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dereksmcgrath · 3 years ago

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In order to talk about this episode, we have to talk about how manga publishing and anime production does (and does not) work.

And before we can get into this episode, and its originating storyline that comes not only from the My Hero Academia manga but also its spinoff Vigilantes, I have to talk about three things:

The challenges of adapting more than one manga series.

An imaginary Vigilantes co-production (an “Imagine If,” to steal a phrase from a writer better than I) between Studio BONES and Studio Trigger.

But first, another franchise Studio BONES adapted the same year as MHA: Bungo Stray Dogs.

(Bear with me–this is all going somewhere.)

“More of a Hero Than Anyone,” My Hero Academia Episode 107 (Season 5, Episode 19)

An adaptation of Chapters 253, 254, and 255 of the manga, by Kohei Horikoshi, inspired by My Hero Academia: Vigilantes, Chapters 59 to 65 by Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court. All translated by Caleb Cook with lettering by John Hunt and available from Viz.

My Hero Academia is available to stream on Crunchyroll and Funimation.

Spoilers up to the My Hero Academia Chapter 324, Vigilantes Chapter 108, and the film World Heroes’ Mission.

There are also spoilers for Bungo Stray Dogs and Gurren Lagann.

Created by writer Kakfa Asagiri and illustrator Sango Harukawa, with additional spinoffs illustrated by Kanai Neko, Ganjii, Oyoyo, and Shiwasu Hoshikawa, Bungo Stray Dogs is about a world where characters, who happen to have the names of real-life authors of Japanese and other literature, also happen to have superpowers based on the titles of works by those same famous authors. For example, Herman Melville can summon the giant battle fortress Moby-Dick, Nikolai Gogol can transport items through his overcoat, and Motojiro Kajii has the ability “Lemonade,” which prevents him from being harmed by bombs shaped like lemons.

(…Bungo Stray Dogs is weird. The first anime doesn’t even have dogs in it.)

Studio BONES premiered an animated adaptation of Bungo Stray Dogs in 2016, the same year the studio premiered the MHA anime. What makes Bungo unique compared to some other anime is that each season adapted from not only the manga but one of the franchise’s light novels as well. While some of the light novels take place concurrent to the manga, most take place in the past–which made Season 1 awkward, re-setting some events from the Azure Messenger Arc in the present and hampering some characterization for what was supposed to be the very first meeting of the characters Osamu Dazai and Doppo Kunikida.

The next light novels adapted for the Bungo anime all take place in the past, with Season 2 giving what I think is the best of the adaptations, The Dark Age, as we learn more about Dazai’s time with the Port Mafia and his relationship with fellow mafioso Sakunosuke Oda. This arc set a high standard that I don’t think the next light novel adaptations have reached, as it not only fleshes out the characters and builds the world, but it also has two important accomplishments. First, on its own, you could watch the entire four-episode arc as its own movie. While some details will gain more significance if you watched the first season, and will become more important as you watch the rest of the series or read the manga and light novels, by itself, The Dark Age is a thrilling narrative of intrigue, deception, betrayal, and heartache. Second, thematically, The Dark Age ties in very well to the rest of Season 2. Some of it is cheap shorthand: the Lupin Bar matchstick container becomes a visual indicator for Dazai helping Atsushi Nakajima save an ally when Dazai couldn’t. But even as cheap as that may seem, it enhances the overall season, giving Dazai more to do in a story where he is otherwise on the sidelines and playing everyone like chess pieces. Plus, you kind of needed to see The Dark Age to understand who Ango Sakaguchi is in Season 2 and why Dazai hates him.

Season 3 gave me high hopes for where the next light novel adaptation could go. This season focuses on a third party attempting to destroy Dazai and Atsushi’s organization, the Armed Detective Agency, along with the Port Mafia. When Agency founder Yukichi Fukuzawa is poisoned, we see the usually lighthearted and arrogant Ranpo Edogawa become momentarily silent and devastated by Fukuzawa’s hospital bed. I blame myself for reading theories online that this moment would lead the season to do a flashback arc to one of the light novels, one that shows the origins of the Agency, how Fukuzawa first met young Ranpo, and explains what that cat was doing all throughout The Dark Age and Season 3.

Instead, as soon as I started Season 3 and saw the premiere was beginning with a lengthy adaptation of a light novel centered around Dazai and his former Mafia teammate Chuuya Nakahara, my heart sank. Nothing about that story thematically tied into the overall season as well as would Ranpo and Fukuzawa’s light novel, a story that reveals how much Ranpo has lost in his life and why he clings onto Fukuzawa for approval and why the dissolution of the Agency would not only deprive him of family and friends but also the very meaning to his existence. That is a heavy story to tell, one that would make the audience better appreciate the lengths the Agency goes to for Fukuzawa. By comparison, there is next to nothing about Chuuya’s back story that accomplishes the same. If anything, all that light novel adaptation tells us is that Dazai and Chuuya’s partnership mirrors that of Atsushi and the Mafioso Ryunosuke Akutagawa–and that detail was already established well enough in Season 2, so we’re just retreading the same old material.

Adapting Chuuya’s story is like explaining Aizawa’s back story: as I’ll explain in the moment, all you really learn in either case is why Chuuya hates Dazai and why Aizawa is a lone wolf–and it’s the reasons you already see in the present day, Chuuya hates Dazai because he’s annoying, and Aizawa has always been a loner, end of discussion. The choice to give these two characters the spotlight doesn’t really do anything new for the audience. I’ll say more about Aizawa later, but for now, I’ll say, nothing against Chuuya as a character, but the decision to adapt his light novel seemed very much like a marketing strategy by manga/light novel publisher Kadokawa and Studio BONES: Dazai and Chuuya’s relationship is popular with fans, there’s a lot of back story to mine, and the light novel that gave us this anime adaptation already set up a sequel that itself could serve as a Season 4 adaptation or even a feature film.

(Honestly, that Chuuya sequel novel in Bungo is more entertaining: there’s a cyborg named Adam Frankenstein. Re-read that sentence: a cyborg named Adam Frankenstein, who treats Chuuya like a little kid, offering him candy because he read that young people like candy and the serotonin from sugar can help with dealing with times of stress. Chuuya’s babysitter is Frankenstein: it’s so absurd that it just works.)

So, why am I talking about Bungo Stray Dogs instead of the other anime Studio BONES makes, My Hero Academia? Because I’m seeing a set of mistakes and Band-Aids repeat themselves all over again.

I profess ignorance about how the anime industry works: there are better people than I who can speak to it. As far as I can gather, just by looking at the evidence in that industry, and the evidence of just about any industry, the goal is to make money. I don’t think the goal to make an anime is necessarily to get people to watch it, especially now that streaming makes the cost of entry very low or even free if you wait long enough for Crunchyroll and Funimation to put it up with commercials. I don’t think it’s to get you to buy the manga: even if you get hooked like I am to read ahead to see what happens next, why read something you just watched? Instead, I think the goal is to buy merchandise, like how musical groups have switched from record deals to selling individual songs online and getting merch sold at concerts (pre-COVID). The conundrum for the anime and manga industries are not dissimilar from those in comic book publishing in the United States: DC and Marvel can have all the crossover events in the comics that they want, but those don’t always get someone who to read a new series just because Spider-Man or Wolverine pop up in it. I have not looked at sales for Vigilantes, so I don’t know whether Aizawa, Midnight, and All Might popping up in there boosts its sales. Rather, the comics are testing grounds for what works. Marvel uses its comics to test what can work in films and streaming, where money now is, while maybe Vigilantes was testing the Oboro story to see if there was something there to put into the anime. Sure enough, the fan art out there for Oboro has increased since the episode, merchandise can’t be far behind.

But let’s move on to actually looking at the episode itself. “More of a Hero Than Anyone” centers on Aizawa and Present Mic being brought to the prison Tartarus to interrogate captured League of Villains member Kurogiri. As I have complained for most of this season, BONES has made confusing choices regarding which chapters of the MHA manga it is adapting first: this story comes from manga chapters that were the last before the big Pro Heroes vs Paranormal Liberation Front Arc, and we haven’t even gotten to the Meta Liberation Army Arc yet. True, this episode ends in a way to set all of that up, showing us Shigaraki getting his power boost, but it has been a befuddling choice of what to adapt first. Making matters more confusing is that, while this episode introduces Aizawa and Present Mic’s classmate Shirakumo, someone alluded to during Shinso’s arc this season, that story doesn’t really originate in the main manga: it started in an MHA spinoff.

The manga My Hero Academia: Vigilantes is to My Hero Academia like the Bungo Stray Dogs light novels are to its main manga: it is largely a prequel that fills in back story for major characters and some worldbuilding details while telling its own story with its own protagonist and plot. Chapters 59 to 65 are the first major departure for the series, as it shifts from the usual protagonist to a plot about Aizawa, showing his time as a UA student and setting up why he ended up returning to UA as a teacher.

The first time I read Aizawa’s arc in Vigilantes, I hated it: it is a cynical attempt at giving us an origin story to explain how Aizawa got to be the way he is–without actually showing us anything we could not have figured out ourselves. It tries to set up this idea that, if Shirakumo had not died, Aizawa would not have been the lone wolf.

That idea butts up against two details. First, we already see Aizawa keeps up the lone wolf appearance anyway in the present, so imagining an alternative timeline doesn’t make sense, especially when, in its own flashback arc, Aizawa was already a lone wolf–that was his entire dynamic with Mic, Skirakumo, even Midnight, so it’s less that Shirakumo’s death made him this way when he was always this way. Hell, this was a gag in the supplementary material of the manga that got adapted into the anime, when Mic had to come up with a Pro Hero name for Aizawa because he was that checked out–and, again, that was before Shirakumo died.

Second, we know Aizawa’s lone wolf persona is just that, a front he puts up that belies his pragmatic willingness to work with others. Just because he is annoyed by the antics of friends like mic and Skirakumo, just because he bristles at Midnight trying to rope him into teaching at UA throughout most of Vigilantes, and just because he is overly serious when dealing with his students or with newbie heroes like Vigilantes’s protagonist the Crawler, none of that ignores that, despite everything, Aizawa, maybe more than anyone else, fulfills the collaborative spirit of Pro Hero work that other characters do not.

Aizawa’s strengths as a teacher center around his understanding that people have to work together. That detail fails when remembering he is still the one who is not properly reprimanding Bakugo to stop being a bullying, violent dick to Izuku. (Seriously, this episode is yet another moment of him being awful: how many times in the anime alone has he kicked the shit out of Izuku for no reason, as if any reason would justify it?) But otherwise, Aizawa understands how to work with others, and that has set him apart for so long from other prominent Pro Heroes. All Might doesn’t really collaborate–he’s been trying to hold up the peace of the world on his own. Endeavor may run an agency with sidekicks that enhance his abilities, but as seen in the Endeavor Agency Arc he would rather rush ahead to save the day on his own, in this pathetic desire to catch up to All Might. Aizawa, though, knows his limitations and is willing to work with anyone else to help him achieve his goals, something we have seen him learn to embrace more and more, whether hanging back to be the face in front of the camera to distract the League while the other Heroes rescue Bakugo, or when he accepted Izuku joining on the Shie Hassaikai mission. And you can pick up on all of this from just reading the main manga–so why bother reading Vigilantes if all it’s going to tell you is,”Aizawa’s friend died and that’s why he’s sad”? Even little details get lost in the shuffle: while I should appreciate Aizawa bringing up the cat Oboro rescued, that’s such a big part of the Vigilantes plot that it feels like a nod to the story rather than getting fully into it. (Trivia: That cat, Sushi, is adopted by Midnight. Enjoy feeling awful that Sushi may have passed away by now or is going to be without an owner when Midnight dies.)

I had thought I could put that frustration with that Vigilantes arc behind me. Then the main manga revealed Shirakumo’s corpse was used to create Kurogiri–and I rage quitted. Okay, that’s exaggerating: I didn’t stop reading the manga, but I did take a long pause in keeping up on it, seeing as the next arc got to be so bloody and depressing that, on top of enough real-world concerns, that wasn’t the kind of escapist reading I was looking for. I needed some time to sit back and process how annoying this revelation was. That means, for all of Vigilantes, this detail, that Kurogiri was Shirakumo all along, was just waiting to be revealed. To again repeat the SpongeBob meme I used last week, this series used me for plot contrivances.

(Vigilantes also seems like one long troll. After the main manga shows the Hood Nomu used to be an underground fighter, he gets a backstory in Vigilantes. And Vigilantes give you the last bit of Midnight you’re going to get before she’s killed off–which, now that I think about it, makes her exclusion from this episode even worse: she was friends with Shirakumo, too, so bring her into this episode before we fridge her!)

It doesn’t help how ignorant I feel for not realizing this sooner: Skirakumo’s name and abilities are the white-and-black opposite of Kurogiri’s. The cover to a collected volume of Vigilantes made that all the clearer. But if that’s the case, why wasn’t this hinted at when Aizawa and Kurogiri first encountered each other way back in the USJ Arc? I know it’s a lot to expect the audience to track throughout the series, and I appreciate the story trying to explain that away by Aizawa asking the same question I have, before someone tells him that maybe Kurogiri’s reprogramming made Oboro’s personality disappear. But Horikoshi’s creation of Shirakumo seems more like a late addition rather than something always there since the earliest chapters. And that’s fine–it’s just disappointing compared to other comics creators like Oda who sets stuff up years in advance before payoff in One Piece. And it’s more disappointing it didn’t come up in the anime adaptation: I would have hoped, if Horikoshi had that idea so early, he would have told BONES so they could throw in a hint early in that fight. I don’t know, maybe Aizawa has a flashback to the last words Shirakumo told him and that motivates him to use his Quirk one last time to save Tsuyu and Izuku, or maybe Kurogiri pauses before Aizawa just long enough that you think that’s a weird choice, then upon rewatch now you realize, “Oh, shit, Kurogiri was remembering his classmate and trying to process that information!”

It doesn’t help that the Shirakumo story doesn’t feel like something Studio BONES should handle. Granted, that story is from Vigilantes, not the main manga, so I anticipated BONES would not adapt it here–even as I held out hope for an OVA or, as I hinted earlier, something akin to Bungo Stray Dogs: start the season with this three- to four-episode adaptation of Aizawa’s back story to introduce this season. I’ll say more about why placing that story at the beginning of the season in a moment, but there was another reason why I didn’t think this was a Studio BONES story: it always felt like a story suited for Trigger, the studio behind Kill La Kill, Little Witch Academia, and more, built by people from Gainax of Evangelion and Gurren Lagann fame.

The Shirakumo arc in the Vigilantes manga felt like a visual love letter by Shueisha to Trigger saying, “Please adapt this!” Betten Court’s illustrations for Vigilantes emphasize diagonals, even when adapting MHA characters originally designed by Horikoshi, as well as facial expressions with sharp lines rather than curves, all visually reminiscent of some Trigger and even Gainax anime. Characters’ facial expressions look more like Panty and Stocking than Studio BONES. Aizawa’s final fight in the arc is against a stories-tall behemoth with laser powers that, if not visually, then narratively invokes similar fights in Gurren Lagann, Gridman, and Evangelion. Speaking of Gurren Lagann, in this arc Midnight is sporting Kamina’s shades, and Skirakumo’s last words to Aizawa come through an intercom, after he supposedly died, similar to Kamina’s death. Also, Midnight is running around in a nudist beach outfit from Kill La Kill–so, yeah, the Trigger allusions are that in your face, in all senses of that phrase. Again, I’m not saying I personally would like Trigger to adapt MHA: it’d be different, they are not the first studio I would go with or one whose output I would like, given a lot I don’t like about their output, but when you look at the manga-based evidence, going in that direction makes sense.

I don’t know what plans Shueisha, Toho, and BONES had for this episode, but the style of it already feels so different and off-kilter anyway, due to Aizawa’s nostalgia, that I can’t help but think that someone at some point did have an idea to go with a different studio to animate it, or at least a different approach. I appreciate how much they changed Chapter 254’s opening, re-staging Oboro’s agency talk to be outdoors instead of a walk-and-talk scene as in the manga. Even if I can’t quite say the street walking and outdoor sitting under a bright sky is indicative of Trigger exactly–if anything, the fixation on centering the scenes Wes Anderson-style (the hallway walking in Tartarus, Aizawa and Mic and Oboro hanging out under the blue sky) looks more like something out of Shaft or BONES’s Bungo Stray Dogs–that difference tells me there was something more ambitious in mind than what we ultimately got. It’s the same when we get Kurogiri’s point of view as Aizawa and Present Mic get through to Oboro.

Imagine how gutsy it would be to start Season 5 with an entire Oboro flashback arc. Imagine moving forward in time to this moment of Aizawa and Present Mic interviewing Kurogiri, disorienting the audience asking why we’re skipping the Classes 1A and 1B fights, the League of Villains vs the Meta Liberation Army Arc, and the Endeavor Agency Arc, to show this moment that was supposed to come later. Imagine how gutsy it would be to start with Aizawa and Present Mic learning all of this at Tartarus, setting up the finale for this season, the Pro Heroes versus the Paranormal Liberation Front–then not actually showing that fight start until next season. Why do all of that? Because, if you’re going to delay the LOV vs MLA Arc for that long, you might as well start your season assuring the audience that, no, we have not forgotten the Villains, they will be relevant this season–because, since Aizawa and Present Mic’s high school years, they have been the Big Bads all along and were toying with these two for so long. Imagine how gutsy all of that would be.

Instead, all of that is reduced to just one episode. It’s all so cliche. Aizawa points out, towards the beginning, that this power of friendship trope won’t work–then it does work, negating the entire point of calling it cliche. (Well, it does work, for now: given often we’re told rather than shown how All For One is a chessmaster, it wouldn’t surprise me if he let Kurogiri spill the beans like this knowing it would help him break out of prison later when the Pro Heroes foolishly take on the PLF all at once with little back up plan.) If we had had the full story of Oboro, like did readers of Vigilantes, the slow revelation that Nomus are hardly puppets but, more than that, are reanimated Frankenstein’s monsters capable of agency and personalities, would make this hurt more. We would have seen Oboro, we would have been as horrified as Aizawa and Mic are to learn he was resurrected–but, instead, it is already upon our first meeting with Oboro that suddenly we learn he is also Kurogiri, and it’s just too fast.

How disappointing, but sadly realistic.

It feels like BONES has made a lot of safe choices this season, and while that helps sustain the studio during the unpredictable times of COVID and does what works already for MHA, it doesn’t feel very adventurous. It makes me wonder whether BONES should have put in that time improving Season 5 than trying to make another MHA film. I have not seen World Heroes’ Mission, and while I’ll reserve my review of it until I see it, and will limit as many spoilers as I can, based on just the plot summary I have read, I fail to see how putting in the budget on that film makes sense in terms of narratives, even as I understand how it makes sense in terms of increasing an audience and getting box office sales (in a pre-COVID model, of course).

But speaking of COVID, yeah, I do see why World Heroes’ Mission is necessary right now: it is a globe-trekking film, from what I read it includes beautiful scenery as characters travel vast distances–it is a film needed right now when many of us are still social distancing and still staying at home in the hope that our contributions limit the spread of this deadly virus. (Get vaccinated, mask up, stay at home when possible, and stop being a jerk, people.) Still, I can’t say I’m not disappointed that, with a season whose animation has depended a lot on flashbacks, even if that makes sense given how much ground to cover and how far along the story has come over more than 100 episodes, it is disappointing to not get something more stylistically out-there.

I’m also not saying it’s realistic that Trigger would ever animate this arc. I don’t even necessarily want them to: I find most of their productions to be so light on story while heavy on themes, message, and the animation that, while I appreciate people getting into how visually stunning the artwork is, I find the story so empty that I just can’t get into it. And I’m not expecting Shueisha, Toho, or Studio BONES to cut some kind of deal with Trigger to give them the rights to adapt part or all of Vigilantes: Trigger is animating Star Wars stuff next, that’s a wider market than My Hero Academia (regardless how many Star Wars references Horikoshi puts into his series).

I know I’m being very critical of the production choices behind the episode. Granted, the recap to the last episode was needless–and seems like it’s just there to remind us that we’re somehow supposed to see Aizawa, Mic, and Oboro as analogous to Izuku, Bakugo, and Todoroki–which does not work at all. And somehow BONES made the unfunny All Might part from the manga even longer and even less funny: we already got comedic relief off Iida to accent how much a contrast there is to the Aizawa stuff, and that has a more personal connection as he is Aizawa’s student, while All Might’s Dad Joke is as painful a pun as it looked to be for the students.

Otherwise, I thought the episode was good, just not meeting expectations I set that are not fair. Present Mic’s extended pause, then the long pause before Aizawa has to hold back from crying, when realizing Kurogiri’s concern for Shigaraki means he is indeed Oboro, is more powerful than it was in the manga. Aizawa letting loose the tears at the end while claiming he has dry eyes is very much Roy Mustang complaining about the rain. I do think the ambition for the storyboarding hints at something bigger they had planned, and largely the animation and tension, especially trying to reach Oboro, did work. Wrapping up this episode showing that Kurogiri was just the start of an experiment that would lead to Shigaraki’s transformation only creates a more foreboding tone.

Furthermore, the voice direction and acting in the English dub was very good. Ever since David Trosko replaced Sonny Strait as Present Mic, he has upheld all that works in the character, and while I feared that kind of loud acting would disrupt any pathos for this episode, it worked incredibly well, putting up so much bluster that shows how powerless he feels facing this madness and how this is as heartwrenching for him as it is for Aizawa. I especially appreciate, in the English dub, how much Oboro sounds like Izuku: while the series has never made Aizawa see a bit of Oboro in Izuku, that casting lends a new way of interpreting why Aizawa sticks with that masochist after everything he lost when Oboro died.

(You know that if things had worked out differently, Vic Mignogna would’ve ended up cast as Oboro, given his roles already as the dead friend of the hard-ass teacher in Naruto, and the presumed dead Sabo in One Piece, and his dynamic acting against Kurogiri’s Chuck Huber in other productions).

So that takes care of all the stuff about Aizawa: what about his students? I don’t just mean the class he failed–which, no, that detail doesn’t really work for me, that Aizawa failed a class as we were told upon his initial introduction, and now we reveal it was an empty threat since, while that is on their record, it was to reset matters with his class, not so they would take him seriously but so that they would value their lives. That’s not how that works. I don’t pretend that students, myself included, took our education so seriously that a failing grade or a career setup felt awful–but not the same kind of life-threatening that is literally dying. A poor mark on your report card does not typically result in that kind of same mortal fear, and I hate this story for trying to compare the two, especially when it positions teachers like us to have a fatal power we don’t have: we’re not the Grim Reaper, this isn’t Soul Eater, this is real freaking life. I can’t imagine any good teacher wanting that kind of power to think they are the difference between life and death. We don’t want our students to think these are mortal matters–especially right now, in this context, where I don’t think it’s at all appropriate to re-start in-person teaching and learning (without masks and without social distancing or remote learning opportunities) at a time when not enough of us are vaccinated and the threat of COVID remains too dangerous even when vaccinated. This takes me out of the story. Granted, it’s not the rest of this story is somehow like real life: this is a school where Nezu somehow has a ton of money, so applying real-world matters to a work of fiction is foolish. The only bar this story needs to clear is believability, and it’s not unbelievable that Nezu made that money and overlooked Aizawa’s behavior.

(It’s also why I wish Midnight was in this episode: she recruited Aizawa to UA as a teacher–it would be fascinating to hear her say she chose him for these reasons, that she knew the school needed a hard-ass like him.)

But like I said, I don’t just mean the class he failed: I mean his current students. Re-reading Chapter 253, I now understand why Iida doesn’t pop up in the third film: if he had his new desire to loosen up, then it would make a lot less sense seeing as he just came off a mission to save the world like Ochaco and his classmates did.

And that again leads to a paragraph of me repeating that I don’t give Ochaco enough attention. I promise, I will say more about where her character stands in this series at some point, if not when talking about Chapter 324 tomorrow. But even as this story keeps insisting she is important, it feels like it’s hanging her up like that All Might toy from Izuku. I appreciate putting in the budget to animate her dive-and-hide on Izuku’s gift, something not as obvious or visually impressive in the manga–but we couldn’t have put that budget into doing something more creative with the Aizawa story? Building her characterization around Izuku, at this point in the anime, remains frustrating–until the manga gives that a good payoff and seems to be sticking the landing on it. That’s one of the challenges of reviewing the manga as it goes on, and why reviewing the anime is in some ways easier: I can see where the pieces fit in and what is being set up. It doesn’t change that it’s annoying right now in this moment, but it fits in the overall scheme of her and Izuku’s story. But When it comes to how Toga is going to tie into this, I’m less convinced, but we’ll get to that in the next few episodes and in tomorrow’s manga review.

Oh, and Bakugo remains the worst. I’m so grateful he is tolerable in the manga right now, because the fact that he was getting away with this nonsense up to Chapter 253 is an indictment against teachers like Aizawa and All Might.

I apologize for how much this post seemed like a long college lecture (a college instructor leturing–shocking), or a Rachel Maddow monologue–only far less repetitive than Maddow’s condescending “I’m going to repeat the same point five times and treat you like you haven’t been paying attention”–and far less financially profitable. This is basically a joke I told a friend after posting last week’s review:

“Show me you’re an academic without telling me you’re an academic.”

“I wrote nine pages reviewing an episode without actually reviewing the episode."

#my hero academia #shoto aizawa #oboro shirakumo #long post

1 note · View note

floatingseaotter · 3 years ago

Text

Contra Mundum

or Summer in the City

Song - Mind Over Matter - Young the Giant

"...at length" count - 24

STORY TIME: Okay, so a couple of years ago i took a 3 month hiatus in the middle of reading Order of the Phoenix because I didn't want to make myself upset over Sirius dying... The same thing has happened here just with other plot points.

I have now realised that this chapter is named after what Remus wrote on the floor in the shrieking shack—which google translated for me to 'defying or opposing everyone else'—so I've put my keen and penetrating mind to the task and, unlike usual, come to a probably correct conclusion... this is a Remus centric chapter.

"He laughed easily and frequently..." is such a nice little description. Especially for five year old Remus and it is upsetting.

A wedding! I love weddings! Drinks all around!

Unfortunately for Lily, Mrs. Evans, Ira the Cat, and anyone who happened upon the Evans house at that time, Petunia's bridal mania was far-reaching and unstoppable.

-- LMAO.

Omg, Mrs. Evans is called Edie! I like it :) Petunia and her pals are so rude. I... don't know why I am surprised. What I am shocked about is the hints on what's going on with Maid Of Honour Yvonne though!

Oh, Lily's owl is called Niko. I think this is the first time he's been mentioned.

JAMES WROTE HER A TWO PAGE LONG LETTER!!!

This—the owl—is Elizabeth the Second, named for the Lady on the muggle money. My old owl has gone into retirement after an unfortunate run in with my Gran's cat Bertram. It seems that was one cat attack too many, and he now refuses to carry mail.

-- of course she is. I love the way James writes letters and also just how people in general write the temperament of owls in fic because it really makes me laugh that they have such an attitude all the time.

First mention of everyones favourite cousin, Sam! Do we get the story of the "Hopefully with a little more than twenty minutes advance notice..." thing that James is talking about in his letter? Hm.

Have you seen anything of You-Know-Who? Not Voldemort. Snape. He lives near you, isn't that right? Petey thinks I shouldn't ask because it's a sore subject. As if "tact" has ever been my style.

-- 💀

Oh Lily has found herself 'inexplicable pleased by the vague possibility of "meeting up with" James (and Peter)'!

Almost exactly a year before, Sirius had shown up on that very doorstep in the middle of the night, soaking and anxious and homeless...

-- :(

Grace Potter is an icon.

"James," she began, eyes downcast once more. "I hope that you know—I hope that you understand that... that no matter what happens—your father and I will still love you very, very much."

"Don't worry, Mum," replied James seriously. "I'm not pregnant."

-- hahahahahah

Narcissa Black has entered the building!!!!! I don't remember this interaction between her and Sirius in the Leaky Cauldron at all. Narcissa actually speaks to him and her voice is described as being "strange—forceful and a bit defiant" and I love how complex people write Narcissa's character—

"It's not too late, Sirius interrupted. "It isn't too late for you, Cissy."

Narcissa took one step forward and opened her mouth to say something. For a moment, there was emotion in her eyes and sincerity in her expression. And then she froze up again.

It is a turbulent time for the Marauders—

"Right, because the fact that you're a wolf one night a month means you have to be a lifeless, pretentious prick for the rest of the time.

-- very turbulent indeed. That was James that said that to Remus.... oof.

"Soyez bienvenus à ma maison."

Lily raised her eyebrows, and Sirius opened the door.

"Welcome," he modified.

-- My 302 day duolingo streak served me well there.

Lily wants James and Sirius to reunite so bad :(

HAHAHAHA James and Remus being stubborn and then 'trudging' back to one another after not even a minute is so funny to me

OoooOOOOoooo timejump!

Lily smiled broadly, inexplicably amused by the sight

-- the serotonin boost that at every single interaction between James and Lily in this fic gives me. They literally bumped into each other in a book shop but I am grinning at the screen.

"Evans!"

Lily raised her eyebrows at his somewhat over-dramatic reaction. "Hi..."

"Hi," replied James, regaining himself. "Sorry—you... startled me."

-- PLEASE he was so excited its so sweet.

OH MY god and then they go out for dinner, don't they. I hate it so much.

The scene with Remus and his mum talking about his lycanthropy is so good but so sad even though it is so short :(

side note: just had to down a cold cup of tea that i forgot about 👍🏻

"That's the problem with magic," she said. "The magic mind has no sense of awe and wonder with the universe."

-- good old whimsical Lily.

It's the wee off-hand comments that are just peppered in that indicate they are thinking about the other or something that just makes me--

Remus had gone outside to stare at the moon, because—he was told—the full moon was a thing of beauty, and tonight was the closest thing he could really appreciate.

-- ☹️

It began because Jame Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew belonged together.

-- I think its quite a nice touch to have Remus be November when he's watching the moon. How the thing that changed his life for the worse in a way, is also the thing that helps him figures things out? How deep, me.

I don't know why I picture every single character in my head as short. None of them are fully grown but they look like adults. I don't know why this is it really bothers me.

REMUS FORGIVES SIRIUS AND I'M CRYING

It wasn't there yet, but the moon had set (the worst of it was over), and the sky was growing pale (optimistic), and soon (pretty soon), the sun would be up.

I am re-reading The Life and Times

And it is getting documented. Purely for my own benefit.

The Life and Times by Jewels5

She was dramatic. He was dynamic. She was precise. He was impulsive. He was James, and she was Lily, and one day they shared a kiss, but before that they shared many arguments, for he was cocky, and she was sweet, and matters of the heart require time.

#tlat re-reread #chapter 24

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rootindiahealthcare · 5 years ago

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Foods to Help Fight Depression

One of the most overlooked aspects of mental health is nutrition. Food plays an important role in our physical health as well as our mental and emotional health. When you are struggling with depression, thinking about eating the right foods can seem a bit odd. However, some of these small changes in your diet can help reduce your symptoms; and have a positive effect on your daily life. Can foods help with depression? Whatever your dietary preferences, there are so many varieties with options that can provide mood-boosting results. Needless to say that you need to overcome your eating habits and only consume these foods, but be aware of which foods affect your mood, any symptoms of depression. Can help you manage symptoms better. Fish : Omega-3 There are no wild-caught fish to help fight depression, especially the more oily types such as salmon, mackerel, trout, sardines, and tuna (canned). Why? Because they are rich sources.

Omega-3 helps to make connections between fat brain cells as well as strengthen and strengthen receptor sites for neurotransmitters. So, increasing omega-3s in your diet can help improve serotonin production and mood. What's more, the researchers analyzed 26 previously published studies (involving more than 150,00 participants) that examined the link between fish consumption and the risk of depression. The study, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, found that those who consumed the most fish were less likely to experience symptoms of depression. The findings proved that more clinical trials are needed to explore the role of omega-3 fatty acids in depression and mental health. Nuts Although other nuts such as cashews, brazil nuts, and hazelnuts are helpful in supplementing omega-3 fats, walnuts seem to be winners in this category. Walnuts are known to support overall brain health, one of the highest plant-based sources of omega-3s and a great source of protein to help maintain blood sugar levels in healthy balance .

One study found that those who consumed a quarter cup of walnuts daily had a depression score of 26 percent. The researchers examined data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, which originates from a large sample of more than 26,000 American adults. They found that adults who ate nuts and especially walnuts were likely to have higher levels of optimism, energy, hope, concentration, and greater interest in activities. Beens

Beans are a great source of protein and fiber, both helping to maintain stable and consistent blood sugar levels. In addition to helping reduce blood sugar spikes and dips that can affect our mood, beans are also an excellent source of folate. Folate is a B vitamin that helps the body to use vitamin B12 and amino acids, helping the body to detox cells and create new cells. Forbate contains plenty of Garbanzo beans (also known as chickpeas), which provide more than 100 percent of the daily recommended value in just half a cup. Pinto beans are another great option, offering 37 percent folate of the daily recommended price with half a cup served. Seed If you struggle with depression then flaxseed and chia seeds are amazing additions to your diet. Along with some of the other foods mentioned, these two types of seeds are particularly great sources of omega-3 fats. Just one tablespoon of chia seeds provides about 61 percent of your daily recommended intake of omega-3 and one tablespoon of flaxseed provides about 39 percent of the daily recommendation. As you can see, these 2-seeds pack a powerful bunch if you are looking for small ways to improve your diet and your mood too.

Pumpkin and squash seeds are a great addition to tryptophan. Tryptophan is an essential amino acid that produces niacin and helps to make serotonin. Although turkey is what most people think of when hearing the word tryptophan, there are many other food sources that provide high amounts of this essential amino acid. Pumpkin and squash seeds, near the top of the list, provide about 58 percent of the recommended daily intake of tryptophan with just one ounce. Poultry Chicken and turkey are both great sources of lean protein that can help stabilize blood sugar levels while keeping your mood well balanced during the day. In addition to being a reliable source of lean protein, turkey and chicken breasts are known to provide high amounts of tryptophan.

Again, it is beneficial because it helps to make serotonin, which helps us maintain healthy sleep and balanced mood. Just 3 ounces of roasted chicken breast provides 123 percent of the recommended daily intake of tryptophan. Many of us already eat chicken breasts on a regular basis, but do not eat more during our week. Many of us already eat chicken breast regularly, but including more lean protein such as turkey and chicken during your week can help you increase your intake of tryptophan. The vegetables Yes, you need to eat your vegetables! While this is important for everyone, eating vegetables can help a lot if you are struggling with depression. One reason is that low levels of folate have been found in people without depression in the diet. Folate, fiber, and other nutrients make vegetables, especially deep-leaf greens, an amazing choice when looking for foods to help improve food and stabilize mood. Leafy green vegetables are also a good source of ALA (alpha-linolenic acid). ALA is one of the three main types of omega-3 fatty acids, the other two being DHA and EPA. When considering vegetables to help increase your omega-3s, powerful players are Brussels sprouts, spinach, kale, and watercress. Probiotics

More and more research is linking good gut health to good mental health. Numerous studies have found that microorganisms living in your stomach, including probiotics, can play an important role in mood by helping to reduce inflammation in your body, produce feel-good neurotransmitters, and affect your stress response. This may explain how high-to-average numbers of people with irritable bowel syndrome develop depression as well as anxiety. Foods with probiotics include Curd Tempeh Miso Tofu Sour cabbage An ingredient foods In general, it is best to allow your body the freedom to digest foods as close to its natural state as possible. Many processed foods or things that you might find in a convenience store are loaded with preservatives and offer very little to no nutritional benefits. Your body is trying to understand what to do with this type of food, and it can disrupt or rob your body (and mind) the vital nutrients and energy that it needs to function at its best Needed. Are foods not helpful for depression? If you are experiencing depression, it is important to know what not to eat. Unfortunately, many of these foods are people who often change when they have a rough day. Of course, nothing in moderation will harm you, but being aware of the negative effects of certain foods can help make better food choices on your mental health. Sugar We know that sugary foods and drinks are not good for our body. What you may not feel is that the way sugar can affect your waist, it can also affect your mood. There are food choices all around us that are filled with sugar such as cakes, cookies, cereals, drinks, and even spices such as barbecue sauce, salad dressings, and more.

You may be surprised how many foods are considered "healthy", yet contain extraordinary amounts of sugar. Examples of such tricky foods are granola bars, energy bars, trail mix and honey roasted nuts. Keep in mind that sugar will not always be labeled as "sugar" on the ingredient list. To be on the lookout for added sugar, you might also want to look at the following conditions: Corn syrup High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) Dextrose fructose honey lactose maltose sucrose Be conscious of your choice, and limit foods that are high in sugar, especially with added sugar. Keeping your blood sugar levels more evenly balanced through the day can help keep your mood more balanced, too. Why do you crave when you are sad Refined grains Just with sugar, we are surrounded by processed foods that use refined grains. The term refined refers to forms of sugars and starches that do not exist in nature, as psychiatrist and nutritionist Drs. Georgia is described by Ade, MD. She goes on to share that, "If you are looking at a sweet or starchy whole meal that you will absolutely get into nature, then you are seeing an unrefined carbohydrate." Many of the foods we look for for convenience are things that can hijack your mood. Foods such as white rice, pasta, crackers, bread, chips, and leftover foods are loaded with refined carbohydrates that give little to no nutritional value and rob key B vitamins in the digestive process. Load your diet with these refined carbohydrate foods will take your blood sugar levels on a roller coaster ride throughout the day, which can also result in low mood and fatigue symptoms. Alcohol

If you are struggling with depression, it is in your best interest to limit alcohol. Alcohol is a depression and can cause impaired vision, judgment, and reaction time. Many alcoholic drinks can actually be quite sweet. Here, we are talking about, a way to sabotage your mood and cause blood sugar levels to rise and crash. Although some research has shown that small amounts of alcohol, such as red wine. That can be helpful. It is in your general interest to clarify this clearly if you are struggling with depression. "Alcohol will not solve any of your health problems, as suggested by Ed; because none of the health problems are caused by alcohol deficiency." Co-recurring Disorders: Mental Health Issues and Addiction Caffeine Yes, caffeine can help you start your day with a boost. However, it can crash later in the day, and can make you feel like you need more to gain energy. Many Americans find themselves more caffeinated, as we drink coffee and energy drinks regularly. A moderate amount of caffeine; two to three cups per day, however, has been linked to a lower risk of suicide. A better option is green tea. In addition to the antioxidant benefits; green tea is also known to provide theanin. An amino acid that provides an anti-stress benefit that can be helpful for people struggling with depression. A word from RootIndia Our bodies interact with the foods we eat and the choices we make each day. That can affect our body's ability to function. While there is no specific diet, that has been proven to reduce depression. We can see that there are foods rich in nutrients that can help keep our minds healthy. It is a sensible idea to talk with your medical provider before making significant modification to your diet plan. Remember to be patient with yourself as you start trying new foods and give your body time to keep pace with the changes you are making. Making better food choices can help with your overall health and at the same time it can positively impact your emotional well-being. Read the full article

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rootindiahealthcare · 5 years ago

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Foods to Help Fight Depression

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rootindiahealthcare · 5 years ago

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Foods to Help Fight Depression

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