh, cry, or just hope someone locks him in a debate with Makoto about the true meaning of justice.

//Spoiler alert: Makoto would win.

//But with all that said, despite the fact that Tsurugi and Iroha are almost CHRONICALLY annoying in this trial, I would say that every other character who appears here is honestly pretty fucking stellar! And none of them really get credit where it's due.

//Syobai is the easiest one to talk about I feel, because he doesn't honestly change that much from how he is through the rest of the game. However, the good thing about him in this chapter is despite the fact that he's a sleazeball to the end, this trial really does show the GOOD things about Syobai as a character more than they do the bad.

//It shows how much Sora understands Syobai in the end from the way she chooses to rely on him, not as a friend, but by fitting into his principles as a person.

//While he’s an arrogant, sharp-tongued opportunist who exudes selfishness, there’s an intriguing method to his madness. His life revolves around two central values: the sanctity of life and the power of money.

//To Syobai, life is the ultimate commodity. It’s invaluable and irreplaceable, and this belief explains why he treats death with a kind of clinical detachment. Killing or allowing someone to die isn’t something he takes lightly, and it’s never personal. His work as a broker isn’t fueled by bloodlust or malice but by his transactional mindset. Jobs are just jobs, even though he’ll gladly walk away from a mission if sufficiently bribed.

//What makes Syobai so compelling is that his philosophy isn’t as shallow as it appears. His fixation on money isn’t about greed for its own sake but stems from his view that wealth represents freedom, power, and the means to survive in an unforgiving world. Money is how Syobai measures trust. It’s a currency that doesn’t lie, unlike people, who are prone to betrayal.

//This belief also adds nuance to his otherwise cutthroat demeanor, as he sees his own brand of morality as more honest than the hypocritical posturing of others. His code may be unconventional, but it makes him reliable in his own way: if you hire Syobai and meet his price, you can count on him to deliver. Unless, of course, someone pays him better, then all bets are off.

//This contradiction between his mercenary tendencies and his surprising respect for life makes Syobai less of a villain and more of a morally gray wildcard, whose presence keeps everyone, including himself, on edge.

//And it's ultimately the deciding factor that Sora understands this about Syobai as a person while Mikado doesn't.

//This trial is also the best appearance of Yuki in this entire game, and where he really comes into his own. Sucks that it took until the end of the game for me to find Yuki even remotely interesting, but hey, it's better than nothing.

//Firstly, I like the fact that he doesn't forgive Utsuro, or show any kind of sympathy or understanding for what Utsuro did to him and his family, because...why would he?

//Yeah, okay, a case can be made that Utsuro didn't want any of this. Right from the beginning all the way to the end, Divine Luck is just a curse that makes his life incredibly difficult despite how much it's supposed to aid him with everything he does.

//I can make a whole case study about Utsuro's intricacies as a villain, but the short end of this is that despite how Utsuro was a victim of circumstance, it doesn't change the fact that he did some very terrible things, not just to Yuki, but to everyone, which justifies Yuki and Tsurugi's hatred for him.

//But what I like about Yuki's confrontation of Utsuro is that even though he makes the venom and detest in his tone abundantly clear, his facial expressions and movements don't show him angry; just...defeated.

//It really adds to the bittersweetness of this final trial in the fact that Yuki isn't willing to forgive, but he knows he has a chance to forget, and doesn't intend to waste it. Obviously, he's not happy that Sora has to be left behind while he takes over Akane's body, but he cares more about making use of the chance he's been given than focusing on what happened to him already that he can't change. It's a nice, and admittedly more realistic, parallel to Hajime and the end of Danganronpa 2.

//Also, I know that this is literally the entire point of the Utsuroshima Killing Game, but Yuki spends almost the entirety of SDRA2 getting handed L's, and that doesn't really stop here. Even the way that his character arc ends with him getting placed into Akane's body in Mikado's place isn't the best ending, because he now has more problems to deal with.

//Like, seriously, the fact that his physical "body" is literally just a brain in a jar is one of the most gut-wrenching twists in this entire game. If it wasn't for the fact that this was the final trial, and I knew there was some way for it to get resolved, I would have been panicking.

//But I do like the fact that not everything ended on a high note, because again, I've always found it stupidly unrealistic how well the final trials tend to end for the cast. The only class who I was interested in seeing the aftermath for was 77 considering all the revelations, but with this group, Yuki especially, it's a really good setup for future developments, and I like the way Yuki's character arc ended.

//His interactions with Tsurugi in this trial are also the more redeemable parts of both their characters for me. Especially in the way that Tsurugi is genuinely concerned with Yuki's safety and really wants to help him. And the best part is that this dynamic checks out.

//It’s essential to recognize the significant role Yuki played in shaping Tsurugi's logical processing during the previous game. Their bond, even on a purely platonic level, was undeniably close and instrumental in helping the corrupted cop come to terms with the events that unfolded. Early on, Tsurugi's reluctance to discuss his actions during the trial seems to stem from his unwillingness to confront the possibility that he made mistakes or that his decisions ultimately led to the unnecessary death of a friend.

//It’s only when Yuki convinces him to open up that Tsurugi begins to revisit his thought process, much like he did in the past. Yuki’s influence is pivotal. He’s someone Tsurugi genuinely listens to, even though this Yuki isn’t the one he knew. This dynamic showcases Yuki’s unique ability to challenge and guide Tsurugi's thinking, helping him process his actions and their consequences in a way that few others could.

//Also, we can't talk about this game's conclusion without talking about Yuki in Akane's body.

//Once it's revealed that Sora has the power of Divine Luck that Mikado seeks instead of Yuki, using Mikado’s own override code against him, Sora and Syobai pull the ultimate cyber-heist. Instead of letting Mikado upload his consciousness into the real world, they reroute the transfer to place Yuki’s mind into Akane Taira’s body.

//Mikado’s Alter Ego is left stranded in the virtual world, essentially hitting a digital Game Over while Yuki escapes to freedom in the most unexpected way. It’s a twist that feels like poetic justice, with Mikado undone by the very tools he used to control everyone else.

//Again Mikado's defeat is just so epic, but what makes this twist so intriguing is how it toys with identity and the notion of a second chance. Yuki, who has been through unimaginable trauma, is reborn into Akane’s body, a resolution that gives him a new life but also raises questions about identity and legacy. Meanwhile, Mikado, the grand mastermind, is left powerless in the virtual world he once ruled.

//I want to point something out here, because I don't think the narrative choices of this trial are talked about NEARLY enough.

//If you really think about it, AI Mikado met his demise by making the exact same mistake the original Mikado made that led to his. They BOTH underestimated their own artificial creation, and when that creation turned on them, that was when their plans met their end.

//Mikado met his ends at the hands of his own creation; AI Mikado, and then AI Mikado met his end at the hands of HIS own creation; Sora.

//That's CLEVER! From a writing standpoint, it really shows that history is doomed to repeat itself, and smacks Mikado with the reality that he was in no way superior to his creator like he thought he was. It's SO understatedly poetic, and I wish more people talked about it.

//The twist doesn’t just end with a mic drop for Mikado though. It sets up a tantalizing open-ended future for Yuki, now in the body of Akane Taira and wielding the immense power of Divine Luck...supposedly.

//On the surface, this seems like the ultimate redemption: Yuki gets a second chance at life, freed from the virtual world's chaos and his past traumas. But beneath that triumph lies a web of complex implications. What does it mean for Yuki to inhabit the body of well...a girl for one, but also a figure tied so closely to Despair? Will he fully embrace this fresh start, or will the haunting legacy of Akane’s role in the Killing Game follow him into his new existence? It’s a situation ripe with drama and uncertainty.

//And then there’s the matter of Divine Luck. In the hands of Utsuro, this power was a force of chaos, reshaping reality in horrifyingly unpredictable ways. Now, Yuki, a character who once embodied hope and fragility, has access to this same cosmic cheat code.

//Does he use it for good? Does it overwhelm him, making him a target for those who seek to exploit or destroy him, just as Mikado did? The story doesn’t provide answers, leaving Yuki’s future entirely up to interpretation, but...not in a way that feels dissatisfactory.

//It’s a brilliant way to let fans speculate about what kind of person Yuki will become, adding an ongoing ripple of intrigue long after the credits roll, and the ambiguity is both thrilling and unsettling.

//On one hand, Yuki in the real world with Akane’s body and Divine Luck could be seen as the ultimate comeback story. A character who has overcome despair and now has the tools to shape a better future.

//On the other hand, who's to say that the cycle of Utsuro falling into Despair due to the insane power he holds won't repeat itself? The weight of this power and the identity crisis it brings could spell tragedy.

//In either case, it’s a plot point that doesn’t just conclude the story, but it breathes new life into it, ensuring the narrative lingers in the minds of its audience.

//I know that LINUJ doesn't have any plans to make a Danganronpa Another 3, and honestly, I'm glad he's not, because as we've already seen for Danganronpa V3, a third game in the trilogy holds a significant risk of taking away what made the first two games really good.

//But I would love to see a fan's interpretation of what Another 3 could be like based on this trials conclusion.

//As for Mikado, if I can say one thing I like about SDRA2's story, it's the fact that there is no big Mastermind twist at the end, and the closest we get is the fact that the Mikado we knew was an AI based on an actual person.

//I was convinced that this game would end with the reveal that Mikado was actually a lackey to someone else who was hiding in plain sight. With my biggest guess being Yoruko because, in retrospect, she seemed to have suspiciously low stakes in this whole thing compared to Sora and Yuki.

//But...no. Mikado is the Mastermind at the start and stays that way through the whole game, and damn am I GLAD that I was wrong about Yoruko, because for one, I like Yoruko a lot, and two, I think it would really have taken away from the beginning of the game for Mikado's twist as the Mastermind if he'd turned out to be just a lackey. As much as he seems to submit himself to Utsuro, it's never hidden that he has his own agenda's.

//Although, I do have to say that Mikado's reveal of being an AI was...not really as impactful to me as it probably should have been. I really like that he's an AI antagonist, but at the same time, given that he's shown to have legitimate magical powers in a world that we've known for a while now is virtual, it...was not very shocking when it was revealed.

//With that said, I've said before that through this analysis, I'm starting to realize that I might have been a tad too harsh on Mikado, because he is an astoundingly good villain in the later parts of the game. It's hard to nail down a single point during Chapters 4 through 6 that I think his villainy really shines, but this final breakdown at the end is a good one, and definitely a contender.

//In general, I think what really makes me like this finale compared to the rest of the game is that the conclusion and the way things ultimately end feel undeniably SATISFYING, despite the bittersweetness of everything but...we'll get to that. Either way, Mikado has one of the best breakdowns across all 5 of these games, and definitely the greatest Mastermind defeat in the ENTIRE series.

//The legitimate only thing that bumps Mikado's defeat down is the fact that it's not voice acted, at least not yet. Assuming Sword of Swords or...anyone really managed to deliver an ear-splitting performance as he loses the plot would mark this as a standout moment.

//It's hard for me to take any of the Mastermind defeats seriously, largely because they barely show any kind of serious sense of defeat when they're taken down. Junko in both 1 and 2, Monaca, Tsumugi, and I would say even Utsuro, don't have that much of a satisfying end because you still feel like even their defeats were anticipated, and something that they were preparing themselves for.

//Junko is basically happy to be defeated in Game 1, Monaca, Utsuro, and Tsumugi don't seem as broken up about everything as they should be, and while AI Junko is SLIGHTLY better, her final moments are still a little anticlimactic...

//Mikado's defeat, and the way Sora girlbosses him, is not the case there, and it's OH SO SWEET.

//Unlike Junko, Mikado is VERY STRICT on things going to plan. Junko likes it when things get ruined because that's her kink of Despair, but Mikado plans things meticulously, from his schemes, all to the way he presents himself. And the fact that everything falls apart due to one little variable that he doesn't anticipate, is extremely GRATIFYING in a way words can't easily portray.

//It just...really feels like you achieved something here, which is something that not all the final trials do.

//Also, despite the obvious AI twist, the fact that Mikado killed his own creator is an entirely seperate matter that I find interesting, and also equally as satisfying and fun to discover.

//Fun fact: Sora yells at Mikado at the end of TTS "Zetsubou ni utsurou!" which means "Fall into despair!"

//The same Wham Line that Utsuro delivered back in A-6.

//Neat, huh?

//That leaves Sora, Yoruko, and Rei. I'm not talking about Utsuro because honestly, he's kind of the least factored character in this whole thing and beyond his final words with Sora, I didn't really care much for his involvement.

//I've seen a lot of people say that they don't actually like Yoruko in this trial, and I think it all stems from one particular point. When Mikado told everyone that Yuki's family had been killed by Utsuro and Akane, Yoruko is very quick to jump to Sora's defence and seperate her from that incident.

//The critique revolves around Yoruko's role in mitigating Yuki's experience and trauma caused by Akane, which one could argue undermines the personal nature of his struggle.

//I do agree with the notion that only the victim of harm has the moral right to forgive or withhold forgiveness. Yoruko’s decisions are invasive, as they redirect focus from Yuki's experience to her perspective. Something that she has no right to do.

//And yes, it's important to maintain agency for those directly affected by trauma, and such moments should center the victim's feelings and choices. It's easy to see how Yoruko is letting her feelings for Sora push Yuki's own feelings aside.

//However, I don't generally agree with this.

//Maybe I'm trying to stick up for Yoruko in the same way she stuck up for Sora here, because I like her and am trying to defend her, but personally, while the concern about Yoruko’s intervention is valid, it’s also worth noting that her perspective might have been intended to add complexity to the narrative.

//Yoruko wasn’t necessarily trying to forgive Akane on Yuki’s behalf but to offer her own reflections on the situation, framing it within a broader moral or ethical lens. And to be honest, I don't think what she said is exactly wrong.

//Forgiveness is often messy, and people external to a situation may offer opinions, right or wrong, that help deepen the story. It’s also possible that Yoruko’s interjection was less about robbing Yuki of agency and more about supporting him, albeit in a way that missed the mark emotionally.

//After all, Yuki had no recollection of this. He was still wondering whether or not what Mikado was saying was true or not, and even then, there's still his strong friendship with Sora that fostered through the entire game to consider.

//Remember, this Yuki is NOT Utsuro. And Sora is not exactly Akane Taira. Their connection through the game, beyond Sora being a protective algorithm for him, has nothing to do with Utsuro and Akane's prior relationship.

//Additionally, punishing someone who has supposedly reformed is a nuanced issue. While accountability is crucial, the story might be exploring themes of redemption and whether people can truly leave their past selves behind.

//And knowing how Yuki felt towards Sora in these final moments, I think he would actually AGREE with Yoruko that Sora couldn't be held accountable.

//Yoruko in this final trial is fine overall. She pulls her weight more than Iroha does and tries to help ground the trial from the insanity that it entails; and also, that one moment where Mikado tries to tell Yuki her age before she completely cuts him off is REALLY funny to me.

//One last minor complaint...

//Fuck this bit especially, lol.

//I mean, it doesn't mean jack shit, I'll always have my own interpretation of the way their relationship ended, and that's all I need, and Sora's goodbye to Yoruko was still superb overall, but...

//...Man...

//Let these bitches be gay, PLEASE...!

//Can't complain too much because it's immediately followed by this scene where Rei hands Tsurugi his shit, and I love this scene despite how short it is because, for one, it's Rei reminding us that she IS a girlboss and one of the best characters in this entire Fangan, and two, its hilarious to think about where we started with Rei, and seeing where we are now, where she went from being antagonistic and selfish to like...The ONLY GOOD GUY in the ROOM.

//I mean, I exaggerate. Syobai, Iroha, Tsurugi, and Utsuro are the only one's who really did anything wrong. And Mikado, obviously.

//But yeah, I love Slei Mekaru, and I love the fact that she clearly still considered Akane something of a friend by the time she logged out of the program, despite everything she had done. I really love that for her, and I could go into full depth why I absolutely love Rei, but...for another time, for sure.

//By the way, I think now is a good time to talk about something that people have asked me in the past, and that I've kind of failed to answer, because there was never really a right time to cover it.

//People can't help but point out that my interpretation of Tsurugi, who does things POST all these events, is significantly more relaxed and easy to get along with in Survivor than he ever was in the Another series, and they're confused as to what made him change his tune.

//Well, there are a few reasons.

//Firstly, Another 1 Case 6, as well as THIS case, showed that Tsurugi is willing to take responsibility for his actions, and once the truths are finally coming to light, he cooperates with everyone in a respectable and appropriate manner. It sucks that he regresses again, but the other reason why is because I think this Killing Game, plus Rei's "talk" with him afterwards might have had a real impact on the way he thought about things.

//I know it's unrealistic to think that Tsurugi will ever change his tune since the events of DRA1 didn't really fix his 'tude but...even the most stoic person would have a lot to think about after all this happened. Plus, given the time gap, he would have had some time to think about it.

//This will be covered in Phase 3 during the Kisaragi Crash arc as well, so look forward to that whenever the fuck it happens.

//And then this dialogue as well, and how Yoruko blushes after it, and decides to save whatever she was going to confess for when Sora finally returns to the real world. As well as the fact there are some REALLY cute moments throughout the trial of Yoruko standing up for Sora and reaffirming how they feel about each other.

//Mikado even points out at one point, after it's revealed Akane Taira killed Yuki's family, that Yoruko's willingness to seperate Sora from Akane's crimes is a sign that she's, and I quote, "blinded by love," Yoruko doesn't just not deny it. She AFFIRMS it.

//To be honest, I don't really know how and why LINUJ ended up writing Sora and Yoruko's relationship to be so preciously gay, because I'm not even sure that was his intention, but either way, I hope it remains this way forever.

//If the official dub of SDRA2 tries to erase or cover for this, I will fucking GUT them.

//Verbally, of course.

//But yeah, generally, I can't think of a single bad thing to say about Rei in this trial. She's just one of the best characters in the whole series and this final trial solidifies that for me.

//But of course, you already know that I'm gonna cover this, because despite how much I really care about the characterization of this trial, it really does all fall flat in compared to our absolutel main woman of the hour.

//Fucking Sora, man...Like, what do you want me to say here?

//I've already gone into detail before about why I absolutely love Sora, but let me try and paraphrase that in the context of this trial.

//Throughout all of SDRA2, Sora is largely the main reason why I stayed on the course despite wanting to deviate from it so many times. She has a very "tell-it-like-it-is" personality, speaking her mind even if it sometimes lands as blunt or tactless. This makes her a riot to follow, especially with her razor-sharp roasts, some of the most creative burns in the Danganronpa universe.

//Beyond her humor, she’s tough as nails and refuses to give up, yet her amnesia and the painful truths about her identity gradually chip away at that resilience in cases that we've already covered. Her mental breakdowns are not only emotionally impactful but also pivotal to SDRA2’s narrative, showcasing her as a deeply flawed yet compelling character.

//What culminates here and the large reason why I prefer Sora to most other protags in the series is that her writing sets her apart. Unlike the "Ultimate Paragons of Goodness" trope that defines Makoto or the others, Sora is refreshingly human; ironic seeing as she's an AI.

//She’s not portrayed as emotionally superior or the moral compass of the group. She messes up big time in Case 4 but it makes her feel more real, even when her actions aren’t justifiable. Her proactive nature also shines, as she’s often the first to push past the group’s aimless chatter to find real solutions, making her a dynamic leader who avoids the "let’s hold hands and hope" approach that other protagonists sometimes default to.

//And the way that whole character culminates here is one of, if not, THE most poignant moment in the entire Fanganronpa universe, even today.

//I mentioned already that the plot twist that Sora is actually Akane Taira was shocking and fun, but I would say that the follow-up twist that's revealed in this trial is also pretty cool. On top of the trauma and fear she suffered at that point in the game, it's coupled on here with the fact that Sora herself was never real to begin with.

//Like Mikado, she's an AI program that used Akane Taira as a base. She's effectively an NPC that was added into the game as part of Mikado's master plan, designed to protect Yuki from harm so that the events of the Killing Game didn't just automatically fail with his own death.

//What makes this twist shine is how it recontextualizes Sora’s entire journey. While it doesn’t come completely out of left field, there were breadcrumbs throughout, especially once the virtual world aspect of Utsuroshima was revealed, it still packs an emotional punch. Knowing Sora isn’t a "real" person adds layers to her struggle with identity and purpose, turning her existential crisis into one of the most poignant arcs in the game.

//And let’s not ignore the hilarity of her being designed as Mikado’s failsafe, only to become the ultimate wrench in his plans.

//As a twist, despite it not being one of the most left-field twists in the game, it’s still brilliant because it doesn’t just shock. It reframes everything.

//The stakes go up as you realize Sora’s existence isn’t just tied to her survival but also to the overarching plot’s integrity, and the fact that if the program goes down, she goes with it. Plus, it cements SDRA2’s willingness to experiment with what a main character can be.

//And then the conclusion is not only so epic, but again, the keyword is bittersweet.

//Like I said, seeing Mikado's plan absolutely crumble in the face of Sora, who turns out to be the one who ACTUALLY had the Divine Luck he sought; the lone variable he didn't account for, is not only the greatest final confrontation of all these games, but it's also the one that ends the most dramatically.

//Sora's final moments in this game are among the most bittersweet here, even with the notion that they might be able to bring her back in the future if Rei can rebuild her code. It's still not a guarantee, and everyone knows it, but everyone accepts it.

//It was an amazing sacrifice to see Sora, who again, had shown to be at a defree of self-centered, make such a lofty sacrifice if it meant the others could move on with their lives.

//And again, this is the primary reason why I love this ending trial, even if it's not as engaging or emotional as the ending of Another 1 or Danganronpa 2. Sora's final sacrifice is what any of the other endings could have been if they had leaned into tragedy instead of triumph; a parallel to Hajime’s potential erasure in favor of despair.

//It’s heartbreaking yet beautifully fitting.

//But that's really it for now, and the issue is that despite all I've just covered, there's SO much here to unpack that I couldn't possibly go over all of it intricately. I've made my key thoughts and feelings on this case know, and even if I don't know if I've done a good job, I've at least explained why it lands itself on this list.

//I know that a lot of people find endings like this controversial, but I genuinely believe that it's one of the best endings in the Danganronpa series, and one of the best trials that SDRA2 has to offer, even if it doesn't completely breach the Top 10.

[wanderingmind867]

Power Ring I (Harold Jordan): First, we need to discuss the ring of volthoom, and I need to explain who volthoom is. Millenia ago, on one of the many positive matter universes, there was a warlock named volthoom. A power hungry man, volthoom tapped into the very energies of the cosmos themselves, and made himself a being of pure energy. Acting as a virtual god, he attempted to bend the multiverse to his whims. He nearly succeeded, until the collective forces of the Monitor and the Anti-Monitor worked together to contain him. He was that big a threat.

Once they'd defeated him and stripped him of most of his power, they held a trial. And at the end of the trial, the monitor deemed him guilty. And in yet another example of the monitor dishing out indignity after indignity onto the anti-monitor, volthoom's punishment was to be banished forever to the anti-matter universe. The Anti-Monitor didn't want any part in this power mad warlock, though. He hated him and hated the monitor for pushing volthoom onto him. So he made sure volthoom would be punished in his own way.

More specifically, the anti-monitor ripped volthoom's soul out of his body, and then trapped his soul inside of a ring. Volthoom was now just a genie in a lamp, with no real physical form of his own. He would always be a servant to other men's wills. Or well, that was the plan. But the anti-monitor made a few mistakes, and these mistakes allowed volthoom to continue to flourish. Because while volthoom may no longer have a physical form, he's still got a mind. And he's capable of whispering in men's ears, tricking them into using his powers.

And if those men are weak enough, volthoom will literally eat them from the inside out. He steals their energies and burns them up, and it powers himself. If he steals enough energy from enough people, he can feasibly reconstruct his body and make another play for multiversal domination again. So for centuries volthoom's cursed ring has been traveling through the anti-matter universe, stealing men's souls and energies.

And now we get to talk about Harold Jordan. Harold Jordan was a janitor at the ferris aircraft company. He applied to be a pilot years before, but he was consistently rejected for his inability to stay calm while in the cockpit. Angry and bitter about being just a two-bit janitor for a stupid plane company, Harold was amazed when he suddenly saw a spaceship crash out in the fields near the airstrip late one night.

Inside the spaceship lay a dying alien, volthoom's latest victim. This man convinces Harold to take the ring by whispering sweet promises into his ear. You'll have unlimited power, the adoration of millions, you'll finally be a hero… Desperate to believe the words the dying alien said to him, Harold eagerly puts the ring on his finger. And this was the beginning of the end of his normal life.

Because volthoom now had a new host, a new victim to drain energy from. For a few years he hid his existence from Harold, though. For a good few years, the name of Power Ring actually meant heroic things to the people of the anti-matter earth. He was actually a good man doing good things. But then…things began to spiral out of control. Whenever Harold tried to get the ring to do things, it wouldn't do it. It began demanding complete obedience, and it would haunt him with horrifying visions until he complied.

So by the time Power Ring joins the Crime Syndicate, Harold Jordan is an utterly broken man. A spineless coward who can barely close his eyes without seeing volthoom's terrifying visions, harold isn't even in real control of his actions anymore. He hates most of the others in the crime syndicate, but he has no backbone to stand up for himself. And he's also beginning to suffer from a constant fever, a sign that volthoom is beginning to burn him up and consume him…

Although it isn't all bad for Harold. When the Justice League Canada ends up on the anti-matter earth, he manages to follow them back to the positive matter universe (volthoom ordered him to, seeing it as a chance to begin taking over the multiverse again). But once in the positive matter universe, the Justice League are able to figure out that the ring is controlling his every action. And they successfully manage to free him of it's influence. Still, volthoom and his ring escape from the league's headquarters before anyone can destroy it completely. So he'll probably find a new host before too long…

But in the meantime, Harold Jordan has his life back. Sure, the positive matter earth is different from the negative matter earth he used to call home. But he's finally free of that damned rings influence. Maybe he can finally begin to live again. But seeing as he's homeless, I see him living with the Justice League as he goes to therapy and tries to work on his lingering issues.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Tessa Stuart at Rolling Stone:

KRISTA HARDING’S DAUGHTER was eight weeks old when that police cruiser pulled behind her on the interstate and hit the lights in September 2019. She called her boss at the Little Caesars in Pinson, Alabama, where she’d just been promoted to manager: I’m going to be a little late, but I’m coming in! Don’t panic. Harding’s registration tag was expired. She figured the officer would write her a ticket and she’d be on her way, but when he came back after running her driver’s license, he had handcuffs out. There was a felony warrant out for her arrest, he said: “Chemical endangerment of a child.” Harding used her most patient customer-service tone to ask the officer if he’d please check again. But there was no mistake, the cop confirmed: He was taking her to the Etowah County Detention Center, almost an hour’s drive away. “I’m in the back of the cop car just bawling my eyes out, like, ugly-face-snot-bubbles crying,” Harding remembers. She was worried about being away from her newborn, and she was confused: Chemical endangerment of a child? “I think of somebody cooking meth with a baby on their hip,” she says. 

She’s right to think that: The Alabama law, passed in 2006, was intended to target those who expose children to toxic chemicals, or worse, explosions, while manufacturing methamphetamine in ad-hoc home labs.  Harding says it took at least eight hours to be booked into a cell that night, and it was more than a week before she was finally allowed to see a judge. She was still leaking breast milk, and desperately missing her two daughters. Her family wasn’t allowed to bring her clean underwear, so every day she washed her one pair, saturated with menstrual blood, in the cell sink, then hung them to dry.

Harding says she eventually learned the warrant for her arrest had been issued because of a urine test taken at a doctor’s visit early in her pregnancy. Sitting alone in her cell, she conjured a vague memory of her OB-GYN warning her local authorities had begun to crack down on weed. The comment had struck her as odd at the time: Nine years earlier, when she was pregnant with her first child, the same doctor at the same hospital had told Harding, who’d smoked both pot and cigarettes before she was pregnant, that she’d rather Harding kick the nicotine than the weed. (Studies are unequivocal about the fact that cigarettes contribute to adverse pregnancy outcomes, but the research on weed is less conclusive, with some doctors arguing it at least has therapeutic benefits, like helping with morning sickness.)

But in the years between her first child and her second, something had changed in certain parts of Alabama. In Etowah County, in 2013, the sheriff, the district attorney, and the head of the local child-welfare agency held a press conference to announce they intended to aggressively enforce that 2006 law. Instead of going after the manufacturers of meth, though, they planned to target pregnant women who used virtually any substance they deemed harmful to a developing fetus.

“If a baby is born with a controlled-substance dependency, the mother is going to jail,” then-Sheriff Todd Entrekin said at the time. Police weren’t required to establish that a child was born with a chemical dependency, though — or even that a fetus experienced any harm — a drug test, a confession, or just an accusation of substance use during pregnancy was enough to arrest women for a first offense that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. One public defender would later call these “unwinnable cases.” Over the following decade, Etowah County imprisoned hundreds of mothers — some of whom were detained, before trial, for the rest of their pregnancies, inside one of the most brutal and inhumane prisons in the country, denied access to prenatal care and adequate nutrition, they say — in the name of protecting their children from harm. 

[...]

In the past two decades, Alabama has become the undisputed champion of arresting pregnant women for actions that wouldn’t be considered crimes if they weren’t pregnant: 649 arrests between 2006 and 2022, almost as many arrests as documented in all other states combined, according to advocacy group Pregnancy Justice, which collected the statistics. Across the U.S., the vast majority of women arrested on these charges were too poor to afford a lawyer, and a quarter of cases were based on the use of a legal substance, like prescription medication.

Today, Marshall is the attorney general of Alabama, and just a few months ago, the state’s Supreme Court used the same logic — that life begins at conception, therefore an embryo is legally indistinguishable from a living child — in a decision that was responsible for shutting down IVF clinics across the state. The ruling was a triumph for the fetal-personhood movement, a nationwide crusade to endow fertilized eggs, embryos, and fetuses with constitutional rights. Personhood has been the Holy Grail for the anti-abortion movement since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, but outlawing abortion — at any stage of pregnancy, for any reason — is just the start of what legal recognition of embryos’ rights could mean for anyone who can get pregnant. Experts have long warned that elevating an embryo’s legal status effectively strips the person whose body that embryo occupies of her own rights the moment she becomes pregnant.

Across the country, this theory has led to situations like in Texas, where a hospital kept a brain-dead woman alive for almost two months — against her own advanced directive and the wishes of her family — in deference to a state law that prevents doctors from removing a pregnant person from life support. (The hospital only relented after the woman’s husband sued for “cruel and obscene mutilation of a corpse.”) Or in New Hampshire, where a court allowed a woman who was hit by a car while seven months pregnant to be sued by her future child for negligence because she failed to use “a designated crosswalk.” Or in Washington, D.C., where a terminally ill cancer patient, 26 weeks pregnant, requested palliative care, but was instead subjected to court-ordered cesarean section. Her baby survived for just two hours; she died two days later.

Or in Alabama, where, in 2019, Marshae Jones walked into the Pleasant Grove Police Department with her six-year-old daughter expecting to be interviewed for a police investigation. Months earlier, Jones, four and a half months pregnant at the time, had been shot by her co-worker during a dispute. In the hospital after the shooting, Jones underwent an emergency C-section; her baby, whom she’d named Malaysia, did not survive. Rather than indicting the shooter, though, a grand jury indicted Jones, who they decided “intentionally” caused the death of her “unborn baby” because she allegedly picked a fight “knowing she was five months pregnant.” The charges were ultimately dismissed, but Jones’ lawyer says her record still shows the arrest, and Jones, who lost her job after the incident, struggled to find work after her case attracted national attention.

The threat this ideology poses to American women is not contained to Alabama: Recognition of fetal personhood is an explicit policy goal of the national Republican Party, and it has been since the 1980s. The GOP platform calls for amending the U.S. Constitution to recognize the rights of embryos, and representatives in Congress have introduced legislation that would recognize life begins at conception hundreds of times — as recently as this current session, when the Life at Conception Act attracted the co-sponsorship of 127 sitting Republican members of Congress.

[...]

Taking inspiration from Black Americans’ fight for equal rights, the anti-abortion movement began thinking of its own crusade as a fight for equality. “The argument that the unborn was the ultimate victim of discrimination in America was really resonant with a lot of white Americans, a lot of socially conservative Americans — and it was vague enough that people who disagreed about stuff like feminism, the welfare state, children born outside of marriage, the Civil Rights Movement” could find common ground, Ziegler says.  By the time the Supreme Court ruled on Roe v. Wade in 1973, the idea that a fetus was entitled to constitutional protections was mainstream enough to be a central piece of Texas’ argument that “Jane Roe” did not have a right to get an abortion.  

The justices rejected that idea. “The word ‘person,’ as used in the Fourteenth Amendment, does not include the unborn,” Justice Harry Blackmun wrote. But he gave the movement a cause to rally behind for the next half-century by adding: “If this suggestion of personhood is established, [Roe’s] case, of course, collapses, for the fetus’ right to life would then be guaranteed specifically by the Amendment.”  Making that happen became the anti-abortion movement’s primary focus from that moment on. One week after Roe was decided, a U.S. congressman first proposed amending the Constitution to guarantee “the right to life to the unborn, the ill, the aged, or the incapacitated.” It was called the Human Life Amendment, and though it failed to make it to a floor vote that session, it would be reproposed more than 300 times in the following decades.  By 1980, the idea had been fully embraced by the Republican Party: Ronald Reagan’s GOP adopted it into the party platform — where it remains to this day — and in 1983, the Republican-majority Congress voted, for the first and only time, on the idea of adding a personhood amendment to the U.S. Constitution. That vote failed. 

After their 1983 defeat, activists turned their attention away from the U.S. Capitol and toward the states, where they sought to insert the idea of fetal personhood into as many state laws as possible: everything from legislation creating tax deductions for fetuses or declaring them people for census-taking purposes, to expanding child-endangerment and -neglect laws.  Activists pursued this agenda everywhere, but they were most successful at advancing it in states that share certain qualities. “You could draw a Venn diagram of American slavery and see that what’s happening today is in common in those states,” says Michele Goodwin, a Georgetown University law professor and author of the book Policing the Womb. “Some would say, ‘Well, OK, how is that relevant?’ Slavery itself was explicitly about denying personal autonomy, denying the humanity of Black people. Now, clearly, these laws affect women of all ethnicities. But the point is: If you’re in a constitutional democracy and you found a way to avoid recognizing the constitutional humanity of a particular group of people, it’s something that’s not lost in the muscle memory of those who legislate and of the courts in that state.”

Rolling Stone has a solid in-depth report on the war on women and reproductive health in Alabama, going into detail the fetal personhood movement.

[aspoonofsugar]

Do you have a post rating every HxH arcs and the details why and how you rate them? would love to read them

Hi!

I don't think I have, so I am writing it now :)

The Hunter Exam Arc: 8/10

It is a solid introduction arc! It sets up the characters, their objectives and their dynamics. Not only that, but I love how creative the tests are. Togashi managed to come up with pretty original trials and to solve them in meaningful ways for the characters. Finally, I love how its ending beautifully leads into the next arc. It does not feel like an ending, which is kind of the point and it enforces the theme that it is the journey that matters... not the objective.

The Zoldyck Arc: 9/10

It is one of my favourite arcs! It gets 9 simply because it is very short and lacks a climax. Not a flaw (Togashi is the master of anti-climax), but I love good climatic moments. The Zoldyck Arc instead is simply an ontroductioin to the Zoldyck plot-line. The family of assassin in itself is glorious and one of my favourite narrative inventions ever <3<3<3.

The Celestial Tower Arc: 7/8

A good introduction to nen, but not one of my favourite arcs. I think it is needed, though. Cause before we delve into the complexity of nen with the Spiders' cool and layered powers we need to break it down into simpler ideas. Without this arc I don't think York Shin and the following arcs would be understandable. Moreover, Killua's development and Gon and Hisoka's final fight are both great!

York Shin City Arc: 10/10

It is one of the best written arcs imho. The plot, characters, themes all come together beautifully. It is also the arc where you start to see how much creative nen can be. So, there is that. I also love many of the secondary characters introduced: Neon, Paku, Senritsu are all genuinely great. All in all every character has a role and everyone's arc is excellent!

Greed Island Arc: 8/10

This arc is similar to the Celestial Tower Arc, but I prefer it because Greed Island's setting is more interesting than the tower to me. The twist of the game not being virtual, but somewhere in the real world is great. Biscuit is a way more charismatic character than Wing and a great deconstruction of the cute little girl archetype. Her relationship with Gon and Killua is genuinelly sweet too, I think. Moreover, Killua and Gon start growing into powerful nen users here. Not only that, but this arc sets up everything the CAA is going to deconstruct later on: Gon's single-minded determination is mostly celebrated (but not completely) and Gon and Killua's dynamic is described as beautiful. Both things are gonna be throughfully destroyed in the next arc...

Chimera Ants Arc: 10 +/ 10

I think this arc is honestly the first real arc of the series, with everything before being a very long introduction. The CAA is glorious and it manages to do beautifully very complex things. Like balancing out tons of characters, all with their own arc and impact on the plot. It gives Gon and Killua's arcs a climax, by subverting expectations. Even more amazingly, the art starts with Gon and Killua as its protagonists (as per usual), but it slowly shifts the focus on Meruem, who by the end becomes the real protagonist of the Arc. And Meruem's arc itself is probably one of my favourite ones ever in all of fiction.

Election Arc: 9+/10

Same as with the Zoldyck arc. It is one of my favourites, but it lacks a powerful climax because the point is to deliver a meaningful anti-climax. And it does so in 3 ways: on the Killua and Alluka's plot-line, on the Election's plot-line and on the Gon and Ging's plot-line. It works as a denouement to the CAA and to the first part of the story, as a whole. Killua and Gon finds their conclusions (for now) and shifts their dynamic. Now Killua is the one with an objective, while Gon is trying to figure out who he wants to become. I also like Leoria is given some focus in what is hopefully a set-up for a future arc. Alluka is one of my favourite fictional characters ever <3<3<3 Finally, I like how it concludes a part of the story, but it sets up the second half!

Royal War Arc: ?/10

I am personally enjoying this arc a lot, but it is too soon to rate it. I think that to fully see if it works or not it is necessary to see it in its entirety because it all depends if Togashi is able to make good use of all the characters and subplots he is introducing. So far, I am loving the family theme, though. I also love the nen beasts and the potential for Kurapika and the Spiders' arcs! Moreover, the Spiders' flashback was beautiful and heartbreaking!

Thank you for the ask!

[backtoherloneheart]

Gerrit Q&A on Instagram from today (13.11.24), English questions:

Current favorite lipstick color? Dark purple.

If you had the chance to play in any band for one show who would you choose? I'm quite happy and content with the band I'm in.

Any new album from 2024 you like and would recommend? Really, really love the new album "Life In The Wires" by Frost* (music for (keyboard) nerds). Absolute masterpiece, as expected! Lotta notes, too.

Hi! Is it possible to get some Lotl piano notes? Not in the foreseeable future. It's a rights management thing, I believe. Use your ear and venture into the trial and error game. It's a good ear training!

Any new piercings or tattoos planned? Still wanting to finish my left arm. But either there's shows coming up (don't like going on tour with a new/healing tattoo), or I don't have the money to spare. A whole sleeve can be ridiculously expensive, albeit rightly so.

Do you prefer shooting music videos with a story and acting involved, or with just playing? Just playing. I'm a musician, not an actor. Video shoots with acting parts are highly uncomfortable for me, usually, because I have hardly any awareness about my movements and/or facial expressions. #körperklaus

How are you? Coping, I guess.

Hardest LOTL for You to Play? (Tempo/Too many instruments for You to play it live/something else?) La Bomba is virtually impossible to nail without any bum notes, and I rarely ever succeed. But luckily, that song is SO weird and tongue-in- cheek, that a couple of mistakes here and there are, I assume, pardonable.

What was the last live concert that you visited? CIGSAFTERSEX

What was the best part about touring in America?Too many things. The positive culture shock, our friends in julienkofficial and beastoblanco, our new, marvellous teammates brian_dickie and matthewxwindsor666, seeing hanszimmerlive... The whole package, really.

Comfort food? Pasta with pesto. Could (and most of the time do) eat it for days on end. Which is also quite cheap. It's called financial responsibility.

Which musical instrument do you hate the most Bag pipes. It sounds like it's apologising for the way it sounds.

Have you ever thought about releasing solo music? x Highly unlikely. I'm not much of a writer/composer. I've come to terms with the fact that I shine more at being a reproductive musician.

What's your all time favorite chord? How about time signature? ACAB! All Chords Are Beautiful

Do you miss Nora on stage? Less than I thought, tbh. In general, I'm quite happy to be able to focus more on keys and percussions on stage, thanks to having the ridiculously talented @the benjineer on guitar and additional keys now!

Favorite position I very much enjoy sleeping horizontally.

What advice would you give to someone starting to learn an instrument? Also fantastic picture! You won't make any progress if - the vibe with your teacher doesn't match. - you don't enjoy what you're playing/practising.- you feel forced to play/practise. Music is supposed to be fun, not a sport or an obligation.

Eat or sleep Yes please.

What was the last poetry book U read? I don't think I've ever read a poetry book in my life.

Do you have a favorite musical? If so what? I genuinely dislike musicals.

Where are you going? With my life? Absolutely no idea!

What's your fascination with unicorns? (Meant in a positive way of course) There is no real fascination, tbh. I'm just a big fan of bad taste. Years ago, I said "I like unicorns!" for shits and giggles, and the aforementioned bad taste. And all of a sudden people started giving me all sorts of unicorn related things. Be careful what you wish for, I guess...

Your favorite keyboard name? I don't know. Timothy sounds nice. Or Jeffrey.

What happened to NORA? She's safely stored away.

Pils or weissbier? Pils. Or Helles.

Will you share more videos of you playing the keyboard? Not on a regular basis. Simply because I couldn't be bothered to set up a camera, find the right angle and lighting, get it played right (big victim of red light syndrome here!), do the post-processing... It's just so tedious and I'm far too lazy for that. All past attempts to do something like this regularly have failed, so I just stopped trying.

A book you would recommend / are currently reading? Not a big fan of books/reading.

Evolution or religion? Evolution. Science ftw. Boo religion.

Hey! How are you doing with all the bag pipes on Lords of Fyre? :) There's bagpipes in Lords Of Fyre?

Pi or Klaas? @kahlschlag Just kidding. I love all of them for various reasons.

Is there a particular music note that you dislike or like above the others (to hear)? Interesting concept, but no.

If you could be an animal, which one would it be? And why? A house cat. No job, no rent. Just meow meow.

Photo of what you have in front of you [a black pic] Fear, mostly.

What do you like more - being on stage or at home? These are, in equal measure, my two favourite places to be. Everything else is highly optional.

Is your stage character the same as in real life? Wouldn't be much of a dedicated stage character if both were the same, right? All I can say is, what you see up there is 100% authentically me. I guess I'm just less flamboyant off stage (I like to be rather plain in day to day life), but I'm the same silly twat in both situations.