#honestly copi is not about the whole sacrificing innocent people thing so i could also see him offering to help john

[bloodonmysqueegee]

replayed faith a little and thought of the worlds goofiest crossover (please see my vision)

John goes to a Clergy ritual, unaware that said ritual is a three hour long concert sung by a fruity anti pope

[theheartsmistakes]

A Court of Silver Flames rant

Back at it again with one of those book talks because no one in my personal inner circle has read it yet... because they all have lives. Spoilers under the cut!!

O.M.G... Silver Flames is on my top 5 list of favorite Maas books. If you’re reading this you probably don’t care but my list goes as such:

1. A Court of Mist and Fury

2. A Court of Silver Flames

3. Crescent City

4. A Court of Wings and Ruin

The fifth and final spot is yet to be taken... I read the Throne of Glass series, but I found her Court books to be better... anyway!

Pros: Nesta Archeron... I liked this bad bitch from the moment we met her in A Court of Thorns and Roses. I thought she was vicious and cruel and nasty, but underneath all of that anger... she held so much love for her family. I know she has a lot of issues and I’m not justifying any of the things that’s she done in the past or the things that she’s chosen to say, but I love the flaws that Sarah chose to give her. I am weak for a good redemption story and that’s what this was for me. It was a redemption story for a character that for all intents and purposes was a villain.  

I think I loved Nesta’s story the most because I can relate to her. Not so much in the vicious way she speaks to people, but in finding it difficult to forgive myself or to open myself up to other people in fear of them seeing what lies underneath. Sarah did such a great job of depicting that fear for Nesta and then carefully, through all sorts of elements: romantic love, platonic love, self-love, breaking that fear down so that Nesta could find happiness and forgiveness and acceptance. 

It was beautiful!

Cons: I could have done with like a fraction of these sex scenes. They did absolutely nothing for me except for like one or two of them. I made a Michael Scott face for some of them where I was just hella uncomfortable... and like grossed out. I’m no Gwyn, I’ve dabbled in my fair share of romance novels, but I just didn’t care for some of these scenes. I really felt like they were kind of out of character for Nesta, maybe that was the point, I don’t know. 

Those last 100 pages were SO rushed... it was so jarring. I went from relishing in domestic bliss with Cassian, to declining a mating bond I’ve known about since like book 2, to being flung into the Hunger Games, and then climbing the fucking mountain of Mordor (don’t get me wrong, I loved it, but I was just so confused). Then right when we’ve won that battle, we were thrown into the death and resurrection of three primary characters in the span of like 5 pages. But somehow, everything worked out fine... I am getting kind of tired of there being all of this build up about something like “oh, no one can wear all three artifacts and live EXCEPT this one person who is like barely a fae and has no control over her powers or self-awareness, but sure... she seems worthy. Let’s let her decide who lives and dies.” I would have accepted it a little easier if Nesta had truly lost something in this trade... like she lost her power completely instead of having a scrap left. I love that she made that 180 turn and basically sacrificed herself for Feyre, but I wanted more of a sacrifice from her... if that makes sense. As a writer and reader of fantasy, I firmly believe that magic needs to have rules and regulations otherwise it’s too predictable. What I mean by that is magic can’t solve everything and for Maas, I feel like too often it does. Let characters die. Let magic fail or come with a price at least.

What’s next: Please don’t come at me, I support everyone’s individual pairings, but I am not an Elucien fan. And I will tell you why: I didn’t like how Lucien handled the bond. Right after the poor distraught child was literally poured from a giant magic bathtub, he pounces on her declaring her his ‘mate’ as if she’d understand what the hell that meant. Rhys waited like a year before he told Feyre and same with Cassian. They gave their girls space and time to accept this while still remaining close. 

Lucien did give her space afterwards, but he just continued to handle it really poorly. There’s no spark, there’s no jolt, no oomph. I need the OOMPH!

Also, Elain is someone who has had very little choice in what happens in her life. From the moment she was born her own mother was like, “she’s beautiful. I shall sell her to highest bider because Nesta shall dance and Feyre is a wildling.” Then she was engaged to “what’s his face” because of his status and wealth, even though she claimed to love him. Then, she was dragged into the cauldron and turned into a fae and lost her chance at a happy, normal human life with what’s his face. And fresh out of the cauldron, this red haired fae man is trying to claim her. I would have been like... can I have a moment to process all of this fresh, new information. Treat me like a 90′s Dell computer, I need a whole hour to load these documents. Just stuck on the stupid hour glass. Then, she’s in a whole catatonic state because she’s lost everything she’s ever known and the love of her life is going to reject her and possibly try to murder her, while simultaneously being thrown into a war that she now has to play a part in. Plus, she’s seeing ugly visions of the future. I just feel so badly for Elain sometimes. I don’t want to force any expectations on her. I want her to live in her gardens, I want her to bake, and bring light to the night court. I want her to make make her own choices and for that reason I hope she chooses Azriel, because it will be her choice and not something forced upon her. Plus, Azriel deserves to be chosen by someone. He just does. His rejection rate is at an all time high and I think that’s just criminal.

Edit***

All right, so I just read Az’s additional chapter (my copy of the Silver Flames did not have it, and I may be switching teams. This is why I am an unreliable narrator, because I am so easily swayed. Honestly, I wanted Elain with Azriel for the previously mentioned reasons ^^^ and I stand by those reasons. However, after reading his chapter, I feel like Gwyn is a great match for Azriel. HOWEVER, I do not feel Azriel is a great match for Gwyn. I loved Gwyn’s character. I loved her spunk, her unwavering kindness, her loyalty, her innocence, her devotion, her talent, and I loved her interactions with Az. I loved that he rescued her and then helped train her so she wouldn’t need rescuing again. I also love how Az’s shadows interacted with her in such a different way from how they interact (or don’t) with Elain. They come out and play with Gwyn and she’s not afraid, but they seem to tuck themselves away when around Elain. Maybe because she’s so bright and sunny and Gywn feels comfort in shadows, I don’t know, just a theory. But this is a girl that is working through some trauma and is figuring out how to live and live well with that trauma. It’s not impossible, but it’s tough, and it’s going to require a lot of trust and time. Azriel is having wet dreams about Elain. I guess his attention could be swayed to Gwyn, especially if Elain truly becomes off-limits for him. If that is the course SJM is thinking about going, I’d like to see it done in the same way Mist and Fury was done when Rhys was helping Feyre heal.  Elain would have to be taken out of the picture in the same way Tamlin was. I hate that for Elain, because I like her and I want to see her flourish (plus aren’t the court books about the Archeron sister’s?) but it will not bode well with me if this becomes a weird love triangle with two traumatized women and a spy.

I thought this would help me but it has not. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I don’t think I’ll be mad if it goes either way. Elriel or Gwynriel, I’ll be happy for both of them.

Still don’t want Elain with Lucien because of previously mentioned reasons. He has learned to chill, but I still think he handled the bond wrong and now he needs to put in the time.

[doopcafe]

Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Seasons 1--6), Final Analysis

Well, I made it through. 

Let’s be absolutely clear: The Clone Wars (TCW) is not good television. For the most part, it’s not even watchable television. The show suffers from serious fundamental issues in nearly every aspect of storytelling. Characters are underdeveloped and inconsistent; the dialogue is expository and contradictory; the tone is disjoint and jarring; and most episodes serve no greater purpose than to be a twenty-minute vessel to house lightsaber fights. 

So I want to put this part of the show to rest before I move on to Star Wars: Rebels (and before returning to watch season 7). 

With two exceptions, the show poorly handles twists and reveals. In the earlier seasons, reveals were spoiled mostly due to telegraphing: Captain Sleaze in Cloak of Darkness, Senator Clovis in Senate Spy, and Yolo (?) in Senate Murders come to mind, but there were others. In later seasons, telegraphing was supplanted by “small universe syndrome” as the primary cause of spoiled reveals. In The Academy, a cloaked figure was seen doing shady, back-alley deals, but his identity could only have been the Prime Minister. During the “Ahsoka framed” series, Barriss was obviously the traitor, simply because her character suddenly reappeared after four seasons and there were no other candidates. 

Probably the most successfully executed reveal was that of Krell, as his assholeness was at least initially masked as military rigidity. But even so, it was so over-the-top that when the reveal finally came to light, it felt more like an overdue disclosure than a dramatic twist. It didn’t help that, by that point in the show, the format of “asshole = upcoming reveal” had been firmly entrenched into the show’s DNA. 

I would argue that the most effective plot twist of the entire show was when the dancer/singer girl shot and killed Ziro the Hutt in Hunt for Ziro. Although irrelevant to the greater story, it was an actual twist because it was strongly implied the opposite would happen (i.e., Ziro would betray the girl). If there is to be a second place, that award would go to Ahsoka’s decision to leave the Jedi Order at the conclusion of The Wrong Jedi. But this leads me into my next point...

Who was the main character of The Clone Wars? If we go by the logic that whoever had the most screen time was the main character, then Anakin probably wins over Ahsoka. But if we go by the logic that the most developed character was the “main character,” then this is a show about Ahsoka. Ahsoka---more than any other character---grows in a noticeable way (from impatient, violent child to impatient, slightly less violent teenager). In contrast, Anakin in Rising Malevolence is the same character as Anakin in Voices (only a little more violent and angry for some reason). 

It’s unfortunate that her major character moments were never capitalized on. Intentionally sacrificing herself for the greater good in Weapons Factory apparently led to no lasting repercussions on her character. Her impatience and disobedience led to the deaths of thousands in Storm over Ryloth, but was similarly forgotten immediately afterwards. Even Ahsoka’s major character moment at the end of The Wrong Jedi resulted in her walking away from the show, never to address the implications of that decisions (although I suppose that’s the subject of Season 7). 

On a different note, the show was riddled by a shameful amount of “references” and fan service, for reasons exclusively external to the story. These “nods” ranged from the obvious “Obi-wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope” (or whatever Senator Jimmy Smits says in Cat and Mouse) to the innocuous design of a droid or background device. 

These “references” are objectively problematic for at least a few reasons. (1) They contribute to the sense that the universe is a really, really small place. Is the Mos Eisley cantina really the only place in the Outer Rim where shady deals go down? Is carbon freezing really the only way to store a person in stasis for transport? How long do Rodians live for anyways? Greedo’s gotta be what, like 80 when Han shoots him in A New Hope? It’s ironic that ultimately, this incomprehensibly large, diverse galaxy actually feels much smaller after watching this series because we keep going to the same twelve places...

(2) “Fan service” is tricky to get right because different people have different memories and impressions of the source material. In result, copying material will oftentimes comes across as a blatant misunderstanding of the original content. For example, to me, Vader put Solo into carbon freeze because it’s what Lando had lying around. It’s not a galactically established method of transporting people. Obi-Wan trained Luke with those laser balls aboard the Falcon because Han had them lying around and Obi-Wan needed to improvise a training exercise to kill time. 

(3) "References” and “nods” usually are just a band-aid for a lack of creativity. Some of the better episodes in the initial seasons were just direct rehashes of famous movies. Seven Samurai, Godzilla, Stray Dog, The Most Dangerous Game, King Kong... I mean, it’d be pretty impressive to mess-up stories like these, but it’s concerning that there were just so many episodes made from other people’s stories. 

These “references” even seep into the most innocuous of scenes. When Prequel!Wan lands on Mandalore to attempt a rescue of Satine from Darth Maul, one of the Mandalorians takes aim at him, only to have their blaster pushed down by their companion who’s shaking their head. This is a direct reference o the Tusken Raiders on Tatooine when Luke went after R2 in the desert. Even if this scene served an important plot purpose (it didn’t), there’s undoubtedly a multitude of ways to communicate the same thing. Instead, a small reference to the OT is interjected into the show, deimmersing the audience from the events shown. Unfortunately, this is just one (very small) example of hundreds over the whole show. 

Let me say something positive. The episodes that worked best (especially early in the show's run) were ones that focused on mortal people, usually the clones. Innocents of Ryloth was one of the first watchable episodes, simply because we didn't have to sit through twenty minutes of unlikable, unrelatable “Jedi” and instead followed around a pair of troopers helping a little girl using their limited abilities. Likewise, Pursuit of Peace was way more enjoyable than it probably should have been, simply because the story was understandable, the consequences clear, and the drama real. Plan of Dissent (when the clones actively rebel against Krell) was also noteworthy for similar reasons: clones we liked must subdue a “Jedi” we’ve learned to hate. 

This isn’t to say that episodes focused on the major characters were inherently unenjoyable, it’s just that none of these characters had any room to grow (with the exception of Ahsoka). Dooku, Grievous, Anakin, Prequel!Wan... They were the same characters as portrayed in Episode II and III. As presented, there was nowhere for these characters to go. Dooku was literally identical at the beginning of the series as he was at the end, and the same can be said about the others. 

But these are false constraints the writers imposed upon themselves. Grievous was not in Episode II and was introduced in Episode III. TCW could have started him however they wanted and then illustrated his change into the character he later becomes. Who was he? What was his motivation? Why did he hate Jedi so much? The show was handed a completely clean slate to deliver a character from scratch, but instead we were immediately shown “Episode III General Grievous” with zero introduction because fans were expected to already know who he was. 

This is partly why the backstory episode to Grievous was so compelling, at least in premise: viewing his home was personal to his story and it represented a chance to learn a bit more about the character and where he came from. Of course, it was mostly mishandled by a reliance on meaningless action, but the high ratings of that particular episode suggest there was room for quality television here, it just was never capitalized on.

Instead, we have completely static caricatures, especially for minor characters from the movies. Admiral Tarkin, Admiral Ackbar, Greedo (among others) were written out of cardboard and their roles in the plot could have just as easily been played by anyone else (there was nothing unique about their roles that required them to be these characters). 

This is a shame because a lot could have been done with the established premise to really focus on Anakin, his motivations, and his relationship to his Padawan. I would have been okay with a lot of backtracking if it meant I could begin to grasp his “fall” to the Dark Side. Instead, I’m honestly more confused than ever about his motivation.

One argument is that Anakin joins the Dark Side because he like, “loves” Padme (or whatever). However, what we’re shown in this show---consistently, clearly---is that Padme and Anakin have a toxic, dysfunctional relationship. He is uncomfortably jealous and rarely trusts her. They argue nearly every time they’re together. Their “love” (or whatever) must remain secret, equating their relationship to something “wrong” or even “illegal” that must be kept secret, even on the verge of death. In a later episode, Anakin orders Padme to listen to him because he’s the “man” and, as his wife, she doesn’t have a say in the matter. This is clearly a broken relationship and the best result is the one that actually happens: They stop seeing each other. Anakin wants to save this woman from a vision? Why? 

This brings up a second point, which is that Anakin can’t stand the pain of losing someone. His desire to protect those close to him may be Anakin’s only redeeming trait. He has a single selfless scene (in the entire show) during the opening of Jedi Crash where he sacrifices himself to delay an explosion and save his companions. I want to stress that any other scene where Anakin saves or helps someone isn’t done because he’s a good person, it’s done because he’s a broken person. It’s done because he, personally, would struggle with the emotional toll of knowing he allowed someone close to him to be hurt or die. In other words, he’s doing nice things for selfish reasons. 

As far as I’m concerned, Anakin has always been Darth Vader. He is given choices between being a Jedi and allowing a lot of people to die, and he enjoys choosing the second. In Ghosts of Mortis, we’re shown that the threshold between “Anakin” and “Darth Vader” is disconcertingly low, requiring only a few choice words and less than a minute to convert him. In short, what I’ve learned from TCW regarding Anakin Skywalker is that he was an unlikable dick, and his “turn” to the Dark Side was just a long-overdue reveal. 

While the later seasons worked towards the events in Episode III in a way that at least made a bit of sense, earlier seasons were focused on adult-themed wacky hijinks. In a way, the show almost would have worked better as a kid’s show, but this was clearly meant for adults: politics, war, slavery, and lots and lots of horrific violence. In comparison, the silly adventures of Star Wars: Resistance worked well because the show didn’t take itself too seriously. It was very clearly, from the start, a lighthearted show about kids going on fun adventures. In contrast, TCW suffered because its themes were adult in nature, but was portrayed as a Saturday morning cartoon show. The humor was misplaced, the tone disjointed from actual events, and the violence excessive. 

Let me say a few words on the “Jedi.” Initially I labeled them as overpowered (OP), because in earlier episodes they seemed invincible and dissolved tension in every scene. Later, we see a slew of them get cut down as plot fodder, even against widely different situations. We see Luminara and others push through hoards of droids only to see “Jedi” Master Yoda-like dude get taken down by a dog. We watch as Fisto *heh* powers through entire battalions and the cone-head guy counting coup against an army, only to watch as pink girl gets shot in the face by a single clone who stands in front of her for several seconds before pulling the trigger. 

It’s nearly impossible to feel tension in these scenes because the metrics for judging the true strength of a “Jedi” keep shifting as a function of the plot requirements. Anakin suddenly forgets how to use the Force when the plot needs his help to fake some drama. Prequel!Wan pointlessly fist fights with a slaver cat for an hour until the plot needs him to get back up again and OP everyone in the room. Even their ships are only as strong or weak as the plot needs them to be. Plo Koon’s fleet is devastated in seconds in order to portray the Malevolence as being a threat; Anakin’s fleet powers through a larger force three times its size because Anakin’s like, really mad about something. 

Secondly, the “Jedi,” in general, were unlikable assholes. They were consistently portrayed as violent and ignorant and I struggled to understand them as real people. Frequently, we witnessed them torture victims, default to a lightsaber to solve problems, and enjoy death to the point of counting coup against sentient life forms defending their homes. Anakin threatened civilians with his lightsaber. Ahsoka was annoyed when she’s asked not to murder a defenseless creature in Jedi Crash. Prequel!Wan and Anakin team up to hurtle enormous rocks into a beaten monster in Dooku Captured. A trio of Jedi Masters mentally gang bang a shackled Cad Bane. They supported state terrorism when it suited their needs, but agreed to abandon their friends for political reasons. 

I mean, these are not good people...

This is a shame, because my impression of true Jedi comes from Luke, Yoda, and Obi-Wan in the OT, as well as the expanded universe novels that take place afterwards. It always seemed to me that being a Jedi was about conquering oneself, one’s fears, and learning to use the Force to selflessly help others and let go of all worldly attachments. You know, like the Buddhists they were originally inspired by. I always had the impression that the Force was extremely powerful and that Yoda was only showing Luke a portion of what was possible. That the Emperor was only using Force lighting to toy with Luke. That Vader only Force choked his officers because it was visually intimidating and kept them in line. 

Instead, we’re treated to some garbage about how a “Jedi” is nothing greater than an actuator to swing around a lightsaber. When Luke enters Jabba’s palace in Jedi to rescue his friends, it’s not with lightsaber swinging, cutting shit up, flipping around like an acrobatic monkey. Imagine Anakin and Ahsoka in the same scene. They’d blaze through the palace corridors before Force choking Jabba as the Darth Vader theme plays. Forget the rancor, these are demigods. They have lightsabers. Have you seen them? They go “woosh woosh.” 

In short, there was little to look up to in terms of a “hero” character. I can see how children can look up to Luke as a role model, someone they want to emulate or play with as a toy, but looking up to Anakin? Ahsoka? Hey kids, wanna learn to become a psychopath? First, you use your power to abuse those who are weaker than you. Then you need to get really really angry and uncontrollably choke someone, preferably your sister or one of your cousins. 

And so, for a Saturday morning cartoon show, it is very unclear who we’re supposed to care about. I liked when Ahsoka went against Anakin because I hated his character so much. I liked everything with Hondo, a pirate. I liked Ventress a little, because she was actively seeking to kill the main characters. I liked some of the clones, but I don’t know which ones because they all looked the same. I cared about Darth Maul because I’m honestly a little worried about him, especially after the loss of his brother. I kinda liked General Grievous just because he hates the “Jedi” and was therefore relatable (even though the reasoning was never explained). And... that’s it. 

At no point did I ever “look forward” to the next episode. I painfully died a little on the inside hitting the “watch next” button every single time.

This “review” is already way too long, so let me summarize by applying my five-star rating system (developed for movies) to each episode. In review:

5. Amazing, classic, culturally important. Something everyone should watch.  4. Great; very well done, no significant flaws. 3: Entertaining with only minor gripes/criticisms.  2: “Watchable,” but suffers from flaws and has some poor parts.  1. Uncomfortably bad; suffers from serious flaws. 0. Painfully bad, would actively fight against being forced to watch a second time. 

The 3-star episodes were: 

Hostage Crisis

Lightsaber Lost 

Pursuit of Peace

Carnage of Krell

The Wrong Jedi 

Hostage Crisis was the introduction of Cad Bane, Lightsaber Lost was the remake of Stray Dog (and the only episode to include a real Jedi), Pursuit of Peace was the random Padme/politics episode that was strangely well-executed, Carnage of Krell was the reveal of Krell as a bad guy and his clones working to apprehend him, and The Wrong Jedi was Ahsoka leaving the Jedi Order (and the only episode to include a true character moment). 

Also, I scaled the IMDB ratings of each episode to my ratings and then detected outliers in their overlap. In other words, I wanted to answer the question, “which episodes did I rate the most differently from others?” 

Turns out, I rated every single episode lower except for seven. Those seven were: 

Mercy Mission (+1.853) - R2 and 3PO discover an underground world with ents. This one is universally panned by “fans,” but was a competently handled episode apart from the disappointing resolution. 

Pursuit of Peace (+1.382) - Padme struggles to win support for a Senate bill. Another competently handled episode that focuses on Padme and politics and is ranked low by “fans.”

Lightsaber Lost (+0.6471) 

Weapons Factory (+0.4118) - An average episode with a dramatic scene of sacrifice by Ahsoka and her “friend” Barriss. 

Shadow Warrior (+0.3824) - Grievous is captured during some dramatic moments on Naboo. 

Hostage Crisis (+0.3529)

Front Runners (+0.0882) - One of the rebels episodes, I don’t remember which. 

In conclusion, Star Wars: Rebels is next and I am somehow still alive.

[atopearth]

Fate/stay night Réalta Nua Part 2 - Fate Route (2/2)

Day 10 - 15 I don’t think I ever realised how deep the repercussions of Shinji activating the boundary field and sucking up the life force of the people in the school exactly was. Although we got to see (in the anime) people like Mitsuzuri not acting “normal”, when Shirou couldn’t sleep because he kept thinking about the people who had their skin melted, and how the lack of oxygen could severely affect their brain functions or other physical disabilities, it made me so mad that Shinji got away. Someone like him who could do such cruel things yet cry like a baby when he’s about to die makes me so mad and annoyed. Honestly, this is probably where I think Shirou is much more “mature” than Saber, he acknowledges that this tragic event occurred, he was powerless to stop it from happening, but he doesn’t dwell on kicking himself for allowing it to happen and wanting to go back to change it if he could (since he knows that such a thing shouldn’t be done on a whim even if he could do it). Instead, Shirou very logically understands that what he can and must do from now on is to prevent such a thing from happening ever again, and I think that’s really admirable, especially considering how much his guilt must weigh on him for being weak. But I guess that only makes him push himself even when he’s injured… It’s nice to see an explanation of the different Noble Phantasms that are either built to be anti-personnel ones where it’s really strong against people but “useless” against objects or armies and the other way around. Which i guess kinda balances out the different skills of each Servant since there’s no Noble Phantasm that is really effective against everything. I’m glad that Saber forced him to rest when he started looking around for Shinji, now Saber is being the less reckless one haha.

I guess the reason Shirou becomes who he is in “that future” is mainly because of the attitude he keeps up right now. Even Saber has noticed that he puts others before himself to the point that he doesn’t care about himself and doesn’t think about “saving” himself, and that’s probably what caused his life to go downhill when he realised how he sacrificed himself and everything for an ideal that gave him nothing in the end, whether it be satisfaction, happiness or any change in the world itself. He lives to become a protector of justice and yet neglects the importance of “Shirou’s” thoughts and feelings as a person instead of just the Shirou who was the only survivor in the last war, so he should do something with this life he was luckily blessed with by Kiritsugu. Wow, Rider on a Pegasus looked really beautiful, but at the same time eerie, considering she definitely lured Saber to the rooftop because she has a plan to defeat her. I definitely enjoy how Rider is living up to her name as Rider lol, to think she could summon a Pegasus from the times of the Gods and it’s actually powerful enough that its divine protection is even above Saber’s. I guess it was expected that Saber would have to use her Noble Phantasm Excalibur to defeat Rider (who took advantage of fighting in the air against Saber who is accustomed to fights on the ground). It’s just saddening that using it once depleted her mana so much that she might not be able to survive the next fight… It was nice to see Arturia/Saber’s past, I feel like she’s similar to Shirou in the sense that she never lived for herself either, when she was born, although she was tossed to an old knight due to her gender, she always trained properly as a knight knowing what her role in life was. She was born to be king and it was further proven when she was able to pull Caliburn(?) out of the ground. She knew her life could never be normal and accepted that, she knew she had to kill everyone to protect everyone around her, she took those responsibilities to heart so much, she always stood in the front lines to protect the people she felt she was destined to protect because she was the king, and nothing else.

It’s actually pretty cute how Saber has become more conscious of herself as a girl because of Shirou now, it’s nice to see her feel and be something other than a knight. But yeah, I always feel so sad about Archer being left behind to fend off Berserker so they can escape Illya’s castle, soo not worth it for Shirou and Saber🥺 But yeah, he did it to protect Rin so it can’t be helped, especially since there really was no other choice. The whole transplant with the Magic Circuit with the dragon inside of Saber etc was interesting… But what’s more interesting is how embarrassed Saber is towards Shirou now lol. It’s just such a contrast from how she acted before that it’s so amusing lol. It’s pretty amazing to hear that Archer dealt 6 fatal blows to Berserker before disappearing, if there’s only 6 “blows” left, that means Archer himself took Berserker to half health! Kinda crazy especially since Berserker gets enhanced strength and stuff for being berserk (has no rationality etc, even though he regained it for a second from the battle with Archer because of how interesting and worthy of a battle it was) and even Saber can’t match his strength. I love Archer😭

Although it’s super cool that Shirou could reproduce an imitation of Caliburn (the sword Saber pulled out from the ground), it’s still crazy to think that the attack they both used together could actually destroy Berserker’s body seven-fold with a single blow. Ooh I never realised that Masters could actually have more than one Servant, it’s just unfeasible due to having to split up magical power. Although I’ll never like Illya (look at all those deaths in the bad ends!), she is cute and honest, and I do love how she won’t have any other Servant except Berserker. Lmao when she said she’ll take Saber if Shirou loses since she doesn’t intend on allowing anyone except him to win the war, so she’ll win it in his stead if that happens lol. It was so cute when Saber used a napkin to wipe Illya’s cheek when it got dirty as she was eating. But I think when Saber said she did it because she didn’t want Illya’s beautiful hair to get dirty made me think that maybe Saber is so partial to it because of Irisviel (Illya’s mother).

I’m really glad the novel actually expands on Saber’s past, her thoughts and feelings much more, I always thought she was a shallow character in the anime, so it’s great to see this. “Nobody wanted her to be human, but they revolted against her because she didn’t have a human’s feelings”. I find this quote so saddening… Saber worked hard to be nothing but a “king” for the knights and the people around her because they all found it difficult to acknowledge her as one when she was just a kid that pulled out a sword, and yet when she succeeded in winning battles and leading them, they found dissatisfaction in the fact that even though she was capable, she didn’t have the heart to truly move or guide people because all she was, was some kind of being that was so great yet so difficult to understand. What she sacrificed to lead people in the end became what the people revolted against her for. It’s so… ridiculously ironic that it honestly breaks my heart to think about how difficult it must have been for Saber. She gave up herself and lived for these people that ended up going against her despite her doing her best in the only way she knew to lead them. She was always alone, but no one thought anything of it, because she was the king, and yet despite whatever misgivings she had as a king, the knights never questioned her until they decided to just leave her. Just as she never showed them and the people her emotions and thoughts, her people also never wanted that from her until they suddenly decided otherwise. I think by seeing all this, I can much more appreciate how the innocent, cute and sweet Saber acts in front of Shirou. It’s like, because of him, she was able to regain and show a part of herself that she had to always restrain inside because of how unnecessary it was to the world, and yet Shirou from the very beginning always insisted on treating her as a human, as a girl and as just any other person. How ironic it is that she was never treated as a human when she was alive, yet she is treated as one when she becomes a Servant. I think what must have broken her the most was her last battle against the knights that usurped her throne and split the country in two, making her fight in the soil she fought so hard to protect all these years. And I guess that’s why Saber can so assuredly say that Shirou’s way of living is wrong and will cause him grief in the future. Because they’re so similar in that they both completely disregard themselves as “anything” compared to the “importance” of others. On a lighter note, I love how simple and sweet their everyday life is, it’s so cute how much fun Saber and Illya have just sharing boxed lunches together in the dojo, they’re so adorable. Although I do have to really question how useful Saber and Shirou’s training has been if they’re both so reserved towards each other now lol.

The heroic spirit thing is certainly interesting… To think that heroes make a contract with the world in order to become a hero, receive powers beyond humans and then pay for this after death by becoming heroic spirits that could be summoned for the war… But Saber is different because she became a hero with her own powers and not by contract with the world, it was only when she was about to die that she made that contract to be a heroic spirit in order to obtain the Holy Grail (that she sought when she was Arturia). Hmm so right now, Saber isn’t exactly a Servant since her time has only “stopped”, but then when she gets the grail, she will die and become a heroic spirit as per the contract…and that’s why she can’t go into spirit form… it’s actually because she’s not dead😮 And unlike the other Servants who are essentially copies of themselves (so they disappear when defeated), Saber goes back to her own time (the moment before her death) instead. I wondered to what point Saber wants to change things, but to think she believes that maybe the sword chose wrong, so she wants to redo the selection in hope that a more “suitable” king would be found and her country wouldn’t be in ruins because of her. Honestly, although Shirou is mad that she has no regards for herself even to this point, and that he wants the Saber here to be happy (instead of just the Saber that will not be king if she really gets the Holy Grail), I’m mad at Saber for completely disregarding the ten years she fought for her country. Even if it ended in betrayal and shambles, even if that wasn’t the ending she desired, how can she disregard the lives she saved alongside the lives that were lost? What makes her think that this is entirely her responsibility? Just as she chose to pull out the sword, the others decided to follow her (even if it was in reluctance for a bit), the fall of a country isn’t someone’s sole responsibility. But I guess what annoys Shirou the most is that even though Saber tells him that he’s on the “wrong path”, Saber doesn’t even realise she’s doing the same thing as him. She only thinks of herself as the king that failed and must do something to rectify that when she doesn’t even really think of her own life outside of being king. 

Hahahaha, I love Tiger Dojo 9 when Taiga and Illya diss Saber for being weak, getting controlled by Caster and killing Shirou lmaoo. LOL at Saber getting her revenge on them riding a tiger hahahaha, omg these Tiger Dojos are so fun to read. Kinda sad that Caster has to interrupt during the heated conversation, sooo rude lol. Lmao at Saber wanting to use Excalibur against the horde of golems in Shirou’s house, lady, do you want to destroy everything and the people in the vicinity?! Caster feels like such a cheat though, not only can she cast magic without a Magical Circuit and with short incantations since she’s from the age of Gods or whatever, her Noble Phantasm is rigged even if it’s not “super powerful” like Saber’s. I’m surprised that Gilgamesh appeared to “save the day”. But anyway, I guess I’ve never been a fan of Caster and Gilgamesh because imo they kinda ruin the power balance in the story and makes things less interesting. Let’s see if the novel changes my mind for this haha. Maybe now I’ll get to see why Gilgamesh is so obsessed with Saber?

Honestly though, I find Saber so silly to think that if she herself was an incapable king, what makes her think that she is capable of properly selecting an “appropriate king” in her stead? Hmmm, how interesting that the Einzbern family were the ones who initially wanted to summon the Holy Grail but ended up getting cooperation from the Tohsaka family due to the need for their land, and then they got the Makiri family to try and balance things out, but since the first “war” ended in such a bloodfest, the Holy Grail War started changing into what it is now, with Einzbern providing the vessel, Tohsaka the land and model for the Servants, and the Makiri provided the Command Spells. I’m kinda glad that Shirou knows his feelings for Saber though, I mean he’s so obstinate about “saving” her and keeping her here so she can live a life for herself instead of others, it was about time for him to realise how important she was to him haha. Although I do feel like the romantic vibes are rather weak, I do acknowledge that their relationship is something more along the lines of they would sacrifice their lives for the other without even needing to think about it. 

LMAO when Tohsaka asked what Shirou was going to do tomorrow with such a serious face and he says he’s going to go on a date hahahha. Tohsaka was so cute when she burst out laughing at him. Their date was so awkward and yet so cute lol. I really liked their conversation at the bridge, it’s mainly a reiteration of what they both stubbornly want from each other; with Shirou wanting Saber to live her life for herself and Saber denying that because it’s her duty to attain the holy grail. They both care about each other but just can’t find a way for the other to understand what they want or must do. But yeah, I just really liked it because I guess it was nice to see more depth to Saber’s feelings, her pain and how much she wants to do what Shirou wants her to do but is unable to because she feels so bound to her duty. Mmmm I see! Gilgamesh is the king of heroes, a half God half human king that had a whole treasury of weapons (that are now Noble Phantasms because they’re now owned by heroes) and collected them his whole lifetime, and they were only spread through the land after his death. Even though Gilgamesh is infinitely arrogant and overbearing, it was rather respectable for him to use Ea, a sword that only the king of heroes possesses to face off against Excalibur. Although Gilgamesh won and was as detestable as ever, it was great to see Shirou relentlessly continue to fight half dead. What Saber couldn’t do, Shirou did, even if he was weak, even if he was tattered by Gilgamesh, he still stood because he no matter what desired to protect Saber, the most important person to him, and honestly although these scenes are cliche, I still really loved it because I could really feel Shirou’s desperation, and Saber’s hope for him to just give up and not hurt himself anymore. So when he was able to hurt Gilgamesh (and cause him to leave for some reason, probably because he felt so disgraced lol), and Saber held him up realising that he was her sheath (to Excalibur), that scene was really beautiful and heartwarming. Because not only does he really have Saber’s sheath (and that’s why his wounds always heal next to her), it’s already been said (in her past) that what’s more important than the sword is the sheath itself that will always protect her, and it’s kinda cute how Shirou is exactly that.

Oh dang, Saber in her sleepwear?! I’m surprised Shirou wasn’t excited! Hahaha, but I guess the atmosphere didn’t allow that. He kissed her, he showed her and told her his feelings very explicitly, but she couldn’t accept them no matter what, but she at least decided to hug him to sleep as a way to recover magical energy, and to spend one last night selfishly being Arturia rather than King Arthur. I… didn’t think I could get so disgusted with Kotomine. To think that all those children who were orphans from the fire ten years ago were taken in by the church and tortured all this time to give Gilgamesh the power to stay in this world…. Thinking about Shirou witnessing the scene of them all practically the living dead with missing limbs etc yet still “alive” really crushed me, because it’s so true, because Kiritsugu saved Shirou, he didn’t have to suffer like them, once again, he is the true sole survivor of that fire. It’s just so disheartening to think how that must feel and how much it must break him. Honestly, I feel sorry for Lancer that his Master is Kotomine. Although it would have been logical for Shirou to want the holy grail to undo the fire ten years ago, it was expected that he wouldn’t, since from the very beginning, he has never denied his past, he continues to carry it within him and apologise to the ones that died because he survived, but he has never thought that he would want to redo it. He always moved to change the present and only looked back for his resolve. So, I’m glad through him, Saber can understand how strong he is, and how wrong she has been. Just as it is cruel to deny the past, it is cruel to deny everything that happened after such an event. If she truly wants to change things, it should be done in the present. I’m glad she has come to terms with the decisions she made in her past. Even though it all ended in grief, those were her decisions and she did everything in accordance to her oath, there is nothing that she still needs to bear responsibility for. It must feel pretty crappy to be Saber though. She’s been fighting for the Holy Grail in two wars hoping that it would fulfill her wishes, only to realise that it’s just something that provides pure power of destruction to fulfill wishes since it’s the only way it can fulfill wishes. So really, unless she’s willing to sacrifice everything around her then really, this whole war was just pointless. But yeah, I really love Lancer. I love how he’s someone who follows his beliefs more than anything.

It’s nice yet saddening that Saber finally understands that Kiritsugu didn’t betray her. He knew this grail wasn’t what she wanted, not that he thought she needed it anyway, but after knowing what it really was, it definitely wasn’t what she wanted. It must feel terrible to have hated him for so long, only to realise that he was right, and that he wasn’t as bad as she thought. I see, Illya is a human made from a Magic Circuit, so that’s what the vessels are… I guess it’s kinda funny to call Gilgamesh and them OP when I guess Saber is always the OP one when Shirou gives her stuff like her proper sheath and sword. I honestly didn’t expect that the projection of her sheath could actually block Gilgamesh’s Ea and Kotomine’s black mud. I guess it’s a very flexible thing that can protect you from anything huh? Since it is apparently the greatest protection lol. And with that opening, both Shirou and Saber have the opening needed to defeat their opponent~ Shirou needs to thank Rin for giving him her Azoth dagger haha. Honestly though, I think Gilgamesh is less repetitively overbearing in the VN, I think regardless of how he was and how he acted, the grace he possessed after his defeat was definitely refreshing. Although it’s saddening that destroying the grail will lead to Saber disappearing, this is what they want and what is the best for their respective paths, because with this, they can finally accept everything they had done and finally move forward knowing that the path they have chosen is what they wanted. Saber’s confession to Shirou before disappearing was natural yet beautiful. It didn’t make me feel sad that they can’t be together, but instead I think I found a lot of relief from it, because both their existences helped the other come to terms with everything in their past and finally accept it for what it is and for what will come.

Omgg I love how Taiga took Illya in! Since Taiga is childish, they would get along so well! Hahaha. Although I guess it’s mainly Illya bullying Taiga hahaha. It was really nice to see Shirou keep up his normal everyday life yet have matured, it was really nice to see that. It was also really heartwarming to see Bedevere (Arthur’s loyal knight) fulfill Saber’s last wish of throwing the sword into the lake (to end her duty as king) and be able to see Saber/Arthur pass with a peaceful expression believing that her “dream” (of Shirou etc) will continue. Honestly, it felt like the whole route was made just for this to happen, because if it was the Saber before, she would never have been able to pass on in peace, but after everything that happened, this was the natural thing to happen, and it’s pretty worth it to see her be able to be happy about her decisions instead of regretting them for eternity.

Overall, although I did think the beginning was very slow and rather time consuming, I have to admit I did very much enjoy the Fate route. Although I don’t think the 2006 anime is exactly terrible as others say, I do think it really cut out a lot of Saber’s character that was quite thoroughly explored here. I think the thing I loved about it most was that I honestly expected it to be a very romantic route considering how Shirou acted towards Saber and how much he wanted to protect her throughout the whole route, but really, it wasn’t that romantic at all. Mainly because, I think Saber and Shirou’s relationship was there to make them both grow and accept their past, and move forward without regrets about how they could do better, and instead accept that they did what they could, that they did their best and that in respect for their past, they should hope to change the present instead of dwelling on the past. Honestly, I never really thought Saber and Shirou were similar until I played through this route, and it’s kinda cute how absolutely stubborn they both are (which is why Rin is so important to help them understand each other), and how they both refused to allow the other disregard themselves for others. I loved how the way they learnt to cherish themselves and their own lives was through looking and caring for the other so much that they couldn’t help but understand how important they were due to their need and love for each other. They both always put others before themselves because just as Saber was bound to her duty as king, Shirou was bound to his responsibility as the sole survivor of the fire ten years ago. But unlike Saber, Shirou never wanted to change the past, because he understood the importance of accepting events that have occurred, acknowledging mistakes and responsibilities and doing better in the present and the future. And I loved how although Shirou was annoyingly obstinate about stuff like Saber is a girl etc, it was his way of trying to convey to her that she already gave her whole life to being a king, she didn’t need to sacrifice her afterlife to being responsible for other people anymore. I honestly thought Saber’s meeting with Shirou was such a blessing for her, because it was through him that she was finally able to find peace in the decisions she made in her life, and yet was still able to experience a fun “dream” with Shirou and others as “Saber”. Tbh though, when I was reading through the route, a lot of things did feel tedious, but I think it all built up very nicely to the finale, because it was through all those “annoying” moments that I was able to see how worth it it was for Shirou to be so persistent about “saving” Saber, and I’m so glad he was so annoying about it hahaha. And it was nice to see that Shirou’s will to save and help people really ended up saving himself and Saber.

[verannaca]

so I saw Frozen 2 for the fourth time

i have so many questions.

there’s a relatively negative (and very long) review beneath the cut so pls read at your own risk. and, of course, spoilers.

I’ve seen Frozen 2 four times now and yikes. I’d kinda hoped it would get better with each viewing, but it’s somehow worse??? I really loved the first movie; it literally changed my life in an incredibly drastic way (don’t ask) but it had been very important to me over the past six years, and...I’m so disappointed.

My initial reaction was disappointment, and I should’ve stuck with it. Like, wtf was that? But some parts were also really well done? It left me so conflicted lol

PROS

Vuelie was a good way to open the film; I quite liked the nostalgia :’)

The intro scene in general was good; I liked seeing more of their parents, although idk what their father was thinking telling them such a tale before bed lmao seems like some shit my mother would do

All is Found is my favourite non-depressing song in the movie, and it opens it beautifully. ERW has a wonderful voice.

The animation really is beautiful; it looks so realistic. Specifically the clouds and the one scene of the waves crashing over the pine trees. It looked amazing!

The music is good but not great. FTFTIF is my favourite; it’s so catchy and cheery. I really liked TNRT, and SY is perfect, but these songs just weren’t as catchy as the ones in Frozen?? I’m thankful for AURORA tho, that was a lovely gift.

Bruni was absolutely adorable (even tho he was an obvious cash-grab for merch lol), 10/10 love Bruni. Bruni + Elsa = even better.

Anna looked absolutely breathtaking throughout the entire movie; the redesign they did animation-wise really works in her favour, and now she’s rocking those Emilia Clarke eyebrows which is a hell yes from me. Her final look gave me all the feels; I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the dress and hairstyle?? it seemed a bit too not Anna, but at the same time, it showed her growth and maturity and I’m very happy with that.

As dark as it was, the shipwreck scene was beautiful. It was handled beautifully; their reactions were devastating. There is a huge con here, but I’ll save that for later.

The ocean battle was really neat. The water looked so good, and Elsa looks good wet???

The whole scene in Ahtohallan was well done; I liked the memories. I wish Anna had been there; she deserved to see her history, too, and it wasn’t fair that Elsa got that spotlight once again.

Everything after Elsa freezing was absolutely breathtaking as well. Anna’s reactions, the song, the scenery-- it was tragically beautiful.

Kristoff had the two best lines in the ENTIRE movie: “I’m here. What do you need?” and “It’s okay. My love is not fragile.” It’s so rare to see a good, supportive relationship in tv/movies, be it heterosexual or homosexual, it doesn’t happen. It’s so rare. So this was a beautiful break from that; the faith he had in her was amazing. Thank u. the real mvp.

The scene with Anna as she accepts the fate of her future; as she takes in a breath and realises/accepts that her home is gone, and her blood family is gone. Everything about it was perfect. You could feel her emptiness. Poor baby needed a hug :(

I liked that Kristoff also hugged Elsa when she returned; it showed that they were friends, which is really important for Anna tbh

I think that’s it for pros??? Now for the cons.

CONS:

Gonna start this off simple: the plot was weak. This is unfortunately not an unpopular opinion; it made no sense. It was too convoluted to the point where nothing was explained.

The pacing was off, and it was ridiculously anti-climactic. The layout in general seemed a bit weird tbh I could definitely sit here and justify all of it, but I shouldn’t have to.

They gave us no reason to gaf about this voice that Elsa was hearing. How long had she been hearing it for? Why was she so drawn to it? Why didn’t she think she was just hearing things? Or maybe she did at one point and then realised she wasn’t crazy? 

There was almost no character development. Elsa was the same as she was in Frozen, but this time, it was just annoying. She never learned or grew. Anna was demoted to a clingy side-character even though she’s the protagonist; I have no words for how frustrating this was to watch. I miss the Kristanna bickering. I liked their dynamic overall; I understand their insecurities and lack of ability to communicate because of it, and I liked how non-toxic they were. Overall, they did love and trust each other; they believed in and supported each other, even though they had a falling out (again and again) and were separated for most of the film (again, wtf?) EA had no development together, and honestly, they were annoying asf as a duo. There was no communication and no understanding. I will say that Anna’s fear and frustration throughout the entire movie was absolutely 100% understandable and sensible; she’d already lost too much before, and wasn’t prepared to lose anything else. I just wish she’d been portrayed a bit differently??? And it would’ve been nice if Elsa had stopped for, like, two minutes to be like, “hey, are you okay, you seem clingy and worried” but instead she just kept running and didn’t gaf.

It was over dramatic for the sake of plot, when it didn’t have to be. Elsa didn’t have to continuously try and push Anna away “for her protection.” They absolutely could’ve done the vast majority of things together. Fuck, they could’ve gone to the dark sea together. Anna could’ve stayed on the beach while Elsa tackled the Nokk. Then when Anna saw that Elsa was perfectly capable of protecting herself, they could’ve parted ways then and done whatever it was they needed to do. Or, Elsa could’ve taken Anna to Ahtohallan?? They may have discovered there that Anna couldn’t enter, but then they’d be given the opportunity to communicate, and Anna would’ve at least been included, since this was her history, too.

If this is a movie about two sisters, why the ever loving fuck is it all about Elsa and her origins? What about Anna’s origins? They were her parents, too. Sure, we ask “why does Elsa have magic,” but why doesn’t Anna have magic? Why was Elsa the “gift”? Why is Anna’s superpower “love”?? And why is that “superpower” only valid when it’s in regards to Elsa? Why is Anna so strong, physically? Emotionally? Personally? Is it just her? Why isn’t she an element, too? What’s with this bridge bullshit? Why the fuckkkk is Elsa the “fifth spirit” when she’s ice and ice is literally just water? I have so many questions.

How the heck was Iduna Northuldra? Did she become “whiter” because she remained inside a castle for twenty years? Or was she always “white passing”? Or was she adopted into the forest? Who are her parents? Did anybody miss her when she ran off to the kingdom? Her scarf was from “one of [their] oldest families” and yet nobody seemed to know who she was? And what do you mean “oldest families”? Are there no remaining members of that family? Nobody who was missing her? Nobody who would’ve recognised her daughters who are literally carbon-copies of her????

The shipwreck scene and the following scene pissed me off soooo much in the theatre lol First, it really was beautiful how they did it, but the interactions felt out of character. Elsa brought up the memories of their parents’ demise without consoling Anna at all. Not only did she just do it without at least a warning, she then proceeded to leave her behind in her own fit. Which, okay, yes, to an extent that makes sense; she was over-ridden by guilt. But those were Anna’s parents too. Elsa was all she had, and Elsa left her behind. I just- AND THEN in this moment of severe grief and horror, as these terrible things were revealed, Anna was pushed away again to be left on her own to deal with things alone. She’d JUST sacrificed her own feelings for Elsa, and Elsa’s response was to shove her away. WHY. I just??? hello??? Like, Elsa does care about Anna, right? That’s canon? So why tf would they write her like this?? jfc

Every single new character was wasted potential. Mattias above all else was very interesting, and should’ve had at least ten minutes more screentime??? I liked the scene of him and Anna discussing whatever, but there should’ve been more. They both cared more about Arendelle than anyone; they were both sworn to protect. There could’ve been more of an on-screen relationship there. (and don’t fucking come at me with your gross-ass ships please, tyvm). Honeymaren and Ryder were there for ??? merchandise? A reason for Elsa to stay behind? Queer-baiting??? I don’t get it. They did,,, nothing. Yelena? Did nothing. Why do these name-characters do nothing?? What’s the point???

This was advertised as a “big adventure” but had hardly any adventure. Frohana was apart for most of the damn movie, the action scenes had little consequences, the “climax” was ??? what, Elsa freezing? Who cares?? It’s obvious she’s going to come back. The wave heading for Arendelle??? Yeah, that would’ve been a good climax if it actually did any damage. But no, I guess Elsa can teleport now? aight. and now she gets to play hero again even though she didn’t do shit

The plot(?) was very predictable, and didnt really have a twist. Old white guy kills innocent POC. Okay. That’s real life, yeah? It’s shit; it happens, but why was this whole movie based around that? Was it a political statement? We don’t really need more political movies these days??? People are aware, and things are shit as is; idk it just felt forced. But this is a v controversial subject so imma shut up lol

THERE ARE NO CONSEQUENCES. Unless you’re Anna. Then you suffer severely cuz,,, fuck her, right? The entire cave thing (as beautiful and needed as it was) could’ve been prevented entirely if Elsa had just fucking communicated. But instead, Anna had to suffer again in such a severe way. Her feelings DID have consequences; they effected her severely and even influenced wreckless behaviour. But then?? it’s all over. And suddenly, it doesn’t matter. Suddenly, who cares? Elsa returns and is (for some unforeseen reason) magically forgiven. This ISN’T HOW SISTERS ARE. If my sister pulled half the shit Elsa did, the first thing she’d be greeted with is a slap across the face and a very loud “fuck you.” THEN she’d get a hug and some tears. You don’t fuck with people’s emotions like that. And the fact that there were no serious consequences is infuriating.

Anna becomes Queen without context. Did she want to be queen? Did she suggest it? Did Elsa decided “eh fuck it i’m bored, your turn” and just dump it on her? Anna is a free-spirit. Yes, she was absolutely devoted to her kingdom; her people always came first; she was an incredibly loving and selfless princess, but was she truly prepared to give up that freedom to be Queen? I think she fits the role beautifully; she was absolutely born to rule. But is she happy? Or is she yet again cleaning up Elsa’s mess, since that seems to be all she does?

Why did Elsa stay in the forest? Is it because she felt like she belonged with the spirits? With the people? Away from civilisation? All of the above? None of the above? And how did that conversation go with Anna? How did she explain; “hey, I know I died and fucked you up and promised that we’d always stay together, but I’ve decided I’m gonna leave you behind again and stay here with these people I barely know.” Did Anna object, or did she see the positives of being away from someone so toxic???? It makes no senseeeee, they were so good together in the first movie; it all feels so out of character. Both of them feel out of character.

There were few (very few) moments in which they really were like themselves:

The charades scene.

“You think I’m c R A Z Y?”

Head tilts with Bruni.

Anna laughing at Elsa’s braid-stache.

Elsa making toys for children.

The pleasant Kristanna scenes at the beginning.

Anna’s anger scenes.

Even Elsa’s personal drama???

but that’s it? I’ve seen it four times in theatre, and a few times online (though mostly in pieces) so I don’t think I missed anything. Perhaps I’m blinded by the frustration that this film caused. Overall:

The plot was weak.

The animation was beautiful.

Kristanna wasn’t the Kristanna we truly know?

Elsa was dramatic and annoying because she had no development.

Anna was demoted to a clingy side-character and was given a half-assed purpose.

The music was meh.

There was too much and yet somehow not enough.

It was a mess.

Six years. SIX. I-

ugh.

final note: PLEASE ANSWER MY QUESTIONS IF I MISSED SOMETHING. I think it’s also important to note that if you went to the theatre for 2 hours of entertainment, that’s great, but not the same as those of us that have dedicated six years of our lives to these characters? So please don’t come @ me if you were just a movie-goer. I also wanna say that there were a lot of parts of this movie that I loved and will hold onto, but overall, the movie as a whole was meh. I LOVED Anna & Elsa in Frozen; they had good development and had reasons for being how they were. They had a good dynamtic and worked well together. I hated their relationship in F2; it was toxic and forced in many ways; they didn’t interact nearly enough, and when they did, they were bitching for the sake of plot, which was very frustrating.

This isn’t a hate post so please don’t come at me lol my opinion is entirely irrelevent in the grand scheme of things, but hey, we’re here to chat and share, right?

sigh.

[mr-mikey]

I’m finally getting to my golden deer write up! I’ll save the last 2 chapters for a seperate post since those chapters have a LOT of plot relevance and backstory involved.

Chapter 18 starts with Claude talking about the Imperial Army retreating to Fort Merceus and the Alliance is unable to bring extra reinforcements for a month. After a quick debate Claude states that it’s best that they find a way to take the fortress quickly before the Empire can fortify the Fort.

Hilda suggests that they use disguises to sneak into the Fort and Claude ends up refining that idea by acquiring disguises for everyone (Shamir is in charge of that task and she is NOT happy with that lmao), having Ignatz forge and deliver a letter claiming that reinforcements are coming and he also brings in Almyran troops to fool the imperials that the reinforcements are being attacked by the Leicester Alliance to let the main group inside. 

We’re treated to a cutscene where Nader and Claude pretend to start a fight, only for the two of them to laugh and Claude tells the Alliance Troops that they’re fighting with Almyran’s to take the fortress. And my gosh Nader is one strong looking unit here. I’m glad he’s on our side.

The Death Knight along with Casper and Linhardt occupy this Fort, but Linhardt and Caspar are so far away that they’re not any threat. But Claude did have this dialouge before fighting the Death Knight.

But after one round of battle the guy decides to leave and Claude is forced to chase after him to finish the job to which the dude says the appointed time is at hand...

The death knight warns us to flee or we’ll all die... before he points to the skies  where a pair of fucking missiles come down and devastate the Fort. 

After the battle Nader leaves with his troops, wishing Judith, Claude and Byleth the best. Lorenz asks Claude how he knows such a famed Almyran general but Claude distracts him by giving a big speech that the different cultures of Fodlan and Almyra aren’t doomed to remain hostile forever because of their past... while using Cyril, Dedue and Petra as examples of the people within the officer’s academy getting along despite different backgrounds. I’ll even make a link to that speech right here.

On top of that he mentions that the only reason he was able to get Almyran troops past Fodlan’s Throat was to make Nader and Holst meet up beforehand, and despite fighting each other in the past they managed to become friends, drinking to a newfound brotherhood before parting.

Hearing this makes Hilda says one of my favourite lines in the route: “Fighting one minute and drinking together the next... men are so weird!”

And Chapter 19 is about the Alliance forces invading the imperial capital Enbarr.

In the lead up before the mission Dorothea mentions that perhaps the city that she was born in deserves to be reduced to ashes for once, and suggests that the damage should be confined to the noble’s section of the town. Damn that’s savage, but it’s understandable considering her history.

The map this battle takes place on is incredibly huge with is quite large with a multiple flying beasts, siege weapons, reinforcements and the death knight’s last battle takes place here. Too bad he died in one hit to Lysithea. Again.

Hubert is the boss for this chapter, and I was smart enough to record the dialogue he has with Claude before he died:

Hubert has a lot of power behind his magic, but he’s so frail that he fell to Claude’s bow in a single round. With that done the city is secured and we’re almost ready to invade the palace itself.

Dedue shows up unannounced, stating that he’s been waiting within Enbarr ever since the battle at gronder field for a chance to kill Edelgard. Claude offers him a chance the option to team up, but Dedue refuses and says that they fight for different objectives yet he will have to entrust that mission to us if he fails. He does however give us a copy of all the intel he’s gathered while hiding within Enbarr before he departs.

Then Claude takes a moment to talk to Byleth about what they need to do once the war is over, including coming up with a new ruling system for Fodlan. He feels that having the alliance lords dividing up the territories would be a bad idea because the western regions have little connection to the alliance and any attempt to force dominion would only encourage rebellion and the world would slip back into war. He also states that in time the alliance lords would only follow their own interests and war would be inevitable anyway. I’ll link to another post about it right here.

Chapter 20 starts with Claude the golden deer members a warm up speech before they fight edelgard and the following dialogue ensures:

And I appreciate claude being pragmatic about whether or not they should kill edelgard, and he tells the other members to be prepared to do the same. 

The fight starts with everyone being surrounded by a large number of reinforcements on all sides including a number of massive crest monsters that look like they could flatten your teammates just by looking at them. Petra in particular was an insanely strong enemy with 44 base speed and a forged wo dao+ in her hands.

However I discovered that it was possible for me to use Lysithea to warp both Byleth and Claude into the throne room, bypassing a large majority of the fighting. So on the second turn Byleth walked up to Edelgard and killed her in one shot with a Sublime Heaven Critical to end the chapter.

And we get this cutscene where Edelgard tells byleth that we have to strike her down to proceed and she says that she wanted to walk with Byleth... and to be honest I was very annoyed with her. 

This whole fucking conflict is HER OWN FAULT. She’s the reason that this war started in the first place. People are killing each other because she tried to force her ideals on the rest of the world without any regard for how much innocent blood was shed including the people that were forced to transform into crest monsters. I couldn’t help but feel that I was being forced to clean up her own mess and I was glad to put her six feet underground.

With the battle done, Claude doesn’t feel happy with the results but he figures what’s done is done. Judith comes along and gives him a letter from Hubert that was to be delivered in the case that he and edelgard perished.

It talks about the threat that slithers in the dark, the group that Kronya and Solon belonged to and killed Jeralt in part 1 and how Hubert was able to figure the location of their base of operations when those ‘Javelin’s of Light’ struck Fort Merceus. And while they do need to be stopped reading the line ‘the only fitting tribute to all that Lady Edelgard sacrificed’ made me feel really frustrated again.

You fucking idiot, the only thing that Edelgard sacrificed was the lives of her own civilians to satisfy her misguided vendetta against the church. If you two hadn’t been so fucking stupid so much unneeded bloodshed could have been avoided.

I’m honestly glad that Claude throws shade at Hubert for not explaining things in the first place.

And with this I’m going to start talking about chapters 21 and 22 in a new post since this one has gone on for so long.

[goldenkamuyhunting]

Ramblings and crazy theory time about GK chap 191 “Water Of Home”

New (painful) chapter so new analysis.

A premise. I began writing this as soon as the raw were out but this chapter was pretty painful for me and this sort of influenced my first judgement so I went back and forth revising this a lot when I calmed down… so I hope it’ll make sense. Sorry if it doesn’t.

The cover shows Shiraishi burying Kiro under the ice, the others just watching him doing so. Well, maybe Asirpa is helping, I’m not sure.

Actually I don’t really see her doing something, she seems to just stand there. I really, really wish she would do something as Asirpa has always been a caring person and I know she cared about Kiro.

However, now that I finally calmed down for Kiro’s death, I get she had a terrible day and might be not up for much and she also might be copying with a light form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (she just learnt the people she trusted actually used her to shoot her father and Sugimoto, ended up almost killing someone and saw a person she used to love die… not an easy amount of things to put up with in insight) so, as sad as it is for Kiro, she’s probably being not her usual self and with good reasons.

Still… apart Shiraishi (and Asirpa who, as said before, is not up to much), no one among the people there is really caring about Kiro.

For Koito and Tsukishima he was just an enemy they just met and fought and who injured them seriously enough, especially Tsukishima. They didn’t care about him, they’re in no real shape to help burying him and anyway probably, for them, allowing him to be buried is the most I can expect.

But really…

I know Sugimoto wanted to kill Kiro for betraying him even if Kiro helped him through all the travel, even in Abashiri, when he helped him escape Nopperabo’s jail. I know Sugimoto doesn’t know Kiro didn’t want him shoot, just Wilk, and that he resents him for bringing Asirpa away… but really, the guy is dead and it’s not like he dragged away a kicking and screaming Asirpa or he mistreated her along the way.

I wish I could excuse Sugimoto by saying he was carrying Ogata and couldn’t have put him down on the cold ground or Ogata’s conditions might have worsened, because I understand prioritizing the living ones over the dead ones, but in this chapter itself we will be shown Sugimoto doesn’t care AT ALL about this.

So evidently he’s just still thinking Kiro needed to be murdered. I hope it’s at least his copying mechanism speaking up (in order to cope with killing and death Sugimoto tells himself his enemies aren’t human and don’t suffer when in pain) so that he can tell himself he doesn’t feel pain but still… it’s ugly.

The same goes for Tanigaki. Okay, so he was angry at Kiro for Inkarmat, but Kiro is also the one who saved his life and Inkarmat and the stabbing WAS AN INCIDENT, Kiro didn’t mean to stab her and would have wanted to help her and really, Shiraishi is the weakest in the group so Tanigaki you could help him.

Honestly boys, I’m disappointed.

You’re showing lack of respect for a fallen person, clinging to your petty grudges and conveniently forgetting the good this man did to you both.

Wanna see him as an enemy?

Fine but at least honour a fallen enemy who fought so hard he was impressive, not just stand there doing nothing.

Actually boys, you’re also leaving Shiraishi alone to mourn. Sugimoto, Shiraishi is your friend. If not for Kiro, you could show some sympathy for Shiraishi instead than leaving him alone to do all the work.

Shiraishi, who in this moment wins the prize as the sweetest guy ever, thinks that since the ice drift there is formed with water from the Amur river (the place from were Kiro came), when spring will come, Kiro will sink in the water that comes from his ‘home’ and be able to rest peacefully. I love how he thought about this, it shows he cared for this man. Shiraishi, who at the beginning of the story didn’t know how to care about people and would use the other convicts to escape and then leave them behind, had grown to form deep bonds with the people in the story and had grown to care for them.

We can see Shiraishi is clearly in pain… and he’s also the one who removes his glove and closes Kiro’s eyes, so as to let Kiro rest in peace. It’s a caring gesture.

A side of me is sad it’s not Asirpa doing it… but well, as said before she’s probably not in a great emotional shape. Even if she’s not physically hurt… she probably need to recover form the psychological wounds and maybe she’s just trying hard to distance herself from all this.

Sugimoto’s gaze is… just hard. He’s not even looking at Kiro but up.

Tanigaki, Tsukishima and Koito are clearly not going to cry for Kiro.

Yeah, to the four of them he was just an enemy they wanted to kill. I’m sad.

Yes, the piece is sad, it brought me to tears, Shiraishi’s words and acts are beautiful… but the sadness is all on Shiraishi’s shoulders and on the reader’s ability to either feel sorry for Kiro or at least to emphasize with Shiraishi who just lost a friend.

Actually the others just standing there, watching as if they were a curious bunch, I don’t know… at this point they could have left and let Shiraishi mourn on this own.

It’s a cruel moment.

Kiro gave his all and ultimately died for his cause and now, apart for Shiraishi and maybe Asirpa, he’s just circled by people who didn’t care for him at all. The unfairness of it is cruel, but I think this is the message. Kiro’s fight was, fundamentally, a lonely fight.

I don’t know, I’m just sad for him and angry, angry because I like the boys too and I was hoping they would behave better instead they’re just a big disappointment.

So really I didn’t expect Koito and Tsukishima to care, Kiro is a stranger to them and an enemy and I’m fine with this but… I expected a little more than just this from Tanigaki and Sugimoto. No, not tears and sobbing but… at least they could have helped burying Kiro. Or look a little sad. The man is dead. They had good moments with him. He wasn’t purely evil. Aren’t they sad things went out the wrong way? Besides Shiraishi IS mourning. They could… have showed a little empathy to him at least.

To be honest though… Shiraishi’s last words show how, although he cared for Kiro, he didn’t quite understand Kiro’s cause.

He thinks he was a man too serious for his own good. Shiraishi is in pain, he loved Kiro and wanted him to live and be his friend. He can’t understand why instead Kiro devoted all of himself to his own cause, did all he did for it and ultimately died. In Shiraishi’s case it’s not just racism speaking up, Shiraishi has just learnt to devote himself to his friends. He can’t understand Kiro devoting himself to a great cause like the minorities, giving his life for people he doesn’t even know.

I wonder if Shiraishi’s evolution is going to involve him growing to the point he’ll understand devoting for the others, not just his close friends but people in general. I wonder if, in a way, Kiro’s sacrifice will allow him to grow to become a person like Kiro, one who would care about people in need regardless of him knowing them.

And now… Asirpa.

Asirpa seems very sad for Kiroranke’s death, her nose is red and her mouth is close in a grimace.

She’s not quite crying though... although if I look at the image up close it seems her eyes are slightly wet. But maybe it's just me. Her main worry though is all for ‘why did my father have to die?’

When raw went out the thing left me a bit upside down.

I mean, discovering if her father had killed the Ainu had been her drama from the moment they had met Kiro and he told her about how her father was Nopperabo so it’s not a minor deal and we knew it from… well, really long ago and Kiro was someone she trusted and respected so it should have hurt a lot to discover he used her to get a chance to murder her father and, fundamentally, tricked her into coming with him. I understand she’s probably wondering if all Kiro said to her about her father were only lies, if Kiro was a man who didn’t deserve her respect at all.

Still, even Inkarmat told her about how her father was a partisan and the Russians had ‘wanted man’ posters with his face. A partisan at the time killed for his cause and he clearly killed the Russian emperor at least. Wilk murdered people, there’s no turning around this.

If her problem is ‘if her father had killed people or not’ yes, he did.

Is the problem ‘if he murdered THOSE AINU or not’?

(Note that I’m saying ‘those Ainu’ because Wilk might have murdered Ainu during his partisan fight, be it because, like his companion, they turned in a disability or betrayed him or were just casualties on the way so, unless Asirpa is in denial over the whole thing, Wilk might have murdered Ainu regardless of Wilk murdering ‘those Ainu’ or not.)

Anyway, from how Kiro acted there’s no turning around the fact Kiro believed Wilk was guilty of betraying their cause. Kiro was likely misguided, all right, he likely assumed Wilk to be guilty when the culprit was apparently someone else but… he was in good faith.

So it’s not like he could tell Asirpa her father was innocent… and Asirpa seems not to be even sure HE was the one behind Wilk’s death so…

But now (also thanks to a talk with @chibivesicle and the other guys at discord)… I think she is just upside down. She’s clinging to what motivated her to go through all that travel, discovering the truth about her father, so that she won’t have to look at what happened along the way. In short she’s trying to distance herself and, at the same time, to find a reason why she had to go through all this.

I think in a way she will soon discover the price for the truth is getting way too high that she had anticipated.

While focusing on the goal can help you to go on, if you lose sight of what happens along the way, of what gets sacrificed along the way, you lose sight of yourself.

In a way it’s like Nikaido’s quest for revenge, in which he loses a body part each time. Or Ogata’s quest for the gold, in which at a certain point the gold seemed to pointless he only wanted Asirpa to murder him. Or Sugimoto’s quest for the gold, in which for each person he murders he loses a bit of himself. Or Kiro’s quest too, who lead him to murder Wilk (who was probably innocent), leave behind his family (whom he loved) and to lie to Asirpa (whom he cared about).

A goal gives you the strength to go on, but you can’t lose sight of what’s going on around yourself or you’ll lose more than you are bargaining for. Honestly I’m worried for Asirpa.

Anyway here there’s a part I wish was handled differently.

As Asirpa expresses her wish to know the truth… the boys just tell her what they had learnt about her father but… it’s not a real talk about her father it’s just them telling her an one sentence info.

I mean, if this is Asirpa’s drama, the thing that’s tormenting her the most (and Sugimoto knows it is) I wish they had handled it with care.

They could have sat her down, explained it to her gently and in details.

Instead Tanigaki merely tells her how Inkarmat was told by Kiro about how Wilk changed...

...which obviously makes Asirpa think her father was killed because he killed the Ainu.

Thanks Tanigaki, you’re really being emotionally supportive in this one, of course you’re here because you cared for Asirpa…

I mean, this is clearly a rather painful thing for her to learn. I get you’re the sort that has no idea what tact is but… but all this seems to be a ‘get over it, Kiroranke said your father betrayed their comrades’.

Besides, really Tanigaki, considering how hung up you were on Ogata when he betrayed the 7th, you should have felt even more sympathy for Kiro and instead just because BY MISTAKE he stabbed Inkarmat you had to make him pay at any cost even if you knew Inkarmat was betraying you all by tattling things out to Tsurumi, using YOU as a mean. I get you love her and are angry she got hurt but really, the world doesn’t revolve around you.

I’m upset Tanigaki, I really, really though you’ll do better and instead you go back on making the same mistakes.

Anyway I’ve always found interesting how we don’t see Kiro’s face in that scene.

Sugimoto says instead that ‘Nopperabo’ told him he didn’t kill the Ainu.

Honestly I’m not so fond of how he calls Asirpa’s father ‘Nopperabo’… he knows he’s Asirpa’s father by now and the guy had a name, no sense in using a nick that was cruelly referring to how his face got destroyed… but what’s worse it is how he’s telling her this only now… and in such a way. He’s basically cutting the whole conversation to a ‘he said he didn’t kill the Ainu’. Wilk said other things, things that could make his sentence more believable and that his daughter might wish/need to know.

Instead, this is the end. He doesn’t even really encourages Asirpa to believe in what Wilk said, he just tells her this despite Asirpa looking rather down.

Unless the topic will be raised later, that’s all Asirpa will know from them.

And that’s why I facepalm.

Really Sugimoto, didn’t you say you had lot of things to tell Asirpa? That ‘lot of things’ feels rather small now… and why are you telling her this only now? Too caught up in your Kiro hunting? Wasn’t this the first thing to tell her?

‘Asirpa, breathe in relief, your father told me he’s not the one who killed the Ainu?’

Not ‘Asirpa you put up some weight’ or ‘let’s go hunt Kiroranke’, just tell her something that would reassure her fear, a fear you admitted terrorized her. Really, Sugimoto, I don’t know what you’re thinking but I’m angry. Show a little more consideration for Asirpa’s feelings.

Back to Asirpa, she seems sad and confused (and it's noteworthy how in all this discussion her face was ALWAYS slightly shadowed instead than in full light... a hint to how Asirpa is holding inside herself her dark thoughts?)...

...then it dawns on her that Sofia is missing even though she should be nearby.

I wonder if this too is Asirpa’s attempt to distance herself from the thing because… really… if Sofia were to know what had happened, would come there where she would be clearly outnumbered by the men who killed Kiro? She’s a clever leader, she wouldn’t do something so dumb.

Meanwhile Tsukishima, due to blood loss thanks to his wound which apparently never got treated as he was PRESSING HIS HAND AGAINST IT THE ENTIRE TIME, falls on one knee.

Koito goes ‘Tsukishimaa!! Are you all right?’ to which Tsukishima answers he is when he’s clearly not while Tanigaki checks his wound and realizes it’s an awful one.

Koito at this point would want to hurriedly go back to Akou and for Tanigaki to carry Tsukishima on his back.

I’m… angry at Koito honestly.

We’ll see his arm is bandaged, meaning someone took care of his wounds, be it Tsukishima or Tanigaki or Koito himself, but Koito knew Tsukishima was hurt and yet, although he cares for Tsukishima, he apparently didn’t give him basic medical aid back not even NOW when the situation calmed down. This is not lack of leadership abilities, this is not immaturity, this is dumb. He saw Tsukishima being hurt, he got so angry at Tsukishima being hurt, it’s not like he cares for Kiro so his death upset him so… WHY DIDN’T HE TAKE CARE OF TSUKISHIMA?

And mind you, I’m not just angry at Koito but also furious at Tanigaki. Tsukishima has all the right side of his neck covered in blood and was applying pressure to the wound with his hand so it’s clear he was hurt and Tanigaki… Tanigaki just stood there. Tanigaki had been in the war, he knows wounds better than Koito so while Koito might not realize how bad Tsukishima was hurt, Tanigaki should have gotten it… but he clearly cares about Tsukishima even less.

Oh, and obviously Sugimoto doesn’t give a damn about Tsukishima either, but okay, despite travelling together, they weren’t friends apparently.

(If someone is wondering why I’m not mentioning Shiraishi it’s because A – Shiraishi really doesn’t know Tsukishima and B – Shiraishi just lost a friend and is mourning so he’s the only one who actually had a good reason not to notice how badly Tsukishima was hurt.)

As for Asirpa… it’s interesting in the scene in which Koito says they need to hurry back to Akou we see Asirpa’s sweating face.

I think the idea is Asirpa doesn’t want to go back with those people.

She knows the code now, or at least has a hint to it, and she should have realized they’re men from the 7th, working for Tsurumi in hope to get the gold. I don’t think she wants to give them the code. I think in a ways she probably feels trapped and alone at the idea to go back.

Still… a side of me is worried, while Tsukishima is unable to stand, Asirpa, who previously was always noticeable for her caring soul, is now all worried for Sofia, who exchanged letters with Kiro so she might know everything and looks around searching for her. In short she’s distancing from the present situation, focusing again on the goal.

Honestly, I’m afraid for Asirpa. Copying methods are good only for a short time. If she let the worry about her deceased father being a murder or not ruling her life and ignoring all that’s happening around her… she might end up losing herself in the process.

Sure, we might think it’s great she’s not desperate… but actually traumas don’t go away just because you don’t look at them in the face. She lived a traumatic experience after another. The fact she looks good doesn’t necessarily mean she IS good.

Truly, I’m afraid for her. I’m afraid she’ll lose her caring soul in attempt to keep the pain at bay and will end up empty in the process. I’m afraid she’ll change for worse. Now that I’m calm I know she’s VERY LIKELY not meant to, but I’m afraid. Maybe I’m just paranoid.

And, on a sidenote, this annoys me further with the guys.

Whatever her father did, for whatever reason he died… that’s no responsibility of Asirpa whatsoever. She was 6/7 when the Ainu were killed. Clearly not an age in which she could realize what Wilk was up and, if needed, stop him.

The guys should realize this and TELL HER. Damn it boys, just tell her she shouldn’t feel accountable for whatever her father did. She can feel responsible just the same, because that would be the response of many people but, at least, she’ll feel reassured the world won’t think she’s to blame. But no, it’s much better to let Asirpa feel responsible. I’m annoyed and I want to smack them.

While Asirpa looks around, Sugimoto, using his binoculars, catches a glimpse of Svetlana and… Asirpa points to a direction, I don’t know if it’s the same, claiming there’s people over there and I praise her eyesight as I can’t see them in Noda’s drawing.

We won’t see Svetlana again so… really, why is she in this story?

I like to think Noda had a point to introduce her but so far I’m not seeing it.

Anyway, while Tanigaki is hopefully taking care of Tsukishima’s wound (I don’t know, really, bandaging it feels like it would be a good idea guys but who am I to speak?), Koito informs Asirpa (really Koito you should be confident about her name, you came all that way to search her, it wasn’t a holiday trip!), they came till there to secure her and how they’re in a deal with Sugimoto, who’s cooperating with them, them as in the 7th because remember? Sugimoto promised Tsurumi the code to Tsurumi in exchange for 200 yen as he’s totally in charge of the Ainu gold and can totally influence Asirpa to do what he says (yeah, I’m still angry for Sugimoto’s deal with Tsurumi too) so she shouldn’t leave the group without Koito’s permission.

Koito evidently feels he’s in charge since Tsukishima is out of commission.

On a sidenote not much time ago I pointed out to how Koito isn’t smooth at all. I don’t know if it’s due to the translation or not but I basically get the feeling he told her she’s almost their prisoner and he’s in charge of her and Sugimoto agreed to this as well. This isn’t going to make him win Asirpa’s trust.

Asirpa couldn’t care less about Koito’s words as she decides she’ll go check whatever she saw and Sugimoto decides he’ll go as well.

Now… maybe this could be educative for Koito as he might learn how annoying it was when he was the one leaving the group, and I get Asirpa might hope it’s Sofia and might be in a rush to check if it’s her as she wanted to see her, and she’s probably upset by how Koito talked with her and, well, she’s likely trying to distance herself from everything so Asirpa’s situation is complicate but… well, this is bad.

Koito told her something relevant actually, that Sugimoto made a deal with the 7th. Ironically, even if Sugimoto clearly doesn’t mean to betray Asirpa, he’s the one who sold Asirpa’s code to Tsurumi for 200 yen instead than for 30 pieces of silver.

I wonder if Asirpa will keep this in mind, if it’ll weight on her or… if she’ll let it slide because it’s Sugimoto.

On another side what I really hate of this is how they decided to make this an ‘humorous moment’.

The first part of why I don't like it is easy to explain. The scene makes very clear how Koito got zero respect from Asirpa (it's even written in a box if you had missed it!), which okay is true and remarks how he’s no leader but… had it been Tsukishima the one who spoke up, would they had cared and remained there?

I’m willing to bet they wouldn’t have so this basically destroy the point it’s just because it’s Koito telling them so.

Going on.

I said this could be an ‘educative moment’ for Koito and how Asirpa might have reasons for wanting to rush there but… overall she and Sugimoto seem two little kids rushing away. Yeah, them acting as such doesn’t excuse Koito when he acts as such (he has the rank and he’s in a military mission) and point out how they don’t feel bound to the 7th but still…

And here there’s something else I really hate of the whole scene.

In his rush to go check, Sugimoto drops Ogata and leaves him on the cold ground. The whole thing is clearly played for laugh, same as how they’re acting like little kids and not listening Koito but it’s actually bad for many reasons.

I’ll skip how I don’t like the joke of letting an injured person fall on the ground. Humour is also a matter of personal tastes and this is my problem alone and I’ll focus on plot related reasons.

First of all, as said before, if Sugimoto didn’t care about leaving Ogata on the ground, he could have just let him down before, to help Shiraishi bury Kiro. The fact he didn’t point out how he wanted no part in it. Evidently, even if he couldn’t kill Kiro, he was still pissed at Kiro even after the man died to the point he didn’t even consider helping Shiraishi burying him.

Second, we aren’t really in an ‘only gags’ story. They worried to cover Ogata up with hat and mittens, a hint cold would be bad for him, but now they’re okay with rudely dropping him on the cold ground and leaving him there until they’re back because it’s not like Koito, Tsukishima or Tanigaki or Shiraishi can carry him on their backs. They could have spared putting him hat and mittens at this point. We’ll see in a following image Ogata’s lips are in a bad shape same as when he got involved in the fight with Vasily. More cold won’t be healthy to him. Same goes for an abrupt fall.

Third. They decided to go hunt Kiro carrying Ogata along even though it was a bad choice because it was extremely unpractical and now realize they would do better leave him behind to go check what’s going on ‘there’? With three people who wouldn’t mind murdering him on the spot? Couldn’t they check with the binoculars and see if Sofia was there or not?

Forth. Honestly, Koito was right. Sugimoto, same as him, is sure he can face everyone but they shouldn’t have left the group. And what if Sofia was there? What’s the plan? Asirpa would ask Sofia to tell her the truth and Sofia would tattle out everything obediently AND GIVE UP ON THE GOLD? AND BE OKAY WITH HOW KIRO WAS KILLED? Or Sugimoto planned to force her to talk? Sofia? Honestly, I’m starting to think Asirpa decided not to leave Ogata behind solely because she wants to question him again.

Fifth. Tsukishima is hurt and in need of medical aid, Koito has realized it late but he has realized it and Ogata is hurt as well and in need of medical aid so that’s not a good moment to run away and cause the whole group to slow down.

Sixth… well, this is again personal so it’s okay if you feel different but I get this is an attempt to lighten the mood because we’ve had some serious chapters and maybe we need to have our mood lightened but… but Kiro died, Tsukishima is badly hurt and Ogata, who almost died, is now unconscious, and theoretically might not survive (I’m sure he’ll survive by the way but the group isn’t mean to know Ogata has plot armour at the moment). Maybe I’ve just a different sense of humour but I don’t need Sugimoto and Asirpa to play little kids in such a moment. Honestly, for me, it doesn’t work, it’s like the ‘golden shower’ of chap 188. It felt anticlimactic and reduced a lot the impact of the scene instead than lightening the mood. But well, others might enjoy this sort of things so this is mostly my problem.

Anyway, no, it’s not Sofia who they saw but Gansoku, busy enjoying being beaten by a pair of escape convicts because… more humour.

Gansoku is delighted he had found Sugimoto again and follows him… while Sugimoto is clearly not positively impressed by how Gansoku enjoyed when he’s beaten, which is again meant to be seen as fun.

In the end Gansoku ends up on carrying Tsukishima bridal style. Tsukishima doesn’t comment. I don’t know if it’s because he really doesn’t really seem in a good shape or because this too is supposed to be humorous. Tanigaki carries the backpacks.

Honestly, I hope this will have a point and won’t be only just an attempt to lighten the mood because really, I know Golden Kamuy isn’t written with me as the ideal reader in mind but… but I didn’t like this at all. -_-

Shiraishi, bless the man, saves the situation by saying farewell to Kiroranke. He seems still sad.

Sugimoto and Asirpa look back but say nothing.

Sugimoto, you... really, you... I hope you’re just copying. Asirpa, really, I’m worried about you. You’re keeping too many things bottled inside.

Anyway Sugimoto asks Asirpa if, once they’ve carried the others to Ankou they should go search for Sofia again and I wonder… are you plotting to betray Tsurumi already Sugimoto? Because I don’t think you’re meant to leave Tsukishima’s group with Asirpa and do as you prefer.

On a sidenote this is one of the few scenes in which we see Ogata’s face. Is it random or is it meant to mean something? I don’t know.

Is Ogata conscious? Hard to say.

Asirpa says it’s unnecessary as Sofia will find her.

Yeah, you can bet on this, she’ll come for Asirpa and Asirpa is a clever girl to realize it.

The sad part is I think it means Asirpa understood that Sofia needs her for the code. Everyone wants Asirpa for the code. In a way she should feel horribly alone and, I think, she doesn’t want to tell anyone she has remembered it. Or will she tattle it out to Sugimoto? We’ll see. At this point I don’t know what to think.

Before she had to rush see if it was her because… humour. Now she’s fine with waiting for Sofia to find her.

The scene switches and we see Sofia moving away the ice blocks from Kiro’s face. On top of Kiro’s ice burial we can see Kiro’s damaged knife (remember the Ainu’s tradition to damage the objects of the deceased?). I don’t know but watching again at Kiro’s dead face again, somehow break my heart all over again.

Maybe that’s because it’s Sofia who’s watching him, Sofia who cares about him and it’s painful to hear her giving him her farewell and telling him she won’t forget him. I think Kiro’s death hurt Sofia even more than Shiraishi.

Sofia slapped Kiro even though she knew Kiro too loved Wilk and did what he did because he believed it necessary and then… she let him go alone to search for Asirpa… and next she saw him, he was dead. I bet Sofia feels responsible and thinks if she had gone with him he might have been still alive. I wonder if she ever realized he loved her. I don’t know, I’ve so many feelings for this scene.

The background is soft, with all those bubbles of light it’s as if it was an almost magical/spiritual moment. As if Kiro’s soul was there to listen her.

It was painful to see Shiraishi bury Kiro with so much love despite everything, but seeing Sofia giving her goodbye to Kiro… it really breaks my heart.

Really, this is a beautiful scene, one that works and has a point instead of that ‘humorous one’ of moments ago.

The scene ends with the focus on Kiro’s knife, then we switch to Sugimoto who returns to Asirpa the knife she gave him when he went to talk with Nopperabo.

We actually don’t see what he gives her until later, when we’ll see an image of Asirpa standing with her knife latched to her side.

Anyway Asirpa seems touched and thanks him...

before she latches it again at her side while Sugimoto tells her they should go back to Hokkaido.

Asirpa’s image with her knife latched on her side covers most of the scene, behind her there’s Sugimoto, mostly covered by her but still visible. On his back but barely visible there’s Ogata. The positioning of the character is a little odd as Asirpa’s body is basically turned in the opposed direction of Sugimoto’s body and light is breaking down from the clouds and… I don’t know, it’s a little weird how this scene was drawn, putting emphasis on Asirpa’s standing figure with her knife on the side.

The scene switches and we move back to Hokkaido, at Noboribetsu hell valley hot spring.

We get some exposition about it but the only relevant part is that the 7th division go there to treat their wounds. So we see poor Nikaido sitting under a waterfall, looking as if he had apparently gotten better (the last we’ve seen of him he was desperate because Sugimoto had died and he had lost his hand and wanted to let himself die as he refused food).

Usami is with him and… he’s letting the water hit his groins. Is he doing it because he has some sort of masochistic tendencies or he got a groin wound? Or it’s just another attempt at humour?

Well, if it is, I don’t mind it. Mind you, it’s still not my kind of humour, but the situation is different and, along with the change of scene, I’m okay with Noda making jokes to lighten the situation.

They’re joined by the warrant officer Kikuta, who had a nasty scar on his chest, where his heart is… and also his forehead seems protruding a bit, although a little less than Ushiyama (and he’s also a... gifted man, sorry for cutting the lower part of the scene but I don’t want to fight with Tumblr censorship politics).

Long story short, this guy’s rank is above Tsukishima but below Koito so Usami goes all polite with him as he asks him how his wound is going. Usami has also his forehead shadowed and is sweating so I’ll assume he’s pretty nervous.

Kikuta asks Usami if they were sent there by Tsurumi who got worried about him. I think Kikuta might be ironic because Usami doesn’t reply hurries to go back to let water hit his groins (he had pulled himself up before).

That or there’s more we don’t know about, regarding this guy. While Usami seemed worried Nikaido seems to be comfortable around this guy.

Kikuta tells him how private first class Ariko told him a weird story regarding how he met a weird guy in an hot spring deeper in the mountains the pitch-black night before, one who was wearing geta and could escape even without using a lamp.

Of course our memory automatically goes back to Toni Anji, who was a blind bandit and therefore could do such things (even the text mentioning Tengu seems to be a call back to him), though I wonder if it could be actually another convict.

I mean, Toni didn’t really wear geta, they assumed he did but actually the sound was caused by him clicking his tongue. Did Ariko really saw the geta or only heard the sound and assumed those were geta?

We still miss 5 convicts so we need to meet another soon.

To have Toni Anji back, though would be good as well as it had been a while form the last time we saw him and it would be interesting if he were to be up on something, maybe hunting another convict since he wasn’t with Hijikata when the man went on hunting for Sekiya. I wonder if Kantarou is with him as well.

As for Kikuta… he’s apparently a member of the 7th and, I think, there could be more about him. Usami’s reaction to him was interesting, same as how Nikaido instead seems to be comfortable with him. And how did he got wounded?

Was he maybe among the men who tried to transfer the convicts? Was he wounded by Hijikata and left for death?

Or he got injured when they fought Tsuyama?

Or was he involved in the Abashiri attack?

Hard to say but I hope he and this first class Ariko whom he just mentioned will turn out into interesting characters.

Can they be more rebels maybe? That’s why Nikaido gets along well with him? Or there’s more?

Is he a close accomplice to Tsurumi, one who’s maybe into all the dirty jobs Tsurumi makes like killing Hanazawa?

Or does Tsurumi suspect him?

Well, for now we can only wait and see as the story shift from the ‘Russian invasion’ group to the 7th again.

Again sorry if this chap’s analysis did turn out poor. Really Kiro’s death is still weighting on me and somehow it didn’t help. Sorry about it.

Edit: In this chapter Kikuta and Ariko's names were spelled Kikuda and Arako. As I know know the correct spelling, I fixed it.

[firebirdsdaughter]

When you wish you were asleep…

… Watch raws! XD

Actually, I still kind of wish I was asleep. Maybe I’ll grab a nap after this. (-_-)

But on to my children!

In no order and w/ many typos:

Okay, look. Wyzul’s not ‘weak,’ he’s just meant to have essentially the opposite style of Tankjoh. He’s a ‘planner.’ The manipulative, cunning ‘evil genius type.’ Doesn’t mean anyone has to like him, or think he’s a good villain—hell, I promise you I already miss Tankjoh, too—but he’s not ‘weak.’ He just has a different style. His plan this week was actually rather clever.

Sorry. Wanted to get that off my chest. I miss Tankjoh, too, but I actually like that they followed him w/ a general w/ an opposite style, that the one time Tankjoh kind of tried it, it got him killed (the plan w/ the Cerberus Minusaur).

XD TOUWA. Oh, honey. Who put you in the back? ^^

Knowing the twist makes this whole thing all the more hilarious, somehow.

Though this plan was actually rather clever! If Cardena hadn’t had a few slips in her words… Though admittedly, she was so clearly anxious about it that Banba and/or Melto might have caught onto something anyway, but… It was close.

Banba’s become naturally suspicious, so he may have doubted them anyway, but… It could’ve worked.

Poor Touwa’s so short. And even Banba is kinda hiding in the back there! XD

Other facts about Banba: Google Earth, always taking pics.

Ah, yes, we’re sneaking in. Let us yell, loudly! XD Ah, Toku…

Odd place to keep things, honestly…

There’s something incredibly goofy about the fact that this confrontation is taking place in a cramped stairwell…

They forgot the little men for Banba and Touwa’s transformations. XD

Everyone else is in the middle of fighting a Drunn. Banba has alreday freaking killed his. ><

I think Touwa just asked Wyzul to repeat himself bc they didn’t catch it the first time. And Asuna just figured it out? Uncertain.

Wait. Waitwaitwaitwaitwait. I guess it’s Pink??? But she looks purple???

Curse my inability to put an image in the middle of a bulleted list! Curse my attachment to bullet points! DX

I’ll put it at the bottom?

Touwa here, stealing the monster’s lines. XD

Rip unnamed Drunn.

I’m confused as to whether Cardena was trying to tip them off, or just conflicted and getting anxious. Most likely the latter, as she didn’t seem to understand they’d figured it out later.

My watching experience is foiled once more by how INCURABLY BEAUTIFUL TATSUYA IS! DX

Now she’s getting the hairy eyeball from both big brother/dad and mom. XD Deception check failed.

Is that a thing?

They are dunking on this man so hard. I mean, he doesn’t seem to mind, but…

I really hope that smirk really was just Tatsuya and wasn’t planned. I like how they had trouble getting the ‘towel scene’ (a line ad libbed by Simon Pegg) bc Zachary Quinto kept laughing, so they just went w/ a scene where he jus barely smirks and they cut away real fast. This is smaller, scale, of course, it’s very low key and I only noticed it bc I am almost always watching Banba in any given scene, but it’s funny to think it was unscripted.

Aw, I thought Dad was an alright singer. Also, love Ui’s face here. ^^ And she tries to comfort him, such a sweetheart.

Aw, Touwa also looks like he’s finding it cute, too. ^^ I’m still thinking of Touwa and Ui as the ‘babies’ of the fam. Resident youngest sibs. :)

Nah, Banba doesn’t trust this situation enough to start stabbing people, don’t worry, Kou.

Pretty sure he’s just looking for an excuse to leave, actually.

Melto takes the opportunity to go full mom friend.

Banba’s like ‘so one of you was paying attention.’

There’s never any indication here if Touwa figured it out, too. I’m inclined to think he didn’t? But I don’t know.

Why must Tatsuya persist in being so attractive??? DX

Okay, guess it’s confirmed they can call Ui from the braces. … How. Did they program her number into them? Is there some frequency that they tapped her phone into?

Also, largely unrelated, but Ui is really pretty. She really is. She makes goofy faces sometimes, but this actress is really beautiful. I’m love her. ^^

She’s jack awful at lying, though.

Though it is justified that no one caught on, here. How would Wyzul know how modern human technology works? And Cardena’s an alien. And neither of them know Ui very well. She could be like this all the time for all they know.

But also… Did Melto text her? How did she know to leave her phone?

I say Cardena didn’t catch on bc she doesn’t seem to have realised that they knew later.

Tall Cheese seems to be having a good time hamming it up, and that is valid of her.

Really, though. There’s no way they would have actually released Tall Cheese, if this had worked. That’s not Short Cheese’s fault, she didn’t have many options, but I highly doubt Wyzul intended to honour any sort of deal.

I realise I shamefully remembered Short Cheese’s name in the rest of this post. Whoops. I’d go back and fix it, but now it’s funny… ^^;

Oh, yeah. And this explains why Tall Cheese was looking so evil in those photos.

So… Was Wyzul actually just sitting chained up in the park the whole time?

But also… Wyzul is a shapeshifter. Toei, would you mind…? >:)

Synchronised staring at Kou. XD

Oh, yeah. Moment of appreciation for Tatsuya sitting on the bloody playground equipment like a freaking model.

Banba going for a low blow, there. But he has a point.

And… Kou hits a button. We’ve only really seen Banba be this angry when yelling at Crayon the Mushroom Man about curing Touwa, I think… Makes me wonder if the betrayal he suffered happened in a situation like this? He took a risk for someone in a similar fashion, but it turned out they were lying and stabbed him in the back? Like, loosely similar, maybe. Like… Kou’s reaction clearly hits a nerve.

GAH! Toei, give me more to go on! DX

He backs down, though. Either bc he’s still soft for sibling relationships and can’t help it, or he’s getting soft about Kou—or both. This makes me think even more that he’s never killed anyone before. For all his apparent willingness to do so, in the end he can’t got through w/ sacrificing someone like that.

Esp not when considering it while staring into Kou’s sad puppy eyes.

As Touwa mysteriously vanishes from the shot, despite being exceedingly close by a moment ago.

Though… Banba seeing the fact that Kou et al. being willing to sacrifice what’s important to them for what’s important to others… And seeming kinda effected by that… Is kinda fuel for my ‘he ends up trying to protect their innocence/kindness’ idea? In, like… A ‘I’m the expendable one’ kinda way? Not exactly, but… Augh, explaining is hard. I’m sure I’ll think of one later. DX

Like… Could lead to a moment later where he tries to sacrifice himself/something so that they don’t have to? Or forcibly decides to be the sacrifice for something.

Oh, boy, that sounded weird.

Tyramigo is adorable, and will be the death of me.

Tyramigo be like ‘Is this the bomb I’m meant to eat?’ Then checks w/ Kou just to be sure. ‘Eat the bomb? Okay, eat the bomb!’

Him going ‘aaaaaaaah’ like a little baby, he’s so cute. DX

And how it awkwardly cuts out when she says ‘don’t.’ XD

HOW DID SHE NOT CATCH ON? Either her lysing skill improved significantly, or she completely misunderstood Kou’s nod here.

HOW DID HE SWALLOW HE HAS NO THROAT. O_o

They are dunking this poor man so hard… But, like, he’s listed as a special guest star, so I guess he doesn’t mind, and he seems happy, but… XD

Banba in the back: Google Earth, always taking pics.

Actually, that’s him at any given moment, really.

So… Were those copies of them, too?

Kou, you do not get to call people ‘baka.’ You are the baka!

I don’t actually know what he said. Could have been a different word.

Where were they hiding? Did they hang off the edge of the roof? Stairwell?

Banba not only refuses to smile, he sighs like he’s only there under duress.

He maintains his carefully practiced grumpy face for the whole scene, too. XD

Aw, I think Touwa just said ‘we barely did anything.’ Honey, I watched the flashback, you were the other person making copies.

Synchronised brother head tilt. Seriously, they’re at exactly the same angle. Ah, family. XD

Touwa loves it, Banba is required by contract to keep glaring.

His little awkward looking at the ground after, like ‘shit they’re cute’ what do I do??’… ^^ XD <3

They did do great, though. Plus he knew they’d never leave him alone if he didn’t do something there. XD But he is getting fond of them. Will probably be in denial until something happens and then have a freak out. Maybe it won’t even be that big, maybe it will just be Gold shows up and he finds himself getting protective. But I like big. ^^

Oh, please let Gaisoulg be who I hope it it… >.<

Aaaah! They’re so pretty! DX

So… Is it still a Minusaur if it didn’t come from a human?

What’s this? Minusaur is evolving!

Wait… So so they all turn into dragons when they complete????

I guess they didn’t tell her how Minusaurs actually work.

MAH BABIES!

How did we get down on the ground? Who knows. Toku.

The others go w/ proper combat Souls. Touwa and Kou use the balloon Soul and the shiny Soul. At least one of those kinda makes sense.

Aw, she’s self conscious. ^^

What I think I love most is that she’s clearly putting conscious effort into being out of tune. Which she can do bc the actress actually knows how to sing. XD

Asuna playing the drums is SO CUTE. I’M GONNA DIE.

I love how Melto explaining implied the brothers asked.

And the fact that you can just hear her in the background through the whole scene.

I realise it was Wyzul impersonating her, but it seems like something he might pick up from the real her to make it more believable. Plus Short Cheese had a a name for it, making it more likely.

Gods love her, she’s putting so much effort into it.

Banba briefly checking on Touwa when he rejoins them. ^^ I love this family.

Short Cheese thanks everyone, and the kids smile, but Banba gets embarrassed. XD

Oh dear. Wyzul knows we’re in a TV show…

Ui playing the demanding voice instructor is ADORABLE. XD

Kou and Melto in the corner imitating Banba. XD

Next week, looks like Melto is piloting Kishiryu Oh alone, Biker Dad returns (as an illusion), and the kids get stuck in Wonderland when Banba turns his back on them for five minutes.

I’m kidding, I don’t actually know if his subplot is at all related to Wonderland. All it says is that he’s dealing w/ an ‘antiques dealer.’ I have this wild theory that what the summary means is that ‘Wonderland’ is inside a box (the chest that’s referenced in the title and is the goal of the ‘attraction’), and then Banba also ends up chasing it around. Alternatively, he could just end up in a situation where he’s wandering around like ‘have you seen five brightly dressed dork children? I left them right here, but I looked away for one minute and they all disappeared.’ Or he doesn’t know at all. The magazine did say something about him doing things alone… Maybe he’ll get himself into trouble and they’ll have to come save him in episode 10. I mean, we know he’s gonna get a plot about not doing everything himself eventually.

I’ll leave everyone w/ this thought: the shapeshifting Druidon general now knows where the Tatsuis live.

That’s all, folks! Virtual rock candy for anyone who read all that. Excited for next week. I hope we get episode summaries for the next few eps, soon, as that might give me more of an idea as to whether I was actually right. I like the idea of Banba chasing a box that may or may not have his younger siblings in it around the city and drama that could ensue. But they could go other ways w/ this subplot. Like… Maybe the antiques dealer is the hooded person? Or Banba is trying to investigate the hooded person? Or it’s Gaisoulg (please be who I want you to be, Gaisoulg!)? Or an early cameo of Gold? Or a Druidon? Or a completely inconsequential side character. Who knows.

Oh, yeah! Purple chibi!

Though… I guess it’s Pink? It… It looks purple, though… Wait. Could it be… Magenta?

[mybullshitsensesaretingling]

Traps

Request: Could you write a fic with Chekov please? I need more of the Russian nugget in my life. Possibly a fic where Chekov and reader go on an away team and they get in danger and the reader is badass and saves them?

A/N: We all always need more of the Russian nugget in our lives. 

Fallen leaves crunched under your boots. As much as you loved being on the Enterprise, you desperately missed fall. While this may not be the autumn you were used to, the leaves were still changing colors, the air was still crisp, and the wind still brought a smell of earthiness. The whole thing put you in the mood to wear sweaters and eat something pumpkin flavored.

Something peeking out between the leaves on the trees that lined the right side of the path caught your attention.

Lifting up a branch to get a better look, you smiled, “Well, hello there.”

“What?” Chekov stopped a few paces ahead of you. “What is it?”

“I don’t know.” You looked at him with a glint in your eyes that he wasn’t sure he liked. “Let’s go find out.”

“But-” he looked back at the rest of the team steadily getting farther and farther away.

“Oh, come on.” You move aside a few more branches to give yourself enough room to pass through. “We’re explorers, aren’t we? Besides, what’s the worst that can happen?”

“Now you have jinxed it and if I don’t come, you will die.”

“Then I guess you’d better come along,” you grinned, making your way to the other side of the tree line.

Keeping your arm up behind you, you held the branch out of his way long enough for him to get through. You stood shoulder to shoulder with wide-eyed, slack-jawed looks pasted on both of your faces.

“We are about to be ritualistic sacrifices, aren’t we?” Chekov asked in a hushed voice.

You turned your head towards him. The apprehensive look on his face pulled a laugh from your throat.

“No, we’re not going to be sacrificed.” You looked back at the ancient temple before you. The size of the structure and unfamiliar symbols carved into the stone face sent doubts running through your mind. “Probably.”

“Zat is what people always say before having their necks sliced open on an altar,” his voice was nervous and warning, but he followed you towards the carved stone regardless.

“You have got to stop watching those old horror movies with Sulu,” you muttered, crouching down to inspect the writing on the outside wall.

“I know,” he sighed. “I haven’t slept in a week.”

Shaking your head, you dusted off some of the dirt that covered the symbols.

This was at least the third time you had told him not to stay up all night watching scary movies. He agreed every time. And every time you would get a call the next night, because he was terrified that a clown was going to kill him or a man in a mask was in his quarters somewhere. It honestly blew your mind. You had watched him go face to face with Klingons, respond to serious threats with only a snarky comment, and kill an alien planet’s answer to spiders, but Scream Five he couldn’t handle.

“What does it say?”

“It tells of a prophecy.” You ran your hands along the symbols. “Centuries from when it was written, a boy with curly hair and in a bright yellow shirt would stumble across this sacred land. That boy,” you took a deep breath to emphasize the importance of your next words, “would be the biggest nerd to ever live.”

“You have no idea what it says,” he deadpanned. If it was anyone else you might have worried that he wasn’t going to put up with your ridiculousness much longer, but you put up with your share of his own personal brand of ridiculousness.

“Not a clue.” You straightened back up.

“I wonder who built zis place,” Chekov mused, leaning in through the door. “Zere is no intelligent life here.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

He shot you a glare before turning to walk into the temple.

“Be careful. There could be booby traps,” you warned from the outside.

“I am not a booby,” he said matter of factly, “I will not be trapped.”

“That’s some pretty sound reasoning you got there.” You followed him over the threshold.

Cracks in the roof provided enough light to navigate the space and even make out some of the carvings on the walls. Chekov diligently held his tricorder out, keeping track of the readings in his hand. You held up a holocamera, just barely looking through the viewfinder with each picture.

“Maybe they all died,” you suggested, returning to his earlier question. “Went the way of the dinosaurs.”

He whipped his head around and gave you a wide eyed stare.

You only just kept yourself from snorting.

Sometimes you forgot how optimistic and innocent his world view was. You admired his ability to keep it up, even if it did get a little annoying.

“Why do you jump to extinction?” he asked, turning back to face where he was walking.

“I didn’t jump anywhere.” You snapped another photo. “I evaluated the facts and drew a reasonable conclusion.”

“They could have left ze world.” He paused, thinking over the facts for himself. “Been abducted.”

“The whole species?” you asked skeptically.

“Probably not,” he said defeatedly.

The corner of your mouth tipped up. You cast your eyes down to the cobblestone, trying to conjure up a more positive topic of conversation.

His foot hit a stone and it sank below the others.

A switch in your brain that you didn’t realise you had flipped and you jumped into to action. You lunged forward, wrapping an arm around the back of his torso and forcing him down. There was a split second before he hit the ground and anything happened, that you realised just how embarrassed you would be if nothing did happen. You were all ready to start blaming it on watching Indiana Jones or reading Adventure Hunters one too many times, when you heard something slice through the air above you.

Once you heard whatever it was bury itself in the opposite wall, you rolled off of him. He flipped over onto his back, and stared at the spears tied together with rope, now sticking out of the wall.

“Zat is a bit cliched, yes?” Chekov raised a hand to point at it.

“Totally.”

Getting to his feet and ducking under the rope, Chekov examined the trap. His expression shifted to one of complete focus, shock still peeking out at the edges. You propped yourself up on your elbows and watched him for a moment, before you could no longer contain the laugh bubbling up in your chest.

He leaned around the weapon to stare at you from beneath furrowed brows. “What?”

“You’re a booby,” you cackled, pointing at him.

“I am not!”

“Really?” you practically choked on your laughter. “‘Cause you boobied right into that trap.”

“You are a child,” Chekov scolded, coming over to help you up.

“Coming from you,” you took hold of his hand and let him haul you to your feet, “that’s pretty bad.”

“Vat is that supposed to mean?”

“You’re a twelve year old,” you shrugged, getting control of your laughter.

Walking past you, he copied you in a mocking tone, “You’re a twelve year old.”

“Thank you for proving my point.” You followed him deeper into the temple.

“Zere is a life sign that way,” Chekov announced, changing the conversation. He held his tricorder up over his shoulder for you to see and pointed in the direction of the sign. “Want to see what it is?”

“Was radio invented in Russia?”

He threw his arms up excitedly into a v shape above his head and grinned, “Yes!”

A small smile graced your face as you watched a slight bounce enter his step.

“Vat do you think it vill be?”

“One eyed, one horned, flying purple people eater,” you answered without hesitation.

“Vat?”

“It’s from an old song.” His head bobbed in an understanding nod.   “You’d like it. I’ll show it to you when we get back.”

“It should be behind this wall.” Chekov stood millimeters from the stone wall, staring at it intently like he was expecting it to suddenly vanish.

“Must be outside.” You rested your elbow against a pedestal.

The unmistakeable sound of stone scraping against stone filled the small space. Closing your eyes, you silently prayed that what ever this was, it wasn’t too deadly.

“It appears you are also a booby,” Chekov murmured.

Snorting you opened your eyes.

The wall had slid away to reveal a small, enclosed courtyard. A few fruit trees partially blocked out the sun, the bricks that lined the perimeter were covered in deep scratches, but what had caught Chekov’s attention was a horned, four legged beast huffing on the other side.

“And it appears we are dinner,” he added.

“What makes you think it isn’t friendly?” you asked without taking your eyes off it.

“It has the look Doctor McCoy gives the Keptain when he missed his physical.” He instinctively threw an arm out in front of you as the thing began to charge.

Ducking around his stiff form and pulling your phaser from your belt in one swift movement, you aimed and fired. Without waiting to see if it was enough to render the beast unconscious, you grabbed Chekov’s hand with your free hand and darted towards the exit. You didn’t stop until you were back on the trail.

“Anything else you want to do before we get back to the ship?” you panted. “Steal a priceless artifact and replace it with a bag of sand? Wander into a bamboo pit viper trap?”

He thought on it for a moment before saying, “Punji sticks.”

“With our luck, we'll find some.”

He nodded, starting down the path, still holding your hand. “Zat place was a deathtrap.”

“If an engineer wants to get you by the balls, he will,” you quoted the old military saying in a serene voice. You  took in a deep breath of fall air, closing your eyes to enjoy the soft breeze. Despite having just run for your life, in this brief moment of alien autumn with your hand in his, you felt at peace.