#and this is after the reminder in the previous episode or so that parallel worlds exist

[bread-making-vikings]

Pacing myself to one Magnus protocol episode a day but aaaaaa I need to Know

[ghostofthepresent]

Why I think Shiguang can be canonically read as romantic

(I will only be using the donghua for reference, so no Studio Lan retweeting those fanarts (lmao) nor those especially gay manhwa panels (lmao x2) nor even the songs ("chase you to the end of the world, just to say your name once more" my beloved).

It's important to start off by saying that I'm aware Director Li said they ended up not making Lu Guang a girl because they didn't want romance to be seen as a must in Shiguang's relationship by the audience (and because he feels that "bros can have a good heart-to-heart connection with each other"). In my opinion that was a great move since it allows more freedom with how they write them than they'd have otherwise. I also think viewing Shiguang as queerplatonic is a great read too and it doesn't diminish their love for each other nor the importance of their relationship at all.

With that said, despite Director Li's words, there's been things that had me going 🤨 as someone who likes to adhere to canon relationships and read into the writer's intentions, so I wanted to share why I personally see them as romantic.

EPISODE 2

We've all seen this coming, right? Most obvious parallel ever, and in the second episode no less. We all know the similarities between both relationships, so I will just touch on those I consider the most important ones.

Lin Zhen and Yu Xia have gone to college together, and since then decided to start a business of their own - named after a mix of their names. They've been shown as being really close and having no romantic relationships. Lin Zhen also says that Yu Xia's happiness is her own, and then it's shown to us that she's gone through years of unhappiness just for Yu Xia. I believe you can replace their names with Lu Guang's and Cheng Xiaoshi's in your head without me writing all this again. And I'm not even going to get into the most obvious parallels like the special noodle recipe for each pair.

I think it's safe to say that Lin Zhen and Yu Xia are implied to be romantic. From that "one noodle" scene, to the close shot of Lin Zhen grabbing her hand, etc.

Now, I want to get into a writer's point of view and pose two questions:

1. What's the purpose of this episode, when even those which seem episodic connect to the overarching plot of season 1 (even the missing kid's case, as it leads to the involvement with the police)?

2. If we answer the previous question with the conclusion that it's meant to show us the nature/development of Cheng Xiaoshi's and Lu Guang's relationship, what does that say about it?

"Partner" in Link Click

Continuing with episode 2, what really got me thinking about the romantic intentions in their writing was the constant mention of marriage and anything in relation to it.

(may I remind everyone that the driver's comment was said when Cheng Xiaoshi was complaining about Lu Guang lmao)

They're telling us through "show don't tell" (for example, when Lin Zhen kept on eating the noodle despite knowing they'd kiss) and, also, connotations. They are presented to us as business partners, but then the entire episode goes on to tell us that there's more to them by tying their relationship to things percived as romantic. So what they want to really tell us is that beyond simple business partners, they're life-long partners.

And then, after establishing this kind of connotation to the word partner, Cheng Xiaoshi says this to Lu Guang in the next episode:

This doesn't stop at them. While it's the most obvious example, I think partnership in Link Click is intended to be seen as romantic, or at the very least dancing somewhere close to it. Let's go even further and take a look at our fully canon, heterosexual relationships and see briefly how their story is written:

1. Dong Yi and Xu Shanshan: both of them chose the comfort of each other's presence over moving on with their respective futures. Dong Yi had so much faith in their relationship and their love that he couldn't choose a life/future that didn't have Xu Shanshan - choosing to not go back to his family home nor go to that interview, and instead waiting for Xu Shanshan to define their relationship.

2. Liu Siwen and Ouyang: Siwen spent his entire life training with the purpose of getting his father-in-law's respect and marry Ouyang, going every year over and over to fight him. His perseverance and his undying love for her allowed Siwen to do the (seemingly) impossible.

3. Chen Bin and his wife: they're a tragedy. His wife understood Chen Bin the best, enduring feeling lonely because she loved him and wanted a future with him. But their relationship was cut short, so they promised each other to be together in a future life to make up for the time they wouldn't be in this one.

With this + the pictures I attached, it seems like Link Click has set this theme of "love is a life with you" for its romantic relationships, a partner that will fight to stay because they can't see a future that doesn't have their beloved. Going back to episode two, this applies even to the noodle ladies. When Yu Xia remembered what actually matters to her, she went back home - to the start, to her hometown. And, most importantly, to Lin Zhen.

So why is Shiguang romantic? Why aren't they queerplatonic, or just best friends, or bros or whatever else? Because besides what I said at the start of the previous paragraph, Shiguang's relationship mirrors a lot of the romantic ones. Each story and author writes romance and other kinds of relationships differently, portraying them in the way they perceive "this is what this kind of love is like". And beyond life-long partners, I think that the key elements of romantic relationships in Link Click are the ones I highlighted in bold above in the 3 canon relationships part - which Shiguang shares, too.

(I didn't mention this before with the het couples, but I find it a little amusing that season 2 happened because a man wanted to go to the past and get his wife back (still fuck you Qian Jin) and then we find out Lu Guang did go back to the past and got his boyfriend partner back lmao).

"Friend" vs "Partner"

So where is the boundary between platonic and romantic? What marks the difference between a (best) friend and a partner?

There is, for example, Liu Xiao and Li Tianchen's relationship. They aren't shown to have any kind of romantic undertones and there's even the very real possibility of manipulation on Liu Xiao's side. They're also never labeled as nor call each other partners, but instead Li Tianchen says he "met a new friend" and Liu Xiao says he's "going to meet an old friend" years later. So we could say for now that they have a somewhat close relationship (we see Li Tianchen go against Qian Jin to give the phone to Liu Xiao), but never cross that "friend" label.

We can even bring Qiao Ling and the boys' relationship. She's never labeled as a partner despite taking part in the side job and, more importantly, being super close to both of them. She is very important and a cherished friend to Shiguang, so why not call her partner too? I think it's intentional. Since she's been given a familial role already (calling Cheng Xiaoshi her brother when talking to Li Tianxi), she can't fill a partner role. I wonder why? because it's supposed to be a synonym for a romantic relationship. who said that.

So even best friends (Qiao Ling, arguably what Liu Xiao is to Li Tianchen) don't enter this close space that is being a partner. It's different, it's beyond platonic. Or at least that's what they've been showing us for the past two seasons.

I could go soo much more into this honestly, because I do think the little hints thrown here (the music videos) and there (tiny seemingly inconsequential details) are worth to be looked at too, but I wanted to get into the core reason that makes me go "woah so they're In Love fr". I hope I expressed myself well ^^

tldr; the series shows us a divide between having a (best) friend and a partner, giving "partners" romantic connotations.

[ecargmura]

Dandadan Episode 11 Review - Jiji Goes Hehe

In a previous review, I did mention that Momo is the Shounen MC, but female, Okarun is the heroine, but male, and Aira is the rival, but female. The new character Jin Enjoji, or Jiji, joins in the reverse shounen story gender tropes as the fourth angle of the growing love square. Usually in shounen stories, there would be several girls who develop a crush on the MC, ranging from various types. For example, if Momo was male, Okarun would be the shy girl in love with the male MC and Jiji would be the girl that’s the total opposite of the shrinking violet. That’s essentially how Jiji is introduced throughout the episode—the total opposite of Okarun and a possible love interest for her. Don’t worry, though. Momo only has eyes for our male heroine.

Speaking of Jiji, he’s certainly…an interesting character. From a general standpoint, he’d be a divisive character, but for me, I find him hilarious. He’s entertaining, but doesn’t seem to go too overboard. He sort of reminds me of Kei from Oblivion Battery but less obnoxious. While he likes to clown around, Jiji does know when to shut up and not make a joke of everything like how he explained his situation to Momo about how the house he moved into was cursed and caused his parents to be hospitalized and how going to five different spirit mediums caused three of them to end their lives. He’s staying at the Ayase’s because Seiko is a spirit medium and is someone he’s acquainted with. The only downside is that Seiko’s not the one going to exorcise the cursed spirit; that’s Momo’s job. Haha, typical shounen MC mentor laziness.

Jiji probably means well, but he definitely is a source of emotional conflict for Okarun in this episode. Throughout the episode, he starts feeling jealous of Jiji as he’s everything he’s not and the fact that Momo used to have a crush on him back in elementary school. He was worried about whether Momo would want to spend more time with Jiji and not with Okarun because of his good looks and entertaining personality, but also failed to see that Momo doesn’t really care about a guy’s looks and that she was already over him a long time ago. The incident with Taro helps Okarun realize that he’s in love with Momo. I really did like the parallels of how Taro fell for Hana and related it to him. The day Momo stepped in to help Okarun from being bullied was when his gray world became full of color. It feels poetic in a way.

Regarding the animation, I can see why Science Saru was THE studio for Dandadan. The reason is because I don’t think other animation studios can animate Jiji’s movements as fluidly as they can. Jiji is a very bombastic character—he moves around A LOT and is also expressive. You need a studio capable of handling all that movement without missing a beat and is able to handle his expressions too without stock footages. I also loved the moment where they were running after Taro. It was really nice to look at.

Did I mention Dandadan has good voice actors? Because it does! Jiji is voiced by Kaito Ishikawa and he does an AMAZING job with him. Like, I know Ishikawa has a history of voicing comedic characters, but Jiji is practically an amalgamation of all of his comedic voice acting and taking it up a step further because of that experience. Not only that, this is the second time I’ve watched an anime where Kaito Ishikawa and Natsuki Hanae have interactions! The first was where both played the leads of my favorite anime of all-time, The Case Study of Vanitas and the second is Demon Slayer’s third season where Ishikawa voiced one of Hantengu’s clones (the green one) that attacked Tanjiro. In addition, in English, Jiji is voiced by Aleks Le! He’s clearly a rising star in the voice acting world as he’s been getting good roles in both games and in anime! If you’re not familiar with him, he’s the ENG VA of Sung Jinwoo from Solo Leveling! Though, his first major role was the comedic Zenitsu from Demon Slayer, so it does feel as if he’s going back to his roots of being comic relief. I quite like Aleks a lot, so I am a bit biased in my opinion of his acting. Also, Taro is voiced by Tomokazu Sugita and Hana is voiced by Fumi Hirano. They’re both veterans and the casting still amazes me.

Other than that, there are some small details in this episode I liked like Seiko giving Jiji more food every time he compliments her, Muko standing up for Okamomo and Okarun organizing his shoes and placing them in the corner before chasing after Momo and Jiji. These sort of small details really give life to the story and to the characters!

But yeah, that’s it for this review. The Dandadan fandom has been a war zone ever since the beginning of December due to all this art and racial drama that does feel a little too overblown. I won’t get into much about it as YouTubers talk about it more concisely than I can ever possibly do. Since then, it has been a mess, but I did my best to not get too involved in the drama and just ignore it as much as I could. Speaking of which, this is the penultimate episode! It’s crazy how Dandadan is finished next week! It feels like a waste because I want more! I hope that they announce a second season! What are your thoughts on this episode?

[couldpolyamorysavethem]

ELIZABETH BURKE, PETER BURKE, and NEAL CAFFREY from WHITE COLLAR

Justification:

"okay listen this might already be in the queue but i sincerely believe the last three seasons of the show would've gone in a completely different direction if peter got that last little push away from his bullshit cop behaviour by neal pulling some grand romantic gesture for him + el. like, come on man, you've already come to peace with legality not being the same as morality after you ran all those cons and let neal cut and run, but he's so convinced the ONLY way to do good in the world is being an fbi agent that he like, actively makes things worse for neal (AND HIMSELF? AND ELIZABETH?) over and over again just so he can preserve the status quo of neal being his CI + while peter's an active field agent. would kissing about his devotion to their dynamic and neal's rehabilitation and peter's complicity in neal's dehumanisation by the state solve that? maybe not! but considering the alternative is neal fucking dying (he got better) about it i think we should give it a shot!

that previous paragraph was more or less me preaching to the choir wrt this relationship but still here's my pitch:

neal is essentially already the third in elizabeth + peter's marriage, with how much he lives in peter's brain during pre-series sequences, how INVESTED he is in their relationship (reminding peter of anniversaries), and then IN the actual series that only increases when he's coming around to their place all the time

each pair within this trio have supporting but distinct relationships w one another that they all benefit from (and they often need the support of all three dynamics to get through Issues™)

that one episode where peter ends up on the run w another fbi agent and neal gets paired up with that guy's CI, and there's just an unbelievable amount of parallels between the two pairs and their relationship, even after its established that those two are in a romantic relationship and peter and neal 'aren't'. like peter says he'd go to neal first if he was ever in trouble LIKEEE

fucking everything about the run up to the finale of season 2 where we hear over and over again that the only two ways conmen end up are with 'one last score' (which inevitably leads to the next, because they can't help themselves), or going to prison. OR, the 'true love' option, where an ex-conman is able to genuinely settle down and go straight (more or less). this 'secret third option' is literally even spelled out to us IN an episode about a trio of thieves (byron june and ford) who meant the world to each other!

neal uses the engagement ring he was GOING to give to his TEXTUAL 'true love' in order to pay for peter's ransom that one time and isn't even cut up about it??

also like the episode before that neal and peter switch identities (very well) and neal acts like elizabeth's wife, and the only issue peter (or anyone) has with it is that he's also committing the crime of impersonating a federal agent.

season three finale where peter asks why neal didn't run when he just got the score of his life and the first thing he says is 'you, elizabeth', before listing literally anything else. INCLUDING HIS CURRENT ROMANTIC INTEREST?

also the scene before that where neal immediately folds from his season long cat and mouse game with peter and hiding the treasure because elizabeth's in danger! and peter only believes he's not lying abt any of it bc it's elizabeth!

that one shot in the pilot where neal and elizabeth look up at peter and you can so clearly see he has a type.

literally everything about elizabeth + neal's interactions in s1. get you a girl who sneaks you into her house past dozens of fbi agents so you can talk to your handler personally about being framed for a crime that she has no reason to suspect you didn't do other than believe in your and her husband's relationship!

im losing track of my argument at this point. anyway can someone please knock peter upside the head with some kind of bi awakening for the love of god this homoerotic 'partners' situation has an unbelievably high body count not to mention all the violation of civil liberties and frankly you could've all moved to paris and started a detective agency YEARS ago and this show would become slice of life" - @time-is-restored

[edgybutnotveryedgy]

ok, so I've been rewatching everything that has been released in order, and I have many thoughts on that, but for now we'll focus on el toro de piedra.

so first of all this bastard

undoubtedly this is Chrysalis. Previously I had my doubts that there was multiple people behind the persona of Chrysalis, but now I'm certain there must be. Not that Lila cannot look this snazzy, but I'm certain this is a guy. They have a very masculine build from the little we see. There was also the person in Sublimation who also seemed to have a more masculine build.

Initially I had my doubts, because the clothes are kinda baggy, so an argument could be made that this is just Lila wearing baggy clothes. I also thought that the clothes remind me of Aglea's clothes, and I am certain (especially after watching the episodes in their release order) that Aglea is Lila's new disguise. It fits her MO in that she is someone who everyone wants to protect, and she interjects herself into the group right when is most convenient, but also she is hardly seen otherwise. Biggest difference is that she realizes now that she can't reveal herself so she's not trying to provoke Marinette, as well as she's not going crazy with the lies.

Initially I thought that her jacket looked very similar to the one in the previous image, so I assumed that perhaps they were the same, but now I'm not so sure. (especially considering the person in the previous image is wearing blue jeans, and Aglea is wearing dark greyish purple tights.)

I want to propose the possibility that the person seen in El Toro de Piedra and Sublimation is perhaps this bastard

Ray.

I don't have much of a reason to suspect him beyond vibes and his fabulous hair. idk. maybe i'm just wrong but i want to be right because it would be so funny.

I also kinda suspect him because his voice kinda sounds like the masculine voice that speaks at the same time as Lila's voice. I may be completely wrong about this, especially because the second voice i'm not even sure if it is fully masculine? in english it sounds slightly androgynous but in french and Portuguese it sounds masculine. I really have no idea.

moving on, I loved the song, and I loved the parallels between Adrien, Ivan and Julika, with how they each have their own issues with their respective fathers. Julika just learning who her father is less then a year ago, Ivan refusing to become his father, and Adrien not knowing who his father really was. Each of them feeling like they have to live up to their fathers expectations, and the dramatic irony that Marinette is hiding the letter from Gabriel so Adrien never know what his father's expectations really were of him. Especially with the ending of how we learn that Nathalie also has a father who has high expectations of her, and the question being if she will live up to those expectations or if she'll follow what Ivan did and stand against him and do what is right.

small aside, this season really seems to be laying it on hard with the father stuff. showing what a good father is (Sabrina's dad), and what a bad father is (Ivan's dad) etc, and how that effects the characters. I can't help but wonder if TA has some sort of daddy issues he's working out through fiction writing? jkjk, but I do think it is an interesting theme.

on another note,

this was severely disappointing. Like you can hardly tell they're kissing! what the heck? are you scared of the censor's in other countries or something? what happened to that courage at the end of season 5? i know i should be happy because this is the first time my miraculous otp had an on screen kiss, but this was very disappointing and i'm kinda mad about it. LET THE GIRLS KISS YOU COWARDS!

anyways, then there's this

so we know the diamond was gabriel, "the machine" is undoubtedly Tomoe Tsurugi since she's going on about the new world blah blah blah, and we know the wheat is Monsieur Sancoeur. I'm curious about who the other's are. i bet that Audrey is one of them, not sure who she is though. I'm also starting to wonder if the people who were saying there was a bunch of rich people making designer babies was right. I do not think that chloe would have been a senti, but maybe zoe? especially since we still don't know who her father is, much like Kagami.

much to think about.

[electronickingdomfox]

"The Cry of the Onlies" review

Novel from 1989, by Judy Klass. A merely adequate entry, that touches upon the basics of your standard TOS episode: a complicated political situation which Kirk must resolve, a battle in space against a rogue ship, Klingons, a plot centered around Kirk with a bit of Spock and Bones, a hint of romance between Kirk and female guest character (here very subtle), etc. It's entertaining but doesn't offer a lot as a novel. Not bad, not great. The best part is probably the vivid description of the planet at hand, Boaco Six, and the details about its culture and history. The plot also serves as a sequel to episodes "Miri" (with a surprisingly dark outcome) and "Requiem for Methuselah" (with a happier resolution, and some fleshing out of the character of Flint). Contrary to what the title would suggest, I didn't find the "onlies" so central to the plot.

A pretty Kirk-centric story, Spock doesn't have a very big role in it, other than solving a problem with his customary mind-meld. McCoy, though, has some good scenes as he tells the Prime Directive to fuck off, while helping injured and sick natives with his more advanced medicine. He also tells to fuck off to some rich bitch who's visiting the planet as a "poverty tourist". Tamara Angel, the young leader of Boaco Six, serves as the "woman-of-the-week" for the story, but this time wearing guerrilla fatigues and showing a strong, idealistic personality.

Some spoilers under the cut:

The first half is slow-paced, but still interesting, as Kirk and his landing party visit the planet of Boaco Six, which has severed its ties with the Federation after a revolution against the corrupt older regime. There's a thinly veiled parallelism between Boaco Six and the developing countries in real world, which fell alternatively into the USA or USSR orbits (here, the Federation vs. the Klingon/Romulan empires). In particular, the young, rebellious leaders of Boaco Six remind a lot to figures like Che Guevara. In this case, the Federation's portrayal is less than flattering, as it turned a blind eye towards the corruption of previous dictators, for commercial benefits with the planet. And this is something that Kirk is trying to amend with his diplomatic mission to the planet. The story offers a nice examination of the Boacan culture and society through Kirk, Spock and McCoy's respective investigations. Including the horrors of the previous regime and the civil war. Nonetheless, the planet is showing encouraging signs of going into a good direction.

Problems begin in the second half, after a rogue ship (apparently of Federation design) destroys the ships of both a Boacan minister and the ambassador from the neighbouring planet. Suspecting foul play from the Federation, the leaders of Boaco Six decide to trust the Klingons and Romulans instead. And all of Kirk's efforts to smooth relations seem going to waste. As it turns out, the rogue ship is actually a Starfleet prototype, equipped with a revolutionary cloaking device, designed by none other than the immortal Flint (from "Requien for Methuselah"). I found a bit strange that the reclusive Flint would want to collaborate with Starfleet. And even stranger that this is apparently public knowledge. But okay...

This new ship has been stolen by a crazed Jahn (the weird boy from "Miri") and a couple other "onlies", while it was stationed in their planet. And there's more trauma for Kirk, as he discovers that his mission to Miri's planet was anything but successful. The Federation experts sent to take care of the onlies were abusive and manipulative with the children (even using a modified version of the chair from "Dagger of the Mind" on them), and this made Jahn highly unstable and dangerous. The onlies are now in a desperate escape, and destroying any ship that comes their way, afraid of everyone and everything.

Thus, it's up to Kirk to stop the carnage, clear the name of the Federation in the Boacan incident, and save the children if possible. Flint agrees to help, cracking his own impenetrable cloaking device, and in the process, his story and that of the onlies entwine in a moving resolution.

Spirk Meter: 7/10*. Though infrequent, there seems to be a lowkey K/S shipping from this author. Spock is said to be very on edge and worried whenever Kirk's in trouble, something that it's explained by his empathy with the Captain due to their mind-melds. A great deal is also made of Spock erasing Kirk's memories of Rayna. When McCoy asks him why he did so, Spock can't answer. And later, Spock confesses to Kirk in an awkward scene, with echoes of the biology talk in "Amok Time". Kirk takes the erasure surprisingly well, though, as "there was only one soul in the universe who Kirk trusted enough, from whom he could accept such news without anger or protest". It's also said that "what the stiff and clumsy instruments of language could not express was understood between them. What was not understood was felt."

Less obvious, there's a bit of McKirk as well. McCoy is pained by the reappearance of Flint in Kirk's life, and the damage this could do to the already troubled Captain. His outburst against Spock at the end of "Requiem" is explained by his frustration and worry, seeing Kirk so depressed and Spock so aloof about it. At the end, there's an intimate scene between Kirk and McCoy in the ship's observatory, where they drink together and discuss Kirk's loneliness as a starship captain, and how he must leave every girl behind... Perhaps McCoy is offering himself as an alternative?

On the other hand, Spock and McCoy's relationship is very confrontational in this book. They don't seem to do anything but argue, though Spock confides in McCoy to keep his secret about Rayna's memories.

*A 10 in this scale is the most obvious spirk moments in TOS. Think of the back massage, "You make me believe in miracles", or "Amok Time" for example.

[shallowseeker]

hi shal!

re dean being willing to sacrifice jack... for me the throughline there is dean feeling powerless with things "above his paygrade." forgive that this is gonna be a bit long and rambling. but like as early as 1.04, we see dean being kind of overwhelmed by the more Cosmic nature of tackling a demon vs ghosts etc. and in season 4, he is so disbelieving that he is somehow equipped to stop the apocalypse. in 11.21 when he's desperately trying to get chuck's help with amara, he says, "Look, give me a – a vampire, and I'm good. But this – God's sister? That is way above my pay grade. I - It - Bottom line is i-it's you who has to take her out." this also ties a little bit into 2.18; he doesn't want to be in charge, he just wants to be part of a team.

it also reminds me of 15.06 - the episode dean spends in pajamas and reading off cereal boxes and acting kinda superficially silly. that episode always reminds me of the silly little jokes dean tries to crack in 1.20 after john comes back, while dean is trying to happily fall back into the good little soldier routine. and who do they find out isnt actually gone in 15.05? chuck. in both these instances, i think dean is dealing with feeling entirely powerless and hemmed in on all sides. so might as well crack a joke. dean is, i think, very very aware of his powerlessness in a world of supernatural creatures - e.g "i've never had powers" from 9.06.

15.05

DEAN: Without the gun? It’s God, Sam. And he’s coming for us. How the hell are we supposed to fight God?

5.17

DEAN: Angel world, angel rules, man.

so how does this tie back to jack? well the throughline there, i think, is billie. in s14 billie tells dean that there is only one way to stop michael and he believes her so firmly. even when jack kills michael, i dont think dean decides from that that billie was wrong. i think he sees all the consequences of jack's choice and it reaffirms for him that billie was right that any other choice about michael would result in a huge amount of damage. so when billie explains the plan about jack stopping chuck, i honestly think dean just believes that's the only way. and more than that, that he is just not equipped to change it. i mean its similar to his attitude in 14.20 when chuck tells him jack will destroy the world. and dean is devastated and also like... doesn't know what else to do but listen.

dean is resistant to authority figures and he is stubborn and gutsy... to a point. but there are times when shit gets so big and the powers at play feel so beyond him that he really doesn't know what else he can do. and though i think he would always, always rather sacrifice himself, that's not what's being offered to him.

idk sorry for the ramble and feel free to ignore but this is my understanding of his headspace.

Rambling always welcome. :-) Oh, yes, I agree with you. I think actually the 15x06 Golden Time *script goes out of i's way to describe Dean as fatalistic, overhwlemed, grief-stricken, and defeated. *My pet parallel is that season 15 Dean is in the same position as early-seasons Cas, losing faith in trusted foundations and, more importantly, in his self. He doesn't trust his own ability to change things!

And yes, Dean (and Cas and Sam) give up all the time! I think a nice way to look at is that, time and time again, it is the sharing of support that allows people to pick themselves up from their respective ashes.

Dean is wonderfully, honestly human. I personally think that the natural evolution of season 15 would be that it is Dean's previous grace towards others that "pays it forward" for his own recovery.

I.E. He's given grace and emotional support to others so often that his loved ones are finally going to return that grace ten-fold, understanding his psychological wound and helping him through it.

[catcherwrites]

TDP S7E3 Rewatch (feat. my commentary)

Janai and Amaya! It’s been a while and I missed you queens <3

You think the soldiers wanted to prank the traitors? They looked so serious

Queens of Mercy, Janai must really take after her grandmother (SIDE NOTE, THIS REMINDED ME OF SOMETHING ELSE I’LL TALK ABOUT IT AT THE END)

I feel like we’re in a weird grey area with Janaya + Gren. Janai seems confident reading sign language in private conversations with Amaya, so why does Gren interpret when it’s just the three of them? I know it’s for the audience’s sake but I have to wonder if they’ll change things up for Arc 3

Oof the smash cut to Ezran slamming that elf figurine on the table. The first time I saw this scene I was blown away by the return of the bloodthirsty elf imagery from S1

Ez seems far angrier about Callum’s betrayal than Rayla’s, likely because he understands they’re both choosing to prioritise their own dads

“You’re the bread” oh my god the way Soren pouts when Corvus glares

Claudia’s nose-finger-move! Her glee is infectious! I love character quirks in animation!

Aanya and Ezran’s friendship is so important in this season <3

When I watched S7 the first time, I got to this scene and immediately picked up on Miyana’s pregnancy, but I need to shoutout Gren for his reaction because, same buddy

The whole Garden of Innocents is GORGEOUS

Terry having the same reaction to dark magic as S1-2 Soren was a big hint as to what direction his arc would go

The Mage Wars backstory was nice to see!

Claudia and Aaravos’ dynamic is so…intriguing this season. I’m very torn between finding it endearing and disturbing how quickly they grew attached to each other

“My child will avenge me” a not-so-subtle parallel to Harrow and Viren in S2 (“it’s name will be vengeance!”)

God Rena’s voice acting in this scene was really great

Soren shielding Ezran alert!

I can’t help but wonder if a fire ruby would’ve contained enough sun magic to fuel the spell Viren cast to save Duren/Katolis? If there’s another world where Aanya’s parents were honest about Duren’s secret, and none of the queens died?

Janai laying down the law was brutal, but reasonable considering what’s happened

Overall thoughts:

This was one of my ‘meh’ episodes from my first S7 viewing, and honestly? My opinion hasn’t changed much since. It feels like a middle child caught between True Heart and Unfinished Business. There’s a lot of really interesting lore developments and character interactions that left me theorising and analysing previous seasons. It’s still a good episode, but it’s just…good (if that makes sense).

Now, the thing I was reminded of, was a theory I’d had in the lead up to S7 regarding Aaravos, Aditi, and Kim’dael. Basically, I had this idea that 300 years ago, Kim’dael offered her loyalty to Aaravos if he could kill Aditi as revenge for her mercy bind (since she couldn't do it herself). For Aaravos, taking Aditi off the board and gaining Kim'dael's services was a two birds-one stone situation, so he did it, not realising that choice would cost him his freedom. I was going into this season imagining Kim’dael making an appearance as a lieutenant for Aaravos and a mentor figure to Claudia.

I don’t know, it felt like a cool idea and I can’t believe I forgot about it until I heard the soldiers calling Janaya the Queens of Mercy

[canonmisogynyvictimstournament]

PROPAGANDA

IS (KAMEN RIDER 01)

1.) You know it's bad when the main female character is both an android built to serve humans and a secretary for the CEO of the android company. That girl is going to spend her entire life justifying the actions of a 20-something year old male CEO as he makes questionable decisions. Like that one movie where the androids become sentient and go "hey, wait, we'd like to be paid a fair wage for our labour!" and she comes out to convince them that no. No they don't. You see, 20-something year old CEO says you should LIKE doing labour for free and whatever he says goes. So she's just going to. Help him convince her race to go back to doing unpaid labour. For bosses that have been shown throughout the show to be abusive. Sometimes even killing their androids. Because a guy wants her to do that. Anyway, SPOILERS; at the end of the show she sacrifices herself for the Good Of Everyone. What does the CEO do? He replaces her with a new one. Just. Makes another android exactly like her. It's meant to be this emotional scene where he tells her about the previous Is but. That's not her. He just. He replaced her. This woman literally just got replaced.

AMBER VOLAKIS (HOUSE MD)

1.) Holy shit thank you for reminding me about Amber. Her nickname that almost everyone calls her to her face every day is Cutthroat Bitch. When she & Wilson start dating there are so so so many jokes about her keeping his balls in her purse & having him whipped & etc etc just bc she’s assertive & confident. & then the whole two-part episode where they fridge her (which is. not quite house’s fault directly but he definitely contributed to it) they make it completely about house & wilson & maybe 2% about HER. I’m still mad forever

2.) After being fridged, she does show up in later seasons! As a hallucination. She shows back up to be the devil on House’s shoulder when he is hurtling towards a vicodin-induced breakdown. Literally only shows up to steer him into making bad decisions (including almost killing Chase (allergic to strawberries) by inviting him to a party where the stripper is wearing strawberry scented lotion that sends him into anaphylaxis)

3.) im so glad someone else submitted amber because she fits so well for this poll but i couldnt get my words out right but im going to try again anyway. i think an important aspect of how ambers character is treated and written for the audience has to do with if a man did what she did, hed be opportunistic and ambitious, if not a bit of an ass, but because shes doing it it makes her 'bitchy'. "cutthroat bitch" "coldhearted bitch" etc is practically her canon alias at this point by how much she is referred to that way rather than her name. she is probably the most humanized out of wilson's canon relationships and its mostly because theyre paralleling her to house. she deserved so much better she deserved the world and more

[erraticopeninghours]

Crowley and Aziraphale's Argument #1

Thoughts on 1.11: Crowley and Aziraphale’s argument 

I know that European countries tend to be small, and Britain is also small, but in my mind, Dartmoor is not that far away from London! 

If something terrible is going to happen to Gabriel, driving him up to Dartmoor does not seem like a very effective solution. 

(I also wasn’t sure if it was going to come up or not, but Dartmoor always reminds me of The Hound of the Baskervilles, so I was on the lookout for that throughout the rest of the season.  *ACD Sherlock spoilers ahead* Nothing huge came to mind, but I would like to point out that The Hound was the first story published after The Final Problem, so it was almost like getting a Season 2 for a novel published in 1990.  And just the fact that The Hound is not the problem/antagonist of the story, but other people are!  Which isn’t exactly a parallel, but I feel like matches this season if you squint!  Because in the end, the main problem / conflict is not the dangers posed by Heaven and Hell;  it’s the effects and costs of connections, of relationships between people: Beelzebub and Gabriel, Nina and Maggie, and - of course - Crowley and Aziraphale!) 

I know it comes up repeatedly throughout the season, but I adore how much of an issue Crowley takes with Gabriel’s attempted murder / execution of Aziraphale! 

I also don’t have anything new to add, but the “carved it out for ourselves” line! GAH! 

Also, the whole bit about the “exactlies.”  Even when they’re arguing and the stakes are relatively high, they are both such dorks, and I love that about them.  It is a fantastic demonstration of their mutual incompetence. 

I would also like to recognize Aziraphale’s character growth, even if he may or may not revert to other strategies later.  (Progress is not linear!)  I am so proud of him for being so direct in what he wanted and in explicitly asking for Crowley’s help (with the acknowledgment that Crowley - at least, theoretically - can say no.)  Like, “you're at liberty to go,” “No, I would love you to help me,” “I’m asking you to help me take care of him,” But if you won’t, you won’t.”  I’m not saying that Aziraphale was not still angling for what he wanted / trying to persuade Crowley to see things his way, but I do feel like this is a lot more direct than what we’ve heard from Aziraphale in Season 1 and the Lockdown video. 

“You’re on your own” was so painful, even though I didn’t expect it to last long.  (But I also didn’t expect the end of Season 2…) It reminded me of “we’re on our own side” which Crowley technically says in the preceding episode.  And like, yes, the precious, peaceful, fragile existence is important and, dare I say, nice.  But what about Our Side? 

Lastly, I would like to point out that when Crowley was faced with a similar situation, he did not abandon the loosely innocent and helpless being his side fobbed off to him.  When Hell gave Crowley the Antichrist, he thought about simply tossing “the basket” away, but he didn't.  And some of that was because he was still officially working for Hell and hadn’t semi-retired yet, but I also believe that a good part of that was because Crowley is firmly against killing kids (human, quasi-human, or goat.)  Instead, Crowley hatched a scheme that involved him and Aziraphale watching over the Antichrist as godfathers while they both knew that the fate of the entire world (in theory) depended on their success and that failure would mean an end to their current versions of existence.  They had less knowledge about the terrible thing that could happen to Gabriel, but I feel like there is precedence for Aziraphale's attempt to convince Crowley to help this random, not entirely welcome being together as they desperately work to prevent future Bad Things from occurring. 

(previous) (next)

[sindar-princeling]

all right here we go, s2 finale thoughts!

you know a subplot was useless when they don't even summarise it in the 'previously on' in the season finale (cough nori cough)

"it's not our mountain, father, you taught me that", "with these rings, it could be" - great microcosm of what dwarves are like as a race, how much they love the stone and all its richness (I'm reminded of gimli's monologue about aglarond) vs how the rings twist that, how they will always, always make you want to make things your own and control them

this pretty much confirms that showing the balrog at the end of season one was more fan service than anything else, since they left it for the whole season to come back to it in a finale again

also I kinda don't get saying "don't compare rop to pj's movies" when they clearly reference them All The Time. this show WANTS to be compared to the movies. the balrog has the literal same design, and it's a movies-only design

the balrog clawing at the stone looked cool, it made it crumble so easily, nice way to show how powerful it is even without any weapon

waaayyyyy too action movie-y for my tastes, but I think the visual effects on the durin's bane looked really good

how do you close a subplot that took all of 30 minutes of the whole season? let's find out

"pity will not defeat sauron" and then it did! I wish they made more references like this, less direct quotes that bring nothing and more connections to the world that will come later

"or would you seek to become his successor?" that's a very sudden and blunt thing to say 5 minutes after meeting him ajsjsjsjsjsns

many of the dark wizard and the stranger's interactions rely solely on the basis of the audience assuming this is saruman. but for the characters this conversation is pretty out of pocket

also like..... they clearly want us to think this is saruman. but he can't turn out to be evil so quickly because in LOTR gandalf considers him an ally. so I kinda can't see this working out. (if it turns out later that this is Pallando or Alatar they should have given him a much more distinct design and MO)

The Political Conflict Subplot should not be this boring

"one does not need eyes to lead in the dark" WHO wrote that

the shot with galadriel leading those elves was not well choreographed in my opinion

sauron torturing celebrimbor is such an important event in this story and they made it....... sauron shooting at him from a bow from like 10 meters away????? god

however, celebrimbor all bloody and with like 5 arrows in him managing to stand up and say "hear me!" was awesome

if they wanted to drop a "lord of the rings' after saying sauron is their prisoner, it would have sounded better if it was said more tauntingly or like celebrimbor was scoffing at him

charles edwards was great though

that dialogue between theo and isildur was impressively strange and messy given how short it was. what does important things happening in middle earth have to do with isildur grieving his mother?

isildur has the most useless subplots this season i swear to god

WHO are they teasing here with Adar's original name. do I dare ask

I know they're making it a parallel for sauron being killed in ep 1, but teasing a peace between galadriel and him only to kill him right after is extremely underwhelming. when will this show commit to the few interesting ideas it has

as I reread the points above it looks like I have much less patience for this bullshit today because normally I'm not THAT salty in these posts

orcs turning against adar was a good emotional moment though, at least from the orcs' side. you could tell they were hurt by his orders in the previous episode, by how easily he threw their lives away during battle

the sauron and galadriel fight has generic dialogue and its choreography is just. meh. I personally love less showy fight scenes that make it seem less "pretty", like they really require effort (what I want to say is, no-one fights better than viggo mortensen)

the switch to puppy eyed halbrand had me roll my eyes so hard I saw my throat. get this OUT of my sight STAT

the choreography just gets more and more bizarre

there are some truly strange shots in this fight, it doesn't look good

all the sauron and galadriel things make me want to throw myself out of my window, that scene was sooooooooo badly written and their chemistry is so weak and making her close her hand at the last moment looked like an unnecessary trick for show, it would have been better if she had to actually resist. GOD

elrond putting the ring on would have been more groundbreaking if he didn't spend a whole couple of episodes wearing it around his neck ajsjsjsjsns that counts as being a ringbearer, too, remember???

"and all anybody can do is try and build something new" this whole monologue didn't do much for me BUT this fragment juxtaposed with sauron holding feanors hammer and scheming (about making the one ring, one presumes) to "make something new" when his plan to get all rings failed, is really cool

it's hard to make this an emotional goodbye for nori and the stranger when they spent all of 7 minutes together on the screen this season

I don't like "tests" where you have to choose between two things but in the end get them both, it always feels a bit like cheating. also that whole talk about staffs finding their wizards is so annoying. feels like maiar are too powerful beings to be bound by things like that so much

I think they totally wasted and misunderstood the character that is bombadil but I'm glad they fit his song in the show, it was really nice to hear

did I completely forget about this brother of durin's or did they never mention him before?

okay I'm gonna reblog once more with general thoughts about the whole season - maybe later today, maybe tomorrow - but for now that's a wrap!

rop season 2 episode 1 thoughts

at this point you gotta admire the creators' dedication to absolutely bizarre choices when it comes to sauron. 15 minutes in I'm already going what the hell and fuck. like what was that supposed to be. genuinely

Charlie Vickers has grown on me; he still doesn't have much to work with in terms of the script or the plot though

this whole introductory sequence was there....... I'm not sure why? we could already extrapolate all that, and I mean All That, from the previous season

it still pisses me off that Galadriel is The Main Idiot and Everything Is Her Fault

also, I am reminded by all the plot and worldbuilding choices that annoyed me before. why is mithril important for the elves' survival again?

CIRDAN HIII CIRDAN <33333

I'm so glad they kept his beard

believe me, I AM trying to find things to like about this show, but the plot choices feel like so much unnecessary drama. Galadriel and Elrond fighting feels.... tiring. I feel like all Galadriel does is fight with people

oh are we getting Rhun?? 👀 Nice

this is a personal opinion but the elven women have wayyy too strong and modern-looking make-up

it's a shame galadriel gets the ring because she's power-hungry and reckless, not because she's one of the mightiest elves in middle-earth. she SHOULD be power-hungry, don't get me wrong, it's one of her best traits, but this way you don't put any sort of accent of how very important and mighty she is

sauron having a Badass Walk into mordor at the end of s1, which was a really cool shot to end a season on, only to then get himself in chains and then turn away and come back to Celebrimbor has got to be the most '???' moments of this show. they really have no idea what to do with him

overall I'd say my main gripe, apart from the plot solutions, is that this show doesn't have much to say. it's showy, it's lore-heavy (even if I don't like the lore they came up with), but so far it still has little heart and thought behind it. to me at least it doesn't feel like it really wants to tell you something

[trigun-archive]

Omg, I just realized something that’s not gonna add much to the narrative or if anyone has noticed it.

Here we go.

So basically in episode 12, Vash did his girlboss move of flinging himself and Nai over the ledge.

And as they’re falling, I noticed something:

To me, this reminds of the Yin Yang symbol:

Then I remember that one post where someone mentioned where Vash in episode 12 wore the colors of ‘evil’ (black and purple).

Knives wore the colors of ‘good’ (white and blue).

They’re polar opposites of one another.

And that got me thinking more in depth with their relation with Yin Yang.

Obviously everyone is familiar with two sides of the same coin. It’s the same idea with Yin Yang, they’re polar opposites but they complement each other.

As part of the Naruto fandom (*groans*, I know I know). But hear me out, lots of symbolism that is related to Naruto and Sasuke is their relation to the sun and moon respectively.

Naruto is the sun. The Yang per say, because he is bright, aggressive and masculine. His respective color is orange.

While Sasuke is the moon. The Yin, because he is with the shadows, silent and feminine. His respective color is purple.

If you read the Naruto manga, then you would see how much Kishimoto bashes your head in with their respective symbolism, it’s in the cover art, the parallelism in the panels. It even showed up as their respective symbols on their hands after the ceremony for the final battle.

Back to TriStamp.

I believe they put Knives as Yang. He is aggressive and very in your face with his conquests of taking back the Plants. He is very muscular, and it’s shown through his tight bodysuit.

Then they would put Vash as Yin. He is way less aggressive with his morals than his previous counterparts. Obviously he still has them, but he is less forthcoming. His entire character design has changed, as everyone says with his non-binary haircut.

But in certain scenes, he still has those broad shoulders and managed to lift a fucking ion cannon enough to break his prosthetic arm. So, my babygirl is still fucking strong, hmph.

It’s even mentioned that the director of TriStamp has said Vash is both the female and male lead.

Same thing with Sasuke, some Studio Perriot staff has stated that he is the heroine of the story.

Obviously Naruto and Sasuke’s relationship heavily implies they’re in love with each other and soulmate coded to the max.

(Ha, get it? Trigun MAXimum??)

(. . ., I’ll see myself out).

But they did a different relationship of Yin Yang:

Twins.

Knives wanted desperately Vash to be the ‘perfect’ version that he envisioned. Taking away Vash’s bodily autonomy.

Vash just wanted to have ‘love and peace’ in the world. He didn’t want to fight Knvies, but he would defend his loved ones.

Until during episode 12, when he was ready to go in guns blazing to take down Knives.

With the color palette of black and purple against Knives’s white and blue.

Purple is the combination of red and blue. Vash’s red jacket and part of Knives’s color palette.

But also in the end, when Vash wanted to shoot that cube up in the sky.

He still wanted to save his brother, even though Knives was rejecting it by reaching to the absolute power of the cube and what it would bring him and Plant kind.

An Icarus-esque trope per say.

But yeah, anyways, this was just a jumble of thoughts I had to immediately write this down.

[angryteapott]

A reflection on why the introductory episodes of Alchemy of Souls part 2 are putting me off so much, featuring mild spoilers:

(TLDR if you like AoS’s softer female lead as of part two ep two, I really think you’ll like the show Lighter & Princess even though it’s contemporary. Check it out!!)

To be honest, I think the reason I’m grumpy about the current direction is the exact reason other people are liking it. While both seasons lean into the salt and fat style of making entertainment (always tastes better with More), part one uses breakneck pacing and shenanigans as it’s flavoring (which I prefer) where part 2 is using wildly popular romance tropes.

IMO, part one’s buddy comedy feel suits AoS’s anachronistic hairstyles, fast and tone flopping dialogue (that part where naksu almost gives uk to the soul shifter and instead of going all angsty they have him go “hey!” never fails to crack me up) and balls to the wall world building. It’s a romance, but a romance of two people who are first and foremost partners in chaos and who treat their goals as seriously as they treat each other. While a lot of its elements are common fare for its wuxia roots (ie introducing a new technique, saying it’s impossible, and giving the MC a hack to do it anyways within 10 minutes), AoS part 1 makes itself feel fresh by not lingering on its own self importance but instead on how batshit, amoral and funny its main characters are for using duct tape power ups as they scrabble towards the finish line, all while delivering surprisingly solid character arcs that emotionally anchor the decisions about arbitrary magical problems. It reminds me of the first few episodes of sword snow stride if sword snow stride thought women were people. In other words, it’s an absolute banger.

And now part two has launched, the ostensibly darker finish. After the teasers I personally was hoping “darker” meant the same pedal to the metal feel while it treated itself less lightly. However thus far (although it’s early days), this season’s MSG seems to be “dark” id appeasing romance tropes . They’re leaning into the fairytale elements more, which could be fun, but with this comes a closed off ML/ wide eyed FL romance and resultant overwrought angst (FL in her rapunzel era! she cries defeated until he whisks away the boat!! Marriage of convenience!!! Uwu she’s too insecure to even try with the lantern :(!! “She’s my wife” FL starstruck moment 🤩!!!). Which I’m not against as a concept, by the way!! I mean I just devoured lighter and princess and that’s a whole cheesefest. But thus far naksu’s uncut sweetness makes the simultaneous attempts at chaotic hilarity not land for me, and it doesn’t really jive with the previous emotional knots driving character actions approach as much as it does an angsty arbitrary romantic drama. Case in point is the writing giving the actress very Naksu ACTIONS (entrap a strong husband at all costs!!!) while direction is likely what’s making her give the most calf eyed, spaced out performance as she does it, which barely even makes sense. She doesn’t look frustrated at all with her “mom” for trapping her, even though she plans on escaping (and wrecking the jin reputation and harming her “mom”) in the next scene? She’s desperate enough to say something as vicious as jang uk’s so alone that he should marry anyone willing, but with a soft, spineless tone? Sheltered rich girls can have a spine, just see Lighter & Princess! For me, the screenshot parallels people are posting are the real knife in the gut- why are season one’s expressions so good while season two’s are just slightly confused? The hair is still wacky, the world building’s still like swiss cheese, and everyone else is still trying to banter… and I’m supposed to be swept into this played straight disney princess routine? While people seem to be loving the love affair, I keep waiting for why I watched in the first place.

That said, Uk and the crown prince still have mad beef in a way that feels both emotionally honest and funny (CP’s reaction to the wraiths was exactly what that plot point needed to deflate its self importance), and evil guy fieri remains delightfully schemey. So maybe they’ll bring the magic back!! For now, everyone else seems to be eating up the tropes, so maybe I’ll just stay grumpy alone.

[j4gm]

TOGETHER AGAIN SPOILERS

A thread of lore, Easter eggs, episode connections, and background details from Adventure Time: Distant Lands: Together Again! Let me know if I missed anything! This is adapted from my original Twitter thread.

Keep reading ⬇️⬇️⬇️

1. I was expecting them to perhaps do a classic style title sequence for this episode, but I wasn't expecting them to straight up use the original title sequence. The only difference is this final screen saying "Distant Lands".

2. The background of the title cards is also the hill from the title sequence.

3. The ice cream having "50 flavours" and having an image of an enlightened soul is an obvious reference to the 50th Dead World as we see it later in the episode.

4. Continuing with the metaphor, the dirt in the ice cream could be a parallel to the fact that Jake's Nirvana actually wasn't perfect, because his inaction was allowing for injustice to perpetuate.

5. This whole scene feels immediately slightly off. Finn has his Scarlet sword and is out on a classic Ice King adventure, but he speaks in his grown voice and all the slang feels much more forced than it did in the real season one. Turns out this was deliberate.

6. The snow golem speaks with a baby voice like it did in the pilot episode, even though in canon it has a deeper voice. This further hints that something is not quite right.

7. The first major break in continuity is these snow golems resembling Uncle Gumbald and Peace Master, who Finn didn't meet until later in his life.

8. LSP sitting on Finn's head like this is reminiscent of Pen Ward's piece for the 2018 Ble crew zine.

9. Finn being given the choice of helping somebody but ending up helping everybody reminds me of "Memories of Boom Boom Mountain". It's the kind of resolution that wouldn't happen so much in the late seasons of the show, which helps make this scene feel even further out of place.

10. Jake is half frozen by Ice King in pretty much the exact same way as he was in "Prisoners of Love", and even has a very similar line.

11. The Snail is seen here. The crew have said that the Snail has been deliberately left out of previous Distant Lands specials, so its placement here is another very deliberate hint that this whole sequence is "trying too hard" to be like the early seasons.

12. The book "Mind Games" appears a couple of times, as seen in several previous episodes of Adventure Time. The first is as Finn is approaching the library in his dream. It also appears as one of the items in Finn's backpack later.

13. Jake is hurt when Finn fist bumps him with his metal arm, revealing that this scene is not real. This is also a callback to the title sequences of "Islands" and "Elements".

14. A whole bunch of familiar skeletons are seen in the bird's nest: Dirt Beer Guy, Abracadaniel, Me-Mow, Lemongrab, Mr. Pig, and the Snail again. This doesn't necessarily mean that all these characters are dead, since this scene is just a hallucination.

15. Old Man Finn! He's still got the chest tattoo of Jake, and this time we know that Jake is dead, so the theory that Jake died before "Obsidian" seems pretty likely. He looks similar to his old man design from "Puhoy", with the same facial hair.

16. There are several cameos of familiar characters who apparently died at the same time as Finn. The first is this duck, who previously appeared in "Ocarina".

17. The second is Donny, from the episode... uh, "Donny".

18. This goblin guy is an unnamed background character from “The Silent King”.

19. This old lady first appeared in "The Enchiridion", way back in season one. Old ladies are a species in the Land of Ooo, so I guess she wasn't actually very old back then, given she just about outlived Finn.

20. This is the cobbler who first appears in "His Hero". Amazing that he lived so long given all the trouble he got into in that episode.

21. Land of the Dead! This place was first seen in season two's "Death in Bloom", and now we are finally learning its actual purpose. It's a sort of gateway and hub to all of the other dead worlds.

22. There are some more minor cameos at the gates: a house person from "Donny", a soft person from "Gut Grinder", and a wood person from "When Wedding Bells Thaw". And, of course, the gate guardian himself from “Death in Bloom”.

23. Finn completely ignores the gate guardian in the same way he did in Death in Bloom. This also has the convenient effect of not having to reveal how Finn died, leaving it up to the audience's imagination.

24. Mr. Fox! We already knew he would die at some point because BMO had his skull in the finale.

25. Finn has his design from the first Distant Lands poster in this scene. Turns out it's young Finn in old Finn's clothes. But they gave him a shirt in the poster so you wouldn't be able to see the tattoo.

26. The clapping that Finn does while he's looking for Jake is a callback to "James Baxter the Horse", when Jake tells Finn to listen for that same rhythm if they are killed and need to find each other in the afterlife.

27. Mr. Fox talks about a "past life quotient", suggesting that there might be some kind of limit to how many times somebody can reincarnate. Finn's reincarnations are also seen in this scene; a callback to "The Vault", and confirmation that reincarnations share the same soul.

28. Boobafina, the goose who Mr. Fox was in love with in his debut episode “Storytelling”, apparently reincarnated into a tugboat. We've already seen that objects can have souls in the episode "Ghost Fly".

29. Finn is initially assigned to the 37th Dead World, which is the same one that Jake went to when he died in "Sons of Mars". We can only guess at what the other numbers on the ticket mean ;)

30. Tiffany! Despite several lucky escapes throughout his life, Tiffany has finally died. I like the use of this imagery to express Finn's conflicted feelings about him.

31. The 50th Dead World has long been established as the "highest" dead world, and the one synonymous with Heaven within Adventure Time's universe. It was first mentioned in "Ghost Princess" back in season three.

32. It's unclear what happens to souls which are destroyed within the dead worlds. It is a similar question to asking what happened to the ghosts that were killed in "Ghost Fly".

33. Death doesn't speak at all in Together Again because his voice actor, Miguel Ferrer, passed away in 2017 long before production began.

34. Finn phases through New Death when he tries to attack him, just like what happened way back in "Death in Bloom".

35. The 30th Dead World contains Tree Trunks as well as many of her love interests; Mr. Pig, her alien husband from "High Strangeness", Danny and Randy who first appeared in "Apple Wedding", and several more who we don't recognise, including at least one who presents as a woman.

36. Literally yelled when these two showed up. Joshua calls Finn a crybaby, which is a callback to "Dad's Dungeon".

37. The wall of weapons in Joshua and Margaret's house includes the iconic Demon Blood Sword, which was broken in "Play Date", as well as Margaret's auto-loading crossbow from "Joshua & Margaret Investigations".

38. Jermaine is sidelined a few times through the episode, in reference to his attitude in "Jermaine" where he feels that Finn and Jake were always their parents' favourites. I would have hoped things would be a bit better by now.

39. Fern gets name dropped while Finn and Jake are reuniting. A shame he doesn't actually show up in the episode.

40. In this scene, Finn says "What time is it?" This is a very subtle reference to the 2010 cartoon "Adventure Time".

41. In a couple of shots during this fight scene it looks like Jake might have a tattoo. It seems like it only becomes visible when he stretches out his arm.

42. New Death's amulet in this scene resembles parts of the Lich's cape, foreshadowing his influence on New Death.

43. There are several more cameos in the 50th Dead World: Booshy from "High Strangeness", one of the Marshmallow Kids from "Scamps", and Ghost Princess and Clarence, who were seen ascending to the 50th Dead World in "Ghost Princess".

44. Finn didn't interact with Booshy in "High Strangeness", but it seems they must have met at some point before they both died because Finn knows his name.

45. It seems like people in the 1st Dead World are slowly melted away until they become part of the landscape. Nasty.

46. Lots more cameos in this scene: a gnome from "Power Animal", a gnome from "The Enchiridion", a Bath Boy from "The Vault", Blagertha from "Love Games", Maja the Sky Witch, a troll from "Dungeon", Chocoberry, Choose Goose, Wyatt, a spiky person from "Gut Grinder", and possibly more.

47. Tiffany's insults are consistently nonsensical and amazing, as they were in the original series.

48. The Candy Kingdom looks extremely different. Peppermint Butler is wearing the crown so he might be in charge now, which is supported by the kingdom's very magical-looking augmentations. It’s not clear whether Finn and Jake were expecting to find Princess Bubblegum or Peppermint Butler, since both have the initials “PB” and both could be going by the title of “Princess”. Perhaps Peps and Bubblegum share the princess duties now that PB is living with Marceline more of the time.

49. Peppermint Butler has a "Boss" mug, although it's not the same colour as the one from "Obsidian".

50. Jake's ghost has the same design as he did when BMO killed him in "Ghost Fly". I also absolutely love Finn's ghost. This scene establishes that ghosts are just visitors to the mortal plane from the dead worlds.

51. Life has only appeared in animated shorts before now. Namely, "The Gift That Reaps Giving" which establishes her relationship with Death, and "Frog Seasons: Winter". This episode gives her a concrete place within Adventure Time's pantheon: she is in charge of reincarnation.

52. A translation of Life’s angry French dialogue by Shado: “After all I did for that boy. After all I did for him. No, it's not possible. It's not possible no, that... that makes me so mad but it's not possible.”

53. We finally have in-universe confirmation that Shoko's tiger is a previous life of Jake. This was previously confirmed by one of the writers, but wasn't canon until now.

54. I feel like Finn pulled off Shoko's look even better than Shoko did. I wonder whether Finn has gained the memories of his past lives now that he’s dead.

55. No Easter egg here, just want to appreciate this image.

56. There is an elemental symbol on the wall here, as seen in "Jelly Beans Have Power".

57. Tiffany's dramatic internal monologue is a recurring gag, as is his habit of nearly dying from falling into holes.

58. The Jake suit makes a cameo in the fight against New Death. It was last seen in the episode "Reboot”.

59. Finn's backpack contains a few familiar items: the t-shirt with the pocket from "It Came from the Nightosphere", Finn's underwear from "Little Dude" and other episodes, and a copy of Mind Games as I've already mentioned.

60. The Lich's Hand is present in the background of Death's... death scene. This is probably the unseen "friend" who New Death keeps talking about.

61. The Lich's menacing monologues often begin with a single command. Previously they have included "Fall" and "Stop". This time, the command is "Burn".

62. Jake uses the word "boingloings", which is a callback all the way to "Hitman" in the third season.

63. Jake's blue shape-shifter form from "Abstract" appears very briefly during his fight with Finn.

64. Finn's lumpy space person form also makes an appearance. This design was last seen all the way back in the second episode of the entire show, "Trouble in Lumpy Space".

65. Jake steps on the Lich's hand in a very similar way to how he stepped on Ash in "Memory of a Memory", which is itself a Monty Python reference.

66. The credits include a dedication to a few AT cast and crew who have passed away. Polly Lou Livingston was the voice of Tree Trunks. Miguel Ferrer was the voice of Death. Michel Lyman and Maureen Mlynarczyk were both sheet timers on the original series. Rest in peace.

67. The message that Finn and Jake write out on the ouija board is "BUTT", which Peppermint Butler takes as a distress signal. This message is also used as a distress signal by the Hot Dog Knights in "The Limit".

68. Peppermint Butler's reversed dialogue from the scene where he makes contact with Finn and Jake is "Kee-Oth Rama Pancake", the spell from “Dad's Dungeon” for banishing demons.

69. That appears to be President Porpoise with all of Tree Trunks’ other lovers.

70. In this scene, Life is humming part of "Lonely Bones", the song which Death tried to record for her in her debut short "The Gift That Reaps Giving". It's hard to notice because it's so brief.

71. Finn and Jake's cover is blown while in the Land of the Dead because Jake loudly farts, which also happened in "Death in Bloom".

72. The place where Mr. Fox explains the perception mechanics of the afterlife is the exact same location as the River of Forgetfulness from "Death in Bloom", which, as it turns out, was imaginary.

These are sort of out of order at the end because I was adding stuff to the Twitter thread as it got discovered. That’s all for now!

[aetherin21]

The answer is parallel.

Pairing: Getou Suguru x reader

genre: angst.

Part 1, Part 3

Notes: How can you turn an intersecting line to a parallel one? by erasing it completely like it never happened :D This is part 2 of my previous fic but it can be read as a stand alone. I think I did better than the first? I might come back to the last one for some small fixes here and there.

A year had passed since that incident occurred. Suguru was too lost in his world. Drowning in his ego and dilemma. Forced to return to normality with sets of homeworks, tests and missions as if nothing had happened. It made him stressed as they all neatly lined up to grab his attention in wherever direction he went, forgetting something important in the process. He could always go back to it once everything settles. Right now, for him, the present was more crucial.

Staring back at him was his failed assignment in algebra. Angry red dragged across every crevice of the paper, dictating all the right and wrong answers to him. Crosses out weighed the circles. He couldn’t help but fume on all his mistakes. He knows he answered everything perfectly. Math is his best subject, well was. Maybe the question itself was wrong? Especially the last one. All the numbers in his calculations lead him to believe they would intersect. How could he be wrong?

“Fuck this.” He said. There were still other things for him to do than to mull over something so small. He’ll do better with the next one, he has to. He’s Getou Suguru, the model student after all.

Without realizing time had flown all too quickly like a strong tidal wave. It had crashed onto him, sweeping his being along the shores repeatedly. His best friend was leaving him behind as Satoru grows stronger. Shoko had become MIA doing her roundabout ways, ignoring everything and everyone. One of his lowerclassmen had died too, only leaving half of his remains and a friend empty. As Suguru tried to crawl away from the currents, it had left him too drench in black and blue.

The imaginary chalkboard of his psyche had crumbled. Tragedy had forced its hand and added itself in his equations. Defying the equalibrium, tipping the zero scale further to the negatives. Unable to keep track what's on his mind anymore, what's universally right and wrong. Now he just stands there in the middle of the room surrounded by two corpses, in a place he once called home.

He had killed his parents. The people who he once loved and cherished. His mother who made his favorite food, who cleaned up his childish wounds and greeted him every morning of his life. She's gone and so was his father. The person who he looked up to, who proudly announced the world his only begotten son. They were all gone and all that was left were red.

That’s okay, he thought to himself. They were wrong answers anyway just like that washed up village too.

Bzzz.

Bzzz.

The sound of his phone suddenly reminded him of the thing he forgot all summer long. With a single swipe of his fingers, his eyes were greeted by a familiar name. A familiar picture.

It was her.

How dare he forget? The person who had become his pillar, his anchor and his bound eternity. Tons of messages had piled one after another in his inbox. Letters of hellos and good mornings to how are yous and goodnights. Reading every word felt too bright, too selfish. He could only squint. He hasn’t replied for months now, let alone read a single one and yet she still continued to send them.

Y/n: I miss you. I hope you're okay. One of them read. Suguru couldn’t help the annoyance swell inside of him. How was he okay? Everything had gone to shit. A few weeks ago? Months ago, he couldn't even remember extactly but he knew he almost died. Even now just a couple of days before, two innocent kids were abused and mistreated. And yet —

Inhale

Exhale

How would she know? She was probably too focused on her own little bubble to even see what’s wrong with the world. Living so freely in a rose colored world. Probably waiting for the next episode of her favorite show or gossiping on the latest news. She wouldn’t understand the dangers he faces everyday, how his kind sacrifices their life just for them to be safe. She was clueless.

He hates this.

He hates her.

He has to.

Looking at the screen with utter nonchalance, he finally replied. It's time for their mathematical lines to finally diverge from each other. No, to erase it like it never happened. In the first place they were never meant to intersect, never meant to reach and traverse each other. She was, after all, just a monkey. He can’t make exceptions, not even one. This is for the future he dreamed of.

With one last click, he asked her to meet him.

Time seemed to flow slowly as he sat on the empty park bench waiting for her. She was late for their rendezvous. It’s fine, he doesn’t really mind if she doesn’t show up. It’s rude but it's better that way. At least she was far away from him to taint his being, he thought. Far away and safe from him.

The unconscious prayer seemed to be ignored as the sound of running footsteps brought him back from hell. His vision was greeted by a disheveled figure. Y/n’s hair was strewn all over her face and skin drenched in sweat. All she wore was the sweater he left behind, her red school track pants and house slippers. A mess she was but still looked pretty in his eyes.

Y/n was Suguru’s little rebel. She would always trust whatever stupid teenage idea pops out of his mind. Played along with his little whims. Even now, sneaking out from her strict parents' gaze to have a midnight escapade with her boyfriend. She was too good for him. Rubbing his neck, Suguru couldn’t help but bitterly smile at that thought.

"Suguru, did I make you wait?" Hands on her knees, catching all the air she can with those puffy lips he loved the most. She wasn't really sporty to begin with but she was determined either way and other ways. "Sorry, I had to wait till everyone’s asleep."

“It's fine.” he responded coldly. Mustering up every fiber of his being to put on a façade. He reminded himself she’s a monkey.

Silence embraced them both as they drank in the reflection of each other. It's been months after all. Both of them were too busy with their own lives. Suguru with the jujutsu world and y/n with her own normal life. Neither of them knew what's in each other's brewing pot but they wished they did.

Y/n could only search his eyes for answers, for words to say. She missed him so much, too much. She wanted to ask how he is. Has he been eating well? He looked a bit skinnier than the last time she saw him. Is his school overworking him too much? Is Satoru being an ass to him? Her mouth could only open and close as the questions were jammed in her throat, unable to vocalize all her convoluted feelings. unable to seek the truth. So instead of words, she closed their distance with her lips. Enveloping him in her warmth.

She really missed him. She could crumble anytime with his presence alone. With his touch alone. Never even wanting to let go, holding on tightly as she can. There she waits for his answer.

But Suguru couldn't embrace her back, couldn’t kiss her back.

Even if his hands were aching to, even if they were dying to scoop her up and just eat her there all together. He can't. He already convinced himself so. Instead he broke her to tiny pieces pushing her to her abyss. Pushing himself to his abyss. "Sorry y/n, I don't think this is gonna work out." Eyes looking beyond her existence for there was a better calling for him than her religion. There's no need for prayers anymore.

It hurt.

But it's okay. Everything has an end after all, its just this one has to be erased completely.

Y/n already anticipated this but it still hurt nonetheless. Years they spent together now being thrown aside. Was it all for nothing? Was it because she was powerless and weak? Not a part of his world? Tears flowed her cheeks, unable to hold it in anymore. “I heard from Satoru…”her hands were holding the ends of his sweater she was wearing, finding comfort from its scent as her lips trembled.

“... I love you and it's okay.” was all she could say as much as she wished there to be more.

She had known all this time. She wasn’t clueless as he thought she was. She knew what he had done and what he had become. How he felt so broken, alone and in pain. How this world was too cruel to him. To them.

She knows what he’s about to do too. His friends had informed her, warned her even but she didn't care. All she wanted was for them to continue to intersect once more, it's all that mattered to her but she couldn’t lie that a small part of her hoped it was all made up. That her Suguru isn’t capable of ever doing those atrocities but just from his demeanor alone told her otherwise.

He noticed her fear, her rejection of the truth, of reality. It wasn't only her voice that was shaking, her body too. Holding herself together as much as she can. Seeing it right in front of him made him want to puke. It wasn’t supposed to end like this. It was supposed to be quick and easy like he did to his parents yet it became too emotional.

"I am sorry." That’s all he could say as her tiny sobs increased its volume.

The agonizing sound ripped through his already resolute determination. Surprising him as his body began to betray him. The feeling of her small form against his. He wanted to be disgusted by this sudden sweet vulgarity but a part of him couldn’t. Pressing her further, deeper, swallowing all her tears and cries. this was all for him and only for him. Locking it forever inside him, this would be a fleeting memory that solely he would remember. “So sorry.” he mumbled over and over again as he dug his grave in her hair. Saying goodbye to the Suguru she knew, He was.

With every repeated apologies it had crossed off all his broken promises, marking it red and never to be fulfilled.

In their last hour of their forged numbers, forged convergence and forged eternity. They were in each other’s arms as lips danced for the last time. Whispering their I love yous over and over again till the other couldn’t speak anymore.

At that moment, Getou Suguru remembered the last question of his homework. The answers were never supposed to be intersecting. With clear bright markings correcting his mistakes, the answer was parallel.

They were parallel.