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justalittleprince · 2 months ago

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I just came to remember The Grays from Netflix ig??? while I was taking a bath after work and I was like

youtube

Like I know maybe not many people are talking about it now but I haven't complained about anything today and since I can't be happy, here I go. Because oh boy, I have A LOT of things to say about this

Starting with the modern environment. I know, the story could work in a modern environment because of the context of the whole story and it's meaning. But I can't help but think in a more superficial way (which I KNOW they are) the portrait itself doesn't work... Internet filters, Photoshop, PLASTIC SURGERY IDK. There, problem solved. I'm just saying incoherent stuff at this point bc I want to complain about something. But going to the thing that actually matters...

Dorian's and Basil RELATIONSHIP. Who tf told them it was a good idea to make them siblings??? SIBLINGS.

They're ruining their complete relationship, Basil's whole character arc. They're changing it completely and I don't like it. His own thoughts about Sybil Vane. There was a scene in the book that broke me, where Dorian, Henry and Basil are on their way to the theater and the absolute heartbreak that was reading to Basil's thoughts alone during the whole ride, it's something I won't have. THE LOVE CONFESSION.

That is such an important piece of the story, it's indicative for Dorian that he has power over Basil. Of course, that was also changed in that weird movie back in 2009 (the only piece of cinema I've seen because I cannot find the others 😞) but at least personally I liked the kiss part, idk.

I just DON'T LIKE WHAT THEY'RE DOING

And like, 2 things came to my mind, one more possible than the other

1. They're gonna do really weird stuff

2. The most probable one, they are literally changing things so much that at this point it won't be The Picture of Dorian Gray, it will be just a random story with their names on it (except for Basil my poor baby doesn't deserve this)

And last but not least... Henry. What are they going to do with him, what are their plans? I am not really informed what the whole thing is going to be, but I don't know what's going to be with Henry. Modern environment, knowing how Henry is the minimum thing he would say and he would be absolutely BLASTED in social media, cancelled on Twitter and all /j

Or, just my thoughts I really don't know, but seeing how things are going they could change his character so much he wouldn't be Henry Wotton and would be more like Enrique Waton

Anyways, I finished rambling now, imma disappear for another fifty centuries

#the picture of dorian gray #basil hallward #dorian gray #henry wotton #the grays #ramblings #Youtube

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quiltofstars · 2 years ago

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Abell 31 // Enrique Arce

#astronomy #astrophotography #nebula #emission nebula #planetary nebula #Abell 31 #Sh2-290 #cancer

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drunktuesdays · 1 year ago

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Re: The Mentalist. Red John is always there on high days and holidays, but many episodes don’t feature him. Can’t deny they do go on about him a lot though.

White Collar is PERFECT for a good three seasons or so (Talitha78's vid to ‘Tonight I’m Fucking You’ by Enrique Iglesias fills me with glee to this day) but at some point you realise that the same two emotional arcs (one of them is doing sometime secretly but not for the reason you think and the other one is onto their betrayal and now doesn't trust them, then swap) repeat over and over again and never build and I cared too much to stand it and had to stop watching. If you are there for homoerotic frivolity though, I expect that stays steady.

Person of Interest I loved at the time (old men repressed and devoted, benevolent AI god struggles to communicate, eventually lesbians, astolat fic) but since then one of the main actors has gone big as a right wing QAnon weirdo.

If you want Bones but somehow even dumber (ex-Joss Whedon actor stars in a show about an unconventional law enforcement/writer crime-solving partnership) then: Castle.

Best actual crime plots (but not that erotic, except I suppose Goren likely gets a nearly sexual thrill from cracking people's psyches open), and it’s so old they don’t have computers on their desks at first and have to go to the library to look things up- the first 3 to 4 seasons of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. After that Vincent D’Onofrio gets tired and so do the writers.

My actual favourite procedural of all time is Elementary. I won’t say it doesn’t make mistakes (coughMycroft), but overall it is good all the way through, unlike all these other idiots.

THANK YOU FOR THIS. it's so helpful. i have read a lot of person of interest fic, to the point where i actually am not sure that i can watch the show, because i KNOW myself and i know i would spend the whole time being like "and when will they have the episode where the men enter a 24/7 bdsm relationship where sometimes harold keeps john in a sensory deprivation bodybag?

MY thing about procedural is that i'm suuuuch a wimp about murder. i actually cannot watch things that focus on the motivations of serial killers which is why the mentalist isn't gonna end up working out for me. i AM interested in bones, castle, and elementary as i enter this time in my life where i need to be watching something i halfway ignore, but again--i really don't like anything that focuses on murder and murderer rationales because i have a dumb soft little heart and dumb stupid old trauma. it's not all violence, or i obviously wouldn't be so into yellowjackets and tlou. it's literally just people dissecting very realistic murders and the why and how.

so you see why i have not managed to get into a lot of procedurals and why house md changed the entire game

#i am excited about white collar tho #no murder plus sexy dynamics??? hello

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soul-dwelling · 6 months ago

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Do you think that there seems to be a disconnect between charachters introduced before and after the soul eater anime ended? Like everyone loves Giriko, but does anybody care about Gopher, or the moon clowns? Or even thee death scythes that were shoved in at the end?

(Spoilers for Soul Eater and Fire Force. Content warnings for mentions of rape and grooming.)

Me. I care about those characters!

…Sort of.

Maybe.

...I care about those characters about as much as I do about any other characters.

Except the Moon Whaler hunters. I appreciate what someone else (Soul Eater Post?) wrote about how that arc is to parallel the hunt for Crona and whether Maka has it in her to potentially have to kill them. But it is such a needless side adventure and so late in the story to start exploring just how different this world is than our own--and a side adventure that leaves a bad taste in my mouth not only given the controversies around whale hunting but also because it is one of the few things explained in Fire Force and once again makes the world building less interesting.

And maybe I’m not that interested in Gen, or, rather, the version of Gen in the manga. Having a tech expert in the cast should be entertaining--but it's a little late to start doing the worldbuilding now about the tech in this world. It comes across like it is obligatory: the anime already had Buttataki in the same role, I guess the manga now needs its version, too.

And we include Gen just for a weird “H-beam is like 'ecchi'” pun is dull. The better option would have been for the H-beam to be his weapon partner (and a friend and I have already worked on such a character)--more unconventional weapons would have been a more entertaining bit of worldbuilding. But if the manga could not bother to lend more personality to the final Death Scythes we meet in the manga, what hope would this H-beam ever have?

The first anime concluded on March 30, 2009. I don’t know which chapter came out right before that final episode, but by March 21, 2009, Volume 14 was published, collecting Chapters 53 to 57. I’m guessing by this point manga characters introduced before the anime ended and who didn’t appear in the first anime included Tezca and Enrique--who are probably the last characters ever in the manga who had any meaningful impact on the story, Tezca more so, not only because of his interactions with Justin in the manga but also because he has such a broad, loud, memorable personality and design. Compared to Gopher (who I will defend in a moment), the Moon Clowns (who I can’t really defend--more on that in a moment), and the remaining Death Scythes and their meisters (more on them in a moment), Tezca is just heads and shoulders above them (until Justin cut off his head). Maybe this is why Tezca was the only one to leave an impression in Soul Eater NOT, whether showing up to scare the main trio in the manga, or as a keychain in the anime.

(There is also Noah in Volume 14, but we already saw his design in the Monotone Princess video game as Grimoire, so that is a technicality.)

The problem I’m having is that I didn’t get into Soul Eater until the manga was in its final chapters and only when the anime started airing on Toonami, so as a late participant in the fandom, there wasn’t much of a reason for me to feel disconnected from characters introduced after the anime ended. I pretty much treated anyone who was in the main manga and NOT as a Soul Eater character, all with the potential to lead their own story. It's just that some characters are easier to write for than others, not for any reason except that some are given more personality to work from than others.

As time goes on, I do prefer the anime more and more over the manga, so perhaps I have a bias towards characters who were in the anime but not in the manga--because I think, had the Studio BONES first anime had more time, more episodes, and diverged more wildly from the manga, we could have had those late additions to the manga get adapted in better or at least in surprising and expected ways that could have improved upon what didn’t work in the manga and could work better in adaptation. Imagine if we had Tezca as an actual character in the first anime: I think he could have been a second Excalibur, for good or bad. Imagine if the story was re-worked to give Pushkin some bigger relevance in the anime. What kind of fight could you stage if the Clowns had a larger role in the story, not as Asura's lackeys but as the actual leaders of some new threat for the next season?

This includes the later Death Scythes and their meisters, who have little to no personality and could have benefited from inclusion in the anime, just to make them into more fully realized characters. That’s an excellent opportunity for headcanon and fanfiction, but when the original manga doesn’t give you enough to work with, it also means that the portrayals of those new characters can go in infinite directions such that it is difficult to get to core details of those characters that are consistent across all iterations in fanworks.

In other words, we have numerous versions of Batman but which mostly have the same core details and principles (Adam West Batman is not Michael Keaton Batman is not Kevin Conroy Batman is not Diedrich Bader Batman--but they have more in common than different), whereas there is so little in the manga to understand Alexandre, Zubaidah, and others to make them feel like realized characters who can thrive in fan works.

And it is such a galling disappointment, not only because they are characters who add diversity and inclusion to the story, but because the manga and the anime had its chance to expand on those characters in Soul Eater NOT--and just didn’t. Djinn and Dinga appear in the NOT manga--only so they can stare down Shaula and not do anything while Tsugumi and the others take down the witch. They don’t even appear in the NOT anime. None of them got cameos at the end of Fire Force because Ohkubo was so desperate for attention that he substituted good storytelling with fanservice by way of “Soul Eater Babies” instead of making any meaningful connection between the world Shinra created and how we got to these adult characters who didn’t get much spotlight otherwise in the fandom. (Granted, I also can go on my rant again that Fire Force and Soul Eater being in the same timeline already doesn't make sense because Spirit Albarn shows up both in Fire Force's Japan and then 800+ years later in Soul Eater's Death City...It's almost as if the timeline fails on its own...)

As for Gopher: he has potential, and it was under-utilized. Not everything is going to be as memorable and impactful (albeit obviously problematic and unfortunately also badly done in other areas) like Chainsaw Man when it comes to imagery that seems evocative of grooming and cycles of abuse and rebirth. But Gopher did seem one-note, hence why his ending was also one-note, where he gets to leave with additional flavors of Noah…that opens up more questions than I want to address right now about how this basically reverses the power dynamic in which it is now Gopher possessing Noah for his own satisfaction rather than Noah using Gopher either as his lackey or his punching bag.

The Moon Clowns? Memorable designs, just cannon fodder for fights. They are the equivalent of film-only characters like the villains in a My Hero Academia movie. Their designs are already outclassed by Compress in My Hero Academia. Kaguya has potential but seems more like a prototype for Tamaki in Fire Force in a different direction. Not to encourage fanservice-bait, but less you’re going to use Kaguya in a surprising way in terms of personality or commentary on sexual puritanism or bodily autonomy or just acknowledging that some people are flirts, the most I could imagine is having her face off against Blair--which would just be a repeat of Blair’s fights against Mizune and the Succubus.

Finally, about Giriko: …Eh, I don’t love his last arc.

Giriko’s final arc becomes an extended attempt to rape Maka, thereby prompting Soul to intervene to save her, inspired in part by the shoe-horned but not unwelcomed story beat of Maka’s self-doubts that have been with her since the first time she encountered the Clown but which does seem awkwardly forced into the story by introducing the “love letters” / meister invitations to Soul. It is not as if Maka’s arc was not always there, and it’s not as if waiting until this arc to finally address it is bad--but the seams of the narrative stitching are showing. And it all depends on the Mark Millar school of “you know the villain is bad because he wants to rape someone,” which is cliche and, worse than that, a gross failure to actually talk seriously about rape, living after rape, the fact that a rapist is just as likely someone who isn’t a mustache-twirling villain or a Giriko-level obviously bad guy but a toxic "nice guy."

There is almost something there with Giriko having nothing left to live for after Arachne is dead and confirmed gone forever. But there’s no moment of something haunting there. He is fighting against Soul; Soul has Arachne’s witch soul in him now. Unless I’m forgetting something, it’s not as if we get a scene of Giriko promising he will slice Soul in half and pull Arachne’s soul out of him. That would never bring Arachne back--but it would be symbolic and a quick shorthand to the audience about what Giriko is actually getting at, and it would be a hell of a lot more interesting than, “Giriko wants to get off on sex and power fantasies by raping Maka.” It would remind us that Arachne was a part of all of this. You could even have an excuse to give Giriko a scene, however unearned it is, of him dying and imagining a reunion with Arachne, to show how this toxic loyalty contributed to the bloodlust that ended his life.

#spoiler #spoilers #dwells whines about fire force #cw: grooming mention #cw: rape mention #long post

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azikarue · 10 months ago

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2023 Fic Recap

Little late with the recap this year, but it's still January, right? For now?

Going into 2023, my goals were to 1) update "Bliss", 2) participate in MayBlade, and 3) work on/finish some WIPs. Poor "Bliss" is still waiting for its chance, but two out of three isn't bad!

I'll ramble more at the end of the post, but here's a recap of everything I posted in 2023.

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A Kiss for Luck

Summary: Before his crucial battle against Mystel, Max takes a moment to center himself. He wasn't expecting company. Set in my Saint Shields in G-Rev AU. Pairing: Max/Mariam Chapters: 1/1 Words: 1,855 Rated: K+

This fic was the first of six short oneshots I wrote to commemorate Valentine's Day. I did something similar in 2021, where I wrote a handful of Max/Mariam kisses and published them during the week leading up to Valentine's Day. When I was planning my writing for 2023, it felt like something fun to tackle again, and it gave me a lighthearted and relaxed start to the year writing-wise. So, I ignored my entire list of goals and wrote this (plus the next five) based off of six kiss tropes. I chose a different pairing for each.

For this one, I indulged myself doubly by starting with Max/Mariam and by setting it in my Saint Shields in G-Rev AU. Ever since I started pondering this AU, the moment in this fic is one that I knew had to happen. I'm sure the Saint Shields would have a lot to say about BEGA. I'm also sure that Mariam would remember the lessons she learned from Max and would be happy to throw them back in his face when he needs it most. And I love the excuse to visit early Max/Mariam days, even if it's in an AU setting. I write so much about them as adults that it always feels refreshing to write a little closer to their roots. This one holds a special place in my heart.

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A Kiss on a Scar

Summary: Every mark on Tala's body has a story and Julia does her best not to ask questions. She doesn't always succeed. Pairing: Tala/Julia Chapters: 1/1 Words: 1,883 Rated: T

When I chose this trope, I knew exactly which ship I would write for it. I was glad to have more practice with these two after writing them for a couple of my MayBlade 2022 chapters. For some reason, I tend to shy away from any member of the Blitzkrieg Boys when I write. I think it's partially because they have such a strong fan base and I'm never sure how my personal image of them will rate. Honestly, I've spent so many years in the fandom focusing on more underrated characters that I'm not even sure I have fully developed ideas for the Blitzkrieg Boys. Tala/Julia feels more niche, though, like it's a safe place for me to play around in.

While writing this, I was a little unsure on characterization. Namely, how much Tala would share without prompting and how much Julia would prompt him. I think there's still some gaps in Tala's character arc between seasons that I need to fill in mentally. He's very open with Tyson when discussing BEGA and Boris. I can only assume that's some combo of righteous anger and maybe therapy? Or just figuring himself out now that he's free from Biovolt's clutches. Julia is a bit of a mystery, too. Mostly, I worry that I'll end up writing her too similarly to other female characters on accident. Reading this fic back, I don't dislike the way I wrote them. And it was a stage in their relationship that I hadn't written before this point, so I enjoyed it a lot!

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A Kiss with Red Lipstick

Summary: Usually Queen has more fun at Enrique's family parties. But she usually doesn't have to go out of her way for his company or spend the night stone cold sober either. Pairing: Enrique/Queen Chapters: 1/1 Words: 1,784 Rated: M

This chapter was just me writing for me. I was pleasantly surprised when it got more than a single note when I posted it on Tumblr, because I know this is such a random ship with an, arguably, even more random interpretation. These are the two I write about when I want messy drama and chaos. Red lipstick kisses feel very messy and chaotic, so here we are.

This falls into the same story line as the last Enrique/Queen fic I wrote. It was fun building upon that idea.

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A Kiss at the Beach

Summary: Salima gets caught staring. It lands her in deep water…so to speak. Pairing: Ray/Salima Chapters: 1/1 Words: 1,180 Rated: T

I'll never turn down the chance to write some cutesy Ray/Salima. I imagine the two of them traveling around together a lot, living an almost nomadic lifestyle between tournaments or stops home (to White Tiger Hills or Salima's apartment). It's always a treat to indulge in that line of thinking, especially for a sweet moment like this.

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A Kiss to Shut Her Up

Summary: Mariah has a talent for uncomfortable conversations. Rick's working on his strategy for getting out of them. Pairing: Rick/Mariah Chapters: 1/1 Words: 1,253 Rated: T

This was one of my favorites when I wrote this series, and I still love it a year later. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I love writing Rick and Mariah's dynamic, especially from Rick's in-denial, grumpy point of view. He's a fun character in general, and I love how Mariah is the perfect person to keep him on his toes. And I had the line about her climbing him like a tree in reserves for what feels like forever, so it was nice to finally give it a home.

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A Kiss for the Winner

Summary: Tyson wins another World Championship and Hilary needs a minute to process his reaction. Pairing: Tyson/Hilary Chapters: 1/1 Words: 1,987 Rated: K+

I remember agonizing over this fic because I didn't want Tyson or Hilary to feel out of character. I've written a fair bit of TyHil since then, so I think that worry has subsided somewhat, but it was VERY REAL when I wrote this. I think the fact that the fic centers around a disagreement added to that anxiety. Arguments can be tricky. I didn't want it to feel like they resolved things too quickly to be believable or that Hilary's feelings were dismissed. In the end, I'm very happy with how it turned out.

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Subtly Sweet

Summary: When Hilary's computer crashed, she hoped work would be a distraction. Instead, she has a run-in with a vending machine and finds an unlikely hero in Tyson. Now if only he wasn't such a royal pain. Pairing: Tyson/Hilary Chapters: 1/1 Words: 4,320 Rated: K

I have this fic to thank for being able to tick my "work on/finish some WIPs" box in 2023. Very grateful to it for the feeling of accomplishment it gave me. 😄

For a fic that was sitting as a WIP for a year, it cleaned up nice! As a WIP, it was mostly dialogue with some vague outlining that I'd started, then left hanging. Sometimes pinpointing the perfect dialogue to take a plot from Point A to Point B can be a struggle, so when I reread my notes, I knew I had to take advantage of a good thing while I had it. The phone call scene wasn't originally included, and I remember doing a healthy amount of tweaking to get it right, but once it was there I couldn't imagine the story without it.

Fun fact: The original spark of an idea for this fic came from a conversation with RedWheeler literal years ago. I can't remember if we were discussing TyHil specific songs, but "Tangled Up In Me" by Skye Sweetnam came up and I couldn't get the thought of Hilary kicking a vending machine out of my head. Also, how is that song 20 years-old already?

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Life in Color

Summary: A collection for MayBlade 2023. Pairing: Multiple Chapters: 31/31 Words: 65,225 Rated: Varies (everything from K to M)

The pièce de résistance of my year. 💎

I, once again, did not finish my MayBlade entries on time. Unlike my first try, I accepted the fact that I would fall behind ahead of time. I think it made me feel much less stressed overall, but it also might have contributed to me falling behind faster than before? It's a double-edged sword. I know that I was in a better place for this round than I was when writing "Just A Moment", though. Life was much more balanced and I gave myself time to rest and recoup in between chapters, as needed, rather than spending all hours writing, editing, and falling asleep on my keyboard.

I'm very proud of this collection. I love challenging myself to write about some of my favorite, underappreciated characters alongside some of the characters more typical to my fics. I think I said this last year, too, but I love to see which chapters people like best and how it can vary between FFN and Tumblr. Sometimes I'm surprised by how things play out. Like, I was very shocked that the first chapter was so well-received on Tumblr, seeing as it focused on the Saint Shields. I'm sure it was because it was Day 1 of the event, but it was nice to know that some of my favorite characters got their time to shine. That was the case for more than one chapter, and I'd write a slew of notes on them all if it wouldn't make this post way too long.

All in all, I saw more engagement on "Life in Color" versus "Just A Moment" and I'm so grateful to anyone who read or interacted with it in some way! 🤍

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As I reflect on 2023, I can acknowledge that I took some positive steps forward in my never-ending quest for balance.

I'm teaching myself every day that it is okay to let go of things without guilt and pick them back up later. I can't be everything or do it all 100% of the time, and that's all right. It doesn't have to be all or nothing, and I can start things without having any idea of when I'll finish them. I can take a break from things that aren't serving me or causing more stress than I can handle. I can choose myself first and follow my whims. I can log off and be present.

In 2024, I don't know what my fanfic uploads will look like. I'd like to update Bliss and work on more WIPs. MayBlade is up in the air. I love participating, but it always turns into a bigger production than I bargain for. I may just need to participate differently, if I choose to do so.

September thru December are notoriously busy months for me, with May and June getting honorable mention. I'm not saying I'll be totally absent those months. Just putting it out there for me, so I know to go easy on myself. If I do nothing but read and take day trips and spend quality time with the people (and animals!) I love during that time, then it will be a year well spent. 🤍

As always, thank you to everyone who has interacted with any of my uploads this year and to the people who cheer me on and feed my fandom fire. I appreciate this little circle of the internet so, so much, and I hope 2024 brings only the best to you all! 🥰

#HAPPY 2024!#crossing my fingers for some fic inspo and motivation this year 🤞🏼#azrfic recap #azrupdate #azikarue #azikarue394

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roccinan · 10 months ago

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how would you rank lcdp cast on acting?

Hi anon, I had such a tough time with this question! There are so many great actors in the cast, I can't fairly rank them without feeling like I'm ignoring someone else. But I'll do my best!

Disclaimer: this is subjective and a lot of it, of course, has to do with the material an actor was given and/or how their performance in lcdp compares with other things they've been in; also a lot of people are "tied" in my head, but I had to give them separate numbers to properly answer this question lol

*Also not ranking characters like Tamayo, Benjamin, Rafael, etc.

Alvaro Morte (Sergio) - hands down, best actor in lcdp imo

Enrique Arce (Arturo) - nobody does it like him asdadf

Alba Flores (Nairobi)

Rodrigo de la Serna (Palermo)

Pedro Alonso (Berlin)

Jaime Lorente (Denver)

Itziar Ituno (Raquel)

Najwa Nimri (Alicia)

Ursula Corbero (Tokyo)

Miguel Herran (Rio)

Jose Manuel Poga (Gandia)

Darko Peric (Helsinki)

Hovik Keuchkerian (Bogota)*

Paco Tous (Moscow)

Esther Acebo (Monica)

Luka Peros (Marseille)*

**Hovik and Luka's skills are much higher than the "rank," but compared to the rest of the cast, they didn't have as much screentime and material to work with

#anonymous #this also ignores spinoff characters

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soul-dwelling · 2 years ago

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Man, maybe its just confirmation bias because I heard this take many times, but yeah, rereading the manga fully for the first time really makes it seem that after the baba yaga arc the whole thing kinda lost steam, with chapters just meandering about, charachters getting introduced while being boring, established charachters just turning into evil caricatures (Justin, Crona) and the good guys just being kinda anoying and acting like unlikable brats.

I mean, if you’re re-engaging with the same work more than once, you’re bound to find details that you scrutinize more. I hope my negativity isn’t leading to confirmation bias, and I hope on re-reading you find details that you appreciate more that can balance out what new stuff you’re finding that you’re scrutinizing more.

The post-Baba Yaga era is a bit of a story reboot--without going far enough. We start strong with showing Soul’s new power set, setting up an opponent in Gopher, teasing out the mystery of why Justin turned and what Noah is up to and why he wants Giriko. We show what the other students are up to, including Black Star looking for Crona, and the Thompsons and Team B looking for Medusa…

…and then things kind of feel like missed opportunities.

It’s not all bad, but some things fall apart.

Soul is a Death Scythe, he and Maka have to learn a new balance in their relationship when it comes to the form of the Grigori wings. And while flying is cool, how many times did we really see it between the Gopher fight and the Moon arc? Flying wasn’t as integral to, say, the Book of Eibon arc or the Black Blood Bubbles arc. It’s not that these arcs needed to have flight--but we don’t even get just action panels showing Maka flying to destinations?

(The revelation that Maka has a Grigori soul and what that means going down the line also feels like it is swept away. It’s neat trivia and worldbuilding, but it isn’t explored much. It feels like a logical tie-in to finally bring Maka’s mother into the story--except, first, it doesn’t seem like Maka’s mother had the Grigori soul either, so, second, she would just end up repeating the info dump we already got from Spirit and others.)

The mystery of what Noah is up to collapses once you learn he is an extension of the Book of Eibon. I think it could have been saved if the Book had a bigger victory over Asura at some point in the final arc, but it didn’t pan out that way.

Giriko’s story ends in a fitting way.

Justin’s story collapses on its own, until you put it into context with Fire Force to read Justin’s character arc as much as an indictment against organized religion and fanaticism as it within Soul Eater a reflection on how isolation and unquestioning faith are bad things.

(This is a whole other tangent as to how Justin’s story does and doesn’t work, seeing as we don’t get a sense that anyone really cared to intervene in Justin’s isolation--perhaps because they didn’t notice?--and not even some regret on the part of others for not seeing the signs earlier--you would think, with how smart Azusa and Stein are presented to be, that you’d hear far louder regret from one of them at this screw up.)

Black Star and the others finds Crona and Medusa’s clowns…and then they disappear again. Cool action scenes, new powers unlocked--but just kind of happens. It makes me think you could have combined this part with the last arc of the manga and have a faster pace that would make the developments more impactful on the reader. Instead, you wait until the Black Blood Blood arc to get back to Crona and Medusa, just to have Crona kill Medusa and wrap up this narrative.

Maybe I’d push back against saying the new characters introduced are a bit boring, or that the good guys become annoying and unlikable.

I think there is lacking potential in some new characters. Tezca and Enrique should be hilarious--but we rarely get to see them outside of some brief interactions. Show us some weirdness, like how the DWMA reacts to Enrique running around; we got some of that with Free commenting on him to Eruka, but that’s about it. Tezca is a fan favorite because of his design and limited background information on him--and he’s funny, but we get so little of him. Does anyone remember the name of the person who made the airship to the Moon, Gen? He was here for a corny pun on “ecchi” and that was about it.

And I actually like the good guys being a little annoying and unlikable. There’s the debate about whether what Lord Death is doing is right--it’s underdeveloped, but it’s a worthwhile question, one that should have been explored more so that his death and his faith in Kid hits harder. Maka being indecisive about what to do about Crona is earned and is a legitimate debate, one that opens up her teammates to debate as well, finally giving some of them some personality, including making Harvar a hardass and, yeah, unlikable, which is the point, to add some conflict to the story. It’s a little late to do more with Harvar (he and Jackie are sidelined in Baba Yaga, and that arc also reduces Ox and Kim’s conflict to a love confession--not bad, especially how Ox sees good in Kim, but kind of limited).

#long post

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