#analysers

[sylvrndoodles]

...

[descendant-of-truth]

Shipping is fun and all but I swear every single time someone makes a comment, whether as a joke or in a legitimate analysis, about there being "no other explanation" for a pair's interactions, I lose just a bit more of my sanity

Like, no, you guys don't get it. Romance is not about the Amount of devotion, it's about the COLOR. the FLAVOR of it all. a character can be just as devoted to their platonic friend as they are to their romantic partner, and they don't love either of them more, just differently.

But because the majority of people still have it stuck in their minds that romance exists on the highest tier of love, I'm stuck seeing endless takes that boil down to "these two care about each other too much for it to NOT be romantic" as if that's the core determining factor to how literally any of this works

In conclusion: stop telling me that I don't understand the story if I don't interpret the leads as romantic, I am TIRED

[vadlings]

Represention of Autistic Frustration in Laios Dungeon Meshi

Like many other autistic people, I related strongly to Laios Touden while reading Dungeon Meshi. This post isn't going to spend time disputing whether he displays autistic traits or not—while I could do that, I want to focus on why specifically his portrayal struck a chord with me in a way the writing of most other autistic-coded characters has not.

Disclaimer: as the above suggests, this post is strongly informed by my own experiences as an autistic person, as well as the experiences of my neurodivergent friends with whom I have spoken about this subject. I want to clarify that in no way am I asserting my personal experience to be some Universal Autistic Experience. This post is about why Laios' character feels distinct and significant to me in regard to autistic representation, and while I'm at it, I do feel that I have interesting things to say about autistic representation in media generally. This also got a bit long, so I'm sticking it under a read more. Spoilers for up to the end of chapter 88 below.

The thing that stands out most to me in regard to Laios' characterisation is the open anger he displays when someone points out his inability to read other people. This comes up prominently in his interactions with "Shuro" (Toshiro Nakamoto):

The frustration pictured above (Laios continuing to physically tussle with Toshiro, using crude language toward him) becomes even more notable when you remember that this is Laios, who, outside of these interactions, is not easily fazed and often exists as a lighthearted contrast to the rest of the cast. Then we get to Laios' nightmare.

In Falin's words: "Nightmares love emotional wounds. Wounds you hold in your heart. Things that give you stress, or things that were traumatic for you. They aggravate memories like that and cause the dreamer to have terrible dreams." (chapter 42, page 10.) (damn. i'm properly citing for this post and everything.)

Thus, Laios' nightmare establishes an important fact: even if he is unable to recognise social blunders while he's making them, he's at least subconsciously aware that other people operate on a different wavelength to him, and that he's an outsider in many of his social circles (both past and present). His dream-father's disparaging words stress the impact this has had upon his ability to live up to the expectations set out for him, and we also get a panel of kids who smirk at him (presumably former bullies to some degree). Toshiro's appearance only hammers home how much Laios is still both humiliated and angered by his misunderstanding of their relationship.

I've thought a lot about anger as concomitant to the autistic experience. When autistic representation portrays ostracization, it's generally from an angle of the autistic character being upset at how conforming to neurotypical norms doesn't come easily to them; as a result, they express a desire to 'get better' at meeting neurotypical standards, a desire to become more 'normal' (whether the writing implies this is a good thing or not). In contrast, not once does Laios go, "I need to perform better in my social interactions, and try to care less about monsters, because that's what other people find weird." His frustration is directed outward rather than inward, and as a result, it's the people around him who are framed as nonsensical.

The Winged Lion starts delineating Laios' anger, and Laios' reaction is to think to himself, "It can sense all my thoughts, huh?" (chapter 88, page 16.) This is the scene that really resonated with me. I'm not saying I have never felt the desire to conform to neurotypical norms that is borne from insecurity, but primarily, I know that I don't want to work toward becoming 'normal'—I don't want to change myself for people who follow rules I find nonsensical. It's the difference between, "Oh god, why can't I get it," and, "WHY CAN'T YOU GET IT?" (phrasing here courtesy of my friend Miles @dogwoodbite). And for me personally, Dungeon Meshi is the first time I've seen this frustration and the resultant voluntary isolation from other people portrayed in media so candidly. Laios' anger is not downplayed or written to be easily palatable, either.

The culmination of Laios' frustrations in this scene wherein we learn that Laios has fantasised about "a pack of monsters attacking a village" drives home just how alienated he really feels. I need not go into his wish to become a monster himself, redolent of how many autistic people identify/have identified with non-humans to some degree as a result of a percieved disconnect from society (when I was younger, I wanted to be a robot. I still kind of do.)

Obviously, wishing death upon other people is a weighty thing, but the unfiltered nature of this page is what deeply resonated with me. The Winged Lion is laying Laios' deepest and most transgressive desires bare, and they are desires that are a product of lifelong ostracization by others (whether intentional or unintentional). This is the brand of anger I'm familiar with, and that my neurodivergent friends express being familiar with, but that I haven't seen portrayed in writing so explicitly before—in fact, it surprised me because most well-meaning autistic representation I've experienced veers toward infantilisation in trying make the autistic character's struggles easy for neurotypicals to sympathise with.

Let's also not neglect the symbolism inherent to Laios' daydream. "A pack of monsters attacking a village". Functionally, monsters are Laios' special interest—he percieves everything first and foremost through his passion for monsters. His daydream of monsters attacking—killing—humans, is fundamentally a daydream of the world he understands (monsters) overthrowing the world that is so illogical to him, that has repeatedly shunned him (other people). I joked to my friends that it's an autistic power fantasy, and it actually sort of is. And in it, his identity is aligned with that of the monsters, while his anger manifests in a palpable dissociation from the rest of humanity. This is one manga page. It's brief. It's also very, very raw to me. I think about it often.

To conclude, I love Laios Dungeon Meshi. This portrayal of open frustration in an autistic character meant a lot to me, and I hope I've sufficiently outlined why. Also, feel free to recommend media with autistic representation in the notes if you've read this far—I would really like to see if there is more of this nature. Thank you for reading. I'm very tired and should probably sleep now.

[atrophiedemotion]

feeling kind of sick over the fact that till might've been trying to gift a flower crown to ivan (like all the other kids seem to be doing) and ivan destroyed it because he knew they were cameras. blatant and almost unavoidable miscommunication is the basis of their relationship and this really hammers the nail in.

till giving ivan the flower crown as a sign of affection or friendship, ivan destroying it because he doesn't recognize what it means & is squarely focused on making sure they're not monitored, till being visibily very hurt by it (he looks more hurt/betrayed than angry imo) and retaliating with his usual way of self defense, violence. ivan enjoying till's full attention/physicality during the fight and aiming to get as much as possible because he can't even fathom till wanting him in any other way, even though he was just shown proof otherwise.

[vtkuu]

Alex Hirsch on writing Bill's unreliable narrator perspective:

"I sort of leave it to the reader to try to pick through what is a lie what is true, and more interestingly, what is something that Bill says that's a lie literally, but is a truth metaphorically?

I think sociopaths, cult leaders— they're such narcissists that they often tell on themselves, even when they're trying to pull the wool over your eyes, they can't help it. They'll kind of admit to something they've done, because they sort of want the credit, then they'll create plausible deniability and act like it never happened.

You know, Robert Durst, the rich serial killer lunatic […] he got away with three murders, and he would have gone to his grave with those three murders. But they made a documentary and they said, "can we interview you?" And he's like, "of course you can, you need to hear my side of the story!" Because he's so convinced that he's a genius, he can't help himself. They say that murderers often return to the scene of the crime, well, that's a crazy thing to do. But there's this ego involved. So, a character like Bill is going to deny a hundred things while kind of hiding a confession inside those denials. And that seemed interesting to me to explore."

~ Full interview with the Syosset Public Library here.

[riseriseleo]

do you ever think about how tim really didn't have friends in research.

(from @trans-jon-rights thanks for the pic max <3)

i think tim was hard to talk to. but not hard in the way that he joked too much. no, in the way that he was standoffish and short with people. he had a goal, a drive, and he couldn't let anyone or anything distract him.

(cough buried tim drowning under grief cough desolation tim prepared to burn the world down cough lonely tim who has no one at all and barely had danny before he disappeared cough i could go on)

sasha was the one who drew him out of his shell. who took him out to the bar, to loosen up. she became his single spot of light in the dark cave that he was lost in.

and then jon, who was a little too much like him that it kind of jolted tim out of the headspace. he ate lunch with jon, they helped each other with research, they grew close ish. tim is the only person who knows about georgie.

and then jon got promoted and sasha didn't and he was just a little bitter towards jon. jon is still his friend, so he tried to hide it behind jokes and a smile, because he's gotten back into the mindset of 'humor to cope', but still.

and then sasha is gone and jon is Becoming and danny is—and the circus—

and then nothing, because tim is no more.

[moonsun2010]

16 May - The weird sisters are here!

these are part of an animatic summarising Dracula, which you can watch here (new readers beware; it has spoilers for the entire book!)

[maskerat]

yes, I've watched the video. now this man is my new hyperfixation. expect more art of him soon I suppose.

[lestappenislife]

OLLIE GETTING CALLED BABY/BABYDOLL BY THE FERRARI MECHANICS??!!??!?

HELLO?? THIS NEEDS TO BE TALKED ABOUT BECAUSE WHAT

[seiwas]

thinking about katsuki finding out about that little crush you had on shouto since seeing close-ups of him during the televised sports festival—you were in high school then, too.

he shouldn’t care about it because it doesn’t matter, it was so long ago and shouto’s always been marketed as the pro-hero pretty boy—consistently top 3 most handsome, the front cover of magazines, all that.

this is to be expected, it’s what everyone’s been tempted to react like.

but since finding out, he’s been stewing in… in whatever this bubbling, throbbing feeling in his head means. he’s snappier than normal, face scrunched up more than usual.

and every time he sees shouto he wants to strangle the hell out of him.

[calmlb]

It’s been clear that the Tanizakis aren’t siblings from the very beginning

here’s some evidence now that it’s been confirmed canon…

everyone who’s read irl Tanizaki’s book knew that Junichiro & Naomi weren’t siblings as soon as they introduced themselves

BUT just because the Tanizakis aren’t siblings doesn’t mean you can’t feel uncomfortable about them. if you feel uncomfortable, GOOD. that’s exactly what they want

the Tanizakis, Mori— they all use these disturbing ruses to disarm or distract people in order to protect themselves, or to accomplish their goals. this is a writing device that asagiri commonly employs as a way to parallel the irl literature (it’s actually ingenious)

there are 4 main indicators that have always made it clear to me that Junichiro & Naomi are not siblings:

1. most obviously— their character designs. Harukawa is extremely intentional with character designs, & she very intentionally made Naomi & Junichiro look nothing alike

their eye shapes are purposely different

their color palettes are contrasting

even their differing styles of clothing have meaning

this was all done so that the audience could PLAINLY see that they’re not related— so that WE know that they’re lying when they say they ARE related

2. how the people around them respond to their act.

the general reaction is “don’t question it”— which is exactly what they want. “be distracted by how uncomfortable you feel so that you look away from what we’re hiding” (this is likely a protective measure)

3. most importantly, this is meant to parallel irl Tanizaki’s book “Naomi,” where the main character Joji picks up Naomi to raise her into his ideal woman, but since she's so young (& a minor) they call each other cousins (Joji makes no sexual advances on young Naomi btw)

however, his plan backfires because when Naomi gets older & they get married, she flips the script on him & manipulates HIM so that he's under her thumb (which is why bsd Tanizaki is at a domineering Naomi's mercy). Joji let her have her way because of his masochistic tendencies

4. lastly is the emphasis that Asagiri and the Tanizakis themselves put on calling each other siblings.

over & over, it’s “my brother this” & “my sister that”

like they’re desperately trying to convince us that it’s true (“don’t let your lying eyes deceive you”)

here are just a few of many examples from the light novels…

again, if you’ve read “Naomi” you knew that Junichiro & Naomi weren’t siblings as soon as they introduced themselves

just like if you’ve read irl Mori’s works, it’s clear that bsd Mori isn’t a pedophile

just like if you’ve read No Longer Human you know that Dazai’s an unreliable narrator. he makes you think he’s a bad person bc he believes he’s a bad person, but those around him see him differently (btw this doesn’t mean he’s never done anything “bad,” though bsd isn’t about morality— but that’s another discussion)

anyway, i’m so excited for the Tanizakis backstory to be revealed so that we can better understand why they use this defense!!

also let this be a reminder to READ THE LITERATURE if you’re able to!! even reading synopses & analyses of the coordinating books makes bsd make much more sense 🥹

reminder that this how you’re supposed to react while reading bsd:

also, if you’re interested in a post explaining how Mori isn’t a pedo, i wrote this analysis on twt. OR you can read this document that one of my moots sent me (remember: analyzing a character does NOT mean you condone any actions they may or may not commit!)

[atrophiedemotion]

i love the differences in their heart eyes.

mizisua have large, matching hearts with the whites of the heart being large as well.

hyuna and ivan both have smaller hearts, but the white in hyuna’s is properly shaped like a heart and it corresponds to the sizing of mizi & sua’s. on the other hand, ivan doesn’t have a white heart at all, but a small white dot.

luka and till don’t have heart eyes at all, which is soo interesting.

also just wanted to point out ivan and luka literally guarding themselves from the heart arrows, ivan seemingly unsuccessfully (since the arrow points towards him unlike luka). imo it’s almost certainly something to do with their emotional unavailability & attempts to tamp down their feelings. (till, on the other hand, seems to only clutch his heart after he was already affected. he feels his emotions fully but still tries to repress them)

[goreybaby]

so tired of engaging with fandoms recently, it's just not fun anymore. rlly sick of hearing shit like "if u like them, you must condone their actions!!1!1" and people adopting a mob mentality and attacking you for showing a fictional character an ounce of admiration or perhaps even neutrality. what happened to people minding their own business, or if they really need to discuss it, to do so respectively and without hurling death threats at the other party?? has it ever been that serious?

[arcanegifs]

rewatch the show yall. it gets even better if you do.

[buttercupshands]

can you even call it a warm up if I'm going to bed without drawing anything big

and a sketch I made while sitting in the park today