#and i won't blame you

[review-anon]

Thoughts on Kokichi Ouma?

Oh boy. Kokichi.

He's a complicated mess as if you recall my tier list he's quite low down.

Yet characters of a similar archetype to him are way higher so what gives? Does he rub me the wrong way?

I'll explain Kokichi's...unusual tier placement soon but for now let's talk the easy stuff which is his character in the game.

When Kokichi was first revealed and everyone was fawning over him I wanted this guy to be a bastard. An complete and utter bastard that does something truly henious that nobody expect the kinnies will forgive him for.

So did I get what I want? Design wise he definitely looks insane as no normal person would wear a straightjacket. This has let to the fun theories he was an escaped mental asylum patient. And when the V3 fake spoilers were running around, fun times, they said he was part of a despair cult. Its certainly a unique look.

He's an absolute blast personality wise as he says the most outragious stuff and often riles the other characters. Saying Kiibo has a dick? Speedrunning Maki trying to kill him? And him messing with Shuichi?

The lying is something that you do need to read the lines between. Its not pathological lying as Kokichi would lie even when in situations its better for him to tell the truth, so its more like compulsive lying.

All of these are so much fun to watch and Derek Stephen Prince was a fanasatic VA as I could really hear the Digimon Emperor from his voice when doing Kokichi, and he delivers the lines and his vocal changes as Kokichi has one of the most dynamic vocal ranges. I was amazed he didn't have a second VA because some characters like Junko needed multiple VAs due to how wild the character was.

His actions are interesting to unpack because while he is a shit-stirrier like most rival characters, unlike say Byakuya and Nagito who are out for themselves, Kokichi has everyone's interests in mind but due to the nature of the Killing Game, he decided to play the villain someone for everyone to band against.

Problem is; this worked a little too well as everyone hated him and then after Chapter 4 which despite his bombastic display, he was definitely affected by, he decided to create a unsolvable murder case. Which got solved because gameplay.

Many more qualified people have done more in-depth analysis on why Kokichi is such a interesting character. In fact if it wasn't for the real reason he's so low, he would be around B/A tier.

So why is he so low? Well its not nothing to do with what Kokichi does in the games...but more of what he did to me. Putting this under the cut because its a very bonkers reason and I understand if you think this is a stupid reason and that is the reason why he isn't bottom tier.

For starters its got nothing to do with his lying. I've like liar characters like Nikei and David in the past so again the archetype isn't the reason. Its also got nothing to do with the fact he kills Miu and Gonta. I never liked Miu and yes Gonta dying is sad but its a Killing Game.

Its also got nothing to do with the fact he killed Kaito as yes the two bash heads a lot but its more to do with the secondary theme of emotions vs. logic rather then Kaito hates lying little shits.

And yes I did see thoses terrible YouTube videos which claims Kokichi is poorly written. That Youtuber is a terrible elitist analyst who clearly hates Kokichi as a character and is using smokescreens and the delusion they are more educated to persuade you otherwise. Its up there with the more terrible Game Theories.

Finally the Love Hotel scene is more on the tame side and its the sole reason why everyone and their mother makes Kokichi Joker whenever one does a Persona/Danganronpa crossover.

So if its got nothing to do with that then what gives? Why do I not like Kokichi? Is it to do with something personal?

Yes. Yes it is because during the entire year of 2017, I had to deal with a non-stop stream of lucid nightmares where Kokichi Ouma was a psychopathic yandere towards me. The entire thing was like a living A Nightmare on Elm Street and I still wonder to this day how tf it even happened in the first place. The dreams are like what I described them as; Kokichi was in love with me and wasn't gonna take no for a answer.

I'm normally lucid in my dreams so at first I just tried waking up early, but to my horror I would later learn that Kokichi himself was fully aware he was in my mind and every time I end a session prematurely while he couldn't obviously stop me, he could punish me next time I go to sleep since you know humans need sleep, and would use every dream mechanic you could think of to trap me.

These dreams completely fucked up my sleep schedule as I would often get 4-5 hour sleeps because of them, and while normally when I wake up in the night I would go back to sleep, to do that would mean more Kokichi and more horrors so I would often stay up at like 4am.

I studied as much dream theory as I could and tried all the tactics I could find to make these stop, but nothing worked and Kokichi would often mock me when I did so.

Clearly I don't suffer them now so how did I get rid of him in the end? Well I won't disclose how I did it but let's just say look at how Bill Cipher in Gravity Falls was killed and that should give you a good idea how I managed to get rid of that Kokichi in the end. Expect of course I didn't lose my memories.

Don't ask me how this happened, because I don't know either. As while I do have wild dreams I had nothing on that magnitude before or since then. The dreams had two lasting effects on me. Firstly, its made me scared of Doki Doki Literature Club as while Monika is a million times tamer then my psychotic Kokichi was, its still too close to home for me.

And the second is that its given me a bit of a sour opinion on Kokichi. Not because the character sucks but because its very hard to look at a character when something wearing their face and behaving almost exactly like them, was your personal Freddy Krueger for a little over a year.

TL;DR Kokichi is a good character and under normal circumstances I would have loved him but my brain decided that it was illegal and gave me lucid nightmares about him for over a year and that's made me hard to like him.

[taxinealkaloids]

i love the tower princes. i love that there’s absolutely no way in hell that this friendship is even remotely good for either of them. love that they assuredly are making each other SO much worse with every second they spend together. 

[pharawee]

You're teasing me again.

—EVERY YOU, EVERY ME · ทุกๆ เธอที่รัก · Universe 4/08

[jupiter--dream]

When I'm in an underrated dynamic competition and my opponent is "Horror and Blue both being very Passionate about Food (for different but similarly wrong reasons)"

Also I love how HorrorDust and DustBerry being two of Dust's most popular ships implies that his taste in men is specifically Big Silly Guys Who Like Cooking and tbh I love that for him, me too buddy me too

[bearplants]

idk who needs to hear this, but it isn't really anyone's fault specifically for the lack of alloaro inclusion in wider aro spaces

sincerely,

an aroallo tired of seeing borederline (if not outright) acephobic shit in the aroallo/alloaro tags

[cosmichawk]

It's that time of year again so here are xmas harbingers edits by yours truly

bonus:

[wrongspacetime]

Ruby Cruz as Hazel Callahan BOTTOMS (2023) | dir. Emma Seligman

[veinsfullofstars]

✨ The wizard and the jester ✨

(ID: Kirby series fanart sketches of Marx and Magolor in humanized form, with some Marxolor shenanigans tossed in for funsies, plus one guest appearance by Kirby. More detailed descriptions in Alt Text. END ID)

Sketches started some time in 2021, finished 10/28/24.

[feralhornyposting]

"Listening to anime asmrs as a teenager to fill the void of not having a significant other" to "having a voice kink strong enough to make you extremely wet just from hearing someone with a sexy voice flirt with you and call you pet names" pipeline.

[autisticrosewilson]

Um if you write Jason having to get drugs for Catherine I want you dead btw. Not only does it tell me you assume the average drug dealer would give the hard shit to a very small child and then not supervise them at all (classist stereotype that all drug dealers are inherently evil + lazy writing with no grasp on reality) and you genuinely think that Catherine was CONSTANTLY high, as if that's even possible without overdosing far sooner than she did. That's without even getting into the bad mom Catherine propaganda.

[not-gray-politics]

Trans women. I'm grabbing you by the shoulders and yelling. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE SKINNY TO BE FEMININE AND PRETTY AND CUTE. PLEASE STOP MAKING DIETS PART OF YOUR TRANSITION GOALS. WEIGHT LOSS IS A SCAM. I LOVE YOU. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELVES. YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL.

[this-is-a-name-dont-worry]

btw. rambling.

with how it ends with peri doing a meta comment hoping they'll get a season 2. i think it's safe to assume the writers want a season 2. and with that in mind, it makes what happened with Dev something more similar to sequel bait than actual end of his character. i mean Peri's introduction was even through Dev, without him he'd be just. there. which would be a shame just in terms of writing. especially when the writer also clearly likes Peri since our man is the one having the final line of the season. in the same way I'm pretty sure the writers care a lot about Dev too, I mean, even in this finale at his darkest hour you had constant reminders of how he's just. desperate for his father's attention. So yeah.

Dev not remembering is likely not his intended final ending, just the logical one for this finale that also pushes you to want to see more. Hazel's friends and brother remembering is an opening for new situations in a second season (Hazel may get pushed to make wishes by them, even if sometimes involuntarily; Hazel may make more wishes directly involving them, allowing for newer stories that couldn't be carried by just Hazel Cosmo and Wanda); Dev forgetting is the bait to make you want a second season

[late-to-the-magnus-archives]

has anyone done this yet

[amaraudermind]

Anyone else ever thinking about the constant nightmares Dick was having at the beginning of his solo in the nineties(in which he was Robin again and trying to catch a little boy who’s face he could never make out and was always too late) that culminated in the fear gas induced hallucination issue wherein there’s another faceless young boy who eventually introduces himself as Jason

And the dreams were subsequently never brought up again

The closest we got was the hallucination he had in his secret files where he spent the whole time talking to Robin

Because I am. I am thinking about it a lot

[findmeinthefallair]

Made something for the Huntlow Nation! Their baby is perhaps a month old here? They're bringing her to see Flapjack for the first time

[dragon-ashes1485]

TROP s2 ep7. A rant.

Firstly, this episode has been such a joy to watch, secondly, my heart rate is concerning.

Galadriel:

I loved the scene where she was in the cage, completely ready to die, because she wants to make things right. The scene with Celebrimbor was fantastic, at any moment I expected it to actually be Sauron, but the gentle way she talks to him and held his face like a child broke my heart. Phenomenal acting on both sides and the music was also amazing. Her kindness towards Arondir broke me. Her advising him against seeking out Adar was pure irony given her hunt against Sauron.

Galadriel sneaking around in that orc cloak was so stressful, even though we know she lives.

She seems kinder than in previous episodes, perhaps a result of no longer being around the ring? Or maybe she's just realising everything is going wrong. Either way, can't wait to see where her character goes next.

Elrond:

This guy. I loved how at first he looked ready for battle, but that he was also terribly afraid. But something seemed to switch in his character when his horse was killed and his pure anger there really shocked me. Also absolute savage for sending that orc flying.

I would like to take a moment to admire that he pauses to briefly mourn his horse.

The stunts that he performed are insane in this episode, and I love how Arondir keeps him safe throughout the later part of the battle.

"Durin will come" was such an important part to me, Elrond really looks like a young boy, as if he were sat on the beach during the third kinslaying again. I think the way that was portrayed was breathtaking.

And how he sits, looking up at Adar, completely ready to give in, broke me, he is utterly defeated. He has been abandoned once more (I know there were reasons but that's probably how Elrond feels). He then tries to stab Adar, but it is clear from where he aims for that he doesn't want to kill Adar, he wants to hurt him. His sigh when Adar got the ring kind of made me laugh, he's so done with all this crap.

I can't wait to see the aftermath of this.

Minor characters:

Camnir: so glad he was not in this episode or I would have cried.

Vorohil: please let this guy live. I will be sad.

Rian: I am sad. But absolute props to her for that savage arrow in her final moments.

Narvi: he just watched his kin be killed by his own king...let Narvi be ok.

Celebrimbor:

Ow. I hurt. Charles Edwards is an absolute gem, no he may not "look right" for Celebrimbor, but his potrayal of Celebrimbors descent was amazing.

Also, props to the set team for the scene where the forge transforms into its true state.

He tries so hard to fight against Sauron, he literally cuts his own thumb off. His own. Thumb. And when he's caught by the guards, he tries so hard to explain. I was so scared they'd just hand him back to Sauron until Galadriel showed her face.

I feel like I need to mention Mirdania. She was another product of Sauron's deception. Her death was horrifying and...I just can't even. Her naivety to believe "Annatar" about Celebrimbor, a man she greatly admired, was so sad, and then for her to spend her last moments believing that Celebrimbor had killed her? Ouch.

Celebrimbor tried so hard to escape, only to do what a true lord of Eregion would do, return to the only place he could protect it from, and the place he had just escaped. His bravery really shines through, and in the end it is he who comforts Galadriel.

ps: shot on the left is fantastic.

Sauron:

Still a bitch. But now with Darth Vader powers for some reason. Probably about to destroy Alderaan. I have no more to say.

Adar:

Yea I'm expecting a full orc rebellion next episode. He doesn't care as much as he did about his children which is why they were loyal to him in the first place. Glûg stayed behind when the others went to fight so I think that says a lot. It'll be interesting to see where that goes. I also hate him now because Arondir.

Durin:

Durin's speech was so middle-earthy I loved it. And then it goes to shit. I love that he got Narvi on side. The scene where he sees Elrond again means so much to me, there has not been enough of these two in this series and I really hope ep8 rectifies that, particularly after what happened (or rather, didn't happen) on the battlefield.

I love that Durin admires Elrond's new hair, as he should, it is fabulous. ALSO WHERE IS DISA. I swear if Disa dies, then I do too.

Look at this dwarf in his element. Also eff his dad, his dad is a prick.

He's really starting to come into his own, fighting against the evil. And you can see later how much his father's actions hurt him because not only does it mean he can't aid Eregion, but his father has killed dwarves. His own kind.

Amazon, please be kind to Durin next episode.

Gil-Galad:

Not much to say except from look at this boi in all his regalia. Love it when you see a monarch actually in the fighting, makes you like them. Especially as Gil-Galad has not been the most likeable chap this series.

Arondir:

Anyone needs me, I will be crying. That's all I have to say.

Overall thoughts on episode:

Battle sequence was 10/10. The effort put into this show amazes me. Fantastic acting from everyone, namely Charles Edwards, Charlie Vickers, Robert Aramayo and Morfydd Clark (ok fine, everyone). Well done to all the stunt horses as well, such good horses. Bear McCreary's soudntrack shone this episode, including so many characters themes. Also the last ballad of Damrod in the credits!

I am both anticipating and dreading next episode. What will happen with Celebrimbor? And what of Khazad-Dum? How will Adar use the ring? And will we need a box of tissues?