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wawawawawawawawawawawawawa · 6 months

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can we have more aspd izaya posts please please please please please please please please pl [ i am taken by the fog ]

*grabs u by the leg and pulls u out of the fog* yes of course u can my fine fellow :)

so!! i was talking to a friend about izaya having aspd and whether or not it was an intentional coding on narita's part or if it was a completely unintentional yet still valid way to view the character. honestly, evidence exists for both ways- the emphasis put on izaya's impulse control issues ans disconnect from the rest of humanity, as an example that comes to mind. but there could also be a case that narita didn't mean to invoke a deliberate coding of aspd while placing emphasis on these aspects of him

theres also the whole "two brain scans" thing. was this plot point narita trying to say that he didn't intend for izaya to have any mental illness whatsoever? but then again, brain scans are not exactly the most reliable source of diagnosing mental illness- if it was, we'd just use that. there are studies about aspd and brain differences regarding it, but i have no way of knowing if narita... read them. i don't know the man and i have no idea what studies are available in japanese, since i read mine solely in english.

there's also the study that throws a wrench in brain scan studies as a whole- specifically fMRI studies. it was one of those classic "subject put in brain scan and asked to identify what emotion a person in a photo is showing" except the subject was, ironically since this is a post on izaya..... a dead fish. so did narita see THIS? the study IS from 2009, but to comfirn if its even possible, i'd have to cross-reference the book the two brain scans thing shows up in with the date the study was published, and EVEN THEN the answer is still a big ole "i dunno!"

although, thru all this, i think i settled on an idea of what Might have happened. keyword MIGHT, it's not like i can go ask narita himself. well i mean i guess maybe if i tried really hard.... but i am not going to do that. it sounds scary and frankly i am a weenie, and i don't speak japanese

so, durarara.... is a story largely about the underbelly of society. ergo, there are a lot of tropes present in other works about these kinds of people, but they're subverted here. like, for instance, shizuo- he's the "dumb muscle" trope; an angry fighter who lives for the thrill of violence and that's why he's involved in the underground. except, shizuo hates violence, has tried to hold down regular jobs and is only in the underground out of desperation, and is very perceptive and philosophical. he's a subversion of the dumb muscle trope.

i think izaya was meant to be a subversion of the sociopath as a trope... and imo, you kind of can't really subvert that trope well without giving your character aspd.

"the sociopath" as a trope refers to a character with, essentially, zero humanity. they love nobody, care about nothing but their own gain and destruction, are sadistic for sadism's sake... et cetera.

taking a character and going "they ACT like a sociopath, but they're NOT one!!" is a common subversion of the trope... but it's not really a subversion, is it? it's a bait-and-switch. if a character seems like X but is not X, they are not X. the trope of X does not apply.

imo, for a subversion to really be... y'know... subversive, the character must still possess the original traits of The Sociopath, but they're twisted around and expanded upon

The Sociopath can't love? izaya loves all of humanity... though it doesn't stop him from disregarding their rights and autonomy, ergo still hitting ASPD criteria and still being a sociopath

The Sociopath can't care about anything but their own personal gain? izaya clearly cares about and loves his sisters, but it doesn't negate everything else he's done, or the other times where he has put his own personal gain first

The Sociopath can't feel or express emotion? izaya is demonstrated to be a coward and to have genuine phobias- thanatophobia, the fear of death, IS an anxiety disorder, as are all phobias. shinra describes him as fragile-hearted, and this description is accurate. but, izaya puts on a facade for the rest of the world- ergo, he can't express emotion (at least, not in the way someone without aspd could- it's... hard and scary to Drop The Act; vulnerability is scary and removes the subject's control of a situation, so it stands to reason that it would be difficult for us to do)

The Sociopath is a sadist for sadism's sake? izaya actually has weight behind what he says and does- sure, some of it IS for entertainment, but why he chooses specifically this as entertainment (namely, suicide) has enough bits of info for us as readers to extrapolate. the text doesn't make it explicit, but durarara is a series where paying close attention to minute details is expected and rewarded, so this is par for the course, honestly. and a lot of the things he does, although they result in hurt for the rest of the cast, isn't izaya being a sadist Just Because- at the end of the day he's a scared, lonely man, trying very hard to avoid the thing he's most afraid of in life- the cessation of it.

that's not to say that anything he does is OKAY, obviously, but there's weight and nuance behind it. izaya is treated as a whole human being, just like everyone else. but a lot of core aspects of his character parallel the sociopath trope so cleanly that it's hard for me to believe that it was completely unintentional. was he meant to have specifically aspd, the disorder? i'm not sure. probably not? but "the sociopath, as a trope, but fleshed out and given humanity" is kind of... what aspd.... is. as a disorder. which is why i think you can't truly subvert the trope without giving your character it, inadvertently or not.

anyway yeah this was A Bit different, although i prefer to do watsonian anaylsis i absolutely can do doylist too. i might do more stuff like this if yall like this one idk

#durarara #orihara izaya #izaya orihara #wasks #yaayyyy new meta <3 #i hope u guys like itttttt <3 #please dont be weird about aspd <3 on my hands and crippled knees <3

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uchidachi · 24 days

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Ok, here's my theories of where I think each room is located in the Lighthouse (or at least, analyzing the architecture.) Shoutout to @pausegame for this lightened version of the screenshots, bc I can't see shit on the regular ones. Also shoutout to @rpgchoices for a very convincing breakdown of whose-room-is-whose, which I will be using for the labels here.

Neve's Room:

Neve's is the only room where we can see opposite views out the windows, and it appears to be smaller than most of the other rooms. for this reason, I think she has the "lantern room," occupying the entire top floor of the lighthouse (but there may be another space above?)

Davrin's Room:

Well, it's clearly not a room, per say, as it's entirely open on one side. I think this is the "watch gallery" of the lighthouse, the open balcony right below the lantern room. there's clearly another level above, but he's got to have a high floor for Assan to come and go from. Also of note is the recurring "three stone pipes" motif, which I don't have a theory about, but I just think they're neat.

Bellara's Room:

Bellara's room doesn't seem to have any windows, but then lighthouses rarely do in the middle part. Her room has the same stone relief walls as Taash's two visible levels. She's either directly above Taash, or shares a level with that second visible level. Also, I think we should be talking more about this stone relief wall. It must mean something...

Edit: I forgot to write at first, but I think that the natural light we see coming into the top of Bellara's and Taash's rooms is coming from the (not yet seen) "watch room" on Davrin's level

Taash's Room:

Ok we've been joking that Taash lives in the dungeon, but it has so much thematically in common with Bellara's room that I think these screenshots are just taken at different times of day on the same floor(s). However, the visible room above doesn't match what we've seen of Bellara's, since the "three stone pipes" are also painted gold there. Also this is the only room we can see the entrance to.

Harding's Room:

Harding's windows look superficially different from Emmrich's, but that is not necessarily part of the Lighthouse structure. She may have added those art deco style shutters over the stone arches, which are the same in both rooms. I hypothesize that this is the first floor of the Lighthouse (possibly also the ground level.) Also of note is the "stone rivets" columns, which are also present in Neve's and Lucanis' rooms. I hypothesize further that these columns run straight up in a line through the Lighthouse.

Emmrich's Room:

Emmrich's room gives us the best idea of where our first two floors are. On his second level are the same arched diamond-peaked windows as in Harding's room, but his first level has no windows at all, and a different floor from every other room except for Lucanis'. This is either the ground floor or the basement.

Lucanis' Room:

I've been calling Lucanis' room the "root cellar" as a joke, but I think that's actually true. Mostly because the small stone tiles on the floor are different from the higher levels of the Lighthouse, they look more like heavy stone bricks that could form the Lighthouse's foundation.

Therefore, I theorize that there are at least two rooms on each level (apart from the top), and at least six stories to the Lighthouse, organized thusly:

thank u for coming to my THEDAStalk.

#dragon age the veilguard #dragon age spoilers #the lighthouse #dragon age meta

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good7luck · 10 months

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My quick personal thought on Noe in VNC manga latest chapter 61.5

(more under the cut)

I do NOT think Noe "pretended" to not notice the racism towards Dham in the office because he didn't "want" to accept the harsh reality that his "good" fellows are being bad / racists. It didn't happen...yet, at least.

I'm rather sure Noe simply, sincerely had NO "concept" of the racism ITSELF towards Dham AT ALL. "They probably still don't know their individual name each" was the ONLY and "best" guess Noe could ever make ON HIS OWN, within HIS (extremely limited) "common sense".

Noe does NOT realize the word Dham was being used like a slur purposefully in THEIR context, because Noe believes it's "by definition" not inherently an offensive term. They're Dhams, it's who they are, what's the problem? Vani is a human, so there's nothing wrong to call him human, cuz it's what he is, isn't it? But yeah, it's weird to keep calling all of them as just Dham when they all have their own name, let's fix it now!

Well, Noe does not have the same view / experience as other characters, much less we audience. He tends to listen well, but he's not always good at catching the hints / full context quickly. Of course, Noe hated to be called only "vampire" on and on by Vani in the previous arc, but Vani was clearly super hostile and seriously fighting Noe to death at that time, while this is happening "in peace", so Noe couldn't possibly imagine the people were hostile, "too", just in a different or "softer" form, perhaps? Or Noe failed to notice it because it's not directly about Vani lol

I get that it's very tempting to call Noe "stupid / annoying" etc for not noticing the "obvious" malice. But it's NOT obvious to him, unfortunately; he's plain ignorant and oblivious for real, because he literally has had NO chance to learn until now. He can't magically know what he doesn't know. He isn't even a genius character. This is the first time Noe witnessed the subtle and explicit racism, and honestly...I highly doubt if even now he truly understands that he watched people being openly bigoted and that it's never from their "innocent ignorance" as he first believed. Sadly, it indeed doesn't help that those people are the ones who Noe does NOT see as an enemy.

Noe never heard of Ruthven, who "can't" be unknown to anyone. Noe genuinely believed everyone else (Vani & Domi) was lost, when it's actually him alone who was lost. This is the Noe we're talking about!

Shapeless One didn't teach Noe anything about Dham and the prevailing racism (which is surely suspicious and irresponsible). It seems he at least didn't tell Noe that Dham should be oppressed / hated, and thankfully Noe has grown up not to discriminate people merely for race. Since he arrived in Paris, Vani has never bothered Dante and others for being Dham in front of Noe, either. But yeah, now Noe should get to know more and face the unjust reality that the Dham has to deal with.

"Noe should've known better because, Archiviste!!" I feel he believes that it's NOT the same and mostly the matter of the "rightfully creepy" (he thinks) "ability" of the memory-reading (for now, at least). When you think about it...no VNC character has negatively reacted to Noe for being Archiviste so far (and like, most of them barely know in detail or get interested a little) - except Vani XD and we all know Vani currently doesn't care, as long as Noe doesn't try to drink his blood. Astolfo hated Noe, but it's because he equally hates any "vampire".

However, in regards to Dham, people are loudly making "the existence ITSELF" a huge problem, including their mere "appearance" difference. People "discuss" their "right to exist", which is similar to Jeanne, Bourreau, the slaves. Yeah, I suppose Noe has been kinda "lucky" not to be the target of discrimination...until now. I won't be surprised if Noe still doesn't understand what makes Dham "deserve" all the disgust when they don't even have any "disgusting" ability "like his". I'd like to also add that...Noe might've been safe solely thanks to his (problematic) "guardian" Shapeless One, the (in)famous & powerful vampire that no one can casually ignore, similar to Ruthven ^^;;

In short, I think Noe did NOT "forcedly" "choose" to "ignore" the racism and try to make an "excuse" for his "cannot-be-racist" fellows "instead"; how can he "choose" to believe "otherwise", when he doesn't even notice the deep racism "specifically" towards Dham in the first place? Though I can agree that it'd be hard for Noe to properly process what's going on in the office because he unconsciously believes the fellows he trusts wouldn't be "weird" or "malicious" to other fellows "for an unreasonable reason".

This was written quite quickly, and I might regret it and remake a similar post later...or not XD

Thank for you reading my current personal opinion!!

#vnc spoilers #vanitas no carte spoilers #vanitas no carte #vnc #vanitas no shuki #les memoires de vanitas #the case study of vanitas #memoir of vanitas #not tagging anyone #good7luck

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bnhaobservation · 5 months

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How the Todorokis call each other (Part 3)

So this is the continuation of Part 1 & Part 2.

Here I focus on stuff I couldn't fit in the previous parts and that often, more than being how the Todorokis call each other are about how they are called by other people or how they call other people.

This part is a much less comprehensive guide as otherwise we would have gone on and on and on endlessly, listing the various interactions the Todorokis has with other characters, so I only picked up the ones I thought were more meaningful.

WE NEED PLURALS!

Plural is often not used in Japanese but it’s not like it doesn’t exist. To make it, the most common way is to add to a noun a plural suffix, which can be translated as something like “X and the others” or “X and the group of which X is a part of” thougn since those are long sentences which don't sound really well in English, more often than not translators prefer to find a plural noun that can replace the whole thing.

-tachi (達/たち) & -ra (等/ち)

'-tachi' (達/たち) is very common, pretty neutral in terms of formality and it’s super flexible to the point you can add it to pronouns, people’s names, and even non-human things that you want to personify.

'-ra' (等/ち) is reasonably neutral and flexible in terms of formality, but it’s more on the casual side compared to ‘-tachi’, so it’s often associated with friendliness and/or disrespect. For this reason, it generally isn’t used for people who are of a higher social status than the speaker. It’s usually written in hiragana and with first-person pronouns, can be used to express the feeling of unity with the people you’re including in “we.”

Those two are the most recurring ways in which the Todorokis pluralize words. Enji waves between the two, in the early parts of the story and when his kids were younger he used '-ra' to talk about them, then he switched on the more polite '-tachi'.

While again, since they're his family and his kids (and therefore socially considered below him) using '-ra' is fine, it's interesting how he starts switching to '-tachi', first in an internal monologue, then openly, when speaking with them. Since Enji wants to project a certain image of himself it can be that the '-ra' that he used early on was due to this and when he felt more willing to show his apprecciation and respect for his family he switched openly to '-tachi'. Of course it can also just be he uses '-ra' because he's not talking with them but about them, and so he feels it's okay to be less formal. Do your pick.

The rest of the family favour ‘-tachi’, although Natsuo in chap 187 to refer to himself his mother and sister uses '-ra', in this case likely to imply closeness and familiarity more than a lack of respect.

Tōya who also favor ‘-tachi’ when he’s using ‘ore’ or talking about his family members (for his grandparents even uses '-tachi' written in kanji), does some interesting exceptions when he’s not talking about it. For example he tends to refer to the Heroes as ‘omae-ra’ (chap 74-82) clearly wanting to be rude but he also uses it for Ujiko and All for One ('anta-ra'). Since with Ujiko he also uses 'Ujiko-san' (Ujiko being the only one with whom he uses '-san') I think he's probably trying to be less rude than with the Heroes. I'm not sure though.

However, when he uses ‘boku’ in his speech to the nation, he uses ‘boku-ra’ to refer to himself and the league, likely in an effort to sound humble and therefore more polite.

Another notable exception he does is when he talks with Himiko in chap 341. Even though, as said before, he generally uses ‘ore-tachi’ (and does so in that discussion as well) there’s a moment in which he uses ‘ore-ra’ when he says the world can’t catch the two of them, in a way that’s probably meant to imply closeness between him and Himiko as that talk is also the one in which he’ll call her by her full name (which he never did before).

-domo (共)

'-domo' implies speaker is of higher status than those referred to. The Todorokis don’t use it for their family members, I’ve mentioned it merely because Dabi when talking to the Vanguard action squad called them all ‘IKARE yarō-domo’ (イカレ野郎共 “Crazy guys”), reminding them he's the boss and they're hierarchically below him.

Wareware (我々 “we”)

This is the more formal and common way of saying "we" or "us", in fact it is often used in written Japanese, in formal speeches or in official documents. It is also used in situations where the speaker wants to emphasize the collective identity of the group they are referring to. Enji uses it when he talks of himself and the other Heroes in chap 317.

Kyodai (兄弟 “siblings”)

Literally this words means “big brother younger brother”and a plural for ‘sibling’ and can works to include both males and females siblings… however I’ve been told it implies the siblings in questions have to be older and younger than the person they’re related to. This means it wouldn’t work for Tōya, whose siblings are all younger than him, or Shōto, whose siblings are all older than him. Take this with a grain of salt though.

In the story is only used by Natsuo who, in chap 187, calls Tōya and Shōto his ‘kyodai’.

RANDOM EXTRA WORDS USED TO CALL THE TODOROKIS OR USED IN RELATION TO THEM

Todoroki Enji (轟炎司) aka FLAME HERO: ENDEAVOR (フレイムヒーローエンデヴァー Flame Hero Endeavor) previously Nenshō-kei HERO “ENDEAVOR” (燃焼系ヒーロー「エンデヴァー」 Combustion Hero ‘Endeavor’)

Quirk: 'HELLFLAME' (ヘルフレイム "Hell flame")

In chap 3 Enji isn't called 'FLAME HERO' but 'Nenshō-kei HERO'. Likely Horikoshi decided to retcon this later on.

In the character presentation for Vol. 30, which is the famous volume which contains "Dabi's Dance" Enji is represented as a gorilla, and the word gorilla is repeated triece as a reference to how 'Todoroki' is written repeating for three times this kanji 車 which means "car" so that as 'todoroku' (轟く) is supposed to mean "to make a big roaring sound", which I guess you can obtain with 3 cars...

GORILLAGORILLAGORILLA (Todorokimoku Enjika) (ゴリラゴリラゴリラ (轟目炎司科) "Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla (Todorokimoku Enjika)")

Since the Butsudan in which Enji's father is enshrined is in Enji's house (it's the same in which Tōya is enshrined), Enji was likely a 'chōnan' (長男 "first son") as taking care of the Butsudan in which his father is enshrined is one of the duties of the firstborn.

Enji's sidekicks usually calls Enji just 'Endeavor' not boss or something like that. The only exception I could find are in chap 349. In it when Kidō says he's here because he wants to follow Endeavor's order and, although the kanji says 'Endeavor' the reading given is 'ano ossan' (あのおっさん "that middle age man") and as Burnin says that even if the circumstances surrounding Endeavor's family situation were crap, there was no lie in his work, although the kanji says 'Endeavor' the reading given is 'ano kareishū' (あの加齢臭 "that middle age odor").

Now... 'ossan' isn't a polite word, so it's either used to refer to an old man in a cozy, friendly way, or in a rude, derogatory way. Do your pick though, since Kidō says he's there for Endeavor he's likely not being derogatory.

'Kareishū' (加齢臭 "middle age odor/smell") refers to the distinctive odor elderly people have which is caused by the chemical nonenal and it's a relatively new word which has replaced the previously used 'oyajishū' (おやじ臭 "old man odor"). Bakugō too used it in chap 252 when Enji hugged him and Natsuo. While the word is meant to refer just to the smell, you can use it to refer to an elderly person (well, it's actually used toward just middle aged people so don't think too old) or for someone who acts like an elderly person (in short for "someone who smell old" hence he's old or act like an old person) but, again, it isn't a polite word, so it's either used in a friendly way, or in a rude way. Same as Kidō Burnin is showing her support for Endeavor so she's likely being friendly.

On that same line Burnin, in the following sentence called him 'sono waki-shū' (その脇臭 "that armpit odor").

Enji's Hero agency is named after him 'ENDEAVOR Jimusho' (エンデヴァー事務所 "Endeavor Agency") and his sidekicks go by the collective name of 'Honō no SIDEKICKS' (炎のサイドキッカーズ "Flame's Sidekicks/Sidekicks of the flame"), their name likely inspired by how he's the flame hero.

Due to his work Enji is called 'HERO' (ヒーロー) or 'PRO HERO' (プロヒーロー).

Other Heroes call him 'ENDEAVOR' (エンデヴァー) (and he calls them by their Hero name), except for Gran Torino who, in chap 55, calls him 'Todoroki' (轟). Always in chap 55 Enji calls Gran Torino ‘gorōjin’ (ご老人 “honored elder”).

'Go' is another way to read the kanji 御 (the other way being 'o', remember when I said the 'o' added in front of nouns added them a layer of politeness?) while ‘rōjin’ (老人) means "old man". ‘Gorōjin’ which is a bit archaic, as it’s mainly used in samurai dramas.

Nezu calls Enji 'Todoroki-kun' (轟くん) (as Enji had been one of his students) while Enji calls him 'kōchō' (校長 "principal").

During the manga we don't really get interactions between Enji and Recovery Girl but in "School Briefs" they seem to go on a Hero name basis, him calling her 'Recovery Girl' and she calling him 'Endeavor'.

Todoroki Rei (轟冷) née Himura Rei (氷叢冷)

Quirk: 'Hyōketsu' (氷結 "Frost")

It's actually unsure if this is Rei's Quirk true name. The idea it could be comes from the fact Enji said there were no traces of it in Tōya. All we know for sure is it was an ice type Quirk.

Rei is no more an Himura. When a woman get married in Japan she is striken out of the 'koseki' (戸籍 "family register") of her previous family and gives up on her previous surname so Rei stopped being an Himura after her 'kosei kon' (個性婚 "Quirk marriage").

Still I thought it was worth to mention the Himuras were a 'meika’ (名家) which can be translated as “noble/distinguished family” with a ‘yuisho aru iegara’ (由緒ある家柄) which can be translated “with a prestigious/with a long history social standing/lineage”.

Rei is part of the Himura ‘honke’ (本家 “main household”) literally “source house”. An ‘honke’ is characterized by a patrilocal residence and patrilineal primogeniture and is part of the system of family branching that establishes a multiplied structure to create familial relationships.

The ‘tōshu’ (当主 “family head”) of the Himuras belongs to the main family and is basically the person who has inherited the headship of the family and therefore rules over all the Himura ‘shizoku’ (氏族 “clan”), which are a group of families that are related to each other. This means he has authority over their wife and the rest of the family members and the duty to protect them as well as the right to disown those who violate his wishes. Basically, disobey him and you can be literally kicked out of the family. They also had authority over the family’s customs and rituals and are responsible for the management of the family property and the family business... and is the one who decided of Rei's marriage. Likely he was either Rei's father or grandfather.

In the past the Himura family head was a 'shōya' (庄屋 "village head"), or, more exactly was a person who, during the Edo period (1603-1868), was in charge of the village affairs under the direction of the magistrate and worked as the leader of the village. The term was used predominantly in the Kansai regions (other regions used other names), so we can assume the Himura were originally from that region.

Since the Himura main family ends with Rei's marriage out of the family Rei likely had no male brothers and, possibly was the 'chōjo' (長女 "first daughter") or, if she had a sister, she also was given away in marriage to someone who wasn't an Himura and therefore couldn't carry on the family name.

Todoroki Tōya (轟燈矢) aka Dabi (荼毘 “Cremation”)

Quirk: 'Sōen' (蒼炎 "Blueflame")

Dabi's Villain name is generally translated as "cremation" but it might be more than just a reference to his power.

It might be a reference to the phrase 'dabi ni fusu' (荼毘に付す "to cremate") which is not really a sentence people use in daily life (in daily life is more common to hear people using 'Kasō' (火葬) to talk about cremation) but that is used in Buddhist funerals. 'Dabi', whose kanji mean 'da' (荼) "suffering"/"harm" and 'bi' (毘) "help" so that it gives a sense of helping from suffering and harm is supposedly an ateji (a word in which either the readings of the individual kanji do not match the reading of the word, or the meanings of the individual kanji do not match the meaning of the word), and it's supposedly derived from 'jhāpita', a word in Pāli, the language of Theravāda Buddhism, which means “was burnt, was set fire to”. This sentence is used only to refer to the process of cremation of the body of the deceased and not to the part related to remembering the deceased at a funeral or moving to a crematorium. It fits with how Tōya's body was assumed to have been cremated by his own flames in that incident and Tōya believes his family has forgotten him. The sentence 'dabi ni fusu' was mentioned as possibly connected to Dabi's name in one of the cards in the Japanese arcade game 'Boku no HERO ACADEMIA Gekitotsu! HEROES BATTLE' (僕のヒーローアカデミア激突！ヒーローズバトル "My Hero Academia: Clash! Heroes Battle"), specifically in one of the cards for Dabi, so it's kind of officially referenced and a connection natural enough for Japanese audience.

There's more.

A Japanese proverb says 'Ryūtō Dabi' (竜頭蛇尾 lit. "Dragon Head Snake Tail") which means "promising beginning, disappointing end" symbolically referring to the possibility of anticlimax in life, and especially in endeavors. For example one focus so much on achieving a goal that it becomes all-consuming, larger-than-life in importance and value or, one might indeed achieve his great goal, but fail to plan for "what comes next", creating a kind of anti-climax. Horikoshi was aware of this possible connection to Dabi's Villain name as he drew Dabi as a snake in the character presentation for Vol. 30, which is the famous volume which contains "Dabi's Dance". The whole 'Ryūtō Dabi' reference might be referring to Endeavor's efforts to get a masterpiece that would surpass All Might, destroying his family in the process and causing Dabi to return the favour by destroying Endeavor as a Hero, but it can be seen as a reference to Dabi as well either because he started with a fire more powerful than his father (promising beginning) but then ended up discharged because he couldn't handle it (disappointing end) or because he too has an all consuming goal and no plan for after he'll reach it (as he plans to die).

Dabi Hebi (Damoku Bika) (ダビヘビ (荼目毘科) Dabi Snake (Damoku Bika))

As said before Tōya's Quirk originally should have been named differently as his flames weren't blue. However, after Geten called his Quirk as such that was acknowledged as its official name. As it turned out Tōya has also some ice Quirk, his Quirk's name migh be changed again.

In the Todoroki family Tōya is the 'chōnan' (長男 "first son"), which, socially, makes him the most "high ranking" child, with a long list of duties he's expected to fulfill also connected to this. Among them there's also to inherit his father's job (and therefore become a Hero). Note that nowadays those duties have a lot less weight that in the past (so that they're more just social expectations that outright duties) but they still exist.

Tōya refers to himself as the 'chōnan' of Endeavor's family when talking to the nation.

Once he becomes a 'VILLAIN' (敵 "Villain") and joins the 'VILLAIN rengō' (敵連合 "League of Villains") he becomes the 'BOSS' (ボス "boss") of the 'Kaibyaku Kōdō Tai' (開闢行動隊 "Vanguard Action Squad") which in chap 73 he defines as a ‘keiken hōfuna shōsū seiei’ (経験豊富な少数精鋭 “small group of experienced elites”).

Later, when they merge with the 'inō kaihō-gun' (異能解放軍 "Meta Liberation Army") and become the 'chōjō kaihō sensen' (超常解放戦線 "Paranormal Liberation Front") Tōya becomes a 'taichō' (隊長 "commanding officer") of the 'Kaibyaku kōdō yūgeki rentai "VIOLET"' (開闢行動遊撃連隊"VIOLET" "vanguard action guerrilla regiment "violet"").

If Tōya said Shigaraki was ‘kisyoku wariI’/‘kisyoku WARII’ (気色悪イ/気色ワリイ literally “bad charm”, actually “creepy”), and the fact the second time he says 'warii' it's all in katakana works to underline it, in chap 67/68, the Villains he considered recruiting blamed him for having a ‘kimochi wariI kao’ (気持悪イ顔 litterally "bad feeling face", actually "creepy/disgusting face").

In the league everyone calls him 'Dabi' except Himiko who first calls him 'Dabi-kun' (荼毘くん) and then, post reveal, 'Tōya-kun' (燈矢くん). All for One also calls him 'Tōya-kun' (燈矢くん).

Although at the beginning Tōya called Shigaraki merely 'Shigaraki', he referred to him as the 'BOSS' (ボス "boss") when he talks with Hawks but, in other circumstances preferred to call him ‘LEADER’ (リーダー "leader")... though he does so in a way that feels more mocking than anything else since, when he does so, he tends to discuss Shigaraki's orders.

As for the other members, he calls Twice 'Twice' (and, despite Twice being Twice I couldn't find a time in which he called him 'ikare') and Mr. Compress just 'Mr.' (same as Himiko while the others prefer 'Compress'). He once called Spinner ‘tokage’ (トカゲ “lizard”) (chap 160) and didn't seem to understand why Spinner took offence to it (canonically in chap 370 and 371 is said that Heteromorph discrimination is something that exists only in the countryside so city heteromorphs like Kōda and Tokoyami as well as city kids like the ones in class 1 A live unaware of it so Tōya, being a city boy same as Shōto, might be unaware of it), while in chap 220 he asks him if he's a ‘karappo no COSPLAY yarō’ (空っぽのコスプレ野郎 “empty cosplayer guy”), likely referring to how Spinner dressed up in a way that mimic Stain but admitted to be empty inside.

If he uses "you" with them, he goes for 'omae'.

With Himiko, as said in the past posts, he is generally more rude, calling her 'ikare (onna/yarō)', 'baka' and using 'temeE' instead than 'omae', the two of them bitching often until in chap 341 he finally calls her 'Toga Himiko' (トガヒミコ) all in kanji as that's Himiko's Villain name, and refers to the two of them as 'ore-ra' before going back to use 'temeE' and 'ore-tachi'.

The only person he's somewhat polite is Garaki Kyūdai, whom he calls 'Ujiko-san' as the latter introduced himself to him as "Ujiko Daruma" and for which he uses 'anta' when he has to say "you".

As for the Nōmu, he calls the first ‘Ore shiyō no kaibutsu’ 俺仕様の怪物 “The monster of specificated for me”) and ‘neho-hyan’ (ネホヒャンッ) but he likely meant ‘neko-chan’ (ネコチャン “kitty”) and it was just the radio transmitter which made his words sound weird. In chap 350 though he refers to the Nōmu as ‘shikabane’ (屍 “corpse/dead body that has been abandoned and not buried therefore isn’t shown proper respect”).

I said 'ikare' is kind of a popular word in the Todoroki family but All Might uses something different to refer to Dabi, calling him 'kyōki no otoko Dabi' (狂気の男荼毘 "insane man Dabi") in chap 335.

'Kyōki' (狂気 "Insanity") is a common noun that refers to a mental state that deviates from normal, but it is also sometimes used as an arbitrary label by those who use it and that nowadays is commonly used in contexts such as unusual crimes. It's used for something extremely abnormal, for someone whose behavior deviates strongly from normally accepted social norms.

'Ikare' (イカレ/いかれ) instead is a slang term whose origin is the verb 'iku' (行く "to go") as if to imply the mind is gone.

I guess in contest this makes All Might sound more formal/polite than if he had used 'ikare' but I might be wrong.

Skeptic in chap 363 calls Tōya 'FATHCOM' (ファザコン), which is the short for 'FATHER COMPLEX' (ファザーコンプレックス "father complex"), a rude reference to Tōya's obsession with Enji.

Something else that might be of interest is that when Tōya says he's searching for new members in chap 220 he calls them 'nakama' (仲間 "company/fellow/colleague/associate/comrade/mate/friend/partner") and keeps on using 'nakama' when saying Twice wanted to protect his companions, but when he asks Mr. Compress where the rest of the league is in chap 273 he calls them 'renchū' (連中 "colleagues/company").

The difference between the two words is that 'nakama' is generally used to imply a level of friendship while 'renchū' isn't... though I guess although he said 'nakama' Tōya had no plans to make friends with the new recruits, while when he says 'renchū' he's trying very hard to keep up his image of person who didn't care about anyone and has no friends. Though this is just me.

Todoroki Fuyumi (轟冬美)

Quirk: 'Hyōketsu' (氷結 "Frost")

It's actually unsure if this is Fuyumi's Quirk true name. The idea it could be comes from the fact it's assumed it's Rei's Quirk's name and that Fuyumi also inherited it, but Fuyumi's Quirk, despite being an ice type Quirk might be slightly different from her mother's and have a different name.

In the Todoroki family she is the 'chōjo' (長女 "first daughter").

In chap 105 Fuyumi explains she is a ''Shōgakkō de sensei' (小学校で先生 "Elementary school teacher") and therefore she's called just 'sensei' or 'Todoroki sensei' by her students.

'Sensei' (先生 lit. "born first") is an honorific which shows respect used for anyone who’s in a position to teach something (in this case it can be translated as “teacher”) or has mastered an art form or some other skill (in this case you can translate it as “master”) or to address other professionals or people of authority, such as clergy, accountants, lawyers, physicians and politicians. All for One is called 'sensei' by Garaki and Shiragaki, but so are the teachers at U.A.

Todoroki Natsuo (轟夏雄)

Quirk: 'Hyōketsu' (氷結 "Frost")

It's actually unsure if this is Natsuo's Quirk true name. The idea it could be comes from the fact it's assumed it's Rei's Quirk's name and that Natsuo also inherited it, but Natsuo's Quirk, despite being an ice type Quirk might be slightly different from her mother's and have a different name.

In the Todoroki family he is the 'jinan' (次男 "second son")

Natsuo is a 'daigakusei' (大学生 "university student") who's studing 'Iryō fukushi' (医療福祉 "medical wellfare").

'Iryō fukushi' is a general term for businesses that provide services related to medical care, health and hygiene, social insurance, and social welfare and nursing care. Occupations include medical assistance, inspection, nursing care and rehabilitation, all of which require specialized qualifications and specialized knowledge.

Todoroki Shōto (轟焦凍) aka SHŌTO (ショート)

Quirk: 'Hanrei Hannen' (半冷半燃 "Half-Cold Half-Hot")

In the character presentation for Vol. 30, which is the famous volume which contains "Dabi's Dance" Shōto is represented as a cat.

SHŌTOCAT (Todorokimoku Shōtoka) (ショートキャット (轟目焦凍科) "Shōtocat (Todorokimoku Shōtoka)")

I'm not sure why Shōto ended up represented as a cat but it's sure is ironic considering how Tōya called his first Nōmu ‘neko-chan’ (ネコチャン “kitty”). Maybe the Todorokis are just cat people.

In the Todoroki family Shōto is the 'Sannan' (三男 "third son") and in chap 349 Tōya refers to him as such when talking to himself.

Shōto is currently a 'kōkōsei' (高校生 "high school student") at 'U.A. Kōkō' (雄英高校 "U.A. high school") though people usually refers to him using just as 'gakusei' (学生 "student").

When he was a 'chūgakusei' (中学生 "middle school student") he attended at 'Corusan Chūgakkō' (凝こる山中学校 "Corusan Middle School").

As Shōto is a recurring character probably everyone knows how he addresses to others and how others address to him but I still listed some thing I thought worth being pointed out.

As said before, Shōto calls all his classmates just by their surname, Midoriya (and many others of his classmates) calls him 'Todoroki-kun' (轟くん) while Bakugō has a nice list of insulting nicknames for him, starting with 'kōri no yatsu' (氷の奴) when he thought he only had one Quirk (Chap 11), evolving into 'hanbun yarō’ (半分野郎 lit. “half part guy/half bastard”) (Chap 24), until he finally also calls him just 'Todoroki' (Chap 166)... though he's not afraid to define him 'zako' (雑魚 "small fry") (Chap 204) or use other nicknames.

Occasionally Shōto gets nicknames that are based on wordplays that involve a word and the last part of his surname, like how Sero in chap 195 calls Shōto 'Shokiroki-kun' (初期ろき君), a word play between 'shoki' (初期) "early/initial" and 'Todoroki' in a nick that references how he was in the past or how when Bakugō sees the illusionary Shōto Camie created in chap 166 he calls him 'maboroki-kun' (マボロキくん) a word play between 'maboroshi' (幻/まぼろし "illusion") and 'Todoroki'.

All Might calls Shōto 'Todoroki shōnen' (轟少年 "Todoroki boy") while Aizawa calls him just 'Todoroki'. Shōto, same as the other students, calls Aizawa 'sensei' (先生) or 'Aizawa sensei'.

Yoarashi Inasa calls Shōto just 'Todoroki'.

In chap 163 Utsushimi Camie calls him 'Chō ī otoko' (ちょーいい男 "super good looking guy") and 'ikemen' (イケメン), a word of recent creation in which 'ike' (イケ) comes from 'Iketeru' (イケてる) which roughly translates to "cool", "good" where 'men' (メン) can stand both for the English word "men" but also for the Japanese word 'men' (面) which means "face".

Ashido Mina too referred to Shōto as an 'ikemen' in chap 130.

Gang Orca calls him and the other students who're attempting to get a license 'fun' (糞 "poop"). Masegaki elementary students called him 'gochinko' (ゴチンコ "five wienies") (Chap 164-389).

During his 'Shokuba taiken' (職場体験 "work experience") and, later, during his 'HERO INTERN' (ヒーローインターン "hero internship"), Shōto will always go at Endeavor agency where his father's sidecks call him 'Shōto-kun' (ショートくん) (Chap 245), therefore using his Hero name... though sometimes they call him 'Shōto-kun' (焦凍くん) (chap 363) as well... even though it's hardly noticeable when they call him one or the other as they sound the same. As for Shōto he calls Burnin just 'Burnin' (chap 349) but calls Onimā 'Onimā-san' in chap 363.

Himura ? (氷叢 ?) aka Geten (外典)

Quirk: Hyōsō (氷操 "Ice Ply")

Supposedly Geten is his Villain name since Re-Destro called his underlings using their Villain names. We don't know his true name, just that he's part of the Himura but, differently from Rei, he comes from a ‘bunke’ (分家 lit. “part house”), a “branch households”/“branch family”. A ‘bunke’ is created when a child who is not the first born is allowed to form a family of his own. Said family though will remain subservient to the main family (so the main family still keeps control of things) and usually will remain to live close to it.

Geten calls Re-Destro 'Saikō shidō-sha' (最高指導者 "supreme leader") in chap 228 while in chap 238 he uses just 'Re-Destro' and 'anata' (あなた "you") with him while Re-Destro calls him 'Geten' and uses 'kimi' (君 "you") with him. Geten is also a 'taichō' (隊長 "commanding officer") of the 'Kaibyaku kōdō yūgeki rentai "VIOLET"' (開闢行動遊撃連隊"VIOLET" "vanguard action guerrilla regiment "violet"").

CONTINUE IN THE NEXT PART!

#boku no hero academia #Todoroki Shouto #Todoroki Touya #Todoroki Enji #Todoroki Natsuo #Todoroki Fuyumi #Todoroki Rei

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bonzos-number-1-fan · 6 months

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TMAGP 11 Thoughts: Anchors Aweigh

We're finally back. Not much to say up top except it was a long wait.

Spoilers for episode 11, and light spoilers for TMA season 5, below the cut.

A very strong cold open to welcome us back. Celia doesn't just wake up in a strange location, she's got no memory of getting there, it's not her first time doing it, and she's looking for a character we've not yet been introduced to. Honestly there are a load of things this could be. If she's TMA's Celia it could be after effects of her time in the domain that stole her name. Or it's not after effects but the same effects now being re-triggered if she's in a universe with the same entity that did it. Or it's a side-effect of crossing between universes. Or the way she crossed between universes isn't how Anya Villette did it and she's actually occupying TMP's Lynne Hammond's body but not entirely suppressing Lynne in the process. Or Lynne has taken on Celia's memories and Celia never truly left TMA's universe at all. Lots of ways I can see that playing out.

The first office section is a bit of a recap of last episode with some banter more than it is anything substantive. However, Alice does think she's being followed which is probably something that'll come up later. I think the obvious thing to jump at here is that it's [Error]. It's not the first time we've seen someone dig through the Institute's soggy ruins only to come away with some paranoia though. It doesn't seem to be hitting her quite as hard as RedCanary but it certainly mirrors their reaction. Either way I think this could easily be a RedHerring and [Error] has nothing to do with it and it's just TMI magic.

For a small thing during that interaction there is another "lie detector" audio distortion. I'm not sure I've been mentioning all of these in these posts but when Alice says "Hm? Nah, it’s nothing." there is a distortion afterwards. Likely because such distortions signify lies. This exactly a new observation but I can't remember if I'm making an effort to note when they happen.

So for the first case back it's a pretty chill one all in all. Some spooky happenings where nothing major really happens but does contain a good bit of world building.

So for some general musings in order. First off Alison Leshi's email address is G.Leshi instead of A.Leshi. It's not likely important as there isn't a Leshi in CHDB (see masterdoc link below), so it's probably nothing. Could just be some subtle trans rep but I figure it could somehow come up later and so is worth a mention.l

Next up we've got our second mention of ink5oul. The "big snake tattoo" on their arm is pretty clearly the same as the "gorgeous floral serpent design" Daria mentions in episode 2. Daria also explains that ink5oul is a popular influencer and like most of those they try and throw that weight around here. They're a very big deal online don't you know. Something that I think is interesting, but maybe not intended, is that ink5oul's Instagram account is flagged with the alchemic symbol for salt and this case is deeply tied to the sea. That account might not be official but it's a nice connection if it is.

There are a couple of name drops that will likely prove pretty important. Oscar Jarrett is likely a character we'll meet later and as of right now the name is all we have. Sutherland Macdonald, on the other hand, is a very real person and given how TMA likes to use historic characters I have a feeling they'll be quite important. Macdonald was Britain's first professional tattoo artist. Insofar as he had a public business in which he tattooed people as his work. He was exceptionally talented, very popular, and highly sought-after. More than that though of his documented works serpent-motifs, both snakes and dragons, are very common. Given ink5oul's own, well, ink I'm pretty sure that's not a coincidence. Sutherland Macdonald could very well be another figure like Smirke. A real historic person with embellished and occult history for the show. Oscar Jarrett could be a protégé or rival of Sutherland, and tattoos might end up being the new Leitners.

There isn't much to dig in to beyond that but I will say I really enjoyed this episode. Excited to see where this all goes.

Back in the office we've got Gwen trauma, Celia trauma, and Lena being Lena. Which is all great stuff. Bonzo is likely hunting Klaus given that conversation too. That's the only figure Gwen has any real knowledge of and Lena obviously has some unresolved business there. The transcript sheds some additional light on the interactions here too as both times external is mentioned it's capitalised. Which does seem to imply it's an official position at the OIAR rather than something euphemistic. Mr. Bonzo getting more detail here is also great. It's another reinforcement that whatever he now is very much isn't how he started. "Green custard" getting a shout out is also very welcome. That's not so much a Mr. Blobby thing but people getting slimed was a big fixture of that era of children's TV in Britain.

Sam finally looking to cross reference these things is great to hear as well. I crave more data. Speaking of data, now it's time for the nerd shit.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Incident/CAT#R#DPHW Master Sheet

DPHW Theory: 5246 is pretty unremarkable and so I don't think I've got much to explain there. 4 is a little lower than I was expecting but not off by so much that I think something is wrong.

CAT# Theory: CAT23 sure is a category. I was hoping to have something solid by the time the break was over. There are enough outliers in every theory I've seen to pretty confidently think no one is on the right track with this or some people are but the data we have is faulty. Which to be fair we know is the case. It's just about which parts of the data should we be ignoring.

R# Theory: C fits in perfectly with my theory. Not much to say on that one.

Header talk: Tattoo (corpse) -/- compulsion is mostly interesting because of how it creates problems with Daria's case. If Tattoo is a section that would strongly imply that Daria's case should have been Tattoo rather than Transformation. But that one did also show up on Klaus which implies that it's correct. Just a weird section in general. The subsection is about the sort of mess you'd expect at this point. The crosslink is also just a crosslink.

#the magnus protocol #tmagp #tmagp theory #tmagp speculation #klaus = kl4-u5

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just7frogsinapeoplesuit · 1 month

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Finally reading the Locked Tomb series because for once it wasn't taken out of the library! Thoughts one book one (spoiler free):

- I loved that our point of view is a character who is completely clueless about everything that's happening. It felt like assembling a puzzle with most of the pieces missing. Very fun. I wish more authors did this. I can definitely see how other people could find it frustrating, though, especially considering that we're still mostly in the dark at the end of the book.

- The foreshadowing is done perfectly. We are never given too much information at once and rarely the whole picture, so even if you figure something out early on there's an extra layer to it during the Big Reveal that would only be noticeable on a re-read.

- Love the setting and the characters. They're unique and interesting and I'm excited to see where it goes from here. Science fantasy is a woefully underused genre.

- A lot of the characters' names are too long to be used in full all the time. I'm already bad with names, I cannot remember a large cast of people whose names are 4+ syllables, and it makes reading feel clunky when we have both "Protesilaus" and "Nonagesimus" multiple times on one page.

- The necromancer and cavalier of the 8th house are uncle and nephew, but the (younger-looking?) nephew is older by what seems to be a significant amount. I know this is completely possible, especially in a knights-and-lords society, but I feel like there should have been a sentence somewhere to acknowledge that their roles and ages don't match up as expected because it got confusing.

- The horror is really fun and creative, except for the blood writing and flickering lights in the scenes with the 4th teens which felt jarringly campy. Possibly that will be explained in a later book, or Muir was just having fun with tropes.

- Gideon's commentary sometimes breaks the immersion of the setting, which is otherwise done really well. For example, early in the book she describes her acne as "pizza face" when we know for a fact she's never encountered pizza and probably doesn't even know what dairy is. I don't think there's a way to justify her learning about whole types of food and a colorful assortment of swears and slang from magazines but not things like the concept of swimming and the existence of showers, which are clearly common in the places her magazines are from. The Autism in me wants to be bothered by this, but being funny is objectively the best reason to break the 4th wall a bit and she is very funny. Gideon is just the Locked Tomb Bugs Bunny.

- Re: immersion, my favorite detail is that Gideon's default unit of measurement is bodies. 10/10.

- My one real issue: the prose randomly switches between casual language Gideon would use and words that are about 3 levels more obscure than necessary. I could understand the obscure vocab if the word choice added something, but most of the time it doesn't and sometimes it's actually less applicable. I shouldn't have to look up words that fell out of the common lexicon over a century ago just to learn that what's being said is something like "this guy acts like a knight", and it doesn't make sense with Gideon as our POV. There is no way she's consistently thinking "deliquesce" instead of "melt away", especially not as part of a description that used "clusterfuck" two sentences earlier. Sometimes this shift happens midsentence and we get stuff like "a lahar of gunge"*. My spellchecker doesn't recognize either of those as words, because one is only used by volcano scientists and the other is so casual it's not in most dictionaries. Part of me is delighted by the choice to just chuck the whole English language into one book, but the inconsistent way it was executed made reading feel awkward and cumbersome at times, and having to somewhat frequently look up words that weren't actually adding anything got frustrating (I even looked up words I knew because sometimes the context made me think I had to be mistaking them for something else). I know it's not just me, because people regularly tell me I use words that are too obscure and I've had to learn to tone it down. I definitely wouldn't recommend this series to anyone with less than a solid "college level" vocabulary, and I think Muir's editor should've had a conversation along the lines of "most people are not immersed in worldbuilding research and/or in love with their thesaurus".

Overall, this was a fun read and I'm looking forward to the next two!

* Upon further reflection I think this one in particular is just a localization issue, since Muir is from New Zealand where lahars have historically been a threat and "gunge" is of UK origin. I'm guessing both words are much more commonplace in NZ than here in the US so if that's the case it's actually a fantastic bit of imagery I was too American to appreciate

EDIT: I just came across one of those "what's your English vocabulary size" tests and effortlessly got the highest possible score (which is apparently not at all common going by other people's results in the notes) so I feel further validated that the obscure vocab point is not me.

#the locked tomb #gideon the ninth #my posts

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sophieinwonderland · 6 days

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I dont know if you want to get specific blogs but @\emeraldazurgirl is posting very very harmful anti system stuff that includes exclusion of osdd and is anti ramcoa systems.

On top of that theyre not even tagging it properly, theyre tagging mogai, lgbt, plural etc

But not like.. anti endo or endos dni. And they support fake claiming.

Also can i just said even though I'm a pro endo traumagen system, all this syscourse with the "you're not a real system" is so fucking ableist towards psychosis folks like me. Its triggering and puts me into an episode.

I think the syscourse community should talk about that more :/

I looked into this person's account and everything they were saying sounded like systemscringe talking points that I would see in that subreddit. Then I scrolled a bit further and saw them re-blogging posts from other systemscringe members and the current owner of the subreddit.

I'm going to assume that they're probably a member of that hate sub. Which explains the anti-Ramcoa talking points. r/systemcringe has gone hard on that topic, citing the Satanic Temple as their only source for why it's not real. 🙄

I also noticed them repeating the lie that you need to go through therapy before you start experiencing voice hearing. It looks like their sourcing for this claim is... Is that an anecdote from Quora?

This is another lie that's popular in that subreddit. And one I debunked in the post linked at the top of my pinned.

In a study comparing DID to schizophrenia, it was found that voice hearing in DID was present before the system was 18 in 90% of cases.

It's not only possible to experience voice hearing early on in DID. It's the norm. Sure, there are exceptions. 10% apparently don't experience voice hearing until after they're an adult.

But the fact is that DID systems who hear voices without going through years of therapy are clearly more common than those who don't.

In short, their whole account is just a huge bag of misinformation and lies, And I wouldn't pay them much heed.

#syscourse #pro endogenic #pro endo #multiplicity #sysblr #actually plural #actually a system #system punk #systempunk #syspunk #sys punk #did #dissociative identity disorder #plural #psychology #psychiatry

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putschki1969 · 8 months

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hello! would you say the girls are popular in japan? like if they walk down the street is someone gonna come up and be like omg hi i know you? i know they're not like uber world famous or whatever, but never really thought abt it from that perspective

Hi there!

Sorry for the really late reply, this has been sitting in my drafts for a very long time.

Hmmm, no, I have personally never considered them to be famous in the traditional sense of the word. Even back in their Kalafina days, they weren't very well-known outside of their admittedly quite big but rather contained fanbase (which always surprised me considering the almost-idol-like marketing strategies employed at certain points of their career). Whenever I mentioned them to anyone in Japan (people from all walks of life), that person had no idea who I was talking about. Sometimes not even die-hard anime fans were familiar with them beyond maybe knowing a song or two. I think it's because they never quite crossed into mainstream with their music (which of course was both a blessing and a curse).

Needless to say, they are even less well-known as solo artists.

We know the girls walk down the street, use public transportation, have appointments at salons, engage in leisure activities and eat at a variety of cafés/restaurants without being bothered. Some of those places are more exclusive than others (especially the ones Keiko frequents) but for the most part, they go to regular places with lots of random people. Usually, when they are going out we see them wear some sort of hat and a face mask, nothing too crazy or out of the ordinary, they are clearly not trying to disguise themselves but it's probably an attempt to keep a somewhat low profile.

But honestly, Japan isn't really a place where people would outright approach "famous" individuals in public unless they feel very confident. People generally mind their own business, keep their distance and just try to appear as inconspicuous as possible. With this mindset, I would assume stalking is much more common than active engagement. That's not to say that there aren't exceptions to this rule. Just a few weeks ago a Japanese YK/Kala-fan more or less orchestrated a situation in which he was able to meet Yuriko Kaida and LINO LEIA after finding out where they would be going. He handled the whole thing in a respectful/subtle manner and it worked out pretty well for him so it was fine but it's definitely not something that happens on a regular basis.

Unfortunately, I don't know enough about really big idols/actors/artists but I am sure things are a bit more complicated for them, they are probably more careful with how they act on a day-to-day basis but I doubt they would lock themselves up in their homes. After all, we have seen someone as popular as LiSA casually hang out with Keiko at a random restaurant so she seems to be comfortable being out and about in public.

#kalafina #reply #Yuriko Kaida #LINO LEIA #LiSA

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domoz · 5 months

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2, 21, 22 & 25 for tobirama? :]

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

Okay easy mode is he's the trope of "cold-hearted bastard with a secret warm center." Has no problem saying rude things to people, killing people, trying to poke holes in their dreams, but he, too, wants a world where children don't have to die. He's such a downer (""realist"") and yet he throws his WHOLE pussy into building a village that he doesn't even really seem to believe will achieve his brothers goals. He's over here like "well it's not going to work if you're not willing to die for it" and then proves that he means it. Have you ever noticed that he will argue with Hashirama and then just do what he's told despite that??

He's got all this respect for Orders and Laws, except for like, the laws of physics and life/death. Like he just had to go and test them to make sure they work how everyone says they do. My guy????

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

Tobirama is capable of recognizing when he feels emotions and even shows them sometimes. He's dogshit bad at recognizing when they're affecting his decision making.

But no way does he have the emotional intelligence to ever talk about them without being forced in to it. If Tobirama is crying, he needs to have a very damn good reason to do so.

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don't like?

When other characters slowly begin to discover that he, too, is a man with goodness in him, despite everything.

In the negative: I feel like its common to... I guess the term is woobify him? Like, I, too, love to put him through angst and stress, but I refuse to believe his internal monologue would be about how much of a pathetic failure he is, nor would he be Fixed by the clan that killed his brothers being Nice to him (my god, if its one of those AUs where the whole Senju clan rejects him that would fuck him up even MORE).

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

I'm sure I saw the chunin exam arc back in the day and I saw orochimaru summon him and probably thought 'whos this guy'. I don't think I figured it out (or cared) until years later when I was like "haha wouldn't it be funny if I read some naruto fic". I genuinely can't remember what I thought of him then, but he clearly grew on me. like so much fungus. that im looking under my microscope, because we understand so much about what he did and not what he thought.

Ask Meme

#naruto blog for naruto things

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secretmellowblog · 9 months

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Hijo for the characterask game

Javert and #8

(A little late but for this ask game!!! Thank you again!)

#8: a thing the fandom does with this character that you despise!

Despise is a strong word! I'll say "confuses me" instead. I talked a little bit about it in my post about fandom Valjean things I dislike-- with the caveat that I don't think any of this is really a big deal, because this small huddle of fandom stuff is a very tiny niche that doesn't have a wide impact, and also it's very normal/natural for people's opinions on characters to change over time, and I know that my *own* opinions have changed over time-- but---

I am confused by all the pro-police stuff in the Javert fandom? XD

I think the main thing that confuses me is why Post-Seine stuff where Javert is "redeemed" usually has Javert returning to his job.

It just makes more sense, thematically and on a character level, for him to resign? The common idea that "redeemed Javert" would go back to arresting people and that this would be a Good Thing always throws me off. Because 'the entire criminal justice system is fundamentally broken, there is a gulf on high, it is immoral to do this' was his whole dramatic realization and all. Plus, even putting aside the anti-police politics of the book, being a cop was clearly not good for Javert's mental health. XD It was making him feel very bad!

I remember once reading a mildly popular fic where a post-seine Javert talks about how he thinks the prison system is fundamentally broken and violent and unjust, and he can never return to his job. And I was like "Wow, this author gets it!" Then I kept reading and it turns out Javert was supposed to be *wrong* in that paragraph, that paragraph was supposed to represent an incorrect pessimistic wrong way of thinking, and the fic was about Javert regaining his faith in the police. It's just very funky! Kinda just like, realizing people view this story in such a radically different way you can't ever vibe with their versions of the characters. People sometimes walk back everything Javert realizes in Derailed as if they're mistakes, instead of positive character development, which feels odd to me. People act as if Jean Valjean is the rare exception to the general rule that Prison Is Awesome And Cool, and that Javert just needs to realize he was wrong about Jean Valjean specifically and nothing else.

I think people often miss that the police are the villains of Javert's story, in the way they're the villains of Jean Valjean's. His family was ripped apart by the criminal justice system before he was even born, he was born in a cage like an animal, and he became an agent of the system that destroyed his childhood because he internalized that institutional abuse as something that he and his family must have deserved. "Is a system that leads to children being born in jails in desperate poverty actually just?" "well of course it is. the baby is a crime baby made of crime. >:("

He's spent his whole life either living in prison or serving as an agent of the prison system; he has no framework for what living outside of serving the carceral system actually looks like. My take is, that poor horrible creature has had enough policework for several lifetimes. If there is a way to be a "good cop," he would've found it by now. Let him rest. Let him find some funky new job.

Also, one or two people have implied in the distant past that I must hate Valvert, but from a Valvert perspective-- I think it's easier to have post-seine Valvert if Javert quits his job. First, it's a dramatic shift in their dynamic and the power level between them; it's a clear sign that Javert has permanently changed. Second: Javert searching for a new job after spending his entire life serving the prison system is just rife for bonding hijinks. You could easily write a scenario where Jean Valjean helps pull strings to find him work as a gardener for Petit-Picpus, but has to help train him for the position or something along those lines, giving them an excuse to interact. Third: I don't think Javert needs to be a cop to be nosy. If you want to write a "casefic"-ish mystery plotline he could be an Angela Lansbury Murder-She-Wrote old lady retiree character solving a mystery out of pure nosiness, without even arresting anyone. Because it would be very funny.

...This has just turned into a ramble about possible Post-Seine hijinks. Anyway the moral is: there isn't really a moral, this is just my petty fandom opinions. But "Javert fics where police are bad" and "Javert fics where police are flawed but ultimately good" are two completely different genres, is my take.

#les mis #ask meme #thanks again!#this is just a funky little ramble #and i dont like positioning myself as an authority over characters

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racke7 · 7 months

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Skyrim's Civil War

So, I was thinking recently about Skyrim. Specifically about its Civil War.

Background for those who don't know it:

Skyrim is a part of the Empire. The Empire had a big war with the Thalmor, and lost it. The peace-treaty demanded that the Empire outlaw the worship of Talos (Skyrim's patron-god). The Empire agreed, and outlawed Talos-worship (and gave the leaders of Skyrim a bunch of gold in the hopes of lessening the outrage).

Now, one of the parts of enforcing that peace-treaty was that the Thalmor could go around the Empire and make sure that people weren't worshiping in secret (AKA, "we don't trust you not to lie to us", which is fair enough).

However, it very quickly became apparent that the Thalmor had no reason to NOT stir up shit by randomly accusing people of worshiping Talos. After all, any growing civil unrest would mean that the Empire would be less capable of gathering its armies for a "second war".

So, the Empire fucked up. They allowed its people to be persecuted and murdered on the whims of the Thalmor.

Enter, Ulfric Stormcloak.

A charismatic and ambitious man, Ulfric gathered Talos-worshipers and anyone else with disagreements with the Empire to his banner.

Now, the Thalmor considers Ulfric a fantastic asset, as his goal is to have Skyrim break off from the Empire. An action that the Empire would need to spend soldiers on to stop, and an action which (if it succeeds) would mean removing Skyrim's population from the Empire's armies. That's a win-win of reducing the strength of the Empire for the Thalmor.

So, Skyrim's Civil War is actually a really interesting choice of "siding with a faltering and faulty Empire in order to oppose a common enemy in the distant future" or "break apart the Empire and stop having to live in fear".

It's honestly a complex and compelling set of causes, you know? Ignore the destabilizing influence and horrific actions of the Thalmor, in order to grit your teeth and drive them away in another horrific war. Or play into the hands of the Thalmor and break away from the Empire that is giving you NOTHING for the horrors that you're suffering in its name.

Except... enter, Ulfric Stormcloak (2).

Every. Single. Fucking. Stormcloak? They're racist, delusional, pieces of shit. They're entitled assholes who clamber for a chance to lick Ulfric's boots.

(Also, like, the fucking "titles" that you get from the Stormcloak-army? They're not designed for figuring out who is above-below you in the chain-of-command, they're there to "sound cool" so that the person with the title will feel important about themselves.)

And there are even people who will outright state this in-game about Ulfric specifically. "The cause is true, but the man is a lie" because it's very clear to them that Ulfric only cares about "the suffering of Skyrim" because it's given him an opportunity to attempt to become the High-King of Skyrim.

It's like... the game-developers looked at this honestly very interestingly divisive argument about which side was the "correct one" to side with, and then they went "but one side should be filled with the absolute worst people imaginable, to make it fair".

I mean, the Empire clearly fucked up, Skyrim is obviously suffering for it. And the Empire can't actually go back to war with the Thalmor because they lost the first time, implying that they can't actually win if they just "try harder next time".

(There's also a note about how you don't need to call something an "evil" empire, because that's kind of part of the definition of being "an empire" anyway.)

The people of Skyrim have every fucking right to break free from the Empire and fight back against the people who are persecuting them.

But for all of that, Skyrim breaking away from the Empire is also likely to doom the Empire, because with their armies even weaker than before, the Thalmor will likely swoop in and crush them. And then they'll have a path for their armies, straight into Skyrim. And Skyrim will have nobody else to turn to for help.

Both sides have good and bad consequences, and it's the kind of thing that would lend itself really well to multiple playthroughs where different characters would pick one or the other for any multitude of different reasons.

But Ulfric Stormcloak is a racist dickhead, and everyone under him is a delusional piece of shit. So suddenly this isn't true anymore.

#skyrim #video games #rants #fridge logic

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traumatizedbymay2016 · 5 months

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Ok this might be a little bit tinfoil hat, but I feel like a large part of the reason that Tony Stark ended up being the de facto soul of the MCU was that he was in a different genre to everyone else. It feels so obvious to me.

Every other Avenger stars in some variation on character versus character conflict the majority of the time, and the exceptions I can think of are still (generally) external (character versus society and character versus fate seem to be common secondary conflicts). Tony is the only character who stars predominantly in character versus self conflicts.

For starters, the Iron Man trilogy is way better when you recognize this distinction. Whiplash and Killian are lame villains, yes, but it's because they aren't the antagonist at all. At best they're secondary conflicts, but at worst they're straight up just the inciting incident. The real antagonist of the story is the flaw that Tony is grappling with --- in Iron Man, it's his willful ignorance and isolation from the world; in Iron Man 2, it's his fear of needing help or being a burden (and secondarily his fear of his impending death); and in Iron Man 3 it's his crippling anxiety that nothing he ever does will be enough to protect the ones he loves. It's relatively rare that we see any other character perform this kind of introspection at all, let alone see an entire story built around it (Thor: Ragnarok is the only one that readily comes to mind).

Even weirder to me is that this somehow persists into crossover films. Age of Ultron features Tony grappling with the way the remnants of his Iron Man 3 anxieties are interfacing with his mask of hyper competence; Civil War centers around Tony deconstructing that same mask and attempting to hand the reins over to someone else; the examples are abundant (even if they're handled worse here than in the standalone films).

And I think that's why so much of the Marvel discourse that the interwebs seem hell bent on showing me ends up presenting every Marvel character as "uwu soft precious pure bean" heroes who are nuance-free portrayals of goodness and light in spite of their own laundry lists of mistakes that they move past but never really grow from, only to reach Tony Stark and present even the most understandable of mistakes as though they were pre-meditated and cold blooded decisions for which he is responsible and can never be absolved. If the narrative never forces anyone else to properly reconcile their actions, then those actions were clearly justified; when it does so to Tony, that sends the message that his actions are clearly worse or of greater significance than the others' are.

But that difference is about presentation. It's about the story being told and the conflict being centered, not the culpability or severity of the actions at play. I'm not sure any Avenger has ever screwed up as royally as the time that Thor's coronation got crashed and he decided to get his friends together to attempt frost giant genocide, but the narrative chooses not to focus on that in favor of other elements of Thor's progression. Weighing it as lesser is purely based on bias.

And here's the thing! I understand that 1) protagonists are not necessarily good people and 2) good people can and do make mistakes. I actually prefer characters who can do something terrible --- whether as a result of ignorance, trauma, or panic --- and then, in time, learn from those mistakes and become better people. I would argue that makes a character more compelling, not less so. In fact, the very way that the narrative never even acknowledges the potential for Steve Rogers' actions to have a negative consequence when even bare minimum common sense would dictate that there must be at least a little downside is part of why I don't enjoy the character.

But so much fan meta fails to engage with this in any meaningful way, and so you end up with situations where people are ranting about Tony blasting Sam after Rhodey got knocked out of the sky while entirely ignoring the obvious and understandable distress that would cloud anyone's judgement in that situation in favor of treating it like an intentional act of malice on Tony's part; in spite of the fact that there are dozens of instances in the MCU of heroes attacking each other with greater force in lower stakes situations --- Thor choking Tony in Age of Ultron comes to mind.

Age of Ultron is actually the perfect case study in this phenomenon, as it stands. Tony's arc in the movie is an explicit continuation of his arc in Iron Man 3: He's terrified by the vision of his teammates dead and the world at risk, and is desperately trying to solve that problem on his own in a panic. This leads to the objective mistake of Ultron's birth and near rise to power, which the fandom all-too-happily places the blame for squarely on Tony's shoulders.

Except Tony is just one piece of the puzzle. At a minimum, Bruce Banner was equally involved in the creation of Ultron; a task perfectly in line with his established character trait of pursuing scientific advancement at any cost. Cinematic parallels between the birth of Ultron and the birth of the Hulk are unsubtle, to say the least.

Thor could (and should) have provided some instruction to the two pertaining to the literal magic gemstone they were studying, but went off to go celebrate another victory. Wanda used her mind control powers to influence the situation in the direction of Ultron. Hell, I find it hard to take Steve's "sometimes my team mates don't tell me things" line seriously when the lab is a room made entirely of windows inside his house.

The cherry on top, obviously, being that even if we ignore all available subtext and let Iron Man be the sole creator of Ultron, the Avengers were still effectively functioning as a team and were properly equipped to prevent Ultron from enacting any real damage to the world when they intervened in the vibranium deal with Klaue --- but a certain pair of Avengers were literally fighting on Ultron's team at that point, enabling him to retrieve the needed vibranium and capture Helen Cho.

They're not culpable for that, though, right? How was it said... "She's just a kid"?

With the final irony being that the selfsame Avenger in question would go on to marry the Vision. A character who is literally just "What Tony Stark intended Ultron to be." But when it comes to Vision coming out worthy to wield Mjolnir, that's not Tony's fault, is it? It was a team effort, or a happy accident, or the Mind stone intervening. Never mind that it's personifying J.A.R.V.I.S., Tony's creation. Tony's not the one who does good things, he's the one who makes mistakes.

Meanwhile from the perspective of someone who loves the man versus self narrative, Age of Ultron is about Tony admitting his mistakes and quite literally learning from them and doing better next time. He spends the film taking responsibility for the places he messed up and working to understand how he can do better, and the next time he tries, he does do better. The narrative functions as intended.

But because there isn't a single other character in the room willing to admit wrongdoing --- or, perhaps more accurately, there isn't a single other character in the room that the narrative is willing to force to admit such a thing --- the implication to someone who isn't acclimated to the cycle of Fail, Learn, Succeed that characterizes Tony is just that Tony is The One Who Made Ultron. I mean, Bruce Banner gets more remorseful about being mind controlled to unleash the Hulk than he does about having been an active participant in the creation of a malevolent AI.

I just think it's interesting because so much of the fandom buys into the idea that the characters who never admit that they were wrong actually never were wrong, and that therefore Tony Stark is the worst; but at the same time, the whole heart is gone from the MCU as a franchise. There are still individual fun properties, especially when your particular favorite character is on screen, but you can feel in the places where the fandom is even still a fandom and not a toxic pile of self-consuming sludge that there's something missing.

As frustrated as I am that the fandom is like this, though, I'm more sad that other characters never got to have this kind of introspection. There's just so much missed potential for growth in so many of these characters.

#iron man #tony stark #marvel mcu #mcu #marvel cinematic universe #never mind the fact that the Russo brothers definitely did not understand this #and undid the overarching part of his arc for an unnecessary self-sacrifice #look endgame sucks ok

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