#i dont think it's That ambiguous tho. i think the ending was pretty clear that they would be together

[offbeat-manga-ships]

HARU TO MIDORI (春とみどり)

Haru & Midori / Fukaumi Kon

Complete, with 15 chapters / 3 volumes

F/F; Drama, Shoujo Ai + semi canon, open ending, queer & ambqueer, queer character, lgbt, ag, ag: yf x of, younger f, older f, glasses f, implicit or ambiguous

SUMMARY: Midori isn't good with people, and at 31 years old, she feels like she has no place in life. One day, she attends the funeral of a close friend of hers from junior high school, Tsugumi. Unable to forget about her, she has a vision of the young friend she knew standing above her — only it isn't the girl she once knew, but her daughter, Haruko.

This is the story of the relationship between a woman without a place and a child without a mother.

MAL score: 7.38 AL mean score: 74% MU average: 7.7

PERSONAL SCORE: 8 out of 10

[nell-pointer]

DSMP CLASSPECTS CUZ  ITS 4/13 BABYYYY!!!!

I’ve seen some other people do these, and I thought I’d try my hand at it because sorting characters into things is like the most fun thing to do ever. I didn’t do all the characters, just a few of the ones I felt the most confident about (and some rapid fire ones at the end). This probably won’t make any sense if you don’t already understand classpects but I dont care so without further ado:

Dream - Knight of Heart: First off, Dream doesn’t get to have that many splinters and not have a heart aspects, secondly, I honestly feel like heart just fits him really well. Heart players are all about passion and the soul. Combine that with Knights who are notorious for hiding their true feelings behind a façade (or a mask lol) You get someone who pretends to be all logical, but is in reality ruled almost entirely by emotions.

Technoblade - Prince of Blood: There is no universe in which I don’t give Techno a blood aspect, while you could make an argument that breath would suit him much better, it just wouldn’t be right. 

So I went for a middle ground. The Prince class always mirror their opposing aspect. (that's why Dirk was logical despite being a heart player, Eridan was nihilistic despite being a hope player, and Kurloz was calm despite being a rage player) So It would make sense that Techno, as a Prince of Blood would share so many characteristics with the Breath aspect. Plus deep down its pretty obvious that Techno does long for a sense of community and friendship, even if he sometimes has a pretty bad way of going about it. 

Also, Prince of Blood literally translates to “One who destroys Unity” so.....

Tommy - Knight of Blood: Tommy may look like a Dave Strider kinnie, but hes got way more in common with Karkat. I don’t think this requires more explanation, but i’m a wordy bitch so I’m gonna keep going.

Blood has to do with bonds, attachments, unity, things like that, all of which are pretty much the core of Tommys whole character. And I’m going with knight because he puts up a front of an annoying raging child, but past the surface its clear he’s cares deeply for those around him. 

Tubbo - Rouge of Void: Tubbo is a character study in avoidance. Time and time again we see him sweep very important things under the rug, usually to make things easier or more comfortable for others. He lets things go because he wants to be the bigger person, because he wants to be a forgiving person. This is token rouge behavior, using your own aspect to help others, he will forgive pretty major things, or avoid talking about major things because he doesn’t want to cause conflict. But at the end of the day, all rouges struggle with giving too much of themselves away, and will almost always reach their breaking point. Also, major Roxy Lalonde vibes what can I say. 

Quackity - Witch of Mind: While I could go for the easy clap and say ‘oh, here's this morally ambiguous character that also happens to dabble in some occasional manipulation, lets go with thief’.... but I’m not that lazy. Plus I actually really like witch for him, witches are confident in their aspect and are always trying to test the bounds of it, and I think that works very well with Quackitys ambitious nature. He’s not evil, he’s cutthroat. 

And as for his aspect... again I could have gone the easy route and given him light because of the obvious luck motif, but in my opinion, the luck motif is really ALL he’s got in common with light. Other than that, nothing else about him stands out to me as belonging to a light player. Mind on the other hand, I think works very well. Mind players are logically driven and great critical thinkers. They are usually several steps ahead, and if that's not Quackity I don’t know what is.

Here are some rapid fire ones that I’m less sure of either because I don’t care that much or I know next to nothing about their lore I just get ‘vibes’ from them

Sapnap: Knight for sure, not totally sure of what maybe life tho

Karl: Bard of Light

Philza: Mage (or maybe sylph) of Doom (or maybe life)

Wilbur: Mage of Time

Fundy: Seer of something, not sure of what

Bad: Definite Rage player, even with my limited knowledge of the Eggpire I’m pretty confidant on this one. Class I got nothing for tho. 

Hannah: Witch of Life

Ranboo: Obvious Void player

Michael (not the pig): Seer of Doom seems a little too obvious but its all I got

George: I’m leaning towards Heir, maybe of Void

Aimsey: First clock says Sylph of Doom, could potentially change based on what he does moving forward. 

Puffy: Also probably a Sylph (damn meddlers)

Boomer: Based on the like two things I know about them, I’m thinking Rouge of Light

Slime: Heir of Heart

[nekisui]

NH being irrelevant and SS being not

Im pretty sure that Kishimoto thinks that NH bond is so irrelevant that he barely consider it. I mean, it's not like he intentionally thinks that Naruto doesn't love Hinata, no, if you'll ask him he'll say that "Sure, Naruto loves Hinata. They love each other, they were meant to be" bc it's the right thing to say, bc Kishi wouldn't make a tragic marriage intentionally (it's a shonen and apparentely he doesnt care a lot about romantic love stuff), but a simple and well... normal (?) marriage where two ppl love each other. What I'm saying is that: even tho he says this, he doesn't truly think that NH bond is smth special. It is... just there, existing. Bc Naruto had to have a wife and Hinata loved him since the beginning, so he goes with her. Im sure that that in "Top 10 best bonds in the Naruto's serie" in KIshi's head, NH is not even there. He doesn't care, he treats NH as a side couple most of times, giving sometimes some attention bc there's the MC in it. Why im saying this, that Kishi thinks that NH bond is nothing special, that is irrelevant?

Well, first of all, the development he gave to them. Which barely exists. The way he made Naruto ignoring Hinata's confession and the way he didnt gave an hint in chap 699 that these two would have end up together, or that there was a bond.

He gave instead an hint with SS, with the forehead poke, and the excuses from Sasuke to Sakura, which maybe didnt make ppl think for sure that these two would have end up together, but that there was at least something going on, a bond. A bond that was already formed through the whole Naruto OG, yes bc Sasuke cares about Sakura. Yes WOW. Sasuke cares/cared about his teammates, about Team 7, and saying he didnt it's an insult to his character and to his hided pure heart. Kishi gave also other various hints through the manga, with his comments in the end or in the beginning of chapters.

With NH, this didnt happen, like- at all. We have this scene during war arc, but after that scene Naruto says that Sakura is his girlfriend, and always after the NH scene he touches the hands of everyone to give chakra. There are always Hinata's feelings, but almost never NARUHINA feelings, smth mutual yk. If the Konoha Hiden novel didnt exist, if the Last didnt exist (smth that was a SP's idea, not Kishi's), then we wouldnt have a deeper view on NH's mutual bond.

Kishi decides to do a chapter about NH first date after the manga ends, nothing really significat that talks about their bond and how is special and amazing. He does it bc he probably felt that NH being endgame wasnt easy to understand in the end of Naruto manga, bc he forgot them. Just a date, to confirm that Naruhina was endgame.

He never wrote in a genuine way about their love. If in interviews they ask, he'll answer.

But yk what does he do then? He writes Naruto Gaiden, a story centred on the Uchiha Family and their bond. To explain in a deeper way, even tho databooks and his comments already gave smth about Sakura and Sasuke's, their bond and also Sakura and Sasuke's bond. in the same story, NH bond is barely mentioned, and when Naruto reiceves the bento Hinata made for him, he thinks to team 7. It doesnt seem disprectful, but actually is: bento is smth with an important meaning in Japan. When a person eats a bento prepared by a loved one, the preparer's feelings are transmitted through the food. In other words, the bento serves as a vehicle for communication between the maker and the eater. A bento prepared at home is imbued with the love of the eater's family. Kishimoto WROTE Naruto Gaiden, and he thought it was right for Naruto to think to Team 7 instead of his wife, this just shows how much NH bond is irrelevant for him. He literally FORGOT IT. I also feel like Kishi wanted to clear things about SS bond, bc he heard of ppl hating on it. Idk if yall notice, but Sarada's doubts are all antis doubts. "Why papa is never home?" "I can't understand if they love each other" "Is mama my real mom? Papa loves mama?". Maybe he didnt do it in the best way, making it ambiguous wo wanting, but i really dont care about antis' logic on this story, since they see more that it was implied. Kishi sure meant in a positive way the sentence that Sasuke said, also bc in the end of Naruto Gaiden he writes, wo no one asking but genuinly wanting to say it, this statement: “What reflected there was the real deal- LOVE”.

[summercurial]

Okay, so you know how people say that Mulan was Disney's first transmasc-rep movie, and Frozen was Disney's first lesbian-rep movie? In this same sense, Wreck-It Ralph was Disney's first ddlg-rep movie. I could end the ask here and let your mind do the rest of the work, but I will explain further.

Age is fundamentally a performance for characters in Wreck-It Ralph. They may be designed to appear some age, but nothing about the chronological passage of time changes this age. Vanellope is clearly intended as a depiction of a child, but by the same standard that, for example, Ralph is clearly intended as a depiction of a bad guy. These are identities the characters can escape or lean into. Consider, for a particularly blunt example from an oft-compared movie, Baby Herman from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Vanellope is in roughly the same situation, although the movie doesn't draw so much attention to it, and is content to leave us thinking of her as an actual child. But her game was created about fifteen years before the start of the story, and we can safely assume that Vanellope has been a depiction of a child of the same age for that entire time. It's a role that she's happy to play into, either for her own ends (to elicit sympathy from strangers) or simply because she finds it comforting.

Note two further minor details about Vanellope. One, Disney would usually get a child actor to voice such a major child role; the use of Sarah Silverman, who was 42 when the movie was released, is unusual and telling. Two, given all that anime discourse, it's amusing that Vanellope and her entire world are canonically a Japanese product; she could be considered Disney's take on the oft-mocked nine-thousand-year-old-loli trope.

Vanellope's relationship with Ralph exists in a fascinating ambiguity between parental and romantic. (Among the sequel's many sins, it collapses this ambiguity to the most boring possible compromise, modeling the two as platonic friends.) Some have commented on the film's use of the very sexual Rihanna song "Shut Up And Drive" in connection with the ship; they usually register this as a mistake on the filmmakers' part, but I don't. The filmmakers commissioned a new song to play over the film's credits, Owl City's When Can I See You Again, which is unmistakably meant to be about the Vanellope/Ralph ship and, while much more innocent, is still quietly about romance in the way that a typical pop song is. More to the point, though... looking at the actual contents of the film, the animation, the story, the arc, it plays out like a romantic plot, just with heavy parental overtones. I think there are moments where Vanellope is very obviously expressing attraction to Ralph, people would just prefer not to acknowledge it and remain in denial of it because it's uncomfortable for them.

But, like... those AESTHETICS, look at how saccharine and cutesy Sugar Rush is, those silhouettes, Ralph is sooooo big, and she's soooooooo little, aaaaaaaaa, I ship it I ship it I ship it [cough cough cough clears throat] but also I think this is all very interesting on a more academic interpretive level.

okay this take is i guess a little cursed but i was expecting MUCH worse. this is like, pretty tame. anyway, i guess, but like. i saw wreck it ralph and it didnt seem very romantic or parental to me? they were just like. friends, yknow, from two different worlds. it was a "friends from two different worlds" story. i mean you certainly COULD read it that way but i dont think it really plays into the themes? like it isnt a story *about* childhood iirc? i guess its about being deviant, so you could model that part as ddlg? but honestly ddlg isnt THAT deviant, soft-ddlg is basically our entire sex culture, masculinity is associated with age and femininity with youth. it IS sort of interesting that shes playing at being a child tho, thats sort of weird. if anything the stronger reading is like, lesbian/gay friendship imo.

think you might be projecting buddy

[dashboardcat]

Beastars: the last one

the “i can feel the wind between my legs” call back was a nice way to start the chapter off, serving as a reminder of how Legosi fell for Haru in the first place

seeing everyone else one last time was pretty nice too, although i still dont get why the shishigumi are still in jail, Louis could have just said “no that wasn’t a kidnapping” and that should have been it, right? like when they were first introduced the mayor wanted nothing to do with prosecuting them so what (besides their numbers? is that it?) changed there?  them getting 5 years added on bc their attempt at getting out early on good behavior is so them, tho

whether you shipped him with Legosi or Juno (or Haru? does anyone at this point still do that idk), i dont think anyone is happy with Louis committing himself to his loveless business marriage.  I feel like he could have just as easily called it off after he became CEO but i dont think they ever really explained what the relationship of the 2 companies is... (i dont think i did a chapter summary for the last chapter where they talked abt this so im dumping it here)

watching Haru climb up Legosi was cute as shit... it still seems ambiguous if they’re going to get married but Haru’s “Then I win!” makes it clear that they at least dont have to do the marriage then immediate divorce thing

it’s clear that they’re gonna have to put in some effort to make their relationship work in the long run. I feel like most of us feel like that’s what drew us to this series in the first place, so it’s a shame that they’re ending it without showing us more of that. 

Yahya has retired.... so who’s the Beastar? Is it Louis and Legosi? has society progressed past the need for one?

I’ve seen a few people say that Paru-sensei’s mental health lately has been suffering, either due to pressure to finish the series or the pandemic (or other factors).  If that is the case, I can’t say I blame her for how sloppy things got towards the end.  Regardless, this ending didn’t really feel like an ending.   It’s hard for me to explain, but this series genuinely awoke something in me (no, not being a gay furry, i was already one of those sflksdhfj), so I can’t help but feel like these characters deserve more closure. 

Hopefully Paru-sensei gets some rest.  And hopefully, we get to see some of these characters again in the rebooted Beast Complex!

[kendrixtermina]

Someone finally uploaded a Kingdom Route run with everyone recruited!

So imma be doing a bit of reacting

Kingdom!Ignatz works a bit like Empire!Felix  - He wanted to go his own way unlike what his parents said and is thus following Byleth. In this case it’s of course somewhat less angsty ‘cause the Victors have the means to flee if necessary, unlike Rodrigue who was a prominent leader of the kingdom side of things

In an interesting parallel to how half the cast abandons the kingdom cause it’s a sinking shipload of kamikaze, on the other routes, Raphael complains about the instability and confusing politics of the alliance and how she should probably grab Maya and his grandfather and get them to Garreg Magh. I suppose a lot of people without connections or political accumen must feel this way. the monastery IS light javelin proof, so yeah...Raphael isn’t salty toward Claude himself tho. Then again he has little capacity for salt and in his paralogue it’s kinda shown that he makes a deliberate choice to live a low-salt lifestyle its not just obliviousness, he actively doesnt want grudges or awkwardness in his life

Leonie is also here to babysit Byleth and tells them not to let Dimitri push them around 

Hilda: “The Monastery is a mess. So is Dimitri. I’m only here because Byleth is competent and Holst is annoying“

Dorothea and Bernie have so far gotten identical dialogues to the church route

Lysithea is interesting and kinda morally ambiguous. She says outright that she cares nothing for the kingdom or anything other than a peaceful life for her parents. She wants to get at the slitherers for her own revenge and they’re in the empire so she finds Dimitri’s revenge obsession convenient. Also very ironic cause, are she and Edelgard gonna fight each other because they both want to get at Thales? Very interesting bc vanilla BL doesn’t adress the slitherers that much - of course Lysithea says she has beef with “the empire” and doesn’t elaborate. At the same time Lysithea is MUCH more logical and self aware than most of the kingdom crew bar Sylvain so yeah

actually,  Lysithea, like Felix, has TONS of route specific dialogue. I guess the devs expected those two to get recruited a lot since they are just flat out the strongest students apart from the house leaders. 

The Kingdom is arguably just as infiltrated but Lysithea doesn’t know... and at this point Cornelia’s cooperating with the Empire anyways

General trend of the Alliance recruitees not being all that attached to the Alliance as they hardly knew each other at the start and half of them had nothing to do with politics

Nothing to do with the recruitees, but so THATS what happens if you propose to go to Fhirdiad first. Dimitri is like “You’re supposed to lead the church! Go rescue Rhea!” ...he doesn’t know the whole thing with Byleth being experimented on by Rhea (neither does Byleth at this point) but it is kinda low. Mitya you have no leg to stand on here indeed the main reason I was sympathetic to you last playthrough is that you never ASKED Gilbert & co to put you on the throne and made clear that you’re not interested in that... so following you was on them to an extent. but you don’t get to say “Do your Bishop job” (that Byleth never asked for) if you’re not doing your job cause you’re too busy doing your kamikaze raid. Then again he’s probably too emotional and just plain done with everything rn to see the contradiction/look at this with perspective he’s probably physically incapable of chilling out rn

It just ends with Byleth doing a pointed sadface. daamn Mitya don’t be mean to By-By she still believes in you dude : (  Though it makes sense he’s big on obligation he’s doing this revenge trip because he feels he must. So it’s more a distortion than it really is a contradiction, as far as he’s concerned he IS doing his duty...to the fallen. I guess if you can’t handle him at his “Go be a bishop or something” you don’t deserve him at his “my beloved~” 

Still hurts a bit tho. Especially when Claude, though not without his own agenda, was distinctly a good friend on the topic, “Teach you’re in charge now be more confident~ the church doesnt run you, you run the church”

Before Aillel Dorothea says something about the Kingdom people also looking undecided of where to march, but she also wonders if some fighting/ victory will quell uncertainty 

Also she and mercie are standing next to each other! Ive said before that it’s weird how they don’t rly have a support though they are the two most popular extroverted ppl on the campus... they GOTTA know each other at least on a smalltalk basis

Alois is like “These kingdom ppl dont seem to know what they want... but hey this allow YOU to shine as a leader”... so basically Byleth is running this show but for all that they’re a good field commander and decisive when it comes to immadiate practical problems, as far as big picture direction goes, well, Sothis’ “boulder” quote comes to mind. They just never had big attachments on convictions, the Felix support chain is also salient here. They kinda just did whatever job they were given until they found a bigger cause/purpose after throwing in their lot with one of the lords or the remaining saints.

I wondered how this would play out as the Kingdom route is very kingdom-specific, whereas Claude, Edelgard and the church all have an universal cause for people to get behind. I guess how this plays out is that before Dimitri’s turnaroud there’s the kingdom faction and the Byleth faction and Byleth is kinda trying to run the show as they think Dimitri would if he were at his best

Caspar is still on the more unphazed side but also substantially more phazed than on the church or GD routes, he wasn’t particularly close to Randolph but he’s not unaffected by Dimitri going a tad over the top here - he also has the takeaway that Dimitri probably never trusted him much since he was born in the empire.

Sylvain actually alledges something about Dimitri not socializing much with any Adrestians even back in the academy days if you recruit him on CF so this does not come out of nowhere. Also kinda makes me wish they had a support - theyre both naturals at smashing things but they have very different attitudes towards it. then again i suppose it would go alot like the raphael one

Ferdie recognizes Myrrdin is a strategically better location but as Aegir territory is closeby he wishes we could have invaded through there so he could take it back... Would the citizens want him back tho? After the war its a no-brainer cause he helped end it, the peasants arent going to complain about too much peace and prosperity nor are they gonna feel nostalgic about anyone who started a war with their tax money and then lost it, but if he waltzed into an area that had thus far been far from the frontlines, following his fathers’s exploitative management and 5 years of semi equal rights under edelgard? he might have been welcomed with  pitchforks, through no fault of his own. 

He says something implying hed like to come rescue his relatives implying that some of them are still alive. of course the pm deserves all Edelgard threw at him and then some, but id be curious about Ferdie’s other relatives. His mom probably looks just like him, because he sure didnt get the looks from his dad... or anything else really, apart from the crest and hair color. - though i think the a support with bernadetta implies that shes no longer around

Lorenz bitterly remarking that of course Claude and his dad eventually made peace since they both only serve their own interests. (”So long as their interests are in allignment they will continue to cooperate”)   Says the guy we just rescued from his endeavors in turncoatery. Lorenz you’re pretty opportunistic too, and as for your redeeming features Claude has those too - but of course you’ll never find out in this one. Still, it shows that he’s painfully aware that his father - whom he would have died protecting if we hadn’t spared him - is a villain and a hack

Claude isn’t super trusting and knows that he gets percieved as shifty so he promises people to get them theirs so that they support him out of self interest. No need to take a chace. Of course by the end of this route he WILL take big chance on Dimitri 

That says Lorenz is not SO biased that he can’t tell that Claude might be interested in working with the kingdom army

Lysithea (who surprisingly has TONS of unique dialogue here, and I like that it’s a complex mature plot) is having her doubts and not trusting Dimitri for all that she finds him an useful idiot. By and large you get the sense that many consider Byleth the leader of this operation, she’s glad that Byleth is there to issue sensible orders. She tells Byleth not to tell anyone and worries about what will happen once the empire’s vanquished. No faith in team Kingdom... at all. Understandable of course

Hilda’s dialogue is largely the same as in the church route and at times kinda the same in all routes but I like how she’s like “Claude might’ve looked like a lazy bum but he’s smart! If he says he’s on our side he will defs help!” before the gronder fiasco

A lot of NPCs stir the suspicion here so it stands out how much she totally trusts him like hes any other friend

As with the other routes with the recruitees you get an idea of what’s going on in the other territories such as Lysithea deducing that Judith must be backing Claude in his gambit

One moment you think Lorenz is going to add some somber insightful commentary to the sincerity of Claude’s offer but then he’s like, “Granted Dimitri is much improved. He must be asking us for help cause he trusts ME” XD Like... no friend. You’re almost right but if there’s anyone here he was faith in its Byleth. And then he’s even like, “Well no choice but to save poor Claudesy” On the one hand it shows that there not just pure hate there on the other... lulz. 

apparently one of the first things Dimitri did after getting his act together post gronder is profusely apologize to Caspar for that ugly business with Randolph. Thats a worthwhile detail and i want fanfic of it. Caspar being Caspar he wasnt really keeping a grudge, they’re a warrior clan and they were at war

They had to move out so quickly that Hilda had no time to go shopping in Fhirdiad #Priorities XD

Meanwhile Ignatz, like a normal person,  hopes his folks will be safe

hilda does eventually remember to maybe save her folks and claude but only after making Byleth promise to go on a shopping trip with her. Someone should probably write that fanfic

Someone told me that Ferdinand had some prominent critical lines but it was really just one, and it’s as I suspected actually just a variant of the same “a king can’t be emotional” line he gets in all the routes, this time with the addendum that if he turned around and decided to go rescue the capital, he might be capable of reason/being a decent leader after all.  granted I guess compared to how most of the Kingdom people go along with everything it comes off critical? IDK.

Lysithea misses Rodrigue :( 

Lorenz and Ignatz standing next to each other was a nice touch they have a fairly wholesome friendship

Leonie’s just glad that ol’ Mitya is “back to normal” especially since she’s pretty sure that they don’t have enough soldiers to get to Fort Merceus let alone Enbarr

For obvious reasons, Petra is pretty sympathetic about the whole “retaking Fhirdiad” thing

Seeing Seteth and Catherine so certain that Rhea would want them to save the people of Fhirdiad first when you know that she wouldn’t hesitate to set the place on fire is just...OUCH. Though it does show the goodness in Seteth and Catherine themselves. 

Manuela wishes she could’ve moved her informary to gronder and save a few more peeps :(

It seems like to Leonie, Dimitri will always be just “Dimitri”, King or not. Figures she aaaaalmost adressed even Byleth by name XD You really DO get the sense that he interacted alot with the recruitees

All the house leaders shouldve had more supports. 

If you grabbed hanneman he’ll give you some extra backstory on Cornelia - apparently she was originally from the empire and an eminent scholar whose great work Hanneman was vaguely aware of. I would assume that was still the real cornelia. Judging by the timing it sounds like she might’ve smuggled Patricia out of Adrestia. Assuming both were still original at this point this might present a possibility for why she trusted/vouched for cornelia without being complicit / lend itself to a “she was duped” reading

But it’s still suspicious that she would end up courting the second most powerful man in the land right after number one. 

Some had suggested that Cornelia caused the plague in the first place but the thing is there was a perfectly credible  “mundane” explanation for it (the city’s sewers not being up to date technologically) that theres no reason to doubt

Assuming that all the replacements occurred 14 years before part one when Arundel stopped his donations/ thins being about the time when Cornelia’s personality was noted to have changed completely, that would mean both the “fixing the severs” thing and the soppy story about how Edelgards’ parents met would be real 

AAAA everything to do with patricia is just so ambiguous - if they were longtime friends wouldn’t she have noticed something “off”? Same with her brother actually. Lambert had his own country so its not like there was no one to protect her. 

Ahhh THIS is how lorenz gets iinto the midset for that prissy, hes pissed that Claude dissolved the Alliance and misses it XD

you DO get to call him out for being a turncoat himself tho. particularly hilarious since Byleth just blinks and asks a casual question there

He immediately changes his tune

oh lorenz dear, i love you but you, sir, are WEAK xD

Lysithea as always calls everything and notes how suspicious arundel was alluding to the hrym nightmare also mentioned in her paralogue

She also mentions that he was said to be good and just at one point suggesting that there was a real Volkhard von Arundel at some point. 

if the replacement took place when those donations ceased then Edelgard and Dimitri were 3, 14 years before part 1. Early enough that this could be around the time Patricia left enbarr, if this is when it happened then the romantic tower story might be real assuming that the Arundels were replaced at the same time - whatever arrived in Faerghus recomended patricia for a job so it probably had already happened by then 

Its all so ambiguos tho we can only speculate there are so many possibilities

Ignatz marvels at how Claude managed to minimize damage to Alliance lands throughout the war, as in CF only Deirdru itself got particularly thrashed. Ignatz’ folks are safe and sound! Leave it to him to wonder where Claude might have absconded to. He was always one of the insightful ones but not in the same way as the other clever ones. More intuitive I guess. Cant remember if it was indentical to what you get if you spare Claude on CF (Cue the lets player remarking that Claude is probably stuck in a washing machine somewhere... he hadn’t cleared the Alliance route at that point)

Lol HILDA “And then the whole Alliance descended into chaos...” or actually she is surprised that that DIDNT happen and how orderly Claude managed the dissolution. “But I Guess we’re screwed if Dimitri turns out to be a crazed despot... he’s not gonna go crazy again is he?” You of little faith XD But she says all this in her usual cheery nonserious voice like

this chapter has a lot of unique dialogue actually

Linhardt  impressed that anyone would have the guts to attack Fort Merceus directly and suggests looking for weak spots in the old walls

He shows up guarding it in SS and Vw doesn’t he? Guess he was visiting Caspar or something - or would have been familiar with the place from visiting the Bergliez clan in the past. 

Ferdinand is wowed by Claude bowing out giving him kudos for caring about the peoples wishes. He thinks Edelgard ought to quit at this point and he’s alot harsher on her here than in any of the other routes. (”Not reveryone with noble blood has noble ideals” - Coming from Ferdinand that’s an accusation ) Interestingly at this point hes sticking with Dimitri cause post character developement, lots of ordinary ppl support him at this point and hes popular with the crowds. He’s wholly on the Savior King bandwagon, and maybe that’s why he’s harsher. He’s partial. Says something about him actually, largely good things when you think about it. Dimitri is probably the closest to what Ferdinand’s (and Lorenz’) own beliefs were. He likes the existing order and living in a fancy palace but he thinks the rulers should serve the people.

Its kinda ironic and sad because in ALL the other routes he clearly thinks Dimitri is an idiot and a bad ruler, and says he should be more composed and objective. But Dimitri wasnt at his best there now was he? 

 now ill be sad everytime I get to those “Ferdinand disses Dimitri” lines. They couldve been buds! 

but i dont see this happening in any other route. According to something Sylvain says in cf Dimitri avoided ppl from the empire  at the academy so they wouldnt have cozied up pre-timeskip, and its only the version of Dimitri who has his shit together which appeals to Ferdie as a leader. 

really torn here on the one hand its a nice synergy to see lorenz and especially Ferdinand (who is waaay less arroganz than lorenz) sort of getting to win on their own terms with a ruler that jives with them and their Lawful Good fantasy classic thing. It’s not just a status quo thing its a protectors of the people thing. It’s heroic.  On the other hand it feels like they’re stagnating when they could have had growth. This is basically the same Lorenz and the same Ferdinand we first met except slightly more mature.  Notably lorenz is the same in the church route whereas Ferdie isnt as he still ends up rebelling fleeing and fighting against the empire. It helps that he practically winds up leading the remaining Eagles, albeit under Byleth and Seteth.  

He still gets that line about being kinda sad to see the empire go though he knows there must be an end to the chaos, i think a few lines are different, so, not wholly without doubt

Shamir muses about hoe the three countries were once one and the same, but wonders that even if we put fodlan togethere theres no guarantee that it wouldnt come apart again. i mean there isnt, and wether thats a bad thing would depend a lot on the circumstances but its also possible that theyll get used to being one and forget they wrere ever separate. no one controls the far future... and should they? After all its always possible that someone in the future will have unforseeable circumstances or better ideas

Caspar sighs with relief that they didn’t have to fight his dad, last second worry about him turning up in the capital nonwithstanding... right does he get to live in this? Carpar wonders what’ll happen to him if they win, but he’s not holding down Faerghus so he might not have died the way he did in Silver Snow and Verdant Wind. It’s at least possible that he was captured alive and pardoned somehow. 

Marianne’s adoptive dad sure smelled which way the wind was blowing; He was supporting Claude’s strategy to get the Cloucesters back under controll but sent Marianne to curry favor with the kingdom. Make friends with whoever wins I suppose. Ambitious politician indeed. 

When she doesnt her from him in a while she wonders if he forgot about her but says she wouldnt mind that much because at least she wouldnt have to do any more politics? I distinctly recall that in gd there was something about how they got along better after the timeskip. Sigh. 

she is real glad that Dimitri and claude ended up cooperating in the end

So does Dorothea but then she makes herself sad wishing that Edelgard was also there :( Me too friend, me too.  I think thats the one unique line she gets this route. I like how it’s consistent in the church route she’s also the one who feels the most sad about betraying her, they were pretty close pre timrskip 

as far as leonies concerned Dimitri is still just Dimitri even after taking back his kingdom. i like to think hed appreciate that. its also very typical of leonie. as with the “Caspar gets an apology” thing plenty of the recruitees get lines hinting that theres been more personal interaction between them and dimitri, kinda goes with how ppl in his own house follow him more out of personal loyalty than because they follow his plans like with the other two. hes kinda a very approachable sort of leader, makes the decisions with the group or follows whatever gilbert and Byleth decide, in the other routes theres always a distinct inner circle. Its cool how they incorporated the recruitees into that dynamic. 

Petra is dissapointed that they DIDNT do a sneak attack on fort Merceus contrasting her usual line about how she likes sneak attacks.  Dimitri naps both that an Enbarr head on doesn’t he? The Church has a smaller Army full of peeps who would rather not destroy Enbarr, and Claude agrees with Petra on the sneak attack thing and then Edelgard did that sorta shady but largely very gutsy thing where she didn’t sound the evacuation to restrict Claude’s movements knowing that there was zero danger that he would plow through the civilians (they don’t do this here cause last time they met Dimitri he was not feeling merciful indeed judging by huberts welcome lines and engage quotes he doesnt buy the turnaround), the AM ending narration also suggests that Enbarr wasn’t rebuilt, though Dimitri gave distinct “No pillaging!” orders, so they probably just couldn’t avoid wrecking the buildings and relocated the citizens. 

Ashe also speculates where Claude went. That’s one of the things i like about Ashe he consistently averts out of sight out of mind I particularly always loved how he consistently worried about Dedue. Someone ought to. 

Ingrid interestingly changed her tune here / kinda speaks positively of claude here - in CF she was like “I always though he was creepy”

Then again that was before fighting him I don’t recall If those two dont get the same lines if you spare Claude,  have to go back and check

id like to mention that the lets player put lorenz in the pyjamas/loungewear the whole time as “punishment” for being late to the reunion and poked fun at him throughout.

[apprcnticesuprcmc]

damn im so worked up about the way tommy and billy mirror each other tho--

( theyre just always talking about each other. tommy literally will not shut up about him in vol 2. it gives me life )

like, everyone thinks of billy as the warper and fine he is, but so is tommy?? its canon that they both possess this incredible ability to warp the very fabric of reality to their wishes, but it just manifests differently in the two of them. here is a really great meta about tommy warping time.

( tommy breaking into everyone’s house like it’s nbd. could you imagine living in this area and life is p nice, but occasionally this one family arrives and stars a whole bunch of drama and then just??? leaves??? like they dont even live there but they keep showing up every couple of years?? who are they??? )

we also know that, given the proper training and attention on their mystic abilities, both twins are not only capable of using them, but are even both totally legitimate candidates for the future Sorcerer Supreme. If Billy wasn’t implied to eventually take on the mantle, it is likely that Tommy would have ended up being Strange’s next choice.

( note: i kind of hate this story it was so over-complicated and dumb - also it’s outside current 616 canon - but it had some interesting pieces about the dynamic of the brothers, so it’s going to be included )

you think it's a coincidence that he was there for the delivery?? nO-- nothing is a coincidence in these boys’ lives. everything about them is so foretold that they got written out of existence and the universe was like ‘‘wait no--’‘ (i mean mostly it was the scarlet witch doing that, but listen there was some p complicated bullshit that went into their reemergence that cant happen on a whim )

( pls appreciate tommy in this panel he is not having a good day-- )

They literally were created with the combined opposites of tons of things, too. The hate of the villagers at their conception and the love of their parents. the scientific nature of their father and their mother’s magic. hell, in the beginning of the comic, the two were going on this walk and discussing the different sides of ton of shit like poetry/facts, the vastly different families they had. there was even a biblical adam/eve type reference in there--

( Ah yes. I love when my mentor yells at me over the astral plan while im trying to conceive a baby with my husband. she gives such great tips )

so, even before they were born, they were surrounded by the duality, but what about in their actual lives? the obvious one every one wants to talk about is the physical/mystical aspects of their powers and that’s cool but listen there is so much more okay i just--

( **vision voice** boys stop fighting or im gonna tell your mother )

take their emotional states for instance! Billy and Tommy are on completely opposite spectrum of the emotional scale, with Tommy being so emotionally stunted that he straight up will say he doesn’t have feelings and Billy being so emotionally involved that it is the primary force behind his abilities ( he destroyed mother with the power of love if that’s not a testament to this idk what is ). If you look at the civil war ii comic with Kate, you’ll notice how billy not only showed up to give emotional support to his friend, he did so in the middle of a crisis. tommy on the other hand? tommy wouldn’t even show his face. he doesn’t really have the jilted lover thing marvelboy is carrying, so there’s no reason he doesn’t tag along unless it has nothing to do with kate and everything to do with the emotional weight of the situation. ( trust me im still pissed he wasn’t in it, even if i can give it an explanation, but that’s just because my speedster son doesn’t seem to be in anything these days ;;n;; )

( the moral of the story is that there is never a bad time to make out with your boyfriend )

or their differences on right and wrong!! billy lives by the strict, captain america-brand morals of good guys and bad guys. He had a hard time reconciling that the scarlet witch had made a mistake because she was his favorite hero and heroes don’t do things wrong. it had to be the work of an outside force. it’s clear that his morals are very strict - Even in comparison to the Avengers! He’s always here to give people second chances, he never is supposed to kill and he can’t back down if he is faced with something that isn’t right, even at his own personal cost. Tommy, on the other hand, views being a good guy as much more grey. The people that he tends to connect with are more ambiguous in nature, like wolverine and magneto. Heroes to him are not about never doing anything wrong or questionable, but more about intention and justification. the line between heroes and villains is much more blurred for him. its kind of interesting to also note how this effects their individual responses to failure, with billy responding by giving up and tommy by trying harder.

( cap’s just in the background like 😱 )

there are also smaller contrasts, too! like the fact that billy’s hair is black and tommy’s is white. they have similarities, of course - Like the fact they both have pretty unrealistic expectations of themselves or that they’re both pretty rebellious little punks - but these things don’t necessarily take away from the very important dynamic they share. they are two pieces of the same soul and incredibly necessary to the other in a way that most people could probably never hope to understand. And not just that, they have their fingers in the threads of the universe. they are the very personification of the concept of equal, but opposite. I would love to see more expansion on this in a future comic some time??? pls give me an entire series just about these boys teaming up?? if you don’t think I would put down a ton of money on something like that you are sorely mistaken--

( why is it that every time vision is seen in the same panels as both his sons he immediately fucks everything up?? who decided this?? )

anyways, i got carried away, but the moral of the story is that wiccan and speed are two sides of the same coin and if i dont get some twin interaction soon im going to go straight to marvel and write them some, myself--