#i am so normal about this show and its fictional characters whom i am totally not unhealthily attached to.

[dizzybizz]

ep10 watching experience

[jdeowrites]

Announcing my next book!

It's true! I finally get to tell you, I've got another book coming!

See above the formal deal announcement. The way I pitched it to friends, however, was, “Think YA Breaking Bad but Walter White is a teenage mathlete and instead of cooking meth, she becomes the bookkeeper for a gang to help her friend pay off his debts.” And I can’t wait to share it in fall 2025! 

REASONS WE BREAK is a standalone YA rom-drama. However, for those who’ve read TJ POWAR HAS SOMETHING TO PROVE, it’s also a spinoff, and you’ll find several familiar faces in it. Including the two main characters… because yes, it’s Simran and Rajan’s story!

If you’re one of the people who’ve asked me about these two, I hope you’re at least half as delighted about this news as I am. :) But for those who need their memory jogged, Simran is TJ Powar’s straight-A, “good-girl” cousin; Rajan is the resident troublemaker-slacker of their class. I first had the idea that I wanted to write a book about them while writing TJ POWAR’s earliest drafts in 2019. I had stuck them in a scene together for convenience’s sake, and something clicked, chemistry-wise. So naturally I wanted to get into their heads.

Fast forward to 2020, when I was on submission to editors with TJ POWAR. I didn’t know if that book was going to sell, but I’d already decided that either way, I wanted to write a book about Simran and Rajan. By summer of 2021, the plot had taken shape. I wrote several more drafts feverishly through the rest of 2021. And it turned out to be a different sort of story. 

Although it’s a bit darker and ended up sold to another publisher, I still like to think of REASONS WE BREAK as TJ POWAR’s cousin. I mean, it literally is about TJ Powar’s cousin, but also thematically. Asides from the familiar characters, it also deals with plenty of coming-of-age issues, this time including: second gen immigrant guilt, grappling with your parents’ mortality, figuring out romance when you feel “behind” your peers in that realm, and the many ways in which gangs target vulnerable teens. The gang aspect in particular will be recognizable to Canadian readers, as it has a very non-fictional inspiration: the bloody history of Indo-Canadian organized crime, with young South Asians often its greatest victims. It’s a very nuanced topic that I could never hope to fully capture, but I at least attempted to explore one facet: how and why this specific group of immigrant kids, many of whom come from seemingly “normal”, stable families, get targeted and recruited into a life that attempts to destroy them. 

It’s a slight departure from the very lighthearted contemporary that my debut novel was but I hope you’ll come along for the ride. Initially, I actually did try to write a story that was more tonally similar—but I had to let go of that. My instincts told me to let these characters take me wherever they wanted to go. And Simran and Rajan really begged me to let them spread their wings and show me the most complex parts of themselves. After all, everyone you know growing up is struggling with different problems. Sometimes, very different problems. For example, you could be worrying about whether you missed a spot shaving while the kid sitting in the desk next to you is wondering whether they’ll make it alive to next week (totally RANDOM examples here obviously). Although both experiences are completely real and valid, this story is an ode to the latter. The kids who grow up too fast. The ones who endure horrors and shoulder burdens that even many adults could barely comprehend. 

How could I deny Simran and Rajan the opportunity to tell that story? A story that gave *me* just as much growth as it gave them? I COULD NOT. Which is why, even though it made it a bit harder to publish, you’re getting this story exactly as it was intended—and for that, I could not be happier.

Add Reasons We Break to StoryGraph!

[agent-cupcake]

Can I ask your opinion? So, I feel like everyone into 3H is in love with Dimitri, but I can't connect with him. I don't dislike him, but I feel like there isn't much to his personality without all his various mental health issues. It's hard to get a feel on what he's really like, so I end up just seeing him as a walking ball of trauma and not a three-dimensional character. Do you have any thoughts on Dimitri himself and how to separate him as a person from his psychological issues? Thanks!

Hmm, I guess my first thought is that everyone resonates with characters differently and so if you don’t particularly feel connected to him, that’s not wrong. Fictional parasocial relationships are very similar to real-life relationships, so it follows that nobody is going to like every character. I can’t say that a portion of my love for his character doesn’t come from his mental issues because that’s something I personally relate to and feel drawn to in others. That’s just who I am and how I build relationships. There is also something to be said for the unavoidable way mental illness informs a person’s behavior and character, it’s as much an aspect of them as being born with blond hair or losing an eye.

That said, I will do my best to explain why I think Dimitri is wonderful. Not in spite of his mental illness, but because I don’t think that’s all he is.

So, Dimitri is, as he says, a very clumsy person. This unfortunately extends to his social skills. He has a lot of very socially awkward tendencies and a general lack of self-awareness. This contrasts with his innate desire to please people, or at least avoid upsetting anyone. The thing is, Dimitri doesn’t always completely understand what upsets people or how exactly they might feel. His childhood isolation left him rather emotionally unaware and desperate for the acceptance and approval of others. That’s not to say he doesn’t try to understand other people’s feelings, but it’s not an intuitive process. He has a habit of saying kind of dumb or uncomfortable things out of nowhere, which is most likely his real feelings coming out in rather inept ways. He means well, but he’s just so dang clumsy.

The desperation to be included and validated I mentioned, I think, can be seen in the way he tries so hard to make the other Blue Lions see him as a peer and equal all the while keeping himself rather closed off from them. Dimitri approaches conversations as a means of focusing on the other person, trying to make an appeal to them rather than as an interaction where both parties could be seen as vulnerable. Of course, just like most other socially awkward introverts, he opens up when he feels closer to the person, but that takes a while. Gotta unlock the supports, you know? Although it’s not necessarily obvious, his incredibly stiff behavior (especially pre-timeskip) and the way he switches between overly formal and awkwardly friendly in his interactions with people as he tries to figure out how to socially and emotionally navigate relationships really gives me the impression of someone trying desperately to fit in without even the faintest clue of how to actually manage that. He also does his best to avoid social situations, which, mood. Basically, Dimitri’s a big dumb massive introvert trying to act like he’s not.

FURTHERMORE, he is a dork. An absolute goof of a person. Dimitri canonically thinks so-bad-its-good puns and jokes are hilarious. His own style of telling jokes is saying things that may or may not have contextual humor in a normal voice and then claiming after the fact that he intended it as such. Now, his supports with Alois are absolute factual proof of the so-bad-its-good humor, but might I also direct your attention to the scene before the battle against Miklan in Conand Tower (the event name is “Tower in a Storm (Blue Lions)”). Basically, Gilbert is explaining the history behind Conand Tower and Dimitri says, in an incredibly earnest voice, “You’re very well informed, Gilbert. Please, tell us more.” This is a joke. Supposed to be, at least. The delivery is somewhat emphasized, but not in a recognizably sarcastic way. Gilbert, who knew Dimitri very well when he was young, realizes it’s a joke after a second. But there are other things Dimitri says that I believe are his bad “jokes” and since nobody knows him well enough to tell, they don’t call him on it. There’s no proof, but his line in the Lord’s intro where he says, “And here I thought you were acting as a decoy for the sake of us all.” to Claude has to be an attempt at sarcasm. Dimitri is oblivious, but not stupid. In his Goddess Tower conversation with Byleth, when discussing the topic of wishes, he says, “Perhaps it would make more sense for me to wish that we’ll be together forever. What do you think?” In a completely normal voice. Following are two speech bubbles of “...” before he laughs and proclaims that it’s just a joke and that he’s getting better at telling them. Now, this is a two-parter because I see this as both his horribly awkward tendency to say things he feels without thinking too hard beforehand as well as his silly deadpan style of “jokes”. Granted, he does apologize. Dimitri’s got socially awkward zoomer humor. It’s endearing.

Here is a video of Dimitri hitting on Byleth pre-timeskip. I’m not sure how far it goes to endear someone to him, but the mostly awkward and occasionally smooth attempts of Dimitri’s flirtations are absolutely a highlight of his character. 

Now, this isn’t quite as cute as all that, but I think character arc and change do a lot for making a character feel more three-dimensional. Dimitri is hypocritically selfish. Although those are both negative terms, I don’t necessarily mean them as such, at least not in their totality. Both are things to overcome, which he does. And that’s why I feel like they’re a valid point of discussion when trying to explain the allure of his character.

The hypocritical part comes from the way he easily allows and forgives the flaws of others while constantly castigating himself for the same reasons. He says things that show an absurd amount of a lack of self-awareness. For example, he tells Edelgard, “Hm. You will prove a lacking ruler yourself if you look for deceit behind every word and fail to trust those whom you rely on.” All the while straight-up lying to and emotionally avoiding his friends. Dimitri also tells Marianne, when she is punishing herself for putting other people at risk, “What matters is that they came back safely in the end. You shouldn’t blame yourself for that.” Really, his C and B with Marianne is an exercise in hypocrisy. The standards Dimitri has for himself are incredibly, unattainably high. He’s setting himself up for failure in that way and, to an extent, knows what he’s doing because he knows that those same standards are too much for his friends and allies to meet. He wishes to take on everything himself. But, what I find so beautiful about this, is that Dimitri eventually realizes that he can’t do that. He is not strong enough to take on the weight of the world on himself, he comes to understand that it’s something he must allow himself to share with the people who care about him. He comes to realize that, as difficult as it is to accept, he is a weak person. Despite all of his introversion and inability to emotionally open up, he figures out that having a support system and allowing yourself to rely on people who love you is a necessity. Personally, I think this message is incredibly important in real life. Watching Dimitri come to that conclusion and argue it’s importance really rounded out his arc and journey as a person. Now, the relatability of this conclusion will differ, but I don’t think it has to do with his mental illness as much as it is a fundamental aspect of growth.

The selfishness is basically outlined above. Dimitri is selfish about his pain and secrets, purposefully and selfishly driving people away because he wants to keep the burden to himself. His vice is guilt and he indulges in the pain of it like an addiction. Hatred, too, is a drug. He thinks he needs it to keep going, even though all it does is bring agony to himself and others around him. Learning to accept and let go of these feelings is, again, something I think is important and a character arc that I really love, especially when you see him suffer as much as he does. Now, the execution of this is lacking, I admit. But that’s an issue for another time I think.

I am not quite sure if I did much to change your opinion, but this is all I can think of for now. There is probably a lot more than I’ve left out because I think about Dimitri far too much to be healthy. So, I’ll leave you off with some honorable mention aspects of his character that I think are super fun:

Pre-timeskip Dimitri has his hair tucked behind his ear. He can lift a wagon by himself. In the DLC, when faced with an impossible-to-open gate, it was not muscle man Balthus who said he couldn’t open it, but twinkish teen Dimitri. He’s not really smooth with one-liners. Like, at all. Notably, when attacking Manuela post-timeskip, he says, “Perhaps I should have appeared before you holding a bouquet of flowers, rather than the weapon that will end your life.” Adding to this, at one point, Dimitri fucked up a pick-up line so badly the girl came after him. Areadbhar has a mitten on it in the Azure Moon final picture. He breaks everything. His Crest activation ability even supports this, using twice the durability of any given Combat Art. One of his post-timeskip counselor messages is, “I lived in the slums for a long time, and I saw how the people there suffered from poverty and the ravages of war. There must be something I can do to save them." His room in the academy is right next to Sylvain’s, meaning that for almost an entire year Dimitri was a single wall away from hearing whatever nonsense Sylvain was getting up to. Dimitri is the only Lord that takes the throne and doesn’t abandon his people in some form or another.

And, finally, he is pretty sexy. And that’s all that really matters, isn’t it?

[toxicsamruby]

1/7 MM okay gotcha gotcha. I was thinking about this on a smaller scale, where i don't think discussing racism in supernatural should be "fun and interesting" (phrase you used in your original post that rubbed me the wrong way b/c [hot take] I don't think racist tropes reminiscent of the Birth of a Nation and the policing of poor black communities are fun and interesting. they're horrible. but, like you said, we shouldn't shy away from horrible things), but no yeah i get what you're saying about

2/7 people showing the same enthusiasm, willing participation, and depth when talking about this stuff as w/gender&sexuality. I agree with that AND it's important to keep in mind, especially with a fanbase that's largely white, whom these analyses are for and who is writing them (b/c a white person's racial reading isn't the same as a bipoc's). But, again, that's on the smaller scale, which appears to have more to do with personal accountability and discussion norms.

3/7 AND i also get what you're saying about using the entirety of supernatural to examine "american attitudes about the Other" and how that needs to be broken down in ethnic/racial/culture identities just as it is with queer indentities and yes i agree. as for the marketing/monetary engagement thing, i may have been speaking out of turn there because i don't know a ton about marketing or audience appeal and i also wasn't invested in all the spn meta/BTS stuff until recently.

4/7 what I said was purely my observations of the very specific 'spn renaissance' tumblr circle, which appeared different from the, say, twitter circles that pay for merch and whatnot (again, this may not be accurate, it's just from what i've seen). HOWEVER, that being said, if we're speaking specifically about the long-term, /larger/ cultural impact supernatural has, I 100% agree that it needs to be recognized and condemned as a racist and all-around patriarchal show. I did forget that spn made

5/7 so many headlines about both queerbaiting and having a queer character or whatever, and the same headlines need to be made about how it treats bipoc and other minorities. Although supernatural is a mess and considered cringey and a dead horse, it still holds a significant amount of power and (at least some) reputability in media. and this is all despite its misogyny and homophobia and cisheteronormativity (this is the case for so many shows, not just spn). I guess i was just concerned about

6/7 'ok, what if mainstream starts having these conversations about racism very specifically in a way that normalizes it and makes it seem hatecrime-but we'll-allow-it,' so now we have this monster of a show that KNOWS it's racist but doesn't really care. But it's equally as terrible to not point it out. But it doesn't matter anyways, because the show is over now, and it's not like they're gonna give reparations to the actors they killed and the people they hurt. your point about us having these

7/7 conversations (in a way that does not make it seem like like fun ideas to ponder over) being the only thing we CAN do to lessen the power the White Narrative of Supernatural (both meta and in-text) really resonates, and i hadn't thought of that but i totally agree. in other words lmao, fuck this show

yeah “fun” might’ve been the wrong word choice for all the reasons u gave i really didn’t mean to trivialize racism as a discussion and i see what u mean especially w how people have responded to the homophobia of supernatural me included like saying oh its homophobic but its funny so it’s fine and ur absolutely right that we Cant allow the discussion of race to go the same way (and honestly ur intuition was right bc in the tags of that post theres white people saying we SHOULD take it as lightly as the homophobia). so yeah the phrasing was my bad

but my general point stands. like i personally find it really fulfilling and interesting to talk abt how supernatural (and other fiction) replicates these american ideas about the Other bc supernatural is a FASCINATING microcosm of american culture (and of course in part bc i Am an american other)! and that post was mostly in response to how white fans seem to shy away from these extremely complex and interesting conversations bc they consider discussion of racism a chore like something they Have to do so they can say “it was bad that they killed off kevin tran. see i engaged critically! now back to the meta that relates to Me and My experiences”

and of course the analysis that becomes generally accepted and talked abt by fans shapes the actual presence of the show in pop culture. so we should do our best to write good and thoughtful and compassionate analysis of EVERY aspect of the text, especially one so deeply embedded as the race element.

basically yeah ur right and i think we pretty much agree. fuck this show! thank you for sending me these messages by the way im glad we could talk this out :)

[tidustargaryen]

Double standards

Others : Sansa : She's a bitch, she betrayed Jon, she betrayed Dany, for her personal gain, she did not deserve anything, etc ... It's all her fault!

Tyrion: Traitor! He never wanted to hurt his sister in the end, he betrayed his queen and gave her shitty advice. He manipulated Jon the puppet who has no personality and no free will, if he did not whisper stuff in Jon's ears, he would never kill Dany because he had NO REASONS to killed her! All is his fault!

Jon: He did not do anything wrong! He did not betray Dany, he really thought he could trust Sansa ... After all that she did for him, without her he would not win the battle of the bastards, it's thanks to her that the Knights of the Vale came, he owes a lot to her, even though warning him of reinforcements would have saved many lives. She is his family it is normal that he trust her, even if during their childhood she did not like him and despised him, she loves him now! He could not know that Dany was right and that people would betray her if they knew he was Targaryen. And it's not his fault that he pushed Dany away, he needed time to handle the truth about his filiation and the fact that she was his aunt, he needed space it was more important to him than to comfort her after all the losses she had suffered. To take her in his arms was too incestuous for him! Starks do not like incest! This is the fault of D&D, it's the fault of Sansa, Tyrion, all the others ! Not Jon’s !!! 

.....

Me : Fuck ALL of them ! They all betrayed her. None of them thank her for saving their skins. They ALL leave her alone in her grief, they all let her down, they all expose her to risk, whether intentional or not! Jon was good with her before the revelation, even after when she arrived in the crypts, he smiled at her and let her snuggle against him, but after once he no longer needed her, he start pushing her away, now having her in his arms was bad ... I would not do double standards between these characters, Jon, like Sansa, like Tyrion and Varys, abandon her and betrayed her well before she slaughtered a city.

I blame D&D because they made a whole season incoherent and because they made me hate everyone except Dany (and I am also very disappointed with Grey Worm and Drogon because they did not even avenge her!) Why do not I hate Dany for killing about a million people? Because it's impossible, the Dany that we saw during 7 seasons would NEVER kill innocents, especially children! I blame D&D for having "subverted our expectations". On the other side, it's totally in Jon's character to stop Dany, he's always done his duty first and foremost, he loved Ygritte, he has abandoned her for the Night's Watch. He does the same with Dany, he had reason to stop her, she killed a lot of innocent people, I totally understand that he stopped her, but by killing her? Like this ? No ! And I do not have any illusions about the end of George's books, he will be her betrayal for love. He is the one who fills the three holes of the prophecies concerning love.

I hate Drogo because he raped her, though thanks to him she found love, acceptance of a people, happiness (I really think the only moment where Dany was really happy that is in season 1 with the Dothraki) but yet, he raped her ... He raped other women too, he's not a good man. I can also say: it's the fault of D&D and George ... No ... So I can not love her murderer either. And I find it really sad to have to admit that after 8 seasons, Daario was her best lover ... The bar is very low.

Daenerys was really cursed at birth.

I find it unfortunate that Jon is so "untouchable" I do not like Sansa, but I really do not understand why people hate her so much for what she did to Dany, when they do not hate Jon when his treason was much worse, because he was supposed to love Dany, she was his queen, he did not protect her. He had sworn fidelity to her, the medieval period it's not like today, the oaths were very important, betray its queen, it's to be cursed by the gods, like Jaime, people hated him for what he did, although what he did was necessary, fair, and everyone took advantage in it, even Ned Stark, he hate Jaime for that, yet the King killed his father and brother, he has no gratitude for Jaime because he made a promise before the Gods, and he betrayed this promise. It’s worse than the acts of the Mad King for many people.

With our current standards, we can find this stupid, but at that time they were great faithfuls, and honor, loyalty, obedience, and to serve someone in whom we had faith were important values. It was a great honor to serve a King. That's why Jon ended up in jail and on the wall despite the fact that most of the people who were present at the Dragonpit were his followers or his family, but what he did was wrong, in the eyes of the gods and people, he will be seen as Jaime Lannister despite his action to save people.

In short, all of this to say that if Sansa, Tyrion and Varys are guilty (and they are) then Jon is too.

Dany has always been the one to blame for everything, everything she does, even though other characters do it too, they make even worse, they blame her, but never blame others for the same thing.

And i love my Queen, i will defend her, even against the people I liked before, Arya the new xenophobe and Jon the murderer, the kinslayer and oathbreaker. 

I think that if she could have had a few more minutes of life, his betrayal would have done her more harm than Mirri Maz Duur did to her, the loss of her two dragons and those of Drogo, Jorah and Missandei. I'm basing myself on the reaction she had when she learned about Jorah's betrayal, and Jon's is worse, because she's causing her death and is made by someone she loves more and for whom she gives a lot and lost a lot.

Everyone is free to love the character they wants, but it's a shame to see double standards like that. Many are angry or regret that Sansa fans and/or Starks fans use double standards for Dany but do the same thing when it comes to Jon.

I have no problem with Dany's faults, because she has, of course, I love her even more when she questions the mistakes she has made, she is a good leader, her primary purpose is to improve the life of the common people. We would need a leader like her in our world, it is always the same who are privileged, no leaders do not care to improve the lives of peoples. I like being objective on my opinion of the characters, I'm even part of those who think that Mirri and Olly have done nothing wrong! They had their reason, they punished people who made them suffer! I love Dany but I understand why Mirri did what she did, decades during which her people are slaughtered by the Dothraki, and become their slaves, she finally has the chance to take revenge, and to prevent stallion who mount the world to born, Dany has saved her from being raped by more guys but Mirri has a chance to avenge all her people? What would you do ?

Olly wanted to punish the man who allowed the Wildlings to cross the wall, those same people who attacked his village, kill his family, and eat his father and mother in front of him ... For him, they will do what they did to his village to others, what would you do in his place?

I had never been involved in a fandom before, and I am disappointed to see so many people hating each other for fictional characters.

I'm not going to insult others who love Jon or Sansa or Arya, I'd rather take this time to show my love for Dany, share things about her and be disgusted because what is done to her in Season 8, and defend her against  those who hurt her, and Sansa is one of them, just like Tyrion, Varys, and Jon.

[recentanimenews]

Junji Ito’s No Longer Human

Of all the famous works of literature to get the Classics Illustrated treatment, Osamu Dazai’s No Longer Human is an odd choice. Its protagonist is Oba Yozo, a tortured soul who never figures out how to be his authentic self in a society that places tremendous emphasis on hierarchy, self-restraint, and civility. Over the course of the novel, he seduces a string of women, gambles, binges, joins a Communist cell, attempts suicide, and succumbs to heroin addiction, all while donning the mask of “the farcical eccentric” to conceal his “melancholy” and “agitation” from the very people whose lives he ruins.

Though the novel is filled with incident, its unreliable narrator and relentless interiority make it difficult to effectively retell in a comic format, as Junji Ito’s adaptation demonstrates. Ito’s No Longer Human is largely faithful to the events of Dazai’s novel, but takes Dazai’s spare, haunting narrative and transforms it into a phantasmagoria of sex, drugs, and death. In his efforts to show us how Yozo feels, Ito leans so hard into grotesque, oddly literal imagery that the true horror of Yozo’s story is overshadowed by Ito’s artwork—a mistake, I think, as Ito’s drawings reduce the character’s existential crisis to nightmarish images, rather than help us understand what it means to be someone who exists, in Peter Selgin’s words, in a state of “complete dissociation… yet still capable of feeling.”

In Ito’s defense, it’s not hard to see what attracted him to Dazai’s text; Yozo’s narration is peppered with the kind of vivid analogies that, at first glance, seem ideally suited for a visual medium like comics. But a closer examination of the text reveals the extent to which these analogies are part of the narrator’s efforts to beguile the reader by suggesting that his mind is filled with such monstrous ideas that he cannot be expected to function like a normal person. There’s a tension between how Yozo describes his own reactions to the ordinary unpleasantness of interacting with other people, and how Yozo describes the impact of his behavior on other people—a point that Ito overlooks in choosing to flesh out some key events in the novel.

Nowhere is that more evident than in Yozo’s brief affair with Tsuneko, a destitute waitress. After hitting rock bottom financially and emotionally, Yozo persuades her to join him in a double suicide pact. Dazai’s summary of what happens is shocking in its brevity and matter-of-factness:

As I stood there hesitating, she got up and looked inside my wallet. ‘‘Is that all you have?” Her voice was innocent, but it cut me to the quick. It was painful as only the voice of the first woman I had ever loved could be painful. “Is that all?” No, even that suggested more money than I had — three copper coins don’t count as money at all. This was a humiliation more strange than any I had tasted before, a humiliation I could not live with. I suppose I had still not managed to extricate myself from the part of the rich man’s son. It was then I myself determined, this time as a reality, to kill myself.

We threw ourselves into the sea at Kamakura that night. She untied her sash, saying she had borrowed it from a friend at the cafe, and left it folded neatly on a rock. I removed my coat and put it in the same spot. We entered the water together.

She died. I was saved.

As Ito recounts this event, however, Tsuneko’s death is caused by a poison so painful to ingest that she collapses in a writhing heap, eyes bulging and tongue wagging as if she were in the throes of becoming a monster herself. Yozo’s reaction to the poison, by contrast, is to plunge into a hallucinatory state in which a parade of ghostly women mock and berate him, an artistic choice that suggests Yozo feels shame and guilt for his actions—and a reading of Dazai’s text that makes Yozo seem more deserving of sympathy than he does in Dazai’s novel:

Throughout this vignette, Yozo’s contempt for Tsuneko creeps into the narrative, even as he assures the reader that she was the first woman he truly loved. Yet Yozo’s disdain is palpable, as is evident in the way he off-handedly introduces her to the reader:

I was waiting at a sushi stall back of the Ginza for Tsuneko (that, as I recall, was her name, but the memory is too blurred for me to be sure: I am the sort of person who can forget even the name of the woman with whom he attempted suicide) to get off from work.

Only a few episodes capture the spirit of Dazai’s original novel, as when Yozo’s father gives an inept speech to a gathering of businessmen and community leaders. Ito skillfully cross-cuts between three separate conversations, allowing us to step into Yozo’s shoes as he eavesdrops on the attendees, servants, and family members, all of whom speak disparagingly about each other, and the speech. By pulling back the curtain on these conversations, Ito helps the reader appreciate the class and power differences among these groups, as well as revealing that this episode was a turning point for Yozo: the moment when he first realized that adults maintain certain masks in public that they discard in private. Though this discovery can be a painful one for children—one need only think of Holden Caulfield’s obsession with adult “phoniness”—this discovery plunges Yozo into a state of despair, as he cannot imagine how anyone reconciles their public and private selves in a truthful way.

Ito also wisely restores material from Dazai’s novel that other adaptors—most notably Usamaru Furuya—trimmed from their versions. In particular, Ito does an excellent job of exploring the dynamic between Yozo and his classmate Takeichi, the first person who sees through Yozo’s carefully orchestrated buffoonery:

Just when I had begun to relax my guard a bit, fairly confident that I had succeeded by now in concealing completely my true identity, I was stabbed in the back, quite unexpectedly. The assailant, like most people who stab in the back, bordered on being a simpleton — the puniest boy in the class, whose scrofulous face and floppy jacket with sleeves too long  for him was complemented by a total lack of proficiency in his studies and by such clumsiness in military drill and physical training that he was perpetually designated as an ‘‘onlooker.” Not surprisingly, I failed to recognize the need to be on my guard against him.

As one might guess from this passage, Yozo’s terror at being discovered is another critical juncture in the novel. “I felt as if I had seen the world before me burst in an instant into the raging flames of hell,” he reports, before embarking on a campaign to win Takeichi’s trust by “cloth[ing his] face in the gentle beguiling smile of the false Christian.” Though Ito can’t resist the temptation to draw an image of Yozo engulfed in hell fire, most of Yozo’s fear is conveyed in subtler ways: a wary glance at Takeichi, an extreme close-up of Yozo’s face, an awkwardly placed arm around Takeichi’s shoulder:

What happens next in Ito’s version of No Longer Human, however, is indicative of another problem with his adaptation: his decision to add new material. In Dazai’s novel, Takeichi simply disappears from the narrative when Yozo moves to Tokyo for college, but in Ito’s version, Yozo cruelly manipulates Takeichi into thinking that Yozo’s cousin Setchan is in love with him—a manipulation that ultimately leads to Takeichi’s humiliation and suicide. That violent death is followed by a gruesome murder, this time prompted by a love triangle involving Yozo, his “auntie,” and Setchan, who becomes pregnant with Yozo’s child. Neither of these episodes deepen our understanding of who Yozo really is; they simply add more examples of how manipulative and callous he can be, thus blunting the impact of the real tragedy that unfolds in the late stages of his story.

Ito’s most problematic addition, however, is Osamu Dazai himself. Ito replaces the novel’s original framing device with the events leading up to Dazai’s 1948 suicide, encouraging us to view No Longer Human as pure autobiography through reinforcing the parallels between Dazai’s life and Yozo’s. And while those parallels are striking, the juxtaposition of the author and his fictional alter ego ultimately distorts the meaning of the novel by suggesting that the story documents Dazai’s own unravelling. That’s certainly one way to interpret No Longer Human, but such an autobiographical reading misses Dazai’s broader themes about the burden of consciousness, the nature of self, and the difficulty of being a full, authentic, feeling person in modern society.

VIZ Media provided a review copy. You can read a brief preview at the VIZ website by clicking here. For additional perspectives on Junji Ito’s adaptation, see Serdar Yegulalp‘s excellent, in-depth review at Ganriki.org, Reuben Barron‘s review at CBR.com, and MinovskyArticle’s review at the VIZ Media website.

JUNJI ITO’S NO LONGER HUMAN • ORIGINAL NOVEL BY OSAMU DAZAI • BASED ON THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY DONALD KEENE • TRANSLATED AND ADAPTED BY JOCELYNE ALLEN • VIZ MEDIA • RATED M, FOR MATURE AUDIENCES • 616 pp.

By: Katherine Dacey

[tessatechaitea]

Text Adventure Review: “Border Zone”

The main reason I'll probably need to pause the game is to masturbate when I meet the sexy double agent and type, "Fuck sexy double agent then fall asleep".

In the picture above, try not to read the three chapter titles because there's a spoiler in the third one that says "The Assassination." I'm going to forget that's a plot point and start playing "Chapter 1: The Train" because Marc Blank suggested that's what I do. CHAPTER ONE The protagonist (that's you! The person you play in the game! Or it's me! I'll probably go back and forth using first and second person pronouns so please don't be confused by my amateurish writing style) is just a regular non-spy person who does a little importing and exporting across the Iron Curtain. This game is from 1987 so nobody remembers what the Iron Curtain is anymore. It really wasn't that important anyway, at least not to those of us living on the Western side of it and never had to really think about its implications on the people trapped on the Eastern side of it. Am I supposed to have enough time and compassion to worry about the state of other peoples' worlds when I can barely keep my world from disintegrating?! If you want Levi's, people dumb enough to be born in countries annexed by the USSR after World War II, maybe you should have thought about that up in heaven when God was asking you what uterus you wanted your soul implanted in! Idiots. The train story begins, as all good espionage train stories do, with a probably dying secret agent breaking into your compartment to hand you the documents that will stop the assassination if only you can get them to another secret agent by responding to a coded phrase with a coded phrase of your own. I think I've practically got this part of the game won! Except I've forgotten both of the phrases already. I should probably restart and make a note of them, right? Okay, I've figured out what the secret agent will say to me and what I have to respond and I've even translated the sayings into Frobnian because I understand how Infocom games use their non-digital printed material as copy protection! Somebody without the phrase book that comes with the game wouldn't realize that the American agent is telling you the English codes but his contact is Frobnian! I'm so far ahead of Marc Blank right now he would say something like, "Whoa! That guy is super far ahead of me! And totally not a virgin." As an experienced business man who has dealt with border control for my entire business life (the fictional me in the game! What, you think I actually work for a living?!), I know that I can't just keister the document. The searches at the border are brutal. And I don't have a fake mustache so I'm flummoxed already. Plus the wounded agent left a big blood spatter on the floor of my cabin. So to even make it out off the train so I can meet my contact, I've got to clean up the blood and figure out what to do with the document. The blood was easy but to keep the document, I had to get caught a few times to figure out where the evil trench coat wearing man's interrogation weaknesses lay! Or lie (I knew I should have phrased that differently. Stupid lie/lay is worse than who/whom). Because apparently even if you flush the document down the toilet underneath a huge nervous stomach shit, the border patrol will dig it out and bust you. So I cleaned up the blood by doing all of the boring and inane steps like turning on the faucet and wetting the towel and turning off the faucet and scrubbing the floor and returning to the bathroom and flushing the towel. In Infocom games, it isn't enough to just tell the protagonist to clean up the blood and then, like a normal adult human being, the protagonist would think, "Oh yeah! I know how to do that! Let me get right to it!" I guess Infocom games are less about ordering some jerk around and more trying to pretend that you are that jerk and that that jerk is kind of stupid. After cleaning the blood, I had to figure out what to do with the document. No matter where I tried to hide it, border control sniffed it out and traced it back to me. So the only thing to do was to tear it up and shove it up my ass! I mean throw it out the window. But that meant I couldn't complete my mission which really wasn't my mission anyway and why did I care if some ambassador was assassinated?! I didn't ask for this responsibility! It's not my fault if somebody dies today. It's the fault of the clumsy American agent who got himself shot, stumbled upon a useless dolt to complete his mission, and then fell off the roof of the train! I should just throw the document out the window and get on with my life! And maybe I will! But before I did that — you know, just in case my conscience berates me continuously for the rest of my life — I figured I should probably keep some photographic evidence of the document. After doing so, I couldn't help worrying about how there was another picture left on the roll of film and I was probably going to have to completely restart this stupid game when I realized I needed to take one more picture before removing the film and hiding it up my ass from the border patrol. Stupid Infocom games always have me worried that I'm in a walking dead with a roll of film up my ass scenario! Being the super chill American businessman turned spy kind of Lothario I am, I totally and easily complete my new mission and probably fuck a hot double agent too! But not the young girl I handed the roll of film to! The double agent was probably older than that!

I know this screenshot is different from the previous screenshot! But the Apple IIe copy I found crashed when you examined your clothes or photographed the document. And the Commodore 64 version seems to think people who play Infocom games are already wasting their lives so why not make every move take an interminable amount of time. So I wound up playing the browser MS-DOS version on Archive.org.

For an Infocom game, that first chapter was simple! All you had to do was act like a boring idiot who totally wasn't involved in political espionage at all and you succeeded! I bet every nerd who tried their hand at this game beat Chapter One. But the next chapter will be different because the player takes on the part of the American spy! What greasy nerd knows how to act suave and sophisticated and super sexy? I mean aside from me! I was born to play this role! CHAPTER TWO You begin the story of the American Spy after he falls from the roof of the train. He claims he jumped for it but when I was the businessman, I know what I saw! I'm a clumsy oaf! I mean he's a clumsy oaf! No, wait. I guess I am the clumsy oaf! And I'm not clumsy at all! I totally jumped for it and looked hot doing it. Now I just have to survive the freezing weather and try to get past the border patrol or else I'll die out here in the ... BORDER ZONE! Hopefully I'll also get another chance to fight my rival Viper to the death! Ew, I'll show him! Or her! Or not! After playing this chapter for about ten minutes, I realize it does every single thing I don't like in text adventures: time limit, characters that go about their business while you're off in other areas, and a puzzle that relies on knowing so much about the timeline that you have to play the scenario dozens of times to work it all out. I feel like I've got the gist of what you have to do (although I'm probably wrong on one key point because I haven't played more than a handful of times) but I'm not sure I'm willing to keep at it. After you bail from the train, the border guards begin searching for you. So you've got some guys in a vehicle driving around and a pack of dogs (not to mention the searchlights and fences at the border) hunting you down. Early on, you have to get to a small house because it has a parka in it to keep you from freezing to death. You have to time this with when the guards arrive to talk to the owner so he's distracted while you sneak in the back. There might be more to do inside the shack other than gather up all the crap in the storage room but, as I mentioned, I haven't really explored the scenario yet in multiple ways. As a spy, you have an explosive pen on you. It has a timer which means I have to figure out how long to set the timer for and where to stick the pen to get something further in the story to happen. I feel like I have to stick it on the guard's automobile so that it explodes near the border, distracting the guards at the spotlights so I can make a run for the other side. Realizing that that might be the solution is what has really made me dread continuing with this game. Another puzzle is to get the dogs to stop following you. I'm fairly certain you do that just by putting on the work boots and trudging through the swamp a ways before leaving the swamp in a new location and leaving the boots behind. If there are any other puzzles (aside from staunching your bleeding gun shot wound), I haven't found them. I suppose the biggest one is sneaking about to get the pen on the guard's car and figuring out how long to set the timer for. Do I want to bother with that? I feel like that's the big puzzle that allowed Infocom to tack on hours and hours of gameplay to Border Zone. Because now I have to follow the car around to see where it goes and how long I'll need to set the timer for and where I'll need to be when the pen blows up. I have other things to do with my life, Marc Blank! I mean, they're not very important things. But they're things I'd rather be doing than messing around with the timer on my imaginary explosive pen! I'm not cut out to be a spy, especially when that spy has to know things he couldn't possibly know on the first playthrough of this game. Does Marc Blank know how real life works?! Oh, your argument is that this is a game and not real life and that maybe I should chill out about it?! Well if this game is a game and not real life, why the fuck does everything keep moving along even when I'm not entering any commands?! Who wants to play a text adventure like that?! Even Bioshock doesn't demand that kind of effort out of the player. Bioshock is the only other game I could come up with. It isn't even a fair comparison. If Border Zone were a first person shooter, I'd absolutely finish this chapter! I could see the guards moving and physically hide from them. I could observe how everything moves in the game by following them around. But in a text adventure, it's fucking impossible. Sure, the game tells me if the dogs are to the north or the west. But when I'm hiding behind the shack, it sure would be a lot easier to figure out what I'm doing if I could see the guards interacting with the owner of the shack and milling about searching the premises! I don't think my imagination is good enough to handle this bullshit tension. I'm so fucking stressed out right now!

Apparently you can get close to the border without doing any of the stuff I previously mentioned except stealing everything from the storage room.

It doesn't seem like I've done enough before getting to the border but I guess I should explore this area a little more before writing Marc Blank a letter about how terrible some of his decisions were early in his career. I suppose I need to use my explosive pen here to blow a hole through the fence which I won't be able to climb through because the guards will hear it. Unless I time the explosion to blow when both guards are at the same spot, killing them? Then can I rush through in the chaos?! Figuring out the answer to that means doing math, I bet! That's because you get a timer and a little ASCII display of the guards' motion as you watch them. This is way too hard! I miss the Infocom days when you could just type "kill thief with sword" and hope the random number generator gave you a good result. Once you get through the fence, you can climb up a guard tower where there's a bolted ladder leading up to a locked door with a guard inside. But even if you can hide on the metal bit bracing the ladder, knock on the door, and shove the stupid guard off of the tower, you still can't jump across the border from the top of the tower. You just wind up dead. Which is when I thought, "Hey! I need the exploding pen for this part! I bet I can just climb over the fence and save the explosives for this scene!" And I was almost completely and absolutely right except for a few small details which would have frustrated the fuck out of me if I hadn't gotten completely lucky on restarting Chapter Two to try out my new solutions. You see, there's a small shed in the forest near the shack. A small shed that is almost impossible to find due to my apathetic attitude toward mapping Border Zone and the way every location is described as "You move 100 yards north and find you're still in the snowy forest. What did you expect, jerk?!" Sure, the shed has been drawn on the map that came with the game so that people who actually purchased Border Zone would have explored long enough to find it. And I have access to that map because everything is free on the Internet. Right? Am I making a terrible assumption there? Um, anyway, when I restarted, due to not having mapped, I couldn't remember exactly how to get to the shack before the guards got there. While stumbling around lost, I found the shed with the rubber gloves and bolt-cutters inside. And like in most text adventure games that aren't Infocom, the main puzzle was simply finding the right items where they were hidden. Because as soon as I found the bolt-cutters, I knew I had this chapter beat. What I didn't know was that the border fence I'd previously blown up to get through was electrified! Luckily, I had found the rubber work gloves right there with the bolt-cutters. Marc Blank practically gave that puzzle's solution away for free! Idiot. He should have hid the gloves somewhere in the forest where you weren't ever clued in to dig in the snow. That's more like a proper 80s text adventure! Of course, that's not Infocom's way! Infocom wants you to succeed! They want you to realize you wasted the pen explosive and needed a new solution where you use the pen to blow up the tower so that it falls over the border fence with you inside of it! But at least in the actual solution, you still get to push that stupid Frobnian Nazi off of the tower. Eat snow, grumblebutt!

I'll accept my Champeen of Infocom crown now.

Chapter Three The first two chapters were way too easy for Infocom games so I'm really nervous about this third chapter. Have I just gotten more brilliant as I've grown older or did Marc Blank save all of his dreadful Infocom ingenuity for this final chapter?! Hopefully this chapter doesn't have dozens of NPCs whom I've got to track across multiple playthroughs just to figure out where I should be every minute of the scenario. I really do prefer text adventure games with static environments that simply react to the things I do. I'm already stressed out thinking about my race against the clock to save the ambassador! Remember when I didn't even care if the ambassador died during the first chapter?! Why am I suddenly invested in saving that asshole?!

In this chapter, I'm the sexy double agent!

The sexy double agent is also — and this is a huge spoiler for all you Infocom fanatics who just haven't, for some reason, gotten around to playing all of the Infocom games — Viper, the man in the trench coat trying to get the documents back from the importer/exporter in the first chapter! If that's the case, you'd think I could just go to a coffee shop and hang out for the rest of the game. If I'm trying to stop the people trying to stop the assassination, then can't I just stop trying to stop those people so they can stop the assassination?! Maybe if I just hit "z" and "enter" until this chapter ends, everything will work out for the best! Seventeen in-game minutes later, the ambassador has been shot and killed. What the fuck?! How incompetent are the American spies? I guess that's why I'm a double agent. Because I'm double the agent all of these other jerks are. I guess I need to get to work saving the day all by myself! If only that stupid American businessman had given me the documents, I could have saved the day myself. Except when I did get the documents in Chapter One, the game still ended with the ambassador getting assassinated. I should just get on with saving the day already. I bet when I'm done, I'll run into Topaz (that was my secret agent name in Chapter Two, apparently) and we'll share a deep, passionate kiss. I do run into Topaz chilling at a coffee shop exactly like I was planning to do!

I guess Topaz doesn't feel the same way that I feel about him.

Topaz is probably still important to the story, so I decide to leave him alone for now as I got about my double agent business of stopping the assassination that I put into place. It's actually not too hard to do if I don't mind sacrificing the rest of my double agent career. I meet my contact, learn the sniper's password, figure out what window he's sniping out of (by checking the apartment directory, you just have to find which eastern facing apartment is empty on the fifth floor (maybe other floors at time but it always seemed to be the fifth floor on my multiple restarts), and go shoot him in the back. But that puts a lot of suspicion on you and you wind up pushing papers in Siberia. Better to trick Topaz into stopping the assassination! I guess that's why you have to save his life in Chapter Two. To do that, you have to get him to chase you back to the sniper's nest without getting caught by him or the local police. At one point, you get to push over a hot dog vendor's cart so it really feels like you're in an action movie and also that you're a fucking prick. Once you lead Topaz back to the sniper, the difficult part was not also being killed by Topaz. After making him a huge hero, he kept shooting me in the face because he's a huge bastard whom I wish I never helped cross the border now! At first I thought, "Well, this is an Infocom game. It was bound to get difficult at some point! And I guess one or two moves away from completing the game is as good a time as any to get stuck." But then I thought, "Well, even though the sniper doesn't let me move or do anything, and the sniper's apartment is completely bare, maybe I can try to hide so Topaz doesn't fucking murder me when he kicks in the door?"

Oh fuck. Easy as that, was it?!

And with that final move to hide in plain sight, I fucking defeat Marc Blank! You stupid son of a bitch! You thought you were so clever, didn't you? "Oh, look at me! I'm an Infocom imp! I write the hardest text adventure games in the world and I only mattered for like four years in the mid to late eighties because I hitched my star to the most boring entertainment ever! Only stupid virgin assholes would keep playing the games I wrote, the dumb bastards!" Hey! Fuck you, Marc Blank! How did that Marc Blank imaginary soliloquy get away from me so badly?! Anyway, suck on this, Marc:

Seriously though. I can't believe I beat this game without any hints. I'm fucking chuffed.

SCORES Game Title: Not great since it basically drove me away from this game for years. I suppose if you're into espionage stories, it's a great title because it's so evocative of crossing a border! That's like the hardest challenge in the espionage genre! I think. I'm not a fan so what the fuck do I know? My favorite espionage movie is Run, Lola, Run. Does that count as espionage? I guess that's more heist fucks time travel while fingering romance's anus. Puzzles: As far as modern day Interactive Fiction "rules" go, the puzzles in Border Zone are terrible. Nearly all of them rely on playing through and losing dozens of times to see how the NPCs react to different situations. It's the only way to learn how they behave so you can act accordingly. But compared to a non-Infocom game, the puzzles were generally satisfying. Because of the way the game works, I'm not even sure some of the things I did were solutions to puzzles or just wasting my time. Did I have to go through the swamp to lose the dogs or could I have just done everything quicker? Were there alternate ways to solve puzzles or were things like the binoculars and the wood saw in Chapter Two just red herrings? Generally, once I saw the way the other characters reacted, it was long before I figured out how to thwart them. I believe Marc Blank was relying on some puzzles to be difficult due to the player losing track of the story. Like in Chapter One, you can get all the way to the end and still get caught when you try to pass the documents to your contact because you were wearing the stupid white carnation the entire time. But once you realize you seem to have done everything correctly and some guy on the platform is still following you, it's not hard to realize you need to not stand out and to keister that stupid flower until you actually need it. Gameplay: Fucking annoying. I hate adventure games where the story continues no matter what you do. I hate timed adventure games. Border Zone decided not only to use those two aspects I hate but to invent a third one that — Hey! Guess what?! — I hated even more: time passes even when you're not typing! Is there a word that means both "innovative" and "Goddamned fucking annoying as fuck"? Whatever it is, Marc Blank should copyright it. Graphics: Normally for a text adventure, I'd say none and be done with it. But this one did have graphics! It had a little ASCII bit to show two guards marching around the base of three towers! And it absolutely did nothing for me because the dumb guards barely even notice you when you cut through the fence silently instead of blowing a huge hole in it. Hell, even after blowing a hole in the fence, the idiots keep to their regular patrol only slightly more alert due to hearing an explosion. Concept: I think I more than adequately covered my apathy toward the concept. I will compliment Marc Blank for his work in making a game about a really stressful experience into a really stressful experience. Good job, jerk! Fun Time: I keep forgetting to track the amount of time it takes me to play these games. Maybe I'll get better at it eventually. But I think I spent maybe six hours (at most. I might even drop that to four or five) playing this game over the last week and a half? I did think about it more than that though. But not a lot more. And the third chapter which I thought would be dreadfully hard took the least amount of time of all. Probably not even an hour. The good news is that the amount of "fun time" I had with this game is equal to the amount of time I played it. That doesn't often happen. Usually the "fun time" gets expended quickly and I force myself to trudge through the rest of the game, adding the experience to the long list of things I'll regret when a doctor finally says to me, "You have three months to live due to your malignant finger cancer caused by typing."

[powerovernothing]

Of your three boys, Lucian, Martian and Korbin, who is the best at monopoly? (if they played monopoly) Who tries to cheat? Who gets upset when they loose?

Hehehe, oh my goodness. Leave it to my dearest Mistress Sis to not only send me the absolute best types of messages with the very best questions based around my incredibly silly Assassin like, and Priestly children, but to turn around and send me one that is just so adorable and made me giggle like the utter fool I am when I first read it in my askbox? Well now, how could I not do everything with my power to put together the best and perfectly fitting answer to all your precious wondering?

I’m just a bit ashamed that it took so long to get around to answering this properly, though! Mostly because, early on when I was putting together what I wanted to reply with, I knew I wanted to include several things, and one of those things was a piece of a story of mine that actually wasn’t edited at that moment! So, I had to set a few things aside, put the answer on hold, and do what I could to make sure the story turned out well, and good enough for you to look oover when I finally got around to posting this on my blog!Well, now it has, and not only that, but I have several more amusing things to speak of in regards to three foolish boys! And what would happen when, not if, they played Monopoly, and what becomes of their little games when they get too involved in brotherly antics! Check out everything below, and thank you so much for sending me lovely questions about Korbin and his brothers! You know I always have and will forever dearly appreciate it!

Let’s dive in!

(*~*Tons of lengthy discussions, snippets, and screenshots based around the boys in the Modern Verse behind the cut!*~*)

Honestly, it should go without saying that anything that the boys end up doing together, no matter if it’s a simple board game, or a round of snowball fights in the late of night, it is most certainly going to turn from being innocent and simple, to over the top, dramatic, and super childish. Korbin and his siblings are incredibly competitive, and they always are trying to find ways to outdo the other in some way.

Without a doubt, Korbin and Lucien are the very worst offenders for this happening, but you would be surprised to find out Martin is just honestly as bad!

Perhaps that is what happens when you live with Assassins for so long, or perhaps its just because Lucien brings out that side of you. Whatever the case may be, anything can go from a fun little game, to a full on war without hardly much effort. Case in point? When the boys were trying to pass the time during a storm and were playing Uno together:

Korbin: [pleading] “Brother please, you cannot do this to me!”

Lucien: “Forgive me, my Silencer, but I must. It is as fate has foretold.”

Martin: [aghast] “How could you, Lachance, and to Korbin of all people?! I would never have thought you to be capable of such heartless betrayal!”

Lucien: “You should know by now, Septim, just what it is I am capable of. But even so, understand I surely have no other choice.”

Lucien:

Lucien: [places a Draw 4 card down upon the table] “Uno.”

(This is an unposted Incorrect Quote, but if you like it, I can totally upload it as a proper post!)

See what I mean? Or perhaps you would rather see what happens when they spend an afternoon playing laser tag together, after Korbin chose to drag both of his older brothers there to help them vent and let off some steam, after they spent far too much time together, and it wound up turning into a screaming match for Divines and Sithis only know what reason!

“Lu-Lucien? …Brother, Iwill… I will have you know if this is your attempt at a joke, it isn’t funny inthe slightest…” He mumbles unsteadily; continuing to shake Lucien’s still andunmoving shoulders with both hands. Lightly at first, but then more desperatelyas he attempts to rouse him in vain. “…You stupid bastard, I know you can feelme shaking you, so wake up! Wake up and say something! Anything! I don’t care what… don’t just lay there!”

As the growing silence engulfshis senses and clouds every thought, Korbin ceases his futile shaking and laysLucien flat upon the ground. Bowing his head – and knowing he would never againfind comfort within the once shared sanguine tinted twilight – he grasps onto partof Lucien’s dress shirt as broken tears slip down his cheeks and feels himselfslowly succumbing under the weight of his grief.

“…Don’t leave me, Lucien… please…” He whispers, wishing for someform of a miracle, for one moment more, for a chance to say all that hadremained unspoken… and yet just as soon as such feelings of frailty comes, theyare quickly replaced with a newfound anger – and an uncontrollable rage.

“Damn you, Septim, you havegone too far!” He cries out to the emptiness, once sorrowful prayers nowconsumed with a need for vengeance, as he dearly hopes his target will somehow hearhim and know what was coming. “No matter our bond, no matter what love weshared, it is over! I will hunt you down for what you have done, for whom you havetaken from me, and I will end your life by my own hand! You will beg for deathbefore the end, but no mercy shall come to you! I will make absolute certain ofthat!”

And in the aftermath of Korbin’sincredibly dramatic threat, Martin responds by carefully stepping out of the darkenedcorner he was listening in from. Standing across from where his chosen siblingsremained close together over the carpet in an extended moment of uncomfortable silence,Martin exchanges a dark glare with Korbin…and then finally loses himself to thecackling laughter he struggled, but ultimately failed, to suppress despite hisbest attempts to stay in character throughout the course of the over the top performance.

“For the love of Akatosh, onlyyou two –” Martin gasps for breath in-between giddy giggling and reachesup to wipe at the amused tears with the back of his hand. “—only you twowould take something as innocent as a simple game of laser tag – which isabsolutely meant for children, no less! – and somehow find the means totransform it into a brutal war reenactment!”

This is apart of one of my newer fan fictions I uploaded to my blog entitled “Bitter Are The War Between Brothers”, which you can find the rest of right behind this little link here if you’d enjoy reading the over the top antics, and incredibly hammy performances!

Outside of those examples there, however, I’m pretty certain even a simple game of Monopoly would end turning into some sort of death battle with these idiots at the wheel. I mean, two of them can’t even get through a simple game of chess without Lucien trying to break the rules at some point, because he absolutely despises how talented Martin is at the game!

Do you think he’s above trying to distract his brother and change the pieces when he isn’t looking? Not hardly! In fact, that’s just the kind of petty thing he would do, because he’s tired of losing, tired of looking like a fool, and just wants to win some game between himself and Septim at some point, dammit! He doesn’t care what he has to do to make it happen!

So, Lucien would absolutely cheat while playing, because Martin is simply too good at money management, and hotel strategies, and would end up in jail more often than the others. Korbin and Martin would absolutely make some sort of jest about him being behind bars – and how it suits him, and reminds them of the many times they had to bail him out in real life – and Lucien would most likely just grumble and then flick one of the die or one of his little houses at their heads.

To which Martin would not approve of, and then give him a longer sentence.

So, Lucien would be the cheater, and Martin would be the one who plays the very best, and has the most money and properties – I mean, after all, he is a Emperor in another non modern life, hehe – and Korbin… he would do his best to try and play fair.

In the beginning.

But then at some point he would get frustrated with Martin as well, and would ‘bail’ his brother out of jail, and then stage a revolt against Martin and try and destroy, or at the very least, blow up all of the hotels he has. Which would include over the top sound effects from Korbin, lots of giggling from all three of them, but sadly would not actually do anything to overthrow Martin and simply cause both Korbin and Lucien to wind up in jail together.

…In short? Martin is the smug victor with tons of money, Lucien is incredibly annoyed and close to flipping the table, and Korbin just really wants to play Go-Fish next. What exactly would that round of Go-Fish – which would ultimately turn into a serious round of Poker – entail, you may ask? Well, if you’ve been paying attention to all my rambling, you should know by now…

When Assassin’s want their revenge upon those who wronged them, it can only end… bloody.

But honestly, I do believe I am simply being just a tad bit silly! All in all, when it comes to the boys and the idea of them interacting and playing games like a normal family… well, I don’t honestly think they know the meaning of the word ‘normal’. I think that got lost somewhere around the time two Hitmen adopted a Sunday School Teacher – at least in the Modern Verse – and brought him into their shadowy little world. Basically, at the end of the day, everything between them will end up being turned into a competition.

Everything.

Even in the Revised Timeline, Lucien and Korbin always try to one up each other when it comes to their Assassination contracts and which has the best murdering tactics to fell their targets, and Martin and Lucien try to show up the other with various forms of magic, potions, or other rule breaking means when they spar to catch the other off guard and land the ‘killing’ blow.

No matter the world, no matter the verse, some things never change, hehe~!

In any case, my dear lovely and darling Mistress Sis, I hope that provided you with a few answers, and maybe a few giggles just as well! I honestly adored seeing you send me this message, and I honestly loved taking the time out to answer it – and answer it properly! I know it took a while, and I know you had been waiting for a bit, but I hope it was worth it in the end! Even despite the length, whoops!

Thank you so very much for sending this my way, as well as the rest of the questions that I will be doing my best to answer over the next little while.

You always pick at my brain in the best ways, and always ask the best things about the boys, and I always appreciate it. Just as I always have, and always will, super appreciate you. Thanks so much again, darling! Tons of hugs and kisses, and lots of love coming your way~! ♥

[hina-akatsuki]

Genetic memory- is it real?

I am not a game expert and quite a novice in the world of video games… But, Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed has grasped my attention for a long time. Not only because of it’s superb graphics but also because of its historical and scientific plot. The story revolves around an individual, Desmond Miles, who is put into a time machine called the “ANIMUS”, which is capable of accessing his ancestor’s memory through his DNA.

  Throughout the game, the player sees Desmond’s ancestral life, who happened to be an assassin,through his eyes. This got me thinking, can one access memories of their ancestors from their genetic code?

  “Genetic memory” is an idea that takes the centre stage in the“Assassin’s Creed” with much scientific grounding. Probably not as vivid as portrayed by Ubisoft, but studying the genome can reveal several aspects of one’s ancestry. With the emergence of “ The Human Genome project” in the 2000s, it was claimed that mankind has succeeded in decoding the human genetic code. With the information provided by our DNA, we can trace back to where we come from , where our ancestors settled and with whom they interacted over generations.  

How can we predict so much from a strand of genetic code?

 The answer is simple. Since the culmination of mankind, humans have been on the move for various reasons; shortage of food, new pastures etc. Nomadic groups who settled in one place for several generations gathered specific genetic markers of the region. Over the centuries, with constant mixing of genes between different individuals, humanity has prospered. By studying the changes in the genome, we can roughly construct a tree of our ancestry and weave a story of our past.

 DNA is the unit that is responsible for inheritance; from physical characters to genetic diseases. But the idea of inheriting ancestral memory, let alone look into the episodes of our ancestor’s lives seems improbable. However, human memory envelops itself in several layers. It compels us to find some truth in the saying,” One never forgets…”  

 Out of the many variations of human memory, genetic memory is the least discussed and still under investigation. In psychological terms, genetic memory is said to be present at birth and exists in the absence of any sensory experience and is incorporated into the genome over long spans of time. Although the mechanism is still unclear, scholars theorized about the human capacity to inherit certain innate qualities, such as- learning capacity, brain power, and memories.

 In analytical psychology, a theory prevails that an individual can access its ancestral memory through a collective imagery known as “collective unconscious”. According to psycho-analyst Carl Jung, who proposed this idea, a segment of the deepest unconscious mind is genetically inherited and is not shaped by personal experience. The collective unconscious is made up of a collection of knowledge and imagery that every person is born with and is shared by all human beings due to ancestral experience( compare it with a public library). Jung further theorized that an individual’s belief system and biased views were a product of the inherited collective unconscious.

 However, the Jungian theory of collective unconscious, is categorized as a pseudo-scientific theory in the science community. Jung’s work, unlike his counterpart Freud, revolved purely around the interpretation of dreams, symbols which he believed depended on the individual. This fact posed a difficulty for scientists since it is tough to prove that mythological images or symbols are inherited and hardwired into an individual’s mind.

 Even so, Jung’s theory couldn’t be completely discarded. One of the reasons being, it could partially justify the abilities shown by a savant. A person having the savant syndrome shows skills which are far beyond average, without ever learning or having prior training in that skill. Moreover, savants show such prodigious skills despite having mental disability. Also, geniuses show the same skills but in the absence of any such disability. Researchers believe that these people are born with a specific skill hardwired into their brain, probably inherited, which would remain dormant under normal circumstances. Most of the skills that have been reported in savants and geniuses throughout history are related to memory, which makes genetic memory a crucial line of study.

  Second reason being, collective unconscious could partially explain the occurrences of phobias in people. Jung explained that a person’s experiences in the past influence their DNA. Although, Jung could not provide with a scientific explanation and stuck to subconscious imagery, his hypothesis allowed interpretation of dreams as an instrument for research and diagnosis of psychological conditions and phobias.  

 A more scientific explanation for the occurrence of phobias in a person is explained at the Emory University of Medicine, Atlanta. Their experiments show that experiences in a being’s life affects its gene’s phenotype. So fear of snakes could be an inherited defence mechanism laid in the genome of a family whose ancestor had a traumatizing experience with the reptile.

 What Jung tried to explain by venturing into the subconscious, modern scientists take the aid of a rather new field of study- epigenetics. Epigenetic changes involve modifications in the gene that don’t concern changes in the DNA sequence. Over the years it has been established that these changes are inherited over generations and are not solely environment dependent. In the few years of its establishment, these changes have been documented to show signatures that flag significant changes in the life-long history of an individual across generations. If at all Ubisoft’s ANIMUS is a reality in the far future, it would probably be reading the epigenetic changes in our DNA.

 It’s clear that the power of memory is swayed by many factors; environmental and psychological. The truth is, we have yet to uncover a lot about the human mind as well as our genome. By introducing the geographical and environmental imprint that can occur on DNA we can imagine the what and where of our personal history. Technology has taken us as far as real time imaging of visual processes in our brain with the study of epigenetics to add insight. With all the bits and pieces put together, we could piece together a rather expensive and slow version of the “ANIMUS”. However, time travel and bearing witness to our past is still a far-fetched possibility brought to life by the creators of Assassin’s Creed.

 Till then, the human body remains a vessel with numerous questions yet to be answered.

  LINKS FOR REFERENCE:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-superhuman-mind/201302/remembering-things-you-were-born

 https://www.bbc.com/news/health-25156510

 https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/memory/an-overview-of-genetic-memory/

 https://blogs.ancestry.com/cm/assassins-creed-ancestral-memory-science-based-or-total-fiction/

 https://www.inverse.com/article/25071-assassins-creed-genetic-memory-animu

 https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/10486479/Phobias-may-be-memories-passed-down-in-genes-from-ancestors.html

 https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/05/01/why-cant-humans-inherit-memories-genetically/#1d71bec7788c

 https://www.wisconsinmedicalsociety.org/professional/savant-syndrome/resources/articles/ancestral-or-genetic-memory-factory-installed-software/

Note- first installation of my psychology series! Stay tuned for the rest!

[pheonixandthewisteria]

So @m-iikan tagged me in a little tag post thing-y and sorrY for the delay I uhhh, haven’t been on tumblr much recently, but nevertheless,, So this is a tag 11 people and respond to the questions and ask your own then!~ So lets get right on in~ 1) What song have you had on repeat recently? Umm,,, for me I listen to a lot of music so there’s been like 3 on repeat recently, and those are; Alec Benjamin - The Wolf and the Sheep, Ruelle - Game of Survival, and Lindsey Stirling - Crystallize.

2) If the apocalypse arrived and you had to survive for whatever reason and you could only pick one person you met online to help you get through, who would it be and why? Well, I’ve only met a few people online honestly, it would be my friends Max and Vanner or you @m-iikan. So I totally adore all of you and I’m honestly the type who enjoys meeting new people (even if it does exhaust me and make me nervous at times) and learning more about them, who they are, why they are. Max and Vanner would be because we already bonded so much over so many things and having someone else who understands a lot about how I operate and feel over things would be good. Next, M-iikan, it’s cause I’m totally excited to hypothetically(I wouldn’t force anyone) to meet you, we’ve spoken only a few times, and it wasn’t always positive but I feel like we could get a better environment created and get our heads above the water!  3) Favourite Book?

Hhh, umm.... This is more impulse because I’m watching the Shadowhunter Series, but I really Loved the Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare, I love Will and Jem and Tessa so much, I just wish- *deleted for safety of spoilers x33*

4) What’s one food you can never get tired of? 

Crab Meat Tempura. I’m love. One true love.

5) Best thing that happened to you in the past year? Quitting my job at a retail store and starting in a manufacturing company, it seems kinda simple but it is so much better, I sleep a lot better, I don’t spend time after work thinking of ways to get out of work nearly as often, don’t feel nearly as depressed due to the pressure that company put on me, so I’ll have to say that changed my mentality quite a bit. It was a risk at the start but, it was definitely worth it.

6) Shuffle your music what plays first? (I refuse to list how many times I decided against the first song it plays because its itunes and I have too many songs I shame myself for having not deleted yet) But we’ll go with the first song that I actually enjoy listening to that played was Exec_Flip_Arphage by Shikata Akiko from the Ar Tonelico III game.

7) Favourite TV show ever?

Hrm, I’ll assume this doesn’t include anime to keep my nerdism in, but I already alluded to this show before, but I absolutely adore the Shadowhunters Series. It’s on Hulu and I hate that it’s almost over, even though I know it was probably only intended to follow the Mortal Instruments books... The series is based on the books by Cassandra Clare, one of my all time favourite writers.

8) Favourite Memory

Hhholy cats, I umm... I’ll actually chose the memories I have for a particular home I lived in, but my favourite memory has to be a random blurry memory from when I was reallllly young, like hmm, maybe 2-5 years old. I had been with my family for Christmas and my uncle Lane and I had built a little fort of christmas presents and I had a little peek hole to see my family but declared myself (I think, mind you this is a very distant memory) queen of the presents, before taking them to each person whom they were for. 9) What kind of weather do you prefer most?

When it is only lightly raining and typically in autumn so you can smell the trees in the air and sunny enough to make it not be outright cold. I’m also fond of when it’s windy on a sunny warm day, not too warm just warm enough to be tank top and shorts weather.

10) Favourite fictional character and why? This question always kills me, but I’ll say Sai/X/The Phantom Thief from Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro created by Yusei Matsui. Next is Sai from Majin Tantei, So, they’re kinda the main villain for a large portion of it, but they’re just trying to find themself, TBH the gender thing for Sai is largely confusing, so I’ll stick with they/them for them due to it being a complex spoiler if I go too far into it, but they just wrecked my heart with their story and their background and what happened with Ai, I found myself sobbing through quite a lot of Majin Tantei because the characters are so good, Sai was an understandable villain who did grotesque things not always with the best intentions, but to teach a lesson of cherishing what you have before it’s gone, it’s kinda crazy really, Sai is an inventive mind, with a complete comprehension that what their doing is wrong but continuing despite that and accepting that there would be consequences, Sai is a very grey-morally character and just deserves a hug and then some tbh.

11) What can you normally find in your bag?

My ipod/Headphones (for music), a notebook for writing down rogue ideas from out of nowhere, snacks, a fan (for cons), and a few different forms of pain meds for headaches, because I get them easily especially after I got a concussion (again?) in my junior year of high school.

Wow sorry that I ramble so much I’ve been in a poetic talk-y mood today out of nowhere. And onto the questions:

1) Favourite myth and why? 2) A character you were not fond of due to their goals, but you could still respect their decision/reasoning?

3) List your favourite band or a few if you are indecisive like me~

4) If you could change your eye colour to any one you wanted regardless of genetic possibility, what colour would it be and why?” 5) Do you have a favourite foreign(not of your locale except in restaurants or such like that I guess?) food/drink and what is it? 6) When you think of masks, what sort of masks do you think of? (Examples being like Noh masks, theatrical masks, or venetian masks, etc. feel free to use these, you don’t need exact names if you don’t know them describe them~) 7) Favourite movie from when you were a child? 8) What sort of blanket do you like to sleep with (if any)?

9) If you could go to a library with infinite knowledge, what one book would you pick off the shelf and what would it be about?

10) What sort of clothes would you wear if you could wear whatever you want regardless of consequences?

11) A fictional character that you love but often find yourself getting mad at due to their choices? SOrry my questions are a bit odd, I like to sprinkle a little oddity into them and kinda get a feel for what sort of things people think of, I like to learn about people through this odd little test of random questions that make them think.

Alright, I tag @gabriel-morrison-reyes @killus-donuts-trashcan @coreytasticc @arbiters-grounds @bugslamp @maiea-maiea @darkeecofreak and anyone else who feel like doing this random set of questions~ Mind you, none of you have to participate either, voluntary choice! I chose mostly people I know irl or who I am intrigued to get to know better or hear the answers of~ Thank you~

[miyoron]

Miyo’s Anime of Note 2018 Rainbow Edition

2018 was some kind of a year wasn't it? It was long and a pain in the ass but there was some anime out this year I really enjoyed. I'm here to write down a bunch of shows I enjoyed in no particular order. I might put them in the order I watched them in, or I might not. I guess we'll see huh?

Also, I think there's WAY more this year than usual which means I either like things easily, there were a lot of good shows, all of the above or some other reason. Hope I don't get too long winded on you! Also I'm using whatever names I feel like for naming things off, translated, still Japanese...whaaatever~

Pop Team Epic

Pop Team Epic was everything I wanted it to be and more. I've been a fan of Bkub's work since the early days so to see these two shitty girls finally show up on the anime screen week to week was a pleasure and a delight. The decision to make two separate half episodes with different voice actors for Popuko and Pipimi was a wonderful decision that let us experience things like Aoi Yuki as Popuko and Norio Wakamoto as Pipimi. It also shot the wonderful team of ACBU into the spotlight. Their Bobunemimimmi segments were so disgustingly perfect and fit the tone of the show perfectly. It also gave us one of the best moments in anime this year:

Needless to say, I really hope they are doing a season 2 like it's been rumored. I'm on board for SO much more.

Yuru Camp

This was a show I actually watched twice this year and have subsequently watched multiple episodes just on my own. It is one of my favorite things this year and maybe it's just because of how unassuming it is. There's honestly nothing deep to the show. Cute girls dress in warm winter clothing and go camping. However, the way everything is paced with nice warm colors and chill ass music nestles its way into your heart and fills you with a nice cozy feeling. It's like a blanket, the anime. Just wrap yourself up in the wonderful friend times and maybe you'll learn a thing or two about camping and friendship along the way.

Mitsuboshi Colors

Are adults letting you down? Sure, they're not up to the challenge pretty much all the time. But that's why you should just stay out of the way and let Colors come in to save the day! This trio of girls are ready to save their town and to let shitty cops know what's up. Seriously, it's a cute show with a cute group of friends getting into big adventures, even if those adventures are often due to their own misconceptions. It's a good show with kids who act like kids and are always either talking about poop or are sucking at video games. It's a nice show and has some good performances, as well as the best sunglasses of 2018 in my book.

Karakai no Jouzu Takagi-san

A series about a boy and a girl who are totally crushing on each other, even if one likes to keep it deeply hidden and the other would never admit it really. Oh, also she owns him every chance she can get with teasing. It's like a reverse Tonari no Seki-kun if Seki was not in his own world and was actively trying to make Rumi blush or stumble over herself. This premise may sound mean but it's honestly all in good fun and there's something really cute about the pair's friendship with each other. The way the manga apparently goes makes me really want to check it out sometime too.

Oh also there's a great side trio of friends with and I love how dumb of a baby one of them is.

Hinamatsuri

What happens when a yakuza becomes the dad of a psychic girl who crashed in an egg in his apartment and broke all his vases? This series! Hinamatsuri was a show that got me really hard this year at a couple points where I know I had to either fight back tears or take a few minutes to sit their with a quivering lip and watery eyes. It's an incredibly funny show from  the premise alone but when you have the put upon character of Nitta having to take care of the force of nature that is Hina it just escalates it. On top of that though, there's a good heart to it as well. Anzu is a wonderful character and I love her story and her many grandpas. Also Hitomi's story actively hit me hard to where I felt bad for a fictional child to please just be a child for a little while. It was powerful stuff and I loved it.

Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online

I hate Sword Art Online. I've only watched the first series with the original and faerie times, but I hated it so much. That being said, hearing that the new one was actually good made me seek it out and...thank God it is. Llenn/Karen is just a much more compelling character than the power fantasy that is Kirito. The story of a woman who does not like herself in the real world, but finds a new home and life in virtual reality is a nice little story. On top of that, ditching the stupid "if you die in the game, you die in real life" really helped the show out in my eyes. This show is not about stop some huge over arcing villainous plot to fuck over the whole world or whatever. GGO is about trying to save someone from hurting themselves and honestly, that's a lot more relatable. A recap episode in this day in age IS silly though for what it's worth.

Let's take a short break shall we? For a little section I'm gonna call, Fuck, You Let me Down Man.

Amanchu Advance

I put Amanchu on my list two years ago of Anime of Note because I really enjoyed the tale of friendship it told. Amanchu Advance continues that story and shows Teko slowly becoming more of her own person thanks to that friendship. She wants to become a stronger person, a better version of herself and it's through her friends she's able to do this. The series is still very good at showing these moments but the last few episodes of the show are bogged down in a weird supernatural plot with a ghost boy that I wish they would have just tossed down the shrine steps. The twist at the end with it was not worth sidetracking the story for three episodes in a 12 episode story and soured my experience as a whole. I've been told the author likes doing these sorts of things and I didn't mind the lucid dreaming episodes, but this bit just did not land for me and it's a big bummer.

Here's Another Side Category Called Old Anime I Watched And Enjoyed. Yes, that's the full title.

G Gundam

I don't know why it took me so long to watch this series, but I am glad I did. Maybe I just needed friends to be there to watch it with, who knows. Either way, I'm thankful I got to join Domon on his journey searching for the man in the photograph and to experience the Undefeated of the East in his most powerful form. G Gundam is a goofy setting with a bunch of weird but fun characters and their even weirder mobile suits. I don't know how much I can really say on it since I'm sure most people have probably checked it out years ago on Toonami. It's still fun and good and it has a Gundam who is a boxer and a football man at the same time. Gundam Fight, Readdddddy....GO!

Back to my normal list, though I have grouped the next couple shows in a block I am calling the "I wish these had a full 24 episodes even though I understand why they didn't but please make more I'd love it, ok thanks" block.

A Place Further Than The Universe

This show had...a lot of moments where I was sitting there and just processing all that was going on. A group of girls become friends and join a civilian expedition to Antarctica, one of whom is going there to basically go where her mother had spoken of years ago and never came back. It's a show that I felt compelled to keep watching even though I knew I should have stopped for the night, telling myself "I can watch one more episode..." . It just gripped me and sank its penguin fangs into me. Shut up, I know what I said. Seriously though, the cast of secondary characters are just as fun as the main ones and I enjoyed every minute of it. It definitely destroyed me in one of the more heavy moments near the end though so keep a box of tissues handy ok?

Wotakoi

Love is hard for otaku. It's in the show's translated title and everything. Let me tell you, I'm very happy seeing so many anime featuring adults in the work place these days. Wotakoi is a show I felt a very personal connection to, especially its humor levels. Not going to lie,  I am a Kabakura through and through when it comes to my anime watching and purchasing habits. It's a cute love story with a couple of characters getting together out of convenience before realizing maybe there's something more than that to it. The interactions are great and it's very relatable if you've ever had a friends' game night or anime watching session. It's a show that just feels like it knows just how to speak to you if you've been a fan of anime for a long time.

Hisone to Masotan

Hey, you into dragon vore? Then have I got the show for you buddy. All joking aside, Hisomaso is a show with one of the more fun protagonists I've run into in a while. Hisone's blunt and to the point to the detriment of anything that comes out of her mouth most of the time, but there's something about her honesty that's very endearing. The show's pilots are a great cast and their dragon friends are just as charismatic even if they spend a lot of the time cosplaying as aircraft. This show has a nice story about trying to find just where you fit in within the world and sometimes that's hard. Sometimes the best thing to do is dive into the gullet of a big scaly F-15 and ride the free skies to your heart's content. I love you Masotan.

Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight

This show I think more than any others in this block I wanted more of, even though I know why I don't have more of it. From episode one, I got Utena vibes with the music, the auditions, Hell, even the prefight wardrobe transformations. Stage girls do battle with all of their shine to prove who is truly the top star. That's the basic premise and the cast of characters really helps to flesh it out with their own motivations of what makes them keep going to be the very best they can be. I loved all of the imagery in the auditions and the music and the big doofy giraffe just watching from the stands and enjoying the whole thing. Revue Starlight is a stylish show with some amazing animation and choreography that puts most of the things I watched this year to shame and I need more things like it.

STOP IT'S PRECURE TIME

Go Princess Precure

This is me and Cheapsteak's "old Precure" of the year and it's wonderful. It's a story about dreams and fighting for them. The Princess Precures are maybe not the most relatable of characters as they attend a very prim and proper high class school. One is a business conglomerate's daughter, one's a super model, one's a Princess from another plane entirely. But there is something wonderful how they all work together as friends and work to save everyone's dreams, I don't know there's something very good and wonderful about that. I love that even when it comes to one of the villains, a character in the show goes out of her way to help him with his self esteem (and make up). I don't know, I've got a few episodes left but I just love it. Haruka is my favorite Pink Precure I've met so far and she is gonna be tough to beat.

Hugtto Precure

Very similar to Go Princess is Hugtto, with its message of hope for the future because you can't just stay in the present. There's a great cast of characters and they all work so hard to cheer each others' dreams on, all while taking care of a baby and a hamster from the future. I think this show also has the best mid-seasons Cures I've met so far and just...everything with how supportive and good everyone is to each other has me smiling the whole time. Also in the episodes leading up to the anniversary movie this year, we got some of the best big moments I've seen in a show in a while. A lot of the episodes have some amazing animation work as well and just...I like this show a lot especially what it did to show Hana's pre-show back story as well. Pink Cures are really good huh?

Back to business!

Asobi Asobase

Along with PTE, this was one of the weirder comedies that I watched this year. It's often crass or just outright weird, but that's one of its strong points I think. The show's opening is a giant fakeout from what seems like your ordinary "cute girls doing club things" chill show because you're soon hit with some of the weirdest faces and shrieks that I've run into in a while. The characters are a troublesome group of weirdoes who try to do activities like a normal club but fail horribly at it, often due to one or more of them sabotaging it with their own dumbness. It really says something that the sweetest and most relatable characters are the witch girls who practice curses all day. They're really the best though but so are all of the fucking weirdoes in this show. Also there's ass lasers so if you're into that...

Cells at Work

Learn about the human body while dangerous viruses and germs get fucking iced like they walked into the wrong anime. Follow a red blood cell make her way through the blood stream and lose her way every single time. Thrill at the amazingly adorable platelet crew as they get to work each day. Cells at Work is a weird science shounen show with some great character designs and interactions. The way the cells just are working hard and doing their jobs as best they can is great and you want to root for them so hard. Those Killer T and White blood cells and Macrophages just love killing SO much. It's a fun show that teaches you about biology and anatomy in a somewhat rudimentary but enjoyable manner.

Plus I will stress again, the platelet design is beyond cute.

Skullface Book Seller Honda-san

Honda-san is a cute little series you could watch in an afternoon due to its episode count and length, but it's one I could see myself watching multiple times easily. It's a fun window into the window of book store retail and the Japanese publishing industry. The characters have fun designs, mostly normal bodies with some kind of weird mask/helmet on but they're very relatable. Honda-san does his best to help out the customers, even when their requests tear at his very sanity some times. But that's retail huh? It's fun though, go check out this good skeleton!

Bloom Into You

I think this was the show that intrigued me the most this year because I was just hooked on the relationship between Yuu and Touko and seeing how it advanced. Yuu is a girl who wants to be able to fall in love like everyone else her age seems to be able to and when she finally meets a girl who she thinks feels similarly...that darn senpai falls in love with her. It's a very relatable tale even if you haven't been in a lot of relationships. Seeing Yuu realize her own feelings slowly grow towards Touko and the issues that come up because of was something that had me wanting to find out more each week. It also was the show that took me the longest to come to my final thoughts on too due to its ending but ultimately, I'm glad I watched it.

Zombieland Saga

Honestly, I'm glad to start and end this list with certifiable bangers. The concept of zombies becoming idols sounds like it could just go so wrong but it doesn't. It's so good and fun and goofy. The characters are all really fun and goofy but still have depth to them, even zombie brained legend Yamada Tae. I love this show and every character in it and if there were Franchouchou concerts done like a Hatsune Miku tour, I'd go so hard. Zombieland Saga is a good and powerful show and it even has a good ending with a sequel hook. Watch these girls and cheer them on, that is an order.

I normally do a "Shows I'll Watch Next Year" section but I realize I never end up doing it so I'm just going to add one of my current ones I know I'll continue watching.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Golden Wind

Come on, you knew this was going to be on here right? I'm curious where this gangster plot line is going and can't wait to continue next year.

So that's my list, I hope you enjoyed it. For a special treat to go into 2019, I leave you with the best moment in anime 2018. Peace!

Ah well I got copyright striked so here’s a mirror

https://streamable.com/87z73

[crossnation]

Hey all! Today I took part in a Facebook event to promote my pro-life sci-fi novel "Memories of Lasting Shadows." As a courtesy, I am including the five posts I just made to the Facebook event page below.

The Story:

 Before I get started, a big thank you to Daphne Self and Ambassador International for letting me share about my book for Christmas in July. And now, here … we … go!

 Memories of Lasting Shadows takes place in a hypothetical future set 40 years after the United States Supreme Court reverses the controversial 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and abolishes the practice of abortion.

 Journalist Roberta Sheridan, a reporter with The Kensington Post, was born after the decision and thus has never personally known an America where abortion was considered a valid option.

 Senator Benjamin Pettus, a medical professional fighting to keep his expansive federal healthcare law from being repealed, was alive when choice was still the law of the land.

 During an election cycle, Sheridan is shown evidence that Senator Pettus might actually be an infamous abortion provider who disappeared decades ago. Her investigation into the allegations shows that the past is never truly gone.

    The Inspiration:

 The biggest inspiration for the story came from former President Donald Trump nominating three justices to the United States Supreme Court, all of whom were confirmed.

 This reported ideological shift in the Supreme Court, combined with an uptick in pro-life legislation at the state level, has led many to conclude that Roe will soon be overturned.

 Granted, most legal experts believe that such an overturning would simply send the debate down to the state level and not actually lead to a total nationwide abolition of abortion.

 However, with this story, I wanted to entertain the possibility of what would happen if this hypothetical future ruling actually did lead to abortion being abolished, and, far more so, what might happen forty years after that ruling.

 What would the culture and politics of the United States look like forty years after such a major ruling, as two generations of Americans come to maturity under the new normal?

   The Historical Template:

 The aftermath of this hypothetical decision made forty years before my story begins was modeled off of the 1954 United States Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education.

 For decades, few Americans ever assumed that racial segregation would be declared unconstitutional. Why would they? In 1896, the Supreme Court had overwhelmingly affirmed the right of states to institute segregation and it had broad support, politically and socially.

 When the Brown decision was released in 1954, it received a lot of negative backlash, with several states and countless school boards refusing to enforce the decision.

 And yet, by 1994, forty years after Brown, support for institutional racial segregation had effectively disappeared and its advocacy was pushed to the farthest margins of society.

  The Contrast:

 Speculative fiction has occasionally covered the issue of reproductive health, as many are familiar with The Handmaid’s Tale book and television series.

 Less familiar to modern audiences might be famed sci-fi author Philip K. Dick’s 1974 short story “The Pre-Persons,” which lampooned the Roe decision and the idea of legalized abortion.

 Dick’s story involved the United States passing a law allowing for abortion up until age 13, with a child only being considered a human being if they can solve a complex math problem.

 There is also the 2007 Neal Shusterman novel Unwind. The plot centered on the results of a civil war between pro-life and pro-choice forces which led to a compromise in which, while abortion was banned, children aged 13-18 could be sent to body harvesting camps if their parents so desired.

 What I believe makes my view of the future regarding abortion different from these other respectable works is that I sought to take the route of realism rather than dystopianism.

 My goal with Memories of Lasting Shadows was to craft the most likely future to emerge if abortion were ever abolished in the United States, as opposed to one of hyperbole.

 In a way, with this book, I would like to believe that I have invented a new genre: The Pseudo-Dystopia. This genre would be defined as a world whose setting implies a dystopia and yet it ends up being a surprisingly normal environment.

 If you, the reader, can think of any other books that might be classified as “Pseudo-Dystopia,” feel free to let me know. If someone else invented this genre before me, I would like to know lest I keep taking credit for something I did not pioneer.

   Reactions:

 Since its release last October, reviews from readers for my book have thus far been overwhelmingly positive and have come from people of diverse backgrounds.

 Ralph Peluso of The Zebra newspaper gave it a 5 out of 5, calling it a “must-read, particularly for those who enjoy spirited debates when ideological views collide.”

 Science fiction author Rob Adamson called it “well written,” “a history lesson worth remembering,” and an “alternate reality that could happen here.”

 CNN political commentator Alice Stewart said my novel was an “excellent political thriller” that has “interesting characters” as well as an “engaging plot.”

 Multimedia Broadcast Journalist Saqib Ul-Islam called it a “political thriller and an awakening,” as well as a “must-read,” giving it 5 stars on Amazon.

 Once again, thank you to Daphne Self and to Ambassador International for giving me this opportunity to discuss my novel. Memories of Lasting Shadows is available for sale on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and elsewhere.

[sure-as-eggs]

I feel like I’m missing something. Isn’t Ed making fun of Oswald’s limp/appearance just Ed being a villain? Shouldn’t he BE awful? I feel like people are holding him to good-guy standards. I hope this isn’t offensive. I’m just confused why people are mad that a villain is being a villain.

That’s a fair question, and I can absolutely tell that it was asked in good faith, so don’t worry!

I 100% agree that, as literal super-villains, the members of Gotham’s rogues’ gallery have to be interpreted a little differently than standard “good guy” characters… Oswald’s return to form after Arkham involves murder and cannibalism, and you kinda just go “oh hey, he’s back!!” Trying to keep track of who cut whose hands off so you know what to expect out of future alliances isn’t necessarily a ‘normal’ thing.

Let me see if I can try to explain why mocking someone’s disability or tapping into anti-Semitic tropes for a costume feels different to me…

One big problem here, right off the bat, is that Ed is a character we’re meant to root for.   He’s written to be sympathetic. We’re supposed to feel bad when bad things happen to him, and happy when he’s happy. Even in the scene when he’s literally strangled his girlfriend to death, the tragic music swells behind him as he sobs over her body, and it’s entirely his fault but his feelings are still just as important to the scene as his actions.

By comparison, the narrative never really sets us up to empathize with, say, Jerome or Jervis. I’m not saying you can’t do it, just that the show doesn’t expect you to. It is clearly not espousing the viewpoints it puts in Jerome’s mouth when he kidnaps Bruce: we’re supposed to be on Bruce’s side. We’re supposed to be happy when he wins and Jerome loses. We can feel that.

On the other end of the spectrum, we are meant to be sad when Ed shoots Oswald. It has nothing to do with either of their moral standing; even Oswald admits that murdering Isabella was a bad choice, though maybe not for reasons most people would be on board with. Oswald is a villain and a terrible person, and we are still supposed to care about him deeply and want him to be okay.

The upshot of all this is that the show has us primed to accept and excuse the things Ed does, to empathize with him and find some way to identify with him, or even to justify him. We forgive Sarah Essen for not standing up to the system. We forgive Harvey Bullock for his history of corruption. We (maybe, some of us,) forgive Lee for her self-destructive impulse to take the Tetch virus. We forgive Jim for whatever Thing he’s decided to do this week. We’re supposed to.

We forgive Oswald much worse acts. Again, we’re supposed to.

Would we forgive Ed more mundane cruelty? Are we supposed to?

There’s a different resonance to fantastical off-screen villainy like the way Oswald deals with his step-family than there would be to something immediate and petty and potentially familiar (potentially doable) like mocking someone’s limp. I really doubt many people out there have accidentally been tricked into eating their children, so it’s easy for all of us to move on from that scene. There’s a fairy-tale logic to it that we can all accept.

But I guarantee you that pretty much everybody with mobility issues has had to grin and bear it when somebody at some point in their life decided to play comedian. It’s not a fantasy to them. And it would hurt to see somebody they care about, even if they’re fictional, disrespect them.

…I’m going to risk getting too personal here and warn for self-harm for this next paragraph, so go ahead and skip ahead if you want, you won’t miss anything crucial, it’s just an example. I had a mild panic attack during the scene where Jim gets hit by the fear toxin and hallucinates Lee. I am years recovered, and I’ve handled scenes like Beth’s suicide attempt on The Walking Dead with little to no problem, but it took me quite a while to calm down from that scene because of how it was presented. It was framed as tragic and Bad, sure, but the lingering shot of the blood lapping between Lee’s breasts, the seductive “do it” whispers when Jim had the blade to his wrist… That scene didn’t reflect my experience. It didn’t CARE about my experience. That scene disappointed me after the excellent and nuanced way it handled Jim’s suicidal depression under hypnosis in Season Three, because it used something real people had really struggled with solely to create titillating drama for its fictional characters.

Okay, we’re good again. I’m not saying villains can’t be villains, or that dark themes and cruel actions can’t be portrayed, but we have to think about the reason we’re telling the story to begin with. If you hate Ed (and every other character) already for being immoral and a Bad Guy… Why are you watching the show?? If you write everybody off once they start down a villainous path, if you don’t empathize with them once they start taking actions you deem bad or wrong, if you’re not willing to suspend some disbelief and blur some lines to see through a character’s eyes, then who the hell are you left rooting for??

Again, if we weren’t supposed to care about Ed’s perspective, I think this would be a different issue. If I was sure the narrative would punish him for any Bad Guy shit he pulled, it would be another issue all over again. I’m thinking of Sal Maroni’s sexism in the Season One finale - that was GREAT. He was a bad guy being bad in a way that was going to hit home for female viewers, but nobody was rooting for him or thinking he was cool, and the climax of the scene was him getting shot in the face by somebody (a woman) whom we WERE supposed to think was cool.

It’s a badass scene with a sleazy character being sleazy and a violent character being violent, but it also conveys a message from the Real Live People running the show to the Real Live Audience: Sal Maroni is wrong. Sexism is wrong. Don’t do this in real life, don’t think you’re justified in pulling this shit, because it’s wrong.

Ed killing Kristen is another example I was really impressed with. Nobody pretends it’s anything but a horrific injustice, nobody on screen justifies it or wants it to have happened. Crucially, Ed himself knows it’s a tragedy. Seeing her killer regret what he’s done and continue to be haunted by it across seasons tells us that Kristen did nothing wrong, that it was a Bad Thing that should never have happened. Lee gets to voice that aloud, Jim gets to be disappointed and angry at the things Ed’s done. The viewers get a message completely separate from the act itself. The story goes out of its way to tell you that, even though you like Ed and care about him, there’s no excuse for his actions.

Who’s going to call him out for his anti-Semitic costume choices? Is Oswald going to bring it up if Ed is insensitive to his disability or mocks his mannerisms in a way that’s cruel to his sexuality? If it’s not addressed, then we have a problem. Because, while in-universe it might make perfect sense for Ed to be a total asshole, Ed isn’t real. And the people watching the show are. We tell stories for a reason, and if they result in anyone feeling justified in being more cruel or dehumanizing than they were before, then a mistake has been made.

…I’ve rambled for a long time here and I have no idea if I’ve made any sense.

Look, tl;dr: everybody watching Gotham has favorite characters, and all those characters have done terrible things. That’s OKAY. It’s natural to be fascinated and moved by the darker aspects of humanity. It’s healthy to stretch your empathy and your imagination. But at the end of the day, fiction becomes part of our reality. We carry things away with us. And stories have a responsibility to be cognizant of the messages and perspectives they’re supporting.

[thiefofnobility]

I’m afraid I have to disagree, quite firmly. I understand this is an issue people feel quite strongly about, but I’m not going to admit I’m wrong because, in this case, I have a firmly held critical opinion and believe I am justified in expressing it.

Yes, the character isn’t from the sixties (though, let’s remember, it’s unclear where he is from back in Hartnell’s time, it’s initially suggested he’s a human from the future if anything). But the writing is. And a few progressive shining stars like Verity Lambert aren’t going to lift everything out of the cesspit of human injustice. And it shows in the writing, including that of the character of the first Doctor.

Context never can be erased from writing. Never. And it absolutely, absolutely shows in how the first Doctor was written. Of course, Doctor Who transcends that. Doctor Who can transcend most anything. But it’s always there. I certainly noticed it a lot when watching the classic series several years back, and I have a far more critical eye now than I did then.

This isn’t reinvention. It’s just making the implicit issues explicit text and dealing with them. Hell, the show’s done it with more recent eras already (even eras by the same people!) with things as little as the Twelfth Doctor pondering why everything is called “sexy” now, or responding to Donna’s ending with Clara. The show’s always going to be reflecting on itself. That’s fine. That’s how it moves forward, and Twice Upon a Time is very much about moving forward, specifically to Jodie Whittaker, which I think is rather safe to call a progressive endpoint. And I’m sure give it a few years and we’ll be laughing about how the show was so white up until the Fourteenth Doctor came along and sorted it all out.

Take Susan’s departure, for example, which I mentioned the other day. And I know I’m just fishing for controversy here. I don’t like that feeling, but equally, I’m not going to shut myself up when people keep pushing me to voice something rather angrily like you just have. So I will admit, it’s a good moment. Hartnell utterly shines. It’s iconic for a reason. And yet, personally, I find it uncomfortably chauvinist in a way that is indicative of the era. The Doctor is generally overbearing and paternalistic towards Susan, but this is a particularly bad case. He has stripped her of agency numerous times and infantilized her, but this really takes the cake. Earlier in the serial we get beautiful moments like Susan rejecting the whole heteronormative labor thing, saying “I eat” when asked if she can cook. God, I love that moment. But her ending up with David, that’s treated as her way of growing up and living the life she should have. Travelling the universe isn’t good enough, I suppose, nor leaving on your own terms. You’ve gotta be dumped off to be the housewife of the first man who gives you googly eyes. I get the feeling if we were to see a televised continuation of that at the time, it’d be about her learning to cook and clean and raise children and become a good little wife.

Seriously, those lines are loaded. “I want you to belong somewhere, to have roots of your own. With David, you’ll be able to find those roots and live normally like any woman should do.” Yikes. Gotta be a wife and give up adventuring to be fulfilled, apparently. It’s not cruelly intended or anything, it’s just good old fashioned gendered expectations of the time. Meant sweetly, but from a modern eye, horrific. Same as the spring cleaning line David Bradley has, sweet and harmless in the sixties, eyebrow raising now. It’s implicit, culturally ingrained chauvinism, that wouldn’t impact an alien from the future, but would absolutely impact how men (and let’s not pretend otherwise, it was overwhelmingly men writing, directing, and producing) would represent one.

It’s not something active or malicious, but it is, in my perspective, something that does happen a lot in the era. Not big things, just a bunch of little ones. That happens to pretty much all fiction, impacted by its context. And it seems like those little things will give birth to little reflective moments in a bigger and more interesting episode.

At the end of the day, though, really, I just want to be excited about my favorite show having one of my favorite Doctors return to close off one of my favorite eras.

Weeeeelll, let’s start by pointing out the fact you are wrong when saying it’s unclear where the Doctor comes from. In the unaired pilot, Susan straight up says she was born in the 49th century. She also calls Ian and Barbara “Earth people” and the Docco says he is “of a different race”. If the unaired pilot is not canon enough for you, I will use examples from the aired pilot. In which the Doctor says “the children of my civilization” and “I tolerate this century but I don’t enjoy it”. So however you got “sexist 60s human” from that is beyound me. While they didn’t have a name for Gallifrey at the time, they explicitly said he is from another planet and from the future. And even if THAT’S not enough proof for you, I should argue that whether or not they knew where he was from at the beginning is actually totally irrelevant. The point is, we know now and the story is being written now. So, hypothetically speaking, if One did ever say something sexist in his days, it was because of the time period it was written in and not because it’s something the Doctor would say. So why make him say it now? We know the Doctor now and there would be no need to point out something that isn’t actually part of him. 

You seem to be totally missing the point, however. The show is not reflecting on itself. The First Doctor has never shown an ounce of distaste or disrespect for someone based on their gender. He has never made a comment that comes off as sexiest. They are adding a character trait that was not there before for the sole purpose of being woke. Now, I’m doing this paragraph by paragraph, so I’m waiting to get to the part where you give me actual context from the show because so far it’s just been fancy words and generalizations.

AH! But here we go. Yes, let’s take Susan’s departure. But before we do, may I go to “I’m not going to shut myself up when people keep pushing me to voice something rather angrily like you just have” because did I in no way encourage you to become angry over this. I was telling you, as a One stan, the view point we have. If it came off as rude, I’m sorry, but that’s what voicing your opinion over the Internet does. And perhaps, my friend, as an analysis blog who posts opinions and replies to anons, you should understand this. I did not and do not have malicious intentions. I simply want to clear this up and clear the name of my favourite Doctor.

Whom you are trying to convince me is okay to completely destroy for the sake of unnecessary relevance. So if anyone should be angry, it’s me. But I’m not. I want to do this as civil as possible.

Now, back to Susan.

“The Doctor is generally overbearing and paternalistic towards Susan”

Pardon my French but, ehem, no shit. He is her grandfather and she is the last thing he has of his family and his home planet. Naturally, he would want to protect her. Whether I think it’s overbearing, no. I suppose that’s a matter of opinion. I think he has a reasonable level that any grandfather with his grandchild in dangerous situations would have. I believe the words you are looking for is protective and love. In fact, using Susan is a rather awful example because she was the one person he initially only showed affection for. Of course, he gained affection for Ian and Barbara when they all became besties, but from day one, Susan was the one he was the softest on.

“Earlier in the serial we get beautiful moments like Susan rejecting the whole heteronormative labor thing, saying “I eat” when asked if she can cook.”

I’m sorry I had to pause for a second because I think you might be looking too much into this. I’m 99% sure that was comic relief at best. What’s the opposite of cooking? Eating. What’s the key to comedy? Opposites.

“But her ending up with David, that’s treated as her way of growing up and living the life she should have. Travelling the universe isn’t good enough, I suppose, nor leaving on your own terms. You’ve gotta be dumped off to be the housewife of the first man who gives you googly eyes. I get the feeling if we were to see a televised continuation of that at the time, it’d be about her learning to cook and clean and raise children and become a good little wife.”

I understand your job is to analyze, but the thing is, this scene isn’t that complicated. The Doctor did not leave Susan with David because David fancied her. She did not stay to become a good little wife or because it’s the “role of a woman” to look after a man/children. The whole point was that the Doctor felt he was dragging her down. Susan expressed numerous times that she wanted a place to belong, somewhere to stay and not have to keep moving around. The trouble was, she felt so attached and protective of her grandfather that she couldn’t bare to leave him. The Doctor, however, selflessly, forces her to stay. Because he knows she could do good in this time period and he knows she would be happy here (which she was). But he also knew she was too loyal to leave him. It had nothing to do with romance. It was a good place to give her what she wanted. It had to do with the Doctor giving up the one person he cared most about to let her live the life she wanted and make her not feel obligated to take care of him. 

Which. Funnily enough. Is the opposite of chauvinism.

“I want you to belong somewhere, to have roots of your own.” Because that’s straight up what she has been asking for for the past few episodes.

“Yikes. Gotta be a wife and give up adventuring to be fulfilled, apparently.” Nope. Because once again, Susan expressed that she wasn’t fulfilled by adventure and wanted to belong somewhere. Because, believe it or not, people all want different things. Not everybody wants adventure. Some people want roots. This, of course, all coming from her trauma of being pulled from her home planet and exiled into a stolen time machine where she proceeded to go on adventures in which she watched friends and her grandfather nearly die multiple times. So no, it has nothing to do with being a good little wifey but instead, wanting to be home somewhere. Sort of like when you take a long vacation and you just want to get to your own bed. But Gallifrey is off limits because it didn’t exist at the time of writing so the Doctor gave her a new home.

“that wouldn’t impact an alien from the future, but would absolutely impact how men (and let’s not pretend otherwise, it was overwhelmingly men writing, directing, and producing) would represent one.” Yes, which is a totally valid argument considering Verity Lambert, a female, produced the episode. And like.................. all of Hartnell’s era. Most of it, anyway. Up until Mission of the Unknown. Also, fun fact, Verity was one of the first women to be awarded role as a full time producer in television. So, y’know, Doctor Who was also built on powerful females in charge.

“It’s not something active or malicious, but it is, in my perspective, something that does happen a lot in the era. Not big things, just a bunch of little ones.” Lots of little things you haven’t named. I, personally, cannot think of any. And neither can you, apparently, as the one example you did give wasn’t actually an act of sexism.

If One is truly one of your favourite Doctors, you shouldn’t be excited for what Moffat is going to do to him. Because a true One fan knows this is not something he would do. He adored his companions, he never once said an offhanded chauvinistic line to them. And ESPECIALLY not with the intentions of it being such.

And, once again, even if you can come up with a valid example that perhaps I may have forgotten about as there IS a lot of Classic Who, I would like to go back to my original statement by saying any slightly, offhanded sexist remarks would yes, be because of the time period it was written in. However, just because they did it back then doesn’t mean we have to do it today. If you go out and call someone a racial slur and say “Sorry! They did it in the 60s and I’m just trying to make a point that it’s offensive now” doesn’t actually help anything. You still were an asshole to somebody, somebody got hurt, and nothing was gained, because yeah, no shit it’s offensive. The fact that Moffat would even think of adding such a plot device despite it not legitimately being a part of the First Doctor’s personality, says more about Moffat than it does about the writers of the 60s/The First Doctor. He’s essentially doing what writers in the 60s did and then pulling himself back up and going “It’s okay! I know this is wrong!” Good for you, Moff. We didn’t need to know that because it affects Doctor Who in no way and reflects on something that never existed.

As someone who likes Moffat, you should be thankful I disagree with this. Because if he didn’t do it to begin with, he would’ve saved himself some dumbassery.

Also it’s 2am so this is a mess, forgive me.

[jinjojess]

Jess’s Thoughts on V3 Chapter 3

I’m halfway through the game now so I figure I should check in with some thoughts and theories and junk.

My liveblog should have finished its queued posts by now, so this post itself should follow that up shortly.

Character Rankings

Maybe I should start with an updated character ranking?

HaruMaki

Akamatsu

Toujou

Hoshi

Gonta

Chabashira

Yumeno

Iruma

Momota

Shirogane

Ouma

Angie

Kiibo

Amami

Shinguuji

Saihara

1-9: The Actively Like Range

HaruMaki has eclipsed Akamatsu ever so slightly thanks to sheer badassery and how much I love her FTEs, but you can consider them to be pretty much equal.

Toujou and Hoshi are about even too--they both hit my “exhausted hard worker just trying to hang on” and “duty before self” buttons.

Gonta is still wonderful, and I love him about as much as I love Chabashira and Yumeno, both of whom should technically be on the same line. Those two got boosted because of how their relationship evolved--I love that in the end Chabashira shows a degree of maturity in respecting that Angie is important to Yumeno, and I like that Yumeno went from gag lazy character to character struggling with guilt and regret.

Iruma is still hilarious, but she hasn’t had a lot of character-building to do yet so she’s dropped some spots, and I still like Momota a lot, though he’s starting to border on being irritatingly shounen protag-y, and I’m super disappointed in how poorly the game handles the set up for his relationship with HaruMaki. (Famitsu mentioned at one point that HaruMaki had an interest in space, so I thought they’d bond over common interests like actual human beings, but Kodaka decided to take the Stairs of Anime Troposity instead.)

10-13: The You’re Fine But... Range

Shirogane is really adorable and good at stealth snark, so I’m ready to like her, but she just...never gets anything to do. This is why I want her to be the mastermind so badly (more on this below)--I feel like she needs something to elevate her from “meh, I like her” to “wow, she’s great.”

Ouma’s antics were fun in the beginning of the game but are now starting to grate on me. I still find it really interesting that he tells lies often to help the group as a whole, but the fact that he’s constantly at odds with everyone is getting a little tiring.

I’m going to miss doing Angie’s voice on stream. She was never really high up in my ranks to begin with and she hasn’t moved much. I like that she was doing the patented student council president move of seizing total control in the name of public safety, but I would have liked to see a little more variation in her character.

Kiibo’s fine. He’s amusing enough, I just find him to be kinda bland? Hopefully he’ll get more character development going forward.

14-15: The I Don’t Really Care Range

Like I said before, I don’t have anything against Amami really and I think the mystery surrounding him is kind of interesting, but I just overall don’t care much about him. Nothing really draws me in.

Shinguuji was more of a disappointment. I was expecting something really big from him and it just didn’t really measure up. I wanted his talent to be really used to its fullest and while the Kagonoko thing was cool enough, everything about him was just kind of a let down. Even his execution isn't on par with the others we've seen so far (music's good though). Plus after reading DRT2, the reveal about his sister seems kind of tepid in comparison. I get why people are really put off by him, but I can’t care enough about him to really summon a lot of hatred. It’s very similar to how I feel about Haiji--yes, he’s objectively a worse person than the characters I actively dislike, but I will forget he exists after this chapter is over.

16: The It’s Complicated Range

I’m fine with Saihara when the narrative isn’t focusing on him. When he’s just being one of the cast, doing FTEs and hanging out for shenanigans and stuff, he’s totally fine. It’s when the game tries to make me care about his boypain that I need to check the fuck out.

Being clear, I don’t think his story so far is being handled especially poorly (except for the Akamatsu thing, which makes me wonder about Kodaka’s romantic experiences irl), I just find his character type to be really frustrating and annoying personally. I have seen this exact story before, many times, and the sucker punch of being given this yet again when I was offered something I actually wanted is not going to get forgiven any time soon.

Fingers crossed that the ending twist will justify this somewhat, though when it comes down to it, this game is way less enjoyable for me by making me follow around a character I don’t give a flying fuck about at the expense of one I really liked.

Thoughts on Chapter 3 Overall

Okay, onto my thoughts on the Chapter itself.

Like I said, I liked the whole student council angle, though I would have preferred if it got a little more actively oppressive. In Chapter 2 when Gonta is gathering everyone up for the Insect Appreciation Party, that was some intense shit, and I feel like the student council never really reached that level of threat. There’s never a point where Saihara and HaruMaki have to like, make a plan on how to creep around the school without being caught or anything.

Loved what this chapter did for Chabashira and Yumeno as characters. Took this background gag relationship and elevated it to something tragic and character-defining.

Would have liked the victims and the culprit to be less glaringly obvious. This is a common complaint about this game so far, barring Chapter 1.

Liked the murder tricks--this was the first chapter where I didn’t go into the trial with a solid idea of how the murder took place.

In conjunction with that, the trial was way harder, and I enjoyed that a lot.

I hate hate HATE that Kodaka insists on still replicating patterns from the first game--I wanted Shinguuji to get away with killing Chabashira while Angie’s killer got executed, meaning that Yumeno’s character arc would still have some ways to go and not be tidily wrapped up at the halfway point of the game. That would have lent some sense of overall progression, instead of every case being neatly confined to its one chapter (except for the first one I guess).

Also as a result of this, I now have to assume that the next Chapter will involve some heroic sacrifice (which will likely not measure up to Sakura’s, because they never do), the fifth one will touch on the questions left by Amami’s murder, etc. Making your murder mystery series that started by undermining tropes of the genre into a predictable formula is not fun, Kodaka.

Apparently a lot of people have a problem with the motive but I’m pretty whatever about it. I thought it was just silly enough to be a fun red herring, and I assume this discussion about bringing back the dead will resurface later in the game’s climax. Plus it gave me so many opportunities to incorporate Obakematsu.

The way Monokuma and Monodam temporarily switched places was pretty interesting, and I liked the parallel between Monodam’s getting along rhetoric and Angie’s student council thing as oppression through legitimate good intentions.

Mixed feelings on Monokuma lamp-shading the references to the previous games. In a world before DR3, I feel I’d be overjoyed and would use these to look for ways this game connects to the Kibougamine series, but I live in a post-DR3 world (specifically a post-Kibou-hen world), and I am desperate to get away from that series and its baggage.

I think that’s it?

Theories

Right, last up, a lot of people have asked me about theories I have for the rest of the game, so here are some.

Theory #1: Mastermind

So when the character designs were first revealed back in like September of last year, I pegged either Shirogane or Angie as the mastermind. I still am super suspicious of Shirogane based on a few very subtle things:

she’s the first character Akamatsu and Saihara run into in the prologue

she’s suspiciously normal and plain

she doesn’t seem to be affiliated with any kind of in-group other than the student council

hers is the very first secret scene you access in the game (provided you played the demo)

Junko panties, man

when you break for a Scrum Debate, she’s the first to rise (with Amami on the bottom)

HOWEVER, based on how the game doesn’t use 黒幕 (puppetmaster/one behind the curtain) for the mastermind any more, instead opting for the more straightforward 首謀者 (lit. mastermind, one behind everything), I can’t help but suspect that it’s Saihara behind it all. I mean, everyone keeps going on about how the story has to focus on him, so it’s very likely that he’s responsible for this situation and Shirogane ends up being a fake-out mastermind or something.

Theory #2: What the fuck is going on?

I have a few ideas for what exactly is happening here--most of them involve it not actually happening. In other words, the game events themselves are fictional in-universe, either because they’re a literal story reflecting how DR is a fictional property in our world, or because Saihara is just making it up.

Maybe he’s had a psychological break and is hallucinating this. Maybe this is a Shinsekai-esque program generating things to help with his inner issues? Maybe this is all a very long movie (or a TV show, or a game)? Maybe the events of the game are playing out in reality, but Saihara’s such an unreliable narrator that his account is radically different from what is actually happening.

My two favorite theories though, which I’d love to have be right, are as follows:

V3 is a giant rp campaign (not super likely)

V3 is a giant Duel Noir Saihara has set up to get revenge or something (slightly more likely)

If the latter is true, that opens the door for Shirogane to be the “mastermind” who’s actually working for Saihara. His main motivator seems to be guilt and self-hatred, so it’d make sense that rather than pull the strings, Saihara would want to participate and suffer along with all the other sinners.

It’s also possible that the events of the game are presented to us through the lens of Saihara relating what happened to someone else, like the authorities, or the public, or the loved ones of those who died. I’d love that kind of ending because holy shit Heart of Darkness much? Like he feels so awful for whatever reason that he set up this killing game, but then loses his nerve during it, is the sole survivor, and finds that he actually can’t be honest, resorting to a “his final words were your name” kind of lie.

If that happened, it would redeem my faith in Kodaka quite a bit. (I’d still rather play a game not about Saihara, but it would feel like all my suffering would have been worth it.)

As for the glimpses we get between Chapters and from the Memory Light, I kind of feel like a lot of it is fabricated. Maybe not the funeral, but I highly doubt the SHSL Hunt exists, at least not as it was presented in Chapter 2, and this horrible incident Toujou references could very well just be the SHSL kids rebelling or something--i.e., the impetus for Saihara to want to punish all of them to begin with.

Maybe it’s an alternate timeline where society reacts to Junko’s coup by punishing the talented, as I posited way, way back in the day?

Time travel is still on the table too, meaning that it’s possible that all of the characters inevitably die at the end, but Saihara has arranged it so that their consciousness just replays the game over and over in his own self-imposed purgatory.

There’s lots of possibilities.

Theory #3: Future Deaths and Survivors

Momota ain’t making it out of this game, sorry. I thought he might earlier on, but he’s leaning too hard on the “Ishimaru Stock Shounen Protag” button, and Kodaka needs a cheap, easy way to push HaruMaki through the last bit of her character arc, so I doubt he’ll hang on. Not now that he’s gotten involved in motivating Yumeno and stuff too. Sorry, dude, I like you a lot, but the only way you’re getting to space now is via execution.

Also yeah, I think he’s totally going to end up a culprit. It will be in self-defense, or an accident, or some convoluted sacrifice thing like with Gundam, or for some other excusable reason like that, but I just feel like Kodaka isn’t going to give up the change to a) fuck with Saihara again, and b) have another space-themed execution.

I think Yumeno will live to the end, if only because Kodaka has that dumb idea that if someone dies for you you deserve a Get Out of Death Free card. The only way she won’t live will be if Saihara’s the sole survivor.

HaruMaki I think will make it to the end since she’s filling the Main Female Character role. Ditto about the caveat being if Saihara’s the only one to get out.

Iruma is going to get so murdered. It’d be interesting if she’s the heroic sacrifice.

Kiibo is also going to die. I don’t know if he’ll get murdered or if Ouma will goad him into killing someone, but I can’t see him making it out alive. (Also he needs to step it up--Momota and HaruMaki have now been key players in this game, and Kiibo’s the only one from the initial reveal image to not be important).

Ouma I feel like is the type who could accurately fake is own death just to fuck with everyone/flush out an actual killer (we kinda got this a bit in Chapter 3, which could be foreshadowing). Ultimately though I think he’ll die one way or another.

Gonta is up there with Yumeno and HaruMaki. I get the feeling he’ll survive except in the case of Saihara being the only survivor.

Shirogane...uh...if she’s the mastermind, she could die after the culmination of Saihara’s plan, or she could not. She could just ride off into the sunset or something. Otherwise, I think she’ll fly under the radar with Gonta.

Okay, I think that’s everything I had to say about Chapter 3 and the game so far--looking forward to Chapter 4!

[tyrantisterror]

How I’d Ruin It: Batman

(thanks to The Lego Batman Movie for making my brain keep coming back to this, and also for making such awesome goddamn toys for my retail therapy needs)

While I write my own stories nowadays, the old fanfic writer in me resurfaces every now and then in the form of idle thoughts about how I’d handle certain stories I love.  Sometimes these musings lead me to one horrible conclusion: that no matter how much I may love the story in question, I’d be absolutely fuck awful at writing it.  This is because the scope of things I’m interested in writing is significantly smaller than the scope of things I’m interested in reading/watching - my muse is a pickier eater than I am.

Still, no matter how awful and off message my bastardized mental versions of these stories may be, they keep popping up now and then, demanding to manifest as stories are wont to do.  So today I’m going to exorcise one of them by summarizing it to you.

Today, my wonderful readers, I’m going to tell you how I’d utterly fuck up at writing Batman.

I’m a conditional Batman fan, because there’s a lot of Batman media out there and a lot of it is shit - and also there’s so much of it by volume that even reading/watching only the good Batman stuff would take more time than I can spare.  So when I say I love Batman, know that I mean, like, mostly the 90′s animated series and scattered arcs like The Long Halloween that can stand alone, and The Dark Knight, and the Adam West show, and Holy Musical B@man, and some other random Batman stuff.  I only know/like some Batman, but the amount of Batman I like is still, like, a lot of Batman.  Jesus Christ there’s so much fucking Batman dudes.

But I have some problems with Batman, two of which are relevant to this post because they’re also kind of necessary to its appeal.  The first is one that is almost justifiable, although it will undoubtedly sound preposterous to most people: why does Batman have to be so dark?

Don’t get me wrong - I’m a horror fan, so obviously I’m not completely averse to darkness in my fiction.  A big part of Batman’s appeal to me comes from how it’s rooted in Gothic Horror tropes.  It’s a comic about a dude who dresses up as a Dracula to fight monster men in a city that’s literally called Gotham, so darkness has to be part of the story.

But jeeeeeesus christ Batman is needlessly dark sometimes.  Does a bat themed super hero really need to be fighting a guy who carves tally marks into his skin for every person he’s murdered?  Is the Joker really more interesting when he’s killing everyone he sees than when he committed clown themed heists?  Isn’t being a crocodile man enough intrigue for Killer Croc, or does he need to be a creepy cannibal too?  Does every villain need to be a murderer?

While the Adam West Batman show is so campy that I can only tolerate it in small doses, it nonetheless makes me pine for a brighter take on the character/series.  It’s kind of nice to have bright colors and jokes and a Batman who doesn’t whine about how sad he is, and villains who are more into making elaborate puzzles and traps instead of finding new ways to mutilate their victims.  I’d love to see it blended with the complex psychology of the darker Batmans - but more on that after we get to problem number 2.

Which is, of course, Batman himself.

Batman can be an interesting character.  In the best Batman stories, I certainly do love him.  But, to be totally honest with you, even at his best, Batman is never the main draw to me in a Batman story.  He’s like the bun of a hot dog - it’d be weird to have one without him, and a lot of the more interesting ingredients would sort of fall apart without him holding everything together, and you’d have a great big sticky mess on your hands, but... I mean, if I’m honest, he’s not the part of this I’m looking forward to experiencing.  Batman isn’t the meat of the meal to me - no, that role goes instead to his villains.

Goddammit those villains are great! Joker, Two Face, Harley Quinn, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze, the Riddler, even the obscure ones like Killer Croc and Clayface, and even the shitty ones like Calendar Man - I just fuckin’ love almost every single one of ‘em, and they’re the reason I keep thinking about how I’d love to just... just utterly ruin Batman.

But when I start thinking of the story I want to tell with those villains, inevitably I remember that, oh hey, I need to have something for Batman to do because, y’know, it’s called Batman for a reason, and my muse just wants nothing to do with that.  And that’s why the wheels always fall off.

Well, that and I have a billion other stories to write, but still.

So here’s how I’d ruin Batman in a brief pitch: My Batman story would star the villains, almost none of whom are murderers, in a version of Gotham where Bruce Wayne died with his parents, and thus has no Batman.

You’d have a Gotham City much like the one in Year One (I hate to reference a Frank Miller comic but it’s easily the most well known framework for where I’m starting here), ruled by a mix of slightly exaggerated gangsters and corrupt businessmen - more outlandish in their evil than the real thing but not quite on supervillain level.  The villains would all retain their origins for the most part, but without a Batman to draw their focus they sort of turn on each other.  It sort of splits into two factions: the Freaks, who are victims/products of the corruption inherent to the city, and the Crimelords, who are the few members of the old/mundane criminal element that adapt to the superpower boom and transition from normal gangsters to supervillains.

The resulting conflict would be the story of a bunch of broken people trying to destroy the system that made them, and the horrible remnants of the old crime world desperately trying to return things to how they are - anarchists vs. tyrants.

Now that we’ve got the basic plot/conflict down, let’s go to what I always focus on first when writing a story: the characters.  We’ll begin with our protagonists...

The Freaks

The Joker - obviously the leader of the bunch, the Joker is probably one of the characters I would bastardize/alter the most.  Nowadays it’s set pretty firmly in stone that the Joker has to be, like, the most evil man in existence.  He’s gotta kill people on a whim, physically abuse his girlfriend, cut off his own face and wear it like a mask, and just generally be a real fuckin’ creep.  But does he have to be that evil?

Well yes, yes he does, it’s what makes him iconic and is basically his defining trait, and without it most of the stories told with the character wouldn’t be possible.  The idea that he’s the villain who gives other villains nightmares is what makes him stand out.  If you lessen the depths of his depravity, you’d ruin Batman.

but does he haaaaaaaaaave to?

Imagine if you will a young, down on his luck commedian named Jack Napier who, in an attempt to provide for his wife, accidentally gets involved with the mob.  They make him dress up as a (fictional) crime boss called the Red Hood for a caper - he has to act the part to get the police off the scent of the real bosses.  Little does he know that he’s a patsy, set up to not only mislead the police but to buy time for the crooks’ escape by getting into a firefight.  He’s shot and falls into some chemicals, gets bleached, and wakes up with a new, much more unhinged state of mind.  Like the normal Joker, he finds the magnitude of his tragedy to hilariously absurd.  Also like the normal Joker, he decides to become an agent of entropy in hopes of dismantling the city that made him a monster.

Unlike the normal Joker, however, the focus of his wrath isn’t a paragon of morality and justice, but rather the corrupt and powerful rulers of Gotham.  He becomes the arch enemy of mobsters, crooked cops, and politicians - people the normal version of the Joker also antagonizes, of course, but not to this level.  Since his nemeses are different, this Joker never defines himself as a force of evil and corruption.  Instead he humiliates - this Joker punches up and brings those in power down a peg.

The “joke” theme because important here, as the Joker ends up creating a lot of schemes designed to ridicule and embarrass his victims as much as destroy them.  It’s not enough to just shoot the corrupt politician - he needs to kill their ego and their sense of power.  This Joker would much rather scare the shit out of his victim with a convoluted and frankly stupid “death” trap than just shoot them - and he’d be perfectly content just splatting them in the face with a vaudevillian pie instead of actually killing them at the end.

He wouldn’t be an out and out hero - he doesn’t go out of his way to save people or anything - but he’d also be a far cry from the “killing dozens of people a day for the sake of proving he’s evil” Joker we get nowadays.

He also wouldn’t be aware of the fact that other people don’t necessarily get the joke - not in the malicious “BWAHAHA I’M EVIL AND I’M KILLING YOU WITH LAUGHING GAS IT’S FUNNY TO ME BECAUSE I’M EVIL” way, but in the “Look, I know you’re technically in peril here but you have to admit it’s objectively ridiculous that you’re being dangled above a tank full of piranhas, right?  I mean, is it even true that they eat people, or is that a myth?  This whole thing’s pretty surreal right?” sort of way.

Harley Quinn - Harley is my favorite Batman character when she’s written well, but sadly she’s normally written absolutely horribly so I’m kind of happy to just fuckin’ ruin this story for her sake.  Part of her problem is that the core concept for her character is “psychiatrist is seduced by patient, subjected to psychological and physical abuse by him, and because of said abuse becomes a supervillain.”  I mean, a lot of Batman villains also have the “horrible psychological problems make people evil” thing going on which is, y’know, horribly unfortunate, but I feel like Harley’s hit harder than most.

But since the Joker isn’t nearly as much of a bastard in this story, maybe Harley can get out with a nicer origin as well?

This version of Harley isn’t the Joker’s victim so much as a collaborator - maybe the Robin to his Batman?  They’re kindred spirits in their love of whimsy and their distaste for how the city is run - Harley in particular has a focus on the corrupt nature of the mental health facility she works at (I mean, Arkham’s not particularly good at its purpose even in the normal Batman universe).  Like Robin, Harley softens the Joker’s war on Gotham’s criminal underworld a bit - she drags him into a more compassionate viewpoint.  Unlike Robin, she’s not a subordinate/ward - while Harley plays on the Joker’s clown motiff, she doesn’t follow his schemes without question, and always argues for a different way of doing things when the Joker’s plans get too mean-spirited.  They’re actual partners in crime, as opposed to the victim/abuser dynamic they had in past fiction.

I realize this is the kind of alteration to canon - y’know, making the main villain sympathetic and a canonically abusive relationship into a healthy romanticized one - that makes people use the word “fanfic” as a pejorative, but, well, I did say this is how I’d ruin Batman.

Catwoman - while the Joker is obviously going to be the leader of the bunch, Catwoman would be the deuteragonist, both because she’s just as iconic and also because she’s probably the closest thing to Batman in this world, and it is still ultimately a world designed to work around a Batman-ish character.  Born poor, Catwoman pickpockets her way into wealth, specifically targeting the most corrupt of the wealthy.  Unlike most of the other Freaks, she has the option of living a normal life, but is ultimately compelled to keep robbing from the rich and giving to the poor (and also herself - look, she has a lot of cats to feed).  Catwoman grounds the Freaks in reality and helps them understand the rules of the system they’re trying to break - and, with her status as an up and coming socialite, is able to give them valuable intel on some of their targets.

Mr. Freeze - honestly you could just transplant the Batman: The Animated Series take on him right into here, because it’s kind of baffling he was considered a villain in the first place.  It takes literally no effort to make him a heroic figure - you just have to remove the more-traditionally-heroic Batman to make him shine.  Mr. Freeze isn’t as daffy and volatile as the Joker, but is every bit as determined to bring Gotham crashing down and to make the corrupt pay for their cruelty toward people like him.  He’s also hilariously serious, providing a stoic counterpoint to the more flamboyant personalities of the other villains.

Poison Ivy - Poison Ivy’s motivation has been “protect the environment, plants specifically”, which is pretty noble to be honest - it’s just that her methods are unnecessarily homicidal.  So, y’know, maybe tone that down a bit?  Less “mind controlling innocent people and murdering them for money to build a plant park” and more “using convenient giant animate plants to halt construction that threatens local parks” sort of schemes.  She’d basically be an environmental sciences themed vigilante - Captain Planet with an aggressive streak.

I know it’s more traditional to pair her with Harley Quinn, but I’d kinda like to try setting her up with Catwoman instead - both of them has this history of being femme fatales/evil seducers of men, so it’d be kind of fun to have a story where they just have none of that at all.  Though pairing her with Harley and making the Harley/Joker relationship purely platonic is an interesting dynamic too...

Killer Croc - he’s a great big crocodile man who lives in the sewers because no one above ground accepts him, on account of him being a big crocodile man and all.  Despite his fearsome appearance and prodigious strength, he’s a pretty swell guy - the gentle bruiser of the group.

Two-Face - like Mr. Freeze, you really don’t have to alter much to make him a good guy.  Just keep Two-Face pointed at mobsters and he works as a hero pretty well.

The Riddler - In this world, the Riddler begins as a cop who, while clever, isn’t corrupt enough to excel in the police department.  His superiors assign him to the Freak case in hopes of getting rid of him (preferably in a fatal sort of way), but that plan succeeds in the worst way, as he ends up defecting to their side.  The Riddler helps the Freaks make their schemes truly bizarre and unpredictable, and helps them get to the bottom of who is truly running Gotham City.  He’s also a smug prick about it, because smugness is key to his character.

Clayface - a star of Gotham’s theater scene, Basil Karlo is convinced to try an experiment age-defying makeup which turns him into a giant shape changing mud man.  He becomes the group’s master of disguise and also ups their general theatricality, and can back up Croc as the muscle in a pinch.

The Crimelords

Penguin - a petty thug with delusions of grandeur, Penguin wants to rise to the ranks of the social elite and goes to great lengths to seem more educated and “classy” than he is.  While he is never accepted by the rich people he idolizes, he continues to do their dirty work in hopes of getting their approval.  He is cunning in a way, though, and rises to prominence throughout the story as one of the few criminals who can keep up with the increasingly eccentric Freaks - probably because he’s basically one of them despite his protests.

Scarecrow - a corrupt psychologist at Arkham Asylum who helps the mafia by providing insanity defenses for mobsters and driving key witnesses insane, Scarecrow’s obsession with fear would spiral out of control throughout the story.  Eventually he’d switch sides to the Freaks when he gets too weird for the oldschool criminals to tolerate, although he’d never be well liked by either side.

Firefly - a particularly skilled arsonist for the Maroni crime family.  Not much more than that.

Deathstroke - the greatest assassin employed by the Falcone crime family, Deathstroke takes himself very seriously, which is to his detriment considering the pack of ridiculous monster men he’s facing in this story.  He has a bitter rivalry with...

Deadshot - the greatest assassin employed by the Maroni crime family.  Deadshot doesn’t take his work very seriously at all and is prone to sarcasm and flippancy.  He kind of loves the fact that the freaks are causing so much ridiculous trouble for his employers, but that doesn’t mean he won’t kill them for a paycheck.

Bane - a mercenary hired by the crime families to take down the Freaks.  Bane eventually switches sides; he may be a bad guy, but he also cares about the downtrodden having grown up in a city not unlike Gotham itself.

Calendar Man - the youngest son of the mafia boss Carmine Falcone, Alberto Falcone is inspired by the theatricality of the Freaks and becomes a holiday themed serial killer, targeting enemies of his father’s business in a misguided attempt to earn his approval.

Black Mask - As the different crime families slowly dwindle in number over the course of the story, Roland Sionis, an underboss for the Maroni family, eventually rises in the ranks (due to his superiors dying) and unites what remains of the mafia under his iron fist.  Deciding to fight fire with fire, he crafts a grim alter ego for himself in hopes of striking fear into the Freaks.  It doesn’t work because he’s just not theatrical enough to pull it off, but he does manage to be a thorn in their side for a while.

Hugo Strange - the chief psychologist of Arkham Asylum, Hugo Strange is an awful, awful man.  He’s also an incredibly intelligent one, master minding many of the problems the Freaks encounter.  He’s not the root of Gotham’s problems, though, as he ultimately serves...

Ra’s Al Ghul - an ancient sorceror who has made and destroyed countless societies in his many centuries of scheming, Ra’s Al Ghul made Gotham City into a nexus of misery and cruelty in hopes of awakening a world ruining entity - i.e. basically he’s trying to bring about Gozer the Destroyer.  ‘Cause why not bring in a bit of Lovecraftian terror to a setting that has a madhouse that makes monster people that’s literally called Arkham Asylum?

And that’s it.  That’s how I’d ruin Batman.

I’ll probably repurpose some of these ideas into other stories like I do with most of my fanfic ideas, but man, this sure is shitty as a Batman story, huh?