#also not lost on me that ever black main character got shafted like that

[marsixm]

let me just tell yall i wont get over what a trip and a half it was to log onto tumblr dot com, hear all about how moffat & his who run was evil misogyny incarnate, because, i shit you not, “the female companions’ lives revolve around the doctor”, and how rtd who was way better, only to go watch dr who from the jump and be confronted with the first black companion ever’s entire storyline being about her unrequited sad crush on the doctor

[chaoticpizzalawyerbiscuit]

Not enough

I'm fire y'all! Two posts in less than 24 hours :)

Get ready because Y/N and Azriel get down and dirty in today

✨don’t forget to make your own request✨

• I don’t own any of Sarah J. Mass’ characters or any of her plots, I’m just a fan having fun. Also I do not own the images. This is story is mine though, so please do not copy •

WARNING! this is the dirtiest thing I've ever written, it's smutty and freaky... so buckle up bc this is quite the journey

I open my eyes. The afternoon turns into night outside, already later then when we took a nap. I reach for my mate across the bed, but something stops me. My wrists are chained to the bedpost. And she is nowhere to be seen. 

“Y/N?” 

I hear her light steps from the hallway, and her eyes gleam in wicked delight when she sees me.

“Well, someone finally woke up.”

My heart stops when I gaze down her body. A black lace underwear. See-through. Small. Perfect. Realization downs on me and I chuckle.

“I see what this is about…”

She shrugs coyly. 

“After our little conversation last week, I felt the need to put the matters we discussed in motion.”

“And, by the Mother, how did I not wake up?”

“You are a heavier sleeper than you think, Azriel.” My name on her tongue made me shiver. “But I do not think that the way I got you like this is the main point.” She stalks closer, reaches the bed side and leans on top of me. “The main point is what do you want me to do to you.”

She sits by my side, lips kissing my cheeks, teeth pulling at my earlobes.

“I believe that such things were also discussed last week.”

Her laughter skitters on my bones, sultry and tempting. She pulls back slightly. “I’m afraid I might need another reminder. I can only think of your consent, and you have to remind me of everything else. So tell me, shadowsinger, what do you want?”

Her mouth travels to the column of my throat, and her fingers follow. Nails graze lightly. Focus floats away from me.

“Tell me, mate, what do you want” she whispers in my ear.

“I want you.

I want you to show me things I’ve never felt before.

I want you to take control.

I want you to remind me why I’m yours.”

Her eyes darken with raw desire. “Your wish is my command.” She kisses me hungrily, teeth nibbling my lower lip as she takes the lead. Her hands skim lower, grazing my torso, enjoying the defined muscles and taut skin.

Breaking the kiss, she straddles me, trapping my waist with her thighs. Her hands run once again along my chest in a possessive way, her nails scratching my skin. My nipples pebble, and she notices. She kisses and licks them softly, and my cock hardens. A bite, and I gasp.

She smirks, continuing her descent. Torturing me slowly until she meets my shaft, ready and gleaming with pre-cum. Now, she looks straight into my eyes. And runs a single finger along its length, from the base to the tip. I moan recklessly, especially as she repeats it. Once. Twice. 

“Please” I beg her.

“Please what?” She asks, without any sort of hurry in her tone. “What do you want?” A kiss is pressed to my engorged tip. “This?” I nod, throwing my head back. “Say it.”

“Yes. No–”  she takes me into her mouth briefly “More, please. I need more.” 

And she obliges. Lips, tongue, teeth and hands pleasure me as I moan shamelessly. But nothing compares to moment I see her own hand inside her panties, pleasuring herself. I can’t look away. She moans, and it resonates in my cock.

“Y/N. Oh fuck, yes. Yes!”

I feel my orgasm start to reach its peak. I can’t catch my breath. I need more, much more. It builds, builds builds– and she stops. Pulls away.  

“Y/N” I whimper. “Why? Don’t stop, please”

And she merely replies “You wish to feel things like nothing before. So here we go.” 

I could have never prepared myself for what happened next.

She denied me repeatedly. Made me gasp, whimper, moan, scream. The builds towards an orgasm became a blur of pleasure, a haze I lost myself in.

She paused once again, taking a deep breath. And this time, there was no stopping. 

She pushed me to my limit, using everything she could to make me drown in lust. I feel it get close. She knows it too. And keeps going. My hips buckle recklessly out of the bed, driving me deeper inside her.

“Y/N!” 

I roar with the pleasure that crashes through me. And I cum, relentlessly. Load after load into her mouth, and she swallows greedily. My eyes shutter closed. 

I reopen them moments later, with her hair tingling my face as she unlocks the chains around my wrists. A lazy smile works its way into my lips, and she covers my sweaty body with hers, kissing me softly.

A laugh comes out of me. “That was incredible, my love.”

She giggles, and replies. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”

We talk for longer, enjoying our moment entangled in each other until I pull her to a slow kiss make out session,  so sweet and calm. A distraction as my shadows brush her wrists, at first as a caress and then as a strong hold. Before she can say anything, I flip us over so that now I’m in control on top of her, holding her bound hands above her head as I was previously tied up.

I look into her eyes.

“Get ready Y/N... It’s my turn.” 

-From A.

(don't worry, there's a part two coming ;) )

[pandaponderart]

Underrated Anime Part 1:

Hello my fellow Weebs, I’m back for some more Anime blogging, this time to talk about so not so well known ones. Some that have got forgotten with time, some that new Anime fans have maybe never heard of and the ones that I feel deserve more love and recognition. I’ve been watching Anime for about 13 years so I’ve seen a lot so this will be in at least 3 parts, so hopefully you like this and look forward to more. Til then enjoy, hope you can find some new anime you’ve never heard of thanks for reading and look forward to part 2!.

1. Azumanga Daioh(2002)

Starting off with an older Anime, and one of the best and earlier comedy, slice of life Anime that paved the way for a lot of other Anime in the same genre like Nichijou and Daily Lives of High School Boys. Off the wall and highly unrealistic, this comedy is completely over the top in the best way possible. it’s old but gold and should be crowned as one of the best comedy Anime to exist.

With the most lovable cast, you have Chiyo the 5th grader who is so crazy smart she gets placed in a high school class, then there’s Osaka, who’a real name is Ayumu Kasuga who’s named that because she‘s from Osaka. Osaka isn’t the smartest and neither is her other classmate Tomo Takino who will do anything to avoid studying. Then to balance out the cast is Koyomi Mizuhara aka Yomi, the smart one who keeps everyone in line and Kagura the sporty one. Then of course can’t forget to mention the teachers Yukari Sensei who is anything but the normal responsible teacher and to balance her out Minamo Sensei the responsible one. There’s no real plot with Azumanga Daioh but there’s not meant to be it’s just an over the top comedy slice of life, with moments that will make you laugh from your gut. It’s all about the characters and the ridiculous situations their put in and each one is a lovable idiot that really drives the show. Give this one a shot if you want a show that will put a big smile on your face the whole way through.

2. Eden of The East (2009)

Another older Anime, not everything on this list will be older Anime but there’s so many good ones like this!. Eden of The East is an action, mystery with elements of romance with one of the most unique stories I’ve seen in Anime. It’s a short watch being only eleven episodes with two movies following after which I recommend watching because they continue the story. I’m really surprised not more people know or talk about this show but it need to be talked about more!.

With one of the funniest and most bizarre starts to an Anime, our lead charcter Saki is on a trip to Washington D.C, when she gets in trouble for throwing a coin in the White House’s fountain she’s saved by a naked man who claims to be a terrorist. Not only is this mysterious man naked and claims to be a terrorist, he also has amnesia and is carrying a phone with 8.2 million dollars. Saki befriends this strange man and throughout the story they try to uncover more of his past, his involvment in an incident called careless monday and a dangerous death game with other players. They must also spend all of the money as instucted by the mysterious voice in the phone Juiz as well as try to save the world.

3. R.O.D The TV( 2003)

Ok I know I said this list wouldn’t only be older Anime but I guess the older Anime just has my heart and this one has a special place in mine. One of my all time favorites and one of the earliest Anime I saw and it still holds up to me til this day. It is hands down probably the most underrated show on this entire list and if you only watch one of these Anime please make it this one. The story is completely original, the characters are complex and endearing, there’s action, heartwarming moments, comedy and mystery, I wish there was more Anime like it, it deserves to be a classic.

It‘s a one of a kind show about the paper sisters Michelle, the oldest bubbly bookworm, Maggie the seemingly intimidating quiet giant. Then you have the youngest sister Anita who unlike her sisters hates books, she’s a bit rough around the edges but loves her sisters. Although they aren’t actually sisters they have a detective agency to help find lost books to help pay for rent while also doing odd jobs like being body guards. Their first assignment is to protect the author, Nenene Sumiragawa who is being threatened to be killed at her book signing. The paper sisters aren’t called that just because of their love of books, they can turn paper into weapons and whatever else they please, but each having their speciality. Nenene finds out they‘re paper sisters just like her friend who ‘s missing, Yomiko Readman and asks them for help finding her. They try to help Nenene find her friend, while solving other cases and saving the world with the power of paper.

4. Baccano(2007)

Probably the most well known but also I think one of the most under appreciated Anime, from Durarara’s creator, Baccano. I feel like most newer Anime fans won’t know this one and although it’s a beloved series by many, I still feel it’s underrated. Also another bias opinion shocker, it’s one of my absolute favorites but that’s why it’s here. It’s once again a shorter anime with only 13 episodes but it somehow manages to combine all of the storylines cohesively, it’s a wild ride full of mystery, murder, and magic that will keep you on board the entire time trying to piece everything together. Also warning it jumps around a lot so make sure to pay attention everything pieces together!.

Based in the 1930’s in the prohibition era you have several stories involving different characters going on but they‘re all connected to one thing the transcontinental train, the flying pussyfoot. Yes that’s actually the name of the train, why, still no idea but all these characters from different walks of life end up here somehow. Now to introduce some of these crazy characters, first off the goofy thieves in love Isaac and Miria, who aren’t the brightest but can steal just about anything. Lad Russo the sadistic hit man who loves to see people die, including fantasizing about killing his fiancé one day. Then you have the ones involved in gangs, all In different ones, but nonetheless involved in some sort of crime. First there’s Firo, the youngest of the Martello family and one of the immortals in the show, then there’s Jacuzzi Splot and his partner Nice, Jacuzzi is a big wimp and crybaby but will protect his loved ones with all he’s got and Nice is a bomb expert and his childhood food. Those are some of the main characters it’s such a large cast it’s hard to name and explain them all. This one is a must watch especially if you liked Durarara, jump on the hype train of this wild show.

5. Black Cat (2005)

Now quick disclaimer before I begin talking about this one, I haven’t watched this in years so it may not hold up as well as I’m remembering but when I watched it I really enjoyed it so that’s why it’s here. This was one of the earlier Anime I watched I’m pretty sure my friend showed me it but it caught my interest from the beginning. It’s not the most groundbreaking show to exist and I’ve heard that the manga is apparently better but that’s for almost every show. It’s got cool action, funny moments and a great cast of characters, plus not gonna lie I had a crush on train when I was younger. its just a fun show and definitely worth giving a watch!

Train Heartnett is an infamous cold blooded assassin who works for the organization Chronos, and because of his lack of empathy for killing he’s named Black Cat. But after a chance encounter with a bou hunter named Saya Minatsuki, they become friends and Train decided he wants to leave Chronos to pursue an honest living as a bounty Hunter. However chronos and particular his fellow member Creed Diskenth are not pleased with this and try to get Train to rejoin Chronos. Along the way Train teams up with fellow bounty hunter on the brink of broke Sven, the bio mech weapon and little girl Eve and master thief and seductress Rinslet Walker. Together they try to escape from Chronos and get enough money for their next .

6. Arakawa Under The Bridge(2010)

Where do I begin with this one first off, this is one of the weirdest Anime I’ve ever seen but just like Azumanga Daioh that’s what make it so good. Beautifully animated by Studio Shaft with some of the most colorful and visually appealing animation I’ve seen, it’s pure eye candy. it’s equally as strange as it is hilarious and it’s just a fun time that’s not meant to be taken seriously. So if you want a good laugh and something thats truly one of a kind in story and characters give this crazy show a shot.

The show begins with one of our main characters Kou Ichinomiya getting stuck by his underwear on a bridge by some kids, he falls into the river and is saved by a mysterious girl. Kou is the son of a wealthy businessman and his life motto is to not be indebted to anyone, so when he’s saved by this girl he asks what he can do. He finds out that her name is Nino and what she wants is to fall in love, so she asks Kou to be her boyfriend. At first Nino seems like a regular girl but she claims to be an alien from Venus and lives in a box under the bridge, not wanting to be in debt Kou agrees and begins living under the bridge with Nino. However Nino isn’t the only one who lives under the bridge there are many other strange characters like hoshi, the aspiring musician who wears a star on his head, and the captain who’s a human in a kappa suit. I highly suggest watching this strange sci-fi romantic comedy for something different and fun to watch.

7. 91 Days (2016)

The newest Anime on this list so far, see I told you it wouldn’t be only old ones!, this is also the darkest Anime on this list so far. This has been highly overlooked since it’s release in 2016, it reminds me of baccano and in parts like death note. If you like mafia movies or just a dark gritty story with some light hearted moments, it s short show but nothing is rushed and it’s solid from front to back and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Just like Baccano, 91 Days takes place in the prohibition era in a town called Lawless where crime is rampant and illegal alcohol sales are thriving. In this town our protagonist Aviicio‘s family is killed by one of the mafia families, The Vanetti Family. He receives a mysterious anonymous letter telling him to return to lawless to infiltrate The Vanetti Family. He tries to befriend the families son Nero, to find an opportunity for revenge, the story keep you constantly guessing if they’ve truly become friends or if he’ll kill him. Please watch this wonderful mafia crime drama of friend vs foe.

8. Yamada Kun and The Seven Witches (2015)

This is one of the ones that I still really want to read the manga for because I just couldn’t get enough of it! i’m still hoping for a sequel one day! The premise of body swapping has been done many times in Anime and cinema as a whole but this one adds a unique enough of a twist to keep it fresh and interesting. I looked forward to watching this weekly each week meeting a learning about each new witch and learning what power they had.

Ryuu Yamada is a high school delinquent who wants a fresh start at a new school, despite the intention to start with a clean slate he soon falls into old habits of laziness and getting into fights. One day he trips on the stairs which leads to an accidental kiss with fellow student Urarara Shiraishi which causes them to switch bodies. Another student Toranosuke Miyamura learns that they can switch bodies and recruits them to his Supernatural Studies club. There they learn about the other seven witches that all have different powers

9. Arslan Senki (2015-2016)

The second to last of the list comes from the creator of my all time favorite Anime Fullmetal Alchemist, while it’s a very different series and not quite as good as FMA it’s still deserves a spot on this list and deserves your time. It’s hard not to compare it to FMA but it really is it’s own thing, and it actually came out before Fullmetal, it’s a historical drama about war and strategy and a character growing into his potential. Just as Hiromu Arakawa is known for there’s still some comedic moments and some great character development and a well done story, Plus if you like this there’s two seasons so there more to enjoy.

Ok I promise from this point forward I won‘t say anything more about Fullmetal Alchemist this is about Arslan Senki, here’s the story. In the year 320 the Kingdom of Pars is at war with the neighboring kingdom Lusitania. Pars is ruled by the ruthless king Andrangoras III who has a son who’s the complete opposite of him Arslan. Although he doesn’t know how to fight Arslan tries to prove his worth by joining the battle, but things take a turn for the worst when one of the kings officials betrays him. The once prosperous Kingdom of Pars is seized, and since Arslan is the kings son he must flee to avoid capture. So he sets off with his loyal bodyguard Daryun to find allies to help take back the kingdom. Knowing that Arslan is still alive he is still faced with pursuers from other kingdoms and the head of the Lusitania army, a mysterious man with a silver mask who knows a secret that could jeopardize Arslan‘s succession to the throne. Arslan is a gentle, kind person that doesn’t enjoy fighting, he must learn to fight and protect himself and gain the courage to lead an army to regain his home.

10. Shingeki No Bahamut: Genesis (Rage of Bahamut) (2014)

Leaving one of the best for last, not to be confused with the popular series with a similar name Shingeki no Kyojin(Attack on Titan) this show is just as good. One of the first shows from one of my favorite Anime studios, Studio Mappa. I had low expectations when I heard this was a card game adaptation from a new anime studio but I decided to check it out despite that and it was the best decision. This has all the elements of a great anime, the beautiful animation, the unique characters and the compelling story and all the cool action scenes are just a plus. There is a second season too but I’ll leave that for another time, ok time to stop gushing about this wonderful show, time for the story!.

Years and years ago the ancient powerful dragon Bahamut reeked havoc on Mistarcia, a land where gods and demons lived harmoniously with humans. The gods and demons manage to seal away Bahamut with the god key and agree to split it to keep him sealed. Now that the the peace has been restored we meet the main characters and one of my favorites the orange Afro haired bounty hunters Favaro Leone. Favaro is constantly on the run from his adversary and fellow bounty hunter Kaiser Lidfard who‘s main purpose in life is to get revenge on him. One day both of their lives are thrown into chaos when they meet the mysterious girl Amira who holds half of the god key sealing Bahamut and wants help reaching the land of Helheim. I also can’t forget to mention my other favorite character and the fourth member of this unlikely crew Rita the zombie necromancer little girl she is just the definition of cool. Then there’s the characters that want to steal the god key the demon Azazel and the knight Jean D’Arc who are constantly in the characters way but you’ll find out more about them in the show. These unlikely heroes must face the threat of the battle of gods and demons, the pursuers of the god key and incoming threat of Bahamut awakening.

[flashfuture]

Okay so I have a question. Is Oliver Queen a particularly shitty dad or something? Because I've seen him in a few comics, one of them with Connor, and honestly he seemed fine. Like I know him and Roy don't have a particularly great relationship, and Ollie kinda fucked up with him, but like is this just the case with Roy?

I'm asking this because people generally ignore this thing about Bruce, who has a been a mostly shitty dad for a while now, and generally make excuses for him, citing the fact that he wasn't always like this. Most fics featuring him show him as a good parent. But fanfic authors go out of their way to show Ollie as a terrible father, and an asshole in general, especially when pitted against Bruce? Why is it this way?

PS. I haven't read many Green Arrow comics.

Okay so this is gonna get long lol

Snowbirds Don’t Fly is where Roy is on heroin and there are many many misconceptions about this particular issue

#1 this was a PSA which means certain characters have to play a role even if it seems out of character 

#2 That is the only time ever that Ollie has hit Roy. And Roy hit him back later not that this excuses it but yeah nowhere near anything like Bruce

#3 The whole kicked out of the house thing. Roy was an adult. A full-grown adult who lived on his own. Roy only got into heroin because Ollie left on a road trip thinking his kid would be fine

#4 Ollie himself is an alcoholic so say what you will but personally, I know addicts in families can get pissed when other people also get addicted to things just based on personal experience 

#5 After fucking up Ollie went out of his way to learn everything he could about addiction and recovery. He went out of his way to earn Roy’s forgiveness and then a few years later Roy agreed to reconciliation. All this happened in the 70s and by the end of it Roy and Ollie were fine and firmly in the father-son category without much lingering animosity

But then the 90s and Chuck Dixon happened. Dixon hated Ollie. He wanted to kill Ollie. So he made Ollie as unbearable as possible. For example, Ollie who loves kids, always wanted kids pushed away Connor Hawke as soon as he learned it was his real son, ran off with eco-terrorists, and blew up in a plane crash. Really dumb story

Anyways after this Roy was heartbroken he’d lost his dad. Like they were really close and people really hang on to an argument/ fuck up that happened going on 50 years ago. While conversely as you said waving away arguments that have happened consistently and recently. And Bruce started being abusive in the 80s like full-on horrible dad after Jason died. 

Then in 2001 ish Ollie is brought back to life. And he’s handed off to Judd Winick. Winick is a racist, sexist, and all-around bad writer. He’s noted for creating a black love interest for Ollie just to kill her brutally because of an argument with a Black Lightning writer. 

The other thing is Winick played Ollie like a womanizer and a cheater. Birds of. Prey also ran with this because that series had a nasty habit of bashing men. 

So basically Ollie was called a cheater for that time he was drugged and assaulted, kissed against his will by a teenager who he pushed off, and slept with a woman while he and Dinah weren’t dating. Cheating.... I can’t even explain the level of devotion to Dinah that Ollie displays. She is it for him really he isn’t even a flirt. Hal is the flirt. 

Winick also whitewashed and sidelined Connor a bunch cause screw him right. 

So that series did not shed a good light on Ollie and it’s sort of done damage to his rep when we should be ignoring it like we do with King’s work because it was that bad and ooc. 

What was valid from that series was Ollie adopting Mia Dearden after seeing she could use a hand up from where was in life. What was valid was Ollie spending all the time he could with Connor because he missed out on his son's whole life. And spending time with Roy and his granddaughter Lian. Like Ollie loves kids he loves Dinah and he loves his family. 

That’s who he is. 

New52 is another reason. So Ollie got shafted and shafted hard. 

He and Dinah weren’t dating at the start? I don’t think they were

Roy was no longer Ollie’s son but his co-worker

Connor and Mia just didn’t exist. Mia showed up for 6 issues and hasn’t since. Connor has only recently re-appeared in the Robin comic. 

Ollie and Roy didn’t get along because Ollie fired Roy for drinking on the job and that was sort of it. They weren’t father and son here so it’s a weird idea to compare them to Jason and Bruce and if you look at canon Bruce is still the worse one

But Rebirth has reset Roy to being Ollie’s son and Ollie was crushed when Roy died. Is still crushed cause i don't think he knows Roy is alive. 

Also Ollie is just like a generally good dude. He’s a genuine socialist and environmentalist. He uses his money when he’s got it to promote these things and sometimes blackmails corrupt rich people into supporting social services. 

Like you know Dick saying he wants to be Blüdhaven’s safety net? That is a page right out of the Oliver Queen playbook. 

Ollie funds most of the justice league really always has since like Zero Hour. Bruce and him probably are the two who do but it’s remarked upon multiple times that Ollie was the first (in some timelines) and main benefactor. 

I’ve noticed what you have in fanfics too and it drives me crazy. With the addition or I should say lack of Dinah and Hal. Dinah was absolutely like a mother to Roy. She’s his mama. She got him through his detox. Hal was the one who brought Roy to her. 

(Most people gloss over that Hal was like an Uncle to both Roy and Wally)

So yeah whenever I see Ollie bashing plus no mention of Dinah I know that the writer knows next to nothing about Ollie. 

Also Bruce likes to say Ollie is just as bad as him when Ollie is categorically a better person in like every way lol. 

This isn’t to say there is anything wrong with fanon-ing Bruce. But I just don’t understand why Ollie is essentially fanon-ed in the opposite direction. 

Roy will always get along with Ollie better and be safer with him than Jason would be with Bruce. But fanon wants to play off like Roy hates Ollie and is terrified of him or whatever which even in the darkest New52 pits of hell that wasn’t even true. 

I’m not sure why it’s gotten to be this way tbh. Bruce, Dick, Ollie, and Roy are the golden ages boys who got to stay young and they’ve all been slandered by writers but fans seem really only capable of ignoring when Bruce is written badly which is so odd. Like Dick gets called out for things that are so wildly ooc it astounds me that Bruce out of all people is the one people want to ignore is just sort of the worst. 

Lol yeah I got ranty. As you can tell I am very passionate about this and I just wish more people would even try to find out about Ollie before assuming things that are not true. 

Hope this helped somewhat 

[duhragonball]

Hellsing Liveblog Ch. 7-10

This is the “Dead Zone” arc, featuring Luke and Jan Valentine.

This arc is set around... uh, September 3rd-ish, I think.   By now, Hellsing has had time to investigate this recent uptick in vampire incidents, and she calls a meeting of the “Convention of Twelve” to discuss her findings.   This group represents the heads of various important agencies, political leaders, and noblemen, and the manga states that they “essentially” run the British Empire.    I’m not sure how to read that, exactly.  Kouta Hirano appears to be establishing one of two things:

1) Parliament Shmarliament, everything is really controlled by this secret group of oligarchs sitting at a table.

or

2) This is a collection of all the big wheels in British society, so they might as well be calling the shots even if they aren’t a true governing body. 

I’m not terribly concerned about which one it is, since we left real-world Great Britain behind a long time ago.    The Hellsing U.K. seems to put a lot more power in the monarchy, for example.    Also there’s friggin’ draulas runnin’ around everwhere. 

Anyway, Integra reveals that the vampires they’ve been killing lately all have microchips installed in their bodies.  She says the chips “define the vampire’s status, behavior, intent, and aggression.”   I don’t know if that means outright control or a more subtle manipulation.    It might exaplain why the couple in Chapter 3 weren’t exactly being subtle.

Moreover, these vampires haven’t been following the conventional rules laid down back in Chapter 1.   Vampire bites can turn a person into another vampire, but only if the victim is a virgin.   Otherwise, they turn into ghouls.   Destroying the head vampire will destroy all the ghouls he’s created.    But that hasn’t been happening.    The couple in Chapter 3 killed a lot of children, but they all became ghouls.   And in Badrick, Anderson killed the vampire, but the ghouls remained active long enough for Alucard and Seras to fight them.  

At least, that’s what Integra is saying.   We never actually saw any ghouls in Chapter 3, and Anderson killed the vampire in Badrick off-panel, so we don’t know the exact timing.    But I’ll take Integra’s word for it.   

Something that got lost along the way was the matter of what happens to Seras if someone managed to kill Alucard.   According to Chapter 1, she’d die immediately, but we never actually see that play out, and Seras is the only vampire created by another vampire in this story.   We never see ghouls die en masse, either, because there’s never a situation where their master dies first, and the ghouls we see from here on out are these rule-breaking microchippy kind anyway.    

Never mind that shit, here comes the Seras part.   Walter has replaced her bed with a coffin.    Apparently she had a bed in this dank-ass dungeon, and then one day Integra got a wild hair and decided “Oh, yeah, she should be sleeping in a vampire bed.”     She’s been a vampire for like two months now.    I feel bad for Walter, having to lug that big-ass bed down here, only to have to take the damn thing right back out.   He must have known it was going to end this way.   You’d think he would have said something before.  

Seras hates this idea, but Walter relays a second order, one from Alucard: Seras has to sleep in the coffin.   Well, that seems kind of redundant, but I guess Seras might have tried to sleep on the floor or something instead.    The main thing I find interesting about this is that Seras is mostly irritated by Integra ordering the coffin, but she takes it much more seriously when Alucard is mentioned.  

According to Walter, since Seras hasn’t drunk any blood, her powers will weaken... unless she sleeps in a coffin lined with soil from her birthplace.   So maybe it’s an either/or deal.   Integra was fine with Seras using a big girl bed because she assumed Seras would be drinking blood.  But without it, she has to use a coffin, or she’ll be no good to the team.   And after two months, it’s become clear that Seras has no intention of drinking blood, even bags of donated blood, like the one Alucard snacked on in Badrick.

Even Seras doesn’t know exactly why she won’t do it, which Alucard finds baffling.    If this was a dealbreaker for her, she should have just died as a human in Cheddar.  

But Al isn’t entirely unsympathetic either.    His words are harsh, but they’re the truth: Seras is a vampire now, and there’s no going back.  She keeps trying to resist this, but it’s already happened.   Denial will only make this more painful for her.   I think that’s part of the reason he offered his own blood to her in Badrick.   I mean, there weren’t a lot of other options, but from an ethical standpoint, drinking Alucard’s blood seems reasonable, since it won’t kill him.    The unspoken sentiment here is: Listen, I know this is difficult for you, and I’ll try to make this as easy as possible, but you need to do this and there’s no way around it.    But even that doesn’t seem to work, and Alucard’s in no particular hurry, so he’s willing to table the matter.   Which I suppose is how the coffin thing came about in the first place.

Walter also takes this moment to give the vampires their new guns.    Alucard wanted something special for the next time he tangles with Alexander Anderson.    Recall that Al already has a special cosmogun with an infinite supply of magic bullets, and he shot Anderson in the face and it didn’t stop him.    So Walter builds him “The Jackal”, which is basically the same as his first gun, only even bigger and with a black finish.   It also says “Jesus Christ is in Heaven Now”, which drives me nuts because I don’t know if that’s like a message to Anderson, or just some random thing.    Kouta Hirano puts these nonsense religious slogans all over Hellsing, and I’m pretty sure he’s just doing it for effect, and not particularly concerned over whether there’s any religious significance to the words.   

As for Seras, she gets a giant bazooka-looking think called the Harkonnen, named after a Dune character.   One of these days I want to sit down and read Dune.   I kind of feel guilty that I haven’t already, because then I could be writing this and get all excited for this moment.   “HOLY SHIT!! IS THAT MOTHERFUCKING DUNE REFERENCE?!”  Instead I’m like, ho-hum, yes it is.

Let’s move on.    This arc is about the Valentine Brothers, two vampires who take the fight to Hellsing instead.   They have a small army of ghouls, and their plan is to just drive up in a tour bus and storm the gate.   Ghouls are mindless, zombie-like monsters, but apparently they can work a gun well enough, and Hellsing never imagined an enemy would try such a thing.

As soon as Integra finds out about this, she tries to evacuate the Twelve, but their helicopter gets destroyed, cutting off any chance of escape.   Then Jan (pronounced “Yon” by the way), calls her on the comm system and threatens to kill them all.  

So Integra calls Walter, who already knows what’s happening.   Um, how?   I feel like the anime explained this better.   Maybe Jan’s profanity-laden threats were on a public-address system instead of just for the conference room.   But it sure looks like Walter’s just chilling out in a windowless, underground room.   But he already knows there’s no hope of reinforcements arriving to save them.   He proposes himself and Seras using the ventilation shafts to get to the coference room, where they can defend the twelve, while Alucard can go on the offensive.

Alucard is amused to hear that Walter is going back into action, and calls him “Angel of Death”.    We’ll come back to that.

So Walter’s pretty much on top of things here.    No one ever considered anything like this happening before.    Hellsing is supposed to be a secret organization, so a vampire shouldn’t know to come here in the first place.    Moreover, no one dreamed that a vampire would plan it out so well, using ghouls in a military fashion.     But he’s optimistic about their chances for survival, because...

Walter has super powers.    Specifically, he has these magic wires he can use to bind and slice up his enemies, and this makes short work of the Valentines’ ghouls.   He then repeats Jan’s taunts back at him.   Okay, so I guess Walter did hear Jan’s message from earlier. 

The problem I always had with this development was that it seemed awfully convenient for Walter to have super powers.    But then, it took me a while to catch on to Anderson having super powers, and he took a bullet to the face.    I think the conceit of the Hellsing world is that these “anti-freak” organizations have to have super-powered operatives, so they use secret techniques and alchemy or whatever to empower men like Walter and Anderson.   It’s really not that hard to swallow.

Except that the first vampire-hunter we meet in Hellsing is Alucard, who is himself a vampire. So it seemed like the whole point was that he was the best suited for the job because he had the raw power to do it.   Integra doesn’t seem to have any powers, and neither do any of the rank-and-file Hellsing operatives who get mowed down by the Valentines’ ghouls.   So it always confused me for Walter to just go “Wassup, I have powers too.”   But it only makes sense for Hellsing to have more than one card to play.    Clearly, Walter used to hunt vampires on  the regular before he retired to become a butler.

Between Walter’s wires and Seras’ giant gun, they manage to subdue Jan easily enough, but he reveals he has a partner, Luke, whose job is to tackle the second half of their mission: to destroy Alucard.   Let’s check in on him...

Yeah.    I was thinking about doing a blow-by-blow of this fight, but it’s kind of pointless.    Luke talks a big game, and seems confident that he’s on a higher level than the vampires Alucard has been fighting recently, and for a hot minute, even Alucard believes that he might be a worthy adversary, “above even a ‘Category A’ vampire,” so he releases his “control art restriction,” to “Level 1″.  

I guess I should back up and explain this.    Alucard, like all overpowered anime characters, can hold back his full power and reveal it in stages.   For some reason he has to announce that he’s doing this, like Windows 10 describing it’s own updating.   Presumably, there’s a Level 4 where he usually operates, and that was enough for him to fight Luke evenly.    But here, we see him jump all the way to Level 1, which allows him to turn into some shadowy form with lots of eyes and two dog heads.  

Also, centipedes.  The point is, this is all stuff Luke can’t do.   He’s more of a “super speed gun-shooting” kind of vampire, so he’s immediately outclassed.    Alucard’s dog form eats Luke and that’s the end of him.... OR IS IT? 

Meanwhile, Jan’s ghoul army is beaten, but he still has reinforcements in the form of all the Hellsing soldiers they killed earlier.   These men rise up as new ghouls and chase down Seras while Jan makes a break for the conference room where the Twelve are holed up.    Walter tries to catch Jan, but only manages to rip off one of his arms.   He makes it to the door, only to find...

Integra and the others all have guns, and they shoot him down.  

All Jan has left now is his second wave of ghouls, except Seras manages to overwhelm them.   At first, she was panicking, but then she freaks out and goes feral on them, to the point where Integra has to jump in and order her to stop.   When she does, she seems to have no idea what just happened.    This is mostly overshadowed by the sheer horror of Hellsing’s soldiers being reduced to the undead.  

All that’s left is Jan, who refuses to talk.    He has the same microchip implants as the previous vampires, and the people who sent him are monitoring him in real-time, which means they know he failed, and they can make him self-destruct before he can tell Hellsing anything.  As he dies, Jan flips them all off and gives them one word of information: “Millennium.”

After that, Integra tasks Walter with destroying the remaining Hellsing ghouls, until Sir Irons, one of the Twelve reminds Integra that this is the duty of a commander.   As Hellsing’s C.O., it’s her responsibility, so she agrees and starts shooting the ghouls in the head.   

Meanwhile, Jan’s mysterious overseers talk amongst themselves, and their leader calls for them to resume their “research”.   As devastating as this attack on Hellsing was, for Millennium, this was merely a test.   

[rwbyconversations]

Why Emerald and Mercury’s scene in Lost is one of the best scenes in all of RWBY

Lost is a really underappreciated episode in Volume 6. It tends to get overlooked because Dead End precedes it and that’s easily the weakest episode of the season, while right afterwards we get the three-parter of the Argus Battle and Adam’s return meant focus was shifted for a hot minute. But I adore this episode, nearly every second of it barring some choices at the end (barring Oscar getting shafted for development- again- and Ruby’s oddball speech of “we didn’t need adults this far” to Qrow), but it’s honestly one of the best episodes of the season in my eyes, and that falls down to one major scene- Emerald and Mercury’s conversation in the first third of the episode, which is one of my favorite scenes in all of RWBY.

I know when people think of character arcs involving Lost they tend to go for the obvious lure of the Pyrrha statue, which, to be fair, is a really solid character moment and I loved a lot about it- especially the small reference to the Volume 1 OP of Jaune looking at the statue, it’s framed with almost the exact same camera angle. But as someone who mains my two murder kids, I cannot stress how hyped up I was going into Lost. Finally, after years of being relegated to background fodder with their one big moment since Volume 3 being their humiliating appearance at Haven where Emerald took a literal dive and Merc was left holding an arm like a numbnuts, Lost was gonna give me the content I’d been waiting for.

The fact that Merc and Em were getting the thumbnail- something neither of them had been in since Volume 3- was something that made my goddamn day when the thumbnail went up on VRV

And ultimately, I think the scene delivered, and delivered with a gusto that makes me unironically call it one of the best scenes of the Volume, one of the best of the show, in fact- and today I’d like to explain why I love Emerald and Mercury’s scene in Volume 6 Chapter 9, Lost.

1) The establishing context, or: a quick breakdown of Merc and Em in V6C4 

Merc and Em had one scene earlier this volume, in Chapter 4, “So That’s How It Is.” It chronicles them and Hazel returning from Mistral several weeks after the Battle of Haven, Hazel having contacted Little Miss Malachite and gotten the heads up on where RWBY were going next. Spirits are low as they leave the ship, and an unexpected welcoming party in Tyrian doesn’t lift the mood. Emerald in particular lashes out at Tyrian when he mockingly notices Cinder’s absence, which just gives him all the motivation he needs to get up in Emerald’s personal space and mock her for her weakness. 

Fun fact, in the Volume 6 trailer, Tyrian creeping on Emerald happens in Salem’s conference room, presumably to throw people off the scene on when the scene would be happening. 

Tyrian proves to be as sharp as his dearly-departed stinger (now resting in Ruby’s cabinet of Maimed Body Parts), mocking Emerald in a delightfully chilling voice that “Cinder isn’t here to protect you anymore.” You know who is though? 

This asshole, that’s who. Mercury fucking Black, finally showing the spine he lost after Volume 3 and getting up in Tyrian’s grill to protect Emerald. He even got his eyebrows back just for the occasion! 

Never forget Volume 4 and Merc’s penciled-on eyebrows

It’s a short but sweet scene that sets up the duo’s dynamic well- they’ve really only got each other out in Evernight so even if they bicker... a lot... Merc and Em will watch each other’s backs because it’s that or deal with Tyrian, Watts and most importantly Salem alone. And that’s not a thought either of them truly want to consider. 

The rest of the Evernight scene in chapter 4 has some small but important moments for them- I especially love Mercury being the first person we see realizing Salem’s about to snap because of his abusive father. If anyone’s gonna know how to read the room and know to get out of dodge before the glass starts shattering, it’ll be him. How he just stands at attention, eyes locked forward when everyone else looks at Salem is also a nice subtle bit of character- eyes forward, since he was probably told not to move without permission. Emerald’s sheer terror for much of the debriefing is just a masterclass in animation- her eyes are these narrow pinpricks that can’t focus on a single spot, she cringes in anticipation of a slap when she rats out Cinder (gee it’s almost as if Cinder is her abuser who conditioned her or something why do people still ship them), how she flinches when Salem touches her shoulder and only relaxes when Salem moves on and reveals that Cinder’s alive. It’s all just great stuff for their characters that you get from looking at their body language. 

That’s all that we see of Mercury and Emerald until chapter 9, and unfortunately the last we see of them from there until the post-credits scene, but fortunately, this is a real doozy of a scene. 

2) The actual scene

We open with Merc and Em alone in a room, Emerald bitterly noting how much she hates being kept in the dark about Salem’s future plans. Mercury agrees, stopping some training to note that at least Cinder kept them up to speed, before resuming his combat. 

Mercury and Yang are two of the easier foils to compare and contrast to in the series, especially in the RWBY/CRME contrasts between Ruby/Cinder, Weiss/Emerald, Blake/Roman and later Adam and Yang/Mercury. Both are close range fights with firearms strapped to their limbs of choice, both have cybernetic limbs and as we learn later this episode, both had fathers with wildly differing views on their Semblances. But something else that connects them is that neither Mercury or Yang stay down for long when they get knocked out. Yang lost her arm and once she got back on her feet, she updated her fighting style to be more acrobatic and all-around, which paid off in dividends when she got to fight Adam and was able to move around his strikes. Similarly, the first time we see Mercury get some free time after Haven, he’s training... except he’s working on his fists, since he was overly reliant on his legs until now. I like this, it would have been easy to have Mercury just working on his legs or even just doing nothing but not only does it give the conversation a more lively feel, but it shows that Mercury is working on covering his weaknesses. And if there’s one thing Mercury hates, it’s leaving a weakness uncovered.

Your daily reminder that Yang vs Mercury is some of the best choreography in the show BTW

Emerald, seemingly out of boredom, decides to pry a bit and asks Mercury why he came with Cinder and Emerald in the Volume 3 flashback. I’ve seen some people criticize that Emerald is only asking this now, but given how when she tried to object to Cinder she got a slap for her troubles, I think it’s safe to say she decided it wasn’t worth Cinder’s wrath a second time for asking too many questions about Mercury. 

Mercury tries deflecting with a simple answer “Just made sense,” to which Emerald calls bullshit with one of the most deadpan-laden lines she’s ever uttered. “It ‘made sense.’” 

Mercury decides to keep up that path, trying to cover the question with his usual sarcasm and wit. It’s notable that his explanation gives nothing away that Emerald didn’t already know- Marcus trained Mercury to be an assassin, Mercury killed him and right afterwards, Cinder showed up. It’s almost clinical how, despite covering it with his usual wit, Mercury doesn’t let anything slip until Emerald gets under his skin by calling bullshit again, since to her that Mercury joined Cinder for as shallow a reason as “right place right time” is anathema to her- there has to be something in this for Mercury beyond just getting to fight. Mercury again deflects, giving Emerald knowledge she already knows- “Salem’s promised us everything. We win this thing, we’ll be top dogs in her new world.” Again, he’s only telling her what she already knows, and when he asks her what she gets out of this, Mercury manages to throw Emerald off the scent and tricks her into talking about herself- a topic Mercury enjoys because it means he’s not the one under the microscope. 

Something I adore and hate in equal measure is how musically when Emerald talks about Cinder, the score itself changes to a more whimsical version of Cinder’s theme- as if Emerald’s using her Semblance on the soundtrack itself to paint Cinder in a better light. 

Also something worth noting is the lighting symbolism for Emerald in the first part of this scene:

She starts in darkness, surrounded by light.

When Mercury gets a rise out of her, she walks out into the light to confront him, but Mercury moves into the darkness, a barrier separating them. But when Emerald begins talking about Cinder...

The camera pans to put Emerald back into darkness. This scene is loaded with this kind of symbolism on a lighting and musical level, the two dancing around the edges of light and dark, separated usually by the barriers that form from the overhead light.

Regardless, Mercury is perfectly fine to let Emerald prattle on about Cinder, right up until Emerald begins having a crisis of conscience. Not one based on how Cinder used her to stage a terrorist attack, no. Mercury butts in when Emerald’s crisis of conscience is based on how now that Cinder isn’t here, Emerald isn’t sure if they’re doing the right thing. And thus Mercury’s fandom finally got to see the scene they had been waiting years for: Mercury telling Emerald Cinder doesn’t care for them. Emerald gets angry, still caught up in the web of lies that Cinder spun around her, but Mercury doesn’t give a solitary shit about any of that and keeps saying things Emerald doesn’t want to hear- that Cinder never cared about Emerald, let alone either of them. 

I absolutely adore how the ever-present smirk on Mercury’s face just melts off while he’s trying to get Emerald to realize Cinder never cared for them- either because he’s done playing nice or because he’s trying to stress to Emerald that he’s not messing around, just this once.

Mercury’s mocking line to Emerald finally sets her off, and she charges him furiously, trying to beat him into shutting up. But it doesn’t work- of course it wouldn’t, Mercury is leagues above Emerald in skill even if she uses her weapons, going in without them is tantramount to suicide. This guy danced around Coco and Yatuhashi and gave Yang and Pyrrha good fights while deliberately throwing both fights. Beating Emerald would take less than a minute if he tried. But he doesn’t. Mercury never actually hits Emerald, focusing on just blocking her blows. It’s only when Mercury finally decides to stop giving Emerald information she already knows and actually give her some honest truth that he begins trying, and immediately Emerald is forced back. But even then, Mercury throws his kicks. Compared to the ones he threw in training they’re sluggish, easily predicted. He’s not trying to hurt Emerald, he’s just stressing his point. 

Literal chills went down my back when I heard that line the first time, Yuri killed it.

Mercury basically decides to throw his abuse in Emerald’s face, which I’ve seen some people deride and describe as Mercury basically playing the victim card, but I think this is perfectly in-character for him. Emerald’s locked in her cycle of abuse with Cinder, even though the bitch is on another continent and now is the perfect time for Emerald to break free, to get out before Cinder maims her like Marcus did Mercury... and she’s not. Taking. The chance. Of course Mercury would be pissed, of course he’d get heated for the first time- he’s basically watching Emerald squander one of the only chances she has to get out of this life before Cinder catches her again, and he (and the audience) know if Cinder gets her hands on Emerald again, that’ll be it; Emerald will be ride or die for Cinder all the way to the finish line due to her paternal/romantic love. If it takes Mercury being this most callous and blunt he’s ever been to finally get Emerald to see the truth or even just to make sure where she draws her battlelines, then he’ll do whatever it takes. 

As we get an orchestral reprise of I’m The One, Mercury finally gives us a new hint into his backstory- one of the most fucked up of all the cast according to Kerry- for the first time in three years. Marcus didn’t just beat Mercury senseless, didn’t just excuse it as training and potentially even cut off Mercury’s legs to refine him into a perfect killer- he stole Mercury’s Semblance with his own, seeing it as a crutch that Mercury relied on and holding it over his head with the promise of its return once Mercury got strong. To quote the normally Unirkable Merc himself, “So I got strong, but I never got it back!” 

Mercury forced himself to get on the level of titans like Pyrrha and Yang without having the safety net of a Semblance like they have- he got strong in spite of his father, not because of Marcus taking his power from him. But that power- that strength that lets him fight at a skill ceiling beyond what Marcus likely thought possible, destroyed this young child. It stole from Mercury, things that he can never get back- a literal piece of his soul was taken from him and the thrill of the fight is the only thing he’s ever found that can fill the hole. That confidence is earned because Mercury was defiled by his father and spat in the face of destiny, he chose to get back up and try and earn back what was rightfully his. And when he got the strength to kill his abuser and burn his house down, just to realize he couldn’t get that power back? In walked Cinder Fall, looking for another lost youth to corrupt and twist the worldview of- and here was one such youth, with all the corruption done complete with a neat little bow on top. 

All of this- all of this- goes without mentioning how not two volumes prior we had a different character go through an arc involving her Semblance and a father figure teaching her how to control it and not let it control her. 

I’m just saying guys if you still wanna live in denial over Yang and Merc’s foil status and how they’d be the coolest rivals in the show, door’s right there, I’m gonna be here eagerly awaiting their proper rematch (Fuck off and die Volume 5, you mountain of wasted potential). 

The kicker (pun not intended) is Mercury’s line at the end of the training with Emerald- “I’m right where I’m supposed to be,” he confidently declares, absolutely sure in himself. The whole dynamic of the scene has been Mercury and Emerald calling bullshit on each other’s excuses, with Mercury dominating once he got Emerald to play the Cinder card. But he gets so caught up in his rage over how he got defiled by Marcus, that he loses sight for a second and forgets that he’s lying to himself as much as Emerald- the difference is he’s gone thought he cycle before and seen it so he can see that Emerald’s in it, but he hasn’t yet realized he’s gotten caught in a different cycle and still can’t see the trees from the forest. Denial is a recurring trait in Mercury and Emerald, and one neither of them are ever truly free from (”Salem promised us everything,” like how Marcus promised you back your Semblance, Mercury?). Emerald attacking Mercury after he mocks her “crisis of identity” can almost be taken as her subconsciously agreeing with Merc that Cinder doesn’t care, but after all she’s done for Cinder, everyone she’s hurt and helped kill, the idea that it was all for less than nothing is something she’s got to run away from- the alternative is just too nightmarish.

Mercury “I’m right where I’m supposed to be” Black, ladies and gents. He’s feeling really confident in these scenes, can’t you tell?! 

And who sees this and realizes it, but none other than Tyrian fucking Callows of all people. And of all the people in Salem’s castle, who expected him to be an adept armchair psychologist? Tyrian is blunt, completely unforgiving in his assessment of Mercury and Emerald- they’re trapped in a cycle of violence, pain and misery, and they’re too afraid of what’s on the other side to ever leave it- what’s waiting for Mercury out in the world of Remnant? All he can do is kill, and now that he’s burned his bridges with Huntsmen society, all he’d wind up doing is assassination work like father like son. Granted, Tyrian being the one to break this down to them both is... ironic given how Tyrian himself is trapped in Salem’s web of devotion and has been for so long he couldn’t find his way out if he wanted to, but here he raises a valid point. 

After this the scene mostly moves away from Mercury and Emerald and becomes Tyrian informing them and the audience that Watts and Tyrian are going to Atlas to intercept RWBY, but before he leaves, Tyrian leaves some parting advice.

“Do what makes you happy children, please? I’m begging you.” 

Reading through the mile-wide lines, it’s obvious Tyrian wants them to run so he can hunt them down himself, even though he denies telling them they should leave earlier when Emerald asks point-blank if he’s telling them to go (of course he isn’t saying that, he wants them to come to the conclusion himself, no fun stalking prey when the hunt’s made easy for you after all). But the scene ends with a somewhat more optimistic note.

Emerald and Mercury, still unsure about a lot of things after this group therapy session, are still standing together, almost more unified than they were before now- no barriers of light and darkness separating the two now. And that should be something that terrifies anyone who crosses their paths, especially the guy who made a point to T-Bag Mercury and basically promise he’ll draw the straw on killing them if they stray out of line. 

3) Conclusion

Mercury and Emerald are my favorite characters in the show, and while that’s been a bit harder to maintain in the Dark Times of Volumes 4 and 5 where they got nothing to do, 6 reminded me and a lot of other people why they’re the characters to keep an eye on in future years. They have these wonderfully dark backstories that let them serve as haunting foils for two members of team RWBY each (Emerald and Ruby and Weiss, Mercury for Blake and Yang) that show how far things could have gone if the RWBY girls had been born with a bit less luck. On top of all that, I’m The One is just a killer of a song that excites with its spiteful air, its cockiness only accentuating how horrific these two have had it. 

Mercury and Emerald start the Mistral seasons separated by a barrier (the window) but after their conversation in Lost and time away from Cinder, the barrier’s gone. They’re closer than they were before. And Merc got his eyebrows back too, that’s a sign he started caring about Emerald! 

Their scene in Lost I feel encapsulates a lot of what keeps them together and what makes for one of RWBY’s best dynamics- they don’t really like each other a lot of the time, but they have each other’s back come hell or high water because they need each other like a lifeline. Mercury does, at least a little, genuinely care for Emerald; he goes about it in a dickish way but trying to recognize Cinder’s abusive behavior is one of the most noble things he’s done all show. And while Emerald did try to attack him, he goaded her into it and she was indignant with rage when Tyrian pinned Merc down. Everything about the scene just works for me, from the small musical cues (alongside the return of I’m The One and Cinder’s theme, I love how right before Emerald attacks Mercury, this beeping starts and then accelerates into this droning sound like a flatline, which really captures Emerald’s temper reaching fever pitch and then snapping, to the lighting symbolism (Merc and Em both begin the scene in darkness but come together in the light at the end after Tyrian leaves, alongside everything I said above) and of course, Katie Newville and Yuri Lowenthal both knocking it out of the park with a home run of a performance, alongside Josh Grelle being his usual self when Tyrian shows up. While it was overshadowed by Jaune’s scene with the Pyrrha statue, I’d be very comfortable marking Emerald and Mercury’s spotlight scene in Lost as not just a highlight of the season, but one of the best scenes of the entire show. Everything came together for this ambrosia of a scene, and I can only hope I sold how much it means to me and how much I appreciate the work that went into it on a technical, writing, animation, acting and musical level. 

Keep an eye on Merc and Em is all I’m saying, and if you’ve written them off in the past, I hope this convinced you to take another look at them and hope they get their due time to shine in future. 

Thank you for reading. 

[calliecat93]

Top 5 Things That I Liked About RvB: Singularity

(Top 5 Dislikes Post Link)

Being negative sucks. A lot. I always hate typing the Dislikes post. It helps me vent, but I just hate talking about the bad stuff. But there were things that I felt were worth talking about, so I did it. Good news though? It’s now out of the way! So now we can talk about the Top 5 Things I Liked About RvB Singularity! Hooray!

As I said, I don’t think that RvB17 is as good as 16 or even 15. But it’s still a good season. It had a lot of things that I enjoyed and still enjoyed during the rewatch. While it is important to note how a season failed, it’s just as important to note how it succeeded. You want to remember what went right so that you don’t lose sight of what made it enjoyable and continue to make it better. As such, this is what I liked about the season! And again, just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt.

                                              __________________

#5. Pacing Improvements

My biggest problem with both S15 and 16 where their pacing. S15 was a one-shot season, and as such was very rushed even with a 21 episode count. S16 started very quickly and kicked the plot off within two episodes… but doesn't really delve back into it until Episode 13, eleven episodes later. I still love both seasons for what they had and I do think that S16 had a good reason for being slower, but to say that it turned fans off is an understatement. It was a huge issue and clearly one that needed to be fixed.

S17 did much better in this regard. Despite me listing the episode count as the thing I disliked most, it DOES have the advantage of not having to add as much filler/padding and being able to focus on what needs it. The first half of the season was by far the best. It got into the plot quickly. But it never felt rushed or like it was over-compensating. The build-up from S16 did enough that there was no need to drag out anything. We could leap right in and get to the parts that we wanted to see. As such, I felt engaged with each episode and each episode always provided something new and exciting. Even with my feelings about the second half, I never got bored and the episodes still continued to provide something new and unexpected. It’s a sign of good writing which I thought that Jason did well with, especially considering he had to take over in the middle of a story when Joe walked. Miles was there too and we know that he’s good, but it was Jason mainly, and he did fantastic.

Ultimately, due to the pacing, the season accomplished what it set out to do. It was a fun, if mind-breaking, time travel story. It had Donut become a more three-dimensional character. It had Wash and Carolina reconcile and accept what had to be done. And all without feeling like it was taking too long or like it was cramming in too much… aside from Episodes 7 and 8. Which is why it’s at Number 5, the pacing DID go back to feeling rushed and crammed in the second half ala S15. Only this time, they crammed it into six episodes instead of 21. As such, while I was still entertained and the writing and emotions were still solid, the second half is weaker and much more frustrating as a result. Still, it was a marked improvement and I can’t say that I was ever bored or disengaged. So credit where credit is due!

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#4. The Labyrinth/character insights

I LOVE The Labyrinth! Ever since it was mentioned in S16, I was excited for it, and it did not disappoint! It is, essentially, an angst machine. When you are stuck in it, it tortures you with all of your fears, doubts,   guilt. Worst, it adapts and learns, so even if you get past one scenario, it’ll just find something else. The way that it attacks can also differ. Sometimes it makes you face your past self. Sometime sit plays on your insecurities. Sometimes it gives you what you wish for, but with a dark twist. Whatever it can do to make you suffer to the point that you fall into the Black Hole, whether by choice or forced into it, it’ll do.

This concept is frekain’ fantastic. I love it! So why is it at Number 4? Well, first of all, we only get two episodes of it. Which don’t get me wrong, I loved what we got. Some were pretty straightforward and obvious, like Tucker and Wash’s scenarios. I didn’t agree with all of them, which is another reason why it’s Number 4. Grif’s, while I got over it, I think could have been much stronger, Tucker’s while not bad I think needed something more fitting, and Simmons… well, we all know how I feel about that one. Also not sure why Doc and Donut weren’t affected at all aside from timing dictating that they couldn’t go into it. Honestly, I think that The Labyrinth should have been the main setting and had everyone trapped in their worst scenario or memory instead of The Everwhen. But that’s just me. But yeah, I feel that it wasn't used to its full potential and not all of the scenarios were ideal, so it’s at Number Four.

That being said, I did enjoy what we got. My two favorites were Sarge’s and Carolina's. Sarge’s was still humorous, but also insightful. He hated the desk job one and wanted something more bloody and war-like. He got his wish, and immediately regretted it. He can't handle civilian life, but he can’t handle true brutal war either. I don’t get how they managed to do the ‘funny but insightful’ thing correctly with Sarge but dropped the ball so badly with Simmons, but whatever. It was really great. And Carolina’s… do I need to elaborate on it? We see her confronting the manifestation of her hate and guilt. It tries to break her down, but Carolina fights back. She has her friends. She found a new family, and she won’t let the ghosts of the past haunt her anymore. It was fantastic and shows just how far Carolina has come… and hopefully, it ended her constant guilt trips for sure. Seriously, please give Carolina something happy next season. She’s earned it. And The AVatar himself was enjoyable despite his brief screentime. I liked him!

There is one more scenario that I want to get into, but… how about we go to the next number for that one?

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#3. Kaikaina’s Labyrinth/Grif Sibs Moment

If you read my Dislikes post, you know that I was NOT happy about how Grif was handled. Heck, ‘not happy’ is probably an understatement. But I also said that the finale DID make me happy. Now I’ve already talked about how I feel about Grif regarding this scene and the retcon about him enlisting over being drafted. Long story short, I like this better and it makes sense for his character, especially when you look back at S15. It still doesn't excuse how the rest of the season handled him, but they got it right here and I like to give credit when it’s due. You can read this post to see more of my thoughts, but yeah I loved it then and I still love it now.

So instead, let's talk about Kaikaina. Boy, have I had a rollercoaster journey with her. I went from finding her utterly pointless in Blood Gulch, to loving her with all my heart in S16 and this season. She existed essentially to have more sex jokes, but Joe and Jason managed to take her and make her so much more. She’s still sex-crazed and foul-mouthed, but she’s also a successful businesswoman who is confident, happy with who she is, and has a good level of emotional maturity. It’s why I loved her and Tucker last season and why I LOVED it when she told off Tucker (no matter what you think of Tucker in that season, he had it coming). S17 even had her actually referred to by her actual name and not just ‘Sister’, which I greatly appreciate.

Point is, these past two seasons did an amazing job at making Kai a character in her own right and like a true member of the BGC. And when it comes to her Labyrinth, it adds so much more. We often focus on Grif’s side of things… but think about poor Kai. Her dad is out of the picture, her mom was too busy despite favoriting her over Grif, she had to be raised by an older brother who probably wasn't fit to care for a young girl despite trying his damnest, and honestly she probably was left to fend for herself a great deal. Then when Grif went to college and them ‘was drafted’, she was even more alone with an irresponsible mother who decided that trusting a teenage girl with changing a smoke alarm was a great idea. How the fire started, whether Kai did it on accident or it was just bad luck, is up in the air but it happened and poor Kai blamed herself for it. She lost her home. Her mother had to live in a trailer park, which she clearly feels terrible about. Her brother wasn't there to comfort or help her. She was utterly alone. I mean remember, she enlisted just because she wanted to be with her brother again. The one good person in her life… and even then not only did he tell her to leave, but she got shafted off to the opposite team by him. Even if it was for her own safety, that had to hurt.

The Labyrinth really helped to show that side of Kai. The more vulnerable side that we hadn’t seen yet. She sounds much more like a child when she sadly recalls what happened to Grif. Which we then realize her actual fear, her brother hating her. The brother that she went into space to find and be with and who she loved unconditionally, even when she was left alone on Blood Gulch, blamed and hated her. It’s why Grif knocking the Avatar out was so satisfying, as well as him confessing. Kai had every right to be angry at him, and going off her ’Hey, you left!” comment, there is clearly some bitterness there. But even then, she loves her brother. She forgives him. I can imagine her yelling at him later when they do eventually talk, and she has every right to. Still, it’s a super sweet moment that does a lot for both characters. I mean Grif’s first instinct when Donut explained the situation was to go and find Kai out of fear for her safety. I’m a sucker for sibling stories, and they nailed it here.

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#2. Wash and Carolina Plotline

Now, as I’ve said in other posts, I’m not a huge Freelancer fan. And tbh, I was pretty happy that Wash and Carolina were more lowkey in the past two seasons because every since their respective intros, everything more or less revolved around them. That being said, the development of Wash having cerebral hypoxia due to the bullet wound and Carolina’s actions after really did appeal to me both for personal reasons and because it was a new angle within the story. The ending with them in S16, where Wash was angry at Carolina for lying to him and her being so desperate to make it right that she and the others broke time, was dramatic and made it clear that there was a lot between them that S17 was going to have to work through.

And they did it perfectly.

Wash’s anger at Carolina is 100% understandable. He had /brain damage/ and was lied to about it by his closest friend. But it’s not like Carolina did it out of maliciousness. She did it out of fear of Wash thinking that he was broken and didn’t want him to be hurt. It was still wrong, but it’s easy to see why she went down that route and sympathize with her. With both of them. And neither one are portrayed as right or wrong in their actions. Yes, Carolina made a HUGE mistake and deciding to save him did much more harm than good. But she did it because she loved Wash (imo platonically) and she wanted to spare him of any more pain and misery, no matter the consequence. Wash had every right to be angry at Carolina for lying, but it wasn’t good to hold onto that anger nor be unwilling to ever forgive Carolina without taking her side of it into account.

This is what made the first half so strong. Despite what happened, Wash is still willing to save Carolina and the others. Despite obviously not wanting to be brain-damaged, he knows that time being fixed was more important and he’s willing to make that sacrifice. And as much as I’m tired of the ‘Carolina did something horrible and feels guilty about it’ plot that the writers just LOVE to use (I get that the pst has consequences, but it’s gotten old), it worked for this story and you do truly feel that Carolina had nothing  but good intentions and cares deeply about Wash. I mean chances are, she’s still learning how to properly handle personal situations like this, something that facing her past self in the Labyrinth I think helped highlight. Even now, her past still haunted her, and now she’s finally realized that she isn’t that person anymore, has a new family to fight for, and pushing the past away for good.

And going back to Wash, I’ve seen some people unhappy with the show deciding to keep his brain damage. I have to disagree. For one, if you’re going to do a story like this, don’t chicken out. Second… why is this a bad thing? I think that S17 perfectly demonstrated that Wash is NOT a broken man. Sure, at that time his brain damage was temporarily averted, but he showed that he’s still a strong character. He’s a good leader, a smart fighter, cares for his team and will do whatever it takes to protect them, and he perfectly held his own throughout the entire fiasco. Yes, he’s going to struggle. A lot. He knows it. But he’s still Wash. He’s still capable of being the person that he’s grown to be, just with a little more help. That is not at all a bad thing. He can get through this. Will it be easy? Hell no. But after all the other bullshit that he’s been through, I think that he proved that he can pull through it. Honestly, I respect him much more as a character now than I ever did before, and as long as they treat his condition respectfully, he will be fine going forward.

This story really showed how much that Wash and Carolina have grown since everything with Freelancer wrapped up, as well as how much their relationship as grown. I don’t ship them, but it’s clear that there is a strong trust and love between them after all that they went through and this story tested that. Even when amnesic, Carolina trusted Wash and didn’t question it despite she herself pointing out that she shouldn’t be feeling that way. Wash ultimately decides to forgive Carolina and put his trust in her again, even pulling her aside to talk to her about what has to happen and how he’s accepted it. There are certainly still going to be struggles as Wash still has to deal with his cerebral hypoxia and all the consequences that come with it. S18 is probably NOT going to be fun for him. But this time, he has proper support and this time, Carolina will be honest and help him through it. And while I hope that other characters are given some spotlight, I’m excited to see what’s in store for these two in the future.

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Honorable Mentions

These are things that I enjoyed, but I either don’t have a lot to say or weren’t as important as other things.

Machinima: Very well directed, especially considering how many different Halo’s that they had to use. Josh and Austin nailed it.

Animation: Good as always, even if more sparse

Voice Acting: Amazing as always with special mention to Dan Godwin, Shannon McCormick, Jen Brown, Ricco Fajardo, and Lee Eddy.

Huggins Lives: While I hate how they treated her character, I’m still happy that this ball of sunshine is alive and well.

Caboose Beating Up Genkins: So, SOOOO satisfying!

Carolina vs Carolina: Such a badass fight! Didn’t find it as good as the Donut vs O’Malley fight last year, but it was still freakin’ awesome and I loved it!

Tucker in Episode 9: While I strongly disagree that Tucker was poorly done in S16 and I personally don’t think that this was necessary, it’s still a nice scene that brings it all back around and has Tucker remember what being a leader truly means.

Memory Lane: It was nice to see some of the old moments again. I may hate nostalgia banking, but they did it better than most and it had a purpose, so I’m good with it!

The Villains: Genkins was such a delightfully vile but fun villain and I hate yet love him so much! Same with Chrovos, who was such a boastful and over-dramatic but charismatic villain. Plus Lee Eddy. Loved them and while it still hurts my brain, the finale twist was superb.

Funeral Cannon: Enough said.

Okay, I think that’s it. Now we can move onto Number One. And from the moment that I began planning these lists out, I knew that this was going to be at the top. So without further ado!

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#1. Donut FINALLY Became A Character

If you read my Top 5 Things I Liked About RvB: The Shisno Paradox, you recall that I said that Donut used to be my least favorite among the Reds and Blues because, imo, he served no purpose up to that point. Then S16 happened, and i FINALLY began to see value in his character again and he shot up multiple spots. I knew that S17 was probably going to address more with him since S16 was more of a build up… and holy shit, they exceeded my expectations.

Donut finally got to show how good of a character that he can be. He realized his flaws, like his innuendo spewing and how he can’t get anyone to listen to him. He showed some of the early competency he demonstrated in Blood Gulch and how when actually given the chance, he can be smart and useful. He also displays a huge amount of emotional maturity with how he pointed out to Wash that Carolina literally broke time for him and how despite being angry at the Reds and Blues for treating him like garbage over the years, he still puts the mission first and doesn't allow the anger to control him. The only time that he lets it overcome him in Episode 7… and he had VERY good reason to since Sarge was threatening to execute him (aka being a HUGE hypocrite /points to S15/) and was overall still being disrespected despite going through time to save them all. His rant at them was very much warranted and years in the making and as someone who has felt disrespected and ignored by my friends and family, it felt SO cathartic.

Joe clearly wanted to give Donut more attention in S16, especially since him being majorly underutilized was a big complaint about S15. He perfectly wrote up the blueprints, and Jason perfectly built the structure. I do have some concerns. Like the season had EVERYTHING revolve around Donut. Like the Reds and Blues were Damsels in Distresses for like… 90% of it and Donut had to keep saving them, and I don’t want that to keep being a thing. It’s pushing God Mode too much and Donut is still a flawed person who can still slip up, be TMI, and be a naive idiot. But we’ll have to see how S18 plays out… except… maybe not…

What do I mean? If you recall, at the end of S17 Donut decided to leave. Which you know what? Good. Not because I want him to go, but after all of this, he earned it. I’m still not convinced that the Reds and blues apology in Episode 8 was genuine because of how fast it was, plus Donut went through enough shit just for them. I think that him getting away for a while and worrying about himself for once is the perfect next step for his character and unlike the other times where Donut was gone, maybe we’ll actually get to see how the characters deal with it, especially after how this season went. Only time will tell, but I think that this was a good way to end Donut’s arc. IDK what they’ll do with him next or if we’ll be seeing him anytime soon, but for now? Good job writers!

Also, Donut embraced being Pink. Hell yes!

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S17 was one Hell of a season. A lot of its flaws frustrate me. Like… really frustrate me. But it still had a lot of good. It had good character development. It had good ideas. It was really funny and knew when to be emotional. It’d pacing… well, it wasn't perfect, but I’ve seen worse. And the characters, despite me having issues, still felt like the characters and I was still happy to see them all again. I’m still going through RvB withdrawal. 2020, hurry up!

So yeah, those are my Top 5 Things That I Liked About RvB: Singularity. A season that, despite the flaws, I still love. It was nice to revisit this one, even if it wasn’t that long ago. As I said, I have plans for what to do when S18 approaches since I did these posts earlier than normal.  But we’ll worry about that then. For now, thank you all for reading! Catch you all later!

[nadziejastar]

It seems like Isa and Lea’s relationship will never be the same. They’ll never truly mend it bc we’re going to forced with Sea Salt Trio (Quadruplets I guess) moments instead. And that’s cute and all but Isa’s character got so badly shafted and treated like shit. And it leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

Saïx’s TRUE Purpose: The Power of Love

Xion: “…It was my choice…to go away now. Better that, than to do nothing…and let Xemnas have his way. I belong with Sora. And now, I am going back…to be with him. Roxas…I need you…to do me a favor. All those hearts that I’ve captured… Kingdom Hearts… Set them free.”

Roxas: “Kingdom Hearts… Free them?”

Xion: “It’s too late…for me to undo my mistakes. But you can’t let Xemnas…have Kingdom Hearts. You can’t. Good-bye, Roxas. See you again. I’m glad…I got to meet you. Oh…and of course, Axel, too. You’re both my best friends. Never forget. That’s the truth.”

I couldn’t agree more. I refuse to sugar-coat it: Isa got treated like SHIT. The conclusion to his story was so poorly-written, that it’s insulting to the players’ intelligence. And I totally agree that Lea and Isa’s relationship could never be the same. How could it? It was never acknowledged that Isa was a victim of Xehanort. He deserved the same level of empathy that Terra got from his friends after getting possessed. He deserved to get rescued with the power of waking and restored to his former self. In KH3, he got none of this. Instead, Lea was mad at him for “letting” himself get reduced to being Xehanort’s vessel. I’m not even looking forward to seeing their relationship in the future games because I don’t feel that the real Isa even came back.

I also agree that they are most likely going to push the Sea-Salt Trio FAR more than the relationship between Lea and Isa. It seems like they are going to push the angle of Skuld being Isa’s love interest, and Isa will be much more involved with her going forward than Lea or anyone else. He did say he “sacrificed everything” for her. I have no interest in that whatsoever. I view it not as a genuine pairing, but more of a desperate attempt to deflect from the original idea that Square-Enix and Disney were too cowardly to allow Nomura to follow through with: the idea of romantic love between two males. That is a terrifying idea to many people. But that’s exactly why it was so important.

Day 276: Behind the Truth

Saïx would laugh at people with no hearts calling one another friends, but that doesn’t make it not so.

From a writing standpoint, I don’t think it was appropriate that Roxas and Xion became the focal point Isa’s redemption arc. Those relationships and character arcs are entirely separate. Lea and Isa’s relationship with each other should have been the focus of his redemption. KH3 sent the message that only Lea’s friendship with Roxas and Xion was worth anything. I have noticed that many fans don’t even think Roxas and Xion should forgive Isa, and they disliked how friendly they were with him in the ending. That demonstrates just how badly KH3 failed with Isa’s character arc, and properly differentiating him from his Xehanort-possessed self, Saïx.

Day 352: What I Must Do

I love Roxas and Axel. I’m sure Saïx would scoff at that. Call it a trick of my artificial memories. But the time I spent on that clock tower was real.

I thought that Roxas and Xion’s friendship with Axel was not only very sweet, but very meaningful. 358/2 Days is a well-written story. KH3 is…not a well-written story. Xion sacrificed herself so that Xemnas would not win. She was more concerned with Roxas and Axel’s well-being than her own. Xion’s name means, “forget-me-not”. She may disappear, but she’ll never forget her friends, nor will she be ever forgotten by them. That is the power of the heart. The power of love. Roxas, Xion and Axel’s friendship sent a very beautiful message. Lea’s relationship with Isa was supposed to accomplish the same thing: send a very beautiful message about the power of love. Unfortunately, this important message got totally thrown by the wayside.

Larxene: “So, love has filled both their hearts with light.”

Naminé added data to Jiminy’s Journal in order to convey that the “pain” of those connected to Sora must be healed. Nomura said that Ansem’s research results would become the key to healing the “pain” of the characters in KH3. He said that data contained the details explaining the way to connect lost hearts. A press release for KH3 released in 2013 mentions something called the “Key to Return Hearts”. Here is what Nomura said about this key when asked about it in an interview:

There are two possible meanings of the “key.” One of which is the “hardware” key, which opens doors - this is what keys are in general, and the other is the “light” key, that opens something else. In this case, it is currently unknown as to which type of key Sora must find. This is the main storyline of Kingdom Hearts III - Sora must go on an adventure to find the “key” without knowing what or where it is.

The “key” being referred to was implied to be a key of light. The 7 Guardians of Light are important for more than their ability to wield a Keyblade. Their hearts have another power. The power of light. This light grants one the power to restore a lost heart. And the power of light…is love. That is the power of waking. Anna sacrificed herself for Elsa. That is the most powerful form of love that exists. Like the memories of Xion, it can never be lost or destroyed. It is the key to rebirth and new life.

Ansem the Wise: “Sora has a heart like that–uncorrupted, willing to see the good before the bad. When he sees the heart in something, it then becomes real. When a connection seems broken, he may have the power to mend it.”

Isa’s character deserved so much better. Instead of healing his pain, or doing anything with the concept of light or love, his redemption arc consisted of…procuring replicas, then quietly shuffling off into the background—even while Xemnas tried to kill his best friend right before his eyes. Again, it merely felt like deflection. Quick! Focus on Lea and Isa’s relationship with Skuld that never even existed until 5 seconds ago! How do we redeem Isa now? Just have him bring back Roxas and Xion! It doesn’t matter that Seekers of Darkness are not supposed to be capable of free will! Just do it!

Anything!! Anything to NOT focus on the love that exists between two male characters. Platonic love between friends and family is perfectly fine. Romantic love between a male and a female is perfectly fine. But romantic love between two males? That is NOT perfectly fine. I have no respect such artistic cowardice. I don’t know if this series is for me anymore, if the future is more oversimplified, big budget spectacles that are not allowed to take any risks with the story or characters.

“Kairi!” Axel shouted again as the girl struggled against Saïx’s hold. He readied his chakrams to hurl at Saïx when a powerful shock wave hit him.

“Traitors like you deserve to lose everything,” Saïx said.

Axel grunted and collapsed to his knees in pain from the direct hit. After only one strike, he felt his consciousness fading. His vision was going black. He couldn’t even tell whether he saw Saïx disappear with Kairi into the dark portal or whether that was only his own eyes closing.

Is this how I get turned into a Dusk…?

Saïx is not just completely cold to Axel emotionally. He tries to kill him when he turns on the Organization. This never happened in the original game, or even the Final Mix+ version. They decided to have Saïx try and kill Axel AFTER they came up with the idea of them being former best friends and (presumably) Isa partying with everyone in the ending.

“Don’t worry about that! Just go!” A Nobody glommed on to his arm, but Axel shook it off and hurled a chakram at it.

Right. Don’t worry about the why. I don’t even know the answer myself.

As he tried to catch his breath, more Nobodies set upon him. Pain surged like a fresh blow from the wound Saïx had dealt him.

Saïx was the one who gave Axel the fatal wound that would weaken him by the time he met Sora. Because Axel was already fatally wounded, he sacrificed the last bit of his life to atone for his actions.

Axel could remember fighting like this beside Roxas…

He wanted to fight that way again. He wished they had talked more, about lots of things. About nothing. He wanted to talk to his friend again.

But why do I feel this way if Nobodies have no hearts?

His time was running out, thanks to Saïx.

They made it abundantly clear that it was Saïx who was responsible for Axel’s demise.

“We don’t disappear… We’re only reborn,” Naminé murmured, perhaps to herself.

“I’m not like you and Roxas,” Axel said flatly. His hand holding the ice pop stick paused in midair.

“But—but you…” She looked down, clenching her fists.

“It’s because I don’t have a heart,” Axel went on. “I don’t want to disappear, but I’m not upset or sad about it.”

Axel truly did not believe he was going to have a “next life”. At the time of his death, he would have felt utterly alone and hopeless. Why would they have bothered making a character like Saïx his former best friend, unless they had something major to reveal about him later?

Luxord: “Perhaps he was ready for it. Perhaps he put his existence on the line and won what he’d been longing for.”

Saix: “That’s absurd. He won nothing, and IS nothing. He couldn’t stand the emptiness of being without a heart. And THAT led to his demise. He was foolish and weak.”

This is what Saïx says right after the the Organization learns of Axel’s death. Saïx genuinely wanted Axel dead. He was a traitor. Yet he looks to the floor with a troubled look, when Luxord says that Axel got what he was longing for. Saïx is seemingly confused about where his conflicted feelings are coming from. It seemed to me that he genuinely had no clue why he was so angry and sad about Axel. It truly made no sense to him. The way he acted reminded me of when Sora cried while saying goodbye to Hayner, Pence, and Olette at the train station. Sora couldn’t understand why he was so sad, because they weren’t really his feelings that he was experiencing.

Saïx: “Do you know what happens to those who lose their true purpose? Inevitably, they destroy themselves.”

This is what Saïx says right after Axel deserts the Organization to find Roxas. In fact, every new scene with Saïx in KH2FM+ involved his relationship with Axel.

Saïx: “There’s something I’ve meant to ask.”

Xemnas: “About Axel? The poor fool. How long will he keep chasing the illusion of friendship, when he himself lacks emotion? Trying so hard to retrieve what he has lost, when it may never have existed in the first place. He deserves nothing more than our pity.”

After Axel meets Sora in Hollow Bastion, Saïx asks about him. He actually seems concerned, which is uncharacteristic of him. Then Xemnas makes his cryptic comment about Axel STILL chasing the illusion of friendship. He truly pities Axel, and thinks he’s a fool.

“Vile traitor!” The great Claymore took shape at Saïx’s back. Axel didn’t waste a second grabbing his chakrams. But his body was reluctant somehow.

I don’t want to disappear… But still, it wouldn’t be so bad if I did. Not here.

Saïx fatally wounded Axel. He later feels sadness and grief over this, but doesn’t know why. Likewise, Axel knows Saïx wants him dead and doesn’t care about him any more. He wastes no time grabbing his chakrams to defend himself. But his body is reluctant somehow, and he doesn’t seem to know why, either. Despite how hopeless their situation is, they are continually drawn towards each other. There’s still a heart connection there. Lea and Isa’s relationship was supposed to be a VERY big deal in the future of the story. It really was not that hard to see.

Saïx: “You’re the one who went off and made other friends. Left me in the dust. I lost…all sense of purpose.”

It’s SO obvious what Saïx’s “purpose” was. His purpose was Axel! He just didn’t realize it. Isa’s heart was able to subconsciously influence how Saïx felt at certain times, particularly after Axel left the Organization. Isa still cared about Lea, and after he was gone, his heart lost its purpose. Saïx had no clue about any of this, though. He would just become enraged at Axel due to the inexplicable pain he was feeling because of him. Saïx wasn’t being too stubborn to admit his feelings. He genuinely didn’t understand them.

Xemnas: “Hearts full of rage, of hate…of sadness and bliss. Shining down upon us is the heart of all hearts—Kingdom Hearts. There in the sky hangs the promise of a new world. We will conquer hearts and make them our own. Hearts shall never again have power over us.”

Xemans hated how strong the heart was. He wanted to have full control over a person, and the heart was an obstacle to that. Yet he couldn’t turn someone into a vessel without a heart. It was why he conducted the mind control experiments in the first place. The Recusant’s Sigil is a symbol of his desire to conquer the heart and make it his own. When Xemnas is talking, the camera zooms in on the moon.

The moon hung in the sky outside the window, a great glowing heart. Sprawled in bed, Axel stared at it without really looking, idling the time away before he had to leave on a mission.

“We will conquer hearts and make them our own. Hearts shall never again have power over us.”

For the past few days, he had been mulling over what Xemnas could have meant by that speech. Hearts having power over them? What was that about? Whenever Axel was whiling away the hours by himself, that phrase kept bouncing around in his head. He didn’t know what was so compelling about it.

Axel had no idea what Xemnas was talking about underneath the moon that day, and it really bothered him. He was pondering this very issue when Saïx came in to interrogate him about Xion, much to his displeasure. Xemnas’ speech was very important.

No. VII SAÏX

Second in command who longs for the heart he does not have. Only the moon breaks his icy calm.

Saïx was always staring at the moon, longing for the heart he does not have. He has a Recusant’s Sigil scar on his face. It only makes sense that Isa was Subject X in the mind control experiments, and he was the sole subject whose heart didn’t collapse, turning him into a vessel. The survival of his heart would have been possible if he sacrificed himself out of love, just like his “Bunnymoon” weapon symbolized. The rocket to the moon was launched directly from a heart.

“Sora or Xion—it matters not. But we need one of them under our control. Bear that in mind.”

Saïx nodded, and a serene smile came to Xemnas’ face. If that smile meant anything it was beyond him.

Xemnas was completely confident that he won the battle over Isa’s heart.

“Don’t let us down now, kiddo. Shouldn’t be too much trouble without a heart,” Xigbar told Saïx.

Xigbar was totally confident about this as well.

In the Round Room, Saïx looked up at Xemnas high above.

“Are you sure we’re dealing with Xion and Roxas the right way?”

His tone was markedly different from usual, as if he spoke to an old friend rather than a superior.

Isa’s heart was captured and his body is now a vessel. Despite wanting to overthrow him, the novel describes Saïx’s demeanor with Xemnas as that of an old friend. Saïx’s heart is one with Xehanort’s, even if he doesn’t know it. On the other hand, Isa’s captured heart is full of rage, hate, and sadness. These feelings come out in his Berserk State under the light of the moon. But the last emotion that Xemnas mentioned was…bliss. And that seemed like foreshadowing.

Axel gazed out at the sunset, as red as ever. That color still looked the same to him now as it had when he was human. Some things didn’t change even when you became a Nobody.

Axel was always gazing into the sun, even before he became a Nobody.

The sun sank lower and lower as Axel watched, his mind wandering.

If he stared for too long, the image would burn itself into his eyes, visible even after his eyes were closed.

A phantom sun.

Someone had once told him why sunsets were red… Who was that?

In the novel, he was doing just that right before he gives Roxas and Xion his “hokey speech”.

“I just…want these days to last forever,” Roxas murmured, slow and pensive. “Hanging out after the job’s done, eating ice cream, watching the sunset…”

Axel peered at his profile as he did just that. The sunset’s glow touched Roxas’s face and Xion’s with warm red.

“Well, nothing lasts forever,” Axel mumbled, looking off to the side again. “Least of all for a bunch of Nobodies.”

At that, both of their expressions fell.

Seriously, you two? You’re always grinning or getting bummed out…just like real live people with hearts. Axel exhaled and gathered some words. “But, you know, hanging out every day isn’t the only thing that matters. We’ll still have one another, even if that changes.”

“Really?” Roxas perked up.

“Yeah. As long as we remember one another, we’ll never be apart. Got it memorized?”

He was clearly thinking about Isa beforehand.

Axel’s face was limned with the sunset’s glow, his red hair shining crimson.

“Bet you don’t know why the sun sets red.” He eyed Roxas mischievously. “You see, light is made up of lots of colors. And out of all those colors, red is the one that travels the farthest.”

When Axel uses his famous line about why the sun sets red, it even zoomed in on the sun—just like it did with the moon earlier, when Xemnas was giving his speech about the ability to conquer the power of the heart. In 358/2 Days, the Moon Arcana of Luxord’s Tarot cards is “Dual Gear.” Axel’s weapon in that category is called “Dive Bomb”. The Sun Arcana of Luxord’s Tarot cards is “Hazard Gear.” Saïx’s weapon in that category is called “Light Year”.

Roxas: “So he wasn’t fighting to protect the rose. He was protecting the people in the castle. Protecting her. She’s what matters most to him. But…Xaldin said it was the rose.”

Xaldin: “Feh. Cloying nonsense.”

Roxas: “Xaldin… When did you get here?”

Xaldin: “That’s none of your concern. Hmph. Love, from a beast? How utterly ridiculous.”

Just look at the way Xaldin speaks about the power of love. He couldn’t even tell that the Beast valued Belle more than the rose.

Roxas: “Love? What’s that?”

Xaldin: “It’s an emotion. The one deluding those two as we speak.”

Roxas: “Oh…”

Xaldin: “They think the power of love will save them? That’s the stuff of poetry, not practicality.”

Roxas: “Love is a power?”

Xaldin: “None you or I will ever grasp. Nor will they, for long. The love between them will wither and die. Love never lasts.”

He says it’s not a power that he or Roxas will ever grasp. 

Xaldin:“Our work here is done. We have the Beast’s weakness.”

Roxas: “We do?”

Xaldin: “That which we treasure has power over us, Roxas. His heart is captive to it. And that makes it his weakness.”

Roxas: “Captive…? I don’t get it.”

Xaldin: “Nor should you. You have no heart to love with. Let’s not linger here.”

In KH2, Xaldin tried to use the Beast’s love for Belle as a weapon, to turn him into a Heartless and Nobody. He wants absolutely nothing to do with love. To him, it’s nothing but weakness that make the heart a captive. I’m sure that’s exactly how Xemnas and Xigbar viewed the feelings “X” had for Lea. Like Xaldin, they would have used Isa’s love as a weapon, to turn him into a captive.

“Do you know what love is?”

“…’Scuse me?”

“It’s something powerful, right? Where does it come from?” Roxas was completely in earnest.

Love… Huh.

“It is powerful, but it’s not a power we get to have.” Axel had very little confidence in his ability to explain it. But whenever Roxas or Xion had questions about the mysteries of the human heart, he did his best to answer.

Compare the way Axel speaks about love to the way Xaldin spoke of it. Axel really wants to experience love, but he thinks he never will. And this deeply saddens him.

“Nobodies can’t love?” Roxas asked.

“Nope. You need a heart for that.”

“Oh… Right.” Roxas fell quiet, pensive.

Axel kept talking. “Love is what happens when there’s something really special between people.”

“More special than friends? Like…if they’re best friends? Inseparable?”

“Well, you can care about your friends, but that’s not exactly it…” Axel paused, groping for words that might make sense to Roxas.

“So it’s a step above best friends?”

“No—it’s not about steps.”

Roxas looked bewildered. As he’d expected, he wasn’t doing a very good job explaining it.

Axel thinks he cannot experience love until Kingdom Hearts is completed. Of course, this is just the lie that Xemnas told them. He used Axel’s desire for love as a weapon, to gain his cooperation and turn him into a vessel. Axel already has the ability to love.

“Not that it matters. We’ll never know the difference.”

Roxas wouldn’t let it go. “Do you think we would, if we had hearts?”

“Once Kingdom Hearts is complete, I bet you’ll be able to figure it out.” The magic words again, Axel thought. It’ll all make sense when Kingdom Hearts is complete. But was that true? No one had ever seen it happen before. So who knew? Still, all they could do was believe in it.

Pitiful Heartless, mindlessly collecting hearts…

“Kingdom Hearts, huh…?” Roxas said under his breath, gazing out at the sunset.

Axel watched his wistful profile and sighed silently.

Like Xaldin, Axel tells Roxas that neither of them can grasp the power of love. But they do so for entirely different reasons. Xemans and Xaldin are trying to complete Kingdom Hearts to conquer the power of love. Roxas and Axel are trying to complete Kingdom Hearts to experience the power of love.

Xemnas: “Ah, ever the rogue pawn. Knocked from the board early in the game. Utterly useless and forgotten. Now it ends. I will purge that light in you…with darkness!”

During the final battle, Xemnas feels like he’s won yet again. He thinks that Lea is a loser who has been forgotten about. He is confident that Isa’s heart has been conquered. He is so confident that he attacks Lea right in front of Saïx, knowing that he won’t do anything.

His words of being superior are reminiscent of the speech he gave while he was standing under the heart-shaped moon. Yet unlike before, Lea is defiant this time. He says that Xemans was never his superior. I have no doubt that Axel’s Mystery Gear weapon with the Recusant’s Sigil, was a reference to his final battle with Xemnas.

Aqua: “It’s the power of true love that defeated you.”

Maleficent: “I will not be defeated by something as insignificant as love.”

Aqua: “You don’t even know the first thing about it. You’re too clouded bydarkness to see that there’s something greater.”

The message of Kingdom Hearts is that Aqua was right.

Terra: “No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love.”

The message of Kingdom Hearts is that Terra was right.

Yen Sid: “Just as long as you love him…then Ventus will be able to find you when he wakes. He can follow that love back to where he belongs–the realm of light.”

Love is so powerful, it can even lead Ventus back to the Realm of Light. That’s what the whole concept of the power of waking is.

Day 150: Too Precious to Lose

Axel and I talked for a while about the things we can’t bear to lose. Axel thinks that for Nobodies, it’s our pasts, because that’s all we have to remember the pain of losing something.

Lea’s Keyblade is called the “Flame Liberator”. The Phoenix rising from the ashes represents the alchemical process of transformation, rebirth, and liberation. It’s the red stage of Rubedo, where a person finally realizes their true nature, and they are liberated from ignorance and suffering. But Xemnas destroys Lea’s Keyblade, leaving him totally powerless. Xemnas is about to finish him off, right in front of Saïx. 

Sora: “But if I put aside the hurt, I’ll lose my only ties to people that I cared about. No. My mind’s made up. I want to carry this hurt with me. I can be free of it the day I remember, but until then, it’s what holds together the pieces I left behind…and I accept it.”

Lea’s Keyblade may be broken, but he doesn’t need it. There’s another Key to Return Hearts. The “light” key Nomura mentioned. The power of love. No matter how much pain it caused, neither Lea nor Isa’s hearts could forget about each other. This should have been the moment where Isa’s heart showed its true power. Love is NOT a weakness. Love is what prevented Isa’s heart from being destroyed in the first place, unlike every other test subject. And love makes his heart so powerful, it refuses to submit to Xemnas’ will. This is exactly what the true meaning of a recusant is.

In canon, the relationship between Saïx and Axel felt totally pointless. Being told at the last minute that Lea and Isa became apprentices to look for Skuld is nothing but sequel bait. There was no underlying message to that revelation. It had no thematic value whatsoever pertaining to the Xehanort Saga. There was no ultimate meaning to Isa becoming Xehanort’s vessel and then reviving his friendship with Lea again. Lea and Isa’s relationship had no narrative purpose. But…it was supposed to.

No. I XEMNAS

Organization XIII’s leader. Through power over nothing, he seeks power over everything.

The true purpose of Lea and Isa’s relationship was to prove all the villains wrong. No matter how much he would like to, Xehanort cannot conquer the power of the heart, which is love. Like his description says, he has power over NOTHING.

[woozapooza]

On male and female deaths on Lost

(I’m sure somewhere in the fandom the following has been pointed out already, but I haven’t seen any posts about it, so I’m writing my own. Keep in mind that I’ve only just started my first-ever rewatch. I checked Lostpedia whenever I was unsure about something, but there could be mistakes in here, although I’m confident that I’m right about the overall pattern I’m observing. This is a critical post, but rest assured Lost is still one of my favorite shows. Sometimes you gotta complain about something you adore. Also, I’m excluding Nikki and Paolo from this post, lol.)

It’s been pointed out that Lost repeatedly uses the “women in refrigerators” trope: with Shannon, with Libby, with Charlotte, and with Juliet. (You could also make an argument for other characters, including Nadia and, if non-love interests count, Alex, but I’m going to focus on members of the main cast.) While thinking about Lost’s many main-cast deaths, another gendered pattern occurred to me: female characters’ deaths tend to be accidents, whereas male characters have more agency over their own deaths. I think this trope (which probably has a name but I don’t know what it is) is very closely connected to women in refrigerators, but I’ll get to the connection at the end. Let’s go through each of the main-cast characters who died and see how they died. Ladies first:

Shannon dies while chasing after Walt’s image. Ana Lucia hears her coming at shoots her out of fear. Ana Lucia could just as well have shot Sayid, who was running after Shannon and calling to her, but she didn’t.

Ana Lucia and Libby both die at Michael’s hand in his quest to save Walt. Ana Lucia dies because she happens to be guarding Ben and Libby dies because she stumbles upon the scene of the crime. If it had been a man guarding Ben, Michael would have shot him, but it wasn’t, and if Hurley had gone back for the blankets instead of Libby, Michael would have shot him, but he didn’t.

Charlotte dies as a complication of time travel, which could just have easily happened to Daniel or Miles, but it didn’t.

Juliet dies because she gets caught in a chain and falls down the shaft that became the Hatch. The chain could just as easily have pulled Sawyer to his death, but it didn’t.

Ilana dies because she mishandles dynamite. This could have happened to any of the men who handled dynamite, but it didn’t (not counting Arzt because he wasn’t a main character).

Finally, Sun dies because the explosion in the submarine caused her to be trapped behind a heavy...I don’t know what it was but the point is she couldn’t get free so she drowned.

Out of the seven main female characters who die, not one of them chooses their death, and only two (Juliet and Sun) have a chance to confront what’s about to happen to them. Both of them use their last moments to tell their men that they love them. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing in itself—after all, Jin also uses his last moments to tell Sun that he loves her—but the point is that there are no women who get cool death speeches about anything else like some of the men do.

Now the gentlemen:

I’m going to break chronological order for a second to start with Jin, as the difference between his and Sun’s deaths illustrates the pattern I’m talking about. It could just as easily have been him who got stuck behind the heavy thingy, leaving Sun to make the choice to die with him, but it wasn’t. Sun’s death is an accident; Jin’s death is a choice that gives the audience our final impression of him.

Going back to season one, Boone could be seen as an exception to the pattern. He dies because Locke told him to check out the plane. He’s “the sacrifice the island demanded” or whatever, but he doesn’t willingly sacrifice himself. Still, he chooses death in the sense that he explicitly absolves Jack of the responsibility to try to keep him alive.

Eko dies facing the smoke monster head-on. He gives ones of the coolest speeches in the show, making peace with his past and bringing his character arc to a close.

Charlie knows well ahead of time that he’s going to die. Desmond offers to go down to the Looking Glass in Charlie’s place, but Charlie takes responsibility for the task. He drowns intentionally, bravely, and at peace with himself, having done something heroic.

Michael dies as a deliberate act of redemption when the bomb explodes on the freighter. He stays behind to die so that Jin, Desmond, and the Oceanic Six can survive.

Locke, as a murder victim, is another possible exception in that he has no agency over his death. It’s never 100% clear why Ben killed Locke as far as I know, but it seems to be at least partly out of jealousy. Locke’s death is definitely anything but accidental or random.

Daniel is shot by Eloise for threatening Richard. This in itself is already pretty far from random. Then there’s the fact that Eloise had spent Daniel’s whole life bringing this moment about. True, it’s a very sudden death, not a death Daniel was able to choose or to face on his own terms. He dies feeling like a pawn. On the other hand, it’s not random or accidental and it explains a lot about Daniel’s life.

Sayid, my darling, beautiful, brave Sayid, dies, like Charlie and Michael, as an act of self-sacrifice and redemption. Before he carries the bomb away from his friends, he makes sure Jack is prepared to be the hero the island needs. Sayid’s death is meaningful on both an external level and an internal level. Not only does he save Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley, but by doing so he overcomes the “sickness” that had brought out the worst in him, and thus he proves that he was at heart a good man. I have to take a timeout from this post to cry.

Okay, I’m back. Finally, Jack dies of his wounds after fighting the Man in Black and restoring the cork at the center of the island. He willingly sacrifices himself to make sure good triumphs over evil and to make sure the passengers on the Ajira plane make it off the island alive. He dies at peace, with a smile on his face, having fulfilled his destiny. I have to go cry again.

Okay, I’m back again. So, out of nine men who die, only three—Boone, Locke, and Daniel—can really be seen as victims. Of those “victims,” only’s Boone’s death is really random, and he gives the audience closure with a cool death speech. The remaining six know that they have to die in advance, and they face death with great dignity and courage.

So, what have we learned, and how does this connect to the four women in refrigerators? Well, tropes aren’t an exact science, so your mileage may vary on what I’m about to say, but in my opinion, a character is usually only “fridged” when their death isn’t really about them at all. If Libby had died bravely, standing up to Michael and defending Ana-Lucia, and if in doing so she had reached the culmination of previously established character arc, then I wouldn’t consider that an instance of fridging—at least, not when evaluated on its own as opposed to as part of a pattern of women dying and men being sad. Fridging basically means turning a character into a prop that moves the story forward, rather than letting that character embody a story in their own right. Not that none of the women who died had interesting stories. But their deaths weren’t part of those stories; instead, they interrupted those stories. Take Shannon, for instance. She might be the woman whose death comes closest to meaning something other than sadness for a man. After all, she initially comes off as pretty self-centered, but by going after Walt she shows concern for someone else. But her growth just gets cut short when she gets shot. That didn’t have to happen. She could have said some last words to Sayid about how she hoped the rest of the gang would rescue Walt. Or something like “make sure Vincent is taken care of.” But because she doesn’t get to choose her death OR say anything before dying, her significance as a character vanishes and what’s left is a plot development for Sayid (and, to be fair, to a lesser extent Ana-Lucia) to react to. The men’s deaths are about the men one way or another: either they’re targeted by someone else for who they are or for a choice they’ve made (Eko, Locke, Daniel), or they choose death (Boone, Charlie, Michael, Sayid, Jin, Jack). Not one of the women’s deaths is about that woman in either of these ways. In other words, when a man dies, it’s part of his story, and when a woman dies, it terminates her story. In other other words, men are the protagonists of their own deaths and women aren’t. I’m not saying every one of the women’s deaths was objectively bad writing or that every one of the men’s deaths was objectively good writing. I’m just saying the pattern seems glaringly obvious now that I’ve noticed it.

Finally, some statistics: Out of nine women whose actresses had main-cast billing, only two—Kate and Claire—were alive at the end of the show. Out of seventeen men whose actors had main-cast billing, eight—Hurley, Ben, Sawyer, Walt, Miles, Richard, Frank, and Desmond—were alive at the end of the show. So while more individual men (nine, or ten if you count Paolo) than women (seven, or eight if you count Nikki) die, a much larger chunk of the female cast is killed off than the male cast. Women have a 22% survival rate and men have a 47% survival rate. This suggests that the writers are simply more interested in keeping men’s stories going than women’s. Hopefully this is obvious, but I’m not accusing the writers of having some nefarious woman-hating agenda. I doubt they realized what they were doing. I think it stems from subconscious assumptions about men and women that manifest in all sorts of media. It doesn’t make that media irredeemably misogynistic, let alone flat-out irredeemable. It’s just unfortunate.

[terramythos]

Review: Vicious by V. E. Schwab (Villains #1) (REREAD)

Length: 364 pages. 

Genre/Tags: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction, Superheroes, Revenge Narrative, Dark, Time Jumps, Perspective Shifts, Third-Person, Great Characters, Duology

Warning(s): Graphic violence and torture. One of the main characters is just straight up genocidal. There is a very dubious consent scene later in the novel (non-explicit). Child death (sort of?). This is like, a gray versus black morality kind of story, so don’t read it if that isn’t your thing?

My Rating: 8.5 / 10

My Summary:

Victor and Eli, two genius college roommates at the top of their game, come up with a hypothesis for their senior project— that near-death experiences sometimes result in superpowers. However, when they test their theory, things go terribly awry, and both are left forever changed. Victor finds himself with the ability to manipulate pain. Eli becomes functionally immortal. And with a body count behind both young men, they transform from best friends into bitter enemies. 

Ten years later, Victor escapes from prison. Cunning and manipulative, Victor has had a decade to contemplate revenge against the man who put him there— Eli. When he finds an injured 12-year-old girl on the side of the road, he discovers Eli has spent the last decade systematically murdering EOs— people with supernatural abilities. Sydney, who can raise the dead, is the one of the few to escape. 

With the help of Sydney and his former cellmate Mitch, Victor begins to enact his revenge. But it’s only a matter of time before Victor and Eli finish what they started ten years ago…

But these words people threw around— humans, monsters, heroes, villains— to Victor it was all just a matter of semantics. Someone could call themselves a hero and still walk around killing dozens. Someone else could be labeled a villain for trying to stop them. Plenty of humans were monstrous, and plenty of monsters knew how to play at being human. The difference between Victor and Eli, he suspected, wasn’t their opinion on EOs. It was their reaction to them. Eli seemed intent to slaughter them, but Victor didn’t see why a useful skill should be destroyed just because of its origin. EOs were weapons, yes, but weapons with minds and wills and bodies, things that could be bent and twisted and broken and used.

Vicious is an interesting book to reread because, while the book itself hasn’t changed, the context behind it has. When I read this back in 2016 it was a standalone novel, originally published in 2013. Now I’m rereading it specifically because there is an unexpected sequel (Vengeful, 2018), and I wanted a refresher before jumping into it. Second, maybe a more minor detail— this book is homoerotic as hell, and I remember wondering if it was intentional on a first read. Now that Schwab recently came out as gay, I’m thinking it probably was, which makes it all the more entertaining.  

It’s also interesting to see how much Schwab’s writing has changed over time. Originally, I read Vicious, enjoyed it, then decided to read her big fantasy series Shades of Magic, and… Well, let’s just say *that* ended up being one of my favorite trilogies ever. Whoops? But in many ways I feel my enjoyment of Shades of Magic overshadowed Vicious. I enjoyed this book, but honestly I kind of forgot about it even though it was the first one I read. That was another reason to revisit it; while I might not like it as much as Shades of Magic, it’s still plenty good.

Before I do a deep dive into the book, I think it’s important to discuss the structure. Vicious basically has two stories— one in the past, and one in the present. The first half mostly focuses on the past, while the second half mostly focuses on the present. “Mostly” is important here— the story is very anachronistic. This serves to heighten the drama; we learn about Victor and Eli’s past relationship, then get a glimpse of just how corrupted and different it is in the present day, and of course wonder what got them to this point. While I feel it’s easy to do time and perspective jumps poorly, the chapters themselves are pretty short, so I never felt disconnected from any particular plot thread. The pacing was always solid. If anything I found this novel pretty easy to read, because I could tackle just a few chapters at a time yet make significant progress in the story.

Vicious is, without a doubt, character-driven. People with superpowers exist— called ExtraOrdinary people (EOs)— and said powers develop in a unique way. Other than that there’s nothing super special about the setting. And aside from the interesting structure, the story is pretty standard. But the characters themselves are fascinating and by far the strongest point of the novel. The main focus is obviously on Victor and Eli, and how they serve as foils to one another. Both are arrogant and straight-up terrible people, but the way they see the world differs greatly, and that’s ultimately what separates the “hero” of the story (Victor) from the villain (Eli). Gray versus black morality, hooray!

Seeing the initial relationship between the two leads and how it sours and twists over time is quite interesting. At first Eli seems to be the most level-headed of the two, but as the story develops you learn how fanatical and unhinged he really is. Dude just straight up embraces genocide after a point. Meanwhile, Victor is clearly a vindictive and selfish dick from the get-go, yet as Eli’s true nature shows, seems much less terrible by comparison. The story is sometimes a bit on-the-nose with the whole hero vs villain thing and how the two defy usual expectations, but it is still interesting to realize you’re genuinely rooting for Victor. Despite everything he’s a pretty likable character.

Aside from Victor and Eli, there are three supporting characters who substantially affect the story. Preteen Sydney gets the most screentime, and with Mitch (Victor’s bodyguard/hacker/cellmate) serves as the humanizing part of the story. Victor even seems to sort of care for the two! Though how much of that is genuine attachment versus just finding them useful is debatable. There’s a super twisted found family vibe with the trio which starts to form near the end (they adopt an undead dog and everything!). On the antagonistic side of things, we have Serena, Sydney’s older sister, who has the power to compel others. She’s pretty terrifying, and has her own twisted motivations for helping Eli. At times she’s honestly more unsettling than he is.

One of my main complaints about Vicious when I first read it was *just* as I started to really dig the side characters, their relationships, and their developments… the novel ended. Yes, Sydney gets significant development through the story. But Mitch and Serena get shafted. We only really get to know them toward the end of the novel with backstory dumps or a handful of perspective chapters. A lot of the novel’s real estate centers on Victor and Eli’s past, and while I think that’s an integral part of the novel, it feels like something is missing. At the time I thought this novel either needed to be longer or it needed a sequel. Well, now it has one of those things, so it will be interesting to see what Vengeful does with the characters.  

Thematically and philosophically there’s some interesting stuff going on. The hero vs villain thing is the most obvious, and as I mentioned gets pretty direct at times. But one idea I found interesting to consider is what happens to the souls of ExtraOrdinary people. It’s initially stated as fact that EOs lose a part of themselves when they die and return. They’re different, changed in a way they can’t quite describe. And for most of the novel this seems to be true. Victor and Eli both become twisted, detached people, obsessed with their own perceptions of reality. The two realize they should feel or think certain things and simply… don’t. Both attribute it to the fact they died and came back “wrong”. But the more we learn about both characters, the more we realize they were pretty much like that all along. The idea that people lose something doesn’t really hold up when you examine Sydney, who turns into a stronger and more vibrant person after coming back. It’s an interesting realization, because it highlights just how wrong Eli’s actions are.

There’s also a whole deal regarding God and spirituality vs science. Eli justifies nearly everything he does in the name of God, whereas Victor is an atheist— but the extent to which this affects things is a definite gray area. There are some uncanny coincidences in the story (like Victor discovering Sydney) that would be bad writing… except the characters notice it happening. On multiple occasions Victor notes that if God or Fate exists, it seems to be siding with him, not Eli. Even the formation of ExtraOrdinary abilities is bizarre. One gets superpowers based on their final thoughts and feelings? That’s so decidedly unscientific, especially from something that starts as a science experiment, that it really sticks out to me. Is there more to this dichotomy? I guess we’ll see if the sequel explores it more.

There are some small details I really like, but I think my favorite is the blackout poetry thing. There’s just something interesting and really funny about Victor defacing his famous parents’ self-help books. He mentions it’s one of the best gifts he got in prison, and it’s also one of the first things he does when he gets out. Probably the funniest part in the whole story is an intense chase scene where Victor is trying to escape someone through an unfamiliar house. He spots a Vale book on a shelf, and pauses EVERYTHING to just grab it and throw it out the window, then returns to the scene as if nothing happened. It’s just such an unnecessary detail that might have ended up on the cutting room floor but I honestly lost my shit laughing.

The ending is also viscerally satisfying. So much stuff ties together well. While the novel is about Victor and Eli and (ultimately) Victor’s revenge, you don’t actually learn much about his plan until it happens. A lot of lines and actions read differently in context of the ending, which is always something I like in a story.

(And here’s a totally skippable aside— *is* there some connection between this series and Monsters of Verity? The latter is a young adult duology by Schwab, which I read and reviewed here and here. But the first book has an opening quote from Victor. Hell, it’s part of the quote I picked for this review. They don’t seem to be in the same universe but… maybe they are? It’s just such a goddamn weird choice to quote a “V. Vale” at the beginning of an unrelated series. Maybe Vengeful has an explanation? Maybe Schwab just really liked that whole monsters vs humans line? I have no idea.)

Anyway, yeah, that’s Vicious! It’s certainly a fun one to read. The writing is punchy and easy to get through. The conflict between Victor and Eli is very well written and compelling. And, as I mentioned, the characters are the strong point (in my opinion, anyway), so if you enjoy character-driven media I definitely recommend it. Just note my caveat about some of the character development. Skip it if you’re one of those people bothered by Bad People Doing Bad Things In Fiction or think portraying Bad People Doing Bad Things is somehow Endorsing Bad Things. If dark stories aren’t your thing you definitely won’t enjoy this one. There are some aspects of the story that I feel could have been smoother or done differently, most of which I touch on in the review. I think Schwab has improved a lot since writing it, which is one reason I’m excited that my next read is the 2018 sequel.

[theeverbloomingdarkness]

Marluxia in KH3- UPDATED

Here it is folks. Everything about Marluxia/thoughts in KH3 under the cut. Get ready.

***Spoilers. SPOILERs. Spoilers everywhere. Whole game spoilers***

ALL RIGHT. To Begin, I’m going to go through all of Marluxia’s lines. After that I will go into my personal opinions and such. This is going to be a hot mess of a post but I hope everything is understandable:

“Missing someone?”

“She’s such a precious gift. Allow me to assist you in getting her back.”

“Has-beens?” Now why would you say that?

“My name is Marluxia, and yes, that is correct.”

“How interesting it is to see you again, Sora.”

“A shame you’ve no memory of me, because I remember you exceedingly well. Although… It’s /those/ memories I’d soon erase.”

* This one is interesting only because I found it confusing I couldn’t tell if he was talking about himself or Sora. Second opinions?

“Nor should you. Nor will you ever, for that matter.”

“Now, if you’ll permit me, I’ve come to ask a favor.”

“Please hear what I have to say.”

“I’m sure you’ve noticed… Well, perhaps not. But you should know that maiden with you, Rapunzel, is the very light of this world. I would see you guard her from its dark horrors.”

“All the Organization seeks is balance.”

*Is this what you sought/seek though? Unfortunately KH3 did not give the Marluxia answers that I was hoping for. We still have no idea what Marluxia was ever seeking/ no idea what he ever wanted. Motivations remain unknown.

“You must understand, our ultimate objective is not to clash with the light. We seek to complement it.”

“Use that keyblade… To keep Rapunzel safe.”

“Oh dear… He’s run off with the crown and forgotten you.”

“Forget Flynn Ryder.”

“You know where you belong, and it’s not with him. Now…”

“Show some decorum. The girl has found her dear mother. You should let them be.”

“Because Rapunzel is far too important. Atop her tower, she must remain out of sight, and live out her days with Mother Gothel.”

“That is /exactly/ what it’s like.”

“Rapunzel’s hair holds the powerful magic of healing. And yes, Mother Gothel wants it for herself. As do others.”

“And, if Mother Gothel’s actions will protect Rapunzel, preserve her… then she is doing the Organization a favor.”

“Let’s say she’s keeping Rapunzel on the shelf for us. An extra pawn in case you fail to find the remaining guardians of light and we have occasion to call on other hearts of light instead. A new seven hearts to fill out the ranks.”

“Yes. Seven who inherited the princess’ light after their role was fulfilled.”

“Hmph. I just knew you would go and make a scene.”

“Very well, then it’s lights out for you.”

“You always were such a sound sleeper.”

* An odd line for Marluxia to make. Could be referring to Sora’s year in the pod that he learned about or DDD, seeing as all the black coats were indeed there at the end

“Fallen to darkness… We can’t allow her near our pure light now. Her presence would only cast a pall over it.”

****With the Rapunzel world there is the obvious similarity to what happened at Castle Oblivion with Namine and that she was too useful/important for Marluxia’s plans to release and was therefore kept imprisoned as a means of making her do what they told her to. 

Marluxia also seems to display that, once again I say, he operates under a very ‘for the greater good’ mindset.

Like I stated earlier, it is unclear if Marluxia himself is/was seeking the “balance” he mentioned. It’s possible, but there are reasons for and against this that come into play later, and by that I mean amnesia. 

-----

“So, why are you back?”

“Xehanort doesn’t care about you or me. To him, we’re nothing but empty husks. The old Organization was the same. Xehanort needs thirteen vessels to hold his essence.”

*This is a biggie, because even though I wouldn’t say it’s perfectly clear-- It’s saying Marluxia knew/knows what the old Organization was planning. This could be a reason for his plan to overthrow Xemnas, but OF COURSE they still didn’t tell us exactly why Marluxia started the rebellion or what his plans/motivations are. Marluxia is woke here. He knows what Xehanort’s plan is, now and then, and he’s telling Larxene for the first time.

ANOTHER THING they didn’t bother to tell us is why the hell Marluxia went along with Xehanort for this entire game.

“Saix brought Vexen on board. They must be planning to use replicas.”

“Vexen’s latest replicas are no mere puppets.. The Riku replica we used in Castle Oblivion was just a prototype. The next replica, the one crafted from Sora’s memories, was real enough to join our ranks.”

*He remembers Xion? Plothole detected?

“And Vexen claims the new ones will be human in every way. If he ever finishes them.”

“Oh… so /now/ it all comes back to me. *Laughs* Yes… My heart is remembering how to feel. And now, I am on the cusp of reclaiming my identity… My purpose for being…”

*********Amnesia confirmed? Marluxia didn’t remember his past (possibly) but at this fading moment, his memories start to come back, thus leading him to “remember how to feel”. He’s so close to remembering who he was and “his purpose for being”. Which is theorized/implied to be resurrecting/finding Strelitzia, his little sister.

Although I say amnesia confirmed, the confusing part about this is that when Xemnas is like, you four have a bigger purpose because of your big secret that you’re all ancient keyblade wielders-- I can’t tell if they’re like ‘How does he know?’ or surprised because WTF is he talking about, ancient keyblade legacy? Marluxia in particular just narrows his eyes. It could be his way of showing suspicion/surprise or it could be because Xemnas just spouted out his secret.

But this directly contradicts the Marluxia Amnesia moment when he’s fading away and says his memories are returning.

(Xemnas claims that the four of them have a special purpose, yet we never hear or see anything about that at all for the rest of the game -___- I guess the Norts were defeated before they could get to it? I wish I knew what their special purpose was supposed to be.)

Curse this series for being so unclear.

“Thanks to you, Sora.”

Marluxia had a real, positive laugh. And a real smile at the end. I never thought I’d see the day. Great moments. Likely overlooked by many, but to me I’m like, wow. Just think about everything about his character up until this point. He’s one of the most emotionless members of all the Org. I joke about him being dead inside or stone cold because of this, but he finally got to feel something when his memories came back to him, remembered feeling.

In the past games it was explained that even though Nobodies don’t have hearts, they have their memories and remember the feelings, but Marluxia with amnesia wouldn’t remember anything, no feelings at all- Couldn’t remember a time he ever felt anger, joy, or sadness.

And upon death he finally got to start remembering some things about his past and felt emotions- And to add tragedy into the mix, is starting to remember his “purpose for being” which has got to be about being Union Leader and Strelitzia’s murder, and his desire to find her and bring her back.

HOWEVER, rather than amnesia, it could be purely that he forgot how to feel specifically rather than forgot all his memories- and even though he remembered his past he didn’t care anymore/feel anything toward it because of the disconnect with his past self as Lauriam/not remembering how to feel.

HOWEVER, against the amnesia theory is that if Marluxia had amnesia, how would he and Larxene remember each other? Larxene is the one who says she was just along for the ride with him, and it seems like they remember their past together. I could be wrong though, maybe she is just referring to their time in the Org. specifically and they got along so well naturally because of their past even though neither remembers. But if Marluxia lost his memory and Larxene didn’t, you’d think she’d fill him in, unless she lost her memories too, which we got no indication of except MAYBE her reaction when Xemnas says they are ancient keyblade wielders. Unclear reactions in that scene, could go either way.

--------

***BIG THING. You can actually miss two cutscenes in the Final World if you don’t investigate every star, and one of them is theorized to be Strelitzia. It is only Namine’s star and this star who get their own cutscenes”

*Nameless star: Strelitzia?

Upon Sora asking if someone’s coming for her/to save her, she says:

“I cannot be certain. His heart’s been changed beyond recognition—his heart replaced with another’s.

“But, were he to regain his old self again, he would be distressed by my absence. So I choose to wait here, where he can find me.”

Sora asks what their name is so he can tell that person where she is if he ever comes across them, so the star floats up to Sora’s ear and whispers a name we cannot hear and says, “Our secret.”

It is thought that she must have said Lauriam if this is indeed Strelitzia, because if she said Marluxia you’d think Sora would FUCKING MENTION IT THE NEXT TIME HE SEES MAR. 

Also, like I said, you can miss this scene entirely (because I did lol as well as the Namine one). Because it’s an optional scene, naturally it isn’t going to be brought up again in the main story, so the thinking here is that she did not say Marluxia because Sora would have said something, therefore she would have had to say Lauriam. Further evidence of this being Strelitzia is that when asked if Heartless or Nobodies did this to her she says no, it was a somebody.

***MY GRIEVANCES:

- Marluxia’s COM actions remain unexplained. We do not know why he did the rebellion or what his motivations were, although now we can say that it is likely he probably knew about the vessel plan during that time.

- Marluxia’s boss fight got totally shafted. I AM glad that Lord of the Castle played, but I still wish the fight had been more MORE. Each of the characters only had like 3-4 moves they did. Marluxia and Larxene’s team attacks were cool though. I realize that this game/saga was about all the actual Xehanorts and BBS trio and yada yada so I knew Marluxia wouldn’t be at the forefront of anything too big or involved or have a big later game boss fight compared to the actual Norts.

- Why. Why. Why???? WHY? Why did Marluxia go along with Xehanort? They NEVER give an answer to this. Larxene does, but we don’t get anything about Marluxia in this game at all. It doesn’t make any sense for Marluxia’s character. Larxene and he even straight up talks about their rebellion and Larx is like want to do it again? Marluxia doesn’t answer because the scene continues on but we never go back to Marluxia after this.

The plot was all wrapped up pretty nicely, and then there’s THIS. 

This is what grinds my gears about Marluxia in KH3 the most. It never made sense why he would go along with being Nort and it still doesn’t make sense why he would. They didn’t even bother to try coming up with a reason.

Solution: It should have been Marluxia and Vexen who teamed up instead of Demyx. I mentioned this in my read more post where I talked about what a legend Vexen is. It would have solved the above problem and been believable, would have had a great dynamic between Marluxia and Vexen because of their past together and Vexen’s hatred, as well as the fact that Vexen himself is now a hypocrite rebel type :P And considering how easy it was for Vexen and Demyx to just leave without any consequences, why the fuck wouldn’t Marluxia?

The game doesn’t supply any answers. Honestly I think Nomura just wanted Marluxia to be be involved in the fight, and that’s the reason for this writing choice. And that’s it. 

The ONLY maybe acceptable reason for why Marluxia went along with it is because Xehanort had too strong an influence over him and he couldn’t. This is supported by Streltizia’s star(?) saying that “His heart’s been changed beyond recognition-- his heart replaced with another’s. But were he to regain his old self again he would be distressed by my absence”  

She’s saying that he’s not himself, and this also further supports the amnesia theory and him not remembering her.

((Reading the Secret Reports. The mystery girl can be either Skuld, Ava, or Strelitzia . I don’t think it’s Strelitzia however for obvious reasons. IE I think she is the Nameless Star/is ‘dead’. Also Xigbar has her apparently because she went with him when Ansem the Wise released her. 

Secret reports also confirm that Young Xehanort appeared to and took Vexen with him in Radiant Garden and that from the very beginning Vexen was planning betrayal/wanted to atone. He did it to gain easier access to his old replica stuff.) Secret reports also reveal that one of the Dandelion Leaders is a fake, a “virus”, IE Blaine 95%, and is attempting to allow the Five of them to escape into another worldline. AKA how Marluxia got to our time most likely. ALSO the report states that the girl remembers four friends and a keyblade. Strelitzia DOESN’T have friends/ has no four friends!

The mystery girl is either Ava or Skuld. Though it seems odd it would be Ava due to what Xigbar said in the epilogue about her not joining them, but I won’t write it off. This means Mystery Girl cannot be the Nameless Star btw because she is alive and was released/is said to be with Xigbar. Could be Skuld due to fact Xigbar says Blaine/Virus planned to send the five Union Leaders into a different world line, so Ventus, Lauriam, and Skuld wound up in ours.

Due to mystery girl (Skuld?) having amnesia and Ventus having amnesia, it makes sense for the Amnesia theory to hold true for Marluxia as well, since they all traveled to the future by the same means AKA something Blaine did.

Also want to point out that Nameless Star floats up and whispers in Sora’s ear like Marluxia does in KH2 data fight, which could be nothing, but it is an interesting similarity.

- THE FUTURE. A new chess board with Seven evil pieces, five being the old union leaders and xigbar (no ava), leaving two open spots. I REALLY HOPE they don’t throw Marluxia into yet another Organization baddie team.

Marluxia, Larx, Lux, and Demyx are almost certainly going to be involved in the next installment, particularly Marluxia as the old Union Leaders are returned and with Xigbar, and mainly the fact that Marluxia still has to bring Strelitzia back.

We’ll see what the future brings (In ten years), but that’s my thinking. The next installment seems heavily based on the MoM and the story/characters of Union X, so I think Marluxia has to be hugely involved because he is the most involved out of the four of them.

Pieces: Unicorn, Goat, Leopard, Snake, Heart with wings, Bear, and what seems to be a Fox(?)

In summary: We didn’t get any solid answers about Marluxia. We did get some small things, but they contradict each other, so it’s all unknown.

((I hope I didn’t forget a point somewhere but if so I will update the post))

[luminarai]

ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE THIZZEE AU !!! (still set in 1979)

let it be known that i spent most of my young teen years completely buried in fantasy and young adult novels of varying quality and this prompt just catapulted me years back in time (also weirdly reminding me that at some point i wrote half a novel about an awkward zombie dude who worked in a bookshop and fell in with a demon (?) with terrible eyesight? idk i forget the details) so i loved this prompt!

one day, i’ll be able to write a prompt about these two with less than 1000 words. but not today. also: the symbols mentioned are old viking sigil runes and magic staves. i had a norse mythology obsession as a child?? i was a weird kid

Dizzee’s going to die. He’s going to die and all he can think is, dad fucking told you so. And yes, intheory, art is worth dying for but in actual-fucking-reality, he’s really notready to die in an abandoned train yard, eaten by zombies.

Before the Virus, he’d watched a lot of zombie films, usually the badlyproduced cheap b-horror kinds, mostly with Ra Ra. He remembers thinking that themost ridiculous, unbelievable part was the fact that the dumb main characterssomehow always almost got caught by the zombies who moved at a near-glacialspeed. Biggest plot hole ever, he’d thought. Who’d be stupid enough to getcaught by zombies?

Turns out the answer to that question is, him, apparently. It also turns out that zombies ravaged by a rampantbrain virus causing necrosis and the unstoppable urge to eat human flesh move alot faster than those b-films had suggested. They’re also a lot scarier. Whatwith actually being real and all that.

Dizzee’s running as fast as his legs can take him, having already thrownaway his bag and all extra ballast possible, and he can still hear the growlingand moaning just a handful of feet behind him, the weird dragging slump-crunch of heavy limbs moving franticallyon gravel. One of the zombies he’d caught a glance of before running had beenmissing half its head, one arm hanging toolow by its side, a single milk-blue eye staring unthinkingly ahead. Dizzeesupposes it’s some sort of karmic irony that the zombie had been wearing a tornpolice uniform. 

But worst of all is the smell. It’s the stench that permeates most ofthe Old Bronx, the sickening reek of rotting flesh. Putrid with decay butsomehow still human and alive. It seemsto billow towards him like a fog, swirling around him like tendrils that tightentheir grip on his throat, forcing their way down his airways and making himgag.

The crumbling tunnel is pitch black around him and his lungs are burningbut Dizzee doesn’t want to die, he refusesto die, torn apart by zombies in No-Man’s Zone, leaving his mom and dad behindwithout ever truly knowing what has happened to him but being able tohorrifically guess at the truth.

That’s the moment that a voice calls, hushed, from a small, hiddenopening in the tunnel wall, “In here!” And it could easily be a trap but, hey,there’s at least a dozen zombies at his heels and Dizzee’s always believed intaking risks.

He grabs the hand offered to him and hurtles through the opening, slamminginto the wall of the small alcove it leads into. His heart is racing but hedoesn’t dare to breathe until the groaning and crunching outside start tosubside and then disappear.

The boy next to him, his saving grace, looks to be about Dizzee’s agebut that’s about where the resemblance ends; broad where Dizzee is lean, he’s builtfor close combat, and his long blonde hair has been swept into a tight braid. He’sa study in opposites – delicate silver jewelry in his ears, intricate andweirdly familiar symbols inked onto the pale skin of his arms, dark stains onhis jeans that Dizzee’s willing to bet have the color of rust in daylight. He’sgot a tight, focused look on his face but his features are soft; the lowlighting makes it impossible to tell but he’s probably got blue or green eyes andthose lips look like they’re a shade of pink that will haunt Dizzee for weeks. Byhis belt hangs an honest-to-god long-shafted war hammer.

Dizzee’s in fucking love.

“We’re lucky that the walkers can’t see for shit in the dark,” the boybreathes and finally looks at Dizzee. His mouth hangs open for a bit, then heblinks. “Uh. You. What are you doing out here?”

Dizzee should probably be more suspicious. This boy may be beautiful andhe may just have saved him, but he’s a complete stranger, and a stranger thathangs out in No-Man’s Zones and calls zombies walkers like he’s one of those rich assholes that escaped toAustralia before the Virus took over most of the country at that.

There’s a lot of things Dizzee should do. Like not go painting in No-Man’sZones. He never claimed to be smart.

“I was painting,” he breathes and then he’s rambling, words all butfalling out of his mouth without his permission. “On one of the old subwaycars, you know the ones that can be seen in the Safe Zone and all the way overto the Rubble Fields. I was going to write, nowis the time to unite the soul and the world, now is the time to see the sunlight.All those people out there, we’ve all lost everything but they deserve to know.They deserve to know that there’s hope even in this wretched place, that aslong as we keep going there will be light again. 

The boy is staring at him as he talks, eyes bright even in the darkness.When Dizzee finally runs out of breath, he says quietly, “You’re Rumi, aren’tyou,” in a way that isn’t a question. Then, “Holy shit. You’re amazing. You’relike the voice of the rebellion, you know? You’re fucking brilliant, man.” 

Dizzee’s been called a lot of things through the years. Weird, daydreamer,an alien – but brilliant? That’s a whole new ball game. “What,” he says. “Wait.You know who I am? Who are you?” 

“I’m nobody,” the boy says and shifts in – embarrassment? Is heblushing? Dizzee feels like he’s been hit by a train. “I just – I make thesesymbols around the city, you know? Like sigils, sort of, or. Yeah.”

Finally, Dizzee sees the bag of spray paint by their feet, quite similarto his own. It’s a rush when he realizes, “Oh my – you’re Thor, aren’t you? Iknew I could recognize those tats.”

Thor he’s – he’s almost an urban legend, of sorts. They all call him a phantombecause he seems to go through walls, travelling through all the zones of thecity, emblazoning runic symbols wherever he goes. They’ve taken on a languageof their own, signals of safe spaces, places to find food and clean water,where to find congregations of Rebels and Fighters. Dizzee doesn’t know howmany times he’s used those symbols to find his way through the city.

Thor smiles, seemingly helplessly, and Dizzee feels lighter than he hasin, well, years, since before they had run from the Bronx, since long beforethe Virus first started spreading through the alleys of the boroughs. He’s theoldest and seeing his siblings growing up scared, seeing his father’s voicegrow quiet through the years and his mother’s hands pale from worrying, was thefirst reason why he started spraying messages of hope on high walls and slantedrooftops around the city. But he hasn’t actually felt much hope until now,staring at this boy with the symbol of the Rebellion tattooed starkly on hisforearm.

Thor seems to shake himself. “We need to get out of here, before thewalkers come back,” he says, glancing out of the alcove. “I can get you back tothe Safe Zones. I know the way.”

Of course he does. Dizzee doesn’t actually swoon like an actress in anold black and white Hollywood film but it’s a close thing. Without eventhinking, he reaches out and grabs Thor’s hand in his, twining their fingerstogether. Both their palms are rough against the other’s but their hands slottogether like two pieces of a puzzle.

Thor swallows audibly and shoots him another one of those helpless, awedsmiles. Dizzee thinks he’ll never grow tired of that smile. There’s already animage of his next piece blooming behind his eyes. “Let’s go,” he says, and Thortugs him back into the tunnel and out into the night air.

[thejollyshiner]

Meme Anime Ask Pt.3 of 4

@stacys--mum asked me to answer 12, 16, and 30.

Due to my past experience of learning to answer these I will answer them in this order

Pt.1 - 12.  Anime that should get more attention from others?

Pt.2 - 16. 10 animes you have watched to recommend? (alphabetically/1-5)

Pt.3 - 16. 10 animes you have watched to recommend? (alphabetically/6-10)

Pt.4 - 30. One anime conclusion you would change?

Also a quick mention to anyone of what not to do when writing an extensive post since this is now my fifth attempt.

1. Always stick with one network or wi-fi when completing these, otherwise when you connect to a new wi-fi theres a good chance of losing everything you wrote.

2. Don’t ever write on a train even if they promise some sort of wi-fi especially on a moving train. Since your computer is just going to run pretty slow to the point of your computer thinking you had decided to send the answer on private, instead of choosing your gif.

3. Always be cautious where you are leaning your body on the overly sensitive touchpad especially when your unaware of it, while enjoying someones company.

4. Don’t ever try to attempt to make a long post and expect your laptop to still run fast. I learned this the hard way being half way done with this ask only for my computer to stay frozen for over two hours. only to give up hope that my computer can work while still answering this ask, so I decided to restart my laptop and loose everything.

Knowing these are all of the things I’ve learned I encourage everyone to not be me lol.

So, fifth times the charm...I guess.

16. 10 anime you have watched to recommend ? ( alphabetically/6-10 )

6. Kill la Kill

Plot: After the murder of her father, Ryuuko Matoi has been wandering the land in search of his killer. Following her only lead—the missing half of his invention, the Scissor Blade—she arrives at the prestigious Honnouji Academy, a high school unlike any other. The academy is ruled by the imposing and cold-hearted student council president Satsuki Kiryuuin alongside her powerful underlings, the Elite Four. In the school's brutally competitive hierarchy, Satsuki bestows upon those at the top special clothes called "Goku Uniforms," which grant the wearer unique superhuman abilities. Thoroughly beaten in a fight against one of the students in uniform, Ryuuko retreats to her razed home where she stumbles across Senketsu, a rare and sentient "Kamui," or God Clothes. After coming into contact with Ryuuko's blood, Senketsu awakens, latching onto her and providing her with immense power. Now, armed with Senketsu and the Scissor Blade, Ryuuko makes a stand against the Elite Four, hoping to reach Satsuki and uncover the culprit behind her father's murder once and for all. 

Background: Kill La Kill’s Toshio Ishizaki won the Tokyo Anime Award for Best Character Design in 2014. The series got another Character Design Award along with a Storyboard Award, Soundtrack Award, Theme Song Award (for Sirius), Mascot Awards (for Senketsu and Guts), Female Character Awards (for Ryuuko Matoi and Mako Mankanshoku), and Series Award for TV Broadcast in the 2014 Newtype Anime Awards.

Kill la Kill is a 2013 anime produced by Studio Trigger. A relatively new studio's first television production wouldn't normally raise too many eyebrows when announced unless said studio happened to be made up of ex-Studio Gainax and Studio 4C members, and the production's director, writer, and lead character designer also worked together on Tengan Toppa Gurren Lagann and a composer who did the music for Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn and Attack on Titan. Kill la Kill was also heavily influenced by the 1980s comedy/battle seinen anime film Project A-ko, which featured almost identical character dynamics and types amongst its main female protagonists, and a similar main conflict. Kill la Kill was originally conceived as a manga focused entirely on battle scenes, but it shifted during production to become more character-focused.

Genres: Action, Comedy, Super Power, Ecchi, School, magical girl

7. Monogatari Series (nothing too specific as I like to view it as one giant story to watch, as I feel at times they’re not the best as stand alones. Especially the ecchi in this series can get horribly cringy at times especially when its not needed whats o ever.)

Plot: The Monogatari series revolves around Koyomi Araragi, a third-year high school student who is almost human again after briefly becoming a vampire. One day, a classmate of his, the reclusive Hitagi Senjōgahara, falls down the stairs into Koyomi's arms. He discovers that Hitagi weighs nothing, in defiance of physics. Despite being threatened by her to keep away, Koyomi offers his help and introduces her to Meme Oshino, a strange middle-aged man living in an abandoned building, who cured him of being a vampire. Once Koyomi helps solve Hitagi's problem, she decides to become his friend.

As the series progresses, Koyomi finds himself involved with other girls, each afflicted by different "oddities", including the ghost of a child called Mayoi Hachikuji; his underclassman Suruga Kanbaru; Nadeko Sengoku, a friend of his sisters; his classmate Tsubasa Hanekawa; and his own younger sisters Karen and Tsukihi. To deal with the spectres, Koyomi relies on guidance from Oshino and, later, from Shinobu, the same vampire who attacked him, now with the appearance of an eight-year-old girl.

Most heroines have an item that symbolises their spectres, such as Hitagi's stapler (the claw of a crab), Mayoi's backpack (the shell of a snail), Suruga's arm (the arm of a monkey), Nadeko's hat and jacket (the head and skin of a snake), and Karen's black and yellow tracksuit (the colors of a bee). Although incorporating elements of fantasy, horror, and action, it primarily focuses on conversations between characters, containing parodies of other series, as well as Nisio Isin’s trademark  wordplay and metahumor.

Background: The Monogatari Series is a series of light novels written by Nisio Isin and illustrated by VOFAN. Much like the rest of Nisio Isin and his work, Bakemonogatari parodies a lot of different anime tropes- most of them center around the harem genre, and poke fun at the various cliches inherent in said genre. Each part of the series focuses on a different girl and the affliction that ails them, each one an examination of a different anime girl stereotype. For example, main girl Hitagi is a Tsundere, Hanekawa is the meganekko, and so on. Araragi himself is an unreliable narrator, so much of his opinion of who these girls are can bleed into their portrayal in the series, making it so that we often learn more about Araragi at the same time we learn about the girls.

Studio Shaft adapted Bakemonogatari into an anime in 2009 under the direction of Akiyuki Shinbo, the man behind the surrealist Sayonara, Zetsubou - Sensei. he adaptation has been a huge success, and the studio has stated they will adapt the entire series ( even as Isin keeps writing more and more ). As noted in the list above, all of the series up to the first half of Owarimonogatari has been adapted to anime in some form, including broadcast series, original net animations, TV specials and theatrical films.

Genres: Avant-Garde, Mystery, Comedy, Supernatural, Romance, Vampire

8. Princess Tutu

Plot: In a fairy tale come to life, the clumsy, sweet, and gentle Ahiru (Japanese for "duck") seems like an unlikely protagonist. In reality, Ahiru is just as magical as the talking cats and crocodiles that inhabit her town—for Ahiru really is a duck! Transformed by the mysterious Drosselmeyer into a human girl, Ahiru soon learns the reason for her existence. Using her magical egg-shaped pendant, Ahiru can transform into Princess Tutu—a beautiful and talented ballet dancer whose dances relieve people of the turmoil in their hearts. With her newfound ability, Ahiru accepts the challenge of collecting the lost shards of her prince's heart, for long ago he had shattered it in order to seal an evil raven away for all eternity. Princess Tutu is a tale of heroes and their struggle against fate. Their beliefs, their feelings, and ultimately their actions will determine whether this fairy tale can reach its "happily ever after."

Background: The series originally aired in summer 2001 with a total of 38 episodes. 

Princess Tutu a magical girl anime series created by Ikoku Itoh in 2002 for animation studio Hal Film Maker. Inspired by ballet and fairy tales, particularly The Ugly Duckling and Swan Lake. Reviewers point out that although Princess Tutu is nominally a magical girl series, it is more of a "fairy tale set to ballet with a few magical girl elements mixed in," and its use of dance in lieu of violence to solve conflicts carries "surprisingly effective emotional appeal."

Genres: Comedy, Fantasy, Magic, Romance, Magical Girl

9. Space Dandy

Plot: The universe is a mysterious and strange place, full of even stranger and more mysterious aliens. Dandy's job is to hunt down unclassified aliens and register them for a reward. It sounds easy enough, but something weird always seems to happen along the way, like chance meetings with zombies, mystical ramen chefs, and adorable orphans. Hunting down aliens may not be easy, but it's definitely never boring. With the help of his sidekicks, the adorable robot vacuum QT and cat-like alien Meow, and his slightly-used ship the Aloha Oe, Dandy roams the galaxy searching for new alien species. What he usually finds, however, is adventure, danger, and romance, and no two journeys (or universes) are ever the same. This is Space☆Dandy, baby!

Background: Space☆Dandy reunites a number of lead production staff members from Cowboy Bebop , including producer Masahiko Minami and director Shinichiro Watanabe. Its production involved as many as 70 animation creators and 20 musical artists as collaborators, with Watanabe insisting that artists could only use pre-1984 musical styles. Although character designer Yoshiyuki Itou is credited as an animation director, his designs were not standardized across the series, allowing for individual animators to express their style.

The show premiered in Winter 2014 with 26 episodes.

Genres: Sci-Fi, Space, Comedy

10. Yuuri on Ice 

Plot: Reeling from his crushing defeat at the Grand Prix Finale, Yuuri Katsuki, once Japan's most promising figure skater, returns to his family home to assess his options for the future. At age 23, Yuuri's window for success in skating is closing rapidly, and his love of pork cutlets and aptitude for gaining weight are not helping either. However, Yuuri finds himself in the spotlight when a video of him performing a routine previously executed by five-time world champion, Victor Nikiforov, suddenly goes viral. In fact, Victor himself abruptly appears at Yuuri's house and offers to be his mentor. As one of his biggest fans, Yuuri eagerly accepts, kicking off his journey to make it back onto the world stage. But the competition is fierce, as the rising star from Russia, Yuri Plisetsky, is relentlessly determined to defeat Yuuri and win back Victor's tutelage.

Background: The series premiered in fall 2016 with 12 episodes.

The anime was produced by MAPPA, directed by Sayo Yamamoto and written by Mitsurō Kubo. Character design was by Tadashi Hiramatsu, and its music was composed by Taro Umebayashi and Taku Matsushiba. The figure skating was choreographed by Kenji Miyamoto,  who also performed routines himself which were recorded and used as skating sound effects. The series premiered on October 6, 2016 and ended on December 22, with a total of 12 episodes. A Yuri on Ice feature film is currently in production.

Released to critical acclaim, Yuri on Ice has been well received in Japan. It won three awards at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival, a Japan Character Award and seven awards in Crunchyroll’s inaugural Anime Awards. In Japan, the series was released in six parts on Blu-Ray and DVD, with all the releases coming No. 1 on the Oricon nimation Blu-Ray disc and Animation DVD disc rankings respectively. It was the second-most successful media franchise in Japan for the first half of 2017. It was popular on social media outlets such as Tumblr, Sina, Weibo, and Twitter, where it received over a million more tweets that the next most-talked about anime series in the season it was broadcast. It also attracted praise from professional figure skaters.

Yuri on Ice has raised discussion concerning its depiction of a same-sex relationship between its protagonists, with some critics praising it for covering homosexuality in a way that differs from most anime and manga. Dealing with homosexuality in a country and sport that has present-day issues with homophobia; others criticized its depiction for being unrealistic and ambiguous. The series has also been praised for its depiction of anxiety.

Genres: Comedy, Sports, Romance

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