#and regardless of their intentions-despite their best efforts-they are labelled by their society as a dangerous threat

[askdannysroleswapau]

How would Gumball react to this image? :)

(assuming that you mean this in a /lh way)

i think Voidball would be flattered, considering most of their characterization is inspired by Megamind (and Nimona, to some extent) who would consider something like this a compliment

in fact, this sorta reminds me of that scene in Roxanne's apartment with all the hanging scraps of paper where she finally solves the big mystery... god i love Megamind its so good you should go watch it. why has this blog just become me telling you guys to go watch movies recently. what is wrong with me (its The Mucus)

[thelastyetfabolousmidwestmadman]

Dark Side Of The Rising Sun Part 1

Yo what’s up!

After the success of my previous post, I’ve decided to bring a follow up where I talk about the many dysfunctions and issues facing Japan that I’ve learned in my research. Detective Conan often shows the criminal justice system of Japan in a positive light while in reality it has many issues due to the culture.

Now let me make this clear: Japan has many great things about itself that should never be ignored. However, these are real flaws that have or need to be addressed with many Japanese also recognizing them as problems.

Now I had to split this into parts as this is rather ungainly to put it all at once. If you have any questions please ask and I’ll do my best to answer them.

 Suicide

Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world with about 15.2 deaths per 100,000 people.

This is due to many factors such as Suicide not being considered a sin as well as historical connotations of it being a honorable way to go.

It is also considered a act of revenge, apology, and protest.

It is mostly caused today by factors such as unemployment, alienation and intense social pressure.

Japanese society is overall tolerant of Suicide but this is changing in recent times.

Another factor is the need for acceptance over individuality.

People with mental illness are often discriminated against, stopping potential help.

Internet Suicide Clubs where anonymous people make/plan suicide pacts and commit group suicide are a major issue.

If you kill yourself via Shinkansen, your family will be fined heavily. It is also the cause of half of the train delays and referred to as a human incident.

Tall buildings have mandatory suicide fences to prevent people from jumping off. When they succeed, they take off their shoes before hand.

It is common for suicidal people to take insurance policies and wait a year or two to go through with it so their families would be okay.

Ikka Shinju or family suicides are when the entire family kills themselves together due to Asian views of the family. When the parents kill their children before themselves, this is called Muri-Shinju or murder suicides.

Oyaku Shinju or parent-child suicide are where a single parent kill their children along with themselves.

Drownings, overdoses, hangings, and jumping off places are the most common form of suicide.

Judiciary

Traditionally, the judge is hated more then the lawyer is in the west as the Judge is often viewed as a symbol of the Japanese nobility judging the common man.

If you are sent to trial, you are certain to be convicted regardless of innocence due to the countries 99% conviction rate. (Really makes Eri’s work more awesome and badass doesn’t it?)

The Japanese supreme court is one of the most conservative in the world, rarely ruling against issues that are blatantly unconstitutional and anti human rights. As a result, one of the more positive proposals for amendments of the Constitution is the creation of a separate Constitutional Court.

If you are sent to death row, you will never be told in advance when you are going to die.

Culturally, once arrested the person is automatically considered guilty.

Police are often reluctant to overturn convictions as they insist that only guilty are arrested and convicted.

The law when a child is considered criminally responsible is 14.

Judges are often pressured into making convictions as their careers are negatively affected by a not guilty verdict.

Prosecutors are given the choice not to pursue a case regardless of sufficient evidence.

Prisoners in Japan, while somewhat treated better then much of the world due to it’s focus on rehabilitation instead of punishment, have to follow strict military style regulations from minor things such as being forced to fold the bed, or to wash your face to more draconian measures such being beaten if you don’t march or sit the wrong way.

In turn, many have inadequate access to medical care as they don’t have many options for their healthcare.

It can take months or years before you are tried, meaning that a right to a speedy trial is completely nonexistent.

“Periods of reflection” where inmates are forced to be handcuffed, gagged and placed in solitary, are often not recorded by the warden.

Foreigners are forced to speak and write in Japanese.

Drug Use

It is considered vastly socially unacceptable to do narcotics in Japan.

Most drug addicts are even considered to be not human.

If a celebrity is caught doing drugs, his career is automatically fucked and he is blacklisted from the industry, as well as erased from current projects.

The most commonly sold drug is methamphetamine. This started after World War II due to Meth being legal for soldiers to consume in order to stay up late on petrol as well as from occupying Americans. After the was, it became a huge epidemic for 12 years.

Marijuana use has risen among youth. Despite it having little danger as well as medicinal uses, it is widely considered evil, with the law having no tolerance.

Overall, Japan has little drug use compared to the rest of the world due to the cultural taboo and strict laws. However, there are signs that it is being vastly under counted,

Most illicit drugs are imported from Taiwan and South Korea due to it being near impossible to grow it natively but it is becoming increasingly hard to do so.

Drugs overdoses are criminally under diagnosed.

Epidemics often occur due to low periods of economic growth and recessions. (Examples include the postwar period, the 70′s, and the Lost Decade after the Bubble Economy burst in 1989)

It is common for your family or doctor to call the police once you admit there is a problem. Then you are forced to take a urine sample and if it tests positive you are immediately arrested.

A lot of doctors open pharmacies to add to their income. As a result, many oversubscribe prescription drugs.

Hypocritically, Alcoholism is completely tolerated and not treated as a addiction due to alcohol being considering purifying in Shinto, a cure, and Japan having a intense drinking culture.

Child Abuse

For the most part, physical child abuse is considered a private issue and often ignored. While things are slowly getting better, Japan still has a long way to go. (Imagine if Kogoro did what he did to Conan in the west. Child services would be on him like a fly swatter.)

Child services often return the children to their parents even if they say their abusing them as the counseling centers need the parents to admit to their abuse.

It is a complete myth that Japan’s age of consent is 13. That is only the lowest one could set it. Most prefectures are set at 16 or higher. In turn, child molestation of those under 12 is heavily punished. However while vaginal rape of children is illegal, basically just about everything else as long as it’s statutory is basically alright.

Enjo Kosai or compensated dating is the practice of Teenage Girls to go on dates with older men in exchange for money and gifts. While not necessarily always leading to prostitution is treated as such and the girls are often blamed if they are hurt in the process.

Child sex trafficking of migrants is a serious issue and they are often treated as criminals and sent home without counseling.

Adoption of children is rare and frowned upon so many of them have to gro up in centers.

Children of unmarried couples are discriminated against due to the violation of the traditional Ie system and do not have the same protections or privileges of married couples because of its Koseki system.

Men are not obligated to pay child support and it’s near impossible to get them to legally as they can simply hide their finances by not telling them. Plus only one person can be named on the custody sheet.

Child Pornography was effectively decriminalized until 2014. No seriously.

Sexual Harassment/Assault

Domestic violence victims are disabused from coming forward due to the idea of bringing shame to their family.

Stalking cases are rarely taken seriously by the police

OH THERE”S WAY MORE BUT THIS LIST IS DARK ENOUGH SO LET”S SAVE THIS FOR A LATER DATE.

Working Conditions

Idols are heavily exploited and forced to follow strict rules such as having no social life, banned from having a boyfriend, etc. This is because they are supposed to sell a image of innocence and be there exclusively for their fans.

Anime creators are often forced to work long hours with little pay. This has resulted in a slump in the industry with very few new hires so they are forced to rely on the older animators whose health may fail sooner rather then later.

Funds are rarely given to films with artistic intent or that are political in nature, resulting the film industry suffering compared to the more internationally regarded South Korea.

Police Corruption

Until recently, Japanese police would work with organized crime to lower crime. The only reason they stopped was not out of concern for the everyday citizen but because they were embarrassed by the Yakuza when they began to show up more publically.

The media is often laughably compliant to the police, with they rarely offering a critical lens.

Police have undue influence on the Pachiko industry, with many retired officers being hired as muscle and for advice.

It is quite common for officers to embezzle from their slush funds.

In a effort to cover up crime, police often refuse to investigate mysterious or suspicious deaths, preferring to label them as accidents or suicide.

Police are often anti migrant and sexist to a fault.

It is neigh impossible to get a wiretap going due to rigid privacy laws.

Even the police can’t fire weapons as you need approval to even loose your gun so many officers have never fired a bullet.

Government Incompetence/Corruption

Voter Apathy is super high, with many elections having hilariously low turnout.

Many politicians have Yakuza connections, with the gang members serving as bodyguards and canvassing for votes.

Votes in the countryside are worth two compared to urban ones.

A lot of politicians are completely out of touch and constantly have to resign for gaffes (racism, sexism, historical revisionism, etc.)

Political acts are based on group consensus so it can take a long time to get meaningful reform done.

Criticism and debate is ironically frowned upon, with open criticism within a party being effectively banned.

Cronyism is common. While for the most part Japanese politics is based on expertise, many politicians are awarded ministries based on their support for the leader.

The NHK (Japanese version of the BBC) is largely neutral and free but the current Japanese government can dictate what it is to focus on temporarily.

Press Clubs are often given exclusive access to interviews and information from the government, so they get biased preferential treatment.

Okay I guess the point of this list is to bring attention to these issues and expand the opportunities of where to go when it comes to dark DC fanfiction. Don’t worry, here’s a cute Conan to make you smile!

[alexwinfield-blog1]

There’s a ‘Price’ to pay for meme trolling.

There is no doubt that the social media world are lovers for a good ol’ meme. Need a conversation starter? A witty reply? Or cheering up on a gloomy day? A meme will guarantee you a laugh. However, what constitutes a well-curated, humorous meme? Well, as we all know, humour is subjective. What you and I find funny will differ, of course. But what criteria needs to be met in order for a meme to go viral? What do the creators of memes set out to achieve when sharing them online? Most importantly, is there a line to be crossed? At what point can we agree that a meme no longer has a shared meaning?

I want to look closely at the memes created online targeting Harvey Price, but firstly, let’s get to grips with what we mean by a ‘meme’. Dawkins (2006) describes the practice of ‘memeing’ to involve “participating in the creation or distribution of a powerful, original idea”. He also proposes that a meme is a “unit of cultural transmission”, an idea or collective conscience that a community share. We share this culture like we share genetic characteristics. Like “biological organisms evolve based on the natural selection of genes, cultures evolve based on the natural selection of memes”. Despite what this wishy-washy, too-poetic-to-be-true analysis may suggest, memes speak volumes about the humour and beliefs within society. Remember these?

With the relationship between the image the caption having no etymological meaning, the caption of a meme can be chopped and changed depending on the intention of the creator. Examples which spring to mind are “Cash me Outside” and the compilations of Arthur memes, in which the captions are often quite predictable. Nonetheless, the meaning of a meme is not always required to be clear and linear. Most of the time they are abstract and nonlinear, in fact. Above all, the most important function of a meme is to depict ‘coolness’.

Virality and Memes: the good, the bad but mostly the ugly.

Kim Kardashian, or more specifically her career, is a perfect example of how virality can change a life for the better. All thanks to a leaked sex tape in 2007. You can guarantee that this certainly wasn’t one of her finest, most glamorous moments, but I’m sure she’s never looked back. This scandalous footage landed her a career of fame. And now? Over a decade later we spend our lives Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Most recently, with her half-sister Kylie Jenner competing with an egg to get the most liked photo of all time on Instagram, and her step-father Bruce Jenner’s latest transition in becoming Caitlyn, there is no doubt that this family are familiar with being the centre of media attention. With what seemed to be the world going crazy over an egg, this was an attempt, an extremely successful attempt, to promote mental health, specifically how the pressures of social media can make us ‘crack’. Harmless virality, right? What may have once been perceived to be attacks on the Kardashian family, have ultimately led these stars up a path of wealth and success. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t see roaring headline complaints about them loathing this lavish lifestyle?

But it isn’t always this rosy…

What is the first thing that comes to your head when you think of a troll?

This one?

What about this one?

Or perhaps this one?

Both through her own career as a supermodel and TV presenter, and since the birth of her son in 2002, Katie Price has experienced, first hand, the ugly truth of virality, specifically in the form of trolling. Tweets, memes, death threats, you name it, attacking her son for the colour of his skin as well as his disabilities.  Unlike the Kardashians, Harvey is blissfully unaware of the extremes to which he is taunted daily online. But why do we live in a world which allows people to get away with such disgusting behaviour? On a mission, not only to protect Harvey from this online abuse, but anyone who has ever been subject to trolling, in 2017, she started a petition. This eventually received over 200,000 signatures in a bid to make online trolling illegal. Despite her best efforts at exposing these trolls herself, she discovered there to be little, if any, law enforcement in place to protect victims such as Harvey. Being what Goldhaber (1997) describes to be a “star”, fortunately, she was equipped with the tools to attract mass media attention about the issue of online trolling, to which she appeared on many day time TV programmes informing people about ‘Harvey’s Law’.

In spite of her good intentions, it was no shock that trolls not only continued to fire hate filled tweets about Harvey, but curate memes mocking things he has said on TV appearances, as well as taking content Katie had uploaded to her own social media of Harvey as inspiration. 

Any mum would agree that just because she’s in the public eye, it should not mean that she should be deterred from posting photos of her children on social media to protect them from being targeted by trolls. 

A clip which many may be familiar with is their appearance on Loose Women, in which he swears on live TV. Although trolls immediately took to photoshop to mock this display of innocence, many could argue that this is part of the viscous cycle of attention economy (Goldhaber, 1997). In order for trolls to give Harvey attention, they need a source to retrieve it from. Contrary to her pledge to protect Harvey from the doom and gloom of social media that we all know and love, she was recently slammed for ‘baiting trolls’ (The Sun, 2019) by setting Harvey up with his own Instagram account. Is this ultimately an invitation for trolls to attack him? Does it provide trolls with the ‘new’ and ‘original’ content they so desperately desire? What do we think, is she now responsible for the trolling Harvey will now be exposed to online?

 A more recent adaptation of memes, known as GiFs, has also been a platform explored by trolls in order to attack Harvey further. During my research into this topic, from simply typing into my search engine “Harvey Price”, this result appeared…

As if memes weren’t exhilarating enough to fulfil the trolls in their cyber-attacks, GiFs of Harvey can now be generated through this site, ultimately allowing people to express themselves in online conversation through indirectly mocking Harvey. But to them it’s nothing serious. Just a passing comment. What angers me the most about this GiF generator is the use of the term “popular”, suggesting that people visiting this site will have access to nothing but the best GiFs - what the trolls would label to be most successful in terms of their virality. First and full most, who is spending their time designing these websites, and secondly, are they proud? Are they THAT disconnected from their emotions that they don’t view this young man as a human being?

But do these memes live up to the definition of ‘memeing’ proposed by Dawkins (2006)?

Are they powerful?

Definitely not.

But perhaps in one way? They’re powerful for delivering the message that no matter what your race, your sexual orientation, your disabilities or your religion, there will always be people in the world who disagree or are opposed to it. Sure, trolls can hide behind their twitter username, but can they hide from their own insecurities? This is important to consider. What is the need for them to create this content? For how long is it funny? A day? A couple of hours?

Are they original?

Most certainly not. If anything, they lack originality. Well, put it this way, I can’t hear anyone applauding these creators for their outstanding pieces of work…

Is it cool?

You must be joking?

The creators of this content might have themselves fooled that they are some- what inspirational to the rest of the nation, or that they’re admired by their fellow meme-ers for their hardcore memeing. But the rest of the nation? The decent human beings of the nation? Disgraceful. Unintelligent. Bullies. A valuable point to be made here is that creators of memes believe they’re in a superior position to those they are ‘memeing’ about, hence why when these memes are shared and distributed online, they appear ‘funny’ to those who perceive Harvey as inferior to them.

And this is why we can’t have nice things…

Phillips (2015) argues that essentially, trolls “are the reason we can’t have nice things online”. He suggests that the online space is meant to be a community where people can feel safe in sharing their thoughts; through tweeting, or sharing snapshots of their life via Instagram. It appears that sadly, this is no longer the case. Trolls are “born and embedded” within dominant institutions. As a result, the saddest, and most frustrating thing of all about meme trolling, is that as long as trolls have the community to support them, and until social media platforms build stronger, much more stable networks which block out these trolls, there will be no end to trolling. This “unapologetically racist humour and legitimate corporate punditry” will only seize to exist online if the threat of the law was to stand between the troll and the ‘send’ button. Why, in those “golden years” between 2008-2011 in which the trolling subculture became “crystalized”, did establishers of these social networks make a stand for this unwanted behaviour? Why is a mother, regardless of whether she’s famous or simply just the mum next door, forced to make a pledge for this internet craze to be wiped from our screens?

How can we make a difference?

It is important to not turn a blind eye to this kind of behaviour online. Although it may not directly affect you, there will always be someone else is in the firing line. Avoid retweeting, sharing and even posting content online which may later come back to bite you. As someone who has been a present, and an active user of social media since my early teens, during this time, I was extremely naïve to the content online. I’m sure there have been posts which I would look back on now and think how my online presence has changed. My humour has changed. What I like and post about has definitely changed, but most of all, social media as a 20-year-old seems a much scarier place to be than when I was 13. Do you agree?

References:

Phillips, W. (2015). This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things: Mapping the Relationship Between Online Trolling and Mainstream Culture. Massachusetts: MIT Press.

Dawkins, R. (2006). The Selfish Gene. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Gibb, J. (2019, January 28). Katie Price accused of ‘baiting’ trolls. Retrieved from: https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/8300554/katie-price-accused-of-baiting-trolls-by-giving-son-harvey-his-own-instagram-account-and-failing-to-protect-him/

[erenthecoordinate]

Any thoughts regrading the last couple of chapters? EMA, Zeke, Levi, and Yelena?

Hello!  It’s been a while since I made a chapter analysis, but the most recent one is probably the freshest on my mind so I may mostly end up talking about that.  That said, in my opinion, I believe the past couple chapters were a mixture of both interesting and frustrating, the latter mostly because so little context was revealed.  The manga is more parts mystery than it is tragedy and horror, and Isayama is infamous for leading his readers with a long, long string of questions to its solution, only to be met with more mysteries and less understanding of our whereabouts.  It’s equal parts engaging but irritating, haha!  But I’ll do my best!

Admittedly, it’s been hard to analyze chapters that give less than what you need to come up with theories.  At least the characterization made up for that, and I really enjoyed the comparison of girl-to-girl idolization toward Mikasa and Sasha from the victims they saved, as well as how they intend to pass the torch to those who want to change the cruel world they reside.  Gabi finally got called out on her contradicting history lesson, Falco (unsurprisingly) sympathized, and Louise got to meet her hero and tried to relate to her situation.  If you want to stretch it, that entire chapter really was about looking up and worshipping someone they saw ideal in leading their world to a brighter future, be it directly assisting those in trouble or taking on an entire nation for survival and vengeance.  

But talking about EMA, Levi, Yelena, and Zeke, the following chapter obviously caters more so to their dilemma.  I have lately been looking at OrganicDinosaur’s translations for accuracy since Crunchyroll and other language scans have been inconsistent and full of typos, but since OD didn’t deliver this time around, I’ll stick to CR’s version and any changes that were brought up by other translators:

EREN, MIKASA, & ARMIN

We’ve seen a couple of chapters ago that the 104th are in shock, confusion, and upset over Eren’s actions in Liberio, even going to say he was responsible for Sasha’s death.  Connie is angered and Jean is uncomfortable.  Eren’s biggest advocates (aside Zeke, Yelena, and the restorationists and…I suspect *some* other characters) are Armin and Mikasa.  Mikasa is certain Eren hasn’t changed within the 10 months of him professing his love for his friends to when he left for Marley.  Eren’s actions, while seemingly an issue for them now, are out of protectiveness and care for their well-being.  

However, with all these negative accusations, Mikasa is conflicted on how she feels about his activity and tries to convince everyone that regardless of what he did, it wasn’t to put them in danger or bring chaos to their island.  Armin wants to believe in Eren just as bad, though brings up a more realistic possibility that whether they trust him or not, it is ultimately not their decision on how to judge his actions.  He worries that if Eren comes across as a traitor, completely under Zeke’s will, the government will take action to transfer Eren’s coordinate to someone that is indefinitely loyal to them.  They both decide the best option to to talk to Eren themselves.

When they finally are given time with Zackley to schedule a visitation, Commander-in-Chief mysteriously declines their request and suggests Eren is no longer the Eren they were friends with back in the day but supposedly controlled by Zeke.  Different translations implied that Zeke was either influencing Eren with his ideas or was literally mind-controlling his actions, but whatever the case, Eren is now labeled a danger to their society.  So much distrust enough to already start selecting prime candidates for his titans.  Of course that quickly becomes a non-option due to an exploding shit machine (good riddance, blehh).

Anyway, with these events, we can speak affirmatively that Mikasa and Armin truly have no idea what Eren is doing, so it’s likely he has kept secrets from a majority of the Corps, if not all.  All they can cling to is the loyalty he proclaimed to them almost a year ago and history of his self-sacrifice for their sake.  The only thing possibly stopping that is an actual hypnotic manipulation on Zeke’s part.  So when they learn Eren escapes jail, they immediately jump into action.  Mikasa is confused on what to do, and Armin assures her than once they talk to Eren that he’ll understand.  It seems at this point they’ve already come up with an emergency plan, but what?

Judging by Armin’s words, we can assume that whatever they’re planning is something Eren will have strong opposition to.  So his friends haven’t given up on him yet.  The plan is not for Eren to get eaten.  We can guess that their carriage with Hange and Onyankopon is headed to the destination, but we don’t know where.  I think it can be one of a couple things.  They’re headed to Zeke, already foreseeing that this is where Eren will be headed, intercepting him for a chat (that may or may not result in a bitter or non-informative exchange).  Secondly, is a more active plan that involves either going to Zeke first or Historia.  I think the major worry is that Zeke is controlling Eren, and since the option to kill Eren is out the window, the next best thing is to kill Zeke.  The primary candidate was supposed to be Historia, but her pregnancy was meant to prevent that from happening.  However, I can see that in desperation they would convince Historia that Eren is not in his right mind and that her taking the Beast Titan would ensure their safety.  The baby’s life would be at risk, but since shifters heal, Historia herself would likely be fine and she’d have to try for another kid later.  Another potential option is to have a backup candidate eat Zeke and wait until Historia’s child is born or whenever she is able to, so that there is no potential risk for her and the baby.  Either way, the plan involves killing Zeke ASAP.  And judging by Eren’s insistence to retrieve him and go along with his half brother’s suggestions, this is something that would really upset him.  But surely if his friends explained the situation, he would understand their concerns.  Right?

Of course, this is also assuming Historia is not aware of Eren’s plan.  I think they’d hit a hard place with this one, because it’s already been suggested that she was advised by Yelena that her life may be spared if she extends Zeke’s life for an option that won’t require her to sacrifice herself (or at least not immediately) and guarantee Paradis freedom.  Popular theory that I agree with is that Eren personally said this to Historia.  This is also assuming the others know that Historia is pregnant, and I’m sure that Armin would have figured that her sudden conception was strategic and not a result of a night of passion.  Still, it’d be worth a shot for them to convince her that Eren was manipulated all along and if she waits any longer this could spell disaster for all of them.  This theory rides on knowledge from both sides, and we’ve yet to gain Historia’s perspective on the entire thing, so at best this is an educated guess.

LEVI

Speaking of perspectives yet unseen, we’ve finally got some words from a very bitter but mostly quiet Levi.  I’ve talked about his mood toward Eren on the blimp and how it’s more an emotion of disappointment and upset than anger, but other than that moment we haven’t had any lines aside some banter and camp times with Zeke (how sweet!).  Levi is one that communicates best through body language, so visually he hasn’t been very present either.  You can blame the plot for putting him with Zeke 24/7 until they need him for something else.  But since his relationship with monkey trouble is one of detest, we get little minor exchanges that tell very little but are, again common theory, suspicious as well.

Isayama puts as much effort into showing character body language and background presence to communicate a topic of concern (sort of like a “hey, pay attention to what this character is doing”) as he does when a character is barely present at all.  We get hints that Levi is very much not happy with the situation of keeping Zeke alive, yet he does so for the sake of a plan.  He gets especially glowering when Zeke say he wants to meet with Eren, because Levi certainly isn’t convinced Zeke is being genuine with his intentions.  Despite this we get chapters of silence and storytime around a campfire (how long have they been in the woods??).  

While Levi is a straight-faced character much of the time, he is without a doubt one of the most emotional characters and it comes across in his posture.  But we have little info on visuals like I said, and I believe this is entirely intentional.  We are meant to either question Levi’s involvement or have no clear idea of his thoughts other than he hates Zeke, doesn’t think he is genuine, but agrees that they are pressed for time.  I’m not saying Levi is in on this Yeagerbro plan, though it would be interesting if he had an inkling of an idea ahead of time.  But I believe his absence is meant to make it easier on some fans to see his opinions as a clean slate and whatever is revealed remains very, very basic, so that if and when a more complex explanation is presented it throws us back but doesn’t come off as unrealistic.

Or Levi is very secondary to this entire function and puts his decisions on someone else’s shoulders.  Which…would be kind of boring?

Whether he agrees with Eren (and Zeke) or not, I believe there will be a confrontation that requires Levi (or both) to make a choice on whether or not to trust and assist them.  I may be borrowing from discussions I’ve had with friends, but the reason I say this is because it is far more practical for the two to get Levi on their side rather than make him an enemy.  Throughout the story, Eren has been loyal to Levi and receptive of his mentorship, especially when it comes to making decisions.  I think it’s plausible that Eren will try to explain the situation to Levi or at the very least demand he make a choice to allow him access to Zeke.  I’ve seen many concerns that there is going to be a physical altercation and that Levi will die, and personally the latter is unlikely because Levi has yet to be important in this plan and a huge role in taking down the primary conflict*.  As for a physical altercation, it’s plausible, but again taking Mikasa and Armin’s words of trust to heart, I would think Levi is also among the group Eren cares enough about to not harm and especially not kill.  At minimum, any fight would be with the intent to stop the other from interfering with no serious injury.  But I believe there will be some tense words.

It’d also be an interesting development for Levi’s character to more or less get out of the rut of being unsure of his leadership and purpose*, ever since dealing with no longer following Erwin’s, perhaps not completely adjusted to Hange’s, by being personally challenged to trust his gut instinct or other people’s decisions.  It’s not that Levi hasn’t used his intuition before, but when it comes to a greater goal he has dedicated much of his trust to other people and worked according to that.  We know Levi has a hero complex and would fight for humanity above all else.  Whatever Levi does will depend entirely on whether he agrees with Eren or he sees him unreliable.  Regardless of what happens, having this conflict would revisit the complexities of his character as well as turn the moral he taught Eren in the same forest years ago hurdling back to confront him.

ZEKE

Zeke, on the other hand, has always been an enigma that beginning to assume his intentions would have one’s head spinning.  Levi has the right idea to interrogate him for more information, yet we haven’t fully seen Zeke’s stories illustrated except the Ragako gassing and his conversation with Kiyomi (which is more her memory rather than his).  Is he truly being genuine, is he working as a double agent for Marley, or is he in this for his own gain?

As far as genuinity goes, I believe whatever we see illustrated is considered the truth.  This has been a strategy Isayama has used when revealing secrets, history, and characters’ memories of an event.  While the manga constantly reminds that there is no good vs evil side, in terms of telling some facts, those moments have a clear illustration.  Whereas “hearsay” and lies, such as Historia meeting up with the farmer boy, Yelena in the background, and Bertolt “recalling” seeing a titan out his windows when his “village was attacked” are obscure, sketched, or foggy and barely cover more than two panels.  It’s possible Isayama used this to his advantage to get the audience slowly trusting Zeke’s word only to be betrayed in the future, but I think it’d be sloppy to veer away from consistency for the sake of psyching out your readers and therefore not trusting any memory that any character has.  Besides, I think the detail is minor enough that people are still unsure whether to believe in his story.

It’s also possible Zeke telling Levi “don’t claim to understand people” is a callout to the fandom that are adamant in their distrust despite lack of context– much like the callout to Levi and Annie’s popularity, reappearance of Zackley’s art, and Eren coming out of prison shirtless even though he knows how to keep his clothes on even if he completely transformed (I’m not complaining!).  Not that I blame the fandom.  Zeke has caused a lot of paranoia both in-verse and our-verse.

Anyway, assuming Zeke is at least a little bit truthful due to his lack of glasses glare and pages of clearly illustrated backstory, we learn the Ragako Village’s people inhaled gas with some of Zeke’s spinal fluid, resulting in a mass transformation of the town.  Via Falco’s words, this was to test Paradis’s defense mechanisms which resulted in Zeke discovering the existence of 3DMG and therefore a bargaining chip for Hizuru.  So there is no reason to doubt the mission’s purpose, but now we learned that Zeke and Pieck weren’t the only ones responsible for this and that other Marleyans were with them on this mission, giving Zeke the realistic excuse to basically follow their orders to feign allegiance and unfortunately creating monstrosities of the villagers that were eventually eliminated (sans Connie’s mother).  Levi isn’t convinced of Zeke’s guilt, but Zeke is a character who has few emotional attachments and does have a goal-oriented mindset.  To him, despite the tragedy, the sacrifice was necessary for his cause and Eldia’s overall prosperity.

I think we are getting semi-truths from Zeke and some fabrications with his words in his favor, though the images presented are real events that actually happened.  This story aligns with what Falco said literally a chapter ago, as well.  But of course, he is still a mystery and will remain so until Eren gets to him.

YELENA

And finally another enigma with less of a pokerface is Yelena.  At this point, she really comes across as not entirely reliable, and sadly translations of her conversation with Pixis doesn’t help foreign readers (English readers specifically) comprehend it exactly.  But basically, Yelena had wanted to meet Eren and assist in his endeavors because she wants to see her idol Zeke and his brother reshape the world.  She informed of her anxiety due to less time and not enough action, which Eren of course shared the same feelings.  Their secret meeting was purely between them and whatever escorts she was willing to wager on their side, i.e. Floch, someone who would take Eren’s message very seriously.  Otherwise, she denies convincing Eren to attack Marley as well as the construction of a cult, er, Restorationist movement.

We are given a lot of back and forth concerning Yelena and her contradicting behavior.  Pixis doesn’t believe her entirely, and limited panels of the conversation event suggest she is hiding something (see what I was talking about when I say to see what is illustrated vs what is not).  Hange is surprised to hear Onyankopon knew nothing about the secret meetings or the plan to attack Marley.  They are puzzled over Yelena, a person who punished those who went against authority including fellow Marleyans, who eventually advocated strongly for their lives when speaking with the Paradisian government.  She had put a lot of effort into complying with their conditions as well as giving additional alibis so not to be suspicious– which is ironically very suspicious.  All of this is to presumbley meet with Eren.

Though, as far as we know, Eren is still a partial orchestrator of his assault and Zeke’s plan perhaps convinced him of the option, Yelena allowing Eren to choose for himself.  I believe this to an extent, meaning Eren saw no other way to protect Paradis without having Zeke come to them, having to trust his half-brother to coin in an upcoming war between Marley (and other nations) and Paradis (and probably Hizuru), draw out the Warhammer, in order to ensure Zeke and Eren were the ones to do…whatever it is they plan to do, instead of chancing it with successors they may or may not trust.  In other words, it is their (separately or together or partially) idea and only they can see it through.  Yelena claims to be the messenger and witness of this plan, but not the instigator or puppeteer.

I think that anything pertaining to the bigger truth of this plan will begin to unravel via her own words.  She may be keeping secrets, but she seems worse at covering herself when she is interrogated.  The best she seems to be doing is keeping lowkey and quiet, but with Pixis grilling and observing her during her house arrest, I want to guess that her retelling of the conversation in the next chapters (hopefully with a flashback INCLUDING Eren’s perspective and Eren’s words) will be the first step to getting closure to this story and why Eren decided to leave for Marley and why he is deciding to conceal this from his friends.

My thoughts about the characters keep growing with each passing discussion and debate, but thus far, these are my analyses of what role they play in the grand scheme of this story.   I predict answers to be peeled back before getting a massive infodump, and we’ll soon learn the true intentions and viewpoints of each character.

Thank you for your question!  Sorry this ended up longer than I anticipated!

[*there are interviews for these, but I’ve yet to find them, will update when I (or someone else) does]

[misstaboo44]

I am not a feminist! But my vagina is...

In 2017, we consider that in the western world, women are not oppressed. Misogyny in society certainly doesn’t exist and within relationships, women are equal. There’s a somewhat naive optimism that we are at the peak of liberation!

I used to hate the term ‘feminist’, I think, in some ways I still do but only because like ‘alcoholics’ have a stereotype of being poor, homeless, weak minded and irresponsible, ‘feminists’ are outspoken lesbians who hate men and everything they have done since time begun. However, on deeper reflection, even if I shout that I am not, my vagina most certainly is.

I have been officially (not through choice or some loyal protest for my liberty) single for all my 28 years of life. I say ‘officially’ because I have been in estranged relationships that don’t count because we never labelled them.  Despite being devoid of the name, they were definitely intensely emotional and tragically poetic relationships within themselves. A repeated pattern regardless, is starting to emerge and that is of sexual misogyny!

In no uncertain terms, the guys I’ve dated have been repeat offenders at this awful scenario:

Male and female make out. He licks you out (if you’re lucky, but it won’t be for long). You give him head. You have sex. He cums. He’s done.

Even if the first time that night, you’re lucky enough that he lets you cum before you have sex, it will not last. You’ve had your one orgasm for the night (if you’re lucky), he however, has plenty more to go.

But you’re not done.

There is nothing more frustrating than not being satisfied. It’s true, bad sex is worse than no sex especially when you realise that you could be watching Poirot on ITV catch up instead of this not to mention having a wank later that is more satisfying than the inflaming frustration left behind.

When did it become sexually acceptable to leave women high and well… not so dry? Is it because we haven’t had the confidence to talk about it because sex is still taboo in common society? The only times this is a whisper of a discussion is on the black market with your closest friends! Is it because there a thousands of women who feel it and don’t realise it’s an issue? Is it just me as a still-single-20-something year old that’s had over a hundred terrible experiences of displeasure? Or is it because you only have the luxury of sexual satisfaction in a loving relationship where it’s part of the unspoken agreement? I remember reading a book about the history of sex for my dissertation five years ago. It said in the middle ages, men believed that for a woman to get pregnant they had to orgasm. Female sexuality was so important to them that they spent hours liberating them. This all changed in the Victorian era when they realised that it was sperm that causes pregnancy and not the woman’s orgasm. That is ultimately what lead to women being sexually oppressed and unsatisfied and guess what, we’re still feeling it in 2017.

I am not a feminist but my vagina is.

Why should I not get the liberty of orgasms just because it ‘takes too long’ or ‘job’s done for me’? Is it through some weird social construct that says that women aren’t as horny as men or that the effort isn’t worth it? Is it a knock on effect built into men’s unconscious from this Victorian view of sexuality?

I am raising it now because ten years ago, we didn’t have laptops so men around my age would not have had wide access to porn growing up. TV was still somewhat conservative and there was no Game of Thrones to corrupt the young minds of today. The thing that concerns me is that this young generation coming through are watching porn which enforces this idea that women don’t need to cum and that it’s all about the male’s orgasm. Watch how long the girl gives him head for compared to how long he’s down on her. Watch how many times she has to do it herself or is faking it. The sounds some of the women make are Oscar worthy! With TV it’s also an issue. Game of Thrones, there’s never any foreplay. It’s pure animalistic sex – which is fine for a well formed mind that understands what sex can be like but for the youth of today who watch it before Disney Classics, the combination of both is teaching boys that it’s okay to be sexual masochists and it’s teaching girls that it’s normal to be treated this way. And it is not!

If that’s not a good enough example, how about that awful song “Blurred Lines” which I loved for years until I actually stopped and listened to the lyrics and was appalled at the horrific nature of the lyrics. The song effectively depicts a girl saying no in a club and a guy persisting to the point where she has to give in. Talk about predatory! To coin Shakespeare’s imagery an old ram and a young ewe. The point is that if we’re consciously and unconsciously exposed to these attitudes and viewpoints and there’s no counter argument, sexual liberation is going to get worse for the un liberated vagina.

Still not convinced? Think about Fifty Shades of Grey – granted, I’ve never read it but I get the concept. I’m guessing there’s not much about her sexual liberty and it’s more about the enjoyment in sadomasochism. Or take Tinder. I’m not anti the idea but I’m somewhat of a conversationalist and the question of a little small talk and establishing intent is somewhat desirable to all of this reduced to three letters ‘dtf’. You want my vagina for your own satisfaction because ‘you’re here for a good time, not a long time’ but you don’t even have the good manners to work me out!

So to round this first blog up, it’s quite simple. Boys, satisfy the vagina. Girls, if he’s not – call him on it! Listen to Lily Allen’s ‘Not Fair’ song. It pretty much sums it up but to get my point across, you can be the best person in the world but if you’re not loving that clit or making her cum then you are a sexual misogynist!