#and as always because it's me they're all ~symbolic~ of her character journey lmao

[bxtgrl]

aya lavellan + armor evolution in dragon age: inquisition

[youuuimeanmee]

My SNK 139 Thoughts: Mikasa and Eren

This is my 2nd post about it. The first one is here.

First off, I wanna say something. What Mikasa sees in ch 138 is not her delusion/hallucination. It is not an alternate timeline either

It's Eren's planted memory. Or Eren's message, whatever you call it. Just like Armin's.

I mean, if Eren could talk to Armin while showing him lava, glacier and sea, why not a peaceful house in the forest with Mikasa? It answers how she was able to figure out Eren's location; because he told her so.

Funny how I used to not ship Eremika because Eren's gestures have always been too subtle, but now I'm kinda shipping it? Kinda amazes me how some of Eremika's analyses are actually right. I feel like I did him dirty when I said his decision to live with her is similar to Armin's wish to sleep 2 days straight; it's not that shallow at all. I remember a post where it says Eren will fucking elope with her if she just said so, and I just laughed at that. Now that his feeling is confirmed, I laugh at how unironic it was.

But, my God. Did Eren really use the last minutes of his life playing house with her, while trying not to hint anything that he loves her back??? I mean, look.

He's desperate to act like a good husband ffs, it's just sad. He also begs Mikasa to forget about him and live a happy life, yet, he still doesn't have the heart to tell her she should move on with another man.

Ahhh tragedy at its finest. I love it so much.

People tend to bring out their true nature when they're close to their death. Eren is no exception when he's with Armin. But with Mikasa, he loves her too much that he keeps pretending. Until the end, Eren did not apologize for saying that he hated her. Until the end, he's trying to make it easier for Mikasa to let him go. I'm kinda salty about that (girl deserves to know how much he loves her), but hey, at least Mikasa seemed to understand him anyway.

I'm not too mad when Mikasa decided to separate herself from the others? I agree it seems like she's not being able to let go of Eren, but in the first place, her decision to join the SC was only to protect him?

And her decision to stop Eren is because she wanted him to not add any more sins than he already has; she wants to be there with him.

To put it nicely, she is consistent. To put it badly, she's undeveloped. But I think she is developed enough for being able to separate from Eren and chose Armin's side to protect the world; she's developed enough to choose her future path for herself. I remember Isayama's interview from 2016; it's what makes me able to let go of my disappointment over her character.

"Mikasa’s growth probably involves separation from Eren. By separation, I mean she might be able to return to that ordinary girl that she used to be in childhood. I read some interesting thoughts from readers on the internet. People would say male mangaka have a tendency to reject the notion of “fate.“ On the contrary, female mangaka draw works that approve “fate.” You meet your Mr./Ms. Right, you say “This is fate!”, and you accept that the trajectory of your life is already predestined. People who interfere with that and seem to affect your serene life are portrayed as villains. Of course, I am not speaking of all mangaka, but with my mentality as a male mangaka, I think it is pitiful if Mikasa’s life is only about staying together with Eren. However to Mikasa, it is a wonderful thing to be with Eren forever. Combining what I’ve said, if I were to draw the separation of Eren and Mikasa, I feel like my portrayal likely won’t be satisfactory for readers, because Mikasa would have to endure the strain of being stuck between Eren and Armin. Even though she can sympathize with Armin, who considers things from a “globalism” perspective, it’s possible that she can’t just let the more self-focused Eren go."

So, this is what Isayama came up with: the middle ground. Mikasa is able to break free from the strain of choosing between Eren and Armin's side; by protecting the world, stopping Eren, while also staying close by his side. She couldn't join Historia and the Jeagerist because their ideal doesn't match with her. She couldn't become Paradis' ambassador like Armin and the rest either, because they're supposed to be the faction that doesn't condone Eren's action. So this is what she chose: Retire, and live in peace.

I would like to think that Mikasa does return to her little girl self. I want to believe that she's not living in complete solitude. She's moving on with her life, she just happens to be in that grave because she wants to inform Eren that his friends will be back from overseas soon.

But for real, BirdEren wrapping the scarf around Mikasa's neck is borderline beautiful and hilarious. I don't know how I feel about this 😂

I know it's meant to be a symbol of Eren fulfilling his promise, but I hope Mikasa's future love interest doesn't get attacked by hordes of birds lmao. I hope this is Eren's final message that it's okay for her to move on with another man, because now he knows she will always love him no matter what.

Aside from that last 2 pages, I'm satisfied with Mikasa's journey.

[izacore]

Can't some of you calm down for a sec lmao like i also want alur endgame but idk you guys treat Arthur as a cheater when he did nothing wrong so far. Noée thinks he's cute? So what, she has taste but it doesnt mean she's a homewrecker, at this point some people will always whinning everytime we see them together even though it's important for his journey. Istg everyone hates romantic relationship dramas but they're the one who turn everthing into it smh

sighs, hiii! let me maybe explain where we all are coming from can i? let’s start with the fact, that before we even knew noée had a crush on arthur there were people screaming at us, people dreading it, that it’s so not going to happen, we’re seeing things and they’ll take different direction. and then it happened and now people are still saying we’re having delusions. every scene arthur had with noée had romantic implications:

the first time arthur sees noée he couldn’t have known she’s deaf, it was just a male gaze underwater, he couldn’t have connected with her as a person going through the same thing as him cause he had no idea about it. and they added that piano music and made the scene in general look like they were introducing a new love interest

the second time it’s that damn piano music again

he goes after her and looks like he dances with her, the way camera focuses on noée makes it look like they wanted to present her as this fascinating person (which she is), that arthur is drawn to

then they meet and it’s a literal meet cute, i didn’t get any romantic vibes from that scene tho and lost my alertness because then...

we get that scene with her and camille where they basically confirm she’s got a crush on him, it can’t be interpreted any other way and if you don’t see it you’re lying to yourself

later that day she uploads this photo on insta

and if it only was all of the above that made me nervous there’s also the thing with parallels to elu:

noée appearing only on wednesdays and then one time on thursday with arthur following her just like eliott used to appear only fridays and then one time in the middle of the week when lucas followed him

that damn 20:27, there were literally countless of different times to choose from

lucas leaving cafeteria in ep6/arthur leaving the swimming pool

the damn pool/water itself being symbolic for evaks

piano music

arthur checking ajsf’s site just like lucas was checking the site with eliott’s polaris, and don’t even get me started on that playful/flirty undertones in their messages

look, i just don’t want this okay? but we’ve had enough signs that are just making us nervous. after the clip we got today i admit i feel like something really bad would have to happen between arthur and alexia for them to break up or one of them would have to fuck up big time cause there’s no way arthur could go after noée seeing how he only got eyes for alexia :’) that would just be not believable. and yet i’m wary. cause they spent so much time building up those romantic implications, confirming that, for now, one sided crush that it all is just making me nervous. cause let’s say arthur is not going to feel anything romantic towards noée then why did they even focus on all that? the only explanation now that i can find is that they will give noée that homewrecker role, which could be backed up even by that promo pic with alexia on arthur knees and noée looking not amused... and i don’t want this cause still - it’ll be just adding unnecessary mess, making noée a kind of black character when i want to only give her love 😭 even if nothing will come out of it and arthur and alexia are end game - still unnecessary.

 i really hope we are all just being played by david and niels and they have so much fun watching us lose our shit over this cause i know they would and i’d love being trolled but we’ll see. for now it’s making me nervous and even though i’m loving this season so much and it may really become my fave this one possible storyline just stops me from enjoying it fully. oh and on a side note - isn’t it the very purpose of the skam format? to watch everything live, discuss and freak out cause we don’t know how the story will unfold? i think so :) imagine how satisfying it’ll be to look at the season as a whole after it has ended and find how it all comes together then that now we’re seeing differently.

[amrita-gsk]

Okay, okay, so I watched Fade to Black the other day and I kept thinking "Wow, that one IchiRuki blog I followed recently was righter than rain. They're gott damn fools in love." And then I watched Hell Verse and I'm like, "He went back into Hell for her (and Renji n Uryuu, but the focus was on Rukia so like, whatever, right?). He's a gott damn fool in love." It's so obvious that's is nearly painful, lmao

Sorry for the super late reply but I hadn’t checked my asks, I’M REALLY SORRY!!! But never late than never, right? 

You are most certainly right, it’s physically painful to watch just how obvious their relationship is and even though the movies aren’t considered canon (although FtB is half canon due to how much Kubo invested himself on it) it does leave you thinking just why Pierrot always made so much emphasis on them. People like to argue and say it was because Rukia is the co-protagonist and that’s why she is shown to have so much importance to Ichigo, but in my opinion they could have highlighted Rukia‘s general relevance to the series without it holding such a sentimental value for him… however I can’t say they came up with it out of nowhere because they only took what already existed in the manga, deepened it and centered around it to make a whole movie out of it. Also, what was said by Kubo, Masakazu Morita and Fumiko Orikasa during the promotion campaign for the movie raised a lot the expectations regarding the nature of their relationship, I’ll quote some:

INCLUDED IN THE FADE TO BLACK MOVIE GUIDE

(Morita and Orikasa were interviewed regarding their experience while working in the movie. I shall refer to the interviewer as Q… for question, yes, I’m that simple. There were also some titles for some questions, which I will keep along the questions. )

Q: What were your thoughts when you first heard the third movie will be a story centering around Ichigo and Rukia?

Moritan: Compared to the first two movies, when I read the scenario I felt that it was a very strong story. I thought that it was a story that would revolutionize the “origin” of Bleach, with the meeting of Ichigo and Rukia as its main focus.

Oririn: I was surprised by the catchphrase “sayonara Rukia”. Director Abe told me that “something is going to happen to Rukia” so I felt insecure (laugh). But then I saw that the scene from the first episode was going to be in the movie and understood that because the TV animation of Bleach exists, this movie was able to exist as well. It is because of this that I think this movie may reach deep into the hearts of the people that has supported us up until now.

Q: To convey things that can’t be seen… Parting from this theme, what does this movie strongly aims to express? 

Oririn: The movie tries to show something that can’t simply be seen with your eyes. I think that if I were to put it in words, I’d call it “bond”, but even then something deep inside our hearts might disagree. I feel the movie theme is so delicate that it cannot be explained just by words.Moritan: Because we’re practically done with recording this third movie, I feel very strongly about the “bond” there is with Rukia and beyond that, the connection between their souls. We reenacted Ichigo and Rukia’s meeting in the first episode from four years ago. Since then, through all of our journey and until now, as Ichigo and as myself as well, there were a lot of times when we came to become used to our mutual relationship. Then, a shocking meeting was drawn again and Ichigo as well as myself, were reminded of how important Rukia’s existence is. We were able to question it again. I think this series is becoming like that.

Oririn: I know that Ichigo cared about Rukia but I never thought it was something this deep, so it was a bit unexpected. Right now it seems appropriate to call it “history” because thanks to the things of the past we are able to have today, which is connecting to the future. I feel very strongly that Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship isn’t something that was built in the blink of an eye but rather it’s something that’s still being built up.

Q: It’s quite complicated, isn’t it?

Moritan: For me, I feel that the theme this time, “bond”, shows that the connection between souls is thicker than blood, but if I were to say that’s everything there’s to it then it would feel wrong and that won’t do. The first movie theme was “protect”, the second was “believe” and I took those words inside and buried them deep within me while performing. But this time it wasn’t enough to just use the word “bond”. Even if you were to say “I really love you” to your loved one, you still wouldn’t be able to tell them how much you really love them. My feelings are exactly like that right now. But even if “bond” couldn’t describe it, saying “super bond” sounds weird (laugh).

Q: Let’s pick up on what Orikasa-san said.

Moritan: There are a lot of things packed inside that emotion. And inside of it, choosing just one won’t show you the way. I wish to leave it to everyone’s own impression to see and feel just how deep that feeling is.

Oririn: That’s right, we’ll leave it to every fan that watches the movie, to decide with their own thoughts and feelings if the story is really that deep or not.

Q: Is Ichigo and Rukia’s confrontation an important point?

Oririn: It’s their first confrontation, but this time Rukia isn’t herself and doesn’t have any memories so I just went along with it without giving it much thought.

Moritan: It was difficult for me. Ichigo could never attack Rukia, you know. So it was really hard to fight her. It was very hard for Ichigo to see Rukia’s altered form.

The Recording Process

Q: How was the recording?

Moritan: Back when we did the first movie it was also our first time so we got really worked up about it, but because this is the third time, the recording became stylish and refined without any meaningless acts. The whole recording was made so it could be observed from behind, so we could concentrate only in performing and it was very fun. I was able to perform Ichigo’s core essence without any distracting thoughts. However it was my first time having to shout “Rukia!” so much.

Oririn: I’m usually the one that keeps calling “Ichigo!”, right? (laugh)

Moritan: I actually discovered a new way to perform and wistfully cry out “Rukia”.

Q: Speaking of performance, we heard that Ichigo’s voice is being renewed?

Moritan: That’s right. I changed my voice this time. It’s the fifth year and the third movie after all (laugh).

Oririn: Is that so? (laugh)

Moritan: Actually, Ichigo’s voice has changed numerous times up until now. I think you’ll notice that his current voice is really different if you watch the first episode again. I’m leaving behind my turning point and letting Ichigo grow. The Ichigo of this moment is like going back to the first Ichigo as I performed raising my voice a bit. What’s more, I usually talk monotonously and as if I was uninterested but this time I attempted to more or less give more intonation to it so the words themselves would express on their own. Actually, and I’m not trying to show off, but when I was practicing at home this voice for Ichigo was naturally born. When I stopped to wonder why, I realized just how much Rukia’s existence is able to move your heart. So this voice came out naturally from myself and I felt that if I performed with it as it was, my own heart would also be easily touched. So then I was able to act with this voice during the recording.

Q: As a result, did the Sound Supervisor give you an OK?

Moritan: I did it secretly without asking permission. I got scolded and were given an NG (no good) so I was worried. However, because the voice intonation was congruent, Ichigo’s change in emotions was tangible in the story.

Q: Then, did Orikasa-san make any changes as well? 

Oririn: Even though the movie was special, I didn’t make any changes. I’ve been entrusted to perform Rukia in the TV anime version until now, so I’m always striving to express Rukia’s feelings one by one. It wasn’t any different for the movie. Only during her time in Inuzuri, the young Rukia who lived together with the twins had a different personality than the Rukia after her meeting with Ichigo. I think that she became cooler. During the flashback scenes, I performed while keeping in mind that she would express her emotions differently during those times.

Q: Did you make any good memories during the recording?

Oririn: During the scene when Rukia’s memories about Ichigo are returning I was asked to insert an improvisation of a warm word that symbolizes her, but because Rukia only used to say insults, I couldn’t come up with anything (laugh).

Moritan: Everyone tried very hard to think of something, but at the end all we could come up with was “tawake” (idiot). It was troublesome. I said, “I don’t remember ever being told warm words!” then everyone burst into laughter.

Oririn: The whole cast and staff were laughing hard, and come to think about it, even Kubo-sensei who had come by was laughing as well. Looking at his smiling face I could really feel his trust in us. It left a very good feeling.

Moritan: Even though he was busy, he kept looking after us for the whole two days of recording. His presence gave us strength and assured our hearts.

Message

Q: To finish, do you have a message for the fans?

Oririn: This time around the movie is about “a feeling that can’t be described by words” (laugh). What the characters hold inside their hearts couldn’t be expressed by a single word, it doesn’t have a shape and it can’t be seen but they’re connected at their very core… I strongly think that rather than watching, I wish everyone will be able to feel it.

Moritan: I hope for the fans to think about the importance of calling out someone’s name. This time, Ichigo is calling out Rukia, Renji, Byakuya and other people’s names but no one calls out his name. Even though he calls out no one answers him, so now I know how sad it is having no one to call your name. A name isn’t only something for you to call other people, but for other people to call you as well, that’s what I’m trying to say. I wish for everyone to watch the movie and understand how important it is. And after finishing watching the movie, I wish everyone will call out the name of the person they love.

…Those were Morita and Fumiko’s opinions on it (there’s more, but this is already long as it is) now, here’s what Kubo had to say about it:

INSIDE THE PAMPHLET GIVEN OUT DURING FTB’S PREMIERE

Kubo: The third movie is a special work for BLEACH. It’s different from the usual element of the other movies and it’s a story in which BLEACH’s origin is closely drawn. I’m hoping for this story to remain, even if just a little, inside the heart of a lot of people.

INSIDE THE MOVIE GUIDE

Q: Like in the previous work, we heard you were involved in this year’s movie since the early stage. 

K: I think it all started around March when Director Abe and the movie staff came to me. Back then, Director Abe wanted a “back to the beginning” theme and wished for the main characters, Ichigo and Rukia, to be the focus of the story. On top of that, he wanted to portray something that linked back to the first chapter of Bleach, it’s original appearance… I was very happy to know that the movie was heading in that direction and said “that’s good, let’s go with that!” And from then on I joined in the production and put together the story and the setting after discussing it with everyone. 

Q: We heard the scenario was completed after a lot of hardships?

K: The theme of the story was something I could agree with, but there were still some parts that made me worry up until the end. The speech in the last scene especially, I discussed it and decided it with the director at the recording studio (laugh). 

To tell you the truth there are still bits I wanted to develop but if I did that who knows how long the film would be (laughs).

(I’ll make a pause here because in case anyone is wondering, he’s referring to Ichigo’s speech at the end, the one that goes: 

“If death isn’t really the end, then that time we met might not have been the first. We might have been connected from long before that. I’m not really sure, but I think maybe once a bond is formed, it never disappears. If that’s the case, even if we forget everything, we’ll be connected again somewhere in the future.”

Soooo… yep, he personally worked on it.)

Q: Even the subtitle was given from you?

K: Ever since the second movie the subtitle was brought up by me. Since the moment I heard Rukia would lose her memory the image that her memories of Ichigo and the Gotei 13 would disappear came into my mind. After that, the meaning of “disappearing into black” became the subtitle “fade to black”.

Q: You even came up with the japanese subtitle “Calling Out Your Name”.

K: After coming up with the english subtitle “fade to black” they asked me to come up with a japanese one (laugh). So after carefully digesting the scenario I searched for some scenes that could hold the key words that I could use and found in the plot that someone calling someone else’s name was a strong expression that “even though no one else remembers you I do” and I found out it had an important meaning behind it, especially regarding this story where Ichigo keeps calling Rukia’s name. So that’s how I came up with the subtitle “calling out your name”.

Q: Please tell us, in your opinion, what’s the highlight of this movie?

K: Regarding the fights it’s not Ichigo vs. the Gotei 13, but Ichigo vs. Rukia. In the first scenario there wasn’t a “last boss” yet and someone raised the question about it. And we thought that since Ichigo forgot about Rukia, “we want to see Ichigo and Rukia!” We started planning after that. In this fight there’s actually a scene that links back to the first chapter of the manga and in my opinion I feel it’s the most important scene in the movie. It links with what the director said about going “back to the beginning”.

Q: As you were involved in this movie, were there any bits you drew thinking about going “back to the beginning”?

K: I didn’t come up with the idea of using the scene where Rukia gives her power to Ichigo like in the very first chapter, so going back to that scene in the movie made a strong impression in me and I felt that it was very interesting. On top of that, because of this story I was able to recognize once again that Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship is something special.

Q: What do you think about the bond those two have with each other?

K: It’s not friendship but it’s not an amorous feeling either. Regarding these two, I don’t think there is other relationship like theirs in other works where despite standing in a very close position with each other it is not romance (laughs). But in this year’s movie there is a scene where Ichigo says Rukia is his “precious nakama” and I think that explains their relationship well.

Q: You watched the movie at a private screening, but what sort of feelings did you have about it?

K: I had fun (laughs), because it’s my own work it feels completed but on the hand it means that you can’t create anything stronger than that. In some parts while I was drawing I would think “would this sort of situation really happen?”, but even so I was the one who thought and came up with the plot so even it amazes me it doesn’t feel “new”. Even if I as the original author was involved, the drawings are done by other people and the voices are done by the voice actors, so when the movie is completed I always savor the feeling of surprise. “They should move like this”, “their voices are like that”, I always give feedback with a lot of emotion and excitement, and I’m always looking forward to that.

Q: What bits do you want everyone to focus on?

K: The relationship between Ichigo and Rukia. The change in their feelings.

And there you have it. I won’t add anything about Hellverse because they centered more around the action aspect of it during the promotion so that’s it. I did find curious the fact that Kokuto decided to use Rukia to bait Ichigo to attack him… although I could always just go with “she’s the only female of the group, Ichigo has a savior complex, yadda yadda yadda…” but they could have also just kept Yuzu longer in hell to motivate him. There’s also the fact that once he defeats him he basically forgets about Uryuu and Renji as he’s too occupied talking to Rukia… I WONDER WHY *shrugs*. The thing with Fade to Black is that Kubo was deeply involved in its production and as I quoted above from what he said back when it first got released he actually said that he came up with the plot himself and that it was his work, and I think it speaks tons about what actually is the nature of their relationship when you watch this movie and you get that speech at the end (besides everything that happens in between, including Ichigo’s built-in Rukia radar), and then the author of the original work comes and tells you he worked on it himself.

IchiRuki is painful in the sense that it’s so right, so harmonious, so obvious, so perfectly written and executed, but it got served wrong at the end. But yes, their relationship is the maximum expression of love there is on earth and I think I don’t speak only for myself when I say they’re the goal.