#feel free to disagree of course

[milkywayes]

interspecies awkwardness for breakfast a.k.a. 'I can't believe I made a comic'

[yetanotherexhaustedalchemist]

Related to last post. this is simply what canon is to me.

[hauntingsofhouses]

Very interesting to me that a certain subset of the BES fandom's favourite iterations of Mizu and Akemi are seemingly rooted in the facades they have projected towards the world, and are not accurate representations of their true selves.

And I see this is especially the case with Mizu, where fanon likes to paint her as this dominant, hyper-masculine, smirking Cool GuyTM who's going to give you her strap. And this idea of Mizu is often based on the image of her wearing her glasses, and optionally, with her cloak and big, wide-brimmed kasa.

And what's interesting about this, to me, is that fanon is seemingly falling for her deliberate disguise. Because the glasses (with the optional combination of cloak and hat) represent Mizu's suppression of her true self. She is playing a role.

Take this scene of Mizu in the brothel in Episode 4 for example. Here, not only is Mizu wearing her glasses to symbolise the mask she is wearing, but she is purposely acting like some suave and cocky gentleman, intimidating, calm, in control. Her voice is even deeper than usual, like what we hear in her first scene while facing off with Hachiman the Flesh-Trader in Episode 1.

This act that Mizu puts on is an embodiment of masculine showboating, which is highly effective against weak and insecure men like Hachi, but also against women like those who tried to seduce her at the Shindo House.

And that brings me to how Mizu's mask is actually a direct parallel to Akemi's mask in this very same scene.

Here, Akemi is also putting up an act, playing up her naivety and demure girlishness, using her high-pitched lilted voice, complimenting Mizu and trying to make small talk, all so she can seduce and lure Mizu in to drink the drugged cup of sake.

So what I find so interesting and funny about this scene, characters within it, and the subsequent fandom interpretations of both, is that everyone seems to literally be falling for the mask that Mizu and Akemi are putting up to conceal their identities, guard themselves from the world, and get what they want.

It's also a little frustrating because the fanon seems to twist what actually makes Mizu and Akemi's dynamic so interesting by flattening it completely. Because both here and throughout the story, Mizu and Akemi's entire relationship and treatment of each other is solely built off of masks, assumptions, and misconceptions.

Akemi believes Mizu is a selfish, cocky male samurai who destroyed her ex-fiance's career and life, and who abandoned her to let her get dragged away by her father's guards and forcibly married off to a man she didn't know. on the other hand, Mizu believes Akemi is bratty, naive princess who constantly needs saving and who can't make her own decisions.

These misconceptions are even evident in the framing of their first impressions of each other, both of which unfold in these slow-motion POV shots.

Mizu's first impression of Akemi is that of a beautiful, untouchable princess in a cage. Swirling string music in the background.

Akemi's first impression of Mizu is of a mysterious, stoic "demon" samurai who stole her fiance's scarf. Tense music and the sound of ocean waves in the background.

And then, going back to that scene of them together in Episode 4, both Mizu and Akemi continue to fool each other and hold these assumptions of each other, and they both feed into it, as both are purposely acting within the suppressive roles society binds them to in order to achieve their goals within the means they are allowed (Akemi playing the part of a subservient woman; Mizu playing the part of a dominant man).

But then, for once in both their lives, neither of their usual tactics work.

Akemi is trying to use flattery and seduction on Mizu, but Mizu sees right through it, knowing that Akemi is just trying to manipulate and harm her. Rather than give in to Akemi's tactics, Mizu plays with Akemi's emotions by alluding to Taigen's death, before pinning her down, and then when she starts crying, Mizu just rolls her eyes and tells her to shut up.

On the opposite end, when Mizu tries to use brute force and intimidation, Akemi also sees right through it, not falling for it, and instead says this:

"Under your mask, you're not the killer you pretend to be."

Nonetheless, despite the fact that they see a little bit through each other's masks, they both still hold their presumptions of each other until the very end of the season, with Akemi seeing Mizu as an obnoxious samurai swooping in to save the day, and Mizu seeing Akemi as a damsel in distress.

And what I find a bit irksome is that the fandom also resorts to flattening them to these tropes as well.

Because Mizu is not some cool, smooth-talking samurai with a big dick sword as Akemi (and the fandom) might believe. All of that is the facade she puts up and nothing more. In reality, Mizu is an angry, confused and lonely child, and a masterful artist, who is struggling against her own self-hatred. Master Eiji, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

And Akemi, on the other hand, is not some girly, sweet, vain and spoiled princess as Mizu might believe. Instead she has never cared for frivolous things like fashion, love or looks, instead favouring poetry and strategy games instead, and has always only cared about her own independence. Seki, her father figure who knows her best, knows this.

But neither is she some authoritative dominatrix, though this is part of her new persona that she is trying to project to get what she wants. Because while Akemi is willful, outspoken, intelligent and authoritative, she can still be naive! She is still often unsure and needs to have her hand held through things, as she is still learning and growing into her full potential. Her new parental/guardian figure, Madame Kaji, knows this as well.

So with all that being said, now that we know that Mizu and Akemi are essentially wearing masks and putting up fronts throughout the show, what would a representation of Mizu's and Akemi's true selves actually look like? Easy. It's in their hair.

This shot on the left is the only time we see Mizu with her hair completely down. In this scene, she's being berated by Mama, and her guard is completely down, she has no weapon, and is no longer wearing any mask, as this is after she showed Mikio "all of herself" and tried to take off the mask of a subservient housewife. Thus, here, she is sad, vulnerable, and feeling small (emphasised further by the framing of the scene). This is a perfect encapsulation of what Mizu is on the inside, underneath all the layers of revenge-obsession and the walls she's put around herself.

In contrast, the only time we Akemi with her hair fully down, she is completely alone in the bath, and this scene takes place after being scorned by her father and left weeping at his feet. But despite all that, Akemi is headstrong, determined, taking the reigns of her life as she makes the choice to run away, but even that choice is reflective of her youthful naivety. She even gets scolded by Seki shortly after this in the next scene, because though she wants to be independent, she still hasn't completely learned to be. Not yet. Regardless, her decisiveness and moment of self-empowerment is emphasised by the framing of the scene, where her face takes up the majority of the shot, and she stares seriously into the middle distance.

To conclude, I wish popular fanon would stop mischaracterising these two, and flattening them into tropes and stereotypes (ie. masculine badass swordsman Mizu and feminine alluring queen but also girly swooning damsel Akemi), all of which just seems... reductive. It also irks me when Akemi is merely upheld as a love interest and romantic device for Mizu and nothing more, when she is literally Mizu's narrative foil (takes far more narrative precedence over romantic interest) and the deuteragonist of this show. She is her own person. That is literally the theme of her entire character and arc.

[hidedino]

i can see it so clearly that Q!Fit doesn't actually want to get a confirmation of how Q!Pac feels about him because then he'd be forced to think about the real possibility of pac reciprocating his feelings and waiting for him to confess.

i can recall two instances confirming this, first when ramón and bad had a conversation about fit and pac's feelings and fit had purposefully moved out of their volume radius. the second one was yesterday when fit was trying to distract sunny so neither of them could spy on the conversation between ramón and pac.

and this leads me to another thought.

i'm wondering here if maybe pac realises that fit does reciprocate his feelings, but doesn't want to confess first because he knows that fit is still not ready for a relationship. and of course, pac might not be fully ready either, but it currently seems like fit is further behind. he's still in that phase when he's worried that pac might become put off by fit seeing him in a romantic way, confirming this by telling ramón that "he doesn't want ramón to scare pac off" after ramón's confrontations.

listen, i know the most common explanation is that they're both scared of confessing because of their insecurities about whether the other will reciprocate their feelings. but there's just something about pac's interactions with ramón which is making me believe he may know more than we're giving him credit for.

when he was answering ramón's pushes at how they should start dating and get married, his answers seemed to be of someone who's perfectly aware that there are mutual feelings which are most likely eventually going to turn into something more than friendship. he was saying things like "maybe in the future i'll really become your dad" and "it is going slow, hopefully we can start progressing faster". and the biggest surprise was that he'd even insinuated he isn't actually sure what their relationship status is, but they're probably just good friends for now (because they haven't talked about it yet).

so pac kind of considers them to already be more than friends in the way they interact with each other. which means, he has to know about how fit feels because otherwise he wouldn't confess all of these things to ramón. also he obviously knew that fit was inviting him on a date even if fit was so worried about admitting said fact to pac. he was fully aware that their entire day together was meant to be romantic.

tldr: seeing that pac seems perfectly aware of fit's feelings, i find it more likely that he's waiting for fit to process them too instead of simply worrying that fit doesn't like him like that.

[iridescentpull]

Actually, I'm gonna ramble about Pac and Ramón for a bit:

Pac knows how it feels to be abandoned– after all, he was abandoned in the orphanage after his parents' divorce. He knows the trauma of waiting for that person to come back, but ultimately never coming back, and feeling like maybe it was his fault for that, and the need to prove you deserve to be loved.

They both had to grow up quickly, albeit for different yet similar reasons. Pac had to grow up quickly because he had to take care and protect his best friend, Mike, and at the same time fight for their survival after the orphanage shut down. Ramón had to grow up because his other father, Spreen, didn't like how childish he was (the moment with the boucy ball comes to mind**) and then he lost his 1st life, which meant he had to be extra careful.

They both also only have had one other person for most of their lives, someone they can trust 100%. It has always been Fit and Ramón & Pac and Mike for the longest time. Of course, other people have come and gone, but in the end, it has always been the two of them.

I think the reason Pac is so affectionate and caring of Ramón is because he knows, he understands him. He wants Ramón to get to experience all the things he couldn’t. Have a big adoption party? Yes, of course. Have two lovable parents who cherish him? Done and dusted. Have domestic and relaxing activities with close family? That can be be arranged, just say a day.

All in all, I think them being in each others lives heals them respectively. Pac being able to love and take care of Ramón helps him heal his inner child. Ramón being able to get the second parent he always wanted (while also making sure Fit is not alone) helps him get to feel like a silly kid once again.

I think that's beautiful.

(** If you dont know, Ramón once had a slime ball he used to play catch with. One time, he gave the ball to Spreen in hopes of playing with him, but Spreen scolded him for being childish and that he had to grow up. After that, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ramón with the ball again [i could be wrong, though!])

[aroacenezhaanddainsleif]

again, aroace and not much of a shipper so my opinion is biased, but seeing people do polls and stuff of like "what's the best LMK ship" always seems so har-

it's Free Noodles. the answer is Free Noodles.

look, Shadowpeach is great, but those bitches are way too goddamn emo for this, and all Traffic Light Trio ships are just chaos incarnate.

look at Pigsy and Tang. look at the old gay guys. they're so dumb. they've been together 20 years. i love them.

(and also Sandy rocks.)

[kyouka-supremacy]

Atsushi for the ask game.

ATSUSHI HERE WE GO THANK YOU FOR HEARING MY PRAYERS

Favorite thing about them: HIS SELFISHNESS. It's so so delicious to explore. Can you imagine a protagonist that saves others not out of simple good will, but because of egoistic self-preservation motives? It just feels counterintuitive for me lmao, and I found it quite messed up when I first watched the anime, but now it's so compelling to explore. His whole “everything I do is in order to gain the right to live” is crazy fashinating. Because lol, that's entirely nonsensical to me! There's no such thing as “gaining the right to live”; all humans, every person in the world is inherently deserving of life. All. No exception. So there's no level of “weak” or “worthless” that would make you lose that right. The fact that's it's a vision so distant and absurd from mine, idk, it just makes it very compelling to explore? “What if there was a little fucked up guy who believed the right to live had to be earned” just sounds like a very interesting premise.

Least favorite thing about them: When I first watched the anime, I think I found him low-key annoying? I just... Don't do very well with self-deprecating people and people who complain a lot in general, I usually suffer in silence and tend to (wrongly) assume others should do the same (this probably makes me sound pretty mean, I swear I try to be understanding irl). However, it doesn't bother me as much anymore, I simply think it's more of a distinctive trait of the character that makes him multilayered and unique. As of now, I can't think of anything I don't like about him if not the fact that I wish he'd rely on Dazai and others in general a little less. I know that has to do with his lack of self-worth, so maybe it makes sense,, but as of now he feels kind of stuck. I just wish we'd see him grow more on that front.

Favorite line:

There may be better ones, but I really like the delivery of this one.

brOTP: KYOUKA AND ATSUSHI they make me go insane. Already talked about this in the Kyouka post but just to reiterate: in my headcanon Kyouka really is the only person Atsushi feels genuine, selfless affection towards. It's very sweet. They're siblings. Kyouka's happiness is really important for Atsushi. They really do have that feeling of people who got out of an abusive environment learning what normality is supposed to be like together. I also really like how they compensate for what the other lacks, be it decisiveness and coolhead for Atsushi and empathy and positivity for Kyouka. Although plenty shipping them romantically, I really like platonic sskk and atsulucy as well.

OTP: I really like sskk eheh. I think they're neat. There's a thousand and one reasons why I find them pretty great. They're objectively the only reason why I got invested in bsd as well as the only thing that has me keep up with the franchise to this day. Right now, I feel like the one thing I really appreciate about them is how you can be the worst person in the universe and still somehow be loveable to someone. I think it's sweet. I also find it very fun and enterataining to explore their various soulmatism antics. They're both very complex and multilayered characters with something deeply wrong with how their minds work that makes them very fun to analyze both by their own and in the complexity of their relationship. Their collective story arc and canon relationship progression is extremely engaging and nice to follow, too. I love dazatsu and atsulucy as well!! Both were ships I wasn't particularly invested when I read the manga for the first time, but really grew in me in the last six months or so. I really dig akuatsulucy as well!!

nOTP: Nothing?

Random headcanon: He really likes reading. There's some real meta-analysis to be made here I actually had written this is probably not the right place to talk about, but in a work that's all about literature, he's the character who reads.

Unpopular opinion: He's the hardest character to write / characterize. That's why people should probably go easier on other fans when they mischaracterize him. He's just very multifaceted and genuinely hard to get. I keep seeing people being like “Stop babyfying Atsushi he's an independent adult!!” then turn around to say “he can't be shipped with Dazai because there's too much unbalance of power :// [somewhat implying Atsushi can't make free decisions for himself]”, or “Stop making of Atsushi a soft baby who never did wrong in his life!!!” then turn around to say “Atsushi is the happy puppy of the agency who gets treats and pats from everyone ^^ ” like. At least to me, a lot of people's arguments sound self-contradictory all the time; but that doesn't mean people should stop having fun and characterize the characters as they like! Just, let's stop being mean to each other and try to be a little more accepting towards others' takes, shall we? And yes that also includes letting people find Atsushi annoying if they find him annoying (although like, I've NEVER found anyone call Atsushi annoying ever, so really, what remote fandom spaces is everyone visiting? Why are you looking for clothes (good takes) at the soup store (Tik/tok I assume?) ).

Song i associate with them: Common World Domination by Pinocchio-P, HIBANA by DECO*27, Ghost Rule by DECO*27, so on and so forth.

Favorite picture of them:

Favourite panel from the manga:

Favourite illustration: Look, there's too many beautiful illustrations, I can't chose. Here's a very good one though.

Favourite illustration in the anime art style:

But also:

Favourite Mayoi card:

Send me a character?

[amygdalae]

This question is not meant to be hostile im genuinely curious cuz i havent read all of it yet but is laos really that interesting? he has the least interesting character design of the series (imo) does he get cooler?

does he get cooler visually? sorta, sometimes? (i wont get into spoilers.) but pretty much most of the time yeah his design is just like that. imo i think hes kind of intentionally designed as a plain looking human fighter guy cuz it creates a kinda fun dissonance with how deeply strange he is

[myers-meadow]

Otis driftwood with a S/O who’s just really into scary and gorey stuff, they don’t get Squeamish around blood, and actually kinda encourages it?

like they might also ask him if they could join in on a kill.

He'd really love that. Killing and maiming is his favourite pasttime, so involving his love into this would be a dream come true. Especially if you're creative with it and see the torturing as an art form the way he does. It's something he spends a lot of time perfecting, after all, so you two need to be on the same page. And having fun with it - it'd be like it was with him and Baby in the movie. Just having a grand ole time at someone else's expense ^^

Also expect getting railed in front of victims hh ;; He wouldn't be able to keep his hands to himself.

Since it's still Otis, I think that at the beginning, depending on how the relationship starts, he will push your boundaries to see where they are. If you truly don't have any when it comes to gore, he'd feel quite lucky that he doesn't have to hold back when it comes to that part of his life. Involving you would go quick too, therefore.

I could easily see him propose marriage after the first kill you make together - with a ring that just came from the victim's finger. Regardless of how long you two have been together, this man doesn't let go easy. He knows when he's found his lucky charm and will take full advantage.

[championdaigo]

free space to say anything you want about steven im so interested in your thoughts

This ask has been sitting in my inbox for a while now because I've been unsure about how I want to go about attacking it (you've given me such a gift, anon)

But I think I'll use this as an opportunity to publicly share a long line of characterization thoughts I discussed one day in the steven stone appreciation discord server (compiled below the cut, it's going to be kinda messy)

Personally i like to see Steven as someone who has everything to lose. He’s smart, rich, educated, handsome, a skilled battler, and a regional darling. This is going to be controversial but I think he had a loving family and a fulfilling (albeit very sheltered) upbringing. He seems like the kind of guy who could very easily get anything he wanted. But i also see him as someone who’s aware of that and puts in genuine effort to see reality outside of his bubble.

I see him as someone who never really experienced personal tragedy growing up, and as someone who a few members of the general public could get frustrated with for “privilege-blindness”. Like he’s someone who was basically placed on a high rung at birth but still needed to climb upwards. Most people love him (rightfully so) but others are more than ready to have a reason to throw rocks at him. I think I take this approach mainly because I'm really fascinated by IRL celebrity culture from an outsider's perspective

But, in his core, he's a good guy with healthy morals who has much to learn about the world around him.

and now for some shitpost headcanons

beldum was a devon corp invention originally intended to be a smart can opener. it accidentally gained sentience and became the president's young son's best friend

steven's mother isn't dead or even absent. she just happened to be visiting kalos during the events of the hoenn games and had the shock of her life finding out about the weather crisis through buzznav's emergency alerts (steven had twenty-seven missed calls from mom during this time)

steven's perception of money is very much the "it's one banana what could it cost 10 dollars" meme. this is both a positive and a negative

steven has a relatively sharp sense of style except when it comes to casual wear (that summer outfit is divorcecore)

[marshmallowgoop]

going and back and rereading your kill la kill meta, I should definitely rewatch kill la kill

I'm so flattered that there's still interest in my old meta all these years later! And that they encourage looking back at the series? 🥺

Thank you for revisiting them! Hope you enjoy the rewatch!

[two-hearts-beat]

the clichés about black men match our (white) mainstream attractiveness norms more than those about black women

the clichés about south asian women match our (white) mainstream attractiveness norms more than those about south asian men

so is it a coincidence that the bridgerton offspring didn't fall madly in love with a south asian man and a black woman?

[justsomeunsurefancat]

I can't help but think... Do people actually think is okay for parents to be overwhelmingly supporting with their kids?? Like, man I get you need to encourage a kid so they're confident. But shouldn't there be, you know, balance??

I find it weird that whenever someones says anything about thinking their parents are overwhelming everyone jumps to say that they're ungrateful and the parents are 100% right, instead of trying to maybe understand it can make the person uncomfortable. I personally wouldn't like my parents making a fuss over a simple things, not because I want to be ungrateful for their support, it's just that sometimes too much attention can make me uncomfortable.

Again, i'm not saying parents shouldn't support their child. Especially when they're young, acknowledging their achiements is very important. Regardless of anything i can say about the way my parents support me in the present day and how that makes me feel, i'm grateful that they supported me when I was a kid.

If you didn't had supportive parents and you wish they would've aknowleged more your efforts, i'm sorry for you, really. But I feel like it doesn't mean there's just flowers at the other end of the spectrum.

If you think I'm wrong, fine. I myself am not 100% sure of this stance either. But i wanted to put it out there, because it's something that i've thought about for a long time.

[kyouka-supremacy]

Do you think that akutagawa will ever join the ada?

Mmmmmmhhhh. I'm not sure, actually.

Character-arc wise, I don't think he should. Although most of that has to do with how I perceive the character and my personal headcanons. It is very much true that Akutagawa is going through a redemption arc, but I think the arc is tending towards reaching a kind of good-ness that is similar to Chuuya's: still working for the pm, but not exactly a villain; doing things that serve the greatest good in the grand scheme of things of how Yokohama's power dynamics work; overall works as an ally to the main characters and is vastly sympathetic to the readers. Most importantly, I don't think Akutagawa would realistically ever be happy in the ada as long as Dazai is in it, so I can hardly wish for him to join. I don't think Akutagawa should directly work under Dazai ever again, but you know, the author probably disagrees with me on this lmao. Because I think what Dazai did to Akutagawa is unforgivable, while the author believes there isn't anything to be forgiven at all.

So you see, I don't pretend to be able to guess what the author has in plan for Akutagawa's character, really! I don't think he should join the ada, but I don't feel like I can completely exclude it as a possibility either. The character development is still ongoing. And as I already mentioned, his outfit change in the last episode could, among many other things, be an indicator of a switching of loyalty, so you know, right now everything is possible! If anything, we know that canonly there is a universe were Akutagawa is fit for the ada. But if you ask me, like Dazai dying in Beast means that he'll live in the main timeline, Akutagawa being in the ada in Beast is telling of how that's not his place in canon.

[oveliagirlhaditright]

I forgot to mention that I saw the trailer for the new the The Hunger Games movie when I went and saw Blue Beetle (the prequel, you know?) and it does look really good (even though at first I was unsure about it). I'm probably for sure going to see it when it comes out. Though this will be the first time that I haven't read the book first... unless I do end up reading the book between now and then.

[steshii]

I just had a realization about Alcryst’s and Celine’s supports.

A lot of people say they like this support because Alcryst seems comfortable and speaks plainly during the entire chain - an obvious difference compared to his usual anxious and self-deprecating behavior. In fact, he even seems to take initiative during their interactions: he approaches Celine first, comforts her, and even brews a pot of tea for her.

But why does Alcryst act like this only during this support, even though there’s nothing significantly different about Celine compared to his other support partners?

While there’s nothing significant about the support partner herself, there is something significant about the setting of the interactions. This support chain is the only one of Alcryst’s that takes place during an established time: late at night.

We know Alcryst’s character represents The Moon, and The Moon owns the night - where it can shine and show it’s full, true self.