#character analyis

[grapecaseschoices]

#(also this reminds me of a durgewyll post i need to send you)#but wyll is interesting *because* he always does what is right!!#just that he's flexible about how!#which is why he isn't a paladin swearing an oath to abide by xyz lofty principles#he's pragmatic. he'll do what he needs to do in service of the greater good. @/wayhavenots

"WyLl wOuLD Be MoRE InTeReSTinG iF He WaS MorALLy fLeXiBle"

Consider this, he wouldn't. Why do you all like weak-willed bitches so much? Let the man be incorruptable in peace, damn.

[daystud]

this show's sincere way to understand conflict hits different when you grow older

i could pick any clip but steven's relationship with rose is just so special and intimate and important and even if she's goooooone steven somehow managed to know her real self. Even beyond being really similar to her it makes others mistake him for her, and having to deal with her hardships, despite never meeting her she was in his heart from the very start. even before he relived her memories as pink. all enhanced by this episode's conversation.

the show represented every kinds of love, and this one is a very deep, almost incomprehensible kind of family love. its living with a deceased parental figure's passive influence, and learning you are your own person from them because your OWN experiences shaped you, but they're still your half forever.

[junosmindpalace]

i find discourse around the rdr women so...fascinating and infuriating at the same time. because a lot of the time it doesn't seem like rdr fans want to apply the same level of complex analysis to the women like they do for the men, but when they do, it still doesnt seem all that well-intentioned or that it does right by their characters.

this is a very long analysis/spam/defense so be warned :,)

even though the majority of sadie's character revolves around the fact she not only lost her home and her husband and was thrust into a new life of crime, but was actively struggling with robberies BEFORE the events of the game, people instead choose to focus on whether or not she had feelings for arthur or whether he actions in the game were actually impactful. she helped saved abigail and john when no else would, she fought alongside the men against the army, she helped john set up a stable life, she helped rob the payroll train, helped ensure colm’s death, she fought alongside arthur TIME AGAIN and took over in a leadership role when half the gang was absent in the guarma chapter. to say that she did nothing more except “be badass” undermines all of these contributions to the story that she was either at the forefront of or helped bring to fruition.

in my opinion, abigail is the EASIEST character to defend out of any of the women, and yet somehow she receives the most backlash from dudebros. I lose ten braincells every time i have to read a theory post over whether or not she slept with other camp members besides john, whether or not she was a rat, and about how much shes a nag. the woman has not known a moment's rest in her entire life. by the age of eight she was working in a cathouse. she was a child prior to then scrapping whatever money she could earn at her young age in saloons and dive bars as a woman and child just to survive as a orphan. jack's birth was clearly not planned, and she has voiced multiple times her grievances at the circumstances of his upbringing. everything she does is for a better life for her son: a life she never had. her constant nagging to get john to man up and be a father is for her son's benefit, not her own. she even says so herself when she tells him that she doesn't mind if a relationship between them doesn't work out, but to at least try being there for jack. she can't work a job because she is a mother living a life of crime and danger; she can't afford to leave the camp and her son unsupervised. she still does her share around camp. why would anyone blame her for not wanting to return to a life that has made her miserable, especially now that she has a child who she wants to model a good life for? many people seem to somehow also forget that she herself was a child when she gave birth to jack; only 17-18. she is 22 in the game in a bad situation with the father of her child and financially. she is doing her best to raise her son when she is not fully equipped to do so. how can anyone even blame her for being skeptical of john when hes affectionate in the epilogue when for so long hes been distant? she does not even ask much of john--just to be there for him sometimes, and to live honestly. she is also incredibly kindhearted. comforting other women in the camp, offering a listening ear, taking care of john when hes injured. she puts in her share of effort when it comes to finding a job in the epilogue and maintaining beechers hope.

molly is a young woman who is presumably incredibly far from her home where her family is, and trying to navigate a way of life completely unfamiliar to her. her stuck up nature comes not only from the way she was raised, but also dutch's uplifting affection and presumed lovebombing in the early stages of their relationship. shes even been suggested to be somewhat sociable until dutch and her became somewhat of an official item, in which she grew somewhat of a bigger ego with a mentality that she was his right hand. she deeply depended on dutch for her stability in every way, and its evident in her eventual spiral. she hated being seen as weak and pitiful as somewhat of an outsider among outsiders. she seemed to be close to no one besides dutch, who repeatedly cut her off when she attempted to talk to him about her growing feelings of anxiety, paranoia and sadness. the loss of the one thing that had built her up, coupled with immense tragedy she just wasnt used to, and desperate for a semblance of respect and dignity that she had presumably been all too accustomed to, of course she was going to come off brash and confront dutch about his distant, high and mighty attitude. it's why by the end, she doesnt care if she is killed: there is nothing left for her. karen's comment about her pretending to rat them out for the sake of attention is also interesting in terms of their relationship and parallels, which i dont see ANYONE talk about.

karen very clearly struggles with...a lot. she has even said so herself when talking with molly. she struggles to accept help, evident in pieces of dialogue where she brushes off concerned gang members about her drinking (mary-beth, arthur, javier), and when she seems somewhat ashamed and embarrassed having to have been rescued by arthur in the valentine mission (SAYING EXPLICITLY "i dont much like being saved"). she struggles with believing people have good intentions/feelings toward her, illustrated in the way she's constantly rejecting sean, yet seemingly disappeared further down the bottle after his death, and her conversation with mary beth and tilly about the world having no equal and fair place for women. her negative experiences in the world as a woman could also influence her view of the world, perhaps being why she finds herself somewhat hostile toward feminist mindsets and why she, for a while, enjoyed the outlaw lifestyle: it was her little slice of freedom. her hatred for the rich can also be because she has experiences as a poor woman, perhaps some direct experiences in which rich people have negatively impacted her life. though molly and karen don't get along through most of the game, karen actually tries to step in and help her near the end, and its this action + defending her after her death that shows she was sympathetic toward her situation and on some level able to relate to it, both craving some kind of love beyond superficial things.

@/cryptidcr3ature said it very well in a post i reblogged recently: mary is essentially "her brother's keeper and her father's caretaker". she herself lives somewhere middle class with traditional notions of the time impacting her views on arthur's lifestyle and anything below those middle class standards being deemed as socially unacceptable (which is evident from the very first letter mary sends to arthur, in which she seems confused on what a polite term would be to refer to prostitutes, who were obviously thought very lowly of in the time). i also don't think its fair to criticise her condemnation of arthur's lifestyle when pretty much all audiences, contemporary and not, including members of the gang, acknowledge that it isnt anything pretty. killing is not fun. running from the law is not fun. mary was not only influenced by her father's views of arthur (a person that, despite being horrible, she still deeply loves), but looking after her own family, herself, and arthur's wellbeing when she ended their relationship + suggested they run away. she had given him an opportunity at compromise. perhaps the first time, scared and unfamiliar with his lifestyle, she had offered arthur an ultimatum: her or his outlaw life, but later was willing to also leave behind her brother and father, two figures that tie her down and make her life more miserable than need be despite loving them very much, in order to settle somewhere with arthur and start over. her asking for arthur's help comes from a place of desperation and excuse to allow herself some semblance of stability when she hadn't had it; at least not since her mother and husband passed. if arthur refuses to help her, she is incredibly understanding and sympathetic. she does not lash out. if arthur does help, she is immensely grateful, and even tries to bond with him despite their years apart.

this post isnt to excuse some of their more negative behaviours and aspects of their characters'-- but im saying that they deserve to be fairly treated and analyzed just like any of the rdr men. many of them are young. many of them have unique challenges as women. that isn���t to say the men have it easier, but their struggles and less prettier aspects of their characters are always met with more sympathy than the women. why do arthur and john get passes as reformed absent fathers and criminals? why does sean receive sympathy when karen rejects his pushy advances? why does hosea get a pass at being better than dutch when he still groomed younger members of the gang for a life of crime alongside dutch? why does dutch get a pass by having his downfall be justified by tough circumstances? lets just be fair

[the-arceo-analysis]

puts this in ur hand and runs off

non canon jack & ormr scene !?

was gonna animate it but then i was like if i animate this im not going to enjoy it and it's going to ruin my mood so i landed on not doing that <3 shoulders getting a little better. my range of motion is severely limited so we'll see what that entails but... hooray

[zincbotted]

if i ever drew my homestuck kids headcanons it would all be over for me

[kunizaiuwu]

literally amazing. i have no words

BSD Fyodor Dostoyevsky: an in-depth character analysis

“Человек есть тайна. Ее надо разгадать, и ежели будешь ее разгадывать всю жизнь, то не говори, что потерял время; я занимаюсь этой тайной, ибо хочу быть человеком.” / “Man is an enigma. It must be unravelled, and if you will unravel it your entire life, then do not say that you have wasted time; I occupy myself with that enigma, because I want to be human.” – the writer Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky, in a letter to his older brother, Mikhail (St. Petersburg, 16 August 1839)

The purpose of this post is to present and analyse information related to Bungou Stray Dogs’ Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s personality and methodology. Softer than shadow, unsolved and endless, Fyodor may as well “hide” his soul under our very eyes and we still would not know if that is the “real” him. This is my promised Fedya essay, an info-gathering analysis masterpost I hope you will enjoy and find useful for contemplating and coming to understand his complex character a little bit better.

Warning: merciless BSD manga spoilers. Literally spoiling everything. Also, this is an unbelievably long post (20200+ words). Have some lovely tea, listen to Rachmaninoff, and read in serene leisure or endlessly curious passion.

Keep reading

[tjlnn22]

An Analyis of the Ending of "The Killing Joke"

This scene is one I've wanted to get my thoughts written out on for a while and one of the most interesting in all of DC comics from how important it is to understanding both the characters of Batman and the Joker.

So, this scene is the finale of the oneshot comic "The Killing Joke" By Alan Moore, and is directly preceeded by Batman once again foiling the Joker's evil plan, beating him both verbally and physically before then kicking him to the ground to seemingly knock him out.

For what then follows, I will post the full comic pages so you can absorb the scene first.

Ah, the infamous cutaway that leaves the ending so open to interpretation. But what exactly does all of this mean? Well, I'll give my interpretation:

The scene starts in the same way as many other fights between Batman and Joker have concluded. Joker gets defeated, Batman saves the day, the clown prince of crime will get chucked back into Arkham until he inevitably breaks out once again, and then they'll do the whole thing over. "You know, I think you and I are destined to do this forever", that's how their story always goes. However, this time things are different.

This time, Batman doesn't beat Joker senseless, even though cosnidering what Joker spent that evening doing to his friends and family, he would richly deserve a good beating by anyone's estimation. Joker expects that of Batman as well, and he accepts the beating and re-imprisonment that he's sure is coming his way, because that's how it's always been. And yet instead, this time Batman chooses to talk with him. He tells Joker the facts of the situation, that despite everything, he actually doesn't WANT to hurt him, and knows that if they keep going down their current path, one of them will eventually kill the other. Batman knows it, and he knows that Joker knows it too, and he doesn't want that to be the case, because above everything else Batman values preserving human life as a goal equal to and often greater than stopping crime. He doesn't want to kill Joker, it would go against everything he stands for, but he knows with every encounter they share that possibiltiy grows more and more likely.

In a similar fashion, the Joker doesn't actually want to kill Batman either. Despite how he may play the part of wanting otherwise, the entire story of the comic up until this point has been about Joker trying to prove a point to Batman. That deep down, everyone can become him, that all it takes is one bad day to turn even the most moral man alive into the Joker. whether this is because Joker genuinely believes this, or it is meant to simply justify and excuse who he himself became from his own tragedy, is never really confirmed, though it is most likely a bit of both.

Either way, we see that Joker is not happy at all by Batman attempting to talk to him instead of beating him. In fact, he's practically sulking. Now, is this due to the fact that his big plan just failed, sure, at least partly. However, there is something else going on as well. All of Joker's plans fail sooner or later, this is no exception. It's something he expects despite coming up with a new one every week. This time though, he genuinely looks depressed, and this is in part due to Batman breaking the magic of their routine. By speaking to him like anyone else, by reaching out to Joker, Batman is attempting to fundamentally change their relationship forever. Batman wants it to end, he doesn't want to keep fighting Joker until it kills one of them, he wants Joker to stop. But Joker doesn't want to stop, he doesn't want Batman to die or stop chasing him because the relationship he has with Batman is all he has left. He has no real friends, no goals outside of plans to mess with Batman more, he has nothing outside of his role as Batman's arch enemy, and he knows it.

And yet, despite all that, when Batman genuinely reaches out to him, appeals to the fact that their lives were both heavily affected by past tragedies and offers Joker help to try and move past that, to be better, even after all the atrocities he's committed, despite all that... Joker actually seems to consider his offer. We can see this by his hesitation, and the fact that he doesn't just laugh it off right away or make fun of Batman as he would any other time.

This time, Joker seems to consider the offer, and turns dead serious in a moment that is probably the most normal display of genuine human emotion we get from him, and he tells Batman that he's sorry. Joker genuinely apologizes for not being able to take Batman up on his offer, looking like he's about to cry as he declares that it's far too late for him to take any offer Batman could give him.

The question is, why? Why is this time so different, why does Joker seem to actually consider Batman's offer and reject it in such a human manner? Well, I truly believe the answer is clearly seen in the joke that the conversation with Batman reminds him of. I will go through it line by line and give my interpretation.

"See, there were these two guys locked in a lunatic asylum" I think this obviously is referring to Batman and Joker. They are the characters of this joke/story, the conversation between them reminded Joker of this joke (or he just came up with it on the spot to suit their situation, but regardless) and they are also the only two characters in the panel where that line is said. In this case, the 'asylum' in question would be their rivalry, their roles as Batman and Joker and everything that comes along with that. Makes sense, none of the things either of them do in those roles are things that normal, sane people do, and both of them were traumatized in their lives by horrible events and spiraled into becoming the Batman and Joker because of it.

"And one night, one night they decide they don't like living in an asylum anymore, they decide they're going to escape." This is a clear metaphor for ending their roles as Batman and Joker, perhaps just for that particular rivalry or all together. Escaping the asylum means returning to the normal, happy lives they had before their trauma. Batman has already stated he wants to end his fighting with Joker, however the fact that both men in the story wish to leave the asylum together implies that Joker also secretly wants that too, which is very interesting as we go on.

"So like, they get up onto the roof, and there, just across this narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in the moonlight, stretching to freedom." Given that Joker is looking at the moon shining over Gotham as he says this, I think it's clear that the 'freedom' here is living a normal human life the same way all the civilians of Gotham try to every day. It's about having a chance to be better, to do better and make something of your life everyday beyond the endless cycle that he and Batman are trapped in with each other. As long as that cycle exists, they can never truly be free, even though the Joker can break out of Arkham whenever he wants and do practically whatever he wants until Batman stops him. Their rivalry prevents either of them from ever being free.

"Now the first guy, he jumps right across with no problem. But his friend, his friend daredn't make the leap. Y'see, y'see he's afraid of falling." This is where we see Joker differentiate himself and Batman in the story, and how their situations in life currently exist. Batman is the first guy who is able to escape the asylum and return to the city fairly easily, whenever he desires. This is because that, unlike Joker, Batman has his life as Bruce Wayne to live and fall back onto. He has many friends and a large family both adopted and biological who rely on him and give him something good and happy to live for. He can leave the asylum because he sees the light on the other side, he has hope and knowledge that things will turn out alright if he does. But Joker does not. Joker doesn't have another life to live, no family and no friends to fall back on and lift him up. All his life consists of is the asylum and Batman, the other man right along with him. He knows nothing else, and so it seems impossible for him to ever jump across to the other side and join Batman in freedom.

However, it goes beyond that. Joker isn't scared to leave the asylum because it's all he knows, in fact he's just as eager to leave it with Batman. What he is afraid of though, is FALLING as he jumps across. What does falling mean in this case? Well since escaping the asylum would mean ditching the roles of Batman and Joker and returning to a normal life, falling would be failing to do just that, failing so hard that it sends him plummeting right back down, either to death or to being left alone and away from the safety of the asylum and more importantly the companionship of Batman. if he falls but Batman doesn't, he'll be left lost and alone, pointless and forgotten, and that's what Joker fears by leaving the asylum.

"So then the first guy has an idea. He says 'Hey! I have my flashlight with me! I'll shine it across the gap between the buildings. You can walk across the beam and join me!" This part of the metaphor I believe is meant to represent Batman's offer of help to the Joker, the therapy/rehabilitation that's intended to help him get better. In this case though, the help is being represented by something that has little actual effect. You can't walk across a beam of light to cross over to another building, in the joke it's only meant to stop the second guy's fear of falling. It isn't actually a real bridge to freedom, just an illusion of one that Joker thinks Batman is giving him.

However, than we get to the punchline.

"B-but the second guy shakes his head. He suh-says, he says, 'wh-what do you think I am? Crazy? You'd turn it off when I was halfway across!"

And here we get the real reason why Joker can't take Batman's offer, why he can't join him in freedom outside of the asylum. It isn't because he doesn't think the help Batman is offering him would work. The beam of light not being a real bridge to walk across isn't the problem in his eyes. The problem, is that believes that if he tried to walk across it, Batman would shut it off and let him fall. Because what Joker is truly scared of, isn't that the help Batman's offering him wouldn't work, he's scared that the help might actually have a chance at working, that he may have a way to get out of the asylum for good, but that Batman will give up on him before he reaches the other side.

He's afraid that the only person in the world who genuinely cares about him and wants to help him, will end up giving up on him and forgetting him if he tries to get better. We can see that in the way Joker delivers the punchline, turned around to stare directly into Batman's face with a disturbed, crushing smile of realization on his face while the symbol of freedom that is Gotham, bathed in the light of the moon sits directly behind him, just out of reach. He's accusing/telling Batman of why he's afraid, that he could never trust him enough to actually try and rehabilitate him, and he's laughing because he knows there's no way out of this.

And Batman, once the joke finally hits him, realizes the exact same thing. He knows then that Joker will never actually be able to be helped, there is nothing he can do for him because Joker will never trust him enough to let himself be helped. There is no way out of this for them now that Batman's final appeal to peace has been turned down by a man to broken to realize it was his way to a better life, a free life.

And so, knowing now how their story will end, Batman does the one thing that Joker always wanted from him, and breaks his role as Batman for just a moment. He shares in a final laugh with Joker as he puts his hands on his shoulders, up by Joker's neck, and the two laugh and laugh together until the scene cuts away and their laughter cuts off equally as quick.

Now, did Batman kill Joker here? The single question everyone tends to ask when they read this scene. Now, canonically we know that, no, Batman does not kill him, Joker returns again and again after this, but in this case I do fully believe that the creator of this comic, Alan Moore (the same man who wrote Watchmen), did likely intend for that to be the ending. The fact that the scene opens with Batman acknowledging that their relationship will end in death, and that the only way out of that is for Joker to accept his proposal I think seals the intent of the ending pretty well. Joker Can't accept his proposal, because the trust between them that would be necessary for that is something that could never truly be built up as they exist in their roles as Batman and Joker. They both know this, and so Batman ends their relationship and breaks his one rule by freeing Joker the only way left it is possible to free him, in death.

So, as much as I personally think that having Batman kill at all is a fundamental no no that you just can't do with his character because it goes against everything he stands for, I think this as an intended ending by Alan Moore to the relationship of Batman and Joker works very well. It is one of many endings in across many comics. Is it my favourite? No, though I would put it in my top three. however, I do think that this is the meaning that Moore was trying to convey in this scene, and I truly believe he does a beautiful job at conveying it!

[donnapalude]

Okay, I want talk about the scene in Fullmetal Alchemist were Mustang almost kills Envy, because I think a lot of people see it as a weak, needlessly moralistic scene and they are so wrong. I think it's actually one of the most important scenes in the manga, as it effectively develops previous themes about political leadership, violence, and military power, as well as providing a nice piece of character work.

I have seen some misunderstandings surrounding this scene and I believe they are tightly linked with misunderstandings about Mustang's personality flaws and character arc. A lot of people seem to think that this scene is about stopping Mustang from committing a terrible act that would somehow corrupt his character. Simplistically, they think that the narrative that FMA is pushing is the following: in the past Mustang has killed a lot of people for the wrong reasons. Killing for revenge is wrong. If he kills Envy he will show that he is still someone that kills for the wrong reasons and that he cannot be trusted not to commit future atrocities.

Because they read things this way, they think the scene does not make much sense. After all, is killing someone in revenge for the death of a friend really a wrong thing to do? Even if we decide it is, killing only one person in vengeance is completely different in gravity and scale from committing state-sanctioned genocide: if he could morally pivot from the latter and set to a better path, a little slip on something comparatively minor should cause no major issues in his life and in his ascension to head of the country. At the very least it should not warrant the extremely worried reaction it gets from other characters.

What I think people miss in this analyis, however, is that the main problem Mustang has as a character is not that he committed very heinous acts in Ishval. That's the (terrible) result of his personality and choices, but it's not, in itself, something that indicates he is predisposed to mindless killing. He is not Kimbly, the issue here is not that his friends see him as someone drawn to cruelty, on the edge of a slippery slope everytime he indulges.

The actual main problem he has is that, at his core, he is someone that one day declared he wanted to help people and make the country a better place and, in order to do that, he proceeded to (1) find and learn the most destructive alchemy he could get his hands on, and (2) enter and support an organization (the military) that would give him the power over others to realize his vision of justice, through every extreme mean possible. He could have done literally anything else, but these were his choices. He did not believe in the cause of the Ishvalan genocide, but he did believe becoming a human bomb for the military under a military dictatorship was genuinely the most morally correct way to help his country.

This tells us a couple of things about the person Mustang is before Ishval.

First, he is someone that believes he has a very good grasp on what's right and what's wrong, and his views on that are fairly black and white.

Second, he will not stand for the existence of which is outside his idea of justice, rather he will pursue its annihilation. Maybe that's not how he see things consciously, but there is little other logical consequence to becoming an atomic-bomb army officer under idealistic notions that you are going set the world right.

Third, it is not sufficient for him to pursue his agenda on an individual basis: he wants and thinks he should be given the control over others that an institutionalised setting can provide. Moreover, he has no problem envisioning a military dictatorship as that setting. He initally sees it as a more than acceptable form of government, one which, in fact, he would very much like to join.

This is Mustang before Ishval. The thing is that, by and large, this is also Mustang after Ishval. Fundamentally, he still believes he has a very good grasp of what is morally the most correct thing to do and he still sees it as a fairly black and white issue. He has clearly decided genocide is not in line with his beliefs about the good of the country, but he still brings the same approach to said beliefs: he is uncompromising, he will go to extreme extents to realise his vision of justice, and he believes he should be put in a position of power to do so. If anything, his newfound mistrust for the people in charge has lead him to believe that actually, by just becoming a part of the military, he has not gone far enough.

He needs to be in charge.

So, what we see, is that in reality only two aspects of his personality get profoundly challenged in Ishval and they go on to become the fulcrums of his character arc: (1) his trust in the military as an institution, and (2) his willingness to annihilate the enemy through very extreme violence. And, as already mentioned, by the start of FMA they have only been challenged. There's still an open question on both these issues.

Initally, he mistrusts the brass, but not Amestris's form of government itself. His plan is to become Führer, apparently by going through promotions. The decision to coup comes only with the discovery of the government conspiracy. Realising that the system needs to change is fundamental in setting up his actions as adequate to the proposed aim of making up for Ishval. However, that is not relevant for the Envy scene.

What the Envy scene is trying to highlight, is the second line of self-doubt that Mustang is facing, that is his misgivings about the level of distruction he is able and willing to enact to support his moral intransigence. The reason Hawkeye and Ed (Scar's motivations are a bit more mixed imo, other post may follow) don't want him to kill Envy is not because of a bland message of "vengeance is bad". It's not even that they believe this act will make Mustang a monster. First of all, he is already a monster and second they obviously don't believe this will trigger some sort of moral devolution that will turn him into a serial killer. That's not the problem here.

The problem is that he is asking people to trust a man that responds to perceived enemies with total and violent annihilation with the leadership of a country, and (granted, when he is at his worse) he thinks his judgment in deciding who is an enemy deserving said annihilation is unimpeachable and unquestionable. That's what they are dealing with. It's not about saving Mustang's little soul from the sin of vengeance, catholic-style. It's about a pattern of behaviour he has demonstrated that sees him disinclined to both accept nuances in morality when his core beliefs are attacked and enact nuanced reactions to slights against said beliefs. These are very dangerous character flaws for someone that wants to be the leader of a free country. In fact, they are pretty much antithetical to political freedom itself.

That's why Mustang cannot kill Envy. Because doing so would mean he has taken a decision as judge, jury and executioner and he is ready to deliver punishment. Killing other homunculi because they were trying to destroy him/his friends/the country was different in that (1) it was more in line with self-defense that anything else, and not even pre-emptive; (2) it was the only possible proportionate reaction given that they are immortal monsters that no prison can hold (although everyone still gets rightly unnerved by how brutal Roy's methods are). If someone else killed Envy, even out of vengeance, that would still not pose the same problems. For someone who does not have the same history of perceived righteous violence, this would be an isolated issue brought on by the situation. For someone that does not wish to be Führer, this would be a merely personal decision. Because Mustang is Mustang, the personal must become political. Because Mustang is Mustang, he needs to prove that he has changed and he does not believe anymore that the way for a better world is to crush anyone against him. It's not that he cannot be trusted to do a wrong thing and come back. It's that he cannot be trusted to do a right thing and come back. The fact we perceive his position as sympathetic is exactly the point. Roy's story is exactly about someone that did a lot of evil firmly believing they were going to do a lot of good.

By giving up his self-righteous kill he shows that he is able to at least question his own vision of justice and that he can allow the existence in this universe of things that don't align with that vision. In this scene, Hawkeye lowers the gun at his back both physically and simbolically. Of course we can expect there will be other moments of doubts in the future, but for the purposes of this manga this scene concludes the thematic arc which questions whether a man with Roy's powers, past, and personality can ever be trusted to lead a country and bring freedom to it.

TL;DR: In the manga FMA, the scene where Mustang tries to kill Envy is misunderstood as a moment of misguided moralistic messaging against revenge-killing, which inadequately compares this kill to his previous war crimes by implying other characters want to stop him in order to save him from the corruption caused by killing again for the wrong reasons. Actually, the scene effectively develops previous themes and Mustang's character by showing that in order to be trusted as a leader he needs to prove he is capable of accepting some form of moral relativism and that he renounces complete destruction of enemies as the only/best way to achieve good in the world.

[yuseirra]

Obviously, "Fatal" must be Kamiki's song

Random talk (Akane, Kana, Aqua & Aqua's parents etc)-Analyis

Since I don't have Twitter, I often use this place to unload my thoughts… hehe

I went on in my notes again, I'd love to share it with you all here! I've really been enjoying doing so! :)

Ha… I don’t know why this manga makes me so anxious; I’ve drawn too much fan art for it. I’d feel so embarrassed if I’m wrong. Even so, I pour my heart into it! I’m really serious about my interpretations!

Over-immersion is definitely not good, but this story touches on human psychology in such a way that I can't help but get drawn in. Some of the psychological elements are so intense that they hit me really hard, almost instinctively. But emotions aren’t objective, right? That makes me anxious about being wrong. Even though there’s no need to be…

But no matter how much I say it’s just a manga, I don’t want to defend a serial killer or someone who stalked and murdered their girlfriend (well, at least that does seem to be almost out of the way, isn't it? seeing the direction how it's going, Aqua's motives for taking on the guy has shifted from Ai's revenge to protecting Ruby).

You can definitely like a character for what they are, even if they’re twisted. Characters are characters after all—you can find attraction in villains.

But you see, I’m not liking this particular character for those reasons. I’m drawing them while thinking, “This character doesn’t seem to be that kind of person.”

That's why I’m nervous about misinterpreting everything, even though it wouldn’t be a big deal if I did. But honestly, what’s wrong with seeing the good in a character and thinking, “Couldn’t they actually be a good person?” Even so, I really don’t want to misread things.

Hmm… I think I’m seeing things correctly though. I believe my interpretation of the character is on point. I feel what I see about him would prove to be true.

This manga isn’t devoid of mystery elements, but at some point, I started to speculate from a different angle; like, “What kind of person is this?” and it’s made me so focused on it. I just want a proper, concrete answer already!!

I mean, even if it’s just a manga, defending someone accused of such heinous crimes going “This person couldn’t have done that,”'s pretty anxious, right? Of course, I haven’t exactly drawn them in the context of “they didn’t commit murder,” but the way I’m drawing them feels gentle, doesn’t it? But that’s because I genuinely see them that way.

If this is all there is,

I have a lot to say… I have too many things that bother me.

I never imagined I’d feel this way from reading a manga;;; I wish it would handle things delicately while also wanting it to wrap up quickly so I can feel at ease. It’s unsettling, weighing on my mind. There’s something beneath the surface that seems just out of reach.

Back to the title topic—It’s really obvious that Fatal is Kamiki’s song because,

Though Ai is someone very special and important to Aqua, I think at this point, Ruby is even more precious to him. Aqua still has people around him who are alive, and he has to live for them. Living for the dead is exhausting and hard. There’s so much for him to look forward to (which is, in a way, the essence of what Kamiki says to Aqua in chapter 161). Aqua has Ruby. Ruby is incredibly important to him. He also has Kana and Akane. He’s not at the point where he lives solely for Ai, nor should he be.

Kamiki doesn’t have people like that. Ai is his only reason. To die, to live- whatever he's doing, I feel he's in it for what he THINKS is for her sake.

The Fatale in the song clearly refers to Ai. For him, Ai is everything. He's the one that can become like the song if it's about her. That’s why Kamiki has to be the speaker in Fatal.

When I read this manga, I was like, “Wow, the relationships are so well-crafted.” If someone has lived that kind of life, inevitably, they’d only be able to see Ai. Whether his basic personality is good or bad (and this is what gives the story its flavor, lol, he’s fundamentally a good person, but for Ai, he could completely lose himself and fall apart. He probably kept pushing through a lot of things, even while dying inside the way I see it.) The narrative is constructed so that if Kamiki believes “Ai died because of me,” he’d be willing to risk everything. He really can't bear to live on doing nothing if that happens.

I’ve analyzed the relationship dynamics in this manga many times, right?

If you combine Ruby and Aqua and divide them in half, you can see how they inherit traits from their parents. (Aqua and Ruby are really a blend of both Ai and Kamiki. They resemble both their father and mother.)

The Aqua-Akane and Aqua-Kana dynamics are strikingly similar to Ai-Kamiki when they're combined, but the former are a little less dark. Akane is protective of Aqua to an unusual degree—it goes beyond repaying a debt or liking him a lot. She’s almost at a guardian level, more like a mother at this point than your usual lover. Akane has said that she feels something akin to maternal instincts, and that fits. It’s almost like Ai sent Akane to be Aqua’s guardian angel. There’s a strange, blind devotion there. It’s not just romantic love; it’s something different. Kana’s feelings are romantic, pure and simple. She gets those fluttery feelings. But Akane’s protective instincts are overwhelming, almost agape-like—"I want to protect this person." It’s not a normal high school crush. And when she’s willing to pick up a knife and deal with things for him, it’s beyond normal, right? Akane comes from the most stable family out of all the characters, yet she acts like this, and it’s puzzling… (On the other hand, Kana didn’t come from such a good environment, but her emotions are more typical of a regular high schooler, so she fits better in the everyday slice-of-life aspects.)

Anyway, this kind of protective instinct is a huge part of what Ai felt toward Kamiki. If you combine Kana’s feelings for Aqua with Akane’s protective nature, it’s likely very similar to how Ai felt about Kamiki. Ai, if you look closely, really, really liked him. She treasured him so much.

So, I ended up dissecting the character to figure out why she liked him so much, and the conclusion I came to was, “Wow, this really is a rare personality. He must have been a really good person.”

It’s hard to believe someone like that could be accused of such horrible things… that's what's been getting at me.

He really was a good person. Don’t you think? His personality is just so kind…

If it weren’t for the murder charges, I’d probably like it if someone like him were to be around me. Doesn't have to be in a romantic sense really, but just being near someone like that would be healing. I wish more people like him existed. That’s the feeling I get. Seeing him described as “noble” reassured me that my interpretation was correct. The many comics I drew with him in it? I feel I'd have captured his nature in an accurate sense. I’m confident in that. He’s kind. Really kind.

I’ve always liked these kinds of characters. Ai and Kamiki feel so familiar to me. If my interpretation is right, they’re exactly like the favs I have in every other series. Their environments were awful, which left them broken in some ways, but I believe their innate personalities were good. They’re good people. I love good kids. I just really enjoy portraying characters with lovely nature and I see that in them.

But looking at the plot, I get nervous, wondering if I’m really seeing things correctly. But I think I am.

Returning to Fatal,

If you look at it as if Kana and Akane were one person for Aqua, and there was no one else by his side, and his life was truly miserable, and that person saved him—what meaning would that hold for him? That’s how you explain it. Ai is that person for Kamiki. He would inevitably love her. And he truly did love her.

And she died. So, of course, it wouldn’t be strange for him to want to die too, or give his life away for her sake (Mephisto is saying exactly that).

In his mind, she was more important than he was, so he’d give anything, even his life, for her. That’s why the emotions expressed in those songs make sense.

But… it seems like something happened. That’s why he didn’t or couldn’t follow her in death. I think something made him believe that if he did something, he could meet Ai again. That’s the impression I get from the songs.

If Kamiki went insane, it would be because of that, right? But when you look at what he’s doing on screen, he doesn’t seem completely insane. If Ai wants him to be helped, then perhaps there’s still hope. Even if it doesn’t seem like it. They brought that idea in, so I felt that's what would eventually happen. It doesn't make sense for me for that to be left a lost cause.

If Ai chose him, I think he must be a good person. That’s the feeling that hit me… Looking at how meticulously the relationships and character dynamics were set up (the more I see, the more impressed I am; if you merge Ai and Kamiki’s character traits and split them in half, there are so many parallels with the relationships of the other characters), it feels like this was crafted with great care.

It’d be a real waste if this story didn’t go anywhere. There’s clearly so much there. That’s why I keep drawing.

Just look at Mephisto’s lyrics! The speaker is constantly saying, “I’ll give my life if it means you’ll come back.” Isn’t there a lot to unpack from that alone? “I’d give anything because I want to see you again.” This is a project from two romance writers teaming up with each other; how could this not be explored?

It’s fascinating to see a character who was once so gentle and mild-mannered become someone willing to give everything, saying, “I can’t live without you.” If this character had originally been strong-willed, that would be interesting too, but instead, this was a soft-spoken and gentle person who has become so desperate and heartbreakingly eager to see someone again. The narrative is incredibly intense, isn't it? And… from Kamiki's perspective, it plays out exactly like that. He couldn’t help but love Ai that much, and even if the situation hadn’t been that way, he would have still loved her deeply. This character could never harm Ai. To him, Ai was more important than his own life. (And in chapter 161, he does says something like that, though… the phrasing is a bit strange. But in my opinion, that expression was just acting. He's already said something along those lines in 153 and 154 that he's loved her that much too so it's pretty consistent.)

This isn't about Aqua, you know, haha. Aqua has other people, and if you look closely, he’s already moving in a somewhat different direction from those lyrics.

Hmm, I think something will come up within the next 5–6 chapters :)

[theromanticscrooge]

Open for Short Fan Fic or Character Analyis Requests

I want to sharpen my writing skills. If you're interested in a short fic or character analysis, hit me up!

[novafire-is-thinking]

I just wanted to thank you for writing that ABSOULTLY amazing pharma Analysis IT WAS SO AMAZING!!!!!LIKE THER STRUKTURE WAS SO GOOD I LOVE HOW YOU PROVIDED PICTURES AND ALSO LINKS AND QUOTES , i was just recently complaining to a friend how there arent any pharma Analysis AND BOOM i get a Gift from the heavens that is your Analysis IT IS SO GOOD!!!! (sadly i coukdnt read it all the way sonce im not done with mtmt jet)

BUT OMG YOUR ANALYSIS WAS JUST SO AMAZING!!!!! LIKE THANK YOU FOR SHARING THAT ,i think i legit cried cus i realised so much about pharma charekter that i hadnt realised and that made me love him even more .

And i am just obsessed at how beutifully you structuerd the anylasis like RAAAAH!!!ITS SO AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! Like legit how did you go about making the analsis cus it was so goood!!!!!

Anyways thank you for your time and thank you for gracing my life with this amazing pharma analyis

(Yes, I’ve been coming back to your ask and rereading it for four days)

You are VERY welcome.

This is now one of my favorite responses to any of my analysis posts ✨

When writing the post, one of my main goals was to shine light on some of the more subtle aspects of Pharma’s character that are often overlooked, dismissed, or misinterpreted. To know you discovered new things about him confirms I accomplished that goal. Also, it makes me happy to know you think of the post as a gift from the heavens. Perfect timing :D

As for how I managed to structure everything so well, I actually have an answer for that: there’s something called Sequential Thinking/Reasoning. I once scored high in this area on an in-depth aptitude test. It basically means I do well seeing how information, plans, events etc. should fit together logically (sequentially), and not just knowing how to structure them as such, but also how to convey them to other people. It helps that I’ve trained myself to better recognize and refine the logical flow of ideas and concepts; it’s important to me that I pay attention to that if I have the time. In fact, I spent much of the final week of writing the Pharma post rearranging sections and paragraphs so that the ideas flowed better. For me, it’s an art as much as a science.

To be honest, because of how long the post is, I wasn’t expecting more than fifty people to take the time to read it, so seeing around 275 readers (plus the lurkers I don’t know about) is awesome. I’m tempted to respond to each person who commented something interesting, but a meta post is not a fanfic. lol

So thank YOU for taking the time to share your thoughts in my ask box so I could respond to you personally.

[barrenclan]

Issue 19 title anon again! It's actually really interesting to hear that it was based off of Pinepaw's kindness, because I was actually assuming it was Wild Rose's! Despite her whole life in Defiance and all her strife and all her wariness... in the end, it's still easy to be kind after everything you've known was violence. It's easy to be kind when death has placated you. Anyway, just wanna say I love your writing and characters ^^ This series is quickly becoming one of my favorites, and it's definitely inspired me to do an OC series in the same format in the future... maybe <3

That's a really nice analyis of the title, I love hearing your perspective! It's an angle that can also easily apply to that issue.

Also, I'm very glad you've been enjoying the story. I really like creating it, and the response has been super encouraging. Good luck with any future projects you might make!

[seventeenlovesthree]

Fandom Shipping Polls - Mimi Tachikawa Shipping Analysis (Poll I + Poll II)

As pointed out in the main post, every single Chosen Child will get their individual analysis post to check on the status of the current popularity of their ships. With that out of the way, let’s take a look at Mimi, shall we!  

The overall results / spreadsheet

Disclaimer: As the “Someone from 01/02″ and “Others” options from poll 1 and the “Someone from 01/02″ option from poll 2 have been excluded from the final analysis due to redundancy reasons and all results were culminated in another “final count”, the results will not be 1:1 to what the polls look like:

Overall votes: 127 (approx. 111 in sum after the exclusion), the main poll got 89 votes, the secondary poll got 38 votes.

The “Others” choice in the main poll received 4% (approx. 4 votes) and 2% (approx. 1 vote) in the secondary poll. The comments/tags did not specify any preferences here (aside from characters that were already part of the main choices).

Ship Analysis

1st place: As you may have guessed, I had already started to prepare the graphic designs a few days before the polls had ended - and I actually did expect Koushiro to win this one, considering how many times he had tied with Jou and actually surpassed him in the votes for the majority of the run-time. However, Jou (22%) picked up speed in the last few days and won with a lead of three votes in the end. Within the tumblr fandom - and especially throughout the last year -, the ship has gained visibly more attention than it has in other internet spheres, especially Japanese centric. Considering how their bond is displayed in the anime, framing their arcs to intertwine at several points in the timeline around the theme of “selfish choices vs own choices”, it is not surprising that they are viewed as viable romantic options for each other as well. They do discover their roles as supporting characters while also supporting each other just splendidly, with tiny hints of (mutual) affection sprinkled in, making it quite an appealing ship.

2nd place: Koushiro (19%) came in as second choice, despite the fact that he had led the poll by a marginal lead several times. And that is not surprising at all - as mentioned in his own analyis already, Koumi is considered to be one of the most popular Koushiro centric ships world-wide. This is due to their set-up in the series as being odd-balls of the same age while simultaneously bouncing off of each other very well as one of the go-to “opposites attract” dynamics. Additionally, Tri canonically made Koushiro crush on Mimi, solidifying a consistent fanon-headcanon (which usually goes the other way round, with her having a crush on him instead). While the portrayal of the crush was not appreciated everywhere equally, they have always been going strong for valid reasons. 

3rd place: For the first time, we actually have an undeniable tie, as both Sora and Taichi received the exact same number of votes (14 = 13%). While Sora had comfortably remained as sole heir of the third spot for a long time, Taichi had slowly but steadily caught up to her - leaving several choices behind that will be thoroughly mentioned in the Honorary mentions section. Sora’s lead is easy to explain, as both girls have been supporting each other and growing together throughout the series, displaying a gentle and loving bond despite their obious differences in character and design. Taichi on the other hand may appear to be more of a subtle choice in canon, but enjoys a lot of popularity as potential partner for Mimi in fandom, due to their rare, yet endearing interactions with one another.

Honorary mentions: Here we have quite a number of interesting characters, such as Miyako (who had tied with Taichi for fourth place for quite some time, but ended at 9%), Meiko (7%), Yamato (6%) and Michael (5%). While Miyako, Meiko and Michael are usually shipped with Mimi due to their foundations in the anime - with Miyako and Meiko being clearly enchanted by her and Michael and her bonding during her time in America -, Yamato is among the male fanon favourites. As Honorary mention among the honorary mentions, Takeru (2%) can also be mentioned.

“The 1 vote squad”: This spot is reserved for for Ken (1%) and Wallace (1%).

“0 votes go to...”: Hikari, Daisuke and Iori received 0 votes each.

Annotations: N/A.

What did the other polls say?

Mimi won Jou’s (38%) and Meiko’s (42%) polls, came in second in Koushiro’s (21%) and (technically) Sora’s (18%) and also finished third in Miyako’s (17%), thus making her one of the most represented choices in the “higher tiers”.

While Taichi and Yamato scored higher in Mimi’s own poll, she did not receive as many votes in their respective polls (5% and 4%), but still counts there as Honorable mention.

She was more of a niche choice in the polls for - surprisingly - Iori (2%), Takeru (1%) and Daisuke (1%). 

In the polls for Ken and Hikari, she received 0 votes - just like Hikari did in her own, thus ruling Mikari out as viable ship completely.

Notable additions / comments / thoughts

While her polls did not receive the most amount of votes, it is quite clear that Mimi inherits the reputation as currently being one of the most popular Adventure characters overall. With 127 votes, Mimi came in fifth after Taichi, Ken, Takeru and Daisuke, and even though the overall numbers are still just a comparably small sample size, it still makes her the female character with the most votes - and the most diversity in the results so far. While Jou and Koushiro were never threatened to be surpassed as first and second place, the competition between them - as well as between Sora and Taichi as third place - had been tough. Plus, several characters (Miyako, Meiko, Yamato and Michael) surpassed the “niche” option of 1-2 votes, indicating that there is quite some variation in the way how and with whom people like to ship Mimi. There is also the (in my opinion very important) notion that she’s a highly popular choice not only in the polls for the male characters (Jou and Koushiro in particular) but also in the polls for the female characters (Meiko, Sora and Miyako in particular). Which is absolutely backed up by her canon portrayal, as she is having some of her most emotional character development moments during interactions with other female characters - while also displaying quite a tendency to be affectionate and physical with them. With some male characters, she may not share as many interactions in comparison, but due to her personality structure, openness, kindness and sincerity, it is absolutely understandable that the fandom enjoys the potential her relationships offer. Still, I really hope to reach a wider audience if I choose to repeat the polls once the fandom is not as quiet as it is right now.

The comments in the tags have only referred to the already mentioned choices (”MIYAKO” and “SORA”) in all caps in particular). So the “Others” option did not reveal any other potentially preferred suitors. This leaves room for speculation, but usually, the option is reserved for OC ships or for when people prefer to not ship a character at all or when they’re considered asexual (which will definitely be a future option to include as well!)

Other Analysis Posts 

Taichi Yagami Shipping Analysis

Yamato Ishida Shipping Analysis

Sora Takenouchi Shipping Analysis

Koushiro Izumi Shipping Analysis

Jou Kido Shipping Analysis

Takeru Takaishi Shipping Analysis

Hikari Yagami Shipping Analysis

Daisuke Motomiya Shipping Analysis

Ken Ichijouji Shipping Analysis

Miyako Inoue Shipping Analysis

Iori Hida Shipping Analysis

Meiko Mochizuki Shipping Analysis

[topoillogical]

I'm actually extremely pleasantly surprised at how well "not trying hard to act like goncharov is actually real and not a roleplay project and funny joke" is working and how much more fun it is than any campaign that actually never breaks character

The latter is inherently adversarial for one thing, but also not having to make the canon make perfect sense in order to pretend it is real allows for SO MUCH more collaboration because people can have conflicting ideas and we dont need to fight they can just. Both be true

ALSOOOO I kinda feel like I'm creating a myth. Like you know how there are 30,000 variations on every popular greek myth that generally keep the same characters and storyline but aspects are wildly changed and stuff between tellings. Yeah. Goncharov is like that. In some versions it is actually homoerotic in some version that's just tumblr fandom blowing it up. In some versions it has intentional homoeroticism that scoresce acknowledges in interviews, in others it is all death of the author style analyis

Etc etc

[stardustizuku]

Hi, I just finished reading your MBL Magical Girl analyis and wow, it was great. PTT is really the only magical girl anime I've seen, but you were so articulate and your passion for the genre makes me want to watch more of them. I could spend hours reading your thoughts, they were so well-presented and I'm just drooling over your writeup right now. I was curious if you you have watched/have any opinions on the redemption that happens at the end of Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure? I thought it was really badly handled because of characterization, motive, etc, but that it COULD have worked with better writing. Thanks for your time!

Unfortunately, I have not.

I did watch the first few episodes, but I was not that interested in it. I do follow some people who like it, but from what I've gathered - the redemptions were extremely rushed. Not that I'm surprised, but from the few episodes I saw, Rapunzel came off as a bit of an overbearing person whose fatal flaw is how she wants everyone to like her/love her.

It'd make sense for her to just forgive anyone if that means having less enemies - which makes sense when you consider her abusive upbringing and how Mother Gothel would make her love only "accessible" if Rapunzel pleased her - aka liked her.

It seems like because of this Rapunzel has been made into someone too trusting, too forgiving, all for the sake of being liked and not denied the small safety net she's created.

However, if neither the show nor other characters call it out, that's where we have a problem. I adore redemption arcs, but we have to address the elephant in the room that is "not everyone deserves a redemption" or better yet "you don't owe anyone a redemption".

Little girls, the primary audience of these shows, are being taught to do the emotional labour of forgiving the people who hurt them. I'm not particularly mad when it's girls forgiving girls - because I think it serves us form communities and heal from the patriarchy.

"I'm sorry I made fun of your weight, I was taught to that my beauty means everything, so I lashed out when I saw how confident you could be and how my worth is beyond that" is more about healing and becoming a better than person than anything else.

BUT when it's girls having to forgive men who've hurt them...I'm less inclined to agree. And while I'm aware the person I'm thinking abt is a kid, I've suffered enough harassment from "kids" or well, "teenagers" to know it's not a justification.

I am pretty sure I would have strong opinions abt it if I were to watch it, but unfortunately, I do not watch things I know I won't like, or at least not enjoy the hillside of a ride I'm about to embark in.

[pretty-trans-girl-23]

I love that quote because it really shows a big character change in Sanji (or at least the start of one) which is Sanji not having any self worth/willing to give up anything in order to save someone. This character arc begins in thriller bark when Kuma is going to give Zoro Luffys pain Sanji steps foward and tries to take it instead but with a different mindset. For Zoro he still plans on being the #1 Swordsman even if he dies but for Sanji he is willing to throw away his dreams. This character arc is completed when he screams for robins help agains black maria with him realizing that him sacrificing himself for everyone would do more harm than good. (this is kinda rushed but you can watch Melontees Sanji analyis which is really good)

Sanji Week Day 3: Sacrifice