#anyways guys i'm really normal about this show

[tiredandoptimistic]

My take on Buffy's arc in each of the seasons (and how the villains highlight her personal journey)

Because I wake up every morning and think about Buffy Summers

Season one: Buffy starts out the show determined to deny her role as a Slayer and willing to skip a prophecy for a date. Even though she genuinely does want to help people, she's also resolved to make time for herself and her teenage whimsy. While the Master is technically the villain of the season, the real threat is the prophecy she hears in the finale: that she will die facing him. Buffy's desire for a normal life is put into direct conflict with her duty as a Slayer, and it's the bonds she built with other students like Willow that makes her realize that she cares more about being a protector than being happy.

Season two: this season systematically strips away everything Buffy had prioritized in season one. She loses her boyfriend, alienates her friends, gets expelled from high school, and kicked out by her mom. While at first she hadn't been able to make herself kill Angel, she had to come to terms with the fact that her moment of mercy led to Jenny's death. All the things necessary for a normal life are lost to her, and she can't afford to care about any of it. Her ability to go to school, her relationship with her mom, the love she has for Angel; none of it matters if the world is at stake. By the end of the season, Buffy proves her self-reliance and that she's willing to make the tough calls and kill somebody she loves if it's part of her Slayer duty.

Season three: at the start of this season, Buffy deals with the fallout of her season two arc by falling into a depression due to her isolation. Complete self-reliance is good in a fight to the death, but deeply unhealthy long-term. Buffy is a Slayer who draws strength from the love of her friends, and in season three she tries to rebuild that trust by throwing herself into all the traditional end of high school festivities. The Mayor represents the adult world they're meant to be graduating into, and he proves that there's something deeply rotten underneath the glossy suburban shell of Sunnydale. Despite the fact that the institutions of the school and the town range from apathetic to malevolent, Buffy is still able to form emotional bonds with the people she meets there. It's the power of her connection with all the other students of Sunnydale High that eventually saves the day, and even if she couldn't win Homecoming Queen she's still their Class Protector.

Season four: this is where we get into that weird phase of young adulthood where nobody has any idea what the fuck they're doing. Buffy is removed from the familiar and forced to find her way in a new environment, and she uses her newfound freedom to make some bad decisions. She and her closest friends drift apart as they all get wrapped up in their different post high school adventures, and without that safety net Buffy ends up placing her trust in the wrong people. The Initiative uses its appearance of security to manipulate young adults into throwing away their independence serving something solid. Adam is the result of this, as a young creature who's confused about his place in the world and gets sick of letting the Initiative decide his purpose for him. The thing that saves Buffy from this whole mess is to reaffirm her bond with her oldest friends, proving that growing up doesn't need to mean growing apart. The support system was always there, they just all needed to actively maintain it.

Season five: the linchpin of this season is Buffy's relationship with Dawn, as the magic weirdness of Sunnydale starts messing with the most intimate parts of her personal life. She's officially not able to keep her two world separate anymore, and has to decide whether or not she'll trust the love she has for her sister once she knows it was all planted by an outside force. Of course she chooses to stand by Dawn, and the two of them support each other through their mom's illness and death. At first Dawn's role as the key makes things very simple, since saving the day lines up perfectly with Buffy's preexisting priority (protect Dawn), but by the end she's put in a situation where she once again has to choose between the world and the person she loves most. Glory is effective as a villain because she's laser focused on hurting people Buffy loves, and is too damn strong for Buffy to actually fulfill her calling as a protector. In the end, the only way for Buffy to keep the people she loves safe is for her to sacrifice her own life for theirs (something she's been doing every day since she was fifteen).

Season six: while season five ends off with Buffy choosing to die for her friends, season six forces her to live for them. She's ripped from heaven and tossed into all the shittiest aspects of the real world, and worse than anything she's completely disconnected from herself and her friends. The main conflict here is her depression, and the contrast between the comfort she gets from Spike and the support she can't accept from her friends. Spike tells her that it's okay to not be okay, but this turns into him actively trying to keep her miserable because he thinks it's the only way she'll be with him. Meanwhile, Dawn and Giles and the rest are trying to help her support herself, which isn't exactly warm and fuzzy. When Willow becomes her dark self at the end, she basically speedruns Buffy's whole arc. She flays Warren alive for some instant gratification that hurts her in the long run, then she decides that the only way to end all suffering is to end all life, and she's eventually talked down by Xander's boundless love and support. Buffy has a similar moment at the same time, as she realizes that she wants to live because she wants to see Dawn grow up. This season shows that there isn't anything wrong with Buffy for feeling pain, but that the way out isn't to indulge her darkest feelings; it's to embrace the love of her friends and family.

Season seven: at this point, Buffy's biggest struggle is her sense of isolation. After so long as the Slayer, she genuinely doesn't think anyone else can understand her anymore (except maybe Spike, because he too has a fascinating cocktail of issues). Her isolation becomes a danger when she faces The First, a threat far too powerful for her to defeat on her own, and through Willow's magic she is able to finally be supported on all sides by people just as strong as she is. Much like graduation, this season ends with something major being destroyed to symbolize the end of a chapter in Buffy's life. She isn't just out of high school, she's officially free from the bounds of Sunnydale. She doesn't need to stay put and sacrifice her own pleasures again and again and again; there are other people willing to share the burden. Buffy can finally rest.

[howtodisappearcompletelyand]

20/10 stars little guy

[silversinfinity]

B/eastars is already such a horny show, and then they animate snz like THAT?

someone put their entire dick and balls into animating that spray, that's all I'm saying...

[brionysea]

if stranger things 5 comes out and they're like 'omg! the upside down has been a product of someone's dark and twisted mind this whole time! it's... WILL!' I'll immediately lose interest

[chirp-featherfowl]

dawn of creation

(OHHHHHH MY GOD TUMBLR CRUSHED MY ART AGAIN. CLICK FOR HIGHER QUALITY. HOLY SHIT)

little logan under the cut because of course he wasn't there for it

[skrunksthatwunk]

nobody's doing it like itsuki yyh. i've been thinking about him and sensui a lot today but like. ok get this. imagine being a demon and this cute human guy (you are gay btw green hair and pronounsed and everything) shows up and tries to kill you and almost succeeds. you survive because you lament that you're gonna miss the finale of a show you watch/see a niche pop artist on tv (depending on adaptation, but either way these are your last words and it airs the next night), and he says he's into it too. you become partners. this man, shinobu sensui, is a spirit detective who's been haunted by demons his whole life, has been killing them with the complete, unwavering belief that he's right for it, since he was in pre-k. you being a demon does not seem to change how he thinks about this. it doesn't change your feelings either, since he fascinates you. you help him kill demons.

one day, your human is confronted with one of the worst sights imaginable, one that shatters his worldview completely. he sees demons being tortured and slaughtered hedonistically by a group of humans. he can't process it. he splits. your shinobu is now one of seven within his body. you love each of them. you love him. you watch as he pivots into a deep hatred of humanity, and of himself for slaughtering so many demons, and of his own inescapable humanity. you love it. you can't get enough of it. watching someone so pure and self-assured become confused, disillusioned, twisted, evil, broken, it thrills and captivates you. it's beautiful, and you egg it on. you make it worse, obsessively. you make him worse. you only want what he wants, really. but you want him to want it worse. sensui is spiraling and you don't steady him, you accelerate it and accelerate it, until he's deciding that before he dies (which will be sooner than you'd like, sooner than you know what to do with), he's going to end humanity. he's going to unleash demonkind on them and secure his redemption, his doom, his punishment. it's a baptism by fire. what a way to go. a very sensui way to go, and you love it like the rest of him: poisonously. you don't need a word of convincing, no argument (as desperate as sensui is to argue his case for this), not a second of that tape, to follow him. you watch as sensui breaks the fragile people he encounters, wrenches them into misanthropic weapons. he's amazing at it. minoru is amazing at it. he brings together his crew of heart-bleeding, self-loathing pawns, and in your downtime you and sensui watch human tv, share your love for animals, plants, the human world. you cherish, distract yourself with, and celebrate these together. they're what brought you together in the first place, and you will destroy them together. you wonder if he knows that these things he loves will surely die when the demons come. you expect he views them as necessary casualties in ridding the world of human evil. how deliciously cruel he can be. you savor it. you have to savor it. you don't like thinking about the end. that sensui will barely be alive to enjoy his victory. is he so convinced of humanity's foulness that he would never bend, never doubt his genocide at all? or would he come to regret it? would he hate himself even more than he does now? once the greater evil, humanity, is eliminated, would he turn his sights on himself? he may see himself as one of the "enlightened" humans who know mankind's evil, but he is still a human with plenty of demon blood on his hands. you want to know. you're desperate for it. you don't ask him what he thinks he will become. you want to watch it unfold naturally, for as long as he is around. let the ink bleed over the page. don't blow. don't wave the paper, don't even touch it. be patient.

your sensui is killed spectacularly at the finish line. he was struck down by a human reborn as a demon. how fitting. it's what sensui wanted, and you are happy for him, as much as you can be. it's bittersweet. you knew it would end soon. you both did. you talked about it all the time. and now it's... over. the portal is being resealed. demons will not wipe out mankind. humanity will go on, unaffected. your sensui's lonely war against his own kind is already being forgotten by the few who knew of it. such a beautiful moment, swept away by time, your sensui. and now his enemies want to claim his soul. his body. to bring him to the afterlife, for whatever judgement awaits him. and you fulfill your final obligation to him. you take him away. sensui did not want any part of that, and neither do you, not particularly. it sounds rather painful, all considered. you lift him and slip away to where no one can reach you. your own little dimension, your own little pocket of existence, just the two of you. no one can touch him now. you, either, not that you care. you hold him like you have for years, and think of your future together. here, where no one can reach him. no one will touch him or stain him or rip him or tear him ever again, not even you. but you will always be closest, and that's enough. cut off from humankind and demonkind completely. it's only you. and it's only him. you wonder how long you will live, like this. a long time. it makes no difference. sensui has broken completely, and you hold the shards of him. every piece remaining is yours, is in your arms, will be yours forever. you wonder if this should be enough for you. if you should be satisfied. you are. as someone whose last regret was missing a late night program, you don't see much point in leaving. what is there for itsuki without sensui? what is there in the world worthwhile? demons, humans, the rest of it. none of it would ever compare. not even to the shards.

you wonder, and it is far from the first or the last time, how sensui will change now, in your arms. white to black, skin to bone to dust. and when you die your soul will dissipate like his, and in a little unreality you and he will linger forever, where no one can know or recall. you will die a secret of the world, a potential wasted, a close call, a scream that is swallowed last-minute. and you will be together. it's all that's mattered for a long time. you wonder if you'll ever change. you don't expect to.

[icewindandboringhorror]

"We can get through this by working together, reach out to your friends, community is all we have, a social network will be your security in the world, now is the time to lean on others!"

I do agree, and it's scientifically sound (pretty sure there is data about how people with better social networks live longer and etc) but also....augh..... what about the severe social issues, difficulty to leave the house, physical issues which lead to like zero socialization energy a majority of the time, etc. etc. Social support can be a replacement for structural support, but.. I guess I just wish it didn't have to be. Community is extremely difficult to build, even moreso if you're someone who has issues with social cues or group conversations or even just being around others in the first place. And blah, nuance, of course I'm just complaining or maybe being too negative or maybe misunderstanding, but, I hardly have the energy to brush my hair once every 2 months.. how am I supposed to maintain a wide social network and be active in a Community and Join Groups lol... sometimes it kind of feels like "er.. well if thats my only option then...... ruh roh". It's overwhelming

[pa-pa-plasma]

i don't think i'll ever get over how people treat kids that aren't good in school as worthless no matter what. "oh it can't be that bad" my guy idk how to tell you this but the last time i went to a normal high school the principal called me into his office to brag about how he failed me in all of my classes before the semester was even finished & i should quit while i'm ahead cuz i'm too stupid ("officially" diagnosed as such by a school counselor & a psychiatrist!!) to succeed. & this is considered normal

[netherdevil]

unnormal vivilly dweller thoughts in my head

[mint-mumbles]

Gonna use this image any time someone says something low key sexist about Sable (ie "she's showing too much skin" regarding a fucking bathing suit 😭🤦)

I don't hear you complaining about Spirit 😭

[dragoninahumancostume]

My favorite part of being alive is that I've never felt welcome in any space except for that one year when I thought I was a non-binary bisexual asexual girl when I was 13 :)

[seravphs]

I’m scared to post knight Gojo thank you for being so nice to me about it bffs 💛

[angeltism]

"spar.kle is fictional who cares" I have seen people praising her for her racist anti-romani comments what the fuck kind of world do you live in

[running-in-the-dark]

I know I've been particularly incoherent for the past few days (again), and it's so dramatic and ridiculous but it seriously feels like something is punishing me. I just want to like things a normal amount. I just want to like people and characters a normal amount.

I don't want to become so fully obsessed that literally nothing else exists and thinking about anything else feels like my brain is being stabbed with a thousand tiny knives. I don't want to need to find every piece of information I possibly can on whoever it is this time. I don't want to feel like I'm (literally) losing my mind when I see them. I don't want any of this!

I can not believe that I exist as a human being on this stupid planet just to get obsessed with people over and over and over again forever.

[al-mayriti]

why do i keep falling in love am i in a dating sim themed around archaeology or what

[icewindandboringhorror]

oh my god.. a job for me.. historical pierrot beach performer lol