#i also have some strong opinions on the way people speak about their parallels which isn't out of hatred for rui

[butterfly-ribbon]

i'm not really into mizurui so i try not to pay it too much attention but something that has always bothered me is that the majority of their ship art i've come across features mizuki in middle school/pretranaition, which i guess i understand to a degree bc this is when they met and when they were closest to each other before drifting apart and doing their own thing, but i'm not sure how i feel about the implications of that being romanticized considering 'boyhood' is explicitly framed as a prison for mizuki?

[beanghostprincess]

Sorry I really didn’t mean I’m attacking you or your ship. I also don’t think it’s a red flag, most gay men I saw don’t really like shuggy either. I mean, probably the entire world prefers any other shanks ships? On almost every site, con or store there’s always tons of mishanks and Bennshanks and never shuggy. I get it’s also about dynamic and connection those two pairs have, like with the parallels to other ships the base for them is extremely strong. But the minimal shuggy does speak volumes. I genuinely wonder about this. Shuggy is unpopular and again while I do agree there’s strong connection between “rival ships” I don’t think that’s the only reason… and like…. Buggy is ugly, isn’t he? He doesn’t have cool style, doesn’t look cool, makes ugly faces all the time, also is a coward. I like him as comedy character and shanks brother though!

I understand where you're coming from when you say Shuggy is unpopular amongst some people (actually, before anyone says anything. It IS an extremely popular ship in Japan but I have seen A LOT of hatred towards it in this side of the fandom, so that's what I'm talking about when I say it's unpopular). I have talked about this before. And I have said a lot of times that the reason why is often because people only focus on looks and Buggy is not conventionally attractive for the fangirly twinkified sexualized gaze numerous sides of the fandom and the general audience seek. Like, I am not forcing people to ship them, but I have had people admitting the only reason they don't is because of the looks, and I personally believe that is a very (despite valid, of course) dull way of seeing ships. And respectfully, I don't care that other gay dudes or all the people in the world agree with you. It's not a red flag to not like Shuggy, what it is a red flag, though, is to come into people's inboxes to do what you're doing!

I know you don't mean to attack me or anybody who ships them but your tone does wonders showing otherwise. Your perception of shipping is just based on looks and the fact that you came here, to a blog that explicitly ships these characters and is fond of Buggy, talking shit about one of the characters' looks... Is just straight-up mean and not following the social etiquette this site should follow, which is "let people do whatever the fuck they want".

So with all due respect, what makes you think I won't find your questions offensive in any way? Because you keep talking bad about a character I like in my inbox for literally no reason. Do you expect me to admit that the ship is unpopular because Buggy is ugly and boring? Well, I do admit people view him as ugly and only a comedy relief, but I don't. Expecting others to find beautiful and interesting the same things you do is having a very close-minded vision that One Piece's plot itself is against.

By the way, you're showing that you clearly don't like Buggy in the slightest because you're only talking about the traits that you find negative about him. But of course, you like him as comedy relief. Of course, you like him as a character in Shanks' story and not as a character himself. Despite Buggy having lots of depth. Your perception of these characters seems, in my opinion, extremely empty and, as I said, only based on looks. And you're free of shipping whatever you want however you want! But please, please, don't do this anymore. This is just petty high school mean girl behavior. Even Regina George would word this in a more polite way.

So, as a little advice for you, let people ship whatever they want without questioning their favorite characters! I am sure you will live a more peaceful life!

[anthurak]

So this is almost certainly going to be an unpopular opinion for some, but for a long time now I’ve been feeling that the RWBY fandom puts just a bit TOO much stock in the various fairytale/mythology/literary allusions of the characters when it comes to theory-crafting. It feels like people find out that a certain character A is an allusion to another character B from an already completed story and go ‘Well that must mean that Character A is going to turn out just like Character B!’

Which of course completely ignores that these are allusions and references. Ruby Rose might have strong parallels and similarities to Little Red Riding Hood, but that does not mean she IS literally Little Red Riding Hood. Just as Weiss Schnee is NOT literally Snow White, Penny Polendina is NOT literally Pinocchio and Oscar Pine is NOT literally the Little Prince. Ultimately, whatever allusion a character might have comes SECOND to who they are as an actual character, NOT the other way around.

Whatever allusions a character has might inform what could happen to them, but that should still be treated as secondary to what we actually see them do in the show.

For example, I see a LOT of ships in the RWBY fandom that people seem to largely use interpretations of the characters’ allusions as ‘evidence’, rather than what the characters actually DO in the actual SHOW. Like has anyone noticed that discussions of ships like Bumbleby, Renora, Nuts and Dolts or White Rose have historically not involved much interpretation (relatively speaking anyway) of the potential ‘complimentary allusions’ of these characters? Because there is no NEED to, because all the evidence for these ships is right fucking there on the screen. Meanwhile we’ve got ships (and I am NOT naming names) that people will swear up and down are TOTALLY going to be canon for really-realsies where most or even all of the ‘evidence’ consists of people effectively playing some kind of matching game with their allusions. Or saying nothing more than ‘Character A kinda-sorta resembles the love-interest of Character B’s allusion’.

And ALL of this doesn’t even take into account the biggest factor which I keep getting the impression that WAY too many RWBY fans still having gotten the memo on:

The fact that RWBY literally NEVER plays its allusions STRAIGHT.

All the way from minute one when we saw an allusion to Little Red Riding Hood cutting down a horde of Big Bad Wolves, RWBY has ALWAYS been subverting, inverting, flipping, twisting and otherwise playing it’s allusions, references and archetypes literally ANY way but actually STRAIGHT.

Little Red Riding Hood hunts the Big Bad Wolf. Snow White is equal parts Princess AND Knight in Shining Armor. Cinderella is a tragic villain origin story. Pinocchio was always a real girl. The Great and Powerful Wizard Oz is far more powerful than anyone thought, but is ALSO far more of a fraud than anyone thought.

So when people use these characters’ allusions as some kind of rigid road-map to theorize what might happen to them, it’s not just that this detracts from their identity as their own characters; the story itself isn’t even using that map!

I mean speaking personally, that’s what has always made RWBY theory-crafting FUN. Trying to guess how the writers might twist and flip the allusions they’re using. But that also means that the allusions of the various characters simply DON’T actually provide ANY kind of accurate ‘road-map’ for where they might be going. Instead, the best we can do is use what the actual show has actually shown us to get any kind of idea where the characters are headed.

Ultimately, I feel like too often I see that when people are making theories about RWBY characters, they are treating them more like the characters they are based on, instead of the characters they actually ARE.

[slugtranslation-hypmic]

I really liked reading your thoughts on hypmic and gender roles!! I would like to add some things about hypmic & female characters :]

I like the way Otome is meant to have a delicate (?) image, but it doesn't make her weak (I remember when her solo Just do it released and people talked about how before they had this idea that Otome was more like ruler who gives orders to her soldiers in the background, but after the song it was clear that Otome is actually in the front lines, leading her army)

And Ichijiku, who is sometimes cruel, with this strong image, this is framed not as a good thing, but a front she puts up to cope with her suffering (not that it's wrong for a woman to have traits usually associated with masculinity, but it's bad when you are doing it for the sake of looking "stronger", someone is not weaker for being feminine, as it seems to be something she internalized for herself/she doesn't seem to project that into others so it's just an unhealthy coping mechanism that hurts only herself), we can see from the drama tracks that before traumatic events her voice was much more high pitched (her natural one), and now she uses this lower, stronger tone, to not be perceived as weak (which I think kinda parallels Ramuda speaking in a higher pitch when his natural tone is lower). Basically a lot of the times when trying to write strong women, authors will take away their feminity from the idea that "you need to be masculine to be strong", that wouldn't apply to any of our female cast, even to Ichijiku who does put up a front to not be seem as weak, this is not a good thing & she still has hobbies/likes things usually associated with feminity (but as an exemple of masculine women also being treated well, we have Asunaro Bojo, she is a tomboy but that's not bad at all!!! Good for her, and there is also Iris from rhyme anima, that I could say is not particularly fem??? Also good for her and her cool motorbike)

And Honobono, I think it's really interesting that, in a society that demonizes feminity, she uses that on her favor, her feminity being her main weapon. Also I like her existence as a contraposition to Hypmic's main themes about bonds/relying on others, the power of words to resolve conflict as an alternative to violence / she wants to break bonds, uses her words as a way to do that, showing how powerful words can be when used for evil

As for them making bad decisions, I agree there were times when it was for the sake of plot moving, I also think some decisions are due to them being flawed characters, just like the rest of the cast is (Otome is impulsive and has a very "now or never" mindset, but so does Dice, Ichijiku blindly follows Otome even on her worst decisions, but that's because of her trauma and it's something she has to work on changing, etc)

And I do think a shifting is happening btw them being antagonistic side characters to them being integrated as part of the main cast in recent times!! That being said I'm very excited for the upcoming stage play focused on the girls only & with 2 new original women, I will love to see what they have ready for them

Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts!

I totally agree with your opinion about Otome. Her "coldness" (like, personality-wise) is a good contrast to Ichijiku's hot temper, but neither are in any way weak or frail. And as you point out with Ichijku, this too seems like her way of pushing away her own feelings in order to process them better. (True gender equality is everyone failing to process emotions in a healthy way? lol)

I also get what you mean about Ichijiku and writing strong female characters. (I'm immediately reminded of this comic. In terms of concept art, Ichijiku could fit right in with them lol.) She's an interesting example of a trope I see a lot. In Japanese, it feels like "cute" (可愛い) and "beautiful" (綺麗) exist as two opposite ends of a spectrum, where the latter is associated with maturity and elegance and the former with youth and innocence. Fictional taller girls or girls with more developed bodies often lament that they're pushed into the "beautiful" role even when they identify more strongly with being "cute." On the flipside, shorter girls sometimes wish that they could be taken more seriously if they were closer to the "beautiful" side of the spectrum. Ichijiku is pretty firmly in the "beautiful" camp but seems to desire "cuteness" (see how she reacts to tea parties with Nemu, who is more stereotypically "cute", and cultivates a hairbow collection). Yet she reacts with embarrassment when anything "cute" is brought up, likely because she recognizes she won't be viewed with as much authority if she presents herself in a "cute" fashion. That ties into what you're talking about with the pitch of her voice and her desire to appear strong. It's funny how there are expected societal roles ("cute"/"beautiful") nested within larger expected societal roles (womanhood). If all the female characters were like Ichijku, I'd be a lot more "eh :/" about Hypmic, but as you say, there's a wide variety of presentations, none of which are presented as "weaker" or more invalid. Like Nemu--she's definitely a "cute" character but is written to have an enormous amount of emotional strength following her decision to join Chuuouku. This suggests, then, that Ichijiku is incorrect in thinking she can't be strong and "cute." Likewise, the female characters as a whole can be strong and feminine or strong and more masculine-presenting. It'd be fun to see more female characters who lean into the latter (I'm not going to pretend that Hypmic is bursting with canonical masc female characters) but that seems a bit more progressive than Hypmic is willing to go. If it's still at the stage of "femininity != bad"... I'll take what I can get, haha.

I love everything you said about Honobono!

And I also agree that some flawed decisions Otome and Ichijiku make are due to them being ordinary, flawed individuals. Which is a good, humanizing writing choice! When I said that in the original post, I was referring to the sort of decisions that exist purely to set up the main conceit of Hypmic. The "Hmm yes I think I shall spend our man!tax dollars on constructing a huge, expensive stadium as a trial run for a future government-sponsored sport. Let's kidnap two children in order to convince one of the trial participants to rap against his friend, which is the most effective way to prevent a coup" kind of decisions. Team Rocket-ass decisions. I'm not knocking this concept as a whole, because goofy villainy and contrived plots can be fun. Even in semi-serious works, there can still be a place for contrived plot nonsense; the audience is capable of suspending disbelief when the silliness is not the main object in focus. But when we're later asked to examine some of Otome's decisions and thought processes in a more realistic and sympathetic light, I have trouble reconciling the two concepts in my head. In my opinion, Otome can either be the shadowy figure behind the Team Rocket desk or a real person with complex thoughts and feelings, but asking her to be both is not a great writing choice.

Finally, I can't wait for the stage plays either. I hope I get a chance to check them out! The Hypstages are always super, super fun.

[cephalog0d]

"He could smell something warm and full of aromatic spices, which was a good sign nothing had gone disastrously wrong. The door was mostly closed and Damian had music playing, so Bruce couldn’t make out any individual words, but he could faintly hear Damian speaking in Arabic. He caught an exasperated exclamation of “Mother”, followed by slightly tinny laughter from Talia over the phone, but it was much more performative than genuinely distressed, so he decided to leave them to it."

I was finally reading Comfort Food and this paragraph grabbed me by the throat!!! Like adult Damian calling him mom just to cook for his baby brother and they're having a fun/pleasant time?? I NEED the DVD commentary

Biggest Brother Damian does all sorts of little nice and helpful things for his siblings but if you make a big deal about it and call it out he gets real awkward. XD He's like a brownie, he can only do nice things if no one's calling attention to it. (That's mostly a joke, but a little bit true that he's a lot better at actions than words. He is, in some ways, his father's son and not so great at the whole "using your words to express affection" thing, so he just does stuff for them instead. Like making soup! Because feeding people is a great way to show you care without actually having to talk about it much! See also: Damian throwing a granola bar directly at Tim's face when he's been on the computer too long without a break, because they get along better now but they don't get along that well.)

I was thinking about the fact that Dick's life has been totally upended, and how beyond losing his parents he's also lost a whole slew of other things that were familiar and comforting, and then thinking about parallels there with Damian having to adjust to living in Gotham/with Bruce (compared to Tim and Jason who were at least from Gotham already; Cass has her own complicated relationship with her childhood vs her time with Bruce that's kind of a different thing than just a change in culture). And that led to thinking about food, specifically, in that context and here we are!

And the great thing about doing an AU is that you get to choose if/how you want to incorporate canon and in my case I am BLATANTLY IGNORING all of the "Talia is a horrible, abusive parent" canon and letting her actually be a good mom, dammit. (At least within the bounds of her being a somewhat morally ambiguous comic book character. Good parenting is kind of a sliding scale in the DC verse, and particularly in the Bat verse.) She's not a perfect parent, but neither is Bruce (and they share some of the same parenting flaws! Like extremely high expectations for themselves and everyone around them, or weird ideas about what knowledge and training is and isn't appropriate for a child to take part in, or having very strong opinions on What's Best For Damian that don't necessarily align with each other OR with Damian himself and have definitely never been a three-way point of contention at any point during his childhood).

There's been some rough patches over the years, but by this point Damian is on mostly good terms with both of his parents, and while he mostly lived in Gotham growing up (after the point where he actually met Bruce, obviously) he did also split his time visiting Talia in various parts of the world for various lengths of time, depending on what exactly she was up to. (Yes, as he has acquired more and more younger siblings he has started bringing gifts back for them. He says it's because they won't shut up and leave him alone if he doesn't, but you know. Literally no one believes that.)

His phone call to Talia here definitely consisted of equal parts helpful instruction in what to do and deeply unhelpful commentary on the state of Bruce's pantry and what he does and doesn't keep stocked. Or honestly probably a lot more of her dragging Bruce and less actual help. Damian definitely just asked her to text him a recipe and instead she was like "Nope, phone call" and he only complained like twice about how a text would've been easier when she spent like five minutes explaining what not to use instead of actually offering a suitable substitution.

(This story also sent me down a rabbit hole trying to research what type of food different parts of the world consider "sick people food", a la chicken noodle soup in the US, and mostly consisted of me being frustrated that the first page of results was almost entirely the same list of a dozen things repackaged by different sites, and then it devolved into articles with titles about "what country's food will make you sick?" Super helpful, internet, thanks. I did find a big reddit thread that was somewhat helpful, once I skimmed past all the answers that weren't really an answer or didn't bother to say where they were talking about. And it's funny because it was a very minor detail that got glossed over anyway due to the POV involved. Whoops. But I have several recipes I want to make now?)

[shipcestuous]

This is probably gonna be a blast from the past for some people... or at least, I really hope someone will remember this classic sport anime!

So, lately I've found myself thinking about Takenori Akagi and his younger sister Haruko from Slam Dunk. To tell the truth, I've never found their interactions particularly shippy... maybe I just liked other ships with them better and so never really considered the incest angle. Or maybe I was just more shallow while I was first watching Slam Dunk and thus focused more on prettier boy characters, lol. But they're both great characters and I think there's some solid bases there, if someone wanted to ship them. Who knows, maybe if I found more fictional sibling relationships like this in anime, even I would find myself more open to shipping them!

Anyway, one thing that is immediately apparent about them is the contrast between them, which is often highlighted, to the point other characters even struggle to believe they really are brother and sister. Haruko is cute, petite, and fair-skinned, with a sunny disposition. While Akagi already looks like an grown-ass adult man in his last year of high school, is very muscular, and has a darker complexion and a strict personality, leading him to be quite demanding of his team as their captain. There's even a big height difference between them, which can be a lot of fun, if you're into that kind of thing!

However! They both share a great love for basketball. Haruko is the biggest supporter of her brother and his team, to the point that the series itself starts when she meets the main character, Sakuragi, and invites him to try out for a spot on the team right away because she's impressed with his height and she knows there's a need for new, strong players for the team to have any hope to reach the national championship, Akagi's goal since he was a freshman. She never misses any of their games, if she can avoid it. Akagi even taught her to play basketball when she was a child, but she's never had as much success as him in the sport, in part due to her own clumsiness, even if she remains very passionate about it.

Which actually makes for an unexpected yet adorable parallel, as it is reveleaed that while Akagi did start out with a nice dose of raw talent and physical fitness... he also used to be pretty clumsy himself! He did became a fantastic player, but it took him relentless discipline and sacrifice to get there, dedicating himself body and soul to the game and his dream.

Another similarity between them is how neither of them is quite how they appear at first glance. Haruko is genuinely sweet, kind, and very supportive, but in addition to her clumsiness, she also has a goofy side that can get vocally boy crazy when it comes to the guy she has a crush on. While Akagi can seem scary at first and people expect him to be a bit of a brute, but he's really quite good at understanding, motivating, and appreciating his teammates, and he's very smart and a good student to boot.

Sometimes they bicker a bit, like any pair of siblings, but they generally seem to have a very good relationship, with Akagi even listening to Haruko's opinions and advice about the team. He's also pretty protective of her... especially when guys show too much of an interest in her.

Speaking about her love life, remember main character Sakuragi, the boy Haruko recruited for the team? He falls in love with her at first sight and she goes from sort of instinctively liking him to caring a great deal about him, with the friendship between them having pretty romantic overtones even from her side... but with Slam Dunk being an old school sports anime, that romance element never really goes anywhere. Also because, as mentioned above, Haruka is already crushing on someone else... Rukawa, an incredibly talented player also on their team, who doesn't seem know/care about or requite her feelings in any way as he's pretty much solely focused on basketball. Which is fair, as Haruko doesn't even know Rukawa that well, loving an idealized version of him from afar. Meanwhile, Aota, captain of the school judo team and Akagi's close friend and rival from childhood, has had a crush on Haruko since they were kids... but being mostly a comedic side character, he doesn't really have a chance with her.

But what about Akagi, in all of this? Well, he doesn't have even a shadow of a love interest... which means he's free to occasionally get angry about guys being over the top about his little sister without going through any romantic drama of his own! All while said little sister's potential love life and feelings are inextricably tied to his favorite sport and his team... as much I like Sakuragi/Haruko, imagine if one day, perhaps while cheering during a game or keeping an eye on new developments during the team's practice, she suddenly realized, "oh! I don't really want any of my brother's players... I want my brother!"

I'll end this write-up with a little funny moment from the anime (which is itself hilarious, and the humor still holds up to this day). It's the scene where Sakuragi finds out Haruko is Akagi's sister! ... and awkwardly realizes he completely got off with the wrong foot with the big brother of the girl he likes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-JKFBy2W_Y

They seem really cute. I enjoyed the clip. Wow, Akagi is enormous. I love his strong silent disposition and Haruko's more smiley energetic vibe. Great dynamic.

Thanks for the rec!

[m1ckeyb3rry]

LMAOOO nah dw abt embarrassing me it must be done….Id rather you see it than have me send it to someone who doesn’t match my freak and have them think im insane

Omg Karasu in the lead?? Guys…….Mira you’ve fr cultivated Karasu nation LMAOO but no you’re so right I remember seeing a poll awhile ago from someone and ofc there were the fan faves like Nagi Reo Kaiser as options and I was shocked to see Karasu there?? Ofc he was dead last in the results but not unexpected ig….also BAROU THIRD GUYS!!!! Barouism rising too??

No seriously Isagi would be sooo cooked if Nagi wasn’t there….trust I know that Nagi goal in u20 is gonna make him skyrocket I’m imagining all the edits to it now LMAO

It’s just the miraverse of content….new genre it’s called “would Mira watch this?” The parallels do go hard though I wasn’t expecting to find so many LOL

HAAHA SHIDOU lowk that’d be really funny….imagine like a 200k wc fic of Shidou shenanigans and sus quotes

Maybe I’ve been too desensitized because when you said too extreme I was expecting a lot more violence LMAO you got the perfect amount though I think when you said extreme I was thinking of Shidou level oops

NO FR?? Like he’s not gonna ever take the top spot but lowk I’ve grown to appreciate him….youre so right though LOLL closeted sweetheart >>> closeted asshole bro wait the grape candy scene was so cute I forgot to mention….its so funny how he kinda just gives it to her without saying anything about it like how people would do secret deals or something but no it’s just grape candy LMAOOO

THREE bro….the aura is crazy…to the dude who wanted your insta you should’ve been like “if you buy me a $50 cupcake I’ll give it to you” /j lowk investing in a bodyguard does not sound like a bad idea tho

OOOOOOH very excited for everything….also the whole masterlist layout for the oaeu>>>>>>>> the visuals look so CLEAN omg but guys look it’s aiku on Mira’s blog!!!! I saw the poll and have not touched it like wdym I’m supposed to choose???? Let’s see if I can be decisive for once but just know I was debating between tabieitaken and barou….speaking of im kinda curious to see which idea of mine will spark inspiration first LMAO take ur time tho im being so well fed with everything in the lineup so far

Im also laughing missing the cutoff is so funny to me because (unless I didn’t read something) it’s like if you didn’t safely get something in before the impending arrival of aiku you’re in for the long ride LMAOOOO

Ok actually real time update I just put them into a random generator to pick and voted LOL because there’s no way I’m deciding in time but I needed to show some opinion somehow….ok but anyways the main point I came back for was why is Nagi tied with your vote tracking option LMFAOOOOO I’m ngl I’ve never set up a poll here what’s the purpose of that…I just know that people aren’t supposed to pick it but I’m crying why does it have more votes than otoya and yuki

- Karasu anon

HAHA okay that is fair i will def keep you posted on any future typos 🤩 honestly they add to the experience though i mean what is a translator without occasional goofs (/j but also as someone who read a 1.5 million word novel translated online from korean #orv i am very used to wading through odd phrasing to get to the heart of a story so ngl sometimes my mind just skips over typos entirely and i don’t even notice)

unfortunately karasu nation has fallen…he’s in second now (w barou as a very close third) because SAE ITOSHI has a healthy lead 😭 honestly it was expected that man just has too many fans 😓 and most of the other characters on there aren’t AS popular (i’m sure there would’ve been more of a split if rin kaiser or isagi were included but honestly none of them were screaming oaeu to me…sae is kinda in the same category as them for me but he had strong oaeu potential hence why he’s included despite not being a miraverse all star like nagi karasu and barou)

I AM SOOO HYPE FOR THE EDITS PLSSS karasu and otoya edits from third selection?? nagi edits from the u20 game?? BAROU EDITS FROM THE U20 GAME 🤤⁉️ AHHH it’s going to be so good i just know those editors are going to cook up so many delicious concepts i’m actually hype (barely one more month we’re so close!!) and LMAOO no literally iirc nagi scored like four of the five goals against barou and naruhaya or something like if he hadn’t done that isagi would’ve had the naruhaya treatment and been out for good 😭 tik tok fans forgetting who the og goat of bllk was 😢 okay but honestly that’s why i love having nagi AND barou as my favs because one or the other is always up!! truly no losing there (and bllk bros automatically respect anyone who loves barou because most of them are barou glazers as if barou is ANYTHING like them 😒)

i guess part of it is also probably just kaneshiro using typical character archetypes too?? like girly dude white haired dude flirty dude etc etc the nagi dragon art was insane work though like what was the reason for that except to cater to us specifically

nah because yk i’d cook even for shidou 😭 but he would not be my first choice (or my second, or third, so on and so forth) HAHA he’s just a bit too chaotic plus like we’ve mentioned i don’t really find him too attractive even though ik some people do?? LMAOO omg idt i could ever write a character as violent as him especially not kiyora…like he’s chill for the most part just not hesitant to punch someone if needed i guess is how i interpreted it?? whereas shidou would just do it for funsies

I HAD FUN WRITING THE GRAPE CANDY SCENE IT JUST FELT SO HIM like the way he gives her a piece after she successfully swallows a pill as if she’s a dog or smth it’s just so innocent 😭 meanwhile reader is like “wow our tongues will match 😏” FBXJFKDS and him writing his number on the empty box so he doesn’t have to throw it away OR actually give her his number in person for fear of rejection…kiyora my underrated goat fr 🥹

JFNFJDDJSJ PLSSS just drop a quick “erm have i known you since you were four years old?? yeah i didn’t THINK so!!” and move on…i fear writing has made my standards very high hence why i’ve never been in a relationship but you’ll never catch me settling fr 🥱 if they’re not like bfb karasu or peregrine nagi or white butterfly hiori I DON’T WANT THEM 🤣 or ig someone like seabird sae would work too HAHA i’ll sacrifice the pining for a man w money and a sense of humor 🤩

OMG YAYYY I’M GLAD YOU LIKE IT i was inspired by those dollar store self help books as well as rom com movie covers when i was making it and i think it turned out well!! and then i saw one of the graphics accounts i follow had posted the green and purple hearts divider and i was like holy shit this is PERFECT it matches so so well w his entire aesthetic…also peep oliver and aiku being diff colors like his heterchromia 😮 LMAOO genuinely this is probably aiku’s first appearance on my blog (besides his cameo in the last part of fwtkac) but ahhh i’m trying to figure out which req to do next myself!! i have a few to choose from so there’s def a bit of variety…i’m thinking of your requests i’ll probably do chigiri?? because barou is part of the oaeu and idk if i feel connected enough to bachira to write for him yet 🙂‍↕️

NFJDBXSNK no because that’s literally what it is…after the gagamaru req my inbox was pretty stagnant in terms of new reqs so i was like ok let me just get these ones cleared out and then i’ll go back to posting my own things again as well 😭 literally the two hiori requests are from my 500 follower event so from back in JUNE like i need to wrap these up and post them 😭 but idm making the newer ones wait like they can go on the crazy oaeu ride w all of us in the meantime 😩

OMG WHO DID YOU END UP VOTING FOR (unless you want to keep it a secret because if so i understand 🫡) also omg that annoys me sm like fr a pet peeve…basically no one can see the results of a poll until they vote but that includes the creator of the poll?? so if you don’t want to skew the results you just make another option so you can keep track of the poll while it’s still open 🤩 but i absolutely HATE when people pick that option like are you seriously that desperate to know the answer that you pick the option that literally says it’s only for me?? it doesn’t matter what you put people will vote on it but it’s so annoying ughhhh i can’t stop putting it because i’m nosy and like to know what’s going on with the poll in real time but it fr irritates me that people pick it like literally just choose a random option if it’s that deep 😒 i think part of what annoys me is like it so clearly says don’t pick it…and then people still pick it…like were you all dropped on the heads as children or smth…ANYWAYS sorry i feel like i’m so chill normally but there’s random things that genuinely make me crash out for no reason 😭 ALSO POOR YUKI AND OTOYA they’re still behind the FOR MIRA ONLY OPTION (me rn: 🤬😡) atp i’m not going to do polls anymore…like damn sorry i tried to get you all involved why are you being stupid and illiterate rn

actually tbh it’s not that deep idk why it enrages me sm 😰 but uhhh i fear it does for some reason

[lnkedmyheart]

To be honest, I feel like Oda is more of a mentor type of figure to Dazai. He is someone he looks up to and respects a lot (and even loves because surprise surprise we can love more than one person that too in different ways). It is like having a senior in college. He is someone Dazai cares a lot about and wants to keep safe and sound.

The only reason we don't see him being like that with Chuuya (people actually pointed out him not caring about Chuuya getting hurt) is because he knows of Chuuyas strength. We know that Dazai is flawless. For some reason there is a deep belief in him that Chuuya can overcome whatever is thrown at him. He believes in Chuuyas' physical and mental strength as much as he believes in his humanity. For him I feel like Chuuya is someone indestructible especially physically.

Why do people compare them I have absolutely no idea.

On that note thought normally as a curiosity what do you think about Odazai ship like would they work (if Oda was alive)?

I sort or struggle to fully put Oda in a mentor position for Dazai. Still for me they do fit several mentor parallels. They fit the Fukuzawa and Ranpo parallel cause of the intensity with which Dazai latched onto Oda is similar.

They fit the Adam and Chuuya parallels in that there is obvious affection there. And their final words and opinions on Chuuya/Dazai matter to them a lot. The difference being that Adam reaffirmed that he was gladly willing to die for someone like Chuuya and Oda reaffirming Dazai's belief of never being worthy of being happy.

They fit the Kouyo and Kyoka parallels a LOT because both Kouyo and Oda heavily project their own experiences onto the kids and sort of refuse to accept that they have a future actually doing good or getting out.

They fit the parallels with Dazai and Atsushi as well except that in Atsushi's case he is idealistic like Dazai, sort of puts him on a pedestal but is not above calling out Dazai's bs while Dazai was very blinded by his idealistic view of Oda to the point that he refused to acknowledge Oda's faults.

Oda can be seen as a mentor figure yea, but I think he is more of an ideal that Dazai views as untouchable and perfect.

I personally don't care if people ship Oda and Dazai, it's just not for me. I personally think they lack that spicey toxicity that makes ships work deliciously while also lacking the core understanding that makes skk click for me. I do see it as a one sided crush on Dazai's side but more on the platonic side. Dazai's little shippy jokes about Gide and Oda sort of cement in my head that he wasn't particularly interested in Oda romantically but he did love him, or rather the idea of him. Oda shows absolutely no romantic interest in Dazai whatsoever, often viewing him in a light similar to the kids he took in while simultaneously denying him the benefit of the doubt of being an innocent stuck in a bad place. Like...Oda doesn't view Dazai as a good person, he thinks Dazai is meant for bad things and that he needs to supress that bad side when in actuality Dazai was just a child being influenced by his negative circumstances and failing mental health.

For me personally, oda and dazai would be a ship that sort of starts strong in that both have this flawed idea of each other and then soon after it just fizzles out cause of the realisation that they never actually knew who the other was.

Dazai's feelings on Chuuya are far more complicated than Oda so honestly comparing the two feels pointless cause those two dynamics are not comparable. But I agree that Dazai genuinely sees Chuuya as untouchable too. Atleast until sb when they find out about corruption, the one thing that can take Chuuya out, logically speaking nothing can touch Chuuya. He is smart, agile, strong and insanely powerful and he doesn't need Dazai to get him out of things. That being said, Dazai not caring that Chuuya got hurt is such a weird take cause when did he not care about Chuuya getting hurt? Is it the torture thing? Dazai explicitly says he knows Chuuya won't break but he also is obviously stressed about the torture going on too long. That man never tells the truth when it comes to his fears so obviously he made up some bullshit about deliberately waiting after. As for him claiming that he found Chuuya struggling under corruption entertaining in the lovecraft fight, Dazai said that TO CHUUYA. The entire time he kept talking about how Chuuya didn't have much time left, never took his eyes off the guy and they couldn't really stop corruption till lovecraft was taken care of which was taking a while till Dazai found out about Lovecraft's weakness and set off the bomb inside. And it's not like getting captured and tortured is not SKK strategy 101. Bro has done it multiple time.

[batsplat]

who were the underrated early 00’s riders in your opinion or who did you enjoy watching the most?

gonna go for the boring options first and say both biaggi and gibernau are commonly underrated from today's perspective. this kind of thing often happens where one athlete is really dominant, so it's assumed that the opposition isn't that strong... but it's a bit of a circular argument, right, because the reason why their resumes aren't stronger on paper is because of that one athlete's dominance. (I hate to accidentally be doing federer prop, but how people discuss his noughties dominance is actually a really good parallel here lol - like he was just very good and we'd remember the other blokes in that era very differently if he hadn't been around.) so the reasoning goes biaggi and gibernau had to be mid given they were constantly being beaten

this is obviously particularly egregious with biaggi, the joint most successful bloke ever in the 250cc category (another achievement that has suffered over the years because newer fans don't quite get how much more meaningful these titles were than moto2 ones) - but honestly it's also irritating with gibernau. again with the late bloomer syndrome... yes, it took him until 2003 to reach his potential as a rider, but that doesn't mean he didn't have a lot going for him! they're both good riders! they gave us a lot of really cool battles! they had plenty of impressive signature performances - just look at biaggi winning his first ever race in the premier class. gibernau's transformation as a rider at welkom 2003. really interesting individual stories (both with quite unusual paths to the top of the sport) that get flattened when you allow them just to be reduced to one guy's chew toys

speaking of, I do just enjoy gibernau as a rider. I like good wet weather racers as a rule, just something about that skillset that's particularly appealing to me... yes, it's about adaptability and there will be some element of 'talent' involved, but it's also about your wits and your decision-making skills and your ability to judge risk vs reward. (also, it's FUN that it doesn't correlate neatly with how talented we'd usually consider the riders. look at how good vale/casey/marc are in the wet versus jorge/dani's... struggles. most people wouldn't consider dovi more naturally 'talented' than the latter two, and yet! and yet.) I do also have a fondness for cerebral riders, the smart operators who are better racers than qualifiers, which, again. sete

the other big one is alex barros, who had already been around for a while by the time the early noughties rolled around, and as a result has a quite old school style for the time... did you know he's the only rider to have ever scored podiums with five different manufacturers in the premier class? really demonstrates his longevity better than anything else could. he doesn't really get discussed enough imo - I still think he was valentino's main on-track rival in 2002. the championship standings don't exactly reflect it, in part because he was still on a 500cc for much of the season, but they had like. a bunch of really fun battles. known for both his raw pace and for what a phenomenally later braker he was

singlehandedly made the 2002 season watchable, quite frankly

another one is... I don't know, is someone really underrated when it's possible newer fans just straight up haven't heard of him, and most fans who are aware of him do appreciate him plenty? anyway, garry mccoy was one of those blokes with a more obviously 'spectacular' riding style, which made him really easy to appreciate. his strongest season was in 2000 and after that injuries did unfortunately derail his career, but hey, 2000 is still the noughties. he was nicknamed 'the slide king' with his dirt track-inspired style... going side on into the turns in a way that was very much unique at the time. won three races in 2000! here's some sliding footage (the interesting music choices are part of the charm). troy bayliss another very distinctive rider though I suppose within motogp he's most known for his 2006 victory as a wildcard, so not technically early noughties

I have no clue how highly shinya nakano is rated but I will say people don't talk enough about his helmets these days:

aren't they great??

anyway, yeah, those are probably the main ones. is capirossi underrated these days? I do feel like he's pretty widely respected and is about correctly rated, but if not then he obviously counts too. very plausibly could have won the 2006 title if he hadn't gotten unlucky early on, and obviously won some... rather. uh. eventful titles...? in the lower categories in the nineties. also, even if he didn't end up winning a title with ducati, he was the rider who developed the bike that did. involved in quite a lot of dramatic races and quite a lot of drama, certainly contributed plenty to the sport. otherwise barros is definitely the rider who stands out, my hero of 2002. cut him out of that season and you'd have to throw away the whole year

[yourprettylaagan]

MYSELF

Introduction for Myself

Humans are the best creation of Nature. I am a human being, fortunately. This nature has provided me with the highest level of intelligence that no other creature is blessed with. On this planet, there are billions of people who live around us but every one of them is different and possesses unique qualities.

I, Daniela Mica Villareal Cañares, am a resident of Naga City,Inayagan. I belong to a Grade-12 St. Adolphus family. My father,Dante Cañares is a Mason and a humble person. My mother, Criselda Cañares is a housewife. My family is very supportive of me. No one grows in this world, without the care of family and friends.

About My Family

In my family, there are 14 members. My grandparents, My parents, My five brothers and a five sisters. All my family members love one another very much. I learnt to respect time and resources. Moreover, My grandparents have taught me the value of honesty, humbleness, and commitment to the purpose.

Every day I spent a fraction of the time with my family and discuss my prospects. We all take dinner together and my father cracks some funny jokes. I am the 4th elder among my siblings so I always try to guide my younger ones whenever there is a need. We all study in the different schools.

My Hobbies

I am an intense reader of novels. I like to read books that belong to the rich history and culture of ancient novels. When I was a child, I used to listen to tales from my grandmother, and this brings a long-lasting effect on me.

In parallel to my studies, I am also skilled in sports. so I am the badminton player. Apart from that, I am also a fast runner in elementary and I like athletics.

My Strengths And Weaknesses

The opinion of my parents had a strong effect on my habits. I consider speaking the truth and try my best not to lie. My parents always told me that if I perform a mistake, I should accept it.

I like to do creative tasks besides doing traditional stuff again and again. Learning new things is one of my hobbies. I always keep myself updated with the news.

As every man possesses weaknesses, so hold also. I am a bit lazy in some spots which I do not like. While playing time, I pass a great fraction of time which is not a good habit, but I try my best to get rid of my weaknesses.

My Goals And Ambitions

Everyone has an ambition in life. Ambition or aim in life is the inner aspiration of someone. Without aim, No one can do anything in the world. So, Everyone should set their aim in life.

While several people have dreams of becoming doctors and engineers, I always wanted to become a teacher. I don’t remember when I started taking interest in teacher, but over the years, my passion has increased drastically.

My parents always support my dreams and goals. According to them, the only way to fulfil all your dreams is to work very hard and never give up on them. They have never forced themselves and asked that any of their children become what they want us.

To sum it up, All these words are always less to describe one’s personality but I surely know that wherever I am today is all because of my family, teachers and friends. I am going to be a great personality all because of the people around me. I will fulfil all my dreams. Even if I'm pregnant I'll do everything to reach my dream.

[lookbluesoup]

Good addition! Yeah, I am glad the Omega quest does offer a chance for the WoL and/or player, at least, to state their own opinion about it!

And yeah I mean I don't expect them to just completely regret everything or turn on Hydaelyn completely. The Ascians were committing mass murder on their own too and just letting them kill everyone to force the Rejoinings wouldn't have been right at all! Hydaelyn did play an important role in saving the Star. Just would have expected there to be a bit more questioning about decisions she made for them, secrets she kept, etc. and less trusting her implicitly all the way to the end and beyond as if everything she did was completely justified, like she's still divinity LOL

I definitely walked away from it thinking they meant plants and animals and... aether in general, based on the shade of Hythlodaeus's explanation! He just says living energy, not souls, and ofc in the Sundered world you don't need souls to cast magic or even summon Primals, you only need a healthy natural world around you and ample aether/belief.

I assumed restoring the souls that were integrated into Zodiark would take less energy than averting the Final Days themselves. Those souls aren't even back in the Lifestream, you see them wandering around outside Zodiark's prison, and Elidibus could physically separate himself from Zodiark, too.

But a lot of that does come down to interpretation and it's one of those scenes I could imagine having a lot of subtlety or slightly different meaning in the original language, so I'm really not certain, that's just my best guess based on what seems logical to me!

And also irl the concept of a "soul" versus "living thing" seems to be interpreted very differently depending on who you ask. I know in some animes like Wolf's Rain there's completely sentient characters like Blue who, because she's a half-breed, isn't even allowed into Paradise. And of course in some religious circles there's insistence that only humans have souls, not animals. Seems heartless to me! But not knowing the writer's stance on it, that could affect a lot.

But yeah! Throughout the game it seems pretty established that souls "recycle" and reincarnate over and over into new bodies bereft the memories of their previous lives, but I don't know if it's ever really clearly stated that new souls are created, even the lore in the Through His Eyes story just says that souls manifest into bodies born naturally, which could mean new ones or just that bodyless souls floating into the lifestream jump into them:

And though not everyone gets the Echo, a lot of people who didn't have it before manifested it when Elidibus created the star shower and images of Amaurot - people of course far weaker than the Warrior of Light.

I took Emet Selch's comments on your greater wholeness to mean that not every fragment survives the Rejoinings. I seem to recall (but don't have the source, unfortunately, so I can't 100% be sure) some dev stating that G'raha has been rejoined an equal number of times to the WoL, which is why he's also so strong... and either way, implies other Scions who also have the Echo are missing a greater number of soul pieces than you.

I know there must be more lore out there that I'm missing, I know vaguely some side quest stuff but not well enough to quote it or speak on it, which could definitely change things a lot! But you're right, at least as far as I know, it's not super duper clear on that LOL

I also feel like the conclusion of the Pandaemonium raids might actually clarify a lot of the uncertainties here. They've already set up a lot of parallels and inversions with the main story (I haven't run the 7th Circle yet at the time of writing this, also, so forgive me if I'm misguided here!) But it's made a few passing mentions of stuff that would be on-topic here if expanded upon, like souls and the Ancients relationship with grief:

And yeah, that's a good point about the Codex entry! I assume it's left vague for players to make up their own mind about their Azem and why they weren't involved. I was thinking of the scene in Anyder where they seem perplexed by Azem's lack of answer - implying Hydaelyn's followers, at least, didn't know of any accord between the two, and she didn't see fit to fill them in:

(Also way to speak like a cult leader Venat, some very strong 'only we know the truth, we will be isolated and hated by everyone else' language there LMAO)

Hydaelyn in Endwalker

At the risk of looking stupid online I'm going to field my perplexions about Hydaelyn that've been bothering me for months lol This post is... a little Hydaelyn critical. But I do offer that in good faith, I LOVE the character and I'm not trying to just trash her, I'm genuinely interested to hear other perspectives about it. (But please be nice, everyone is entitled to their own take)

Also this is not in response to anyone else's post. I haven't even seen any Hydaelyn posts circulating lately. I'm not vagueing anyone or trying to start drama. Just trying to sort out my own feelings about this character.

So my main takeaway from MSQ was that love is, ultimately, what saves you. That humans (including Ancients!) aren't perfect, and cannot love perfectly, but the shared love of you and others is still what saves you.

And, also, that grief is a part of life. Mistakes are a part of life. Conflict and loss happen, but they need not destroy you. Stand for doing right as best that you can, forgive yourself and keep trying, keep loving - both yourself and others.

There was an incredible amount of emphasis on not judging or hating one's enemies, about accepting the humanity in all of us and coming together, which I really loved.

There was also, of course, a huge rejection of self-sacrifice and martyrdom.

I saw all those themes in the Dark Knight quests a LOT (especially before the English translation changed so many scenes), and I assume Ishikawa was continuing that theme from Shadowbringers onward.

So again! I don't hate Hydaelyn!

But I feel like... at least in the English translation, she is still treated with excessive reverence, like a goddess, by the Scions - even ones it didn't really make sense to after her origin came out, like Y'sthola.

And at least on my first playthrough, while I like Venat a lot and love the drama of the Final Days pushing everyone into points of desperation, to their breaking points, and her decision to sunder the world definitely did ultimately help (help!) make it possible for us to defeat the Endsinger... I dunno.

To me she was still subject to the same arrogance as the rest of the Ancients. Whether her decision paid off or not, she still took into her hands the fate of the entire Star, she still made a decision that would result in millions of deaths.

And if we're going by Hydaelyn's own assertion, that each reincarnation is their own person, not just a missing piece of a whole... then to achieve her goal of a better world, she killed all the remaining Ancients except those three.

She chose to create a world where death and trauma would affect generation after generation - and she can say that it was for the greater good, for the world to survive. But that was essentially the Convocation’s justification too, in creating Zodiark and orchestrating the Rejoinings. Committing genocide to prove that genocide is wrong… is not noble.

The cutscene with her sundering the world, where the people insist they'll return to a world free of sorrow underneath a burning sky, could also NOT be how it actually happened. It had to be representational of her feelings and conclusion. Becoming Hydaelyn took coordination with her followers and planning.

At least in English, idk about the original Japanese, Hythlodaeus's shade describes the time of the Sundering as if the world wasn't in utter ruin at that point. It was beginning to heal, they had restored some natural systems, but the Ancients were short in numbers. At that point, they were done sacrificing their own people, in time they were going to sacrifice other life - plants and animals, to restore those lost brethren.

At the very least, Hythlodaeus's completely different account shows that the two sects of people post-Zodiark were viewing their sacrifice and end goal in completely different ways. Ethics aside, whether the competing goal was achievable or not… we will never know, because Venat stopped it from happening.

But I don't think either recounting has a monopoly on the truth. There was no One Truth, there were just competing needs and perspectives. And though Venat insists that unity is necessary to avert the Endsinger - she perpetuates this division. Azem refused her followers call to help summon Hydaelyn, and I think that's significant.

But I'll also acknowledge that Azem didn't manage to save the Ancients, either.

And you could argue that the Ancients were their own worst enemy. They kind of were.

Hermes was a really, really great caricature of severe, untreated Depression. And he had the powers of a god. His creations were sent to find a specific answer in the world beyond, and like their creator, they didn't have the tools to process hearing an answer other than what they were expecting. They were trapped in their own perspective. He was looking for answers in the stars, instead of in himself. Their own pain and inability to engage with emotion in a healthy way overwhelmed every encounter they had and created the very reality he so feared.

He did not use the proper channels for peer review before sending them out on their mission. Those rules, those checks and balances, that community approach to design, existed to protect the Ancients from their own power, and he deliberately acted in secret. He isolated himself from society, convinced himself his pain was something nobody could understand, made an island of himself and doubled down on his own jaded beliefs.

I don't know what kind of mental health facilities were available to the Ancients - we just don't have that information. But I do know that he was treated with patience and forgiveness by a significant number of colleagues, and his quirks weren't held against him. People did try to help and accommodate him, even if they didn't always understand. He had been promoted to a powerful position. I don't know if it's fair to blame anyone in particular, or even their society, for what happened. Because again... everyone was doing the best they could with what they had.

If anything, the problem was that literally any Ancient could have made a similar mistake in the right situation. They were ALL that powerful. Eventually chaos would happen. Sundered souls can certainly create destruction, but not on the same scale.

I don't personally agree with Hydaelyn's decision not to reach out to the Convocation. I understand being careful, and thinking through what the next step should be before acting. But there's a LOT of "maybes" in this argument:

And ultimately, it's her doing the same thing as Hermes, putting the power of judgement over an entire people in her own hands. She's assuming that she is in a unique position to decide the fate of the entire Star. It's not evil. But it's arrogant. She wasn't special among the Ancients, gifted with some unique wisdom. She was doing the best she could from her own perspective.

Plus... if half your population, and then another half again are about to sacrifice themselves... what have you got to lose by outing Hermes and/or trying to work with the Convocation to avert that loss of life? We don't have all the details, I'm willing to accept that there were circumstances that made it impossible, or at least made Venat decide against trying it. But even so. What did you have to lose leading up to the summoning of Zodiark? There was already panic and destruction at that point.

Hydaelyn sacrificed a lot of people to accomplish her goals. She made a goddess of herself and manipulated people like Minfilia on that basis. She killed so many children and stole so many lives even just by reincarnating Minfilia over and over on the First. She misrepresents the nature of the Ascians to the WoL, keeps secrets, and essentially charges you with being a crusader in her Holy War.

It's Emet- Selch who tries to bridge the gap. Not Hydaelyn. It's him who's willing to consider trying to achieve his goals without bloodshed, if you, the WoL, are strong enough. He says this to himself, out of anyone else's hearing. There's no reason for it to be a lie.

And just before Mt. Gulg, you can see Emet starting to question his beliefs about humanity because of the WoL's accomplishments. Hydaelyn has nothing to do with that. It's all you. And Emet succumbs to his own weaknesses too, so we never get to know what that might have happened if you'd had more time with him. He's not better than her.

But I think it's significant that he's the one who reaches out. Who's willing to consider a compromise at all.

In war you make sacrifices, I get that. But she was not more heroic, somehow, than the Ascians. Both sides were doing terrible things and denying the agency of mortals in order to achieve their ideal world.

So to me... she was not a benevolent incomprehensibly wise mother figure. Much like in real life we go from being kids who trust our moms implicitly, to adults who realize our mother was human and made mistakes, I think we’re supposed to recognize that Hydaelyn didn't do everything right and its our job to carry the future forward for subsequent generations, to learn from what came before, and hope that our own children do the same and forgive us for our own mistakes.

I think its very important to note that the WoL is just as much the Convocation's creation as Hydaelyn's. Without being rejoined as many times as they were, the WoL wouldn’t have survived. She saves you from the Ultima Weapon, Emet-Selch saves you from Elidibus, and its their powers combined that save you and your friends from the Endsinger. You are the legacy of each side’s imperfect love, equally.

WHICH brings me to my point of perplexion. Hydaelyn continues to be venerated. NPCs who know what happened continue to emphasize her side of things. I feel I must be missing something, because to me, the finale of Endwalker essentially shattered any idea that this was a Light vs Dark kind of story. People made choices. People made mistakes. It wasn't good or evil. It was human. We survived in spite of our mistakes because love was more powerful than our imperfections.

The Scions sacrificed themselves one by one just like the Ancients. And got brought back using energy from the Star... not all that different than what the Ascians had planned to do with their own brethren. I just don't see much functional difference there in the sentiments between either side.

I don't think we're supposed to hate Hydaelyn. I don't think she was evil. But I don't think she was better than the Ascians.

So while I don't expect, or want, characters to be condemning her left and right in the narrative, it's still baffling to me that there's such consistent, explicit reverence for her.

[neptune-midheaven]

💓 Astro Notes PT 4 ! 💓

+i’m back!! i’ll be posting more ever since school ended for me recently, expect a lot more posts going in-depth about each placement!! thank u all so much for being patient, love to you all <33. enjoy these highly generalized observations haha+

*Having your chart ruler in the social houses, 1st, 7th, 10TH, 11TH, sometimes 3rd is a sign of popularity, someone who works well with people, people naturally liking them, seeing them as friendly people, the planet of the chart ruler just affects the exact energy, how it’s expressed what they’re popularrr FOR. Even if it’s pluto the person will still be a magnetic and intense influence in this area. 

*Moon-uranus aspects can become addicted to their phones or the internet as the person emotionally depends on technology, it’s more exemplified with the harsher, tighter aspects.

*It’s possible for aquarius and gemini venuses to identify as asexual, they’re more likely to prefer more mentally stimulating romances rather than sexual encounters, detached natures in their relationships can be the root for this. This is a highly generalized opinion however, it could manifest far differently for ANYONE.

*Pluto in 1st conjunct the ascendant creates intenseee people, they draw a lot of people to them, everyone has their attention.

*People who have part of fortune in their 8th house live a long life, they have luck with escaping death.

*Multiple capricorn placements and the risings especially are veeeinyy, skinny and bony.

*Jupiter in 10th have a reputation for being jolly, fun and extroverted, travels a lot, their careers have to do with the foreign and studies, they’re especially known for being very educated and big humanitarians.

*Moon in 10th, moon-midheaven is known for crying a lot in public, they’re seen having meltdowns, breakdowns or emotional outbursts now and then.

*Moon-neptune were very close to their mothers at a young age, they always cried when she wasn’t near them.

*Sun-neptune were close to their fathers as children, both of these neptune aspects are dependent on how positive or negative the aspect is, positive denotes positive relations, negative being a sign of abandonment or disconnect from one of the parents or both if the individual has both aspects.

*Moon in leo/5th hate when they can’t express themselves and their emotions.

*Pisces mercury/12th house mercury are more likely to develop speech impediments, stutters. There’s just something unique about how they communicate as well.

*Libra in 6th are lazyy planners, they meet a lot of love interests and get crushes at work.

*You’ll experience strong, irresistible attraction toward the sign ruling your 8th house cusp, almost telepathic. 7th house cusp is the energy of the partners whom you attract, date, fall in love with.

*Neptune/pisces in 11th have friends who try to introduce them to drugs, friends can be toxic, draining depending on the condition of neptune, sorry to taurus and some gemini risings.

*Venus in 10th/11th in a chart automatically makes the person an extrovert, a good social worker.

*How tf do i come up with these.

*Having your 9th house ruler in 5th makes traveling seem like a hobby, a fun activity to you to entertain yourself or something you enjoy. These people want to travel everyday. They’re also lovers of learning, they look for smart, educated partners.

*Having your 2nd house ruler in 9th house means a job that involves traveling, making money over seas.

*Cappy suns are huge huge HUGE social creatures. Or the complete opposite.

*Uranus in 11th can make new friends crazy fast due to uranus’ quick! energy, just like lightning. Online, they can gain followers the same way, but their numbers always fluctuate or become spontaneously unstable ex: follow:like ratio could be out of wack.

*Mars in 12th love playing violent video games, like gta for example.

*Uranus in 4th could have an unstable family life if negatively aspected, a stimulating and revolutionizing one if they’re positive.

*Libra moons feel emotionally satisfied once a tense situation is smoothed over or balanced out, imbalance or chaos puts them on edge.

*Pisces suns can never figure out who they truly are as a person because of so much exposure to so many different things, morphing and adapting changes them sm bc they’re so mutable.

*Aries moons can be seen as people pleasers similar to libra moons, however it’s only in a way that they truly care just like libra, they care passionately about the people they love. This doesn’t necessarily make them people pleasers of course!! It’s only an aries-libra parallel.

*Saturn in 9th have delays in getting their degrees, it’ll become easier for them to graduate college after their saturn return.

*Mercury in 4th//cancer have excellent memories, they often make fantastic historians, someone who can keep track of the past. Real estate, home business/ careers would best suit them. They also have lovely voices 😻.

*Mutable mercuries’ speaking style is highly influenced by others, they can adapt to the specific speaking styles of others, adapt to unique communication styles from other people.

*Aries rising produces the most red heads out of all of the rising signs, next being leo.

*12th house stellium people feel so... watery

*Youll feel more empathetic and connected to those who share your moon sign or 12th house placements, any placement at all as you of course can be nice, understanding and a bit empathetic, however these two are far more potent and unifying.

*Aquarius placements mean you don’t take whatever planet is in this sign or house this sign rules seriously, it creates a sense of detachment from that area or part of your life.

*Contrary to belief, fires moons are more empathetic than water moons.

*Mercury in 12th people, i love y’all so much ughhh, you’re so sweet and gooeyy, ur ideas and mind are so important and gorgeous. Very artistic and soft minds, fragile thoughts that need to be encouraged by others closest to them. They’re usually very smart and especially talented and creative.

*Water moons have THE prettiest eyes, all of them are just gems swirling with colorful, vibrant soul.

*Moon conjunct ascendant can have their moods being visibly shown on their faces or expressions.

*Scorpio moons are intense but very attractive, it’s hard to keep your eyes off of them and their compelling auras.

*Libra risings can experience getting ignored in group settings. Virgo in 12th could promote this as they’re always hard working behind the scenes it’s almost neglected.

*Aquarius risings have this cute, quirky vibe about them which makes you want to be friends with them.

*Your moon in someone else’s 11th house is indicative of the house person feeling as though they can open up to you, that you two understand one another completely. It’s a very open minded and comforting synastry emotionally.

[bidonica]

Eleanor of Aquitaine was known as “the grandmother of Europe” and majorly patronized poets and singers of the day — especially those of courtly love from Troubadours and legends from Brittany, and was the main driving force in the king Arthur legend/books. Do you think if dreamy lysa did something like this, or even something like the religious book her loosely based historical counter part Catherine of Parr did it would make Lysa more realistic/well rounded from marriage-miscarriage-mum-AGOT?

Okay I must start with a disclaimer: as someone who doesn't hail from the English speaking part of the world, English/British historical figures aren't my strong suit so I'll take your word on the parallels between Catherine Parr and Lysa.

I think the first issue here is GRRM not giving westerosi houses much of a court culture. We could argue that what Lysa has going on in the Vale comes close, but it's not particularly fleshed out, and it's more of a way for George to convey that she likes to be surrounded by singers and sycophants because she's vulnerable to adulation; asoiaf at large doesn't show that there's a system where gathering artists and intellectuals around you is commonplace or even a sign of status. In this world what could constitute the intellectual class (the maesters) is insular and heavily regulated; there's a certain impermeability between the nobility and the maesters, you either are one or the other, and noblemen like Tyrion, Sam, Willas, Oberyn or Rodrik Harlaw who have intellectual pursuits are singled out as outliers. Actually, with the notable exception of The Reader (whose interest in books stood out *so much* he got his nickname from it), we are talking about people who are either deemed physically unfit to rule, or second sons. As for female characters... eh. It's a very martial society; when Hoster believed Catelyn to be his only heir, he was mostly preoccupied with showing her how to be a good ruler and administrator (which is good!), but didn't also go "let's get you some high level education to go with it". Combine this with the fact that, in asoiaf, songs are ubiquitous and the main form of storytelling, but singers are routinely disparaged within the story; it isn't a particularly prestigious profession.

Let's pretend though, that GRRM wrote Westeros as having an advanced court culture and a more intellectual ruling class. I still don't think it would necessarily entail Lysa becoming a patron of the arts or even an artist or intellectual herself. Her personality is defined by her insecurities and trauma; this would still stay even with a change of context. The main reason she holds court at the Eyrie is that she needs constant reassurance of her value, and she likes singers for the adulation and because songs are a form of escapism - even better if they are young and handsome. She doesn't seem to be particularly interested in religion or use it as a way to conceptualize her frustrations (truth be told though, the whole westerosi ruling class strikes me as more secular than their IRL medieval and early modern equivalents). In my opinion, a Lysa that evolves into a patron for artists and intellectuals or even into an author herself would need not only a significant change of context, but also a significant change in her personality and preferred coping mechanisms; she would be, in short, another character, who would go to other places in the story (would she still be so smitten and easily manipulated by LF if she were better educated, and had better intellectual tools to engage with the world around her? I mean, maybe, a lot of smart women have been caught in the webs of shitty men - My Brilliant Friend has entered the chat - but I like to think he would have had to work harder at it), which were probably not the places GRRM needed her to go.

[makeste]

I saw this take on twitter about Hana & Kacchan having “reverse parallels” and since they both have apologised to Tenko/Deku (but one was more or less sincere and the other was absolutely sincere) and they said that, while Hana moved away from Tenko, Kacchan ran to catch Deku. There was also more to the thread abt Kacchan & Hana’s differences. They were sorta trying to argue that this is a clue that Hori intends for Bkdk to be sibling-like/brotherly. As a bkdk shipped, I’ve accepted that it makes sense.. cause it’s an established fact that Tenko & Deku parallel each other. Tenko having his own “Kacchan” makes sense. Tho yes I am a little sad since I’ve held a little bit of hope for romantic bkdk becoming canon. I just wanted to ask your opinion if Hana was really meant to foil Kacchan or was it just a reach?

okay so I have a couple responses to this.

1. while it's true that Horikoshi has woven a lot of deliberate parallels between Deku and Tenko's characters, that doesn't mean every single thing about their lives and every single person they interact with is a part of those parallels. which is to say that no, I don't really think Hana and Kacchan are meant to mirror each other in any kind of significant way. Hana's apology to Tenko was under completely different circumstances than Kacchan's apology to Deku; I really don't see any connection between the two situations. you might as well be trying to compare Hana to Endeavor, or Deku, or Hawks, or Aizawa, or any other character who's apologized to anyone over the course of the story.

2. please pardon the forthcoming rant, anon -- and I hope you know that none of this is aimed at you in particular -- but for me personally, this whole obsession with ships becoming canon is one of the most exasperating types of discourse there is. like, don't get me wrong, I totally understand people wanting to see their favorite ships validated by the author, and not to mention there's also the issue of having more LGBTQ+ representation. but speaking as someone whose own orientation (aromantic) has almost no representation in fiction whatsoever, it gets frustrating to see so many people dismiss non-romantic relationships as being an inferior type of ship, to the extent that calling a relationship "sibling-like" is now a commonly-used attack in ship wars. so many people view romance as this completely transformative element, to the point where two characters can literally tick every other box on the intimate personal relationship checklist, and none of it will matter to some people unless they actually confess their love and kiss.

and again, I'm not saying I don't understand it, especially since queerbating is a thing. it's one thing if a writer is genuinely just trying to portray a close friendship, especially in series where romance isn't really a focus. but it's another thing entirely if a writer is deliberately hinting at a romance in a blatant bid to attract a larger queer audience, while all the while having no intention whatsoever of having those hints lead anywhere. the issue, I guess, is that it's not always easy to tell which scenarios are the former, and which are the latter. and of course, you also have people who think that the former is a type of cop-out as well, because the thing is that romance is always viewed as the default. so for a lot of people, allosexual and alloromantic relationships are the only ones that get considered as far as representation goes.

but you know what, I'm just gonna say it; even knowing where people are coming from, it's still discouraging to know that so many people are so dismissive of aro and ace relationships that the thought of a favorite ship not becoming romantic in canon is considered a profound disappointment. and it's even more discouraging that the thought of a rival ship becoming canon is considered such an existential threat to some that they will literally use "oh, they're just like siblings" as an argument against the ship, rather than a point in favor of. because siblings are a downgrade. friendship is a downgrade. any kind of close relationship that isn't inherently romantic or sexual in nature is less important, and that's just how it is.

so yeah, that's kind of a pet peeve, ngl. especially since the truth is I actually do think Bakugou and Deku's relationship is very akin to siblings. and so I do sometimes get weary of not being able to just outright say that without having to first pepper the statement with all kinds of disclaimers so that people don't think I'm invalidating the ship. I feel like I have to walk on eggshells if I ever want to talk about their relationship in terms that I can personally relate to.

but I mean, here's how I look at it. they've known each other since they were small children. they call each other exclusively (or almost exclusively) by childhood nicknames. they have an openness and an unspoken, almost taken-for-granted trust in each other to the point where they'll share closely guarded secrets ("I got my quirk from someone else") and personal vulnerabilities ("why was I the one who ended All Might?") with barely a second's hesitation which they would never share with anyone else. they have a comfortable little bickering type of rapport ("I'm getting stronger"; "well I'll just have to get even stronger then"; "you'll never surpass me"; "we'll see about that") which they can fall into with ease and which looks weird af to outsiders, but is "normal" to them and something they're both grateful to have.

they're so intimately familiar with each other's personality and behaviors that they can predict them with perfect accuracy. they're so in tune with each other that they can whip up elaborate coordinated attacks right on the spot in perfect sync. their admiration for each other is so strong that they each think of the other as being the epitome of winning and saving, respectively. their mental images of each other are so vivid that they subconsciously mimic each other's speech patterns whenever they start falling into a particularly strong Win or Save mindset themselves. they take no small amount of pride in showing off for each other. they go apeshit any time the other is in danger or hurt. and each of them would literally die for the other if it ever came to that.

all of that is already canon. on just about every metric imaginable except for "now kiss", the two of them already have a canon intimacy that rivals just about every other great relationship out there. and so to say that none of it actually counts unless there's an actual love confession involved frankly just boggles me. again, maybe it's because I have no personal vested interest in romance myself, though. I'm literally just not wired that way, and so I'm really not the best person to vent to when it comes to these kinds of concerns.

but look, no matter what happens from here on out, these two care about each other on a very deep and personal level. they're going to continue to be a part of each other's lives no matter what. and each of them, no matter what, will continue to occupy a space in each other's lives that no other person can fill, regardless of how we or Horikoshi or anyone else choose to label and define that space. and so in my book, that's already a win.

anyways, apologies again for the impromptu rant. again, this wasn't particularly directed at you in any way; if anything it's mostly just a generic response to the constant shipping discourse in this and every other fandom, and a more detailed explanation for why I personally don't like to get involved in it. this is just one of the myriad reasons why I try my best to stay very far away from BnHA twitter lol.

[alienabra]

Ok, so I’ve been sitting with my thoughts for a couple of weeks now watching Vice Versa and now that we’re at the penultimate episode I think I’ve worked out what I actually wanted from Vice Versa.

I wanted a deeper reading of the concept. Because on paper the idea is very new and interesting but within the story it gets regulated to just a premise and then dropped. It’s like ‘What if two people travelled to another universe randomly?’ and then it moves into the actual story which is Talay and Puen falling in love. How to get back to their own universe isn’t actually anything they can have a hand in. They found each other and now they’re just waiting until they have a dream? If that’s the case then they didn’t even have to work hard to find each other because they were already in each other’s orbits due to Pakorn and Tess’ pre-existing relationship.

When what I actually wanted was ‘What if two people travelled to another universe and had to find their way back?’ Because only a handful of people actually travel to another universe after a near-death experience. Why? Why only these people?

I kind of wanted it to be something like… these people all have things that they need to overcome personally in order to return to their lives. So then finding your portkey is just the first step, and the second step is learning the lesson that the universe wants to teach them so to speak.

In Puen’s case it would be pretty easy. He doesn’t trust people and that is personified by the fact that he won’t give Talay his real name. Following that along, he can only go home after he lets his guard down and tells Talay his name (or decides to tell him if you still want to send Puen home before Talay with some angst).

For Talay it’s more complicated, but I think you could take something they touched on in the show and just expand it a little bit. Talay has an aversion to love but you could push that further to say that he doesn’t have a lot of close personal friendships and zero romantic relationships. He loves his work and what he does and he loves his family (you could have his brother in the place of his group of friends to show that he’s the person Talay is closest too) and he just… doesn’t feel like he needs any other connections? He's the kind of person who is lonely but doesn't realise it because he's convinced himself that he's fine? Then he gets thrown into Tess’ life where he’s not only forced to make connections with people to try and find his portkey but also Tess has friends who actually give a shit about him despite the fact that he’s a mess. Talay’s challenge is that he learns the value of friendships and ‘found family’ (plus it’s then kind of gut-wrenching when he has to give that up for his original universe).

You could even flip it onto Pakorn and Tess as well. If you want to go the bittersweet route than Pakorn’s lesson is that it’s time to properly let Tess go, while Tess’ could be about finding something to actually give a crap about. Or you could go the parallel route and have them resolve their issues with each other, and have that be the thing that’s been holding both of them back in their own universe. But, since they didn’t want to do a parallel story (which could have been really cool, just switching between four people struggling to get home/live someone else’s life) I would say go with the bittersweet option.

I do think having both stories might have helped with the pacing issues a bit because in my opinion Vice Versa had a strong beginning but it really started to lag in the middle where it just felt like a generic BL about people making a movie (twice! they had two whole ‘behind the scenes’ of a movie plotlines and by the second time I was honestly bored with it).

Overall, I think Sea and Jimmy are doing a really good job (and all the other actors too) and it's a very pretty show overall. I just wanted a story that was a bit more complex and adhered to the actual premise we were promised in the trailer.

[n1kolaiz]

"You want to know what death is? I'll tell you. Death is the loss of life. Despite everything doctors like me attempt... a patient's life can still fall through our fingers. You think death lies in the apex of science? Anyone with such little regard for life will die by my hand."

Character Analysis: Yosano Akiko

Age: 25 || Ability: Thou Shalt Not Die

BSD CHAPTER CHAPTER 65-66 SPOILERS

table of contents:

1. Author counterpart.

2. Yosano's history.

3. 'Angel of Death' defined.

4. Yosano and Atsushi.

YOSANO BRAINROT!*(#&!*@#($

1. Author counterpart.

Having been given the “Sho Ho” at birth, Yosano Akiko’s counterpart—the real-life author—was known for her zealous take on both feminism and pacifism.

Side note: Once again, to avoid confusion, I will use the name Sho Ho in reference to the real-life author, and Yosano in reference to the BSD character.

Sho Ho's writings were pretty much out-of-the-ordinary in her time, and despite being suppressed by the social norms of gender hierarchy, she sought to reform society’s view on the cultural perspectives of women and their sexuality (She expressed her love for a woman in one of her poems, but many still argued on whether she identified herself as queer or not.)

"Thou Shalt Not Die," Yosano's ability, is actually named after one of Sho Ho's most famous, controversial poems. She wrote it for her brother, who was a soldier in the war between Russia and Japan (1904-1905). In her poem, she expressed her general distaste for war and how her brother was a part of it.

O my young brother, I cry for you Don't you understand you must not die! You who were born the last of all Command a special store of parents' love

Would parents place a blade in children's hands

Teaching them to murder other men Teaching them to kill and then to die? Have you so learned and grown to twenty-four?

- excerpt from Sho Ho's poem, "Kimi Shinitamou Koto Nakare"

Her words were blunt enough to inflict guilt on her brother's conscience, as she wasn't afraid to express her disapproval over how her brother took part in the typical violent bloodshed and manslaughter of war. Such opinions perturbed the authorities, and her work was eventually banned from the public for a period of time. Later on, it was used as an anti-war statement.

2. Yosano's history.

Now, as for the character in BSD, Yosano is seen to be generally strong-willed, and later on, we see that she is terrifyingly compassionately ambitious in the way she treats her patients. She treasured life itself, and hated the thought of losing a patient.

Yosano had developed her relations with Mori Ougai back in the Great War, when she was just 11 years old. Her ability was a great benefactor in saving lives. Realistically speaking, she was used for her ability to heal injured soldiers and diminish the effect of any casualty acquired.

Initially, she wasn't aware of this, until one of her close friends pointed it out by subtly accusing Mori of manipulating her to participate in the War under the close-to false pretence of 'saving lives.'

As much as her ability did save lives, it also forced soldiers to return to the frontlines and suffer injuries over and over again. The soldiers were never given the opportunity to return to their families because of her ability. This obliged them to carry on in the war without any excuse, inserting them into a vicious cycle they had no escape out of.

Metaphorically speaking, Yosano's hatred for Mori sort of mirrors Sho Ho's disdain for war and fighting, don't you think? The way Kafka materialised Yosano's past was quite interesting because he used chapters 65 and 66 to explain Yosano's dislike for Mori, reflecting how Sho Ho used her poem to explain why she condemned the idea of war and how her brother was part of it.

Before the effect of her ability was fully understood, however, every soldier praised and thanked her for what an angel she was. One of the soldiers she had befriended and gotten close to even kept a tally of the number of times she had saved him. He was the one who gifted her the butterfly hairpin she wore all the time.

The weight of the truth that her ability was a curse rather than a blessing fully dawned on her when her soldier friend ultimately committed suicide, because the fact of being indefinitely trapped in the throes of war agonised him until his spirit gave out. This drove Yosano to loathe her ability, or rather, how it was used.

In the time she participated in the War, Yosano was given the alias 'angel of death' due to the control she retained over the battlefield, but I thought that perhaps Kafka had a reason behind giving her this title, so I did my research.

3. 'Angel of Death' defined.

Side note: I wouldn't want to disrespect any culture or religion, so if my citations are inaccurate and/or disrespectful, do feel free to correct me/let me know! I did research out of pure curiosity, and I don't intend to twist the significance of any of the interpretations.

I had to grow up learning about the basics of religious stuff, so it's kind of nice to study something out of the box, and very much against my father's rigid belief system :D

ARCHANGEL ARIEL

(archangel: an angel of higher rank)

I came across the few characteristics of angels/goddesses and their roles, and the one which really caught my attention was the female archangel, Ariel, the angel of nature.

[ source ]

In Hebrew, the name Ariel means 'altar' or 'lioness of God,' and her role is to heal. In addition to that, she is also recognised as a helper to another one of the seven main archangels, Raphael, whose role is to provide physical and emotional healing, too.

She is the protecter of the environment and the animals therein, and is bestowed with the duty to oversee the order of heavenly bodies as well as earth's natural resources. She assures the sustenance of food, water, shelter, and supplies of human beings, much like how a nurse is to a patient I suppose.

In relation to Yosano, I think this part is pretty self-explanatory, or perhaps this is blown out of proportion HA, so take this as a suggestion rather than a fact, because I'd like to believe that Kafka had a reason for giving Yosano a title as such.

In the past, I've come across the angel of death only to perceive it as a female grim reaper of some sort, so it was pretty cool to find that the word 'angel' and 'death' made up a title of a someone like Ariel, one of the purest forms of humility and compassion.

GREEK GODDESS PANAKEIA

For my beloved (wannabe/or not) students of Greek mythology (much like myself, let's make a cult!), you've probably heard of Panakeia, the goddess of healing. Medicine finds most of its vital significance in Greek history, and in its mythology, Panakeia is actually known for her ability to heal any kind of sickness.

[ source ]

Her name means 'panacea,' which is actually defined as a remedy for all diseases. Terminal diseases and injuries lead to death, right? This would bring us back to Yosano's ability to nullify any injury's effects on a person, keeping them from death itself.

Now, we know that in order for Yosano's ability to work, her patient, or victim, has to be in a near-death condition in order for her treatment to take effect. This can't exactly fit into the description of resurrection, but it can be described as some sort of rebirth.

GREEK GODDESS PERSEPHONE

So another goddess which reminds me of Sho Ho/Yosano, is Persephone, the goddess of spring and rebirth. Before Hades, the god of the underworld, fell in love with Persephone to take her to live with him, Persephone lived a happy life.

Hades, with his nature of darkness and the like, was captivated by how pure Persephone was, and stole her away from her former life to live in an environment which differed sharply from her natural aura of purity.

[ source ]

Remember when Yosano's friend left a note behind before he killed himself? The note said nothing except for, "You are too righteous." Take that as you will, but figuratively speaking, you could say Mori takes the role of Hades in the story, while Yosano can be portrayed as Persephone.

Sho Ho can also be a parallel of Persephone, in that she had to adapt to the realities of war and disharmony, while Persephone had to adapt to the raw darkness of the underworld with Hades.

Sho Ho stood against society's norms and decided to reform it, making her one of the most well-known feministic pacifist in history, while Persephone managed to escape from the underworld to return to her former position, earning the title the 'Bringer of Life,' or the 'Destroyer of Death.'

Furthermore, the way Sho Ho's anti-war poem took its effect later on, reflects the way Persephone restored balance in the world after returning from the underworld.

4. Yosano and Atsushi.

chapter 66; Yosano: "It's my fault that those close to me died... Is there some place where it's okay for me to live?"

chapter 8; Atsushi: "If I have any chance of saving them all, of returning them home safely, would that mean it's okay for me to keep on living?"

I couldn't help but think of Dazai and Atsushi back when I was reading through these panels. Ranpo (my beloved), along with Fukuzawa, accepted Yosano as she was, despite how her ability was a cause of despair and misfortune.

Ranpo looked past her mistakes and the entirety of how dark her past was to welcome her into the Armed Detective Agency. Dazai, on the other hand, knew who Atsushi was and what his ability had made him do before anyone else, and still decided to provide a safe place for Atsushi to find his sense of belonging, journeying with him as he learned to use his ability properly.

For more info about Dazai and Atsushi's dynamic, you can check out the analysis I did for Dazai :D

Atsushi desired to save people to prove his right to live, while Yosano made her wish to achieve the recovery of all her patients the reason for her existence.

Others would prefer to accuse both Yosano and Atsushi of having a saviour complex, but the reason why they pursued to save people with utmost dedication, stems from the nature of what their past was like. You know the saying 'from broken to beautiful?' Yeah, it's something like that.

The way their pasts were written out gave them a desire to change, which was, I daresay, initiated by the people who took them in: Ranpo and Dazai. Their abilities were demonised because of how they were used, but once they broke from their abilities' effect over their lives, they honed their skills to control them for the right cause instead.

In a less cynical point of view, I believe both Yosano and Atsushi stood for what was right, and wanted nothing but to achieve peace and harmony in whatever way they could, even if it meant risking their own lives to save others.

So yeah, that's it for my rants today. Thank you for reading, and if you have anything to add, go ahead! I'm open to discussions ;)