#homoerotic betrayal bracket

[zyzix]

[regallibellbright]

One last betrayal reaction for the road

Because if you already have a crossover setup for the overall winner and the revival round winner you campaigned for, may as well do it, right? Spoilers for both, obviously.

The whole thing had been Nanami’s idea, of course.

“Himemiya finally won something! How can we not celebrate that as the occasion it is?” She’d said, and then she had laughed like she always did. “And I suppose you did well yourself, Yoshiya. Or as well as a loser can do. So you can join as well.”

Not for the first time, Joshua considered drowning his cousin in the River. The problem was, that wouldn’t make her any less his problem.

“And my friends, of course?” Joshua asked. As entertaining as a “celebratory luncheon” with Nanami and Anthy Himemiya sounded, he wasn’t setting himself up for hours of animal-themed nonsense without company. Besides, they’d actually been there at the time, unlike Nanami. “Neku, at the very least.”

She made a dismissive gesture and said, “I don’t see why not. Just tell them to dress appropriately to the occasion. We’re going for sophistication!”

Said the girl who had once worn a cowbell for over a week because she thought it was Sebastian Dior. He’d pass it on anyway. Let Neku decide what was appropriate for winning (or being one of the winners among the losers) a homoerotic betrayal tournament.

--

In the end, he’d still had it managed. Tell Nanami he knew a place, and the proprietor was the biggest trendsetter in all of Shibuya, and watch her little head spin as she told him he HAD to get reservations there.

WildKat had never had so many customers at once. For the occasion, Sanae had set some flowers in front of the store (roses, naturally,) and a sign reading “Congrats?” Nanami was seething. This might actually be fun.

Neku beat Tenjou and Himemiya to the party. Joshua grinned seeing him. They hadn’t even coordinated this.

Nanami made another frustrated hiss. “I expected this from Yoshiya, but you -”

“- I’m wearing the exact same thing I did when he shot me,” Neku said, smiling. “And so’s he. Besides, half of what I’m wearing’s limited edition.” He’d worn his headphones around his neck today, though.

“What could be more appropriate, after all? Thanks for organizing this, Nanami. I especially appreciate you paying.” He’d swear she was steaming like a tea kettle.

“What coffee - Oh! Anthy, it’s gotta be this one!” With that, Tenjou sped into view, Himemiya close behind her. “I didn’t know there was a coffee shop here.”

“We’re very exclusive,” Sanae said from behind the counter. “Your usuals, boys?” They both nodded.

“Do you serve tea?” Himemiya asked, smiling.

“Just for you, since this is a party,” Sanae said. “It’s, ah... good to see you, Himemiya.”

She giggled. “Anthy’s fine, these days. We’re all friends here, after all.” Tenjou gestured to a table, pulling Anthy’s chair out for her along with her own.

Neku took the other seat beside hers. Leaving Joshua to get his own, of course. “I guess... congratulations? You both seem happy,” Neku said.

“Are you not, Sakuraba?” Anthy asked, still smiling serenely. Good to know some things never changed.

“They did lose in round two,” Tenjou - Utena, he supposed, said.

“Neku, if you’re doing it, and I have no idea what to feel about any of this,” Neku said. “I mean, I’m still not totally sure what I feel about - all of that. What do you think, Utena? About the whole getting stabbed thing.”

Utena thought about that for a second. “I guess - it hurt a lot.”

“We figured,” Joshua said, smirking towards Anthy. He couldn’t fault her loyalty, he supposed.

“I never really thought about it,” Utena continued. “Right after that... everything happened, so... one stabbing isn’t that much, compared to what she went through. A million stabbings, for a start.” She smiled at Anthy. “I’m still glad I helped her.”

Even though Anthy no longer had her powers, Joshua still couldn’t read her mind. Utena’s, either. He chalked it up to Ohtori’s lingering weirdness. But he didn’t really need to, to see how Anthy’s smile softened when she looked at Utena. It was like the two of them shone.

“Thank you, Utena,” Anthy said. Then she turned to Joshua. “You put up a good fight too, you know. Seeing that campaign was inspiring! You must have really broken hearts to get that reaction.”

“I tried,” Joshua said. He definitely heard Neku mutter “Give me a break” at that. “But I was looking forward to the rest of the bracket. I was hoping to see you in the finals.”

“It’s so hard to go up against classics,” Anthy said, smiling serenely.

Joshua giggled. “Yes, we would have had the same problem if we’d made it that far. But it would have been nice to face off against some old colleagues.”

Tenjou - Utena - however Neku was supposed to call her, looked over at him. “Do you think we’re missing something?” she asked.

“I’m trying not to think about what they’re implying as much as possible,” Neku said.

“Smart move,” Mr. H agreed, handing Neku his coffee. “For what it’s worth, Phones, I’m pretty sure he’s focused on the modifier more than the noun, here.”

“Yeah, me too,” Neku said. Which is its own host of things Neku’s really not up to thinking about. “Say, Utena - the way you made it sound... do you forgive Anthy?”

She didn’t think about it for long. “I do. Do you not?”

Neku shrugged. “It sounds like he had a lot worse reasons for doing - anything he did, than she had for hers. And I wouldn’t even have been in this mess if it weren’t for him. But...” ‘I don’t think I can forgive you yet.’ Yet, he remembered saying. Did he now? Had it changed? “But it was a mess I needed. And I think... I knew that even then. If he hadn’t gotten me into it, I never would have met the people who are most important to me.” And even after everything, that still includes Joshua himself. “I’m not sure if I forgive him, but I can’t imagine my life if he hadn’t done all of it. And I don’t really want to.”

“That’s - the first time, isn’t it?” Utena asked. “He didn’t have to shoot you twice to change everything.”

“No, he didn’t,” Neku said, rolling his eyes over at Joshua. His Partner just winked back, because of course he did. “But it’s all the same thing, really. He shot me the first time because he needed someone for his awful plan, and then he shot me the second time...” He still wondered, exactly, why Joshua had shot him the second time. He had a few guesses, but all of them were loaded, and there was no way Josh would ever give him a straight answer even if they weren’t. “I’m pretty sure it still had to do with the whole plan. So... he kind of did, in a weird messed up way. Or maybe, he didn’t have to but he was always going to.”

“Awww, you’ve thought about it?” Joshua asked, voice entirely artificial. “Isn’t that sweet.”

“You were listening to that?” Neku asked. Joshua and Anthy both giggled. Right. Of course. He was at the table with two supernaturally-powerful players of mind games. “Whatever, of course you were listening to that. Yes, Joshua, I’ve spent countless hours remembering those three weeks and wondering what the hell you were thinking during it all.” Starting from the moment he woke up in the Scramble that last time.

“I didn’t know you cared so much,” Joshua said.

“Of course I do. Why do you think I couldn’t shoot? Why do you think I still trust you after you did?” He didn’t think about saying it until Joshua’s eyes went wide, just for a second. He hadn’t had to, really. Neku had figured it was obvious even without being a psychic.

Joshua was quiet for a moment. WildKat almost seemed to echo.

“Well, now I can’t tell you, can I?” Joshua finally asked, smirking. “I'd be depriving you of hours of entertainment.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to.” And ‘entertainment’ wasn’t what Neku would call it, but whatever. “It’s probably not that interesting, anyway.” Joshua looked positively affronted by that, getting a giggle from Anthy.

“Maybe you should talk, Joshua,” Anthy said. “Utena and I found things were much stronger after we did.”

“I’m sorry, did anyone ask you?” Joshua asked.

For a “Congrats on being betrayed so hard the internet thought it was worth a prize” lunch, it actually wasn’t all that bad, Neku decided.

[regallibellbright]

Look one of these didn’t have an element of predestination in it, merely the inevitability of the archetypes they took on for themselves.

Besides, is it really a betrayal if you know it’s coming? Is it really a betrayal if it MUST happen for your ultimate goal? Or is it a form of loyalty in its own right, someone choosing to take the fall and damn themselves for you?

Vote for Utenanthy. Vote for someone who always had a choice, but wasn’t yet able to see it.

Iconic Homoerotic Betrayal: Finals

Poll Directory

Context:

Anthy/Utena

Summarized by Anonymous Contributor

THE blueprint for homoerotic betrayals of the canonically gay (as opposed to interpretive, certainly there are older iconic examples for that) variety. listed as #2 in the infamous top ten anime betrayals video, iirc.

it is about akio pushing anthy to utena. it is about utena’s protective stance, misunderstanding. most of all, it is about anthy kissing utena’s shoulder before stabbing her.

the story has been leading us to this the whole time — utena assuming once again the protective princely position; akio, always playing divide and conquer, unable to manipulate utena to betray anthy, now reliant on anthy betraying utena; the game being rigged from the start, true victory impossible (for the duelists, who will always lose the game proper to akio, the rule maker, in one way or another; for akio himself, just as obviously); utena’s love for anthy within the princely stance; anthy’s love for utena and anthy’s fear (of the world beyond; of utena loving her truly; of utena not loving her truly but just projecting onto her still as any prince does, and turning out to be the same (as akio) in the end) and akio (framing himself) as the only one who will love her no matter what because friends turn away from you and only connections by blood are forever, the two of them are the only ones who’s real in this projected world, so on and so forth, and anthy’s bitterness towards utena (“do you know, utena-sama, how i always despised you” from that one “in the next episode” bit) and her princeliness and her being not that impossibly unlike akio (all princes are the same). everything has lead us to this moment. and yet we are shocked.

personally, i’ve never moved on from how she kisses her shoulder.

See a whole dissertation on Utenanthy here

Judas/Jesus

Summary by @this-is-a-name-dont-worry

We of course have Judas betraying Jesus, with a kiss like a last goodbye, maybe a mockery of their love, maybe a grieving goodbye. In the end it doesn't matter, because Judas would rather hang himself than to keep going. The money was unspent or returned, a change of heart from regret, or maybe a sign it was never about it

But the betrayal is also from Jesus; Jesus, who knew who Judas was, who knew what he'll do. Jesus who still let Judas be an apostle... an act of love, but also, isn't it so cruel to make it look like there was a choice, a chance at another ending for Judas? This is a story where it being a story is part of it, and the writer inserted himself among the characters, and doomed one of them to eternal hatred from everyone. And he dared let the one who will be doomed think he'll ever be saved. Jesus knew what would happen, knew what Judas would do, yet he still let it happen, because the story is more important. After all, at the Last Supper, isn't it Jesus who tell Judas to go and do what he must do?

Judas betrayed Jesus, but Jesus sacrificed them both

[inimitablereel]

Sad (to me) that no mctna fans found the homoerotic betrayal bracket nominations in time

[monstersqueen]

obviously the problem with antis is that they were not raised on seishirou/subaru

[fandomanimatic-tournament]

Fandom song animatic tournament: Bracket 1 Side A Round 3

The other side - The Greatest Showman Musical

"Don't you wanna get away from the same old part you gotta play? 'Cause I got what you need, so come with me and take the ride It'll take you to the other side"

How bad can I be? - The Lorax (Movie)

"How ba-a-a-ad can I be? I'm just doing what comes naturally How ba-a-a-ad can I be? I'm just following my destiny How ba-a-a-ad can I be? I'm just doing what comes naturally How ba-a-a-ad can I be? How bad can I possibly be?"

Baby Hotline - Jack Stauber

"I contend that your drinking eye has never opened I insist somebody will die, and I hate hoping Wishing that the pills let you cry, and I hate coping Someday I will go back outside and see her, okay"

Remember that we're voting on how Iconic they are for ANIMATICS, not for the song itself. In order to make things fair, the tone and mood of the song should not affect how iconic it is (for example, a serious song should not be considered more iconic than a joke song just because it's serious)

Propaganda and animatic links of the songs under the cut:

The other side - The Greatest Showman Musical

Propaganda:

uhhh i never watched the greatest showman but the song goes HARD and its cool as fuck to see how ppl portray these opposing tropes & characters in their animatics

Obnoxious as hell but without it weed be down so many homoerotically charged interactions. The enemies to lovers people would be quaking

it was so popular even i wanted to make an animatic of it 😭 (i never did cause i didn’t even have a stylus at the time but i think that was for the better)

Luz and Hunter. Grian and Mumbo / Etho and Bdubs. Hawks and Dabi. I'm sure I'm forgetting something

oh my god??? the homoerotism of trying to convince ur enemy to join ur side??? whats there not to love?

The only objectively good song in The Greatest Showman deserves some respect, god damn it. Also it's a very catchy way to show a character's betrayal/character changes in general.

The song just overall slaps and also it's great for showing characters having a conflict with one trying to convince the other to join the opposing side

its very character driven, so no wonder its very popular. almost every fandom ive been in has an animatic of this song.

Animatics with the song:

Creepypasta Marble Hornets

Karmaland

BNHA Villain Deku

The Owl House

The Promised Neverland

She-Ra

How bad can I be? - The Lorax (Movie)

Propaganda:

it’s an evil bop

I need everyone to go watch How Bad Can I Be? By Public Spam Account. The best animatic every, plus the song is perfect for any villain character and came from a movie deeply important to tumblr lore

...the only propaganda i have for this is the time two years ago when a zine team gave andrew francis like $50 to sing part of it in the voice of morro ninjago thanks to a joke about onceler morro. someone did animate it if that helps at all

Animatics with the song:

DSMP

Hermitcraft

Darkstalker Animatic

DeadCells The King Animatic

MBIT ENTJ Animatic

Baby Hotline - Jack Stauber

Propaganda:

jack stauber is iconic for his contributions to the youtube animation community already but baby hotline especially it makes me evil <4

Animatics with the song:

Chainsaw Man

Your Boyfriend

Welcome Home

The Mandela Catalogue

The Owl House

Please be cautious and read the title, description and warning cards on the animatic videos if you decide to watch them. If you've got specific triggers I'd recommend even more caution when watching animatics of fandoms you don't know, since sometimes canon-typical themes don't get warnings.

[regallibellbright]

Eeeeeeexcellent.

i so badly want joshneku to go up again jesus/judas, that would be so funny.

[queen-beefcake-sqx]

the SECOND that Homoerotic Betrayals bracket voting goes live, I will single handledly make “Beefleaf Sweep” trend I swear to god

[kingsmedley]

also, an update on my hiatus: i did really well on my work over break! a feel a lot more prepared for the rest of the semester. that said, my hiatus will probably go on a bit longer, though i'll certainly be around the dash more. yes, this is because of the homoerotic betrayals bracket, i'm having a category 9 autism event and i need to write fic and edit amvs or i will die. peace and love. 👍

[raisinchallah]

the homoerotic betrayals bracket having louis and lestat there as if that wasnt claudias plan her execution of it that was daughter killing father betrayal first and foremost stop taking credit for women’s accomplishments the main homoerotic betrayals in the vampire series just havent happened yet you dont even know the power of whatever the fuck was going on with armand and lestat

[inutaffy]

guys please please no matter who it is you have to support reo and nagi in the homoerotic betrayal bracket PLEASE you HAVE TO FOR ME

[zyzix]

i guess theyre having fun

[regallibellbright]

I am in fact working on a few homoerotic betrayal dissertations. (Not that Joshneku needs one after @composeregg and @denizenhardwick’s fantastic essays, but if I’m doing one for Anthy/Utena since we were invited for it I feel like I should do one for them as well. Maybe we’ll win the whole thing by overwhelming the competitors with essay time.) Proper Ides of March observations, right?

[regallibellbright]

[ID: Tags by @purplelea reading:

#very good points here!! #Ides of March is IMPERSONAL. it's not purely about Caesar and Brutus. the other senators are in on it too #even if Brutus did lead and even if he's the one that truly betrayed Caesar because he was closest to him #it's nothing compared to how PERSONAL joshneku is. Joshua CHOSE Neku. the random 15yo boy living in Shibuya #not anyone else. Neku specifically. the. (then) he made Neku care about him. he made Neku grieve him. feel guilty over him. #THEN. only THEN he betrayed him. when Neku's hopes were at the highest he pushes him all the way down to the bottom. #and Neku. fucking. lets him kill him. he lets Joshua shoot. #he chooses Joshua who JUST betrayed him and revealed he manipulated him all along #he chooses Joshua over his life. over the lives of his friends. over the lives of everyone in Shibuya and Shibuya itself #do you see it. do you see what i mean when i say #this could not be more personal. this could not be more homoerotic. this vould (could) not be more of a brutal and cruel betrayal #yet full of feelings. because how else could it be? Joshua did everything he could so Neku would pull the trigger. Neku did not. End ID]

Iconic Homoerotic Betrayal: Round 2

Round 2 Directory

Context:

Ides of March

Summary by Mean Girls (from an Anonymous Contributor)

Why should Caesar get to stomp around like a giant while the rest of us try not to get smushed under his big feet? What’s so great about Caesar? Hm? Brutus is just as cute as Caesar. Brutus is just as smart as Caesar.

People totally like Brutus just as much as they like Caesar. And when did it become okay for one person to be the boss of everybody, huh? Because that’s not what Rome is about. We should totally just stab Caesar!

Joshua/Neku

Summary by @purplelea

What if I was a jerk who decided to reject everyone because I was scared of getting attached and getting hurt, and what if I ended up in a death game where I had to learn how to put my trust in others in order to survive

What if I started to change, I started to trust others, to value their inner worlds, and then you came along as one of the people I had to learn to trust

What if you understood me better than anyone else, what if I recognised myself in you, and what if I HATED you for that, because you were everything I were, but that weren't not who I wanted to be anymore

What if you made it so hard to trust you because you were so grating and annoying and didn't deny when I accused you of killing me

What if you gave your life for me right after I learned that you weren't my murderer, what if I had spent an entire week blaming you for my death and what if you died for me before I could even apologise for that

What if I grieved you for a week while trying to fight for my life and fighting to keep trusting others despite all the hurt it kept bringing me

What if I fought my way to the end, victory and salvation so close, and what if suddenly I saw you again, giggling and telling me you were the one behind the whole thing since the very beginning

What if you told me that you were the one who killed me. That you were the one who created this death game. That you were the reason all of this ever happened. That I was nothing but a plaything in your grand scheme, that I've been your pawn since the very beginning, and all the fights I fought in order to come back to life were in fact helping you to achieve your goal of destroying my city and everyone I cared about

What if, still smiling, you gave me one last chance to save everything. A duel. A countdown. 10 seconds, one pull of the trigger, and you would be dead, my death would be avenged, my city and my friends saved

What if three weeks before that was exactly what had been asked of me, to kill someone else to save myself, and what if back then someone had to stop me from doing it

What if, pushed by how angry and hurt I was because of your betrayal, of your lies, of how you manipulated me and everyone around you, I found the strength to aim the gun at you, ready to shoot, crying but determined

But what if this time, because of everything I've been through, everything YOU put me through, I couldn't do it. Because you betrayed me, you hurt me, you did everything do I would want to pull that trigger, but everything you did also lead me to change, to start to trust others, and you're included in those others. You made me see that others' lives are worth the fight, are deep and meaningful, are something precious that shouldn't be discarded because I can't understand them

What if as you counted down to zero, I lowered my gun, and when your countdown met its end, you shot me once again, a bullet piercing my heart just like your betrayal did a few moments before.

What if after living all of this, I woke up in the middle of the city where I had been waking up at every start of every week of the death game you put me in, but this time alive and well, and I had to come to terms on how I felt towards you and the whole ordeal

What if I did come to terms, and put words on it. An entire monologue I gave to you, not even knowing if you were listening, but trusting that you would.

What if my name was Neku Sakuraba, and yours was Yoshiya Kiryu, but I could call you Joshua, seeing as I was your dear, dear Partner.

"I can't forgive you, but I trust you."

For other JoshNeku essays, see spreadsheet

[denizenhardwick]

"A pretty picture, but the scenery is so loud."

Footage: The World Ends With You Song: Miss Jackson by Panic! At The Disco VPR: Flashing, flickering, high contrast, glitching, quick cuts, red, and busy & colorful backgrounds

JoshNeku may have lost the Homoerotic Betrayals Bracket, but they'll always be #1 in our hearts. 💜

[regallibellbright]

Seriously shout outs to @homoeroticbetrayal because

A: The context essays are a fantastic idea in general, love it, thank you for that, it’s great for betrayals I don’t recognize, and

B: Yeah I for one know for a fact the propagandizing will continue to consume me today, and as someone who’s written like two and a half dissertations on various ships here already, you’ve been handling that in stride and I appreciate that.