#felt legato was a good starting point

[spaltedrat]

my first time drawing legato :3!

[yuliasolsystem]

Many people speculate that if the events on the colonists' ship had gone differently, then Knives wouldn't have become a villain. I think that if things had gone a little differently, then maybe he wouldn't have become an extremist, but at some point he would still have had to confront humanity.

Rem couldn't hide him and Vash forever, so they would sooner or later run into a problem in the form of humanity with degraded concepts of scientific ethics. And Knives doesn't dismiss problems, he solves them. In the most effective way possible. I think it's always been in his nature.

That's one of the reasons I think he's a good match for Legato. Legato felt that those who just watched him suffer and didn't try to help him were no better than those who were torturing him. And Knives is someone who won't just stand by and watch if he thinks there's an injustice going on.

I think if Knives wasn't an extremist and Legato a psychopath, they'd be the perfect pair of anti-heroes that the world of Trigan needs for things to really start getting better there.

[weirdcat1213]

YEY THE HORRORS i mean YEY THE BOOKCLUB :D

thoughts on volume 6 (oh boi we're almost halfway someone hold me pls)

chap 1:

-OH MY GOD ITS HIM I FORGOT ABOUT HIM FOR A MOMENT (not in general, ik he's in 98)

-HEY HIS WINGS MAY BE CREEPY BUT THEYRE ALSO BEAUTIFUL TO ME >:[

-HOWEVER i love how yeah they are scared af but also get that vash as a person is not bad and they don't leave his side

-WHY ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT YOUR BF LIKE THAT STOP STOP STOOOOOP. IDC THAT HE IS A LITERAL LASER CANON HES STILL JUST A LITTLE GUY

-are we...supposed to notice how bad the state of the gun is or...?

-nono brandon is right, i would also not give good guns to cops

-vash i fucking swear-

-SHUT UP YOU FUCKING COP >:[

-BRO WTF

-YEAH BRANDON CALL HIM OUT

-MY FAVORITE WEIRD CREATURE IS HERE

-ok in my 1st read didnt get that, idk why but i was confused about meryl getting worried for some reason. but she has a (sad) point. will one day the ptsd related to violence and guns be enough to make vash not shoot his gun? shes asking an interesting question. shes literally asking how much can vash take imo.

-wait so...was the replacement gun...the one in stampede??? (i will compare them later)

-DONT LOOK AT ME WITH THOSE GENTLE EYES MAN CMON

-I didnt notice he took the punisher lmao

chap 2:

-:c wolfwood having nightmares its not even a hc, IT IS CANON

-NOT THE FLASHBACK OF VASH CRYING BLOOD OUCH NO PLS NO

-:c im not even mad at wolfwood calling vash a monster cuz it must be fucking TERRIFYING but it still hurts :c

-you could...but youre not gonna

-"so yeah you cant be there for every problem in the pla- HOLD UP WHERE ARE YOU GOING"

-lmao meryl is like me fr

-this time i got most of the fight but i think we can all agree the mpv was the table

chap 3

-YEY LEGATO IN THE.....metal handbag?

-YES ELENDIRA FUCKING READ HIM

-OH MY GOD HES HERE HES HERE OH GOD NO

-i remember i was so confused i didnt realize THATS HIS FUCKING TONGUE

-also did double fang kill trail of death?

chap 4:

-OH I LOVE THIS SCENE SM. i also hate walking in a place with a shit ton of people

-YES IT IS BABY, THATS THE SAME CHILD YOU [so so redacted] WOOOOOOOOO (i love this chapter)

-oh...yeah that...oh

-"we cant survive without her power, neither can you" dude...dont...just dont

-ah yes. the hair. yeap. just a cool artistic decision. yeap.

-also i forgot how fucked up the last run was here

-oh he felt it, i saw that in his eye

-oh so he also went apeshit....ohhhhh. ok so if vash went apeshit cuz of a physical fight or flight reaction (I THINK) did knives go apeshit cuz of hate? the physical need to kill people in revenge? nice

-BRO WDYM "why not just end this crusade?" YOU JUST SAW WHY HE WOULD NEVER END IT

-oh that was his last straw. one thing is him being tricked by a human but that lie affecting his brother? the one thing he's trying to protect (yes ik he's not doing the greatest job at it) from humans? yeah no you gotta die

chap 5:

-NO. NO. NONONONONONON NOT THIS CHAPTER NO

-I HATE THE METAPHOR ALREADY (i love it. i want to yell at nightow my thoughts about it. i will never be normal about it)

-pls no. im begging you. pls dont make me read this again. this is when my sanity starts to break into little raggedy pieces of paper

-i just notices this change happens cuz he got HIS MEMORIES BACK WHAT IF I ENDED IT ALL

-i dont want to read anymore

-its just. so fucking hard. like ik we say hes jesus. but at the same time jesus never felt like that. jesus was born without sin but in vash's eyes he is full of sins and no one can forgive him. bro, honey, god would forgive you anything. you are his favorite im sure. but no matter the arguments for the allegory vash can never be jesus cuz he carries the pain of his "sins" everyday PLUS THE ONES FROM THE HUMANS. idk. im sad and tired. my baby. its ok i forgive you. and im sure rem forgives him. im sure. im sad

-anyway, back to the kinda normal thoughts

-also i think vash thinking he has to forgive himself is kinda flawed. like instead of forgiveness he has to accept what happened and i think those are different things. ofc yeah july was messed up but he never intended to do it. idk

-ANYWAY

-huh, those speakers look like eyes

-cant even swallow in misery in peace anymore lmao

-:c not the day drinking

-i think thats vash talking but yeah....nothing is easy for my guy. hes kinda right, better than crying ig...

-i prefer spike-isms but i will also take needle noggin-isms thank u

-that man can move in such unnatural ways *hears the uncanny vash people cheer at a distance*

-oof, the ptsd got meryl

-also the question is not whether vash was going to take the bullet or not, the real question is how hard does that question makes me cry

- SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUP

-OOF, i mean i 100% get meryl but OOF

-also YES THATS WHAT I FUCKING MEAN. AND I READ THIS ON [redacted] A FEW WEEKS AGO. THE BALANCE BETWEEN EXTREMES ITS JUST NULL, ITS NOT A COLOR AT ALL. his love and faith in humanity vs the pain they cause him...that balance creates a colorless emotion and IM SAD ABOUT IT.

-i hate that final page. i fucking hate milly protecting meryl from her memories while comforting her while protecting her from the rocks, i hate the people still insult vash even when he was long gone, i hate to see the children who saw the same thing as their parents try to convince them to stop because they know vash would never hurt people on purpose only to be ignored..and more than anything i hate vash apologizing for something he has no control over.

-ALSO I ALSO FEEL LIKE CRYING VASH-

[let it be on the record that i needed a minute to continue with the volume]

chap 6:

-OH NO IT STARTS

-"how could i have known?" youre telling me you spent years studying yourself and other plants and never saw one with black hair? really? (im not saying its a plot hole, im saying he was too distracted being a dick)

-so that was his imagination im assuming

-TESLA MENTION WE WIN

-OH GOD OH NO PLS GET ME OUT OF HERE NO PLS NOT THIS

-i love her dialogue with the funny glasses lmao, she really was the only mom ever

-oh..here come the tears

-oh right..they used to be like this

-oh...oh god

[fictionkinfessions]

There's just so many 'what if's in my head, and sometimes it gets overwhelming. What could I have done different? If I did things different, if I let myself do things differently, how much of the ending would be the same? It's hard to think about, but I dwell on this so often. If there was ever any chance of Vash seeing my side of things, or the other way around.

I don't regret what I did, for the most part. I feel like I should, but I don't because that was the path that I chose, and I didn't stray from it. There's something noble in that, I think, to stick to my ideals until the very end. But, now's now. I can recognize where things went wrong, and I blame myself. Sometimes I even wish that I never crashed those ships. It feels like a selfish wish, like I betray my sisters, like I betray Tesla, by saying so. But, in spite of everything, I wish I could have Rem and Vash back, and that we could be happy. I don't think I deserve that, but it's a nice thought.

Vash, I'm sorry for being so determined to show you the worst side of humanity. I thought if you saw how much they could hurt you that you'd understand why I was always so scared, and why I did what I did. It feels almost childish to me now, that I did that to you. I was so blindsided by my fear that I even ignored the small glitters of good that there was in the humans that I did keep around me. I don't know. Maybe if I didn't ignore that, I would have been better for it. Maybe talking to you wouldn't have always had to start with a gun pointed at me. I'm sorry that I made you so scared. You're my brother, all I ever wanted was to keep you safe and I did just the opposite. I hope you can forgive me.

Rem- there's so much I could say. I hated you. I still do, on occasion. But I miss you more than anything, too. It almost feels like I'm haunted, like I can reach out and I'll miss you by a moment. You were always kind, you held a lot of love in your heart. I know I've likely disappointed you in so many ways. I tried to destroy everything that you died trying to save. I just- I didn't know how to process any of what happened, before your death and after. I morphed my fear into anger and hatred and I lumped you in with it. I thought about you often, regardless. With how long my life was, I know I only spent a small fraction of it with you, but I love you as a son does a mother nonetheless. I'm sorry for blaming you. You didn't deserve it.

Legato, I didn't appreciate you enough. I'm sorry for that, I couldn't have accomplished all that I did without you. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for sticking by my side even in the times when I wasn't there. I may have picked you up on a bit of a whim, yes, but you were the closest thing to a friend that I even think that I had in a world where I felt so consumed by loneliness. And, don't blame yourself for the ending, yeah? You did your job well.

This got way longer than I meant it to- guess that's what I get for letting my emotions fester? Anyway, if anyone actually reads all of this I'm giving you a donut for the trouble. - Knives (Trigun)

[ghoooooooooooooooost]

i had to reread n edit this before posting like i was going over an essay jesus christ ((tristamp spoilers))

tldr; i was honestly disappointed but i still don't think it was completely awful + i hope if they do a 2nd season it's better *wants to see milly*.... fuck the director though

EDIT!!! 2nd season was confirmed so you can ignore the points where i question if it will happen lol

EDIT 2 actually idt i'll watch the 2nd season... for reasons that just hit me so.... + fuck night*w as well

most of this was written before the finale eek

the major problems were that the pacing was soooooo weird n some of the changes (both story wise and design wise) they made were questionable esp towards the latter half

my positive points:

i do still think individual eps at the first half were really good

i loved the animation + how they used colors

the backgrounds are cool

the artstyle shift in wolfwood's flashback was cool

i've always been "ok" abt vashwood honestly (sorry) but i will acknowledge they were very yaoiful here. i saw a person who didn't ship vashwood say the ep in tristamp where they literally just met made them ship it which was really funny bc how did that change your mind so fast

i'm ngl the milly + eriks name drops made me *JAWDROP* but that's something that only matters to ppl who watched/read the ogs first

my negative points (uh oh):

white washed wolfwood (+ his skintone is soo inconsistent in merch)

they gave vash no room to breathe n he doesn't get big sillay moments after ep 3

^ this is true for every character except i guess roberto? more on roberto later

^^^ goes with the previous too points but it felt like they were way too focused on the drama n sadness without enough (long lasting) happy or hopeful moments to contrast or balance it out overall - to the point were the characterization of our main cast suffered for it bc there wasn't enough there with them to make that properly work. and THEN the silly moments ended up suffering too bc they start feeling out of place. the drama beats kept happening one after the other at breakneck speed without breaks, messing up the pacing as well (i can kinda blame this at least partially on the fact they only had 12 eps when the og was 26 eps but i've watched plenty of 12 ep series with great pacing so i don't really know what happened here?)

i disagreed with this at first, but the lore with vash being front-loaded really did hurt the story a bit in the long run. obviously they did still spread the full details out over the course of the show but it was :\

specific to "the running man"- it's my fav ep tbh but it was strange how all the townsfolk were partying w the nebraskas with no indication they'd arrest them after they did so much damage n vash didn't even get to fix the damaged plant?? so why were they so joyous when the initial problem wasn't solved?

roberto.... was such a weird character... he managed to be both a dick n a guy w no personality, he was there to give exposition + attempt to be funny? n then die. also the marketing staff fucking hates him he's never in any merch wtf ((edited after the finale: well now we know he wasn't meant to replace milly (i had a whole paragraph complaining abt that lol) + now i feel like they added him just to kill someone other than wolfwood off))

i can't speak much on elendria bc i had so much trouble reading trimax forever ago that i never retained anything abt her other than she's trans, but everything involving her in tristamp felt strange/ like it didn't work. i have essentially same feeling about livio here. they threw legato to the side??

what the fuck was the thing with the plants towards the end. it just hit me what the hell

minor nitpicks:

i miss the old anime's ost :( tristamp's ost isn't bad by any means n there are tracks that i really like it's just idk man. especially with the the op song, i couldn't get myself to not skip the op SORRY. could you imagine how hype it would've been if a new rendition of H.T. or NO-BEAT started playing

i'm fine with stamp vash's design (blasphemous i know) but man would'n've one of his og coat designs worked well in 3d? i feel like it would've ((added after the finale: the new coat did look nice in black + they brought back his old hair in the last ep tho so. MAYBE... IN SEASON 2.... CLASSIC COAT....? *delusional*))

NO LOVE & PEACE?!?!?!?!

one of my nitpick points was that they technically didn't give vash the black hair bc i really wanna see it animated one day but assuming they are teasing a season 2 maybe they will eventually. but then how...?

[nicholas-wolfwood]

Penance

It was a nice night, Midvalley leaving the bar he’d been playing at in a good mood. The air was cool, and Sylvia sang beautifully during his performance, earning him extra tips. His good mood quickly took a turn as he headed back towards his hotel, however, when he felt someone nearby. 

“Hornfreak.”

Midvalley started, whirling around to see his boss standing behind him. How long had he been there!? He swallowed, nervously.

“Legato? I... didn’t expect to see you here tonight, sir.” Dread pooled in his gut at his boss’ smile. It was never a good thing. “I hope you weren’t looking for a performance, I just finished-”

“Don’t play cute with me.” The maniac shook his head, somehow seeming both angry and amused at the fact that the Hornfreak tried to hide something from him. “I know you aided in the recovery of Livio the Double Fang. The open traitor of the Gung Ho Guns. Of Master Knives. I thought you of all people would know better than to interfere with His judgement...” Midvalley felt his heart drop. He raised his hands as if trying to placate the man, backing away. Oh, he’s in trouble.

“Sir, I- I didn’t know-!” He cut off with a muffled yelp when his jaw clamped shut on his own, nearly biting his tongue. Legato’s wires had him, and despite his struggling, he couldn’t move any more than the sadist would allow.

“Liar.” Legato growled, advancing on him. “You knew very well that Double Fang was a traitor, and that his suffering was his punishment for betraying Master Knives. Yet you still interfered.” He didn’t even need to ask why. He knew already. “You’ve been behaving quite poorly lately... We need to fix that.” He could feel Midvalley’s panicked straining against his wires, but to no avail, and his grin widened, twisting his handsome features into something damn near demonic.

“Don’t worry. I’ll help you pay your penance.” With the musician caught in his web, Legato had little trouble reaching out and grabbing the man by the wrists, yanking him closer. His grip moved up to the man’s precious hands and Midvalley paled further, nearly beginning to hyperventilate as his jaw was finally released. He couldn’t... He wouldn’t...!

“NO!!”

Midvalley’s fight or flight kicked in and he struggled, digging his heels into the sand, trying to pull free, but he knew it would do no good. Legato didn’t even budge, instead grinning at him in amusement at his rather pitiful attempts.

“I- Legato! Sir! Please! I’m sorry!!” His breath hitched, and he tried to pull away when the maniac used his thumbs to stroke his palms, as if trying to soothe a frightened animal, but his grip stayed fast.

“Shh. Calm down.” 

Midvalley stopped trying to pull away, though he still shook violently, caught in the monster’s grip. His own ears were ringing in his panic and desperation, but he was trying to obey, see?! He looked up at Legato, silently begging for mercy. 

Legato’s hands squeezed, his powers forcing muscle and bone to the breaking point until there were several audible CRACKs, shattering the bones in the musician’s hands.

Midvalley SCREAMED, nearly passing out on the spot from the blinding pain as the monster continued to snap bones in his hands (and he was quite sure the bastard was amplifying the nerves there, too). He felt sick, and barely even noticed how his own screams were distorting uncontrollably, along with the sound around them, but without any instrument and in his panicked state it was wild and unstable. Useless. 

“I hope you’ve learned your lesson.” Legato purred, causing the Hornfreak to whimper in agony. “I’d hate to have to do worse.” Legato’s grin never wavered as he held the shaking man by his mangled hands, giving them a squeeze and pulling another strangled scream from him.

[lurkingpuddle]

Last 4 episodes absolutely wrecked my shit, holy fuck.

It was all just soooo delicious. The drama, the losses, the mind games, the doubt, the belief found anew. It was absolutely what I wanted from the show, and it delivered, serving it like a medium stake with a glass of red wine.

Spoilery thoughts under cut for posterity.

First of all, can't walk past Wolfwood deciding at the end that maybe he IS better than that and refusing to murder, and THAT gets him killed right after Vash failed to save someone again. Just masterful one-two punch both into Vash's soul and mine.

And I absolutely LOVE Nickolas' confession scene. His relief of finally finding the way that felt right to him, at long last, and the desperation in the face of inevitable death were just crushing. Watching it made me want to squeeze my own ribs as hard as I can. That's what I call Good Shit. I don't know if it's right to call this cruelty, but it sure felt like one, watching him filling up with new purpose and desire to live only to have barely a minute left. There is no closure, only more open wounds for everyone involved. Chief's kiss.

And how in the next episode Vash is accused of just running away from responsibility, and that he is as much of a murderer as everyone else, and only fooling himself with insistence that he is free of sin. Because, yeah, I've actually been thinking about this too for almost the whole series. And it's even brought up rather earlier in the ep. Lost July, where a victim of July Town destruction points out to Vash how his action actually got people killed. You don't need to put a bullet between someone's eyes to end their life. His hands ARE stained.

And he knows that. That's why he is so desperate to save everyone. He is not stupid. It's absolutely true. If it wasn't, Midvalley's and Legato's words wouldn't have affected him so strongly. Just the fact that his devote pacifism is a fond memory of a person he loved and respected, a distant dream, a single point of ethical superiority over his brother, and an attempt at atonement all wrapped in one. The layers on this man just never end, do they?

I know I just said here and also in previous post that Vash is not a delusional fool, but maybe he actually is, just a little bit. Because him shooting Legato just broke his last line of psychological defense, and he was forced to face all the horror and death that have been following him. And you know what, GOOD FOR HIM. Belief that only direct murder counts needed to be broken for him to be ready to go on. Look at my baby all grown up and not afraid to shoot people anymore. Oh, and also realizing that hey, he messed up, but he will do better.

And look at that, he actually DID beat Knives into submission. Huh.

That actually left me with tons of questions, like. How are you going to reprogram your unhinged twin, my dear? I mean, this man is convinced that he is superior to human race, and it was You, Vash, another plant creature that defeated him in battle, not a human being. As far as he can tell, he was beat by his equal, it doesn't mean he will tolerate humanity any more than he has been for all this time. Are you going to shoot him full of holes every time he starts acting up? Is that the plan? Doesn't sound healthy, not gonna lie. But then again, when your family dynamic was ever healthy after year 1?

Maybe the manga holds the answers. I should check it out. Maybe there the plant creatures are explained. As far as I can tell, the interstellar travel was only possible thanks to plants, so they must have come before the human race left Earth. Curious.

Tumblr won me over with pretty GIFs and amazing fanart to finally sit down and watch Trigun. I started with 1998 series, and it's really good.

God, it seems impossible to not love Vash. As a big time connoisseur of moody angsty characters, I enjoy spicing it up with positive angsty charactets. That's just a good subspecies. And the fact that he holds fast to his idealistic principals in all situations is rather inspiring. Normally I would find that kind of character annoying, because they are often played as naive fools who are detached from reality. But Vash has more depth than that, and he makes it work. With him it looks more like a true and earnest dream rather than delusion. I suppose it's not in small thanks to the fact that he is ready to pay big price and sacrifice so much of himself for the sake of that dream. Even thought Wolfwood wouldn't agree most of the time.

And god, Wolfwood. He plays so good against Vash. All of us is Woolfwood here, I feel. Like, being ready to choose a lesser evil (but evil nonetheless) in bad situations, when Vash would fight tooth and nail to get a third option. And I like how show portrays his methods as also legit options with acceptable outcomes from time to time. Or at least doesn't condemn him outright for the way he thinks. His logic Makes Sense, and it's not hard to agree with him when presented with similar situation.

In the trolley problem Wolfwood would pull the lever to kill one guy when Vash would shoot the trolley untill it derailed and fell on its side without killing anyone, basically.

Like, inside the limits of the problem Wolfwood is right, but in the wider scope Vash's solution is superior, and it requires thinking outside of the box. And a lot of bullets.

I still haven't finished the series, tho I am close. I wonder if Vash's idealism will hold when faced with someone who you just can't beat into submission without strangling them to death. You know, someone like Knives.

[ranma-rewatch]

Episode 23: Enter Mousse! The Fist of the White Swan

*yawn* Wow, I finally got some good sleep. Back to the Ranma Rewatch, then. Hey there, long time no see, going to try and get back on track. This week we’re still in the middle of the season 2’s opening story arc, and another main character shall be introduced to us. Will I like him better than I did ten years ago? Only way to find out is to look at the next paragraph, from when I’ve watched the episode.

This episode raised my hopes and then gently lowered them a little, but on the whole I’m happier than I thought I would have been.

The story starts with Akane taking Ranma to see Dr. Tofu, under the assumption that as someone with lots of experience with Chinese medicine, he’d be able to fix what Cologne did to Ranma. Sadly, the technique used is something only a master could do, far outside of his wheelhouse. However, there is one thing he could do.

To counteract the Full Body Cat Tongue, Tofu hits a different pressure point in Ranma, one named after old men from Tokyo. Why? Because apparently they’re well known for being able to stand even the most scalding heat in their baths, and this technique gives the user that same ability. Sure enough, it let’s Ranma return to his uncursed state, but there’s a catch. Kasumi calls, turning Dr. Tofu into a bumbler before he can give the warning, so Ranma and Akane just head to school.

After class, Akane harangues Ranma into taking her out for food, which their classmates immediately notice has a lot of romantic energy to it. Then Shampoo and Cologne appear, amazed that Ranma somehow found a way around the elderly amazon’s strategy, but Cologne seems sure anyway that this won’t be an issue.

But wait! Out of nowhere, someone new appears. His name is Mousse, and he’s a man from the amazon village who has been in love with Shampoo since they were kids. He has terrible eyesight, so bad that he frequently mistakes people for the love of his life, and after a series of confusions he learns that Shampoo is dead set on marrying Ranma.

Mousse attacks Ranma, and challenges him to a manly duel for Shampoo. But she refuses that, so instead makes the duel over Akane for seemingly no reason, which Ranma agrees to. Oh, and he’s known for using ‘dark magic’ which is in practice more sleight of hand and weapon-based techniques.

That evening, Akane is doing what she frequently does when pissed off, namely training in the dojo. Ranma shows up, clearly aware he really stepped in it and wanting to make amends by making it clear there’s no way he’s going to lose to Mousse.

But Akane makes it clear that isn’t why she’s mad. The reason she’s upset is that she doesn’t belong to Ranma, and she won’t belong to Mousse. She’s her own person, and this duel doesn’t respect that. Hell, if he loses that’s fine with her, she’ll just beat up Mousse herself. The entire family shows up, interpreting this as kind of a romantic confession to Ranma.

The next morning, it Dr. Tofu calls and gives the warning he’d meant to tell them earlier: the technique he used is a one-use, so if Ranma gets splashed, he’s stuck again. Akane only finds this out after Ranma takes a dip in the pond while sparring with his dad, and they all freak out over what he’s going to do. Why none of them think to just tell Mousse that Ranma has a Jusenkyo curse, I have no clue.

Someone, Cologne probably, turned the match into a huge spectacle, with food carts and seating around the arena and everything, there’s a huge crowd. Ranma’s late, but that’s only because he made a disguise to hide his cursed body. He clowns around a little at first, having prepared a bunch of lame magic tricks, but then ‘does a trick’ by ‘turning into a girl’, giving him an excuse for how he looks.

Mousse buys it, but he’s angry that Ranma’s not taking it seriously. He takes of his...robe? Tunic? Whatever, either way he’s buff as hell under there, and an attack from his barbed footwear ruins the front of Ranma’s stage assistant outfit, bearing his boobies to everyone. This causes a bunch of men in the audience to storm the fighting area so they can sexually assault Ranma and then I paused Hulu and stared at my computer screen for three full minutes before continuing the episode.

*sigh* Anyway, the Kuno siblings show up, interfere with the fight, Mousse gets deadly series, then Akane reminds Ranma he can use his new technique in battle, which he does to win. Then a bunch of his admirers crowd Ranma, and Akane is annoyed. Done.

Let me get into the stuff I found really interesting with this episode, to start with.

The first half was honestly just really enjoyable. Akane and Ranma had a really good chemistry going on, it reminded me a lot of the episode where Shampoo first showed up. There was a casual closeness to them, still tempered with occasional arguments, that was just cute.

I also liked that they thought to try asking Dr. Tofu for help, since his expertise has helped so often in the past. Making it clear this was a problem he could only barely help out with, and only one time, sold how Cologne and what she’s done to Ranma isn’t something that’s going to be solved easily.

What was a bit odd in that scene was we actually got to see the curse take effect, as Ranma’s torso changed, something I’m fairly sure we’ve never gotten that much detail on. It’s usually either off-screen or a cutaway. But I like we saw it with the curse turning him back to his uncursed form, since it emphasized this was Ranma regaining the body that felt right to him.

I’ve talked about this before, but I also couldn’t help noticing throughout this episode the weird dichotomy in who uses Ranma’s preferred pronouns and who doesn’t. Akane, Shampoo, and Cologne all call Ranma ‘he’ even when he’s in a feminine form, but Akane’s siblings call him ‘she’ instead.

The dojo scene was also a treat for me. I just kind of love how it put the focus on how this whole arrangement devalues Akane. Both the engagement from their parents and the terms of this duel take away her say in what she does with her life, and she isn’t having it. It almost sounded like she was comforting Ranma, taking a burden off his shoulders, when she told him he didn’t have to stress over the fight because she’d be fine either way. I am here for Akane stressing her independence and making it clear that no matter what happens in the fight, she is her own person.

That was a lot of nice stuff, but sadly the second half of the episode didn’t really carry it through. It wasn’t terrible, but the fight wasn’t really anything special, and the whole bit with the guys storming Ranma...yeah. Didn’t care for that. But hey! It’s finally time to do another Character Spotlight!

Unlike Cologne, who I am still holding off on doing a Spotlight for since I don’t feel like we’ve gotten to really see enough of her yet, this one episode basically gave us most of what we need to know about Mousse, so let’s just do it.

In terms of voice acting, his English performer is Brad Swaile. He’s done quite a few things, but he’s most well known for being the voice of Light in Death Note, which is quite a funny comparison. Both characters have huge egos, that’s to be sure, but Light is usually taken seriously, while at least in the dub Mousse is basically just a joke the entire time. Swaile plays him very comedically, which does fit the generally goofy tone of his character.

It is in contrast, however, to his original Japanese voice actor, Toshihiko Seki. Like a lot of the seiyuu, he has done a million things, but of particular note are his roles as Legato Bluesummers from Trigun, another anime I love quite a bit, and as the Japanese Dub actor for the Tenth Doctor in Doctor Who. Honestly, finding out the Japanese dub castings is a treat every time I do a Spotlight. But anyway, Seki largely plays Mousse more seriously, as a confident warrior, only going for comedy with how over-the-top some of his attacks get, considering how silly they are. I’m going to tentatively say this is another performance I think works than the dub, which is fairly rare for me as far as anime go.

So, who exactly is Mousse? Well, like I said before, Mousse is Shampoo’s childhood friend, and the first member of their tribe we’ve met who is a guy. His character motivation is literally just that he wants to be with Shampoo, and will beat up/kill Ranma to get her. Pretty simple.

What makes him silly is the combination of his terrible eyesight, a fairly common trope that now that I think about it is kinda ableist, and how he fights. He’s a master of hidden weapons, but more often than not the items he’s fighting with are silly things, like a toilet or a yoyo. Combined with his high self-confidence, and Mousse is fairly Kuno-like, only quite a bit sillier.

Only enough though, he’s more similar to Kodachi than to Tatewaki. Why? Well, because he’s deadly. Of all of Ranma’s primary rivals/reoccurring antagonists, Mousse is easily the one most ready to kill, not unlike Shampoo. When he gets serious, he trades in the silly weapons for genuinely dangerous weapons. He started choking Ranma with his bare hands in their first encounter, then tried doing it again with rope not long afterwards. Ryoga might talk a lot about killing Ranma, but Mousse has done a lot more to actually attempt that.

All of that said, I’m pretty ambivalent on Mousse. I don’t hate him, but of all of Ranma’s primary rivals, he’s easily the most boring. He doesn’t have the je ne sais quoi of Ryoga or the pompous elitism of Kuno, he’s just a deadly joke character who’s obsessed with Shampoo. Maybe my opinions will change over the course of the rewatch, but for right now I’m still pretty meh on him.

But you know what I’m not meh on? This episode! Even with the weaker second half, the first ten minutes or so were good enough that I’m overall pretty sunny on it. Listen, I’m an easy mark, give me some Ranma/Akane fuel and some decent drama, and I’m happy. I’ll put this in the top half of episodes so far between the ending of the fight between Ranma and Kodachi and the climax to Shampoo’s introductory arc.

Episode 7: Enter Ryoga, the Eternal ‘Lost Boy’  

Episode 12: A Woman's Love is War! The Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 15: Enter Shampoo, the Gung-Ho Girl! I Put My Life in Your Hands

Episode 9: True Confessions! A Girl's Hair is Her Life!

Episode 2: School is No Place for Horsing Around

Episode 19: Clash of the Delivery Girls! The Martial Arts Takeout Race

Episode 6: Akane's Lost Love... These Things Happen, You Know

Episode 13: A Tear in a Girl-Delinquent's Eye? The End of the Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics Challenge!

Episode 23: Enter Mousse! The Fist of the White Swan

Episode 17: I Love You, Ranma! Please Don’t Say Goodbye

Episode 20: You Really Do Hate Cats!

Episode 16: Shampoo's Revenge! The Shiatsu Technique That Steals Heart and Soul

Episode 8: School is a Battlefield! Ranma vs. Ryoga

Episode 11: Ranma Meets Love Head-On! Enter the Delinquent Juvenile Gymnast!

Episode 4: Ranma and...Ranma? If It’s Not One Thing, It’s Another

Episode 5: Love Me to the Bone! The Compound Fracture of Akane's Heart

Episode 1: Here’s Ranma

Episode 22: Behold! The 'Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire' Technique

Episode 3: A Sudden Storm of Love

Episode 21: This Ol' Gal's the Leader of the Amazon Tribe!

Episode 10: P-P-P-Chan! He's Good For Nothin'

Episode 14: Pelvic Fortune-Telling? Ranma is the No. One Bride in Japan

Episode 18: I Am a Man! Ranma's Going Back to China!?

But once again, this arc still! Isn’t! Done! No, the end of the Phoenix Pill Arc, if you want to call it that, comes next week with “Cool Runnings! The Race of the Snowmen". Most of my memories of this episode come from a YouTuber I used to follow hating on it, but I’m ready to give it a fair shot. See you then!

[fisheoctrashdump]

Well then,,,,,,....... I challenge Y O U to do Alora 1-20 with Zerx, Galatea, and Adrien ewe

Holiday

Alora isn't a big fan of the more popular holidays. I can see her kinda liking Halloween, but she never really does anything for it.

I imagine she makes up little fake holidays at her convenience

Alora: dad!!! I can't believe you made plans to do something today!

Adrien: why? what's today?

Alora: it's "drink tea and make kandi with Alora" day :(

Adrien: of course, I can't believe I forgot about that. I'll stay home with you, Ali :)

Alora: :)

Additionally, I imagine she comes up with ridiculous holidays just for fun (and to mess with Arvid)

Cooking

So, she actually learned to cook from Jase :) Alora is pretty good at cooking, but she does cut corners and uses convenient foods to save time (like using canned foods and such)

But also, she cans her own food sometimes! She even convinced Jase to try a dish she made with her own canned food, and he didn't like it, but he also didn't hate it ewe

She cooks for her friends and family, especially for Adrien (since he's not able to). She's the only reason Adrien Jr gets to eat actual meals when he's staying with them lol.

She cooks for Clara a lot, too. With all the work Clara gets wrapped up in, it's easy for her to just grab whatever is convenient or easiest to eat at the moment, so she sometimes makes food for Clara and stops her to eat a meal without multitasking

Despite her skill and frequency with cooking, Alora doesn't normally eat the things she makes.

Sleeping

Alora just sleeps whenever she feels tired. Sometimes she gets into one of those modes where she can sleep 4 hours and be fine, then other times she will sleep for 12+ hours and still be tired.

She gets really cold during the night, so she wears warm pjs and has a lot of blankets.

Driving

Alora doesn't really like driving that much, but she loves being able to just go wherever she wants when she feels like it. That makes it worth the effort put into driving, she thinks. She won't drive for very long, though, unless there's an important reason to

Bathing/showering

She normally showers, and baths are saved for special occasions. Alora doesn't wash her hair often because of the texture (and it's pretty dry), but she cleans her body daily.

Hugging

She hugs her family a lot. This of course excludes Amber, who Alora wouldn't even think about touching at the moment. I think she hugs Adrien Jr the most bc he babey. She wants to hug Galatea a lot, but she tries to avoid it around the rest of the family because she is worried they might somehow Know

Kissing

She's not had her first kiss yet lol ;w;

She want kiss, but I feel like it's just something she gets nervous about. She might be feeling brave enough to go for it one moment, and then right before it happens she jumps away and pretends like she didn't almost kiss that person.

Sex

She hasn't had sex before.

I feel like she is sexually attracted to Galatea, but it's something she feels uncomfortable with currently, especially with the fact they are already hiding their relationship. I don't see her being sexually attracted to Zerx or Clara, but maybe that will change later on for Clara? Idk

Also, Alora technically is aspec with being demi, so

General physical contact

She really likes physical contact with others. I feel like she is probably constantly finding little ways to be physically affectionate with Zerx (and Galatea when they're alone) whenever they're spending time with each other. She also stays pretty close to her family. She is not against lying on top of Clara, or hugging Arvid super tight so that he can't get away, or poking Amanda's arm a few (several) times before she starts talking lol

She also wants Adrien to hold her when she's had a bad day or something. She sits next to him and he puts his arm around her, and they just stay like that while Alora rants about whatever is bothering her.

Physical appearance

Alora is 5'5, and unhealthily underweight

She has a few scars on her arms and back as result of the abuse she suffered while her mother was keeping her from her family

She has wavy hair, but I'm actually in the process of figuring out the exact style right now, because I think I want it to be different from her original design

She has yellow eyes, which was like some kind of recessive thing (even though Adrien's eyes are orange, stecella had yellow eyes). She likes to joke that means Amanda was actually her mom, because it comforts her, in a way.

Wardrobe

Pastel goth,,,,,,,,,,

I've reblogged a lot of clothing in her style before now, and I've made a collage of stuff I imagine her wearing, that's how obsessed I am with her style lol

She wears a lot of baggy sweaters, usually. She is pretty much always wearing skirts and dresses. Her colors are usually pink, white, and black, but she will occasionally wear other colors as long as they're pastel

Jewelry

She wears a lot of jewelry. She has a lot chokers, pink heart ones being her favorite

She has a septum piercing, too.

She will wear other jewelry as long as it is heart, raven, or satanic/wiccan themed.

She also wears kandi, but she's very specific about which ones.

Nickname

Her nickname is Ali, but she only lets Adrien call her that. He's called her that pretty much since she was born lol

I'm not sure if she would have any other nicknames

Dancing

She likes dancing. She's actually pretty good at it, but she wouldn't care if she wasn't. She dances at home mostly, but she will dance in public if the situation is appropriate (or just if the music hits the right way)

Singing

She's always singing. She will sing when there's a song in her head, or when someone plays a song she really likes, or if she is coming up with potential lyrics to go along with a song Clara's writing, or if she's practicing for a piece they're doing for her choir.

Alora is a soprano, so she feels more comfortable singing higher notes and soprano parts. Sometimes when she's listening to music with her friends and she knows there's a high note coming up she will go all out and put her heart and soul into singing that note. Singing brings her a lot of joy, and she refuses to let anything stop her from singing if she decides she wants to do it.

Anger

Alora gets angry really easily. She gets unpredictable when she's mad, and can sometimes lash out at those undeserving of her anger. Normally, though, she's able to keep it directed at the source. Amber and Erika have seen her anger more than anyone has, except for maybe Galatea and Adrien. (Not that Alora was mad at them, just that they are her go to when she can't eliminate the problem of what's angering her.)

She has gotten violent before with people when she was mad. Alora physically fought Erika twice, and nearly did the same with Amber (but was stopped by Adrien).

Soft spot

Galatea, Clara, and Zerx. She is the softest around them than she is with anyone else.

Porcelain stuff, mostly like tea sets. She looks at a lot of them and wants so many, but she only has two tea sets right now

Flowers and succulents. She loves plants in general, but those are her favorites. She gets really attached to her plants

Legato. She loves birds in general, too, but she love her birb the most :3c

Really complicated choir pieces, stuff that she has to practice forever on. Once it all comes together, the end result makes her feel so calm and joyful.

Pretty skirts, dresses, and accessories uwu

Adrien Jr and Sebastian, though I imagine her and Sebastian being closer to each other in comparison to her and Adrien Jr.

Adrien.

Favorite possession

One of her tea sets, though I'm not sure yet which.

One of Galatea's pokemon thing (maybe plushie?) she stole from her :3c

The knife she got from Sebastian for a semi recent birthday gift (this is headcanon so, lol)

Favorite photograph

A picture of her and Zerx when they first started hanging out (and before they started dating)

Relationship with ___

Zerx

Alora and Zerx's friendship came out of nowhere. They'd known each other pretty much their whole lives, and they definitely had talked to each other before, but they didn't really feel a connection until some point in middle school. They started spending all their time with each other after that point.

I feel like them dating is something that happened pretty recently, but I'm not sure how it happened or when exactly. I think Alora would have been the one to confess first, though.

Alora feels very calm around Zerx. She isn't quite as open with him as she is with Galatea, though. I feel like Alora believes she needs to conceal certain things from him so that he won't stop liking her.

Galatea

I've felt like Alora and Galatea have always been close. She has leaned on Galatea a lot through her whole life. I feel like they understand each other better than anyone else. They talk about anything and everything, and neither of them feel like they have to hide anything from the other. Well, except for one thing.

Alora is probably more protective over Galatea than she is of anyone else, even Clara.

When Alora is getting worked up because something isn't to her standards, or when she makes a mistake and is super hard on herself, Galatea is the one that helps her out of that. Most of the time, Alora is able to overlook her mistakes when she's with Galatea.

Adrien

She is,,,,, so close to Adrien. Alora spends a lot of time with Adrien. She knows she can always go to him for advice when facing an issue, but certain things she's afraid of telling him, the situation with her mother being one. She's afraid that if she brings it up, it will upset Adrien.

Still, Adrien's presence always makes her feel safe and comfortable.

[beyondthetemples-ooc]

Oh, great HEAVENS and HELLS and All the Skies ABOVE!

I sang my heart out. And I actually really LIKED the way my voice is sounding! I’ve been teaching myself to sing with More Emphasis on Where Notes Change (cleaning up my pitch especially), but ALSO a lot on EXPRESSION. Bright and happy, warm crescendos for a Happy Moment, and the longer, smoother lullaby sort of legato for the sadder, dismal songs. Sweeter note swings for adoration and mournful keening in a song of loss. I’m learning how to stay not only On Key, but how to Adjust my Tones within that pitch to express more emotion!

And I’m learning, mind you I’m using technical training I received in choir and show choir and senior choir and music theory classes, I’m learning the difference between Purely Scientific Breath Support, and a PASSIONATE all-in huff of the diaphragm!! Theoretically I knew how to RECOGNIZE it, but actually capturing that Feeling was something I always struggled with.

I’ve done a lot of work in the past few years to Unlock my Emotions. I’m getting better at letting them out into the world verbally, and I’m getting better at doing that vocally as well.

Something magical happened. Long story short? Someone enthusiastically, sincerely, 100% honestly COMPLIMENTED my singing!

Last week, Wednesday I think?, I had gone out for a walk. I intended it to take 45 minutes, maybe an hour. Just, enough to get some exercise. But as I was walking, I was singing. And I found something in myself, I can’t quite put a name to it. But that fear of others hearing me? It just.... wasn’t there, as anything more than the faintest shadow faded by the bright light of... some kind of CONFIDENCE!

Now, mind you, I was singing along to songs from Tarja’s Into the Raw album, which I only half-know. (I’m learning them quickly, but I don’t listen to music as much as I used to... hmm. I think I’m in the midst of changing that, actually.) But my point is, I haven’t listened to it many times (Serene aside), and I have sung it even fewer. I wasn’t entirely certain where all of the notes fall, the keys change. But I was singing along as best I could. Not quite a full-on belt, but a sweet lullaby sort of singing to myself, really.

I introduced her to Ghost Love Score. Which she wound up ENJOYING! Hahaaaa, score one for the symphonic metal group. 

So between her and the other neighbor listening with her, I found out that I have to look into Electric Light Orchestra and Mannheim Steamroller, both of which are names I’ve seen, but not musicians I’ve heard. (I still have to give them a listen, whoops. Tomorrow, maybe...)

Anyways, singing came up, turns out she’s quite a trained singer, and I said I could sing this song, if she liked. So I started singing along a bit. Conversation drifted and it petered out; I wasn’t positioned so they could hear me very well over the speakers, anyways. But she did say I have a nice voice.

At some point she decided to sing a karaoke song. No, sing isn’t right-- she PERFORMED it!

I forget exactly what I said; she performed it so WELL, and I gushed With Specific Things I Loved (as I tend to do because it’s good to let people know Exactly What You Noticed), and she said something like “You know something about music!” And we started talking about our choir experiences, the music in our lives. And at one point, she decided she had to play something for me to sing.

So I requested the song I’d been working on, Serene. And she played it. And I sang.

I sang my HEART out! Despite being a bit out of breath from walking uphill (and a few of my notes slipping Too High), and missing a couple lines, I had the capacity to PUSH for those soprano notes, and softened for the bridge, I was swaying, my head dancing a bit, and I was SMILING so, so much! I sang with PASSION, with DELIGHT, and my voice came out so WELL! It sounded like ME, not Tarja or Simone or Floor or Dianne, but ME! Fully ME.

Her response? “I have to get a mic behind you.” She said she loved that my voice had that opera quality, and though I know I’m no classically-trained opera singer, it was just so REFRESHING and RELIEVING and ENERGIZING to hear someone that actually APPRECIATES that!

I’ve spent so many years living with a family that called my music “that crap”, that told me not to sing, that made fun of me for singing with the opera-influenced style that I think brings out the best in my voice. The one year I was with my mother, she was never home, so I was often singing to myself... Sure, in the time I’ve been back with them, both of my younger siblings have complimented my voice. My little brother said he could sing as well as me, and my little sister has told me she likes hearing my voice when I’m singing. But it’s hard to let two little positive comments . After she called Within Temptation “crap”, and got angry that I played it while cleaning, I started wearing headphones, but I still sang along. At least, I did until she berated me for using headphones while I was doing the dishes, because “The whole point of headphones is to not hear the music”. When I would be on the long drive to visit my mother with my siblings, my oldest younger sister would often snap at me to stop singing along with whatever I was listening to. When you’re young and self-conscious, little things like, peppered constantly over your life, that destroy your confidence.

But especially through working with my mother and my organization, I’ve been getting that confidence back, and finding my voice. Quite literally, I’ve used my actual speaking voice more in the past three years than I probably have my entire LIFE. Talking with my siblings, talking with my mentors, voice-chatting with friends... Just, gaining strength in my actual vocal muscles that I never had before. My speaking voice has changed DRAMATICALLY; it used to be higher, further forward, and a whole lot less steady. Certainly less expressive of anything but an underlying sense of worry or tension or questioning or dead cynicism.

So what I’m trying to say is, hearing someone so DELIGHTED by my singing, actually WANT to magnify my voice, just to hear me “free my soul”, which she said exactly because I was a touch hesitant, telling her I wasn’t really warmed up so it might not sound “as good”, but she was adamant that I so it. And I’m so, so glad she was so determined. So reassuring. So delighted!

Employing gloves I’ve been carrying and a separate microphone, she pulled up a karaoke version of Whisper for me to sing. I didn’t perform that one quite as well as Serene, for some reason? Though I NAILED a few of the notes, and I absolutely KILLED the soaring vocalizations after Certain Choruses (the one right before the guitar solo, and the ones in the final verses of the song that I added Some Personal Flair to because I just FELT it). It took me awhile to find My Voice in that song; I think it’s the key, I don’t do nearly as well with alto notes.

Although I seem to have found my “chest voice” with SOME kind of strength tonight, whew! That’s another thing I’ve been working on; I sing quite well in the s2 range, and I can go quite high and still sound refined, but once we start sinking into the alto ranges, I start having trouble with pitch and projection.

But anyways, we talked quite a bit after that, I wound up making a friend, and my confidence in my voice is now shining brighter than ever. I can’t express how much of a gift it is to have someone who’s far more educated in music than me (in a musical profession!) say that she LOVED my VOICE, even though the operatic style isn’t exactly “in style”, you know? It was AMAZING. She said I was welcome to karaoke party with her any time, and she walked me home. 

So tonight, even though it was 1 and 2 and 3 a.m, I sang to the fullest extent of my abilities. The first song I sang was Ghost Love Score, and at first I was timidly shying away from Going All Out because Wow Some of Those Notes are High and require a LOUD and POWERFUL voice to prettify! But by 3 songs in, I was like “FUCK it, it’s my BIRTHDAY, this is my treat to myself, and if they’re awake to hear it, that’s their problem.” 

So I sang the FUCK out of Phantom of the Opera, Sancta Terra, Sound of Silence, Over the Hills and Far Away, Bless the Child, Supremacy, Paradise (What About Us), and Serene, just to round off another triumphant session of singing.~

Difficult ranges and notes that swan-dive and slides and staccato exhalations I struggled most with, but for the most part? Oh my stars. I was SO PROUD of my voice! (The first few videos I was watching were vocal coaches reacting to my singing idols, and some of the things she said? Even if I don’t know exactly where the larynx is, the stuff about the soft palate and note slides and starting high notes strongly... I’ve got some of it down! And it’s quite a glowy feeling when a professional singer compliments a sound that you just made Very Successfully.

I can’t claim I sounded as good as Tarja or Simone; of course not! There were plenty of places I added my own style. My notes aren’t as clean or QUITE so strong in some places. But there were also places I absolutely SHINED, and I would actually be flattered to find out someone heard me tomorrow, because that means I’m really getting good at projecting a strong, solid sound!!

[coldgoldlazarus]

That is fair, yeah. It guess it comes down to a difference in priorities, because while I wouldn't have minded a bit more context, I was fine with things still being ambiguous? Like, for me the important part wasn't finding out exactly what he was, just how he was connected to the Plants and Knives, and how that figured into the destruction of July that put him on the run to begin with. It didn't give me a complete wookiepedia article on him, but it did pull together all the key details that had been laid out beforehand into a cohesive enough picture, and I was fine with that.

Though I do disagree on what you said about Wolfwood in the tags. Like Vash, I think what they gave us could have been elaborated upon, but didn't need to be for the most part? You mentioned that it was clear from the start that he was hiding a sort of "true self" under his outward personality that you never really got the chance to connect with, and that is a fair reading.

The vibe I got, though, (maybe mainly because this is how I approach similar characters in my own writing) was more that he was very good at compartmentalizing the stuff he needed to keep secret from the rest, but that the Wolfwood the other three got to know was still genuinely him; just an incomplete picture of him. Same principle as Vash having all that big dramatic backstory, but still being an earnestly silly and optimistic dork at the end of the day, not just putting on an act.

Again, as you said, the delay on all this was a bit much, and so Knives and the Gung-Ho Guns do get the short end of the stick. So if Stampede handles that stuff better, then that's good to hear.

It feels like kind of a microcosm of the overall difference in focus, I guess? Based on what you said, Stampede sounds like a much more conventionally plot-driven take on things, and I can see how that would be appealing. Just personally speaking, I liked 1998's "Journey not the destination" vibes, to the point that some of the more plot-relevant episodes with Legato or the other GHGs felt like more of a slog to sit through instead of like, the episodic stuff that was more focused on the characters and their development together.

At any rate, your opinions on it are valid to have, too, just wanted to offer a counterpoint, both for you and the person wondering which version to watch.

In defense of the original, while I do agree the episodic vibes were a bit much at times, and it was something I kinda had to work my way through slowly rather than binging all in one...

I do kinda prefer the more gradual approach to laying out the information; getting to know both the setting and who Vash is as a person and the different facets of both, before getting the context that lets it all click into place. Plus the main quartet having ample time to grow together so that later developments have stronger emotional weight.

I will agree that Knives definitely suffered in focus, and I am interested in how Stampede handles him, but admittedly he wasn't really what I watched Trigun for in the first place. ^^;

yeah my gripe is less with the way the setting and characters were handled and more with the way the. actual plot was handled. it honest to god felt to me like they realized about halfway through their run that they didnt have enough episodes left to get the backstory in in a cohesive way so they just shoved it all into one episode and pretended that that explanation didn't create more questions than it answered. you spend 20 episodes teasing your audience like "ooooh what is vash?? clearly hes not human!! clearly there's something going on!!! don't you want to know whats going on?? keep watching and you'll totally understand whats going on!!" and then your big reveal is that. He Is Not Human. which is something that any idiot who has watched the last 20 episodes has already figured out. the question the audience ACTUALLY has at that point in the runtime is what, EXACTLY, is vash, and what the context is behind the conflict he and knives are in. the backstory episode explains that Knives Is Here, and it gives context to the setting and everything, but it pissed me off that it STILL didn't answer the actual mysteries i cared about, i.e. vash's real identity and the thing with the gun and his fucking arm and knives's motivations and everything. maybe that gets answered in the last episode that i neglected to watch but personally I prefer a story where i UNDERSTAND WHAT'S GOING ON by the time the final confrontation hits. with trigun it got to a point where vash was going out for the final battle with knives and i STILL didn't know who vash was, who knives was, where they came from, or what the hell their motivations were. that just made that final confrontation seem so wholly uninteresting to me that i didn't even feel like watching it. it was like "hey look vash is fighting a cardboard cutout that he is Afraid Of. Why? lmao idk man. probably has something to do with that weird spaceship that shows up in one whole episode before this point. not going to tell you how tho." I think some writers have this tendency to think that mystery = good writing and that not revealing anything to your audience will consistently draw them in for more, but that only works for so long. after 20 episodes of virtually net 0 information it got to feel like I was being strung along and like my questions were never going to be answered, so I gave up on the show in the final hour. Again, i'm not saying it was BAD necessarily and i understand the context in terms of writing and production that led to the show being produced that way but i think it really noticeably suffers due to the fact that it refuses to give the audience ANYTHING but crumbs of information for about 80% of it's runtime. that being said. i did genuinely like a lot of it. it has its moments. im not trying to discourage anyone from watching it or anything lol i just think stampede is a little more successful in keeping the viewer engaged in the story throughout by constantly feeding you bits of information and actually answering your questions as they become plot-relevant.

[youhearstatic]

Exit Interview for a Fic (AKA: 10 Questions Every Fic Writer Secretly Wants to be Asked)

I started doing this list of questions every time I finish a ‘major’ fic. I’ve been putting together an updated fic list and realized I hadn’t ever done it for It’s About Time. So here we go!

1. Of the fics you’ve written, which is your favorite and why? At this point I’d have a really hard time picking between the still unposted (and unfinished) TwinSwap and the Dragon!Barry story. (The dragon AU has a lot more to it that I’ll hopefully get to eventually. There’s a few twists I adore with that one.) 

I really, really, really love both of those. I’m also, obviously, really keen on the whole Barry POV canon compliant story and the hanahaki story, Chrysanthemums (Lovesick). And I’m still pretty proud of Like Friendship Set Aflame. (FYI that last one is rated Explicit.) Plus, Losing Time is still something I feel good about.

2. Which scene was your favorite to write in It’s About Time? The scenes of Barry and Lup pining for one another are always fun of course but writing them together and in love? It’s just so good. I think my favorite to write was chapter 44. I started that first scene with no specific goal and it all just kind of organically evolved into what it did and where it all led and it just felt like it fit together well. And they were just so damn happy and absolutely gooey in love. Legato was obviously pretty good, too, but there was a lot of stress writing it because obviously it’s a Big Deal and needed to be Really Good.

(Putting the rest under a readmore because this is very long and self indulgent.)

3. Which part of It’s About Time was hardest to write? I struggled a few times. One of the hardest was chapter 34. I had a plan, there were story beats I was trying to hit and an overall arc to their relationship that called for things to go a certain way. But they just wouldn’t. I wrote and scrapped thousands of words trying to get there and finally realized the option I’d been too blind to see. Changing my plan meant a lot of other things had to be changed and created a lot of other hard to write parts but it also helped with the characterization for Barry and the change and growth he was going through.

4. If you could change anything in It’s About Time, what would it be? I kinda wish it wasn’t over? Like, don’t get me wrong. I’m excited to be on the part of the story I’m telling now - the part that initially drew me to even telling the story? But, holy crap, I miss Lup. I miss the crew and happiness. This is a long slog through dark times and if ever there was a time to say “Poor Barry” then this is it. I mean, I don’t think it’s all darkness? I think there’s surprises that make it worth it? (I really hope so! Like the appearance of certain characters in chapter 7 of Time After Time, for example.) 

And to be honest? I miss the interest that story got. Views/comments/etc have severely fallen off and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make it much much harder to motivate myself to work on it despite my determination to finish. (I get it though. It’s much more fun to read Blupjeans falling in love than Barry alone and kinda losing it.)

5. Did you make an outline for It’s About Time? Did you stick to it? Well, I mean, there’s the outline of the canon 11 cycles and that extrapolates out to giving the expanded story a specific set of story/character beats. As things got closer to Legato I had certain circumstances I wanted to hit in a certain order. So I guess yes, more than anything else I’ve written this had an outline. It wasn’t exceedingly thorough but it was definitely my game plan for things and yeah, several times that had to be scrapped like I mentioned about chapter 34 in question 3.

6. Which scenes did you cut, and which were added in It’s About Time? The scene of Barry cooking for the crew - specifically for the twins - wasn’t supposed to be in his POV. It was in Lup’s POV and I didn’t think it worked for his but then I couldn’t let it go so I just kinda... did it anyway.

I remember that snow cycle went on for much longer than intended, too. I’m really glad though, it got me away from the one cycle/one chapter format which helped me feel more relaxed about telling the story how it worked out rather than forcing things to fit certain ways.

There were definitely things that were cut but always because the scenes just weren’t working the way I thought they would during planning.

7. Who was your favorite character to write in A Thousand Tiny Moments? It’s Barry’s POV and I feel like I have a pretty strong grasp of him at this point. Gheesan and Selba were a lot of fun to write. Probably my still favorite OC is Embrace, though. One day I want to get art of Barry and Embrace, the big golden mongoose from cycle one.

Okay, this is maybe a weird answer since he’s not exactly a character? But I enjoyed writing my take on Griffin’s narration that opened chapter 36.

8. Which came first, the title or the fic? For a long time this was just called “the fic I’m not gonna write” because I’d never really jumped hard into writing fanfic before. Previous to starting this thing I’d only written a couple of 1k-ish minifics for a different fandom and only written something over 10k ... a handful of times.

9. Which idea came to you first in It’s About Time? It’s a little tricky answering this question because, even though it’s split up between Stolen Century and then the rest of the podcast timeline being in Time After Time, I tend to think of them all as one piece - Barry’s story.

I think the part that hit me first was thinking about Barry in Taako’s pocket spa and what kind of things would be running through his mind. 

In this very first consideration of his POV, I’d forgotten he wouldn’t have memories yet. So then I backed it up to that night between Wonderland and his cave/getting back in a body. What all must he have been thinking while they slept? After so long to be so close to the end and then have to get in a body and relinquish any semblance of control to the boys and his memoryless body? Honestly, I find that idea terrifying. From there it just kept spinning out to considering different bits of canon from his point of view. I don’t remember what the point was that finally convinced me to start writing but I’m still surprised it happened after so long of not really being a fic writer.

10. What are some facts readers may not know about It’s About Time? The first thing I wrote for this fic was Contradictions, the so called test minific. Then I got obsessed. I wrote pages of notes, picking out details that were relevant to Barry’s story and thinking and enormous lists of questions about what was going on with him or in his head at certain points. I spent literal days thinking about how to account for things inferred from canon. For example, why didn’t Barry remember things between bodies? When did he get the boys’ artificing projects that he gives them after reunion tour? 

Then I started writing longhand in notebooks. I started out writing where Contradictions left off: Barry’s trip out of the gerblin cave with THB and arriving in Phandalin. For a while I thought that’s what the fic would be: just Barry’s time from that wagon ride to Phandalin and ending with him getting into the tank as his last moments as ‘the red robe’ before revealing himself as Barry Bluejeans again. 

Eventually I realized that I needed to include Stolen Century and decided to start from the chronological beginning of the story. I’d written the entire century (albeit much, much shorter in this first draft - there was nothing between Tessaralia and Legato, for example - and then probably 15k of stuff directly following the defeat of the Hunger - that night and the following morning, as well as the first part of the Faerun things, Frank Texican’s part that is chapters 8 & 9 of Time After Time, and parts that still haven’t posted in Time After Time, including that section I’ve mentioned several times as the bit I’m MOST excited to share. 

After that it still took me weeks to decide to start posting and then another few weeks to decide to start posting Stolen Century and tell the story in order. I kind of wish I hadn’t done that just because it’d be nice to see them falling in love after all the awful alone and voidfished time but it’s good to have it done this way and have specific memories and all the characterization solidly built in order.

[yn6k]

hi shine! i wanted to know your thoughts about the book of us: gravity album? any personal favorites? least favorites?

sorry this is so late! i wanted to take my time to answer it because i do have a lot of thoughtsTM hahaha more (like a LOT more) under the cut :) 

so on first listen of the album, or honestly even just from the album spoiler haha, my ears instantly focused in on cover and how to love! so i’ll probably have the most to say about those songs + time of our life since ive listened to them the most!!for me: love how its in compound meter! always love me a good 12/8 or 6/8 or whatever it is haha its felt in three basically lskj i dont have a lot to say about this song? i think the focus is more on the lyrics? but musically i cant really identify anything that really sticks out to me alkdj like typical poprock i really dont know what to say maybe theres more interesting things going on underneath that im terrible at picking out (like in the chord progressions) fav part is def the prechorus^^time of our life: its so weird talking about this now bc ive gotten so used to the song that lkj some of what im saying (like the changes i would have done) feels /wrong/ but ahaha still here are some of my thoughts^^ FIRST OF ALL WONPILS PIANO SOLO >>>>> i just really love listening to it and i think an underrated part of his solo is the i think synth drums underneath them and how it creates this driving motion for the song and so like even tho the song starts kind of bare we can go straight into that hype instrumental intro instead of like having only his solo be the intro and going straight into the more mellower verse or smth along those lines? hahaha i think on first listen the first thing that stood out to me was how the chorus sounded like an extension of the verse?  like the chorus wasnt very obvious and im not sure why in terms of like chord progression music theory, but in terms of instrumentation i think one of the reasons is because that driving quarter note drum thing we get in the chorus only resolves in the second half of the chorus instead of sometime in the first half of it. so it almost gives off this sense that we might be building up to something greater but we arent? really like all of this energy from the drums piling up for seemingly no reason and also the effect that it has on really accentuating the opening lines of the chorus dissipates imo the longer that drum rhythm plays out. like the whole “a page of beautiful youth” part that opens the chorus is mostly all quarter notes and i love how we have the quarter notes within the actual drum line to back that up but then two things after that happen: 1) we get i guess a reiteration of the opening melody in the chorus with the “let’s write it together” which i feel like having the drumming driving with those same quarter notes underneath it makes the intro of the chorus feel a bit less special and memorable? and 2) and after that line plays out, the melody becomes a bit more loose in in terms of its rhythm (the ‘i want to fill it with our memories’ part) the melody doesnt have those same impactful quarter notes anymore, but u still have the drum playing it so its kind of? like a why? at that point like i personally feel it takes away from the support it gives to the earlier melody that was obviously more driving quarter notes. i kind of wish that driving forward motion in the drumline was resolved within the third measure of the chorus with like a singular drum hit into the release (like going from here to something like here but with a drum hit in between as a transition or smth? hard to explain lks i actually had a made a video a while back kind of experimenting with the sound but idk how to upload it to here) but!! i am a fan of having those driving quarter notes coming out of the bridge i love the usage of it there and would not change a thing! i think it fits because we are actually building up to that release in the instrumental, it feels a lot different than the chorus which just feels like it drags on for a bit too long. but i would also would have liked if we had a bit of an instrumental pause or something like right after sungjin says ‘dont worry about a thing’ like after that ‘ma’ a brief pause or like even the omission of the downbeat that the drum is giving like /something/ missing before we get back into him singing ‘leave everything to me’ idk i feel like that change would have been interesting and way to build up tension again in a way?? anyways to circle back to my original point about the chorus feeling like an extension of the verse..i lowkey feel like maybe day6 felt that a bit too? laksdj and thats why we got that drum intermission bw the end of the prechorus and the start of the chorus but thats just a theory idk how true it is like honestly to me it felt slightly out of place and kind of a random transition? i dunno i could be wronghere are some misc. things not in too much detail since i think talking about one song has already gotten too long alksdj but sungjins part in the prechorus i think could have been sung a bit /gentler/ than his usual throaty approach for day6 songs idk. love the vocal layering in the chorus! maybe my headphones are terrible and maybe im biased (a bit of both or neither who knows) but laksdj i kinda wish youngks bass part was a tad bit louder he has some cool parts that often get overshadowed by the electric guitars + vocals i think (like here! the sound is so tiny in the studio i wish they had brought it out a bit more because when it is brought out it like here sounds gorgeous…that sound actually might be a bit overpowering actually haha but some happy balance bw those two). also totally random but i love the way jae says ‘한 페이지’ its just satisfying to listen to like he slurs the words a bit? whereas sungjin in his part is more staccato and lkj i think i prefer the legato connection of the words to the staccato one. also thank god they brought back the piano solo for the bridge laksjhow to love: SHE!! was a favorite/look out for since the album spoiler and she did not disappoint. wonpil said it was motown influenced? love that for them;; the chord progressions are funky and fun to listen out for! love how we get a bit of instrumental differences between the first and second reiteration of the first part of the verse?  (the introduction of this electric guitar kind of in ur left ear if ur wearing head phones thats not there initially but then also this part in the electric guitar in the right ear which isnt there also again in the first reiteration just to keep it different and not redundant! i love the prechorus, introduction of strings for chorus stellar (but im strings biased) but its just so fun to follow how its similar and different to the vocal melody also whats a day6 song without some sort of chanting! love how the rhythm in the melody follows the drum part into the chorus all three times that it happens! the bridge is funky love it haha and also just love how at the end they switch up the ‘cause im ready’ and have sungjin jae and wonpil each sing one of those and then have youngk end with the ‘ooooh’ i thought that was adorable. ok keeping it short thats all i’ll saywanna go back: not to be a svt stan but holiday is that you? hahah jkjk its just a similar genre its like holiday meets maroon 5 haha i actually enjoy a lot of the song the chord progressions in the verses are interesting but also the prechorus is really pretty sounding but lakjd i honestly wish the tempo was just a little bit faster in the chorus i feel like its dragging a bit its hard for me personally to stay engaged with the song because of the murky feeling i personally get from the chorus. also the transition into the second verse is kinda ?? idk ahahaha but yeah main thing is just i wish the tempo was even just the tiniest bit faster for the chorus specifically i feel like verses are fine but just the chorus could have afforded to been a bit faster…but maybe this is just a personal experience cover: this is my personal favorite from the album! musically i just love the sound of the chord progressions in the verses? also the chorus! she! the vocal melody how it goes down but then u hear that piano in the background go up *chefs kiss* art! and i love the changes in the instrumental they introduced for the second verse! they added the bass i believe as well as another electric guitar part that isnt that muted plucking thing that we got in the first verse! AND THEN THE BRIDGE!!!!!!! THAT!!! IS!! A!! BRIDGE!!!! its so stunning and incredibly climatic and beautifully executed!!! i believe thats the first time the drums proper actually come in can you believe it (there are percussion sounds before but i think its a tambourine + a shaker/maraca? essentially not the drumset);; the tension that just the introduction of drums really brings to the piece ahhh and also the chord progressions really take u for a ride the first time u hear it and u dont know what to expect;; and then we get out of the chorus with ‘because im weak and not cool’ as a deviance from the earlier lyrics of ‘my weak and not cool side’ then DRUMTRIPLET!!!!! LAST CHORUS!! MORE DRUM TRIPLETS!! so wonderful the pOWER really the whole song is a huge crescendo ?? kind of influenced by the fact that they keep layering instruments which i absolutely LOVE like its beautiful haha but then the last chorus is just the quickest decrescendo ever as a way to fade out from the song but now with all the instruments (love how the last line really like enforces its importance and lyrical difference from the earlier ‘in the end i was seen’ by having that drum just punch it into u with every hit of the bass drum haha) also like how its not a true circular ending (but it kinda is) like there are instrumental and lyrical differences from the start and the end one thing i kind of wished they experimented with was like maybe mixing up some members voices in the chorus? like i tried a youngpil one myself haha where wonpil sings this part, then youngk, wonpil, youngk (again i hve a video for this but idunno how to upload to this ask) but its not like the song to me suffered from having singular member choruses i just thought it might be kinda cool haha anywhos im biased i love this song and laksj didnt even go into the lyrics rip anyways moving onbest part: i think its really cute that they composed this to be specifically be enjoyed in concert! i really like the best paaaaaaaaa aaaart like that swoop they do and the layering of the vocals i also think its super cool how some of the instrumental drop out towards the end of the chorus but alskj another ‘wanna go back’ transition into the second verse are they experimenting with this transition or smth?? but it just feels like inserted bc they couldnt think of a better way to transition into second verse which?? just kind of awkward akjl idk but maybe they have a reason for it i dont know! but yeah haha again musically im not really sure what to say kinda like for me it just feels like standard pop rock which isnt a bad thing just a /thing/ ahaha 

[putschki1969]

Interview Translations ~ 10th Anniversary Film Pamphlet

Note: Sorry, this is long overdue. I’ve just been crazy busy with work and planning my Japan trip in summer. There’s some nice stuff in those interviews but nothing too exciting so I opted for summaries instead of proper translations (scratch that, I ended up doing a proper translation). Without further ado, let’s get to it. Enjoy!

~ Keiko Solo Interview ~

-- It’s been ten years since you debuted with your single “oblivious”, what did you feel when you first listened to the demo tape of “oblivious”? The demo tape I listened to was sung by Wakana. But it wasn’t just “oblivious”, the tape also included many other songs we would sing later such as “Kimi ga Hikari ni Kaete Iku”, “Kizuato” and “Seventh Heaven”. They were all sung by Wakana. At that time I wondered, “who is singing these songs?” They caught my interest because I was unfamiliar with these kind of melodies and I had never sung such songs before. “What kind of song is this?”, “What kind of world lies hidden within this song?” Wakana’s voice made me feel all these things.

-- What kind of music had you been singing and listening to until that point? Back in the day I listened to a lot of Western music such as R&B, rock and dance music, at that time all I did was “listen” to music. It wasn’t until I came across Ozaki Yutaka-san’s music that my interest in music changed, “listening” turned into “singing”. From then onwards music was all about “singing” for me. 

-- Compared to that music “oblivious” was quite a different genre, wasn’t it? It was totally different! It sounded very mysterious! Of course she is human...but because Wakana was singing it the song didn’t even feel human, it felt ethereal. That was super mysterious!

-- When you overcame all the hurdles of trying a completely new genre with Kalafina’s music did you ever feel something akin to joy? Yes. In the beginning I didn’t feel any kind of joy. It wasn’t until about one or two years ago that I felt like I could properly express Kajiura-san’s music, that I felt like I could do it justice. When I look back at our interviews from the time of our debut, I really wasn’t able to say anything substantial. I think it took me about five to six years to be able to sing  Kalafina’s songs properly. When I think about it now I realise that all these years I must have suffered from some sort of inferiority complex. That’s why I saw it as my duty to get rid of all my weak points.

-- What kind of weak points? Could you give an example? Well, this is just my personal interpretation...when you sing Kajiura-san’s music, a song might evoke 10 kinds of emotions within you but if you end up expressing all ten of these emotions, I feel like it will ruin the song. For example, during my solo parts it’s very difficult for me to control my volume whenever I have to sing a higher range than my usual bass voice. Singing 「utatte ～ ho ～ shi ～ i ～*」with the same volume is no problem for me now but back then I’d sing 「utatte ～HO（with emphasis on the “ho”） ～ shi ～ i ～」. My “ho” would always end up being too loud. There was just too much force in my throat. By singing like that, by emphasising the “ho” of “hoshii” the feeling behind the line changed, instead of 「uttate hoshii - I want you to sing」 it became 「uttate HOSHII* - I WANT you to sing」. For me that ruined the song. I have had troubles like that with each and every song so all these years I have seen it as my task to get rid of all my shortcomings. That’s the hidden side of my activities as part of Kalafina.

-- Your first meeting with Wakana-san was long before you recorded “oblivious”. What kind of impression did you have of her back then? All I remember from that time is her singing. I was actually shocked. I felt like her singing was quite dispassionate and indifferent. Back then I was crazy so maybe that’s why I felt like that *laughs* We didn’t sing any emotional songs during our events* but in Wakana’s case there was just nothing there that caught my attention. She had always been a true vocalist with her classical and high legato voice so I guess she didn’t really fit into that kind of event, I thought she was probably singing quietly in her own little world. Now I know that she is actually lively and loves to talk but back then I had no idea.

-- What impression did you have of Hikaru-san’s voice when she joined Kalafina? When I first heard her voice I felt a sense of translucense. I immediately wondered, “what kind of girl is this?” We had received a demo tape with our next songs and we were told, “there is this new girl singing the demos”. When I listened to her voice I thought it was very clear.  I felt there was a lot of pureness to it.

-- So it felt very natural? As if she were a natural born singer? Yes. I don’t have many memories of that time but I know that when we met at the recording studio for the very first time we didn’t talk at all, I just watched her. I am not shy or anything but when it comes to girls I just like to wait and see how things go. When I watched her I felt a a very mysterious and slightly scary aura around her, I can’t explain it, it’s not something I feel about her now. And all of that was coupled with the gloomy lighting of the recording studio *laughs* I can still remember how Wakana enthusiastically agreed with me and was all like, “yes, yes, totally!” I don’t remember much about that time but it still feels very nostalgic.

-- Throughout the years ever since you got together as a group you have distributed certain roles among the members. I feel like the progress of Kalafina’s music has happened largely due to your supportive “leadership” role. While your supportive role might have started with chorus work, am I right to assume that this supportive role naturally expanded to include areas that are not music related? I think that’s exactly the case. Originally Kalafina was known for “Wakana’s voice”, that was our trademark. Those comforting high notes falling gently from the sky. And on the other hand we had a world created by Hikaru’s clear voice. I was somewhere in between providing harmonies. During this period I got closer to them and I wanted to feel what was inside their hearts. I can’t recall which live it was exactly but I still remember that deep within myself I wanted to make sure that Wakana was able to concentrate on her singing. So during MCs and interviews I’d take the lead and draw attention to myself so Wakana would have time to prepare for lives. After all, if Wakana’s concentration wavers our songs don’t work, if she is unwell it is conveyed through her voice. That’s how I just naturally started doing these things, little by little this became my assigned role. Whether it is wrapping up MCs or taking care of various live-related worries during our rehearsals, I felt it would be a good thing to take these things upon myself. I thought that would be the least I could do to make sure that our audience could enjoy Kalafina’s music at its very best. That’s pretty much how I got my role.

-- Isn’t that really hard? ...it is! *laughs* Especially since I am not perfect by any means. But in order to support others I can’t afford to make any mistakes so in all earnesty I devoted a considerable amount of my time to Kalafina’s music. 

-- One word to describe your 10 years as part of Kalafina? For me...it was all about “learning”... I learned a lot about music and I learned a lot about people.

-- What do you mean by you “learned about people”? I developed an interest in people. The way people live, the way people think etc...”That’s interesting!”, “I wanna know more!” Something changed within myseld and I was suddenly interested in people, I really learned a lot in that regard. Before my time in Kalafina I didn’t care much about other people. This interest is the source of our very first live activities and it is the most intense learning experience in my entire life.

Keiko got the same questions as Wakana about her reaction when she heard about the documentary (at first worried then joyful). How she felt about the location shoots for the movie (she had fun in Shibuya and walked around areas where she hadn’t been in around six years. She got the chance to reflect upon many things) and some thoughts regarding their 10th Anniversary Live (it was the perfect cumulation of 2017. She felt enormous happiness that day) Nothing new there...

*1) She is referring to her solo lines in “seventh heaven” *2) I guess she means it came off as too commanding or something *3) In case anyone is not familiar with Wakana’s and Keiko’s pre-Kalafina activities => Back in 2005/2006 they had already been signed up to Space Craft and they were taking part in various music events. Wakana was singing in a stage play called “Herstories” and both Wakana and Keiko (Kaori and Ayaka Ito as well) took part in a regular event called “Female Voice Party”.

Scans of the pamphlet can be found here

Next up: Hikaru’s Solo Interview | Previous post: Wakana’s Solo Interview

[umbraastaff]

I Saw Seven Bounties, chapter 4

Kravitz has a bad day.

[first] [prev] [next] [recent]

[Ao3]

Kravitz starts taking other bounties to keep himself busy until Barry reappears, and thank goodness he does, because it's almost two months before there's any sign of him. The reaper is slicing through the soul of a less skilled evildoer when he feels it: a pulse of energy. It almost startles him out of porting the current bounty into the Astral Plane, but he manages.

To be perfectly clear, it isn't just some notification ping from the Queen or a coworker telling him they've felt something-- the power is physically close enough that it hits him personally.

There's another pulse. This solidifies his conviction: it's Barry Bluejeans’ soul emitting this. And liches only send out energy this far, unhidden, for one reason: he's having a breakdown.

Normally Kravitz hates dealing with liches in the middle of emotional explosions. They're stronger and more erratic. But in this case, it might actually improve his chances. After all, Barry Bluejeans is usually so witty; being out of his mind will reduce his control over what he does.

Without any further thought, Kravitz flies straight towards the source of the energy pulses. Detecting the power of a lich isn't quite like hearing, but if it was, he'd be getting a headache from the sheer volume by the time he reaches the center.

The central point of the energy pulses is a dense magical storm, which is overtaking thirty feet of a steep cliffside. The whole thing is a projection of a lich’s soul and magic, but he can’t exactly reap an entire crackling red tempest. He needs to get to the middle of the entire thing, where Barry Bluejeans is undoubtedly barely holding himself together. Even if this storm is a little bigger than usual, he’s a professional who’s done this before, and he knows exactly what to expect.

He takes a deep breath and steps into the storm.

He didn’t expect this.

Actually: he didn’t expect anything. He isn’t anything. No, wait; he has feet, and they are taking him forwards, and he has a heart fluttering with feelings, so he must be something. Mostly, though, he’s somewhere. And somewhere is an enormous concert hall, which is called Legato. Thousands are listening while she-- while she plays violin. And he’s supposed to be contributing, because it is a duet, because he is sitting at the piano now, but Kravitz wanted to be conductor.

He doesn’t have time to think about how the name “Kravitz” doesn’t fit in here before the scene changes.

He is on a boat in space, and space is dark and cold, but it isn’t as dark or as a cold as the fate that would await them if they stopped flying. He has felt it before: black teeth that crush universes. A hunger so insatiable that it swallows up the stars. He has felt death enough times to get tired of the idea of it. He thinks perhaps he will become undead-- no, wait, Kravitz would never--

He is being lifted off the ground in what is bragged to be the most authentic sort of bear hug, because this man was trained by one. The embrace lasts longer than most people would think reasonable, but everyone else is gone this year and they’ve been friends sixty years too long to worry about social conventions.

And then: He has been awake nearly two days now and he keeps messing up the same equation on a spell he is trying to invent. She pats him on the back and takes his hand and leads him to bed. He isn’t afraid of letting go, this time, because she’ll still be there in the morning. Even if they all live for an eternity, he will never be alone.

Finally: He’s begging to be killed just so he can remember how alone he’s about to be. The flames kill him before the impact can. And he knows what death feels like, and this-- this isn’t it. Death doesn’t feel this way to Kravitz, because he doesn’t really die the way mortals (even undead ones) do.

Yes. Kravitz. Bounty hunter, agent of the Raven Queen. None of these memories are his. None of them even make sense. He’s Kravitz. He’s Kravitz, and he’s here to reap the soul of the lich Barry Bluejeans.

His surroundings twist as he clings to his thoughts. He looks down at a bell that he just-- no, that Barry had just made. It speaks-- no, everything speaks. Even Kravitz’s mouth opens and contributes his voice to the chorus: “Oh- oh, shit. D- Dav- Krav? Kravitz?” Everything starts falling apart around him. “I- I’m so sorry, I didn’t-- did you just walk into--?”

The voice stops possessing his vocal cords as his physical body becomes tangible again. Every part of it hurts like hell. He must’ve been thrown around like a ragdoll in the storm while his brain was overwhelmed with that… illusion.

Barry the lich, who currently has his phalanges gloved with Mage Hands, is propping him against the cliff face. “I don’t-- I dunno why you did that,” he’s saying, “but, uh, thanks. That was-- I died a couple minutes ago, see-- that could’ve been real bad. ‘Cause I’m-- I had a ton of thoughts all at once that I can only think when I’m, uh, dead. And you kinda brought me back, there.”

“Mr. Bluejeans,” Kravitz whispers, without enough energy to sound angry. “You… You… You.”

“Me” Barry agrees. “Um-- this is awkward, but I’m-- I actually have a doctorate, so…” he taps his fingers together. “Just-- you know what, just call me Barry, please.”

Kravitz just stares at him, trying to will up the strength to even lift his arm, summon his scythe. It’s not going to happen, though. Of course it isn’t.

“Okay. Well, I’m gonna-- I’m leaving now. Have a good-- I mean, uh, I hope your day… improves. Sorry.” And with that, he pats Kravitz on the arm, and he’s gone once again.

This is actually not the worst part of Kravitz’s day. He’ll get over this, because he’s a grown adult who can deal with failures.

The worst part of is day is this: When Kravitz is finally able to move again, he stands up and surveys the scene. The landscape is charred, and chunks of cliff face have been ripped out. Among the wreckage, he spots a single corpse. It has to be Barry’s body, he realizes as he makes his way over to it.

He sees the face.

Oh.

[swipestream]

SUPERVERISVE: “Trigun” is indeed probably the most Christian anime ever

I really didn’t know what to expect with “Trigun”.

Everybody had been recommending it to me for awhile, but I had tried the first couple of episodes already. They weren’t bad, but the show never really clicked for me. I was left there scratching my head wondering what was supposedly so special about it. I got why somebody might enjoy it in a “It’s not that great but it’s amusing” sort of way, but no more than that.

And then to be told that at its heart it was a Catholic story philosophically, thematically, and morally?

It should have been right up my alley, but I didn’t see the path from point A to point B. Still, so many people were praising it, and it had been recommended to me so many times, that I felt obligated to finish the series out. It’s not as if it was painfully bad or anything, and there must be SOMETHING to all the talk, right?

So I kept watching.

And man am I glad I did.

“Trigun” is an excellent show.

“Trigun” is the story of Vash the Stampede as told by insurance girls Meryl and Millie. Vash is a mysterious yet highly destructive drifter from the western-style planet of Gunsmoke, and Meryl and Millie have been tasked with following him around because every time he shows his face it costs their company enormous amounts of money. Vash has a 60 billion double dollar bounty on his head, but there’s something strange about him:

He’s a really, really great guy. Funny, fun, great with children, defender of the weak and helpless, and abhorrent of all killing of any kind.

So what’s with the bounty? And what’s with Vash?

And there’s your story.

“Trigun” starts off as light as a feather, even goofy, and then gets…dark. Really, really dark. Bloody deaths of beloved characters type dark.

“Trigun” is a show that is great at little, bad at some (the animation is rather weak, though I find much criticism of the dub to be unwarranted), but good at almost everything, and by the time it all ends the whole feels much greater than the sum of its parts. One thing the show is particularly good at is making you empathize with everyone, even the bit characters – nobody is acting like a jerk just to act like a jerk. If you have a giant wall up guarded by gunmen to keep out outsiders, you probably have a good reason for it and don’t just hate orphans. And if you want to kill Vash the Stampede, well, join the club.

“Trigun” is also uncompromisingly brutal when it comes to exploring its themes. Vash has taken the philosophy of “Thou shalt not kill” to the extreme, refusing to do so even in self-defense or defense of others, at least at the point of the series’ start. And we love Vash for it!

But it’s not so black and white. How many lives would Vash have saved if he’d just killed Knives? Hundreds? Thousands? And what if it really does come to protecting innocents, in that moment? Should you STILL not kill? Why not? And what does it mean for you if you do?

“Trigun” asks these questions without flinching, putting the matter before you as starkly as possible. And we never really get straight answers.

“Trigun’s” characters are rather unmemorable as a whole, with a few notable exceptions. Legato is one of the most chillingly horrifying villains I’ve ever seen, Vash himself gets a lot of rich character development, and, of course, preacher man Nicholas D. Wolfwood, the man with the most badass Cross on the planet, is the most awesome character in the whole damn show.

The man. The myth. The legend. Nicholas D. Wolfwood

Let’s talk a little more about Wolfwood, who is a fascinating character. It is interesting that Vash, “The humanoid typhoon” who doesn’t really talk about God or religion all that much, is the absolute pacifist of the group, while Wolfwood, the Priest, provides the counterargument. Wolfwood believes in a rougher world than Vash and in some ways comes from a rougher world than Vash, so he finds Vash’s no-kill policy naive, frustrating, and insulting, implying that men like him who kill to protect themselves or others are just as bad as cold-blooded murderers. It’s a legitimate grief, and the show portrays it that way. Like the best fiction neither side is shown as being exactly “right” or “wrong”. Instead, the idea is explored and examined in an intelligent and even-handed way.

There’s so much more to say about Wolfwood, who is truly a fantastic and fantastically written character, but to go deeply into what makes him so great would be to get into some really annoying spoilers, so instead I’ll leave this fantastic article out there for all of you to read when you finish the series.

The final episode – at least the second half, when the useless clip section of the episode is over – features one of the most outstanding gunfights I’ve ever seen on screen, almost completely dialogue free and brilliantly filmed. And the ending?

Well…

When I first saw it I’ll just say I was REALLY, REALLY ANGRY, though my brother pointed out some small details about the scene that helped me look at it in a new light. Still, it’s fair to say that it makes you think and stays with you a long time after it’s over.

Worth noting: “Trigun” features one of the most beautifully shot and filmed death scenes I have ever seen, and one of the saddest. I won’t say who it is who dies, but the scene is so well-done I feel that it is worth calling out specifically as being perhaps the best scene of the entire show. I don’t think I’ll need to link it – you’ll all know what I mean.

“Trigun” isn’t a masterpiece on the level of “Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood”, “Cowboy Bebop”, or the first half of “Death Note”. It never reaches the insanely high heights of any of those shows. Yet it’s never truly bad, even during its slow start, and it evolves into something that feels unique despite the fact that the sci-fi western is essentially its own sub-genre, with shows as brilliant as “Cowboy Bebop”, “Firefly”, and “Outlaw Star” (so I’ve been told, anyway) all fitting into that niche. Its uncompromising and unflinching nature gives it a fresh perspective on a lot of well-worn themes, and its take on Christianity feels both sympathetic yet somehow alien – like it’s being investigated by an outsider and all of its potential weaknesses are being shaken out and examined. When everything in the show’s DNA all clicks together the result is excellent comedy and compelling, and sometimes devastating, drama. While I don’t think it’s up with the top tier of shows, if somebody were to tell me it was their favorite I could definitely understand that.

Is it superversive?: Yes, fascinatingly so

Overall score: 8 of 10. Well worth your time.

(A note – after googling around while writing this article I’ve found that there is a TON of excellent “Trigun” analysis out there to read – it really is a much deeper series than you might give it credit for at first glance. Many of these essays are fascinating, and it might be worth your time just to google something like “Trigun Christianity” and look at some of them if you’re that type of guy!)

SUPERVERISVE: “Trigun” is indeed probably the most Christian anime ever published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames