#esp not w/ mbjr

[firebirdsdaughter]

A summary:

Me when the trailer acts like they’re going to kill Fuwa: Lol, look, Fuwa’s dead again, like you really would.

Me w/ the merest possibility that something will happen to mbjr: I swear to the gods Takahashi, if you lay one finger on any of them, I will getting. On. A. Plane.

[firebirdsdaughter]

Honestly…

… I hope Ren’s actor gets a good career out of this bc I genuinely keep forgetting he exists.

[firebirdsdaughter]

Wow…

… It’s like Takahashi was trying to be even more insulting than having Amatsu take over the Daybreak hideout and putting that poor HumaGear w/ that monster…

The bastard stripped the fucking room.

[firebirdsdaughter]

I am so predictable…

… First thing I do upon seeing the poster is immediately crop out everything but Fuwa and KR MBJR. ^^;

[firebirdsdaughter]

…

… I’m going to watch NCIS LA to detox now.

[firebirdsdaughter]

Oh my…

… Okay, I cannot believe that this is a thing I feel like I have to say.

Horobi is in no way equivalent to the Ark. Not in his relationship w/ Jin, not w/ anyone. If you want to equate someone w/ Azu in that vein, actually, that’d be Horobi himself (depending on interpretation—I, for one, do not think Azu was an ‘assistant’ at all and was just straight up the Ark assuming a disguise, and she was one of the best final bads ever and they wasted her). In fact, he’d also be the equivalent of Izu to Aruto.

Horobi was not in control.

Horobi was the blindly devoted one who thought he existed for no other purpose then serving the Ark. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Horobi was the tool, Jin was the pawn. Horobi was the tool, the puppet, the mouthpiece the Ark used to manipulate and control Jin. What bit her in the back is that, at least allegedly, that puppet ended up being what Jin cared about more than the words she had the puppet say. Jin cared more about the tool than he did about the Ark or her mission.

Again, I’m not saying Horobi’s behaviour did not result in Jin being manipulated, but it was not Horobi making an active choice to do those things. Horobi was the ‘assistant,’ Horobi was the one conditioned to exist to carry out her will. He had no will of his own. The Ark was the one making active choices and decisions, of her own will, orchestrating everything (well, once she developed enough to start to betray Gai).

It really upsets me when I see people saying Horobi was ‘controlling’ Jin or that Jin was ‘his puppet’ or that he ‘created Jin to serve him.’ 1) Horobi was being controlled and just being used to pass orders along, 2) Jin was not his puppet, Jin actually had more will and defiance than he did, 3) we don’t know why Horobi created Jin. We never got that story.

To sum up: Jin was not Horobi’s Azu, nor Izu (oh, Izu and Aruto were nowhere near equivalent to Jin and Horobi’s relationship, in any way). Horobi was the Ark’s ‘other’ Azu (again, I still think Azu was the Ark), the Ark’s ‘Izu.’ The closest equivalent Jin has is something like Ai-chan, maybe? The other HumaGear Izu directed around? Or, honestly, he just doesn’t have one, bc he’s that unique. Honestly, you could even argue, as I have seen some Jpn fans do, that Horobi is Jin’s ‘Izu’ bc Jin is the crux of his existence.

[firebirdsdaughter]

Honestly…

… I mean, ultimately, Gai remains responsible, but Azu/the Ark clearly manipulated this from the start. She/they manipulate Izu and Jin into poor decisions by preying on weak points for them—Aruto and Horobi. I have opinions about certain things, but there’s no doubt Aruto and Izu are important to each other, and not only is Horobi important to Jin, but he’s also likely struggling w/ the guilt of the whole ‘plan to sacrifice his father’ etc. and appearing right after Mr. Suspicious Williamson ordered him to kill Horobi.

Meanwhile, Horobi’s always been the easiest of mbjr to manipulate, I know I’ve mentioned that before, and that goes triple or more rn bc he’s reeling from being on his own for the first time and all these new feelings and thoughts that he has no idea how to handle and process. Horobi is not one who would be able to go easy into singularity, so rn he’s mentally and emotionally unstable. He’s volatile and needs to be approached calmly and carefully. It’s literally why the number one rule for finding a wild animal injured is to not wantonly approach bc they will be in pain, they will be frightened, they will think they are cornered and they will lash out. Which is basically how Horobi reacted; he’s essentially a grown up child soldier who never got help, and is additionally an AI so his mind processes and learns differently. For all he sounds quite eloquent, he’s not going to magically have the reasoning and emotional control and sense of a human adult just bc he’s no longer connected to the Ark. He’s essentially got very deep set, very volatile PTSD, a type that makes him skittish and, again, volatile. To calm down, he’d need space and time. If he’s pressured, he’ll crack.

So, basically, for the Ark, for a plan like this, he’s the perfect patsy.

[firebirdsdaughter]

Oh, for…

… They had to ‘downplay’ Gai.

Yes, bc KR has always made certain to carefully ‘downplay’ their major arc villains as they shift into the final arc bc they’re a kids show. They’ve never had them imprisoned by an enemy government, never killed them, never had the heroes lock them up in prison. They’re always downplayed and given a ‘sad backstory’ and a ‘soft spot’ that causes them to do a complete one eighty personality wise and start waxing on about seeing the error of their ways and how much they regret everything and how they’ve ‘seen the light’ and they’ll be good now,’  and they just get stern talking to from the heroes bc there’s ‘more important business to do.’

… What the fuck. Do not come at me w/ ‘they had to downplay Gai.’ Like they ‘downplayed’ Nanba? Bc he’s Gai’s closest comparison. Hora?

There were plenty of ways they could have run this ‘alliance’ that didn’t involve ‘boohoo Gai is really just sad feel bad for him uwu see people always have good in them they just lose their way and need to remember their true feelings.’

It doesn’t work bc there’s never been any sign of Gai having any other side to him, and the fact that he is literally responsible for the Ark severely impacts any ‘they have bigger problems so there’s no point in holding a grudge’ argument bc Gai literally caused this problem. Like if I were them I wouldn’t be trusting him at all. Jin, a grieving and confused and hysterical literal child has to die for ending up in a situation beyond his control, but Gai gets to get ‘downplayed’ and make big flowery speeches about how ‘bad’ he feels, and ‘oh, it’s okay, just bow more and play nice now and it’s okay.’

This wasn’t something they hinted at and then slowly worked up to. This is a sharp swerve to the left out of nowhere. Jin, who had no control over his situation any more than Horobi had control over any of his actions (other than his initial concern for Jin in that fight), gets one line and then blown up, and people justify it w/ ‘oh, he hurt Izu, he was distributing ZetsumeRisers!’ (see previous about being a literal child raised by a father who was mind controlled by a homicidal satellite, that Gai drove homicidal, who had no idea what was actually happening, who was still reeling from watching his father die in his arms, and Izu had rubbed his father being hurt in his face). Why the fuck is anyone, then, saying that it’s okay or ‘necessary’ to let Gai off w/ a tap on the wrist/a mere scolding, after everything he knowingly did? Bc Jin didn’t immediately bow to Aruto’s ‘want everyone to smile together’ line? Oh, I’m sorry, so the traumatised, grieving child should have immediately begun begging for forgiveness and giving flowery speeches about redemption and then he’d be considered ‘acceptable’ to let live? But no, bc he gets blown up while Gai gets chastised??? Ans that doesn’t bother people? It’s ‘normal’ that they would have to ‘downplay’ Gai, bc the Ark’s the ‘real villain.’ You know. The Ark. That Gai drove insane in the first place.

I need to not go into the twitter tag for the show anymore. There’s too much of people trying to justify this nonsense.

[firebirdsdaughter]

Conclusion:

The ‘main’ reason I cannot understand this alleged relationship between Fuwa and Naki (and esp not that scene, I’m sorry, but what exactly did humans do to justify that?) is that they never seem to care about each other unless forced to interact.

Neither ever mentions the other, neither ever has any tacit indications that they’re thinking of the other or mention them at all. They don’t seem to remember the other person exists unless they are literally standing in front of them for some reason. Fuwa doesn’t seem at all concerned about Naki, doesn’t mention them, doesn’t ask about them. When the Ark raises and they only see Horobi and Jin, there’s no moment of him demanding if Naki’s okay, what happened to Naki. He never tries to seek them out. Likewise, there’s absolutely no indication of Fuwa having any effect on Naki. They don’t react to seeing the Ark giving them a wolf Key (which, after this development, there are so many connotations about that I hate), they don’t refer to him when facing Gai, they don’t seek him out. There’s no indication that he effected them at all or has any influence over them, esp not enough to counter the Ark’s power. When doubting the Ark, when talking to Jin, they don’t mention Fuwa at all. Fuwa doesn’t mention Naki to Ai-chan, as far as I can remember, nor does he ever specifically bring them up when discussing the chip unless someone else did first. Like, obviously neither would be talking about the other all the time, but the complete lack of interest makes That scene and the show’s repeated attempts to claim they are connected feel very empty and impersonal.

Meanwhile, in contrast, we have Fuwa and Horobi. Fuwa spent the majority of the first arc w/ a grudge against Horobi, and Horobi, while largely pompous and disregarding, seemed aware Fuwa’s existence outside of direct interaction. And on top of that, they spent all that time in the basement together, interacting. Fuwa was the only one Horobi saw, Fuwa talked about Horobi to other people, shot down Aruto’s suggestion to destroy him, confronted Yua about his restarting. When Horobi escaped, Fuwa pursued him.

Like… If they had given any other indication of either of them having any effect on each other outside of the times that ‘required’ them to interact (Naki’s one ep long ‘arc,’ when they were separated, Yua taking them to see him in the hospital), then this wouldn’t feel so weird to me. But it’s just like Yua and Jin. Two characters who give not even tacit indications that they’re connected suddenly being treated like they have some deep relationship.

I have other issues, namely the fact that Naki doesn’t feel like a character anymore, they feel like a device (excuse me while I go vomit bc I’m pretty sure I called that their ending is going to be them being reduced to Fuwa’s ‘Izu’ and I’m just… Just… No.). In the same way Williamson really should just have been Gai, Naki feels like they got wedged into a plot that was originally Horobi’s, for similar but opposite reasons—Williamson was wedged in to fill a space left by an abrupt attempt to redeem Gai, while Naki feels like they got wedged into this plot w/ Fuwa due to the abrupt attempt to make Horobi the bad guy. The unfortunate fact about this unfortunately accurate (for me) comparison is that Naki is so much more interesting than Williamson, it’s like… Painful. Oh my gods. Why is he even here.

But again, the above could have easily been mitigated (like, I’d still be salty bc, hello, die-hard Horobi and Fuwa fan, but that’s me) if, like… Naki and Fuwa had actually acted like they meant something to each other in some way. The lack of that is what makes me feel like I’m being dryly informed of their ‘relationship’ second hand, or at a distance. There’s a disconnect. Like w/ Jin and Yua, the actors give it their all, but they just can’t close the gap.

Alternatively, if Takahashi weren’t absolute shit at writing and developing multiple relationships, we could have had a cool thing about Fuwa being the focal point of realisation for two of the most fragile characters—I would have loved to see Naki get that boost of not being a tool, and then it being them who ultimately gets through to Yua, and that’s part of what prompts her to help mbjr separate them from Fuwa (this would be helped by, like, actually treating that as a thing… Literally the chip plot being expanded would have helped everything so much). I’ve said before I see Naki and Horobi as having been in different situations, w/ them being externally ‘conditioned’ and him being literally ‘controlled’ from w/in. Them recovering quicker and being able to move on would have made sense, Horobi was always going to be a long term project (which it seems humans were ultimately unwilling to commit to…). Following through on the ‘protect Vulcan’ plot w/ Horobi dealing w/ Fuwa and Naki being connected and/or separated, differentiating between them while they deal w/ their situation… I could totally have gone for that.

But instead, there’s this weird thing where all of Fuwa and Horobi’s development is treated like it never happened, and even though Fuwa and Naki hardly interact and show absolutely no lasting interest in each other unless required to do so, they’re apparently deeply connected and have effected each other.

It’s one of those things where Takahashi starts interesting… But then can’t follow through.

[firebirdsdaughter]

I do think the main turning point of Aruto's character will come when he actually learns about the Ark's depths, that it was Gai that started the whole shit, and that MBJR actually had a huge point. It'll be interesting to see where it goes, and I have faith in Takahashi in being able to pull it off.

Indeed. I hope/think Aruto is the type of character that when he actually learns the truth about the whole situation, he’ll have an ‘oh my god, what have I done?’ moment. Like I’m a little mad at him, sure, but I def believe he can improve, develop, and change. Once he finds out about Gai’s involvement and properly understands the chain of events… I expect him to feel very guilty for what he did to Jin. I wouldn’t be surprised if he actually apologises to Horobi or even Jin himself. I’m trying to be careful w/ expecting anything, bc even if Takahashi intends to pull through, there’s always a risk he’ll get overridden by something higher up the ladder, or something will happen.

But as of right now, yes, I def expect Aruto to develop and understand more as he gains more information. ^^

[firebirdsdaughter]

Okay…

… But I do gotta admit…

For all it seems to have been another ‘short allotment of Horobi content per ep’ thing…

… That rain scene was solid HoroFuwa content, at the least.

[firebirdsdaughter]

Personally…

… I feel like I might’ve liked for the Fuwa mind-control plot to go on for a little longer, bc as cool as this was (and they could still do it, just later on), it might’ve felt like a better grounding for a team up between Jin and Aruto if they also had a more personal connection of ‘my dad person very close to me is mind controlled by another malicious entity,’ esp bc the Ark and ZAIA are closely connected. I mean, I guess they could still go w/ that angle, but it might’ve had more effect if Fuwa hadn’t overcome it once already.

[firebirdsdaughter]

Random Firebird Fact of the evening…

… Put Me Back Together partially stemmed from the fact that I don’t really feel and find no real interest in the attempts at ‘creepy villain dynamic’ they’re trying to push between Gai and Aruto and would much rather see Gai having that kind of dynamic w/ Horobi (or Fuwa).

[firebirdsdaughter]

Wow…

… Let me get this straight.

They gave Olteca shitty lore and they’re teasing killing off Hiromi next ep.

ReVice I know I’m not watching you, but this feels personal.

[firebirdsdaughter]

Suffering bc…

… a) Okada, would it kill you to do some sort of bromide thing where I can get them, I am this close to printing out pictures from the books and putting them on my picture board???

b) I am hit w/ how mbjr and AIMS getting two interconnected vcinexts should have been awesome/interesting/really cool bc they were such a parallel set up in the show, so it should be an awesome way to explore their parallel situations post series and how they understand each other and develop beyond that… But… It’s not.

[firebirdsdaughter]

Sigh…

… I’m sure w/ subs this will all turn out to be weird bs, but for now I can pretend.