#black and white and read all over

[textless]

I believe the bird is a greater blue-eared starling, and the zebras are definitely zebras.

Masai Mara, Kenya, July 2023.

[stil-lindigo]

ashes to ashes.

a short comic about the day Ash was born.

Ash's story

Red and Wolf's story

notes:

--

all my other comics

store

[lunarharp]

post that reads like a mood swing

[daisy-mooon]

"I want Annabeth to be blonde :(" then pick up a PJO book and read it you dumb fuck

[applestorms]

actually. @moonlarked you wanted someone to talk about near & light as parallels? cuz uh...

ok SO, my big hot take on near is something like this: one of the most common criticisms i see about near is that he is simply too apathetic/bored/uncaring/etc, and that because he is not as emotionally invested as L, his win against light doesn't feel nearly (lol) as satisfying as it could've been. this is a view that often frustrates me, but for a very particular reason— namely, while i think it is somewhat accurate in content, i think it misses a lot of important context (and also misses a lot of the importance of light's character arc, but we'll get to that much later).

one of the most important things to remember about the wammy's kids is that, whether they like it or not, each and every one of them is defined almost entirely through their relationship to L. this is perhaps more obvious in the case of characters like BB and mello, who are very Aware of this shadow being cast upon them and react in very overt, emotional ways (e.g. becoming a literal serial killer out of seemingly pure spite & desire to be noticed, idolizing him but in a very emotionally complicated, kinda detached sorta way, etc), but it is true for Every wammy's kid, purely because of how the house itself functions. these kids are being raised to be L's successor— the greatest (and second greatest, and third greatest) detective on the planet. this is the ultimate goal hanging over every one of their heads, and it places a constant pressure on every kid there.

oftentimes, i think (perhaps both out of story and in it, as well?) people get so caught up in comparing near to L that they forget he also falls under this umbrella— only, for near, his position is slightly different because he actually somewhat succeeds at the task? like, yeah, L never gets the chance to officially call near his successor, but between the fact that he's constantly called the #1 kid at wammy's and that he. literally does actually end up becoming the new L after kira, i think it's always been pretty clear what his path was going to be.

going back to my starting point, this is one of the main ways that near makes a really good parallel to light in my mind, specifically the light that we see right at the start of the series. in both cases, near and pre-DN light, we see a kid who has succeeded at everything they've been handed, and more notably, we see a kid who is bored out of his fucking mind looking at the prospects of what he's got.

in the case of light, this is maybe a little more realistic/easy to understand— light does well in academics, he does well in sports, he does well with people. he is likely to follow in his father's footsteps with something criminal justice/police/law related, but even if he diverges from that path it likely won't be too big of a deal, as he has shown himself to be capable in enough areas that he's likely to succeed no matter what. by all measurable standards, light's doing pretty good at the start of the series. and yet— there is something so distinctly and inherently Bland about his life before he gets the DN. i've said before that light wouldn't call the DN a curse even if he wanted to, but i think in that moment when he's telling ryuk he disagrees w/ his father after visiting him in the hospital, when he says, "I've never once considered finding that notebook and gaining this power a misfortune. In fact, it's made me happier than I've ever been." (ch.22) he's still getting at something real and truthful.

again, going back to my equating of boredom with depression in this series— light's life is pretty good by all measurable standards. he has a family who loves him, presumably more than enough money to get by with a pretty cushy lifestyle, and does well, honestly better than well, in every single system he is presented with. but even so, he's still unhappy. there is something in his soul that has not yet been satisfied. he's bored of the world, bored of his place in it, how easy it all is. what the DN really offers him is a challenge, entertainment— just the same as L, and just the same as ryuk.

near similarly suffers from this kind of boredom, though it is perhaps less overtly stated than in the case of light, L, and ryuk, and less easy to catch as it is not as realistic/common. again: near basically ends up the winner of wammy's house. he is the one to take the title of L, he's declared the smartest, bestest kid at wammy's, and he gets all the power and privilege that comes with such a title. but still— he's so. fucking. bored. much to the embarrassment of mello, this shit was never really a challenge to him. it's pretty obvious that near isn't really even all that attached to the title of L— don't forget that his first real introduction to the story involves him explicitly saying that he'd be just fine working with mello as essentially co-L successors. and this is a viewpoint that he holds onto until the very end of the series, actually, claiming that he was only able to best light due to mello's sacrifice. near doesn't really give a fuck about the rat race he's been slotted into, though it's perhaps for that exact reason that he ends up winning it anyway, and getting all the responsibility that comes along.

that being said, i think there are still two main differences between light and near:

light fucks up.

near never gets past his boredom.

in the case of this first point, i do not mean to say that near never ever makes any move/judgement that could be considered a mistake— mello killing the entire SPK is the first thing that comes to mind, which i see as blood on near's hands for the same reason that L takes at least some responsibility for lind l. tailor. rather, i mean that near never makes a such a monumental fuck-up that he has to overturn his entire worldview just to account for it in the same way that light does when he accidentally kills two people w/ the DN the first time.

it's like, if you've ever known (or been) the kind of kid who always got perfect grades in school, straights A's for K-12, only to reach college and suddenly bomb their first test and have an existential crisis as their only real achievement in life is crushed into dust, then you know light yagami. only for light, it's on a whole 'nother scale, because not only does he fucking oopsie daisy kill two people, but he kills in such a context that he can mentally manipulate it back into seeming heroic. i hate to say that suffering causes character development because that's terrible advice (it's how you react to terrible circumstances that matters, imho) but to some degree, yeah, having conflicts/hard times in life is just necessary to figure shit out sometimes. near (and L, oh goddd i need to write about L properly sometime) has so many things smoothed over and handed to him, and on top of that, he's a super genius very rarely fucks anything up, at least according to base logic. he doesn't even really consider the morality of anything he's doing until light straight up asks him in a desperate bid to keep talking at the end, it's all just logic and factors to consider.

this all leads to my second point, which is that near never really gets the chance to overcome his boredom in the same way as the others. ryuk at least gets his entertainment for a couple years, and light and L (and mello) get so invested in each other and their game that it literally kills them, but near just kinda. keeps going. he keeps being L, he keeps solving cases, he does the duty he was given and enjoys his toys... and that's it. he lies around, the only one left to live, never even taking credit for the end of KIRA, never gets another haircut, and keeps the title going. what a life, for a kid who dragged a god back down to earth.

sidenote1: toys

am i reading too into things? maybe. near's toys hold a lot of significance throughout the story in more specific ways, most notably the finger puppets he uses at the very end of the story while tracking different people's/kira's actions, though you could probably read some kind of meaning into every toy he has and the ways in which he plays with them. what i want to look at here though is more the general reasoning behind playing with them in the first place— a desire for a childhood he didn't get to have? a love of games more generally? (could track with him seeing the KIRA case, or really all detective work, as just another game.) you could also read into his toys as another source for near's apathy/detachment from reality, literally breaking every notable person around him down into a doll by the end of the story, speaking a lot to how alienated he is from the world (again, very similar to both L and light, there). i don't have much more of a point to make here, just wanted to add this in somewhere since it's one of his most striking visual character traits.

sidenote2: light's arc

going back to my point at the start of this post... light's character arc.

uhh. near winning is a good thing, actually. and i don't just mean that as a moral claim— DN itself as a story isn't really concerned with trying to answer any moral questions about good or evil or the justice system, so it makes sense & is fair to me that it doesn't try all that hard to answer anything along those lines by the very end of the story. what i mean to say here is that near winning is a good thing on the level of the character arc, specifically as an end to light's arc.

i made a post a while back while mid-manga reread talking through some of the reasons why L's death can feel kind of unsatisfying/paint the second half of the story in a less interesting light (hah) for a lot of viewers, with the main point i ended up on being that L wasn't really able to win because he never really had all that clear of a win state in the first place. i still kiiind of agree with this point, though i think there's a lot more i could add to that post... anyways. point is, i bring up that post because it touches on a similar thing to what i want to talk about here: light's character arc being a tragedy.

this is more speculation on my part, but i think another part of the reason why people get turned off to DN post-L death is not just the fact that L isn't really a playable character in the game anymore, but the fact that light's character arc takes such a dramatic twist after the timeskip. i talked about this a little bit in my little ramble on light & titles (which a lot of you liked, apparently!! ty for all the lovely comments on there, i love reading what you guys have to say ^w^), but light's character arc in DN is a tragedy to me, full-stop.

tragedies to me are cyclical— revolutionary, if you will. since all stories necessitate some kind of something to take place, a tragedy to me is all about a character beginning in one point, then continually getting hit by Event, after Thing, after Event, only to end up in essentially the exact same place that they started. any character changes or development that seem to happen throughout the story are ultimately nullified by the end— the main subject does not truly grow, does not truly reflect on their actions or traumas, does not move on. two steps forward is two steps back. even ending up in a position worse than they started is sometimes better than a true tragedy, in my mind, as at least then there is some chance they may still reflect or change or grow in the future, leaving the hope that they may still overcome this new circumstance later on. a true tragedy ends in nothing meaningful ever getting the chance to truly change, at least in the case of the main subject of the story.

light's character arc in the first half of the story is an upward, underdog kind of story. yes, light has the power of a shinigami, of a supernatural force that the rest of the world doesn't even know exists— but part of the real appeal of his conflict with L is how powerful L feels in comparison, having the wealth and respect and title to command a world's worth of forces against him. fuck, even taking down naomi misora feels like an incredible hurdle overcome, a teenager managing to charm and yap and flutter his eyelashes out of a shitty situation he was only just lucky enough to stumble across in the first place, to stop someone who could've ruined his entire plan with a few words. killing L was always going to be light's greatest accomplishment when it comes to his rise to godhood, not only because of L's great power but the comparative position of light at the time that he did so— not yet an adult, not even really out of school, perhaps barely out of his parents' house.

in contrast, light's arc for the second half of the story is a downward spiral. we see all of the consequences light has been miraculously avoiding smack into him like meteors in this half, his ever-growing ego torn to shreds as he's yanked back down to earth. and in comparison to the anime, the manga really beats this point into you, dedicating the entire second half of the story to light's fall from grace as he loses his mind and loses his humanity. like, while i do kind of prefer the manga ending to the anime, i have to admit that light's death there is fucking brutal. light goes through pages, chapters, purely dedicated to near tearing him a new asshole, only end the story bloody and delirious and crawling on his knees begging a god of death to fix everything— all just to die the exact same death as everyone else he's killed. i mean, look at these fucking pages (ch.107):

(that last fucking picture of him. clawing at the sky. it always fucking gets to me.)

it hurts to read this shit!! we spend the entire first half of the story watching this dude's rise to glory, the entire time stuck inside of his head, emotionally connecting with him even if we don't really mean to or disagree with his actions or question his morality. watching his fall back down, especially after all of that, is fucking painful— an in no way does near make the process any easier. if anything, his blunt, snarky bitchery, saying all the quiet parts out loud, calling light out for being a terrible replacement L and pointing and laughing at his failures to his face, only shoves more salt in the wound, only proves just how human he has been all this time, how meaningless any of his supposed "rise to power" ever really was. light got his fifteen seconds of fame, sure— but near is armed and ready to make sure that's all he'd ever get, that the name Light Yagami would never even be associated with the position he held for so long. six years was all he got— and it was all he was ever going to get, because light yagami did not do this for humanity, he did it for himself. all near did was collect the debt that L prescribed. he fulfilled his duty as told— nothing more, and nothing less.

i just have to wonder... is this why people hate him? because he has no sympathy for the fall? maybe. i don't know.

either way, i don't think i could ever really hate him. it's a big responsibility, being the only one left behind. but near has always been the one to hold such weights on his shoulders.

[festive-unserious-fellow]

In my demented little head Sir Pentious is getting so many bitches lmao

[mamawasatesttube]

honestly. i Really don't understand why fandom loves the combo of homophobia/misogyny that is "character who is a father threatens his children's male love interests" in 2024 but it's kind of funny that batgirl (2000) literally HAD bruce do this wrt kon and cass's friendship, only for both kon himself AND clark to tell him to stop being a little bitch. like you guys are being more regressive than something written 20 years ago and its a little cringe

anyway um. au where cass found out bruce was trying to deprive her of one of her only friends and beat him up about it. the end

[moonylads]

Why tf are people calling Christian de Clare a villain??😭 I know my history all too well so don't give all those historical facts and shit because how are those even related to THIS character? You guys need to go back to some schooling omg-

It is so freaking obvious he's gonna be of help to Devi shortly! If you guys think even A BIT- the real villain is that traitor among the Dozens (THAT PERSON IS INDIAN I BELIEVE) and everyone should be wary of that guy instead of stupidly fretting over a British guy.

[bayetea]

seeing non-black people critique rick's portrayal of black characters is interesting sometimes. only like 30% of the critiques I see make any sense to me to be honest

[thatgirltvshow]

That Girl (1966-1971) 2.03 Black, White And Read All Over

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A dazzle of zebras.

Masai Mara, Kenya, July 2023.

[perenlop]

okay so as a gen 5 stan who does adore the story in bw and bw2, and now that gen 5 has experienced both a vicious hatedom that wouldnt hear a single positive thing about the games, and now a super protective fandom that insists they were perfect and had zero flaws... can we admit now that the bw1 story at least was. a little mid.

[cowardlychimera]

*raises hand* Me, me, me! I want the elaboration :3

omg hiii!!

okay first off, my memory sucks so if I get any details wrong please do correct me </3

anyway. Omori killing headspace Basil in the Sunny/true route. first I'd like to bring up how in the Omori/neutral route, when Sunny saves headspace Basil, he has to fight Stranger instead, mirroring the fight with the real Basil in the true route. to continue the game he has to force Stranger to give up, and as a result leave the real Basil to suffer on his own, and kill himself.

in the true route, Omori kills headspace Basil instead, giving Sunny the chance to save the real Basil. he doesn't let him have the option to save headspace Basil, and I think it's because he's challenging Sunny to actually take action for once.

Sunny giving up is a very big theme in the game. he gives up in the lake incident, letting someone else save him instead. he gives up and throws his violin down the stairs instead of speaking up. he gives up and lets Basil deal with Mari's body. he gives up and lets Omori take over. he gives up on reality, choosing his dream world instead.

it's safe to say Omori expects him to give up when faced with the option to save the real Basil. after all, Sunny's been faced with the truth multiple times, and gave up each time too. even Mewo asks if Sunny's waiting for something to happen (instead of taking action and taking the first step: leaving the house).

if he managed to build up the courage to open the door for Kel, surely he can build up the courage to open Basil's door and face him. Omori wants to see if he'll give up. he's challenging him to save the real Basil instead.

and when he does? Omori himself challenges Sunny to a fight instead. maybe he still doesn't think Sunny's capable of making things right. he doesn't think he's capable of accepting and telling the truth. he still expects him to give up. so he challenges him one more time.

I remember Misty pointing out Omori's expression in his final phase and how it looks a bit different compared to before. Misty brought up some pretty good and interesting possibilities, but if his expression did really change, and it's not just the distortion, I think he's actually surprised.

because he's expecting Sunny to give up. but he's not. he's still fighting. he's still standing. he's not giving up. after all these years, he's making a choice for himself. he's always let others make choices for him, always let others save him. but this time Sunny's fighting for himself. for his friends, for Mari, for the truth. he made the choice to try to make things right again when he opened Basil's door. Omori is testing if he really wants to go through with that, forcing him to face every horrible thing he can throw at him.

but he doesn't expect him to actually stand strong. but he is. Omori can't die, can't be defeated. but Sunny's still fighting anyway. Sunny gets back up and plays. plays the song he couldn't before. he does what he had given up on years ago.

and so Omori realizes Sunny isn't going to give up this time. so he steps aside and gives Sunny one last chance to carry on with his choice. he lets him choose between two leaps of faith: one from the roof, and one from Basil's hospital room. Sunny gets to choose which door he opens. and in the true ending?

Sunny chooses the real Basil over the imaginary one. Sunny opens Basil's door.

[franeridan]

thinking again about how in trigun 98 they had nick kill someone with the face of a child posing as an orphan for vash, and how in tristamp they had him kill a child in the body of a monster who had no choice in what had been done to him, and how instead in trimax nick for vash kills a man who'd approached vash for a death match, who'd demanded to either kill or be killed, a man nick had given vash a fair chance to fight and win against and who nick would have left alone hadn't said man attacked vash when his back was turned after the duel was over and done with, a man who'd been one step from possibly seriously harming vash hadn't nick stepped in. and about how after in all three versions vash yells at nick for it, but only in trimax nick tells vash that he's lucky he's there to play the devil for him so that he can stay a saint, and only in trimax in the arc right after vash ends up thanking nick for killing for him and protecting his home when vash couldn't because of his own morals, and only in trimax in the end when nick isn't there to play the bad guy for vash he ends up being right, and vash ends up having to dirty his hands himself to protect what he loves - while both in 98 and for now tristamp vash stays a saint until the end, and that fight they have ends in itself, and the only lesson it leaves you as a viewer is that nick is jaded enough to kill a child

[im-still-watching-anime]

i have to read every new chapter of bsd twice because without fail i spend the first read through too distracted hoping for akutagawa to process any of it

[password-door-lock]

The third consecutive time that you call him, Saeran decides to cut his losses and pick up. It goes without saying that he’s in a shitty mood about it— who do you think you are to bother him like this, and why did he have to inherit such an annoying toy in the first place? Can’t you follow the instructions that he gave you? He shouldn’t have to tell you multiple times to just stay in your room and wait. But then again, of course you would be troublesome. If Ray liked you, and if you actually liked him back, then it probably follows that you’d be a little strange-- though that’s no excuse for interrupting his work. “When did I tell you that you were allowed to bother me while I’m working?” He snarls.

“Hey,” you greet him, as if you didn’t hear the question he just asked. Unbelievable. “Good morning! Did you sleep well?” 

“Why are you asking something like that?” Saeran demands, “Don’t tell me you’re trying to get rid of me by boring me to death.” 

“The opposite,” you assure him, “Like, I see what you mean about this place being boring— as you know, you just left me here to sit around, and as instructed, I’ve been brainstorming ways that I can entertain you, and I decided to call, since I thought you could use a break.” 

So you finally want to be useful? Still, Saeran’s expectations for you aren’t very high. Just because you claim that you want to entertain him doesn’t mean you’ll actually try to do it, let alone succeed. “Then why are you wasting time by telling me good morning?” 

“Because that’s a thing that people say to each other when they talk on the phone before noon,” you explain, “And sometimes after noon when they don’t realize that it’s not morning anymore, and they say ‘good morning,’ and the other person says, ‘it’s two thirty,’ and the first person is like, ‘oh shit I’ve been reading fic for how long?’ Et cetera.” He doesn’t bother asking you what you’re talking about— if he did that every time you said something ridiculous, Saeran would never get anything else done.

“And now you’re wasting time by telling me why you’re telling me good morning?” He huffs, incredulous. “Do I have to give you a step-by-step guide for how to have a conversation, or is even that too difficult for you?” 

“You asked,” you protest, still sounding for all the world like this is the best day of your life. What reason do you have to be so chipper? “You wanted to know why I said good morning, so I explained why I said good morning. I am following your instructions to a T, sir.” 

“Prince(ss),” Saeran warns. He really does not have time for this conversation, and he doesn’t have time to interrogate the joy in your voice. You’re supposed to be miserable, so why do you sound so excited to be talking to him? “Stop blabbering and start trying to find a way to entertain me. That’s why you called in the first place, isn’t it? So you should go ahead and try it before I really lose my patience.” He doesn’t want to hear any more of your cheerful voice. It doesn’t belong in a place like Magenta, anyway.

“What patience?” You ask, sounding proud of yourself for thinking of the one-liner. Before Saeran can admonish you for mocking him, suddenly you’re talking again: “But, whatever, you want me to entertain you, so I’ll entertain you. I just have a couple of questions before we start— okay, first of all, how familiar would you say you are with dad jokes? Like, where are you on a scale of one to ten?” 

Saeran doesn’t have the slightest idea what you mean by that. He assumes it’s just some silly thing that weaklings like you like to waste time thinking about, and decides not to engage with your weird question. “I thought I told you to stop spouting nonsense,” he growls. “Do I have to talk slower so that you can understand? If you know what’s good for you and you’re able to comprehend what I’m saying, you’ll cut the act now, prince(ss).” 

“Mhm, okay,” you reply, which is not necessarily an answer to his question. “What did the blanket say when it fell off the bed?” 

By this point, Saeran is fuming. You called him while he was working and strung him along with that whole good morning song and dance just to ask him about a blanket? “I said entertain me, not ask stupid questions!” 

“It said, ‘Oh sheet!’” You cackle. 

Saeran smirks, though the so-called “joke” was not remotely funny. He’s more amused by how much you’re laughing about it— seriously, is that all it takes for you to go to pieces? What an airhead.“You must be intentionally trying to piss me off,” he decides. 

“I’m trying to make you laugh,” you pout. It seems you’re always trying to make him laugh, but Saeran doesn’t understand why. Is it that hard for you to just act how he wants and be scared of him? That would be much less of a hassle for everyone involved. You were willing to listen when Ray told you to get into a strange vehicle and put on a blindfold, but suddenly you’ve forgotten how to follow instructions? What kind of messed-up logic is that? “Okay, okay, I’ve got a better one. What’s black and white and red all over?” 

Are you just going to sit around asking stupid questions all day? “What are you—” 

“The RFA messenger!” You giggle. You even have the audacity to cut him off. “Get it? Get it? Because the app display is black and white, but you’ve read all the messages, so it’s read all over.” Oh. Read, not red. 

Saeran can’t help but laugh a little at that— he couldn’t care less about the word play, but at least you seem to understand the extent of his control over the messenger. “Yes,” he confirms, “I’ve seen everything you’ve said there, so you should watch it when you’re typing to your friends.” But, then, if you’re able to understand the situation, why are you still so full of hope? 

“Oh my god,” you breathe with exaggerated surprise, “Did the great hacker of Magenta just… laugh at my joke? I feel so accomplished! Let me tell you, man, there’s so much more where that came from. Feel free to call me whenever you need to cheer up; I’ll be here, sitting around and thinking of jokes.” What the hell are you talking about? You must think you can manipulate him by catching him off guard or something.

“Don’t get too full of yourself, toy,” Saeran spits in a vain attempt to ruin your mood. What gives you the right to be so happy-go-lucky when you’re locked up in the toy room, rotting with your thoughts? “I’ll come see you soon to remind you of your place.” He leaves you with that, hangs up, and turns off his notifications. He won’t allow you to bother him while he’s working again— but it goes without saying that he’ll be thinking about ways to bother you.