#because all of those themes/concepts are going to come up in her narrative and i cannot understate that trigger content.

[eclipsecrowned]

sees the 'dead dove do not eat' discourse return. raises my glass to those brave souls arguing for its proper use.

[invinciblerodent]

This is going to be very ranty and disjointed, probably borderline incomprehensible post, but with the "return" of Dragon Age Discourse (and really, did it ever go anywhere?) and me repeatedly seeing the complaints and dismissals of DA:I as a "chosen one"-type of a narrative, I just.... I keep finding myself thinking about the relationship of truth and lies within the game.

Throughout the course of DA:I, the idea of a malleable, flexible personal identity, and a painful confrontation with an uncomfortable truth replacing a soothing falsehood, follows pretty much every character throughout their respective arcs.

There are some more obvious ones, Solas, Blackwall, The Iron Bull, their identities and deceptions (of both those around them and themselves) are clearly front and center in the stories told about them, but this theme of deception (both of the self- and the outside world) is clearly present in the stories of the others as well.

Like, for example, ones that come immediately to mind are stories like that of Cullen, who presents an image of a composed and disciplined military man, a commander- all to hide the desperate and traumatized addict that he sees himself as.

Dorian grappled with the expectations of presenting the image of the perfect heir to his father's legacy, the prideful scion of his house, his entire life (he even introduces himself as the result of "careful breeding", like one might speak about a prized horse)- all while knowing that his family would rather see him lobotomized and obedient, than anything even just resembling his vibrant and passionate self.

Cassandra calls herself a Seeker of Truth, and takes pride in that identity- only to learn that in reality, she has been made a liar, a keeper of secrets, without her knowledge or consent, and it is up to her to either uproot the entire organization and painfully cut out the abscess it is to build it back from the ground up into something respectable, or let the information she had revealed sit, and continue to fester.

And this theme continues and reframes itself in, among others, things like Sera's own inner conflict between her elven heritage and her human upbringing, or in Cole being caught in this unconscionable space in-between human and spirit, between person and concept, etc.

The Inquisitor isn't exempt from this either.

I feel like this is where the core of the many misunderstandings of this plot come from, why so many people continue to believe that Inquisition is a "chosen one" or "divinely appointed" type of story, because I think many might just... not realize, that the protagonist's identity is also malleable, and what they are told in the setup/first act of the game is not necessarily the truth.

The tale of the Inquisitor is the exact opposite of that of a "chosen one" story: it's an examination and reflection of the trope, in that it is the story of an assumption that all wrongly believe to be the truth, and thrust upon you, even if you protest. The very point is that no matter who you choose to say that you are, you will be known as the Herald of a prophet you don't even necessarily believe in, and then that belief will be proven wrong, leaving you to cope with either a devastating disappointment if you believed it, or a bitter kind of vindication if you didn't.

There's a moment just after Here Lies the Abyss (when you learn of the lie you've been fed your entire journey in the game) that I don't often see mentioned, but I think it's one of the most emotionally impactful character moments, if you are playing an Andrastian Inquisitor who had actually believed themselves chosen (which I realize is a rather unpopular pick, lol): it's when Ser Ruth, a Grey Warden, realizes what she had done and is horrified by her own deeds, and turns herself in asking to be tried for the murder of another of her order. As far as she is concerned, she had spilled blood for power, and regardless of whether she was acting of her own volition at the time, whether she had agency in the moment, is irrelevant to her: she seeks no absolution, but willingly submits to any punishment you see fit.

And only if you play as an Inquisitor who, through prior dialogue choices, had established themselves as a devout Andrastian, can you offer her forgiveness, for a deed that was objectively not her fault- not really.

You can, in Andraste's name, forgive her- even though you, at that point, know that you have no real right to do so. That you're not Andraste's Herald, that Andraste may or may not even exist, and that you can't grant anyone "divine forgiveness", because you, yourself, don't have a drop of divinity within you. You know that you were no more than an unlucky idiot who stumbled their way into meddling with forces beyond their ken.

You know you're a fraud. You know. The game forces you to realize, as it slowly drip-drip-drips the memories knocked loose by the blast back into your head, that what all have been telling you that you are up to this point, is false. And yet, you can still choose to keep up the lie, and tell this woman who stands in front of you with blood on her hands and tears in her eyes, that you, with authority you don't have, grant her forgiveness for a crime that wasn't hers to commit.

Because it's the right thing to do. Because to lie to Ser Ruth is far kinder than anything else you could possibly do to her, short of refusing to make a decision altogether.

There are any number of criticisms of this game that I can accept (I may or may not agree depending on what it is, but I'm from the school of thought that any interpretation can be equally valid as long as there's text that supports it, and no text that contradicts it), but I will always continue to uphold that the Inquisitor is absolutely not- and never was a "chosen one".

They're just as small, and sad, and lost, as all the other protagonists- the only difference is that they didn't need to fight for their mantle, because instead of a symbol of honor, it acted as a straitjacket.

[lucabyte]

obligatory ramble about postcanon loop ask

also your art is amazing

Hiiiiiiiii :D thank you :)!!

and thank you for the excuse to post the. just absolute wall of text that i truncated down to form the tags of that post. (i did,,, hit the tag limit. i forgot tumblr had one of those...) so let me just paste that and tidy it up a bit...

I am putting this under a readmore because it's a bit long. but:

This is like. The General Context for all* of my postcanon doodles? (Except AUs obviously) Like this is the base idea I've been drawing them all in. So, feel free to backread with this in mind. I've basically had this 'postcanon' timeline set in my brain since finishing the game...

My general thoughts are that I like the idea of Loop (even if through dubiously ethical means) being able to slowly reintegrate with the party as a whole new person, because they are, in fact, their own person.

It's a muddle of thematic threads im pulling on and "wouldn't it be fucked up if", but. (at its core, it's powered by the fact that like, while narratively isat's theme of 'the only person who can truly take the first step to help you is yourself'. (wrt: loop helping the party help siffrin in act 5) which i LOVE AND IS GREAT NARRATIVELY…. would be super fucked up irl to learn that your friend 'learned as a lesson' while you stood by kinda uselessly. I know i'd be upset about it. but thats mostly background here. doesn't really come up. at least not until loop has to explain who they are and the party realises they had to fall back on literally themselves again for help, but i digress,)

The real core concept is: Occam's razor. It is like, inherently, a buckwild thing to accuse a person of being somehow a clone or copy of your friend. Even if they start vaguely alluding to a backstory it's far more likely they were some other person before all that. (I still think Odile has that theory in the back pocket but she's rational enough to know it's a really long shot without a solid explanation. and i think Loop deep down knows this, and would, if cornered into confessing, turn the situation around to go J'ACCUSE and make HER explain it instead. Ever longer dodging being direct with their emotions...)

And the party are nice! And if someone has changed and wants to keep stuff secret it's kind of not their business? (Though it's hard not to speculate… see: the main joke of the doodles) And they seem important to Siffrin so they just try to accept them abrasive quirks and all. And eventually the question of their prior identity just fades away since, well, they're Loop. Their friend Loop.

but yeah. personal headcanon is that a few months/weeks after picking up and getting aquainted with Nille** (since that was presumably the IMMEDIATE TASK postgame), Loop reappears (either after a literal period of nonexistance, or just spending a few months wandering the french countryside alone being attacked by wild dogs). Since Siffrin has had a while to be therapised by the party they're doing mostly okay, but Loop showing up and still being agitated/aggressive pulls them both into a bit of a backslide behaviourally and puts the party on the back foot again.

Hooowever, I do think that due to no longer being literally stewing in the worst pressure cooker of all time together, the two do mostly actually sort themselves out with productive conversation. (Via a cycle of: genuinely distressing argument -> weeeird lovebombing -> ok we're good -> repeat, that gets less intense over time)

Thus, allowing the party to just. Integrate loop as a new person. They and Siffrin shuffle into different ecological niches (Loop taking over stuff Siffrin is now too squeamish for, etc (see: hunting, mostly)), and while it's not exactly what Loop wanted they generally get that beggars can't be choosers and it's a pretty good deal. And the rest of the party does straight up just like them as a friend, especially when Loop quits trying to actively antagonise them after a few weeks of being around them, since they just can't keep up being mean to people they like forever.

As for how I think the truth eventually drags itself out. This is where I invoke The Isabeau Torment Nexus™. So its gonna get shippy here for a bit hold on.

Which is, I think giving them time before Loop reappears long enough that Siffrin and Iseabeau actually manage to become established, Isabeau has to be the one to nudge the pair of them and go. "Hey. You know we're in Vaugarde right. I'm okay with polyamory if we all communicate." Before Loop and Siffrin actually even acknowledge that whatever the fuck they have going on kinda looks a lot like a relationship of some kind. (or have already been agonising about that via fighting and arguing, depending) (Obviously this comes after Isa "Emotionally intelligent enough to keep a lid on the jealousy" Beau has managed to use that big brain of his to Not just go Scream somewhere on the daily because oh godddd they keep talking like theyre suicide-baiting each other jesus chriiist. is it overstepping his boundaries to bring that up?? god)

This, taking a bunch of the tension out of Loop and Isabeau's relationship (Since I imagine Loop is a. being weird for the obvious reasons and b. feeling kinda guilty about 'getting in the way of' Siffrin and Iseabeau), allows them to actually get close in a normal friend way. (I think an interesting turning point could be Isabeau actually taking Loop's side in an argument vs Siffrin, which would absolutely break Loop's brain. Especially if it's an argument that matters. Like what do you mean he isn't just going to play favourites. What?)

Then Isabeau, just actually open minded and charmed by Loop (and maybe even somewhat at Siffrin's suggestion?) tries to close the final open side on the polyamory triangle here and that's the final straw for Loop on "This lie by omission is too unethical to keep up, this is just actually sick and wrong. I can't do this while he doesn't know who I am." Though. Obviously it probably goes. Very poorly with emotions high like that. And the added element of several months of deceit. Getting dark here for a second but that dagger is going MISSING and so are THEY for a hot minute.

Then yaaay everything works out in the end 👍 yippieee!! all it took was maybe a lot of harrowed recontextualisation of all the weird shit your new friend said and did when it turns out they're your old friend. It's fine.

But yeah. this is basically the context all of my postcanon doodles have existed within? And those exist to give other people something to chew on. So this does too.

I suppose TL;DR: Imagine if sloopis almost fucking happens before isabeau knows who loop is. can you fucking imagine. can you imagine having to navigate that. nightmare.

*Yes this includes the implied cannibalism comic. Uhh. Comes part and parcel with headcanoning that Loop went way off the deep end similar to A5 Sif But Maybe Worse before giving in. Add weepy half-asleep confessions to murder wherever you see fit in your mind palace. 👍👍👍

**Re: Nille footnote. I don't have anywhere to put this besides here! I have some thoughts on Loop and Nille having an odd dynamic. I don't imagine Nille to be super gung-ho on trusting a bunch of adults (even if they are majority around her age) given their implied backstory. It's probably a big shock to the system, especially since Bambouche is a good couple hundred Kilometers up north from Dormont and these guys don't seem to have trains. She would've been unfrozen and without Bonnie for some time....

Which is to say: I think she's suspicious of them. I think she may be looking for excuses to distance herself, keep Bonnie safe. SO.... A new guy showing up? And antagonising the party? What do they know that I don't...? I should find out.

And since... Loop didn't ever know Nille, they have no ammunition or real reason to be cruel. Plus, if they're trying to stay on Bonnie's good side (SINCE... if Bonnie thought Loop was cringe they may as well kill themselves. In their mind.) they SUPER have no reason to antagonise Nille.

Mostly, they might be able to open up to each other easier than they can the rest of the party?

I feel like this resolves with Loop feeling compelled to apologise for what they and Siffrin let happen to Bonnie, though... Hmm... Depends on how you interpret Nille that they'd be glad nobody else had been told about that yet, or furious it had been secret this long. I lean toward the former.

[thowawayuntilfurthernotice]

CW: Racism and slavery.

Alright, let’s open up this can of worms.

Let’s talk about race and how it pertains to Viv’s shows.

No, I don’t think Viv and Adam are inherently racist, they just don’t know how to write for a BIPOC audience.

Viv’s shows (Like most western shows) are written with a white audience in mind. Because let’s face it, white folks don’t like to talk about race. That’s why a lot of shows that do tackle the issue of race and racism do it in a way that’s very surface level, as they don’t want to make white folks uncomfortable.

Even shows that are written by BIPOC writers have to dumb everything down when it comes to race because that’s sadly one of the only ways to get white folks to listen.

For example the Brooklyn Nine Nine episode Moo Moo (Which was written by a black writer) does tackle the issue of racial profiling, but it does so in that after school special way. Where it’s so basic and surface level that it almost feels insulting? And the fact that the episode completely ignores all the systemic racism that’s prevalent in the NYPD somehow makes it even worse.

Seriously, the episode ends with Terry’s application for a liaison job getting denied because he filed a complaint against a racist cop. And Holt’s all like “At least you did the right thing.”

Now, I haven’t really talked about any of the Hazbin/Helluva lore in great detail because it’s a hot gigantic mess of titanian proportions. And trying to make any sense of it from a narrative perspective is headache inducing, but for the sake of this analysis I decided to make an exception.

It’s pretty obvious that the Imps are supposed to represent the lower class, the majority of Imps we see in the series are stuck with low level jobs, involved in shady activities or are willing to kill to survive.

A good writer would have used the concept to highlight the many injustices that are caused by systems that are hell bent on keeping systemic racism alive to ensure that white elites stay in power.

But Viv and Adam don’t give a shit about that, as they know that tackling those sorts of issues is bound to upset their white audience. So they just don’t bother.

The lore feels like set dressing, i.e something that’s only there to make the audience think that there is much more to Viv’s shows than meets the eye, but there really isn’t.

Helluva Boss’ racist class system is introduced, but it isn’t really all that fleshed out. Because Viv doesn’t really care about exploring themes that mirror real world issues, all she cares about is watching her characters fornicate or make out with each other.

Not saying that every adult show has to have a deeper meaning or challenge people’s worldviews, but having a toxic relationship between a slave and his slave master in a dumb demon cartoon is pretty fucked up, not going to lie.

[inbarfink]

So when discussing the ending of ‘Over the Garden Wall’ and the nature of the Unknown in general, I think it is important to remember that it’s left deliberately up for interpretation. You know, it’s not a Quiz with one concrete answer we must uncover, but it’s more about our interpretations and personal feelings. Each and every one of us experiences that journey with Wirt and Greg into the Unknown in a slightly different way. 

So what I want to do here is not present a Correct Interpretation that will dispute all the others and prove them all wrong and prove myself right, I just want to share my own outlook on the nature of the Unknown. In the hopes that others will like it and it’ll inspire more cool readings and interpretations

So on some level I do agree with the popular theory that the Unknown is some sort of Afterlife - but I don’t see it as a regular Afterlife for human souls, I think it is an afterlife for Stories. This place is where fictional characters and stories end up once they’ve been totally forgotten by the living, ‘lost in the clouded annals of history’. and become.... unknown It is quite literally a place where ‘long forgotten stories are revealed to those who travel through the wood’.

That’s why the Unknown is a mishmash of different time periods and primarily visually and narratively influenced by stuff like fairy tales, ghost stories, children’s books and old cartoons - these stories have a high-tendency to be forgotten and thus get lost in the Unknown (whatever it’s because they rely on oral traditions or because they suffered from very poor preservation historically). 

And that is what the theme song, ‘Into the Unknown’ is talking about…

Where can we pretend that dreams do come true? In Stories.

And what are ‘the loveliest lies of all’? Now that would be Fiction. 

The entire concept of stories is a huge theme of this song, I think.

Beatrice and her family, Adelaide of the Pasture, Auntie Whispers and Lorna were all originally fairy tales. Maybe the same fairy tale, or maybe they were originally separated before being ‘melded’ together. (If, for example, the last child to Remember them before they were forgotten just assumed the Bad Witch in both the Auntie Whispers and Beatrice stories was Adelaide)

Pottsfield was an old urban legend about a haunted ghost town, Wirt and Greg basically played through its ‘plot’ directly. 

Miss Langtree, the schoolhouse and the other associated characters come from a long-forgotten and out-of-print children’s book. That’s why those characters tend to talk in comically-stilted expository dialogue. 

The Tavern was the setting for a series of 20’s animated cartoons.  (Although obviously set long before that era). The Tavern Keeper was created as a Betty Boop clone and was the main character. The Tavern setting was probably a mere framing device for all sort of musical animations. The reason why none of them can comprehend the idea of not having some sort of Title or Label is because that’s how they were written - all given job-related titles but not named.

Fred the Talking Horse was a main character from a forgotten tradition of humorous oral stories where he was sometimes a trickstery anti-hero and sometimes a straight-up comedic villain protagonist.

Quincy Endicott and Margueritte Grey were characters from a satiric limerick about the greedy rich and their wacky habits. (Quincy was at least inspired by a real-life person since his name appears on a tombstone in the real world)

Possibly the same limerick where the punchline was the status-quo at the beginning of their OTGW ep, that both rivals’ mansions have become connected and they assume the other is a ghost haunting their house. Or maybe they were each from different regional variations of the same limerick about a greedy rich weirdo being lost in their own house and going mad. 

Frogland and their little boat might be from a children’s book as well, but I also think that maybe… from the vignettes shown at the opening of the series…

That one might take place outside the Unknown, and shows the real inception of Frogland. Two brothers making up stories with their toy boat by the river. Since they never shared these stories with anyone else, when these two brothers died or maybe just grew up and forgot their boyhood misadventures by the stream - these stories also ended up in the Unknown. 

The Fishing Fish we see briefly in ‘Babes in the Woods’ might be a small comedic illustration from a children’s book, or another piece of limerick, or just someone’s random notebook doodle that gained a life of its own first in the creator’s mind and then in the Unknown. 

Cloud City, the North Wind and the Queen of the Clouds were also, much like the Tavern, from a very old cartoon.

The Beast was once just a mere Boogie Man to keep young children from wandering off into the woods. Ending up forgotten in the Unknown just ended up giving him a whole world of lost souls to harvest. 

Maybe the Woodsman and his daughter were always a part of the story of the Beast. But since it seems that the Woodsman being a lantern-bearer is a fairly recent development - they might have had their own separate story. Some sort of pastoral novel about a family moving near the woods? But their narrative has been ‘hijacked’ by the Beast. 

Wirt and Greg ended up lost within the Unknown cause had they actually died in the lake that night - they would have become a Story in their town. I mean we have a moody lonely teenager and his adorable little brother disappearing/dying - on the night of Halloween - after last being seen in a graveyard - with the older brother’s last act on this earth being to hand his crush a cassette of his love poetry. Can you imagine what sort of Urban Legenda you can grow from those seeds?

But as they were not yet dead, and not a Story yet… so they were technically an Unknown story. Between the borders of life and death from a human perspective because they were about to die, and from a Story perspective because they were just about to be born.

And the ending sequence, with the little vignettes showing where all the characters from all the episodes ended up. I think that’s almost like Wirt and Greg back in the world of the living and the real - being able to create happy endings for all of those stories they've met. That’s how the Woodsman’s daughter ended up being alive all along - it was less that the Woodsman's whole tragedy was a wacky misunderstanding all along. But it became so as a gift of thanks by their new storytellers - Wirt and Greg.

Because if dreams can't come true, than why not pretend?

[sirsagrell]

While I'm usually critical about Veilguard, and will probably continue to be critical, I want to switch gears for a bit and engage in some positivity. Because there are things in it I liked and I don't want to lose sight of them.

So this is a collection of random Veilguard positivity rambles about some things I genuinely liked:

The entire character of Davrin: Davrin and his confusion about sacrificing himself as was expected of him but surviving, Davrin and his complicated but constructive relationship with his heritage that informs everything about him. Davrin knowing what is and isn't a monster, and giving Isseya her name back. Davrin is just very Dragon Age to me. Also holy shit, hot.

Generally, most of the stuff that surrounds the Wardens - the Hossberg Wetlands, the siege of Weisshaupt, the wardens Ivo, those records about the first qunari Warden, the First Warden trying to take the sacrifice of killing Razikale upon himself, the fucked up fortress for hiding fucked up stuff, the surviving wardens saying fuck it post-Weisshaupt and turning the joining into a blight vaccine.

The flowers in Hossberg quest (or was it a hidden quest?). Loved that. Flowers starting to bloom on previously blighted land was a plot point in that DA fic I outlined in my head 10 years ago and never wrote.

While I'm on the subject of plants, Harding's greenhouse was just stunning. Went to just stare at it multiple times regardless of Harding having anything to say to me. And it's thematically resonant too.

Neve as a concept seems like a character designed specifically to appeal to me personally in every way possible. If I was a Dragon Age character I would want to marry Neve. In my actual playthrough Neve never quite stuck, but I wasn't playing myself, I was trying to play a character who fucking hates Tevinter. So I am actually considering doing a separate Neve appreciation playthrough, and I have never replayed a game just to get more of one particular character before. You are too alluring, Neve.

Taash is interestingly and realistically flawed. People like to critique their coming-out scene because Shathann wasn't even really rejecting them, rather trying to understand them through concepts familiar to her, but I like it as written. You get so used to your mother being relentlessly critical of you, you work up the courage to have this important conversation because you know that is the right thing to do, you come prepared to stand your ground, you've been imagining everything she will say and rehearsing what to say back, and when she's honestly trying to understand and reach out, you don't even really notice it and lash out anyway, because you expected this conversation to go badly. This is very human.

Also, I vibe with Taash a lot. I too am socially challenged, sometimes unintentionally rude, surrounded by things that are certifiably messed up, struggle with cultural shit, and think dragons are the best.

I honestly liked the hair. Especially those luscious curls on Teia. This might be the first game I played where hair wasn't some kind of a distracting eyesore. I kid you not it improved my immersion.

I don't actually remember if it was like this in previous games, but I am very glad they labeled the flirt/romance dialogue options in the most unambiguous way possible. I played Baldur's Gate 3 recently and the most seemingly innocuous dialogue options led to flirting all the time. I realize this may be a me problem (see above, socially challenged), but having the options labeled and never having to reload because I'm not trying to flirt with you dammit is very relaxing. Which reminds me.

I think, that despite all its flaws, and weird narrative decisions, and wild shifts in theme and tone, Veilguard still made a better attempt at saying meaningful things than everyone's game of the year 2023 Baldur's Gate 3 did (runs away and hides under a rock).

[waitmyturtles]

As I did last week, I have more constructive criticism for Jack & Joker, so, trigger warning again, please fly away if you can't deal with objective criticism of your faves.

What frustrates me about the construction of this show is that it's tripping on its own feet. And I shouldn't use the indefinite article; I should call out director Tee Bundit directly, because we saw him do this in spades in Step By Step. Tee did everything he could to avoid building a real narrative romance between the SBS leads, and the emotional beats that succeeded their late-series intimate breakthrough were not syncopated properly to match the development of a convincing relationship.

The incomplete beats at hand here are not as bad as they were in SBS. What's keeping me going on in Jack & Joker is that, at least, we are getting separate emotional development trajectories for Jack and Joke -- and a nice, hearty head-smack from Ah Mah at the end of the episode, towards Jack and his inclination to shut down and keep his shit internal. Ah Mah is trying to get Jack to know how to act as family, and she did the same with Joke's father earlier in the episode.

Like I said last week, I think this show has some really wonderful family-related thematic gems like the ones I just mentioned for this week's episode. Yin and War are acting these themes out with heart. Jack's in a really tough spot. The robber clowns will get together again next week to try to get him out of his tough spot.

And I know many of us are upset with Joke's dad, as I am, too, he's a real piece of shit, but his scenes with Joke struck me as very real to the experience of an insanely strict Asian dad. I've written about this too many times to count, but the ability of an Asian parent to cut their kids off like that is a concept that majority Western culture hasn't contemplated, except in instances of religion, sexism, bigotry, etc., but anyway -- that kind of cut-off doesn't exist as part of the everyday Western mentality about parenting, whereas in Asian parenting styles, to reject the patriarchal hierarchy could mean permanent separation, as Joke's dad has enacted to Joke. The fact that the motherfucker reconsidered AFTER EATING JOKE'S FOOD struck me as deeply sexist ("the way to a man's" blah blah, UGH), so I'm glad Ah Mah told that bitch off, but I did think those scenes were done well and realistically.

Anyway, where this series is absolutely lagging is in the EDITING. All these rich people games. I think there are many more concise narrative ways that we can be told that the rich play with the lives of the poor, than to give us bloated scene after bloated scene of literal gaming. Forget metaphors! Just give us some well-written, snappy dialogue about how these rich people are total assholes! We'll believe it!

And at the same time, I'm feeling bad for Rose, honestly. She likes Jack! She has no idea her crush on him is caught up in this Boss bullshit. She's gonna be hurt! And they're gonna rob her house now? I mean, I think what Tee is saying (I think?!?!?!) is that what comes to her, she deserves, because she's as scummy as the rest of the other scummy rich people (Ajahn Pichai, was that you?!). But like, this is her dad's shit?! So she gets automatically blamed because she's a nepo baby? I mean, I guess, if you're a reader of New York Magazine, that's reasonable thinking, but like, some of us are moral thinkers here!

This shit is complicated, and for an episode that was ONE HOUR. AND. 21. MINUTES. LONG., we could have a shorter AND clearer episode that could have scrubbed at the grout of these otherwise very interesting moral quandaries. But instead, we got video games from some dusty-ass rich boy who needs a goddamn bath.

I know, I know we haven't gotten the intimacy payoffs for any of the implied couples yet, and maybe this is part of YinWar's intention in having so much control over their script. But I did wonder if I was watching a Series Y/BL, or if I was watching a dramedy instead. I don't really care what genre it's in. But what I would like is for the themes to be crystal-clearly focused so that us, the viewers, can lean into what the cast and showmakers WANT us to care about -- which, thematically, I'm unclear on at this moment.

[tokiro07]

Ichi the Witch ch.4 thoughts

[Eight-Foot Vertical Leap?!]

(Contents: narrative structure - worldbuilding, character analysis - Ichi/Desscaras/Kumugi, thematic analysis - Joy/Friendship)

Maybe it's because this is the fourth series I've written weekly reviews for, but I'm really seeing the legwork going into these early chapters

I don't really want to get to the point where I'm beating a dead horse, but I feel like keeping track of this will somehow be beneficial to me in the long run

Chapter 1 - establishes the premise (high concept, basic setting, core cast and themes)

Establishes the cast's personalities and dynamics

Establishes the flow of the series

Begins actual worldbuilding

I don't know if it's just because I haven't paid a ton of attention previously, but the fact that I'm able to so clearly see the functional layout of the storytelling so far makes me feel like this series in particular might end up being a masterclass in basic story structure. I suppose we'll have to see how it continues to develop in the coming weeks, but I wouldn't be surprised if next week and the week after introduce the primary goal and primary antagonist, though maybe that would be too structured?

Of course, it's entirely possible that next week will just be more worldbuilding for a bit, since we're most likely going to get a closer look at the Witches Association, but I have to figure we're going to need to establish a goal soon on account of Ichi being some kind of aberration that captured the ostensible most power Magik in all the land. I'm envisioning something like Gojo offering Yuji a stay of execution in JJK, though I don't know if Ichi is going to be considered a criminal

For now, though, let's focus on the glimpse into the worldbuilding we did get

Worldbuilding

First and foremost, the disparity in magic availability is pretty stark. As Desscaras points out, you aren't likely to see a lot of magic users out in the sticks, and those that you do see seem to get whisked away to the capital for training (as we saw in ch.1). Meanwhlie, magic is extremely common in the capital, to the point that basically every shopkeeper on the street seems to be using or selling magic

I don't know if that's going to become a major recurring theme, but I think that kind of inequity is something we should keep an eye out for. Series like Black Clover touch on it with the literal tiered structure of the Clover Kingdom, but as far as I recall it was never a major point of contention in their society, so I'd definitely like it if Nishi gives it a bit of attention

The fact that there's a clear divide between genders suggests that social inequity is already on Nishi's mind, so economics would probably be a good way to expand on the concept from a different angle. I do believe she's considered it, since the literal first thing she brings up in this worldbuilding expo is the tourism market, a concept I definitely didn't expect to see in a fantasy series like this

While I don't really know enough about the history of tourism to dispute how old the practice is, Nishi definitely seems to be going out of her way to establish that this world is a little more advanced than ch.1 would make you think with the inclusion of a flying motor scooter. It kind of feels like how Naruto inexplicably had TVs or HxH suddenly revealed it had the internet, but this at least happened quickly enough that it's not too jarring

There's also the fact that it's all magic anyway, so nothing really feels too far outside of the realm of possibility; Desscaras had apparently received a ton of messages on her magic mirror in ch.2, so obviously that was meant to be a stand-in for a phone

Magic System

Speaking of magic, this chapter does seem to confirm a suspicion that I've had since ch.2: not all magic comes from the Magiks

In ch.2, Desscaras was able to create and dispel a cage without seeming to use a chant; at the time I figured the dispelling didn't require it and the casting happened off-screen, so I didn't pay it much mind. Then in ch.3, she not only cast a silencing spell on Ichi without a chant, she also mentioned putting magical power into the ropes they used on Raiko

Now in this chapter, the saleswoman mentions charging the magic boots with magic power; in other words, the basis of this magic system isn't just the Magiks, but magic power, an energy source that women seem to either possess or have access to. This would explain why it's so special that Ichi was able to use Uroro even though logically any man should have been to pass his trial - men literally aren't supposed to be able to access magic power at all, even to use basic, non-Magik spells

Brief aside, I really hope that any visually impaired readers are able to hear the difference between magic and Magik in their text-to-speech readers, cus otherwise this series is going to be kind of annoying

Anyway, it's not just a lack of compatibility between men and Magik, it's basically like men lack an organ that would allow them to channel magic power. While it does make a bit more sense, I am sad that it suggests that the line "in this world, magic is alive" isn't entirely accurate. If there are spells that can be cast without passing a Magiks trial, then that kind of cuts into the uniqueness of the power system a bit, though again we'll need to wait and see how it develops

Along with dropping more hints about the magic system, this chapter also drops more hints about what kind of person Ichi is and how he fits into this world

Boy Meets World

It was lightly touched on in ch.1 with Ichi hunting the Flower Field Guardian for the villagers, but Ichi seems to like helping people. I kind of thought he did the hunt for the sake of it and the gratitude of the people was just a nice bonus, but seeing him go out of his way to help a complete stranger even at the risk of exposing his secret drives home that he enjoys being kind just as much as going on a good hunt

The little detail of him leaving his knife as collateral for the magic boots also solidifies that he has a pretty strict moral code; he won't murder, he won't steal, he won't abandon someone in need, and he won't make up excuses either. He could have swiped the boots and said "it was an emergency, I was planning to return them afterwards," but instead he took the time to write a note and leave behind something of value to prove his intent rather than leaving without explanation expecting the end to justify the means

Of course, he's still pretty naive; it's silly for him to assume that the shopkeepers place the same value on his ordinary hunting knife as he does and that it would be equivalent to specially crafted magical boots, and his logic that he didn't use magic since he didn't cast any spells is patently incorrect. Any dolt who sees a man using a magic item is going to piece together that he's the Manwitch that people are talking about, because even something as basic as that is still a fundamental impossibility in this setting

But that naivete is an important bit of development for us to understand and become endeared to Ichi's character. He was a little goofy in ch.1, and we got hints in both chs.1 and 3 that he's a bit crazy, but this chapter expands on what I believe is the most important element of not only his character, but any good protagonist: his ability to enjoy himself

Joy to the World

Previously, hunting was the only thing that we knew Ichi cared about, and his newfound ability to use magic simply allowed him to hunt new prey that he wouldn't be able to otherwise. However, the presence of magic was no more than a facilitator, an excuse to bring him into this world of monsters and witches, but he himself had no clear interest in it

With this chapter, though, Ichi's opinion on magic is firmly established: it's fun. I don't know how it compares to hunting, and obviously those two passions are just going to overlap, but an explicit interest in the subject matter will make the inevitable training arcs to come something Ichi will actively want to participate in rather than a chore

More importantly, though, because we're looking at this world through Ichi's eyes, his fascination with magic is our fascination with magic. Ichi and I now care equally about the potential of this magic system, and I can now trust that he will go out of his way to explore it in a way that I want him to. If Ichi couldn't be bothered to care about the magic, then why should I be expected to?

This approach of synchronizing the interests of the cast with the interests of the audience is something that I've definitely noticed in a lot of other manga as well: Luffy's thirst for adventure, Fuuko's genuine love for all of the other Negators, Iroha's knack for puzzle-solving, Asumi's immersion in MMA techniques, all of these are great examples of the author showing the audience what joys their world has to offer to the audience

A long time ago, I once posited that along with Jump's values of Friendship, Effort and Victory there was a fourth, unspoken value. At the time, I thought it was Dreams, but I've since realized that the attainment of a Dream is Victory. Nowadays, with the unbridled mirth I've seen from Jump's protagonists across the last several years, I've realized that that fourth value can be nothing other than Joy. Victory without Joy is hollow. Effort without Joy is suffering. Friendship without Joy is transactional. None of the others stand without Joy, and yet Joy itself stands alone just fine - Joy can be found anywhere, as it can be created from within those who need it wherever they may be

Media naturally has plenty of room for morose, pessimistic and overall nasty protagonists, so of course not every Jump manga is going to prioritize Joy, but not every Jump manga prioritizes Friendship, Effort or Victory either. This early in the game, I don't even think I can say which one Nishi intends to focus on just yet, but I can say for sure that she wants Joy to be a major element going forward, and that honestly makes me more excited than any promise of cool monster designs or an intricate power system ever could

That said, if I had to guess, of the three main values, I'd say that Ichi the Witch is most likely to prove itself to be a Friendship series based on what we've seen already

You've Got a Friend In Me

Not only is it extremely likely that Uroro's arc is going to see him actually form a bond with Ichi, but Ichi's moment of sparkly-eyed delight with magic even seems to be endearing him to Desscaras as well. It was brief, quickly replaced with her usual sneer and penchant to evade responsibility, but something definitely stirred within her in that moment. A memory? A long-lost emotion? Hope? Whatever it was, Desscaras' opinion of Ichi is slowly but surely changing, and by the end she's definitely going to cherish this crude little monkey boy she found in the middle of the woods

Along with the subtle developments of our established cast, though, we also finally got our first new addition since ch.1! Kumugi's introduction was much too detailed for a throw-away character, and her presence for Ichi and Desscaras' crash landing in front of Monegold puts her in the perfect position to be dragged along for the ride (perfectly in accordance with her established fail-girl status)

I've already suggested that Desscaras won't be a consistently present party member since she's the mentor archetype, so Kumugi offers to fill the void she'll leave by going in the near opposite direction. While Desscaras is the strongest and most skilled Witch in the land, Kumugi is a Cadet who seems to have nothing going for her; no luck, no respect, and likely no notable capability. Both serve as excellent foils to Ichi, a bright-eyed, one-in-a-million talent without an ounce of experience in this world who as of yet hasn't uttered a single word of complaint about anything. Hell, the guy literally got crapped on in ch.1 and he just laughed it off, whereas Desscaras' would no doubt blow a gasket and Kumugi would likely faint in shock

I don't know how big this cast is going to get or if the core cast will be consistent or on rotation, but the three friends we've already gotten for Ichi all already provide such clear paths for how their relationships can and likely will develop that I can't help but feel like those relationships will be Nishi's main priority. Not that I don't see how she could pivot to Effort (the hunt) or Victory (the trophy), but the mere fact that the actual hunt for Raiko actually happened off-screen and was only expanded upon after it was complete suggests that the process and result are less important than the people present

I don't envision Kumugi as a romantic interest just yet, but I do anticipate her anxieties and negativity being strongly impacted by Ichi's spontaneity and optimism. His personality sets him up to drag her into big and unexpected trouble, and those experiences will likely help her come to grips with her own internal struggles. If I'm right, then Ichi is likely to have a flat character arc, wherein he's the one teaching everyone else the right way to be rather than learning from people who have already found their answers

This is more or less what I predicted in ch.2 when I suggested that Ichi would fundamentally change the way that Witches approach Magiks, but now focused on a more interpersonal level than a strictly narrative one

What's particularly interesting about Ichi though is that it doesn't seem likely that he'll have a completely flat arc, since he seems so open to new experiences and ways of thinking. He's strong-willed, but the new experiences he gains will certainly begin to change his perspective and values. Like I said, his personality is likely to get him and Kumugi into trouble, but on the flip side, Kumugi's apprehension is likely to help her get herself and Ichi out of trouble at some point or another, allowing the two to meet in the middle rather than just dragging each other kicking and screaming into their way of life

As usual, I may be getting ahead of myself, but if things go the way I expect them to, I want to be able to look back and see at what points the puzzle pieces clicked into place for me. And if I'm wrong, I'd like to have a record of how I came to those conclusions so I can compare and contrast my expectations with reality more effectively

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

[richea]

I've been thinking a lot lately about the concept of "paths" in Symphonia and how it impacts each of the characters, so I wanted to talk about this a little bit. It's such a big theme of the game and it's pretty interesting just how much the narrative hinges on it, with Mithos' final line talking about how he would never sway from his.

Leaving this under the cut because it's long.

Lloyd: His path is something that he carves with his heart and resolve. It is resolute but not to the point where he would make sacrifices to reach his destination. Essentially, he sets a destination but is willing to take detours if the situation calls for it. When there's a split in the road and when he must make a choice, he will forge a new path if he doesn't like either option. The path he paves can be a form of salvation to those who are lost and cannot find their own.

Colette: Colette's path was set in stone from the minute she was born. It is something unavoidable. Even should she lose herself, she must take each and every painful step down it. While it's a beacon of hope to others, it is one many would turn around and run away from at any cost, should they know what lies at the end of it. It is stained in the blood of those passed but at the end of it, Colette hopes to find peace.

Genis: There are many branching paths on his road. Some lead to Mithos and some lead to Lloyd. Perhaps in a different world, he would have his own, drowned in tears and loneliness, spiraling in various uncontrolled directions, but thankfully, the beacon known as Lloyd's helps prove he's going in the right direction.

Raine: Of everyone in the game I would argue Raine has the most agency in her own path. Of course her mother placed her on the road she walks, but from there, Raine paved her own way. She takes guidance when necessary, but ultimately she trusts herself enough to do what she believes is right with the things that she has learned. Rather, she has to be the one to carve her own path. Not only is she doing so for herself, but for her brother too. For all of the people who trust her. She is a role model, but not without her own struggles.

Sheena: This path has many branching points but there are pressures that set her down in certain directions. It's one not unlike Lloyd's, though the expectations placed on her decisions are far greater. When it comes down to it, no matter how resolute she may feel, she never fears running down a different path if the situation calls for it. If her emotions are screaming to her that "this isn't right". Perhaps some may call her a coward, but is there any such thing as a wrong walk of life?

Zelos: What Zelos wants is change. He is being pulled in different directions. He cannot decide whether to go with his gut, or to listen to his friends, or to follow his fate. That is not an easy choice to make. All he knows is he wants change. He wants to break the status quo no matter what, and if that means going down the dark path, so be it. But, like Sheena, is there any such thing as a wrong path to take. No matter which road he goes down, there are people who are going to resent him. That is the price he must pay for being alive. Or so he believes.

Presea: This path started with many, many branches, but tapered into one, stagnant, incredibly dull route. There were no other options for her but to keep pressing down it in hopes that eventually, maybe, there would be something at the end. It was not due to her resolve, but rather a lack of direction. A lack of agency. If you don't like the path life hands you, why not find a new one? This was an ability that had been robbed from her. Cold, steel gates were put up around the path, after all. However, perhaps at some point, she would―with her excellent strength and crafting skills―forge a new one for herself after coming to her own conclusion of where it should lead to next.

Regal: Like Presea, this path had many options at the start, but Regal himself put up a wall to block it off. Why would he do this? Surely there is no need to? It was because he wanted to trap himself within the path he had already taken. Should he press forward would mean presenting himself with new options, and new opportunities to forget. He wanted the blood behind him to seep into his very skin. He wanted it to always be in sight. He did not feel he deserved to press down the path further out of risk of losing sight of it.

Kratos: Kratos has no path. He lives in an aimless existence, only looking to tread down the paths others have long paved. Like Genis, he looks to Mithos and Lloyd's as beacons. However, unlike Genis there was a time where the only path he knew of was Mithos', despite the horrors that he could see strung along it. There was a brief period of time where he discovered Anna's, but it unfortunately reached a dead end. Where else could he go, but of the place he had known prior? Where could a man with no path of his own belong if not to the one he knew of horrors?

Yuan: It feels as if he's reached a point in his life where he rejects the idea of having a path at all. He's almost going through the motions. Rather, he's trying to roadblock off other paths. His own does not lead to anything that personally benefits him but he does not care. He believes he's lived for too long. If anything, he wishes he could go back and take a different path than the one he did. To start over. To not abandon Mithos in his time of need. However those are merely pointless thought exercises at this state. The road he is on is firm and there is no deviating from it. He will get his hands dirty in whatever means necessary to reach the end of it.

Mithos: His path is resolute. It is blood stained. If you look back, you may squint and see some flowers budding around it, but looking forward all you can see is a heap of bodies. Despite this, he stomps down the path, fist clenched in his hand. If there are any branching points, he kicks over them with dirt. While it is adjacent to Lloyd's the two will never touch. There is a fork that extends in its direction, but nothing will make him waver enough to tread it.

[nin-deer]

okay here we go spoilers abt recent onk chaps, specifically onk 162

OH MY GOD i never expected it to go this direction,,,,, i think this revealed to me that this was never a story about aqua and ruby figuring out life after their mom was killed, but rather the second chance of gorou and sarina, more specifically for sarina.

like- ai was SARINA's favorite idol, SARINA was the one that lost her life too soon, and gorou was SARINA's favorite person

everything was circling around sarina, and now she had a new life as ruby to do as she pleases!!

during this moment with hikaru, i think aqua is finally coming to the realization of the purpose of his reincarnation, much like what he narrated in the chapters leading up to this. but like- it didn't really hit him until this confrontation. he was here to protect a life he didn't have a chance to before. like i mentioned in my previous post, the line where aqua was glad he was the one to die first this time really portrays his motivations during this story. he wasn't trying to find ai's killer to get revenge; rather, he wanted to make sure that they didn't go after his precious sister. when he was starting to separate from gorou, he still put his sister before his own desires. even making the documentary was to protect ruby.

a common theme in this story is the concept of lies. lies were used, throughout the narrative, as a way to manipulate one's emotions. ai and her audience, hikaru and his victims, aqua and his suspects. as the more logical of the two, aqua must have known how hikaru's lies could affect ruby. we saw in his little "redemption" arc that hikaru had no problem lying about anything to get people on his side, but aqua was able to see through that, gorou's influence or otherwise.

now here's were i think it gets interesting. the color of the star eyes. the symbol of lying. especially in this end game, ruby and ai have white, while aqua and hikaru have black. i think aqua put it best in ch160. sure. the whole hoshino family is lying, but their motivations are different. ai and ruby were selfless; they wanted to spread love into the world and be the light for those who needed one. meanwhile, aqua and hikaru selfishly lied to achieve their goals, noble or not. aqua knows this; he accepted it long ago when he sought out to kill hikaru. he wasn't doing this to rid the world of a serial killer. instead, he's doing it solely for the sake of his dear sister that he puts before anything else. it's the same with hikaru; he wanted to appease his own desires through his manipulations at the cost of everyone around him.

after everything hikaru has said, ch160-162 covers his motives best. hikaru acts for ai. it's similar in a way to aqua and ruby, but it's more twisted. self-centered. to appease his own mind and what he thinks is right, hikaru uses the pretense of his love for ai as an excuse for the way he behaves. but is this what ai wants? to me, the answer is no. let's take their kids, for example. hikaru would go so far as to kill his own daughter just because she had the potential of outshining ai. Ai, on the other hand, would do anything for her kids. They were the first people she learned to love, even if it came at the cost of her career. all her life, Ai just wanted to know what it meant to love. Hikaru didn't. He didn't care at all about love, but obsession. His actions have been fueled by his obsession of the one source of light that he's clung onto for years, blinding him from other potential sources of light he could use instead.

at the end of ch161, aqua's stars become white. white, because he was about to act selflessly for the better of those he loved. white stars like his mom and sister, because he chose to lie for others instead of clinging to his own selfish desires. he knew, in this moment, that he was given this new life for the sole purpose of protecting sarina. this is a decision he must have thought long and hard about, trying to see if there was any other avenue to watch his sister grow up to be the top idol.

there wasn't. instead, he used hikaru's tactics of scandals and the media to keep ruby's persona innocent in the eyes of the masses. like hikaru mentioned, if aqua were to kill him, ruby would bear the brunt of it as the more publicized one. aqua knew this, and knew the only way to make this work was if he was the victim.

i don't know where aka is going to take this story. personally, i think keeping aqua dead is the best narrative choice based on the direction they took this. but, i know that sometimes authors prefer pleasing the fans, so he might reincarnate as someone else as a reward, or maybe even get saved last minute from his current fate. it's really up in the air for what happens next. all i know is that aqua made the choice he felt like was the most optimal, and i'm curious to see where this goes as we start wrapping up the story. (hopefully,,,)

as;dfhas;ldkfj i've been rambling and its getting kinda long so i'll leave it here..... thx for reading if you made it all the way down here <333

[amaryllis-sagitta]

DATV post-credit ("secret ending") is a Choice not only because of what it does to the world state, but because of other implications

I got my wildest crack crossover with Neon Genesis Evangelion confirmed in a way I did not expect or ask for. Pack it up, Solas, and pilot the Eva one last time, the Executors from across the seas are the SEELE. They want to complete the Thedas Instrumentallity Project and return everything to the peace and comfort of the Void. Turns out Your Mom and her Ayanami backups across the world tried as they might to push back against that incoming Devouring Storm, the renowned history nudger she was. To dance as long as music plays, one might say.

Here's the thing: Dragon Age has always had that New Age'y whiff.

In some capacity, the whole game series seems to be about the manichaean concept of the perennial war between the Light and the Darkness, though until Veilguard it has been more subdued and mostly passed on through lore. We've had the Blight as the main force of darkness that tainted the perfect realm of Light, the Old Gods as those who dwelled the Darkness, etc. In Inquisition we sang that "The Dawn Will Come". And Veilguard almost attacks us with the allegory of Light being under constant siege from the forces of Shadow, with the Black City bursting at the seams, the Blight slowly taking over the world, the Lighthouse being the last bastion against the Elvhen Gods, Shadow Dragons & Lucerni working underground and what not.

Then, there's the Fade, the quasi-platonic "repository" of thought forms, emotions, experiences and memories. The library analogy in respect with the Fade became more apparent with the introduction of The Vir Dirthara and the archive spirits. In this shape, the Fade most resembles Akashic Records, a concept brought in through Helena Blavatsky's theosophy. Then, we have Lyrium and the Titans, entities of the Sentient Magical Crystal, and its chosen Valta and Harding are enlightened to experience Oneness with their cosmic Source. There's the possibility of reincarnation made explicit in the Avvar culture and now semi-confirmed in elvhen lore. There's the undeniably Archon-y vibe of the Old Gods & Evanuris (gnostic sects), and Arlathan is basically the elven Atlantis (a myth from Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, romanticized throughout the ages). There is literally a primordial Abyss in gnostic and Hermetic writings. I haven't delved into this yet but there's also something to say about Solas/ Mythal and the gnostic Yalbadaoth/ the Demiurge, two characters directly responsible for the descent of the world from pure form into matter through an intrigue of error and moral corruption.

At first, the esoteric inspirations seemed closer to some older themes woven into the lore. It was fun to make comparisons as long as these were comparisons with texts and ideas from antiquity, or something that didn't immediately remind you of shit your neighbor might say.

In this context, consider what it looks like to learn that the inspirations for this series now reach down into the conspiracy theory bog that informs many New Age beliefs. Especially since now, in the XXIth century, New Age seems to double down on the Manichaean concept of the ongoing "spiritual war" between the Light and the Darkness. It also incorporates a lot of the XIXth century esoterical ideas with little thought of its origins or implications. And the implications are, among others, that Western esotericism has INSPIRED WHITE SUPREMACY AND CONTINUALLY HAS A THING GOING ON WITH THE FAR RIGHT.

This is not a joke. It is Not. A. Joke.

So, I'm squinting, instantly hit by the whiplash -- not because of what the Executors twist does narratively to the worldstate of the first three DA games, but because Dragon Age IP has just unabashedly announced that it wants to go there.

An important question to ask here is: in the context of all the esoterical references in the series, do we really need ideas such as

a secret cabal of elusive, risk averse, shifty entities that can get into anyone's mind and control them manipulate anyone by creating advantageous circumstances for themselves in some way*

the said cabal prevails throughout history and steers its outcomes from the shadows, and

a tease that it is now imperative for the world's heroes to disclose the said cabal and to fight it. That this might be our new duty, new cause to unite people, new adventure, new grand world-saving experience ---

[*edit: turns out I was wrong about the mind control part, and the writers explained on BSky that they purposefully chose the wording to make that faction merely "inspire" past events -- which doesn't really do much harm to my main point...]

DO WE REALLY NEED TO TEASE SOMETHING LIKE THIS AS A COOL LOOK IN THIS TIME AND AGE??? Especially considering how the only people who oppose Rook's "Ghilan'nain and Elgar'nan" tinfoil speak are framed by the narrative to be unconditional assholes?

Is this their idea of an "impactful story"? Did no-one in that writing room and no-one among the executives consider this twist to be tone deaf and in extremely poor taste? Don't they see that it's now completely indefensible to claim that this is "just inspired fantasy worldbuilding" and not a social pastiche that (inadvertently???) romanticizes prevalent polarizing mythologies?

(I wrote about this in the feedback forums, so fingers crossed someone in there sees it and has fire lit under their ass.)

This is so sad, Manfred, play Komm, süsser Tod from The End of Evangelion, I need a moment in the Memorial Gardens.

[mdhwrites]

What do you think about the four most popular ships in Amphibia (Sashanne, Sasharcy, Marcanne, and Sashannarcy)? Even if shipping and romance aren’t that important and only used to teach a lesson or for a comedy episode, it’s pretty obvious that the relationship between the girls can be seen either as platonic or romantic.

So I'm going to first give my one sentence thoughts on each by concept and then canon before going in deep on this:

Sashanne: A unique dynamic that is actually very context specific so hard to actually recreate and I'd argue most people don't even try or get close in fan works (myself included)/I do like them but I 100% think they needed a couple years to figure out their lives away from each other or else post Amphibia they would have likely become toxic in a new way.

Sasharcy: Classic nerd and popular pairing/FUCKING NONEXISTENT.

Marcanne: A bit more nuanced since it's much more the slacker and the passionate one as far as a dynamic goes but not in the way you expect./Held back by a lot more tell don't show, especially in the first couple episodes that Marcy is introduced but it's cute and you can EASILY see how this whole trip will have made Anne be able to appreciate her oldest friend more.

Sashannarcy: In concept these are actually a GREAT polyamory trio and I love that it has such mainstream appeal with a fandom/I don't think it works from the show's perspective because of how well defined Sasha and Anne's relationship is while Marcy struggles to have a presence.

In case you didn't notice a running theme, these ships have essentially the same problem as my greatest problem with the show: Marcy. Her weaker writing compared to the rest of the cast and the fact that she serves a narrative role more than she acts as her own character makes it hard for me to be compelled by her canon self in ships. It's akin to why Willow and Hunter don't appeal to me from a shipping perspective. I like characters, not plot devices. Yes, Marcy is better than both of those characters as she actually has a firmer character than either but that doesn't fix that her narrative utility comes before who she is most of the time.

The other big element that maybe has always held me back from shipping them in canon once I watched the show is actually the fact that I agree with the show: As teenagers, they were AWFUL for each other. Marcy needs her own, personal strength that she found some of in Amphibia but needs to actually put to use in the real world. Sasha brutally changed so much of herself and was clearly struggling with that, over correcting or still wanting to run even to the end. She asks if it's okay for her to abandon Marcy after all, even after she's gone so far to make up to Anne as to give up ALL power in her life which isn't healthy either. Anne is the closest to being ready for a relationship after Amphibia but Sprig's Birthday/Give a Frog a Cookie showed that her self sacrificing tendency for her friends and her desperation for approval still. She may do it for better people than for Sasha but she is still struggling.

They all just need time to figure themselves out as people because your relationships SHOULD NOT DEFINE YOU. That's kind of part of the point of the ending. Take the good and grow as a person, whether you lose someone by choice or by circumstance. That includes for the trio as friends or romantically.

Okay, but I did mention something potentially quite controversial which is my Sashanne take. See... Their dynamic in most fandom works is the overzealous, brash one versus the patient, more responsible one with Sasha and Anne respectively. That is accurate post Amphibia but it also carries NONE of their baggage and usually leans a lot more on Sasha's tomboy nature instead of the fact that Sasha is a girl who can both kick your ass and then worry about having chipped a nail. The complexities of Sashanne that make it so compelling in the show just don't show up as much except as an obstacle to get over to get together. That works for shipping but it's not why their friendship is as complicated and interesting as it is in the show. It doesn't have the punch it should and it's damn near impossible to replicate because that level of history is hard to depict. It only functions in the show as being well depicted because of how much time is spent essentially breaking Anne out of Sasha's control, which is part of it. Anne is someone who pretty much left a cult and Sashanne is her having to decide to now be with her cult leader but not slip back into the mentality the cult taught her. That's... not easy to put it mildly.

But then again, a lot of people just take Sasha and Anne working together for a greater cause to mean they have literally no issues anymore despite Sasha's Angels existing. I guess that happens when somehow the entire fandom doesn't give a fuck about Amphibia but only the trio. sigh

Let's end this on a positive note though which is that if I am so rough on essentially all the Sasha relationships for needing time for Sasha to genuinely internalize her lessons, Marcy is the opposite. While I complained about her above, the strength to the fact that she's a pretty well defined, nice character who can be used mostly to support others arcs is that she more neatly fits into a position for shipping. Her awkwardness and nerdiness is PRIME romance fodder (there's a reason a shocking amount of romantic protagonists are clumsy but that's for a different blog) and her passion makes it easy to understand why someone would want to be with her.

And I do want to say some thoughts on Marcanne. Even if they start on a rough place with more tell instead of show, it actually does kind of work in this context. A complaint I've had about other relationships is not actually knowing what the other is interested in their partner for besides "That's the hot one." There is ZERO ambiguity here. Marcy likes Anne because of her compassion, something she probably has worried about wearing out herself. Anne has always appreciated Marcy's intelligence but Amphibia has made her understand Marcy's passion far better than she did before and Anne clearly actually is into that now that she better cares about others properly. This also clearly shows their chemistry as we know the strengths and weaknesses each of them cover for the other, though not perfectly as they're both still human and the same things they admire in the other can cause anxiety and worry in themselves from comparing themselves to their partner. Marcy in Wartwood and Scavenger Hunt are all it takes for all of this to come out and it leads to more romantic chemistry, and a genuinely dynamic look at what they could be, than a lot of romance movies manage in their entire runtime.

In conclusion, I like all of them in general. In practice, I find most of them deeply compelling within the show. It's just... It doesn't drive me to want to write them during the show romantically because I agree with the show. They're complicated, both as a trio and as themselves, and they probably could use a more solid ground for themselves before they really start working on each other.

And that is honestly even better to me because it just makes them all the more interesting.

======+++++======

For anyone curious why I didn't talk about Sashannarcy at all despite literally being a polyamory writer, it's because I kind of wanted to keep it to the ships that I think are properly represented in the show and Marcy and Sasha get essentially zero time together to try and form a relationship beyond "Marcy thinks Sasha is really fucking cool while Sasha barely gives Marcy the time of day if she's not also giving attention to Anne." The theoretical would be fun to talk about but it's pretty much only the theoretical and I decided to keep the blog more focused on the practical.

Also had a moment after this of going "Huh. I wonder how much of me being demiromantic is playing a part in how I see these.?

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[intogenshin]

destruction as a means for healing

there's very interesting parallels between watatsumi island and scaramouche.

there's so much i need to explain regarding lore and buddhism to understand how I'm almost giving up, but i really like the idea overall, so we persevere.

buddhism is divided into three branches. mahayana is the one that spread to japan and syncretized with shinto

inazuma's narratives take inspiration from japanese mahayana buddhism (obviously), especially for characters like ei and to a lesser degree kazuha

watatsumi was inspired on ryukyu kingdom (i wanna complain about this in detail but not today) who had their own religion, most closely related to shinto. they did receive foreign influence, but the pattern im tracing is only in terms of the themes, not implying buddhism is directly tied to its culture

the goal of buddhism is basically to meditate ur way out of the cycle of reincarnation. the world is illusory and ur trapped in it because u cling to ur suffering (im simplifying it), so ur supposed to follow the doctrines and practices in order to integrate them to ur life in a way that it becomes natural.

things like ei quelling her desires or being against visions or becoming disossiated from her sense of self are all nods to these buddhist principles. so is kazuha choosing to let go of his pain and burdens (material and emotional attachments) in order to live with inner peace.

on the other hand, we have watatsumi and scaramouche who do anything but. their lives are defined by the sins of their pasts and the resentment they carry with them.

watatsumi descend from enkanomiya, and i need to point out this pattern:

they were abandoned by a god (the primordial one)

then they were granted divine knowledge (from istaroth)

they used this knowledge to create technology (aberaku built the artificial sun, helios)

they turned this technology into a divine object of worship (the political class convinced their people helios was a real god and began the corrupt ruling of the sun children)

they suffered until another god helped them out of compassion (orobashi agreed to be their god and took them to the surface)

now read those again with scaramouche in mind.

it is curious then, that their paths would cross during the inazuma chapter via the distribution of delusions. (convenient sidenote, the concept of delusion is the source of evil in buddhism)

watatsumi feels a lot of resentment against narukami for killing their god. so much so, that they were willing to use delusions which drained their life force in order to defeat them, and even after the war is over there are some resistance soldiers who wont let go of their resentment.

the delusions here are a key element, since they were literally made with the remains of their god. and scaramouche was the one tasked with distributing the delusions. the allegory is so in ur face its kinda hysterical.

now heres where it gets fun: the remains of orobashi are the source of the problems scaramouche faced in the past. tatarasuna was built to smelt swords with jade steel, which is made from crystal marrow extracted from orobashi's skeleton. and the illness that takes the life of the little child later is caused by the tatarigami, the surviving resentment of orobashi.

(COME ON)

these two narratives are so so closely tied its impossible for it not to be intentional. and u might ask ok but whats the point then, and to that i can offer:

mahayana buddhism was made as an alternative to theravada buddhism, and then vajrayana buddhism was created from mahayana buddhism. the differences dont matter much for the context of this post, in simple words vajrayana focuses on tantric practices and rituals. in mahayana u cultivate ur path out of suffering with meditation, and in vajrayana u add tantras and rituals to that meditation.

its probably not as simple as this, but mahayana sort of centers the worship on compassionate bodhisattvas (deities who have delayed their enlightment to help humans), and even though they all have the same symbols, there might be a bit more emphasis on wrathful bodhisattvas in vajrayana buddhism. overall these deities are idealized symbols, ur not meant to be them, they are symbolizing a virtue (i assume??).

whats important is a branch of vajrayana did make it into japan, becoming shingon buddhism, which centered its worship around one key wrathful bodhisattva: acala, also known as fudou in japanese. this is basically a symbol of enlightment through destruction. he's a deity that destroys ur pain and suffering, ur obstacles for enlightment. obviously its symbolic, but the feeling and vibes it invokes are quite different from the compassionate symbols of mahayana.

there is one ritual for fudou where things are offered to fire, so its basically purification through burning, through destruction and renewal of the self.

aka:

scara/wanderer's design is based off a shugendo monk, a super syncretic religion made of everything that reached japan. but, they have special worship for fudou and the fire ritual.

scara literally faces his suffering and sins (as in, the accumulation of karma in buddhist concepts) in the form of shouki no kami, and he fucking obliterates it just as he gains his vision. this is healing through destruction, at its least symbolic form, reaching enlightment not through meditation and not through "peaceful" methods of quelling emotions, but through goddamn rightful rage. (i am screaming this into the void it makes me nuts)

in a less literal (and exciting) way, kokomi also finds a way to redirect the resentment of the watatsumi soldiers into a path of self advancement. she doesnt punish them for their desire to take this resentment into action against the shogunate, instead she lets them form a special division where they will train not for revenge, but for the protection of their people. the rage is not quelled, the violence is not stopped, just redirected into actions for collective and personal well being. which is what ur supposed to do in buddhism, as far as i understood (the concept of chanda, and all that)

anyway, yeah, healing through violence. i love scaramouche

[theloganator101]

In an ideal world, Mha's main cast would look something like:

Izuku, the protagonist: Treated well by narrative, actually develops and learns to be both stand up for himself and trust people. He still gets OFA but his quirkless past isn't forgotten because the concept of him going from powerless to powerful is interesting

Shouto, the deuteragonist: Starts the same as canon but never gets sideline by Endeavor in his own plot, actually gets focus on who he wants to be as a person and his connections to his friends, he's also one of the biggest critics of the current hero system. Shouto also learns that he shouldn't risk his own well-being and mental health to save a family that's already beyond repair (He could also be Izuku's love interest because... it just works)

Ochaco, the triagonist: Izuku's BFF who gets tons of screentime and development and is actually powerful. She wants to be the hero who saves other heroes just like in canon and calls out how the celebrity culture of heroes has negativelly affected the mental health of those in the profession (none of the bullshit with Toga happens)

Tenya: Izuku's main rival, they're still friends but they butt heads often and through that they actually help eachother grow and realize their flaws.

Eijirou: Shouto's self-proclaimed best friend who approaches him as the start because he thinks Shouto looks lonely. He's the one who starts melting the walls Shouto has put up before Izuku completely crashes through them in the sports fes. Backstory remains the same as canon.

Mina: Shouto's rival, who disliked him at first because of how he treated others initially. Higly skilled with her quirk and actually on par with Shouto when it comes to quirk proficiency and combat. After the sports fes, she and Shouto become friends but are still very competitive with eachother.

Yuga: One of Izuku's first friends after entering U.A along with Tenya and Ochaco. Actually quirkless, the belt is just a support item but he keeps it a secret. Eventually tells Izuku the truth and they both confide in eachother with Izuku also telling him about OFA (Not the traitor anymore because that plot point is just terrible)

Any thoughts?

I love all of this!

Izuku gets the positive attention he deserves.

His friends not sidelined.

Actual themes and plot points get explored instead of being used as flavor text.

A gay ship I actually love.

And my boy Aoyama doesn't get screwed over!

One thing I will add is hopefully Bakugou got expelled after the battle trials since that's where it would make sense to get rid of him after he literally attempted murder.

[prism-forgone]

So how long till you drop the Deltarune Classpect expansion featuring the secret bosses? Haha just kidding. Unless... But anyway having not thought about classpects in like half a decade that post was a fun read.

i'm so glad you enjoyed it! ^^ it's nice to know there's a demographic for stuff like that still sksjsjk

the post in question for those out of loop here : x

and now.....

It appears my work is not yet done.

Jevil // Bard of Breath

So this is a bit irregular.

Since classpects are not only an allegory for a place in the narrative but also for character growth and progression, it can sometimes be hard to pin down a title of a character who had already gone through their arc. Jevil is someone like that - he's just hanging out. He fights you because it's fun and he's bored and won't you come outside? Let yourself be free?

Jevil screams Bard from miles away and his theme of freedom couldn't be more blatant but the problem I encountered was pinning down which aspect he was ghosting and which was his own. Bards usually experience a psychic break of sorts - we call it a crisis of aspect - that causes them to stop acting aggressively like they're bound to the opposite aspect. But the problem is - I would describe his encounter with 'a strange someone' as something exactly like that. So is he a Bard of Blood that is still in a way ghosting his opposite aspect, destroying the concept of imprisonment by calling being locked up as being truly free? Or is he a Bard of Breath that destroys through Breath by getting himself imprisoned and twisting the definition of freedom?

I decided to go with the latter because not only do I see his encounter with that strange someone being his aspect crisis as non-negotiable, this is not the only clue we have (even if it's the most crucial one). The way Bards operate before their aspect crisis is destroying their aspect through embracing the opposite one. Being a court jester is a very social role that I would say fits someone who is Bloodbound or ghosting the hell out of Blood well. Blood heroes are leaders, confidants and advisors and I think this fits well pre-crisis of Breath. He realized he's not truly free and never will be so he simply smashed his definition of freedom and remade it.

Spamton G. Spamton // Mage of Life (Kind of.)

So, hear me out. I promise it adds up.

Spamton has clear marks of someone Lifebound. This clingy attitude towards success, recognition and money is a very clear mark of that. Another one is how Life heroes are laughably susceptible to contact or persuasion by some kind of dark forces. His separation from other Addisons to become a big deal on his own has connections to a theme of rebellion, and his subsequent rise to the top of the social ladder is emblematic of the theme of authority, both of which being something that very up Life's alley. ...Also, he can literally heal. There's that.

Mages, as I've discussed in Noelle's case, experience the good and the bad of their aspect and can even experience harm because of it. And the cycle of Life says what rises up must fall down. In fact, I believe that what we're dealing with is Spamton's experience with the one who stopped calling him pulling him to the bottom and straight through, leading to him inverting to being the opposite of his title.

Spamton G. Spamton // ↺ Heir of Doom

Sometimes characters can experience a switch to the opposite title. That is called an inversion. It won't make sense for those who are reading this just for character deconstruction and have no knowledge of HS but think of how Rose acted like a Witch of Void, the inverse or her Seer of Light title, when she went grimdark. This isn't ghosting - it happens when a character actively rejects not only their aspect but their whole title.

This leaves Spamton acting in a way that is contrary to his nature - something isn't quite right. We get a feeling this isn't how he should operate but something happened and left him like this. For all intents and purposes, the narrative treats him like an Heir of Doom now, bringing about all things that have to do with being Doombound - this means he attracts the worst parts of the narrative, acts bitter and resentful, even fatalistic, is prone to visions of an awful end or unfortunate fate (this one I'm bringing up specifically because of his phone) and has a connection with nihilism and fatalism.

The inverse of his class being an Heir is also significant. Heirs inherit and embody their aspect, and Spamton does this two-fold - he serves as a cautionary tale of what happens when you hit rock bottom after trying to climb too high up, and, after the fight in the basement, becomes an omen to Kris that leaves a significant impact on them.

[just-orbiting-you]

https://x.com/jmnpromise/status/1820402605258052036

https://x.com/jmnpromise/status/1820403462762602618

Any new explanations and excuses ? 🎤 or you pretend not seeing this ask so you can continue to gaslight followers and yourself thinking Jkk is real ? Weren't you all celebrating WHO being gender neutral earlier ? Now Jimin himself said asking HER out as Slowdance meaning. Also you all said Rebirth is most personal song, turns out it's him falling in love with his crush which again is a girl who he's inviting for a dance in next song. And both songs are written by him.. Let it go already guys.. Jikook isn't real nor JM is with a man. He's throwing at your face at this moment that he's searching for A GIRL, A HER. While you misunderstands his message and bends his words to fit your non existent gay ship narrative.

i know you’re baiting me and probably have sent this to multiple other accts. but yeah i will explain! thanks for the opportunity!

In this post, i wrote about how in minimoni music, jimin made it very clear to me that MUSE is a concept album. his experiences of falling in love on this album are not true to his own experiences OR he doesn’t want us to think as such.

and you could say im making excuses because i like jikook all you want, but i am taking that from an artistic point of view. jimin explaining his process jn developing the messages of the songs felt similar to how jungkook chose the songs for golden. love is a universal emotion, let’s sing about that. jimin used love as a metaphor here, if you can’t comprehend the idea that art is transformative to the human experience, then im sorry.

i’d say probably 75% of music written these days is not directly autobiographical anymore. even when you’re writing about yourself, you twist things that might sound better written in different ways, etc. i find it hard to pair every word written by an artist back to their personal life. some artists are very clear about it, like jimin on face and yoongi’s solo work, but other times things are not so 1 to 1.

for the usage of “her,” there is NO way in HELL that jimin could use a “he/him” pronouns in a song if he truly is queer. i believe him to be so, and even then him singing about a girl does not erase his queerness. but his status and culture prevent him HEAVILY from referring to anyone else. like wake up seriously!!! and i find it funny that no one talks about how the rest of the songs on the album don’t use pronouns! everyone immediately focused on who!

plus jimin got extremely embarrassed in those clips talking about the romance theme of the album, and i just feel like he either doesn’t want to connect himself to it or feels uncomfortable with thr narrative. something is up in how he is acting.

finally, i will say that who being the final song leaves us with the notion that this person (whether jimin or not) hasn’t found a true love. they’ve been searching and dreaming, but nothing has come to them. even if you want to tie it back to jimin, he says this about who.

he said a similar thing in minimoni music about using who at the end to convey that he is ultimately left with an empty feeling, questioning when he will feel excited about life again. all of the previous track feeling upbeat, happy, and full of love end with who, a song without definitive confirmation that this person has found love.

i already have a hard time determining the reality of jikook’s relationship, i don’t like to blindly convince myself they’re real. still though, i find a lot of jimin’s thoughts on muse fall out of range for jimin’s romantic experiences. muse is not about himself directly.