#analysis??? meta???????

[frecklenog]

there’s something about how most new worlds were born of wishes (“i wish the lich never existed” resulting in farmworld and things like “i wish simon never put on the crown” or “i wish finn and jake would never get old and die” being possible wishes for babyworld and vampworld respectively) and simon and betty playing out a little what-if of what it might’ve been like to go to australia together and the futility of it. will happen. could happen. did happen. didn’t.

there’s something about fionna and cake’s world in turn being born of a wish just to be. to live and to see life through. something about the vast and insignificant miracle that is the human experience. (“you’re going to be something extraordinary — you’re going to be a human being.” “you are an experience. make sure it’s a good experience.” “you were a wonderful experience.” “i think i was born to hang out. and love a lot.”)

there’s something about shermy and beth technically still coming down the pike from miles away. (will happen.) about all these stories that started so long ago still being told, still being happy in the end, still being worth telling even if you already know how all the songs go. (happening.) about how at the end of the day the past is immutable. you can never cross the same river twice and you never go home. you’ll never grow past this pain if you don’t let go. (happened. “it seems unforgiving when a good thing ends,”) about how simon thought golbetty was going to swallow him and free him of his anguish over her but instead she sent him tumbling back into his own world, into a life rich with love and laughter that makes his agonies worth it. (will happen. “you and i will always be best friends.”)

[h3artw0rms]

So the gift Powder received from Ekko was a necklace with a blue peony.

And you know me from my Vi and Caitlyn post so of course I'll look up what the flower language of that means and it's the following:

And if you look closely, you can see the profile faces of Ekko and Powder in between the petals

In this reality, the two can't be together, as he wasn't HER Ekko. But Powder still means the world to him.

[helly-ena]

ether as severance + “the courtship of kier and imogene” (relationship parallels)

(just so we’re clear, while the kier-imogene dynamic is clearly paralleled with helena and mark, it is also reiterated in cobel and mark, dr mauer and gemma, and even burt and irving to some extent; season 2 has also made it a point to show us that helena and cobel are both victims in their own ways while being perpetrators. it is not a black and white situation and misogyny will get you blocked.)

original threads: (x), (x)

[neo--queen--serenity]

I need to stress how important it is that Jinx made that prosthetic arm for Sevika.

Jinx, for as long as the audience has known her, has only ever made inventions for her own personal use. She designs them in a way that is specific to her whims and interests, which gives the overall impression that no one should be using her creations without instructions. And they're made to suit her fighting style, which is why we don't see anyone close to her, like Silco, using them.

That prosthetic arm she designed for Sevika is quite possibly the first invention she's made that is purely and entirely for someone else to use. Jinx saw how Sevika mourned Silco, saw that her unrelenting loyalty for him still held layers of resentment and rage, but that she still grieved him anyway.

It's not coincidence that immediately after this encounter (during which she saw Sevika struggle to repair her old mechanical arm), Jinx creates this prosthetic for her, pouring all her creative innovation into it. She deliberately designs it as a gift in every sense of the word, wrapping it neatly into a bow like a present, for a woman who may or may not even be her ally anymore.

And the second Sevika puts it on, we see Jinx's trademark eccentricity, her wild colors, her manic machinations whirring to life. It's a sparkling, visual reminder of Jinx's affection on her body, a physical manifestation of her desire for Sevika to live and succeed. She gave the arm tricks, weapons, instruments of brutality--things we expect to see from her--but also music and fireworks, features that serve no purpose in combat other than making her smile.

We have never seen this from Jinx before, never seen her do something like this for someone else. When Sevika asks why Jinx made it for her, knowing the novelty for what it was, she'd simply responded with, "It was something I could fix."

It's no surprise that Sevika continues to protect Jinx aftewards. Whether Jinx was consciously aware of it or not, she had been openly declaring, "this is my ally; attack her and face my wrath."

[artbyblastweave]

I'm not the first to mention this, but one bit that I thought was really clever in Steven Universe is the ways in which the show subtly justifies the cartoonism of the principle cast always wearing the same outfit for ease-of-animation purposes. The gems are a gimme in that they're all hardlight-projections, and even before that's solidified as a plot point they're otherworldly and superheroic enough that you don't really think to question it. But Steven canonically just owns hundreds and hundreds of those star shirts, which are leftover merchandise from his father's fizzled-out career as a rock star. Into which you can read a whole bunch of other stuff if you really want to, right? And I do want to. It's reflective of Greg's misplaced optimism that he got hundreds of those made in the first place, and it's a benign but visible example of how Steven's life is shaped by the knock-on effects of decisions his parents made before he was even alive. He's got his mother's superpowers and he's wearing his father's shirts.

[silvermoon424]

First of all, WOOHOO a tweet about Sailor Moon got almost 200k likes!

Secondly, YES this is an aspect of Sailor Moon that I've always loved but hesitated to voice just because I don't want to be mistaken for a creep, lol. Both the anime and manga/Crystal reboot utilize nudity not only in an artistic sense, but as a way to represent a character being stripped down to their truest self, the essence of their very soul.

In fact, in the manga, characters in dreams, visions, or in the space between life and death (among other situations) are shown to be entirely naked or are depicted with clothes that seamlessly blend into their bodies.

And of course, the finale of the final arc has Usagi saving the day not through a last-minute power-up form, but by stripping down to her purest, truest self:

Sailor Moon has so many great examples of non-sexual artistic nudity and I hate when people are too immature to see what Naoko Takeuchi was going for.

I also love how, at the same time, Naoko doesn't portray sexuality/sex as something dirty and impure. I've said this before, but in the manga Usagi is heavily implied to be sexually active with Mamoru (in fact, it's outright stated that she's already pregnant with Chibiusa on their wedding day), but in no way does that diminish her role as the purest being in the universe and the star that shines the brightest.

I will keep screaming this into the void forever: Naoko Takeuchi and Sailor Moon really were ahead of their time, and that's why the series still resonates with so many people today.

[the-crooked-library]

one thing that i really enjoy about milchick is the consistency of his characterization. like, yeah, the "you must eradicate from yourself childish folly, you must abandon childish things" scene was stunning - but its impact would never have amounted to the same level if the show hadn't demonstrated already that he is a playful, fun-loving person.

yeah yeah evil middle management whatever milchick is constantly trying to insert Fun into the process, and while it's mostly corporate manipulation, corporate crucially does not approve of it. he is really putting too much effort into things. he dances during the Music/Dance Experience. sets up a scavenger hunt during the ORTBO when it could've been a powerpoint. the entire concept of an ORTBO actually. the bonfire. he reads out loud and does the voices. none of it ever goes well (what with the biting and the carrot penis etc) but he doesn't stop, even despite the negative feedback from the Board. he wants to be playful and childish so bad but he can't, and he keeps trying to provide that to the innies because he clearly wishes someone would do that for him, but they hate it, they don't appreciate it, and he takes it sooooo personally it's stupid

i want to set him loose in an arcade or something. with an escape room and a jungle gym. he would be in there for hours frolicking like a baby goat but nooo he has to go be evil. it's a 9 to 5. well, a 9 to 5:45 (they stagger the exits). and sometimes 9 to 2am. and then again to 9, because that's how it is, isn't it?.. nobody ever leaves.

[bluemoonscape]

Hunger is obviously a major theme in Hannibal—it’s literally the cannibal show—but the difference in how that’s portrayed with Hannigram is intriguing.

Hannibal was starving for connection before he had Will, and then everything changed for him. As Bedelia tells Will, “Did he daily feel a stab of hunger, and find nourishment at the very sight of you? Yes.” Hannibal’s hunger is sated by so much as the sight of Will. A mere look at him is enough to satisfy him.

But Will is different. Rather than being sated by his connection with Hannibal, it is the very thing that makes him hungry. There’s a frame in the Italy chapter that makes it look like he’s trapped in a starvation cage. In the script for his sailing scene, he’s literally described to look hungry:

Both Hannibal and Will have a possessive, obsessive, all-consuming love for one another, but it affects them quite differently. Hannibal is nourished by the very sight of Will, but for Will, no amount of the profound attention he experiences from Hannibal can fully sate his hunger—it’s a high he can’t help but chase. It fuels his pathological need to return to Hannibal again and again, no matter how self-destructive it is. I think this is why Will is more outwardly possessive of Hannibal than Hannibal is of Will. Hannibal wants Will to be his; Will wants Hannibal to be no one else’s. Both forms of possession, but Will’s is more jealous because of the way he experiences Hannibal’s attention. It’s a high, it’s a hunger—it’s a need, not a want.

[alicentsgf]

some people are dodging the point so hard. like yes shaunas the "bad guy", shes the one who wants people dead (and maybe lottie too ig) but this story has always been about why its even possible for that to matter. shes literally just one person so why dont they all just refuse to participate? nat does, repeatedly, but no one stands with her so lottie and shauna get what they want. we saw that shauna literally backed down when tai stood up to her, she isnt some unstoppable force.

this is and has always been about passive violence. how being silent in the face of violence, not actively standing up and saying "No" is complicity. tai and van rigging the cards so it will be the "outsider" who gets hunted is complicity. it is commentary on how we allow "fringe" members of our communities to be cast out, othered, hunted, because we're too afraid for ourselves to stand in solidarity with them. but then in the end when the violence comes for you or your friend or your family theres no one left to stand with you because you abandoned those "others" who could have stood with you. shauna and lottie only have the power that the girls give them by being passively complicit in a similar way to how shauna was complicit in tai's plan for allie in the pilot. and so it goes again and again. they all ostracised jackie, watched javi drown, let shauna intimidate and lottie lead them to vote against ben. this show is literally inspired by twin peaks, a story in which an entire town is found to be complict in the murder of a girl they all snubbed every possible opportunity to save. the point is not that shauna is the villian but rather that she is only able to hurt people because the others have created an environment that indulges her worst impulses.

[patchouii]

Sometimes I watch the show and try to think of Hannibal’s perspective and it’s a total trip. Like. Imagine you’ve been able to control and pick and choose your emotions and reactions your whole life, due to being somehow psychopath-adjacent. And the only time you couldn’t was when you were little with your baby sister, and it’s probable that as your brain matured, the possibility of feeling and forming connections like that dried up entirely. You read the psychiatric journals, and occasionally there’s something about a man who can connect with others so deeply he can become an echo of them. And then you meet this man, and he mocks your comment about eye contact while holding yours.

An understanding passes between both of you that you have hidden depths. Instead of killing him, you bring him breakfast, and make him dinner, and serve him drinks. Instead of being able to toy with his mind without a care, you think of him and your chest clenches, and your gut swoops, and his face and voice and his rude little barbs invade your mind like glittering parasites that you can’t remove. These feelings are alien, and they’re also yours. You know, deep down, why you’re letting him live, why you stare after him, why you toe the line of risking it all for him. But you don’t want to face it. It’s terrifying, this horizon of who you are and can be that looms before you with no choice of your own.

Framing him presents a convenient opportunity for ridding yourself of this thing he brings on in you, this total lack of control, this fever-dream surrender that breaches the walls of your mind and the tics and tells of your body so effortlessly— but you miss him. You don’t miss anyone, and the one person you do is more of an imago that never was able to grow into her own real person. But the you you’ve helplessly become certainly does. You’ve become an addict. You cannot let him rot when his presence gave your monochrome world color, you can’t quit the drug you’ve always shunned. This is all a devil’s bargain, certainly, but you’ve already damned yourself, and all that’s left to do is plunge further. Oh and by the way. The infuriating man in question looks like this:

Like okay then, good luck not having the crashout of the century 😭

[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

[cosmically-incompatible]

Gojo Satoru visiting Kugisaki nobara while she is in coma, sitting next to her, and talking to her. Gojo Satoru swapping souls with Yuta okkotsu, teaching him everything he knows about his cursed technique. Gojo Satoru hiding Sukuna's last finger to indefinitely postpone Yuji's execution. Gojo Satoru who bore the burden of being a monster, killed all the higher ups alone because he refused to let his students watch such gruesome sights. Gojo Satoru who believed he would win right til the end. Gojo Satoru who died knowing his students had got it from there, that they would be able to save Fushiguro Megumi. Gojo Satoru who let his body be used as puppet after his death. Gojo Satoru who died knowing all his students would be saved.

[aroaceleovaldez]

i have suddenly become obsessed with a theme that HoO established but never proceeded to extrapolate on, which is:

You are Percy Jackson, and you have been swapped with a boy who was allegedly everyone's favorite person, but they have decided to replace him with you. They just met you. You stand next to his best friend and the people he's known his entire life. In his home. In his cloak. In his place. They stopped looking for him.

You are Jason Grace, and you have just found out you have a long lost sister who completely replaced you in her life with this girl you just met. Your lives and personalities are mirrors. She is you, living the life you were robbed of.

You are Annabeth Chase, and you have just become starkly aware that you have been inhabiting the void left behind by your best friend's long lost brother. You and Luke were just replacements for him. Now you have to look him in the eyes when he has nothing and know you took that life from him.

You are Piper McLean, and you have just found out your relationship is fake and built entirely on the memories of Annabeth Chase. You have been given a boyfriend when hers has been taken away. You have no idea how much of it is real or not but regardless you feel like if your relationship isn't exactly in their image that you have failed.

You are Leo Valdez, and you have just learned that you are the echo of your great-grandfather. You are not your own person. You just exist to be a mirror of him. A doppelganger. An actor and stunt double facing all the danger he never had to but wearing his face. To be there for his best friend decades later simply because he couldn't. You are playing a role. A seventh wheel and a pawn for a goddess who carefully sculpted your entire life for her own purposes.

You are Hazel Levesque, and the only reason you are alive is because your brother couldn't save your his sister. You are a consolation prize. An apology. Your existence here is misplaced in every way but you inhabit it anyways.

You are Frank Zhang, and you are a shapeshifter. Inhabiting your own body feels strange and clumsy when you could be literally anything at any time. You are anything and everything and live your life with the simple certainty of knowing exactly how you will die.

[helly-ena]

aggregation of several threads w/ similar observations

[neo--queen--serenity]

There’s just something extremely touching about watching Izutsumi work through a wide range of emotions when she sees Marcille cry for the first time.

She’s sleeping on Marcille’s lap when it happens—something she hadn’t willingly done since her human consciousness was subdued in the Golden Country.

Izutsumi was initially very embarrassed when she remembered showing Marcille such unbridled affection when her monster (cat) side had full control in Melini. But now, shortly after, she did it again without any fuss, seemingly over this embarrassment.

But when she notices Marcille crying—not crying expressive tears over a situation with low stakes, but tears of real sorrow and loss—Izutsumi physically recoils.

She reacts with the childlike fear and panic that one feels when someone they heavily rely on and trust (like a parent or teacher) shows vulnerability, doubt, or weakness. She lashes out, trying to use words of reproach to get Marcille to stop crying. Or, in childlike terms, to try to force Marcille’s pain go away.

When that doesn’t work, we see her physically struggle as she tries to sit by and wait it out. But Izutsumi can’t do it.

Marcille’s pain causes her so much intense distress that Izutsumi immediately offers physical affection as a response—something she has not done for anyone up to this point.

When Senshi told the party about his traumatic backstory, Izutsumi did not touch him. She did support him, tried to offer words of comfort, but she did not embrace him like the others did. Maybe she didn’t know how; maybe she didn’t have a proper example on what comforting someone looked like. But she saw all three of them reach for Senshi, she saw them hold him in their arms, and anchor him as he cried.

This is the first time another party member has cried out of sadness since that moment. It’s possible that she saw how the others helped Senshi, and maybe, subconsciously, she saw that it worked. That it made him feel better.

She is clearly unused to it, and has her own rollercoaster of emotions as Marcille gratefully accepts the comfort Izutsumi is offering her. But it helps. It helps Marcille immediately, and Izutsumi knows this.

These acts of vulnerability are foreign to her, and thus make her feel uncomfortable, but she lets Marcille lean on her afterwards anyway. She wanted Marcille to be okay, wanted it so badly, that she accidentally overcame an emotional obstacle she never even knew she had.