#especially if u believe the interpretation that she died at the end of the series

[faebriel]

i’m in the midst of death note brainrot (again) and would love to hear your thoughts on misa’s character

I WAS LITERALLY SAYING THE OTHER DAY TO MY PARTNER THAT I CAN FEEL AN AUTUMN DEATH NOTE REWATCH COMING ON..... maybe maybe maybe

misa is so freaking fascinating to me!! maybe next death note rewatch will be an extra special misa focus edition 🔍 she's just so fucked up in such a fun way that tbh i kind of feel is a missed opportunity, especially in the latter half of the story (the anime at least - haven't read the manga). she's so self-centred and i love that for her. her motivation to be kira pours from her own heart. while light has never personally suffered at the hands of crime afaik, misa very much has - both her family's deaths and her own being attached. her devotion to the cause is not just for the sake of saving the world but for saving herself, back on that night. it's like this vicarious way she can get back at "criminals" because she couldn't prevent her own family dying. it's ground into her!! that is the kind of experience you can't just shake out of her!! you can set misa on any path away from kira and i truly think she would barrel right onto it because the existence of kira gives her those warm and fuzzy feelings of retribution or maybe even safety that just like, filters right into her obsessive love for light

i like that even though she's clearly devoted to light, she's still an independent operator (well as much as the writing allows at certain times. eyeroll). i think light's whole attitude around "managing" her approach to being kira is so fkn illustrative of the derision with which he views a lot of people lol. there's something so interesting about how he views misa as impulsive and emotionally driven, so she's deranged, but obviously he is different even though their core beliefs are the same. like you might be using strategy but your goal is the same. idk

YOTSUBA ARC MISA AND POST TIMESKIP MISA ARE SO SPECIAL TO ME PERSONALLY. yotsuba arc because i'm like. oh my god the fact that she is not given ANY narrative space to either literally or metaphorically beat L's ass is a fucking choice BUT the fact that her dislike of him seems to come out as purely petty spats while he and light are chained together is so fucking funny. hater arc, but also, you could write a 9k character study unpacking all of this. it all kind of loops around to this iron-clad optimism that everything is somehow gonna turn out alright... and at that point in time, she doesn't even know how much shit she's gotten herself into. i do really really love that moment in this arc where misa gets her memories back after visiting the tower (when matsuda falls off a balcony. you know the one) but light doesn't have his and L is not even clued into what's happened. and light so so so wants to catch kira and clear his name and misa's sitting there like :)) like, i know she's gonna conspire to give light his memories back ASAP because that's The Plan but come on that brief glimpse in time is so fun and for misa her access to the death note & shinigami is such an important and consistent bargaining tool in her own survival. it was cool to see her have a monopoly on it, no matter how brief

they're so fucking worsties

there's definitely something to say here about her relationship with rem too but honestly i'm gonna have to go back to sources on this one. for me i've always kind of felt some parts of the fandom try to bend rem and misa into the "cute background lesbian couple" template that so many fandoms run on and i'm like. mate. you're not selling me. rem loves misa but misa is just too awful and/or deranged for all of that. i've always kind of felt their relationship was tragic in part because misa didn't fully understand the depth of rem's love for her / took it for granted until rem died. but again, i need to go back to sources

OH and this is getting long but i have the softest spot of all for post-timeskip misa. she is so me and my husband by mitski core. her life is falling to shit around her. her lifespan has been quartered. and she gives up her memories!! her knowledge of the death note has always been her key to survival and light sweet talks her into giving it up and this is the bit where i start hollering and screaming. and from then on, she doesn't even realise how much shit she's in. it's not just that she's in a failing engagement. it's that her fiance has wrung her for everything she had to give and she is being left to the wayside. her suspicion that light is having an affair is almost framed as comical but it's all she fucking has!!! she loves him because it's all she has. she has to choose between light and kira like this is some cosmic fucking joke and she cheers on light apparently trying to catch kira because she loves him. because what else exists in her memory from the last five years of her life???? FUCK

post-timeskip misa is genuinely fucking tragic to me because like. through the sheer power of sweet talking light manages to entirely defang her. she's lost rem. she has a book, she has the eyes, but she uses them solely under light's discretion. and then she gives up her memories because light asks. and like she is 100% a terrible person with the whole mass murdering thing but that kind of adds to it in a way. you get me

[peach-coke]

PEACHY!! I just finished the final. How u doing? What do you think?

Hey Sol! Sorry for leaving you hanging with an answer for a couple days but I had to process. And mourn, after all I said goodbye to something that has been part of me for 15 years. That's half my life. It's weird and I don't think I've ever cried as much as I have in the past 3 days but... Well. Luckily, they're happy tears. "Don't cry because it's over, cry because it happened" aside? I love the ending.

It's all I could've ever asked for. Ah, who am I kidding? It's more than that. I was prepared to be gutted in a really bad way. I am gutted but for all the right reasons. It was tragic. It was painful. It was beautiful. But most of all? It was a Love-Letter.

I know there’s a lot of people who’re upset about parts of the episode; I understand. We’re all grieving in our own ways. I hope however, that once the dust has settled and feelings stop spiking into extremes, people will realize that the episode left so many things unsaid and ambiguous... Meaning there's lots and lots of space for interpretation and headcanons to “fix” the finale into something that makes it better for you. And I’d like to think this was done on purpose.

I’m soo sorry I end up rambling on one of your asks again Sol, but I’ll do exactly that to pick up some of the things I’ve seen people be most upset about and give some of my perspective on them. Maybe it’ll help some people to feel better and grow to love the final as much as I do ♥

One thing I’ve seen a lot of people be upset about is that Dean didn’t get to live the life they’ve fought for so hard. Actually? We don’t know that. There is no timestamps, no indicators that tell us they didn’t do what we saw in the first domestic montage for a couple years. The only hint we have is that Miracle is still around and kicking, so it couldn’t have been more than maybe 6 years (because 6-8ish is when a dog that size shows clears signs of aging). Besides that? Nobody and nothing stops us in believing they had that “domestic bliss with a little bit of hunting on the side”-life for quite a while before it happened.

Them talking about mourning Cas and Jack is no indicator either. I still mourn people I lost 15 years ago, when the occasion calls for it or I remember them in moments that they would’ve loved to be part of. Mourning never stops… Of course, even 6 years aren’t a lifetime. But do we really think Dean - our Dean - would’ve been happy and content with a 9-to-5 job? Yeah, didn’t think so either...

Then, we have the rebar. Which honestly didn’t bother me at all, for several reasons. First, I love parallels and this episode was so full of them… Not only was the whole “stabbed in the back” thing a direct callback to arguably the most painful death in the series to date – Sam’s first in All Hell Breaks Loose – it was also a callback to The Song Remains the Same. The episode where Sam is stabbed by Anna – with a rebar/fixture she ripped out of the wall - and bleeds out on the floor. The only reason he got out of it alive, is because John!Michael fixed him. Otherwise? He would’ve died by being stabbed with a rebar. Just like that.

Ash himself told them that they died several times together and can’t remember because the angels don’t want them to. We, the viewers, have never seen them die together until Dark Side Of The Moon. Which strongly implies that they must’ve died on random hunts. More than once.

So Dean’s death in the barn? That’s what happens to Hunters who have no divine intervention. That’s what happens to Hunters who are living the life without being chosen for something bigger. That’s what happens to Hunters with free will. Dean’s death in the barn was a true Hunter’s death. The one he always wanted. There’s no glory, there’s nothing special about it. It just is. And I thought that was tragically poetic in its own way.

I know people were expecting them to go out Butch and Sundance style. Together – I admittedly wanted that too. But the way Dean’s death happened didn’t bother me at all. And honestly? Sam’s soul died in that barn, too. We know it did. So they did go out together, one way or another. It was just not the way we expected.

The cinematic parallels of Sam’s life without Dean to Dean’s life without Sam after Swan Song honestly floored me. It was beautifully heartbreaking.

We see Sam living his life while Dean is driving along “right there beside him, every step of the way”. We see him holding on for Dean, fulfilling the promise he made to his brother about living on. Making sure there’s always a Winchester that knows love left in the world. The final sacrifice of Sam, the bravest and strongest man we know. Sam, who sits down in the car he once called home, to be close to the one person that always held the same connotation. Sam, who knows his other half is waiting for him, sitting just there in the same spot he is. Every step of the way. That’s my Supernatural right there.

What I especially like about the whole thing is, that it once again leaves us with another take besides the one we actually saw and thought obvious. We can also pretend Sam died on that werewolf hunt, shortly after Dean’s death. There is nothing that stops you from seeing this as canon, (There’s actually quite a few hints that it’s a very strong possibility), because the way the whole scene played out could’ve easily been a daydream of Dean while he was driving in heaven.

The fact they left it open like that is a gift, in my eyes. They could’ve easily forced a fixed narrative on us. But they didn’t. Same with so many other things. They left us with so many possibilities and room for our own takes. And I think it’s fair that people need time to process what we’ve been given here. It’s fair that people are still upset about some aspects, because they have yet to realize that there is a pathway for them to see it differently, without discarding canon at all.

There’s only one thing that is not open for interpretation. And that’s that Sam and Dean love each other as much as two human beings can love each other. And none of them is complete without the other. I never quite understood why some people needed the show to end on romantic notes. Supernatural has never been about that. It has always been about the deep, abiding love those two brothers had for each other and how neither heaven nor hell ever stood a chance against it. Platonic love is just as beautiful as romantic love; sometimes even more so. And that’s what this finale showed us.

And that’s why I love it so much. Why I say it’s a Love-Letter. It’s a Love-Letter to us; The ones who’ve been there all the way from the start. The ones who’ve seen the show for what it is and what it has always been: The epic love story of Sam and Dean Winchester.

Despite all that, it is still valid to dislike the ending. You are entitled to do so. But if you really think Sam and Dean - two soulmates, surrounded by the people they love, at peace - spending the rest of eternity together in heaven is the absolute worst possible ending that destroyed everything the show ever stood for? I’m sorry, but in that case you did not understand Supernatural at all.

[thewalkingdeadband]

Review on twd 11.22 (next week for 11.23 even if im already spoiled)

Also sorry, im not an english native speaker, im on my phone and in a rush..and it ended up being long! Sorry

What a great episode, though not perfect. A lot of things seems rushed: for instance "oh shit its 11.22 we need to bring back Luke and Jules in a "oceanside's gone" type of way, so we can wrap up this whole storyline in less than 2 mns." Right. Right.

The callbacks: why did it take 4 seasons to bring up Benjamin again ? For 4 seasons it seemed like only Henry (whom i loved) mattered and now we re remembered that yeah, Benjamin was also Zeke's adopted son. He wasnt in the show for long i know but he made an impact. Hell, his death is the reason Morgan went rogue again and then Richard died ect.

Dont get me wrong im happy Zeke talked abt him but i wish he had been mentioned more often. Same for Sophia, i love all those callbacks lately but it really screams end of series for me and i wish they didnt need the show to end to remember her. That said, these two callbacks still made me emotional as hell, its hard to explain. Especially when Carol said she missed Sophia and Henry and wish they could come back. I was a mess.

- Rosita is fucking bad ass in mama bear mode. But when this asshole said at the end you re going to lose everything, i dont know if we re supposed to believe he talks to all of them or just to her. If its just her, its frightnening: is she going to lose Coco, Gabe and Eugene all together? Is she going to die herself?

- Tyler: i remember watching the Princess centered bonus episode of s10 and hoping this guy would become more important. Im glad he kind of is.

- Donnie: well, if u ship them, u re gonna see things. They "shipbait" both ships a lot, with glances and touches than can be interpreted in lots of ways depending on who u ship Daryl with. I obviously believe that Carol should be the one, and i hate that they still havent made a choice by now. Just choose, stop playing with us. Or have him stay alone, but make it a choice. Not a "we re keeping things open" because we dont want one part of the fandom or the other giving up on watching the spin off. You know what i mean? Thats how i take it honestly. Like they didnt realise a lot of carylers and/or carol fans have decided not to watch anyway, because no Carol anymore.

So im afraid its gonna stay "open" for now. Hope im wrong, hope all the optimistics carylers are right. Im not a pessimistic one i just dont know what to think anymore. Carol is the one, this should have been settled ages ago, back in s5, or even s3, i dont know. Or even s7 after new best friends. Anyway, i hope i can come back here and give my apologies for being fed up with this, and saying that it was actually worth it to wait.

Negan: its becoming really hard to hate him now of course. I dont anyway, but yeah, they re finally giving him a proper (sort of?) redemption arc. Im sorry, but smirking in a evil way at Maggie's face (ending of "here's negan) or telling her "i would do the same if i had to do it all over again", or "hell i'd kill all of u this time" and never showing actual remorse is not a redemption for me. Being nice to Judith or Lydia (and i do know he saved Judith's life in s9b) isnt enough. But this, and last episode? This is starting to sound like it. The guy litteraly almost sacrified himself to save everyone and Annie and his baby, despite what Zeke had just told him!

- Ezekiel: obvisously did the right thing and there was no way he was letting Negan die after seeing all this. He's amazing.

- Carol and Maggie, the bad ass duo we all missed since 6.13. The mothers talking mother to mother. The best friends/sisters that have seen it all together. Carol is the one who wrote a letter to Maggie getting her to come back, remember. They've always been family and close, the show just forgot abt it for a while. Again, a bit late and rushed, but welcomed nonetheless. By rushed, i mean that it screams "end of series" as in u can totally imagine the writers panicking in the writing room "oh shit we need to have meaningful scenes between ogs or main characters ect"

Hell even negan and ezekiel have meaningful scenes, and they barely exchanged (if not at all?) Since s7.

- Eugene : now im really worried. Im so proud of him. Again: callback. He didnt say his name but Abe was on his mind no doubt during all of his speech. I remember thinking back in s7, no way he doesnt have a plan, no way he's really betraying after witnessing Abe being murdered like that and that emotional hug between them just a few scenes ago. But i was wrong. And i was right. He betrayed because he was scared to have the same end as Abe, witnessing his and Glenn's death is actually what made him so scared to stand up to Negan, it fucking traumatized him, he didnt have any plan until late (and Gabriel trying to bring him back and reason him, remember, and Sasha, too). He said all that very well, his cowardice, his need for safety, in his speech, a speech which gave me closure. This guy is so brave, so so brave. I love him so much. I never gave up on him. And im pretty sure he's gonna die. This whole arc screams (heroic?) death for me. I dont want to see him die, but im preparing myself hard.

To be honest im also worried for Rosita, Gabriel and/or Aaron. But that's another subject for another time.

Last but not least: with all these meaningful scenes/moments/talks/goodbyes between beloved characters, where is the caryl one? Talking abt the cave last episode briefly with hands touching, while nice, wasnt enough. I need something at least like in "a certain doom", even though it probably would not be enough granted these are the last episodes, but that would be the bare minimum.

I think because there was supposed to be a spin off with both, they didnt concentrate on them as much as we wish they had, using the time left to end properly everyone arcs, especially the ones that dont have a spin off.

But now that we have a daryl spin off instead of a caryl one, and with news/rumours (?) of last minute changes and reshoots, what can we expect?

Well, we'll figure it out very soon i guess.

Edit a few more thoughts:

- seeing the people cheering for Eugene, supporting the hero he became was very moving

- the ending scene with Negan/Ezekiel/Annie and that armitage hux wannabe made a lot of people thinking -rightfully- abt a parallel with s7ep01 (Annie pregnant instead of Maggie, Negan begging instead of Glenn...) but it also gave me WW2 vibes and it was scary as fuck. Seeing everyone gathering in front of Negan and Annie in support was something else..

- Mercer coming around in that last scene wasnt a surprise at all, but still a freaking relief

[thoughtsofanexcitedspacechild]

Writing Tips (Pt. 3): Writing Believable and shippable relationships in literature.

Hello friends! First of all, let me say a HUGE thank you for the support on the Kataang post! I worked really hard on it and it means so much to me all the little notes you give it and reblog it! I know it’s not at a huge number of notes, but I like knowing that people took time to read through the endless rant and reblog it! I’m planning on doing another full analysis on Zutara and why specifically it doesn’t work. I’ll make it respectful though as I know that a lot of Kataang fans are REALLY defensive and anti-zutara. I promise I’m not one of those people, and believe that no matter who you ship, your opinions on fictional characters are your opinions and you are FULLY entitled to ship and like whatever you want (as long as it’s not incest or a huge age gap. PLEASE don’t ship that stuff lol. U nasty mfs know who u are.) Speaking of ships, let’s talk about writing them. Writing ships for movies, books, shows, etc. can be surprisingly hard. Writing characters themselves can be hard enough as it is, but writing a pair of characters that fit together like a puzzle piece can feel impossible. Nevertheless, I’m here to make that process a little bit easier. When I’m trying to set up a relationship that’s going to happen, here are some things that I keep in mind to make sure that I and the audience of my writing  ship the characters I have end up together. 

DISCLAIMER before I get a’rantin: I am by NO means telling you how or what to write and am by NO means a professional writer of any sorts. I’m doing this mostly because I write a lot and speak from my own personal experiences with writing and because these are just the things that I found work best when writing my own stories. I also read and analyze a lot of others work on my own personal time, and these are just the details that I pick up on that I find makes a piece of writing effective. With that in mind, remember that writing is and art form, and the beauty of that is that there’s no one right way to do it. Ever. You can read the same thing as another person and interpret it in a completely different and unique way. 

1. Complementary Characters usually work out best. 

This is more than the classic “opposite’s attract” theory, and characters don’t necessarily have to be opposite to be complementary. Some things to think about when thinking of and writing complementary characters:

-Complementary doesn’t necessarily mean complete opposite in every single way. Often times I find it much more helpful to have characters share a common interest in hobbies, upbringing, childhood trauma (that one’s a bit overdone these days), etc. so that they’re not butting heads all the time. Just like yin and yang, theres a bit of darkness in the light and vice versa. To keep the balance harmonious, you can’t have characters be polar opposites and have no common ground. That leads to what many people consider a toxic ship, and will either lead to an unrealistic balance that inevitably leads your characters to be fighting all the time. 

-Keeping common interests in mind, often times the paces where character’s contrast is in their personalities. (Shy and bold, heart and head, bubbly and brooding, quiet and gregarious, etc.) Different personalities often are able to balance each other out and hold each other accountable for their weaknesses.

-Going off of that, one character’s strength is another’s weakness, and all traits are both. A character’s empathy can lead them to be loved by many, but may cause them to starve themselves and drain their cup so there’s none left to take care of themselves. A character’s logic may lend them top of class or calm in stressful situations, but can lead them to be insensitive to others and even their own emotions. Your characters should balance each other out and work well together, and part of this is helping each other grow from their weakness. 

-This one isn't as important, but what I also find super compelling, especially in film and tv shows is when the authors/writers deliberately choose to give the characters complementary color palettes. (I dove more into this on my Kataang analysis so go read that if you’re super interested.) If the character’s look ascetically pleasing together, it makes shipping them a whole lot easier. Focus on orange and blue, yellow and purple, red and green, and any variation of those colors together. 

2. Buildup

Often times one of the biggest critiques of ships that just don’t work out is that there’s not enough buildup or foundation to have a romantic relationship. It seems obvious, but if you’re going to have them end up together, there’s going to need to be some buildup or else the entire relationship will feel wrong and contrived no matter how pleasant you make it. 

Some tips for increasing and establishing buildup:

-Have your otp spend time together as friends first. I personally find that the healthiest and most successful ships are friends before they’re lovers. This is why Kataang specifically works so well, but Korrasami, Romionie, and Liesel and Rudy from the Book Thief are all good examples. If you observe these ships, all of these characters spend time together as friends first. Korra and Asami were able to bond and become friends over a toxic guy (cough cough MAKO) and eventually developed feelings for one another. Ron and Hermione weren’t romantically interested in other people and were friends until they started seeing other people and found out they liked each other. Liesel and Rudy were best friends before anything else and Liesel didn’t realize her feelings until it was too late. 

-Time together. When your otp spends time together, make sure that whatever time is being spent together is time that they both enjoy. No, the activity itself doesn’t have to be enjoyable to both characters, but the time spent together should be. If the characters really aren’t enjoying the time spent together, then it’s never gonna work out. I’ll use the ship that I’m writing as an example. Currently, I’m in the process of writing a third atlas series and we’ll use my characters Liang and Hana. (Yea I used my own name for one of my characters. I think it suits her bc she’s basically my clone, just, she’s the avatar. I’m going to change both of their names once I do more research and can find culturally and historically accurate names.) Liang REALLY loves pro-bending matches. Hana, not so much. She still goes with him to see matches and attends his matches when she can. On the flip side, Hana really loves going to her favorite tea shop. Liang vastly prefers a strong cup of coffee, but he goes with her anyways. Why would they choose to do something that they don’t necessarily like? Because that’s more quality time spent with each other and doing something for the other person. 

3. Romantic Gestures

Going off of my last point, we have the art of romantic gestures. These can range to things anywhere from a hug, to an elaborate firework display, to a locket with both of their pictures in it. Make sure that the romantic gestures are there! It’s gotta be clear that both characters are thinking about one another and consciously choose to do something for the other person. Here are some fun ways to do it:

-Remembering a gift the other character wanted. This one’s cliche but it works, because often times the best way to show affection is through physical gifts and objects. Think coffee from a favorite shop, handwritten notes, that piece of clothing the other has been eyeing, etc. 

-~symbolism~ *add chime here* By that I mean have an object to symbolize their relationship with, like Korrasami’s iconic hair pin or Liesel’s book that Rudy retrieved for her. This way, the readers not only have a visual representation of their favorite ships, but the object can physically link characters together and make a vague relationship full cannon. (I know for sure that someday when I get a tattoo, I want the hairpin tattooed on my wrist, ankle or side of my body.) 

-PDAs. Works best in film and visual stuff, but still applies for everything. I’m talking cuddles, kisses, falling asleep in each other’s arms, the whole shebang. I mean how much clearer can you make it than a pda?

-Love languages. Each person loves in their own unique way. Have characters figure out and learn each other’s love language. It really shows and adds a whole other layer to the cake. This one can make a ship that feels a little bland have more depth and realism, because in the real world, healthy relationships are formed and aided by learning and applying each other’s love language. 

4. Dialogue. This one can be hard to master, but once you do, it’s a breeze. First off, I recommend getting all your ideas out, and editing. DON’T EDIT AS YOU GO! This is often tedious and super annoying, so get everything out first, and go from there once you have a decent amount to work with. Dialogue is tricky, because dialogue in and of itself is meant to communicate and express feelings. Here are some tips and steps to at least get a start: 

a. Know EXACTLY how your characters feel about one another, and make that evident through communication. It seems obvious (again) but this really helps and I find that putting myself in the character’s shoes for a second and really thinking about it helps to decide exactly what they would say in a given situation, especially if the scene you’re writing involves confrontation about feelings for one another. 

b. Dialogue is more than just talking. Body language, tone, facial expressions, etc. are all part of dialogue too and are SUPER important! In the real world, humans communicate through more than just words, and sometimes a playful grin, grimace, crossed arms, or pout is much more effective than a character outright saying something. 

c. Once you’ve written the dialogue out, be concise and smart about your dialogue and pare it down as much as you can. Often times, adding too much dialogue can make a scene boring and flat. Use your words sparingly! The purpose of writing is to covey a story or message and often times this can be done effectively with less words rather than more. The main point in dialogue itself is to provide necessary context and information. Otherwise, don’t use it.

d. Make sure the conversation is two sided. This (say it with me now) SEEMS OBVIOUS, but make sure that both people are talking/communicating. it’s a conversation, not a speech. (Unless it is a speech or declaration of some sort.)

Before I go: A QUICK (Long) PSA ON TOXIC SHIPS: 

The concept of a toxic ship is very common in a lot of literature. Often times writers choose to include elements that may be toxic to heighten romantic tension in a story. While I do recognize that this sometimes may be a stylistic choice, there are MUCH better and effective ways to create tension that having something be toxic. Toxic relationships in my opinion share one purpose, and that is to establish a relationship’s toxicity and ineffectiveness. I don’t recommend writing these into a story unless it’s an obstacle for your characters to overcome, and having a character forgive the toxic actions of another character and still end up with them isn’t the right move because it completely disregards and diminishes the effects of what happened previously.

One of the best examples I can think of is Reylo from the new sw trilogy. I did touch on this briefly in a couple of my earlier posts (The Effect Of Modern Day SW characters and My Tips for Writing (In General) which I highly suggest you go read bc they both took me a bit of time and state the purpose more in depth) but I think I’ll quick reiterate and say that it wasn’t a good choice on the writer’s part to have some of the dialogue be so intense and vicious and then have them end up together. I still like the idea of Ben Solo and Rey together and ship them together out of cannon, but in cannon, it’s the perfect example of an ineffective ship. There was little to no build up, the dialogue was often spiteful and sharp, and it escalated a bit too quickly. I would’ve liked to see more of Ben Solo (NOT Kylo) and him feeling sorry for and repenting for the bad that he’s done before he and Rey end up together. Yes, we’re all suckers for the enemies to lovers trope, but PLEASE make sure to filter out the toxins before boarding your ships and watching them sail. 

That’s it for now! I hope this helps a little when writing shippable characters! I’m always free to rant to and to critique. I’m going to start posting as much as I can, because these guides help me too! Check out my other ones if you’d like to know tips for writing in general and I made another one on how to write characters. 

[fermented-writers-block]

Why I think the actual Angel is Noelle Holiday

After nine months of research, procrastination, and working out the kinks, here’s a little theory of mine that’s been floating around in my head ever since the end of last November about Noelle Holiday and her potential role in the future of the series. It’s a bit of a long read, but I hope you’ll be willing to indulge me and give this crazy theory a chance.

As a forewarning, the following points I will be bringing up are simply too hefty to make a TLDR for, and it’s quite a long read, but trust me, you’re going to want to read through all of it for it to make sense in the end

Part 1: The Possible Evolution of the Delta Rune

First off, I’d like to look at the Delta Rune itself and a few easily overlooked key lines Gerson says about it:

That emblem actually predates written history.

The original meaning has been lost to time…

All we know is that the triangles symbolize us monsters below, and the winged circle above symbolizes…

Somethin' else.

The meaning and design of symbols can change over time, and it’s likely the same has happened to the way the Delta Rune is currently interpreted compared to when it first came into existence. For example, take a look at these variations of the Delta Rune:

Of these variations of the Delta Rune, these may be some of the oldest or closest iterations of the symbol to the original design, especially the ones from the intro cutscene and Gerson’s shop. The former is presumably from long before the Human-Monster War and thus the oldest version, and with Gerson’s apparent age and how he implies that he studies history, it is likely that the variation in his shop is also as close as can be to the original.

As for how these particular iterations of the Delta Rune fit into my theory, look at the design and positioning of the wings in these probably older iterations compared to likely more modern interpretations:

On the more recent interpretations, the base of the wings are placed around the same level as the center of the circle, and the wings themselves are mostly realistically designed. However, on the older interpretations, the wings are more simplified and stylized with more of an explicit arc to them, and the ‘feathers’ are more blocky with visible and sometimes significant spaces in between. Now keep that in mind when looking at these pictures:

Taking this into account, I think it is possible that - through the help of time and redesigns becoming successively more stylized - what was originally supposed to be a reindeer with antlers slowly got distorted and misremembered as a ‘winged circle.”

And maybe, something like this might even apply to Deltarune’s version of the Delta Rune as well given how several of the depictions of the Angel throughout the game look like the transition point between the older and newer designs, what with the ‘feathers’ being much rounder and closer together while still on an arc-based stylized design instead of a realistic wing-like design:

Part 2: The Origins of Modern Christmas

Now, with that established, let’s take a closer look at Noelle and her family.

Besides the obvious exception of Lancer, she has the most dialogue of all the NPCs, gets two entire scenes to herself in the hospital with her dad and outside her house to flesh out her character and crush on Susie compared to several other NPCs getting only a few lines of dialogue at most, and it is absolutely required to talk to her at the beginning of the game in order to even progress and end up in the Dark World. 

As many other posts than mine have demonstrated, this suspicious level of detail has led a lot of people to theorize that Noelle will be an important character and that she might even be playable later on, a theory which has certainly been helped by Toby Fox’s original concept art of “THE FUN GANG” showing that her character has been in development for a LONG time - perhaps even from when work on Deltarune was just beginning - and that she may have been designed as a main character from the start.

However, much like how the potential origins of Undertale’s Delta Rune point towards the importance of reindeer in the series, I believe the deeper origins behind the names of the Holiday family similarly point towards Noelle’s true role in Deltarune. 

Obviously, the name Rudy is a clear reference to the famous Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and Dess is most likely a reference to how Christmas is celebrated in the month of December. However, as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was created in 1939 for the Montgomery Ward department store chain, he is actually a relatively new addition to the list of Santa’s reindeer, whom in of themselves are early 19th Century additions to the image of Santa Claus - a figure tracing back to the 4th Century Christian bishop Saint Nicholas.

And on Jesus’ birth being on the 25th of December for Dess’ name, from what I’ve gathered with my google-fu, the event may have actually taken place less on December 25 and more during the fall or spring due to mentions of shepherds tending to their sheep in the scripture as well as from several attempts to connect the Star of Bethlehem with recorded astronomical events.

In fact, it seems likely that - in the 4th Century - the church might have actually chosen the date either because of coming to the conclusion that Jesus’ conception took place on the spring solstice - aka March 25, nine months before December 25 - or because they wanted to increase the popularity of Christianity through adopting and appropriating pagan winter solstice festivals like the Yule and Saturnalia holidays around the same time of year.

On the flipside, Noelle is a name that has a particularly distinct connection to Christmas; specifically, to the one for whom the holiday is named for in the first place rather than a recent secular addition or the general time in which said holiday is celebrated.

From what I’ve seen, Noelle as a name traces back to the French word ‘noel,’ which - alongside referring to Christmas carols - is a variant form of the word ‘Nael.’ This form comes from the noun use of the Latin adjective natalis, meaning of, or belonging to, one’s birth. The noun use (from natalis dies, day of birth) denoted a birthday, an anniversary, a commemorative festival, hence in ecclesiastical Latin the festival of the nativity of Christ, Christmas.

Basically, out of all the names of the Holiday family, Noelle’s is the one that most directly ties into the actual origins of Christmas in how the name’s origins heavily revolve around the birth of Jesus Christ, a major religious figure who was to be a sacrifice for humanity’s sins and to provide a way into heaven.

Considering Toby Fox’s attention to hidden details and deeper meanings and how angels are heavily associated with and are depicted in Christianity - particularly in relation to Jesus - there may be further significance to Toby picking a name that’s typically given to girls born around or on Christmas day. After all, even if it may or may not be the actual day of Jesus’ birth, it is widely celebrated and recognized as such.

However, as you’ll see at the end, I think there’s even another layer of meaning to Noelle Holiday’s name than just this one. 

Part 3: Reindeer in Undertale

On a slightly different topic, while it’s hard to ignore how more prominently featured Christmas iconography and figures in the foreground of the series - what with the introduction of the Holiday family as well as several jokes about “Krismas” and Santa Claus in Deltarune, I believe it may also be important to pay attention to Undertale’s fair share of Christmas-themed details.

Namely, in how a significant amount of them owe their existence to one specific minor character; aka the rather unusually designed Gyftrot.

In contrast to the handful of implications that Asgore is the Underground’s Santa only being implicitly hinted at through extended dialogue and checking his bureau, Snowdin’s tradition of putting presents under decorated trees is blatantly and conspicuously out in the open. 

And as Gift Bear explains if you talk to them, said tradition originated not with wherever Asgore’s Santa outfit and apparent moonlighting came from, but rather came about in the first place as a way to make Gyftrot feel better after some teens decorated his horns.

As to why I am calling Gyftrot unusually designed, it is because of his rounded head and sideways mouth - a trait only seen elsewhere in the DT Extraction Machine, Photoshop Flowey, and Sans’ Gaster Blasters.

Of all the conversations and theories I’ve seen about this strange detail, most people were only able to come up with the explanation that Toby simply liked the design and reused it for Gyftrot just for fun without any deeper meaning to it, or that Toby unintentionally gave it to Gyftrot while making Undertale.

However, a third explanation I found is that Gyftrot’s design may actually be foreshadowing for what Photoshop Flowey’s appearance looks like, what with how Gyftrot actually seems to have a second pair of eyes at the base of his antlers, and how one of the decorations he spawns with is a picture between his four eyes in a very similar position to the television screen on Photoshop Flowey.

To my knowledge, this explanation and comparison has only been made in conjunction by two people, with user u/Peridotthepie providing the explanation and and user u/pleasespellicup providing the following picture in the linked post.

While I can’t see any other possible parallels between the two to fully call this foreshadowing - especially with how the picture decoration isn’t guaranteed to show up on every playthrough and how obscure it is - I’d like to propose the idea that the DT Extraction Machine (and perhaps the Gaster Blasters by extension) may very well be based on Gyftrot or a relative with a similar design in-universe.

After all, not even boss monsters leave behind anything more than a pile of dust when they die, not even a goat-like skull that could be used as a reference, whereas Gyftrot is a living, walking example of such a design, complete with what even seems to be a SOUL-shaped hole in his mouth.

Not only that, but given how attentive to detail and deeper meanings Toby has shown himself to be as well as the increased prominence and importance of reindeer/Christmas themes in general for Deltarune, I find it incredibly unlikely that this design choice was made just for fun or as an accident.

On a bit of a side note, it is interesting that we first learned of the name “Rudy” in a post from September 17, 2017 on Undertale’s 2nd anniversary and alarm clock app.

Considering the apparent parallels between Undertale and Deltarune - for example, the potential connection between Susie and the ‘Suzy’ character mentioned by Clam Girl, who appears to have ties to Gaster - and the implications of the dialogue in that post, it’s likely that Undertale Rudy is also a reindeer just like his counterpart, and I would not be surprised if he was also related to Gyftrot as well.

As for what the exact deeper meaning or in-universe explanation behind Gyftrot could be, it’s too early to tell, but I have the feeling that it likely ties heavily into Noelle’s circumstances in Deltarune and some of the effects of the DT Extraction Machine on Undertale’s plot as detailed below.

Part 4: Determining Other Connections

To explain what I’m talking about, let’s take a closer look at a few key lab entries by Alphys, starting with this one:

ENTRY NUMBER 5: I've done it. Using the blueprints, I've extracted it from the human SOULs. I believe this is what gives their SOULs the strength to persist after death. The will to keep living... The resolve to change fate. Let's call this power... "Determination."*

While not explicitly confirmed, from the name and surrounding context, it is likely that the blueprints Alphys used were for the DT Extraction Machine and that DT stands for Determination, though it is unknown whether Alphys built the machine from the blueprints or if it was already constructed and she merely used the blueprints to operate it.

Either way, as we all know, things went horribly wrong from there. Alphys had accidentally turned those who had “fallen down” into the Amalgamates, created Flowey from the flower whose seeds Asriel had brought from the surface, and fell into a nervous downward spiral while wracked with guilt.

Now, I want to focus on just how the Amalgamates had been created, particularly with these entries:

ENTRY NUMBER 6: ASGORE asked everyone outside the city for monsters that had "fallen down." Their bodies came in today. They're still comatose... And soon, they'll all turn into dust. But what happens if I inject "determination" into them? If their SOULS persist after they perish, then... Freedom might be closer than we all thought.

ENTRY NUMBER 12: nothing is happening. i don't know what to do. i'll just keep injecting everything with "determination." i want this to work.

ENTRY NUMBER 17: monsters' physical forms can't handle "determination" like humans can. with too much determination, our bodies begin to break down. everyone's melted together…

Here, I’d like to draw your attention to a few things. Given the surrounding context, “falling down” seems to be a condition - one that potentially originates from age, injury, or some kind of illness - involving or causes monsters to enter a comatose state and eventually die. 

And in Entry 17, there is the interesting wording of the line “with too much determination, our bodies begin to break down.” From how it’s phrased, it seems that, instead of melting from any amount of Determination in their systems whatsoever, monsters can handle Determination without having to fear of their bodies breaking down, though obviously there’s a cap to how much they are able to handle.

As for why I’m making this particular distinction, it’s because of Noelle’s situation with her father and how it may proceed beyond Chapter 1 in the future.

With the implication that Undertale Rudy had passed away a while ago, Deltarune Rudy’s conversations with and about Noelle, and Deltarune’s apparent theme of choices not mattering - or at least, not in the long run - it seems pretty likely that DR Rudy is suffering from a case of the foreboding coughs of death and that he may even “fall down” later on.

As such, it wouldn’t be surprising if his condition keeps worsening all the way until he ends up on his deathbed/in a coma/legitimately dead no matter what the doctors or Noelle and such do to help, and neither would it be surprising for her to be seriously affected and react in a severe way as a result.

I mean, Rudy openly talks about how everything scares her, even ironically Santa Claus, and as the classroom scene demonstrates, she has trouble mustering up the courage and confidence to assert herself to the point where even Alphys asks her to speak up.

Considering that her father openly talks about how defenseless she is and how he worries about not being able to protect her from his hospital bed, his death/apparently inevitable upcoming death would no doubt drastically impact her, especially if she attempted as much as she could to stop it to no avail. 

Sometimes, one can be driven to desperation to do crazy things as a result of love and worry, and Noelle may very well do the same out of love for her father. If at least some of Undertale’s rules about SOULS and monsters also apply to the world of Deltarune, then there may only be one way - or at the very least, what she feels might be the only option left - in the end for Noelle to potentially give her father the strength to persist and the will to keep living, perhaps even after death.

Or in other words, potentially through extracting enough Determination from a human SOUL to inject into and potentially save her father/bring him back to life. 

If the SOUL we the players control is or is close enough to a human SOUL to work, no other human characters/SOULS pop up later, and Noelle somehow finds out about the power of Determination and becomes resolved to use it, then there may be few - if any - things we will be able to do to dissuade her from going after Kris/wherever the SOUL we control goes.

Now, this is where what I think could be the second meaning behind Noelle’s name points would come into play, and in quite an important way.

For those that don’t know, if you enter Susie, Kris, or Noelle as the creator’s name in Deltarune’s introduction, you get the interesting following response:

“YOU ARE ABOUT TO MEET SOMEONE VERY, VERY WONDERFUL.”

With how anagrams appear to be a major theme of Deltarune in both a naming and worldbuilding sense, it's rather curious that of these three names, only two make any actually sensible anagrams. Kris and Susie can be turned into "risk" and "issue,” but Noelle oddly appears to buck the trend. 

However, I think the answer for this ties back to Lab Entry 17. You see, in toxicology research terms, Alphys had injected more than “the highest dose at which there was not an observed toxic or adverse effect.”

Interestingly, this level of dosage is known as the No Observable Adverse Effect Level, or the term NOAEL for short. And sometimes, when describing and looking for an effect in general than just specifically adverse ones, the term used in toxicology reports is the No Observable Effect Level, or NOEL.

Basically, if Noelle hopes to save her father, she needs to make sure to not inject too much or too little Determination. Otherwise, she’d go below the NOEL, where Ruby would simply not have enough strength to keep living, or above the NOAEL, where Rudy would seem to be fine for a while at first before inevitably melting down. 

And with that, Noelle’s strangely un-anagramable name can be reconciled with Kris and Susie’s, all three names relating to terms often used to describe something problematic in a scientific way.

In fact, one could even say that the terms their names correspond to sound like they would fit very well in a lab or experiment report, perhaps one involving interesting increases in darkness, like an imbalance in Dark Fountains…

Part 5: Conclusions

Of course, I do realize that that last bit is quite a stretch to suggest, even in comparison to the rest of my theory and particularly the latter half of the above section. As of now, there’s no real way of telling how these details actually connect in this way or if they really even connect to each other in the first place, let alone if they even operate on similar enough rules like my theory presumes. 

Heck, with the shortage of clear definitive details about W.D. Gaster, the apparent differences between the worlds of Deltarune and Undertale, and how things may change or have already changed in development in between games and chapters, it’s entirely possible that the series will take a very different direction than the one laid out here.

Perhaps we haven’t even heard of the character who is the actual Angel and everything we’ve seen so far are just red herrings. Maybe Ralsei’s legend will be revealed to have been falsified and he and/or Asriel will turn out to be the Angel like commonly theorized. For all we know, the world of Deltarune might not even precede OR succeed Undertale’s, and it’ll turn out that both worlds are derived from a third, unaltered world/timeline.

But whatever it may be, at the point we currently are at now, I find that my most likely candidate for the Angel is Noelle Holiday. On their own, the details supporting my theory would be easy to disregard and aur tenuous at best when taken by themselves, but when taken together as a whole, it’s hard to deny that they VERY much look like they start to frame a pretty concerning picture about the exact role of reindeer across the entire series. 

I mean, even if stuff like Determination turn out to not exist - or at least, don’t work the same way they do in Undertale at all - in Deltarune, the following general sequence of events seem likely to happen for me; that Rudy might get worse to the point of almost dying/actually dying, that Noelle might turn to something just as equally rather dangerous or desperate as extracting Determination in order to save/bring back her father, and that what she does may involve/cause her to somehow become the Angel.

Besides, like we can see from the introduction to Deltarune Chapter 1, it would be much like Toby to play with our expectations from Undertale and set us up to suspect that Ralsei or Asriel may be the Angel while he sets up the real Angel elsewhere.

After all, just about every good magic trick and literature twist relies on the art of misdirection at least in some part, subtly distracting the audience while the real clues are being built up in plain sight.

Like, for example, using the power of fluffy boys to deflect attention from the reindeer in the background.

[rwby-party]

I had to run some errands but I really wanted to follow up on what I meant earlier. 

 (side note, I always write negatively under the cut/under “keep reading” so people don’t have to see it. So if you don’t wanna look at me angry about the show don't continue on from here. I mean that genuinely as I understand not wanting to see negative about a show you like and not as a ‘’DON”T LIKE DON’T READ U PANZY” sort of way)

So to get down to brass tacks and spoilers Imma be talking about Qrow’s actions and Clover dying.

Starting with Qrow, I just didn’t feel like his actions were... I guess in character. i’ve always hated saying that because he’s Crwby’s character, therefore I can’t say he’s out of character, but he really did feel out of character.

Even if Qrow was in a blind rage against Clover, I just can’t see him SIDING with Tyrian, even though it does feel unintentional.

He was attacking him at first, but just... stopped out of nowhere to keep attacking Clover. Granted, Clover wasn’t wasn’t stopping either, but I also felt like that was... bad writing.

Both Qrow and Clover pissed me off in this scene because Tyrian is a fucking murderer and one of the biggest threats in the entire show. Qrow should’ve been the least of Clover’s worries, and Qrow clearly hates Tyrian more than he’d be angry at/hate Clover. He was way more of a threat than Clover or Qrow were

It’d make way more sense for them to at least get Tyrian into custody before they did this. It feels like character stupidity for the sake of the plot.

Seeing him fight Clover with Tyrian was just.. Surreal. Not in the good way. It felt terrible. I just don’t understand in what world he would do that, or why Crwby would even think that.

Qrow is 100 percent responsible for his death as well because of it. He was too stupid to either try and stop Tyrian first or realize he’s the bigger threat. He punched Clover’s aura down. Took advantage of Tyrian being there and attacking Clover.

Even though he didn’t deliver the final blow, everything he did let Tyrian do it. He is responsible for it.

Speaking of Clover dying though.

I just feel like it’s just incredibly, INCREDIBLY unnecessary for Clover to die.  

Even though I wanted to see him side with Qrow and believed he would, I can completely understand him following Ironwood’s orders. Like he said in the show, he trusts him with his life. Seeing him trying to rationalize Ironwood’s actions was understandable and felt genuine. It was also obvious he didn’t want to arrest Qrow either, so I could understand it even though I really felt like it was going to end up differently.

It made sense for Tyrian to take advantage of the situation and cause chaos. It made sense for Robyn and Qrow to react like they did. It made sense for Cinder and Neo to show up when she did. It made sense for Marrow to side with the other Ace ops even though I didn’t want him to. It made sense for Ironwood to snap like he did the previous ep. So much in the show has made sense.

But, in my opinion, killing Clover makes no sense. Both in the narrative and just in general. The only thing it does is make Qrow suffer. Something he’s done for frankly the entirety of RWBY. It just was done for shock value. If I could find 1 reason that Clover died, just one reason, I’d feel differently. I’d still be mad and upset about it, but it’d hurt a little less if it narratively made sense.

As much as I hated Cinder coming back, her character arc wasn’t finished and I could see it. Pyrrha’s death made sense and furthered the plot. His death doesn’t.

And all this anger is leaving out the shipping aspect of it. The part I’m dreading the most to be honest.

I don’t want to call it Bury Your Gays or Queerbaiting. Clover was technically never confirmed to be gay, and while I, and MANY people felt like their interactions were flirting/romantic, I can at least try to see how it can all be interpreted as friendly.

but to be honest, I still saw it as romantic. I’m trying to be understanding of those who felt it wasn’t romantic and say it shouldn’t be considered Bury Your Gays or Queerbaiting, but it sure as hell doesn’t feel good either way.

The scene of Clover smiling at Qrow while the sun rose felt romantic. Like I’ve said before, if Clover or Qrow was a woman, many of the scenes would be way less arguable as flirting/romantic, that one included. If Ruby and Oscar can share a scene where the awkwardly talk to each other can be called romantic, so can’t a lot of the scenes with Qrow and Clover.

Even with them as just friends, building up their friendship this entire volume only to kill him is just...

Its just... real shitty. Maybe in the future I’ll see a reason to why Clover died but it just doesn’t make sense right now. I don’t even know if I want to stick along to see if it ever will.

It doesn’t do anything but bad to Qrow. Not only does it unnecessarily hurt him, but it throws a bunch of his character development throughout the whole volume out the window and makes me actively dislike him for the shit he pulled during their fight. And as much as I think Tyrian is a genius for killing Clover with Harbinger, it very much is setting up for Qrow to be framed for his murder (even though I feel like he is responsible for it, just didn’t deliver the killing blow) and additional tension between him and Ironwood, him and Robyn, and possibly even him and the rest of team RWBY and co. Once again, unnecessary tension (or tension that could’ve been added in a different way)

Clover wasn’t important enough to the plot to affect it by dying, especially with the fact that he sided with Ironwood.

Plus, with the unfortunate fact that many MLM (and other people like me, I’m more focused on them though.) shipped Fair Game and felt like he was very much Gay/Queer coded, it’s just a huge slap in the face at best, and incredibly homophobic at worst.

It’s infuriating, especially with how much I liked in this ep and how much I’ve been enjoying bumbleby’s interactions as a WLW. I was happy to have MLM rep since it’s something the show doesn’t have, but I guess they didn’t see it as such. Or just didn’t care.

I’ve never wanted to stop watching Rwby. Even after I was angry about how they handled the white fang and Discrimination the entire series. But now, I just can’t see myself watching the next ep or any afterwards.

[weapon13whitefang]

if beth comes back this season, what episode do you think she'd come back in?

S8E5 or S8E8

Why? Well, time for some delusional rambling thoughts I’ve had.

Y’all can blame @bethgreenewarriorprincess and @bethgreeneishopeunseen for this because sometimes I go through and see just what has the Team Defiance people so damn excitable and I think “I can kinda get behind that” or “I get what you’re saying but I feel like you stepped to quick into a sinkhole, friend”.

With TD, I keep seeing stuff about Mirrors. And mirrors keep sticking to me because I have a fascination with the use of mirrors in films, in history, and in superstitions. Mirrors are just fascinating.

I’ve talked about these before, but here are some things I like about Mirror superstitions

If a mirror falls and breaks by itself, someone in the house will soon die.

Someone seeing their reflection in a room where someone has recently died will soon die themselves.

Breaking a mirror will bring seven years of bad luck. This superstition dates back to the Romans, who believed that life renewed itself every seven years and that breaking a mirror would thus cause damage to the soul it was reflecting at the time for that duration. It was also inforced by the rich in the 1700s due to mirrors once being extremely expensive to afford and was meant to scare a worker from breaking the mirror or they’d owe the owner seven years of their life to pay it off.

Some ancient cultures believe that mirrors reflected the ‘shadow soul,’ and could show the true nature of the person being reflected.

In the Jewish religion, it is important to cover all mirrors in a house where someone has died while the family is sitting Shivah (the seven-day mourning period). It is said that if the mirrors aren’t covered, the spirit of the deceased may become trapped in one and not be able to move on to the afterlife.

Some cultures insist that mirrors should be covered at night and when people in the house are sleeping, to make sure that a dreamer’s wandering soul doesn’t get trapped in one. In Serbo-Croatian culture, a mirror was sometimes buried with the dead, both to prevent the spirit from wandering and to keep evil men from rising.

One legend says that viewing a mirror by nothing but candlelight will show you your reflection – and that of any entities inhabiting your home, be they ghosts or otherwise (Hence the whole Bloody Mary thing).

Ideally, no mirror should be hung so low that it “cuts off” the tallest household member’s head because doing so may cause headaches.

Mirrors were often used in magical and psychic rituals for scrying – remotely viewing another person or place – and communicating. They could also be used in magical rituals of divination – fortune telling and reading of the future. 

Ancient Chinese believed that mirrors frightened away evil spirits who were scared by their own appearance. If the mirror was broken, the protection was lost.

Mirrors have also been used in many cases of literature. Here’s to name a few:

Snow White by The Brothers Grimm

The Queens Magic Mirror

The Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Lady is condemned to watch the world indirectly, via a mirror that exhibits to her the shifting scenes of Camelot.

Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

Alice steps through the mantel place mirror into a reverse world. 

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Jonathan Harker realizes he’s in trouble when he can’t see Dracula’s reflection in a mirror.

Richard II by William Shakespear

Richard calls for a mirror to smash just before he’s about to be removed by Henry

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

The Mirror of Erised (The Mirror of Desire) is mentioned by Dumbledore to show the “deepest, most desperate desire of our hearts.” and has been known to drive men mad.

Mirrors are used in films, television, songs, art, books, and common objects found around many households. There are superstitions and legends and all kinds of shit that float around mirrors… And to me that’s fascinating. So you can imagine why the concept of mirrors speaks to me in all this craze.

Now you asked, which episode do I see as being the return episode. I gave you two answers, but my first one is the main belief because of the fact that 8x5 is episode 5x8 backward… Episode 5x8 was “CODA”, the episode where Beth was shot down. Episode 8x5 is supposed to be called “THE BIG SCARY U” (Very odd name they have coming for these next few episodes in fact - “Some Guy”, “The Big Scary U”, “The King, The Widow, and Rick”, and ”Count to 5″)

I say 5x8 because everyone wants to talk about “Alice Through The Looking Glass” - a book I mentioned above - where Alice walks through the mirror above the mantel place and ends up in a world that’s a reverse (a backward) world of the one she knows.

Which would play into this theme of “what was isn’t what is”, to put it in simple terms. We saw that with Morales’ return. Morales was a friend of Rick and Daryl’s, but now he is Negan (Well technically he ain’t shit now cause he’s dead but you get what I mean).

Basically, I’m thinking that Beth coming back could play out as a reverse of the last time we saw her. The last episode we saw Beth alive was in 5x8. What could happen is that in 8x5 we get a full on, no doubt about it, reveal of Beth being alive. I don’t know what she’s doing or where she is… But we get this shot that openly proves to everyone watching, that we are seeing Beth Greene. No words are said. And it’s not a long enough shot to give us too much. But it’s her. We see Beth shot down at the end of CODA… What if we see her standing up and alive at the end of THE BIG SCARY U? That is a reverse of what we saw in 5x8. 

8x8 is me wondering if they’re going to play Beth as a Coda again. At the end of season 5A, Beth died. But at the beginning of 5B, Beth appears again as a sickness mind trip of Tyreese in 5x9. S5E8 was the 59th episode overall of TWD. 

S8E8 will be the 107th episode of TWD overall. That’s 48 episodes between them… For those of you who find significance in the importance of numbers and their meaning, here are a few things about 48 you can read (x).

The overall thing I took from that is the following:

The number 48 is especially adept with visual and auditory artistic expression — painting, sculpting, decorating, music, and so forth.

Although business oriented, 48 is even more a social number. It supports and encourages the creative expression of others. And it tends to raise the level of optimism when participating in activities of a group.

The energy the number 48 represents includes imagination, effective communication, tolerance, joyfulness, optimism, and dynamism.

Take what you will from that… But if we wanna be fair to 8x5, that’s 45 episodes between them. And from the same link above, reading about 45, here;’s the things that stuck out to me:

If the number 45 is in the heart’s desire position of the chart, it means the person really, really wants to do something with a large positive impact on the welfare of humanity.

If the number 45 is in the personality position of the chart, it means the person tends to present themselves as a tolerant and humanitarian individual.

With a number 45 prominent somewhere in a person’s environment, interpret the situation as if it included humanitarianism, idealism, getting things done, and/or whim.

These two numbers both represent tolerance and encouragement of getting something done and helping out a group… Seems pretty accurate for what is going down and what is needed.

Anyway, what I see possibly happening is that in 8x8 we hear Beth’s voice or we see a distorted image of her. Kind of like how she’s not really there when Tyreese is dying. How she’s not the one driving the truck, but Rick. Someone may see Beth but instead of it being her, the person thinks it’s just them going crazy or hearing/seeing shit. In 8x8 could be 5x9′s reverse/backward world and then in 8x9 we have a full shot of Beth and then 5x10 could be a flashback series… Basically it could go backwards. We last saw her in Sasha’s flashback and before that it was as Tyreese’s delusion and then before that it was Coda as a limp “corpse” in Daryl’s arms. Maybe this time it’s all backwards.

Im starting to ramble.. Sorry, Nonny! This was longer than i meant it to be. Didn’t mean to dump that on you!

[flutistplayer-archived]

“Kindness... That’s something not everyone has, but I believe there is goodness in everyone’s heart.” 

200+ Followers... Which might include some ancient blogs from 3+ years ago that are inactive, cries. Either way, no matter if people forgot to unfollow me, stopped coming back to that specific RP blog, or honestly followed me because they... wanted to follow me, I really want to thank you all for sticking with this Deuce I’ve created. (Or maybe this might serve as a reminder to unfollow me, rofl. Understandable as how surreal and random this can be!)

SO, a little background about this Deuce! (You may all skip this horrendous essay so you can pat yourself on the back for being an awesome RPer, bless your heart and soul.) 

I actually started RPing as her back in 2012. It sprouted in the Twitter platform after some encouragement from my friends. It kicked off till... around 2013 (I think?) when I got serious in RPing the cutie pie. I doubt many would know about it, but this @fftype0deuce is where it all began. As you can tell, I don’t even know how to role play on Tumblr at that time, lol. She really went through changes over the years... and I’m hoping it’s for the best. 

No matter who I run to RP... I’ve always returned back to this account. From my first RP account outside of Final Fantasy (Mary from Shikkoku no Sharnoth @maryclarissachristiekitty-blog ) to a fandom I have literally no idea what I’m getting myself into (Admiral OC from Kantai Collection @admiralyoriemiko ), I’ve always run back to Deuce. An obsession? Perhaps. Passion? Well, I’m not sure. Maybe... I’m not the best Deuce RPer as I’ve seen plenty who role play her 20000000x better than me over the years. However, I can at least say I contributed to some part of the community by RPing as this character just like everyone with their muse(s)! I think...

Enough about my blabbers, FINALLY, the one you’ve all been waiting for...

FRIENDS

@fallen-saint / @invictus-classemque

Honestly, I’m grateful that we got to RP on here, Nomad! Truly, I want to thank you for giving my muse a chance, even if it does seem unlikely for our muses to interact with one another. Insert incoherent yelling here????!!? A Fate series mixed with a Final Fantasy title, let alone one that not many knew about? It seems impossible, but we made it work, especially you! You’re an awesome person and I have a feeling that no matter who I role play as... until the time comes to where I put the towel down, you’ll always give me a chance. So thank you for being so open-minded. I also want to thank you for being a good friend. ;-; Seriously, you’re one of those few RPers I would not hesitate to drop and run over if you need help or anything. (Or fanboy & fangirl together, hAH) To others, I recommend following this guy! He RPs Jeanne Alter and does an awesomesauce interpretation of her. Just a;lskdjf;lakjsf QUALITY A++ NICE MUN NICE PERSON OVERALL CRIES

@fudcshin / @ofortitudo

BAEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, you are so awesome, awesome is literally an understatement. (and yer of course one of the only people that I can comfortable squeal and fangirl with omg) I’m really happy that you are willing to RP with me since the first day we’ve interacted all the way to present time! Bruh, 3+ years. a;skjfd;akjsf TIME FLIES WHERE IS OUR YOUTH??? I’m so excited to RP Type-0 stuff with you, especially when I returned to my homey account from Kantai Collection, rofl. You’re also a sweet person that, frankly, should get a big giant hug and sweets and-- u r just awesomesauce, ok? But seriously, you’re someone that not only RP amazing stuff, but you really followed me wherever I went. I cry. I CRY BECAUSE YOU ARE SO SWEET AND LOYAL, IT HURTS :A; <3 You’ll always be in my hearto as a good friendo, doki doki ;u; ;akjsd;lfkja

@culpritouswildcat

I swear to god, time flew by FASTER THAN AN AIRPLANE JESUS CHRIST-- anyway, seriously, you’re one of the few old RPers that are willing to remain as my RP partner from years ago (LOL 3 YEARS OR SOMETHING??? TIME FLIES) and it just brings tears to my eyes and my heart going doki doki. You’re an awesome RPer and I really REALLY LOVE your writing style, gosh. (No exaggeration) I find it funny that we first interacted through your Dlanor account and eventually shifted to this lovable wildcat... what a transition! Either way, thank you for giving my account a chance once again! I hope we can RP together more so into the future! ;; <3 (P.S. Gimme that Nitocris)

@inkstainedjade

omg, gurl, u r like the precious diamond in the sand. SO PRECIOUS. I’m seriously glad we met and you’re so nice, it makes my heart go doki doki. I mean, you are the all time Divine Sadist and Harem Queen??? That even Lucifer would bless your Holy existence into one of pure gold??? Simply AMAZING <3 But jokes aside, seriously, even though you are going through some hardships (sounds like an understatement sob), you really trudge through with your optimistic personality to others! It breaks my heart, CRIES. Just know that I’m always here for you ! Plus, you RP on a godLY LEVEL like jesus christ, I know we just interacted a bit in one thread and a;lskjdf;lkajsf plan some amazing plots and relationship between your muse and mine, but you’re so cool ;; To be frank, when you first followed me, I almost died because you know, how can this RPer who details her OC so well follow someone like me? I am a mere peasant. Love ya lots bae and let’s continue our friendship! 

@queen-yggdrasil

Man, you are one loyal RPer and I’m so glad we interacted with each other! For you to be open to whatever muse I have and not be afraid to try something, that's pretty awesome! ( Not to mention we over analyze and complain about everything, we are PROS, rofl!) Living in the same state, I’m almost amazed that we’ve constantly missed each other?! We’ll definitely hit each other up in person one day! But seriously, thank YOU for being such a great RPer, cRIES. Even if we don’t RP, I really enjoy seeing you on my dashboard! 

@notavampirehere

Onii-sama! <3 Ever since we first met when I was exploring the RP zone, you really stuck with me till the end... Dang, you’re honestly the only person that I can admit that stayed with me from the very beginning. I’m a little shocked that you’re too kind and sweet to keep in contact with me on a daily basis no matter if I reply or not with a;lksjdf;lajsf adorable messages that make my heart scream in glee. Thank you for being who you are! Always remember that I’m here for you no matter what! <3 And seriously, you’re someone precious to me in my heart. ;A; <3 aHHHHHHHH -huggies-

CADETS

@adelicatefleur || @whirlwhip || @fightforastar || @snowdyedred || @scytheofhatred || @ephemeral-twilight || @jurina-andthediamonds || @notturnomelodico || @talion-greyling || @balestralunge || @snakedevourer || @sacred-one-vanille || @thekeybladehero || @defenderspledge || @problem-free || @perpetua-anima || @xroppy || @ablazc || @lunaliee || @burmecianblackmage || @lockedfighter || @mollisxcorde || @reminiscentiae || @caiiius || @facadeofanagito || @requiemxsonata || @gopinkglasses || @accxcedrinum || @skystriked || @sora-pugnxre-mxlum || @blindingstrike || @edenslostwallflower || @themalefleet || @montrosethefrigate || @freshholeinthewall || @finalhxaven || @eviqhet || @triggerxhappy || @forgottencruisers || @linearcrxsh || @innocentiapuerili-archive || @theobscuracamera || @candentiia || @shurdo || @septemx-blog || @ace-of-war-blog || @wielderofcards || @deckopen || @turkwitharod || @osakansax || @deadlylegacy || @wayfinderxcharms || @cinqueyto-blog || @imitation-liegeman-blog-blog || @missmagicalremski || @lethaeux || @nxtzero || @optimisticblade || @digeanta || @fujxn || @ariansaith-blog || @summoningballad || @cinquey || @caterstrophe || @7thwhipofagito || @eyesofnightstars-blog || @diviinus-blog || @zero-ace-blog || @thirdarcher || @xflamboyant-blog || @etamarella || @type-nine || @bishoujominatsuchi-blog || @rxik || @yuroxio-blog || @celestialvectors-blog-blog-blog || @oursongofhealing || @fey-archive || @relaxingslumber || @diabxlicx || @anordinarymagician || @hanahxru || @cardavem || @glitterdealer || @artemisxbow-archive-blog || @angelsknightleonhart || @rustiiica || @tezcatlipoca-embodied-blog || @alterluce-archive || @moombaliberator-archive || @valysta-blog || @gxnowritxr || @kaz-oo-blog || @sanctum-flore || @ankokuseiun || @eternalcalms || @aeristelle || @marksmanagito || @vautrien || @blessedbycrystal || @adhortemur || @themisfitvestigationclub || @swordglassesquick || @quiverandsong || @drakania-archive || @scindeva || @phantomxce || @rapusodosu || @humiles-corde-blog || @imperialrosenkingarchive || @draconiseffigiem || @ceruleanpapilio || @void-earth-archive || @kujabutterfly || @gemini-cannon-blog || @goldentailedthief-archive-blog || @mothermullet || @chiyuuarmy || @rubyobscura || @sanguinetempo || @thescionoflegend || @xflamboyant-archive || @void-of-muses || @ailenifflam || @xyojimbo || @beautifulcrow-archive-blog || @riotxblade || @persuadedbyboko || @serpentsofthegreatsun || @musculartactician || @stealingyourbeer-blog || @faithfulfriar || @wandereroftime || @transientblade-blog || @vitriss || @majisukaxookabuki || @black-concerto || @femaletitxn || @whitesorceroroffynn-archive || @whispersinthedark14-rp || @requiemsoldier || @helmdivide || @sxcrifie || @rembies || @rappapaqueenofrage || @claireveriearchive || @kiryuinlasatsuki-blog || @dxgitalheroine || @forgottencrystalization || @maceprincess || @albhedgreen-archive || @hurricanewhipseven || @nevrospastxs-archive || @braverhero || @whorxifying || @angelwingprincess || @impossibleloves || @last-crown-of-lucis || @zeronoesu || @odiumstulte || @senarius

THANK YOU FOR BEING AWESOME! 

[dreamofcentipedes]

I've seen 3 way of interpreting the color cover: Death (obviously with how the chapter ended), Loss of Virginity (her offer to Kaneki when he's ready and /or considering sex as a way to get him to stay, and flowers used in poems and literature as a symbol of a young woman's virginity, lastly (and least likely to me) pregnancy (flowers also meaning new life, the red either meaning loss virginity or childbirth going along with Touka offer of sex resulting in a One Eyed Prince/Princess)

do u think this chapter is a death flag for touka?

do you think the blood splatter on the colour page might be hinting that mutsuki might stab touka with one of her knives or something?

Idk if anyone asked this before, but there’s been death flags already marked on touka from the latest chapter and I just want to know you’re opinion and what you think. Considering how the chapter ended, I’m really worried and concerned for her.

Hi! So according to the colored page of latest chapter. I guess you’ve seen the 3 possibilities of what might happen to Touka. I would like to hear what you think about it. I highly doubt that she would die, Ishida sensei doesn’t kill characters lightly especially if it doesn’t serve the story (which I think is applied on Touka right now). Also her expression in the picture doesn’t imply bad thing happening, but more like she’s happy? I mean even if she were to die I don’t think it will be now..

Or pregnancy.

Dude the stain on toukas stomach kinda looks like a ukaku kagune. What if the color page is implying pregnancy?

rebeccastarlight: The blood splatter on the cover page it also looks like she’s going to die from childbirth

I wasn’t really a believer of the cover page implying that Touka became pregnant, but I recently saw a reddit post about it. [You can probably find it on the front page.] So anyways, it talked about the poem Ishida made a year ago, “Her womb smelled like it was burnt”. Bad sign already, but if you go through the translated lyrics its even worse. It also straightforwardly says the children meant to be born, had died. Do you think that relates to whats happening now? ItAlsoWouldLeadToParallelling 

Wow, this is a really popular question, huh? Well, really it’s two and a half questions: 1) Will Touka die next chapter? 2) Will Touka get pregnant? 2.5) Will it end tragically? But since they’re all related to the cover picture, I’ll answer them all here before saying what I think is going to happen.

Q: Will Touka die next chapter?

A: No way Jose. If I’ve learnt anything from all that I’ve ever read, watched or played, it’s that female deuteragonists are IMMORTAL. Even more so than protagonists on some occasions. Don’t worry about the death flags, because this arc will be a parallel of the original Anteiku Raid arc, and you know who had a ton of death flags back then and who Touka has been paralleling since the start of :re? Old man Yoshimura! Who, despite it all, is still alive (if not kickin’). Touka won’t die - it’s far more likely that she’s going to get captured like her predecessor, probably as bait for Kaneki. 

Q: Will Touka get pregnant, and will it end in tragedy?

A: Unlikely. That would require a 9-month timeskip to pay off, and things are way too hectic in the story right now to allow for something like that. The alternative would be that it’s foreshadowing for the epilogue, but it seems a bit strange to do that so early on and before Kaneki and Touka have even done the deed. It’s also not something that really needs to be foreshadowed because it would be part of the denouement rather than the actual plot. I don’t think it’s ukaku kagune since Ishida always draws blood with artistic flair in his colour art, and the drops over her breasts are unmistakably blood. As for the flowers, those are Kaneki’s signature flower, sweet olives, and they represent him.

Where the stillbirth/death in childbirth theories are concerned, I really doubt Ishida would kill off Touka so needlessly in the story’s epilogue of all places, and killing the baby would be equally pointless as we’ve seen Kuzen and Ukina (moar parallels) manage it. As one of these anons has already said, Ishida always has a point to his tragedy; he wouldn’t just throw either of those things in at the story’s conclusion for the sake of squeezing our tear ducts, especially since it would have nothing to do with the plotline of Tokyo Ghoul and, again, an epilogue is supposed to unwind tension rather than wrack it up.

What I think is going to happen

I think the blood on her stomach is indicative of a wound inflicted by Mutsuki. But it’s not just going to be any wound that’ll regenerate in a week - I think that out of jealousy, Mutsuki is going to damage Touka’s womb beyond repair. Since Ghouls have high-speed regenerative abilities, the only way to ensure that the womb won’t grow back would be to tear it out of her body, or maybe even eat it (we’ve already seen Mutsuki feed from bodies, and it could serve to parallel Ayato eating her kakuhou in the original series). Sexual mutilation would fit Mutsuki’s parallels with Torso and Nutcracker, and Kaneki and Touka talking about sex foreshadows that specific calamity more than a general death - especially since we’ve seen how good Touka is with kids in Ch 120. It also allows the aforementioned poem to fit in - “The children who were meant to be born, died” - referring to Touka’s ability to reproduce being robbed from her. 

So I think sad times are ahead for Touka, but she will live on. And isn’t Hinami kind of her and Kaneki’s kid already?

[marshmallowgoop]

I'm surprised you feel that way, although it made me sad (especially that senketsu was gone), I really loved the way they dealt with the themes of moving on, and of the impact the past should have on us.

I’m surprised that this is surprising! Apparently I haven’t salted enough about the ending recently, huh?

That said, I don’t know if you read this post that I linked in my last response, but I would recommend reading it if you haven’t (and if you want to understand more of my POV). The argument there is just one of the most eloquent I’ve written about why the ending plain doesn’t work, but I can also point to a whole slew of other essays/thoughts on the subject that I’ve done (the ☂ are warnings for Extreme Salt and the numbers in parentheses note that the essay was included on that page in my compiled meta book): 

Senketsu’s Death: For the Best? (186)  ☂

Senketsu’s Final Fate? (143) ☂

Senketsu “Outgrew” Being a Uniform? (139) ☂

OVA Thoughts ☂ 

Senketsu’s Death: Is Senketsu Really Dead? (145) ☂ , Part II  ☂ , Part III  ☂

The OVA is Awful if You Like Senketsu ☂

OVA Salt ☂

“Outgrowing Sailor Uniforms” ☂

And then the one I linked above: Gurren Lagann, Re: Cutie Honey: Kill la Kill Ending Salt ☂

Buuuut that’s a whole heck of a lot of TLDR, so let me pick out the relevant bits:

From Senketsu’s Final Fate? (143) ☂:

I appreciate how the OVA expanded on Senketsu’s dying linesome more with the idea of “graduating” from the past and learning to move on,but, opinions, it wasn’t really the closure I was hoping for. A peek in myanalysis tag shows that I don’t ever seem to stop yapping about how Senketsuis more than a uniform, and I’ll always argue that point,since that’s so much of what the show means to me. And while I’m compelled bythe OVA’s take on “outgrowing” being less about growing up but more aboutletting go of the past and moving on, it still rather adds to this idea of“outgrowing Senketsu”… which leaves a really sour taste in my mouth. Yeah, itseems to be more about what sailor uniforms represent (and particularly, what aKamui represents) than anything about Senketsu personally, but the point stillstands. He’s Ryuko’s friend and partner. You don’t outgrow that.

Worst of all, though, is that the closure at the end heregives off the impression that Ryuko doesn’t need Senketsuanymore, which doesn’t sit right with me. Cause, like, when you lose a friendand you learn to live without them, saying you don’t need them anymore feelsall sorts of wrong. People certainly need people, but with friends, itshouldn’t be about being so reliant on them that you literally need them tolive—it’s about wanting them in your life because they enhanceit by being who they are. So in this sense, yes, Ryuko doesn’t need him, butthat’s not something I want to hear in this show’s final moments. I want tohear that they were friends, that they had good times together, that she’llmiss him but she won’t kill herself in missing him, and she’ll never forgethim. This “I’ve outgrown you and I don’t need you anymore” vibe I get justfeels like a slap in the face after everything those two went through together.

From OVA Thoughts ☂:

I can’t enjoy the OVA as much as I would like because it mucks up one of the show’s most crucial elements. To spend a whole series touting two characters as equals and one and the same and then try to pass one off as just some grand mentor figure that needs to be “outgrown” and moved away from plain doesn’t work. And it works even less to treat him as though he’s been some object all along. All of that seems to be going on with the OVA, and all of it leaves me shaking my head.

From Senketsu’s Death: For the Best? (186)  ☂:

You might outgrow sailor uniforms (though I’ll point outthat this sentiment is pretty broken, considering Ryuko still has a year ofhigh school left and no, she’s not done wearing sailor uniforms just yet), butyou don’t outgrow friends. 

From Senketsu “Outgrew” Being a Uniform? (139) ☂:

Now, moving on from the battle and letting the past rest? Ican totally see that as a good way to conclude the show. With the idea ofchoosing your own destiny and breaking the strings of fate that bound you, theOVA does indeed work on a lot of levels and asks a lot of touching questions,too. What do you do with yourself once you are freed from fate? How do you moveon? All great. I dig it.

And I’d dig it a lot more if Senketsu was handled as nicely.Ryuko needs to move on from his death and not drown herself in sorrow for hisloss? Awesome! Perfect way to end the series. But it gets so… muddled.

First off, there are a million different ways to interpretwhat even happened with Senketsu. Is he dead and watching over Ryuko in theafterlife? Is he an imaginary space ghost? Is he a god? Is he in Ryuko’s heartand together they get to live out Ryuko’s greatest happiness for reals? Is heboth literally in her heart and Life Fiber Clothing Jesus atthe same time? Is he sharing Ryuko’s body a la Birdy and Tsutomu and they justhave to build him a new one? Is it like Wan and Raava where they’re fused but(I presume) they can still speak to each other and maintain their own personalities?All of these could work in canon, and for something that’s supposed to giveclosure, it’s rather frustrating and confusing. What is even meant to beconveyed with such an ambiguous conclusion to Senketsu’s story? If he’s deadand the theme is moving on from fate, make it clear that he is indeeddead—don’t complicate it.

From The OVA is Awful if You Like Senketsu ☂:

Meanwhile Senketsu’s character is totally shat on [in the OVA], he’streated as little more than an object when his entire arc was about realizinghe’s human and so much more than that, this forced, last-minutemetaphor of “outgrowing your sailor uniform!!!” that never made sense inthe first place and was totally contradictory to the entire rest of the show isfurthered in the most demeaning way possible (“lol senketsu ur just a sailoruniform and guess i’ve moved on from them even though i actually still have ayear of high school left and also weren’t u supposed to be, like, my friend andequal? not anymore!”), and there’s such ambiguity about his final fate thatnobody can seem to agree if he’s even freaking dead or not… which just mucks upthese forced metaphors even more. 

I was fucked up for days after I first saw the OVA because Iwas so disappointed by it. I could not believe the treatment of Senketsu, andeven now I still cringe a bit whenever I edit with it or write about it.

From OVA Salt ☂:

The OVA’s supposed to have this big message about moving on(and, in Ryuko’s case, moving on from Senketsu’s loss… I mean, at least, I think that’swhat they’re going for, but it gets so muddled), but it’s hard for it to meanmuch when you don’t really see her suffering. How much didthis loss mean to her? Who knows, because the show doesn’t get into it verymuch.

Which is awful, because it’s a loss that should mean somuch to Ryuko. It was literally one of her greatest fears that she’dlose Senketsu. She had a recurring nightmare about it, and she was so fiercelyprotective over him that she would have died for him without even a moment’shesitation. The two of them are described as “soulmates,” a perfect team,“two-in-one.” She wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. This isthe kind of death that deserves some time. And you just don’tget much in the OVA, and what you do pretty much reducesSenketsu to an object.

It’s just… disappointing, especially because I don’t thinkany other (heroic) character would have been treated like this if they had diedinstead–and the OVA certainly wouldn’t be so widely accepted if they were.

From Gurren Lagann, Re: Cutie Honey: Kill la Kill Ending Salt ☂:

Again, I think there’s merit in tragedies and the sad factthat things aren’t always going to work out. I think Senketsu’s death couldhave been really poignant and powerful even if it broke my heart. But themessage they went with [Senketsu living “wouldn’t do anything” for Ryuko’s growth] leaves me empty and not feeling anything but disappointment,and, even worse, it’s not even a tasteful portrayal of such a message as “TheSense of Wonder” is. Senketsu’s entire person is discarded, and a loss that should bemonumental is brushed aside as something righteous and “for the best.”

Okay, that’s a heck of a lot of TLDR, too. So, basically, I guess it comes down to this:

The idea of moving on from the past is fine. It’s fine to do that in relation to a character’s death—even great! However, Senketsu—literally the second or third-most important character—has a death scene that lasts, in its entirety, hardly over one minute. One. Minute. For the protagonist’s canonically-described soulmate. It’s just not good.

And not only that, Senketsu also dies less than five minutes before the end of the series. The show only focuses on Ryuko’s grief for a brief moment and then Senketsu is promptly ignored until, right at the last minute, the show decides, oh, right, yeah, Senketsu, moving on from sailor uniforms, yeah, sure. It seems to me that Senketsu was originally far less of a character than he ended up being, and that’s fine… but then you can’t just shove in your originally-intended ending and act like it’s cool. It’s not.

In fact, I’m sure Senketsu didn’t used to be such a character, because Ryuko thinking about Senketsu in the last moment of episode 24 wasn’t even in the almost-final script. The “outgrowing sailor uniforms” thing ended up being so tacked on in the final version of the story that even the nearly-final draft just kinda threw it out there and completely abandoned it. 

So that big, overarching idea of “moving on from the past” that the OVA tries to build on? It was literally thrown together last minute. And it shows. It shows so hard.

Because think of it this way: say Mako died, in the last five minutes of the last episode, in hardly a minute. Say that, as she perished, she told Ryuko that she’d only be holding her back in life (even though the entire rest of the series says otherwise), and that it’s good for her to go. Say Ryuko cried for all of thirty seconds and then there’s a flash forward and she’s shopping with her sister with cheerful music. Say that the whole show ends when Ryuko sees a girl who looks like Mako, feels sad for a second, and then is hunky-dory because she knows Mako helped her get her to where she is.

Would that seem well done or like a sad, but beautiful display of moving on? No! There would be an uproar if this happened! Mako’s death would have felt ridiculously tacked on and pointlessly cruel!

But that’s exactly what happened with Senketsu. His death isn’t given proper time, the “moving on” message is so forced that you don’t even really see it in an almost-final version of the script, and the only reason it gets accepted is because Senketsu doesn’t look like a cute human girl or guy.

And that is why I can’t stand the ending of Kill la Kill.